1 Year Anniversary

[Nynefingers]

Congrats on your success! The other obvious difference between the two games is time at the tables. It's clearly a lot easier to get hours in at poker than blackjack since you can play for hours on end rather than constantly having to be on the move to preserve longevity. For that reason, even if the hourly EV for BJ is better on paper, it may not make you as much money per week on average. Can I ask what stakes you are playing in poker?

[SleightOfHand]

First of all, I just have to say, what drama about KJ!

Honestly, I don't really have much to say, except that moving here has been a blast. I am living about 20 minutes away from the strip, which I feel is a perfect situation. Not too close to the casinos where I am getting bombarded with gambling signs and tourists, but not so far that I can't go play when I want to. I have met some very interesting people at the tables, some funny tourists, some regulars that have come to be good friends, as well as actual APs.

After about 3 months of live play (and approx 6 months of online play and study), I feel like I have finally reached the point where I have a good, solid understanding of the game. I still have the occasional leak (I'm a little bit of a calling station ), but I know my game is better than 97% of the players I meet (at least at the level I play at). Maybe its ego, but I say its justified I am actually surprised how much my game has changed in the last 3 months. My first 1-2 months were full of leaks (which still yielded around $25/hr) but something clicked in my head and my entire view on the game changed, fixing tons of leaks and exploiting new ones, which pushed my WR to $50/hr in my $1000 deep 2/5 NL game.

The games have definitely died down after the WSOP ended, the quality of the games are not nearly as good either. However, the games are still very juicy and the solid player will be able to make easy money.

I don't know how many people play poker in this forum, but I would love to see some hand histories to see if I can help other APs find and improve their leaks

PS: Around the 675 hr mark, I decided to CC with a poker friend to show how it works, as the tables were extremely nitty at the time. I haven't played BJ for a month and a half since then, but backcounting, I can tell that I could still do my zen count will all my indices as easily as I stopped. In 30 minutes, I lost 4k Thats what the poker gods punish me with for betraying them

[SandBaggins]

Originally Posted by SleightOfHand

First of all, I just have to say, what drama about KJ!

Honestly, I don't really have much to say, except that moving here has been a blast. I am living about 20 minutes away from the strip, which I feel is a perfect situation. Not too close to the casinos where I am getting bombarded with gambling signs and tourists, but not so far that I can't go play when I want to. I have met some very interesting people at the tables, some funny tourists, some regulars that have come to be good friends, as well as actual APs.

After about 3 months of live play (and approx 6 months of online play and study), I feel like I have finally reached the point where I have a good, solid understanding of the game. I still have the occasional leak (I'm a little bit of a calling station ), but I know my game is better than 97% of the players I meet (at least at the level I play at). Maybe its ego, but I say its justified I am actually surprised how much my game has changed in the last 3 months. My first 1-2 months were full of leaks (which still yielded around $25/hr) but something clicked in my head and my entire view on the game changed, fixing tons of leaks and exploiting new ones, which pushed my WR to $50/hr in my $1000 deep 2/5 NL game.

The games have definitely died down after the WSOP ended, the quality of the games are not nearly as good either. However, the games are still very juicy and the solid player will be able to make easy money.

I don't know how many people play poker in this forum, but I would love to see some hand histories to see if I can help other APs find and improve their leaks

PS: Around the 675 hr mark, I decided to CC with a poker friend to show how it works, as the tables were extremely nitty at the time. I haven't played BJ for a month and a half since then, but backcounting, I can tell that I could still do my zen count will all my indices as easily as I stopped. In 30 minutes, I lost 4k Thats what the poker gods punish me with for betraying them

Absolutely amazing Sleight! Also interesting to watch your shift from BJ to poker. I play poker myself and would love to improve my game. Where do you find is the most common place for leaks? Pot-odds, playing cards out of position, too-tight/aggressive? Have any good book recommendations?

SB

[flyingwind]

What was it that clicked in your head?

[matt21]

Keep going Sleight! It's great to hear of someone making it!!

You are my hero!

[StandardDeviant]

Originally Posted by creeping panther

Possible when you are so determined to become an expert player that you attend a BJ BASH, flying into the middle of Bear and Moose and Panther and Elk country, to an airport that few have ever heard of, and wait to be picked up by a BJ player you have never met, go to a casino in the middle of nowhere to meet other AP's you have never met, and you are barely over 21!!!

Now that should tell you all you need to know about Sleight and his drive and initiative and fearlessness.

CP

Or...after 180 hours it could be explained by deviation. (Hi CP!)

[psyduck]

Originally Posted by StandardDeviant

Or...after 180 hours it could be explained by deviation. (Hi CP!)

Hey SD,

What a surprise to see you posting again! Welcome back!

[Canceler]

Originally Posted by psyduck

hey sd,

what a surprise to see you posting again! Welcome back!

+1

[SleightOfHand]

Originally Posted by SandBaggins

Absolutely amazing Sleight! Also interesting to watch your shift from BJ to poker. I play poker myself and would love to improve my game. Where do you find is the most common place for leaks? Pot-odds, playing cards out of position, too-tight/aggressive? Have any good book recommendations?

The most obvious leak I see is people limping terrible/marginal hands and then calling raises out of position with them. Hands like QJo or even K5s are terrible hands to play large pots out of position. Don't limp them, and definitely don't call raises with them.

Another leak is people calling or even making bets on the river with marginal hands that have very little relative value, because the hand out of context is very strong.

Some of the players like calling bets and all ins when they don't have the expressed or implied odds to call, although that is a bit less common.

I have never read a poker book, but I read the concepts of the week on the 2p2 micro forums, which is definitely a great place to learn all the basics

Originally Posted by flyingwind

What was it that clicked in your head?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I just started being able to read hands a lot better (I suppose due to learning what bets in certain spots mean. You realize how much fold equity you have against certain opponents so you learn when to or not to bluff. Perhaps learning how to extrapolate play to their entire game from finally seeing a single showdown, it's just a lot of things that happened. After a little bit of experience, I noticed what bets in certain spots mean (ex: preflop, a large open raise (6+ BB) means JJ perhaps 70% of the time (at least in 2/5), QQ/KK 20%, AK 5%, and random hands 5%. So, calling and being aggressive with an ace on the board has a good chance of getting the PFRer to fold.

Originally Posted by StandardDeviant

Or...after 180 hours it could be explained by deviation. (Hi CP!)

Well, they were talking about the EV; I actually lost a bit during the BASH, although the game was very good Welcome back

[creeping panther]

SD, nice to see you back! Wish DBO was still posting.

Nice quote, and that sure does describe Sleight, and I am glad I had the opportunity to bring some fine people and players together that led to their vastly expanded horizons, game wise, support wise, and social wise.

CP