In Las Vegas, the right poker room
makes you predator, not prey
Sharks roam Sin City's poker houses,
so the key to success is steering clear.
By Marc Cooper,
Special to The LA Times
May 25, 2007
The burnished mahogany, subdued lighting and soothing earth tones of the Golden Nugget's newly remodeled poker room might radiate a warm, club-like vibe, but I was ice cold as I recently bought into one of its No Limit Texas Hold 'Em ring games. While the other players at the table played cautiously against one another, they were relentlessly and collectively aggressive against me. Check-raising me, trapping me, slow-playing me with big pairs, going over the top of my feeble raises and bluffing me right into the ATM machine.
Had I inadvertently plunked down into some sort of conspiracy? Was I the designated sucker of the day? Was the whole world against me?
Yes to all the above. Only after an hour and a half of this galling abuse did it dawn on me that most of the players knew one another. ...
...more - http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-vegas27may27 (Archive copy)
makes you predator, not prey
Sharks roam Sin City's poker houses,
so the key to success is steering clear.
By Marc Cooper,
Special to The LA Times
May 25, 2007
The burnished mahogany, subdued lighting and soothing earth tones of the Golden Nugget's newly remodeled poker room might radiate a warm, club-like vibe, but I was ice cold as I recently bought into one of its No Limit Texas Hold 'Em ring games. While the other players at the table played cautiously against one another, they were relentlessly and collectively aggressive against me. Check-raising me, trapping me, slow-playing me with big pairs, going over the top of my feeble raises and bluffing me right into the ATM machine.
Had I inadvertently plunked down into some sort of conspiracy? Was I the designated sucker of the day? Was the whole world against me?
Yes to all the above. Only after an hour and a half of this galling abuse did it dawn on me that most of the players knew one another. ...
...more - http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-vegas27may27 (Archive copy)
