Comments Response
Wow two real posts in one day. Might be a record. I just finished reading all the comments I missed and here are some answers to them right here rather than go back to the posts and answer them there.
#1) Foodbanker is a player here in Seattle. I don't see him that often, but have played with him at both Parkers and at the Muck. He plays mostly medium limit but he has played in the $50/100 game on occasion. He is a good player, and hopefully is doing well in his pursuit as a pro poker player. I actually saw him last night, but he did not come over and say hi. I was in the game and by the time I was unfocused on the game I did not see him anymore. I don't even know his real name. Really nice guy though.
#2) I have never been to the new Tulailup casino up north. It is really out of the way for me. I work in the South end of Seattle so the Muck is only 15-20 mins away. To go North from work would take me an hour and a half. From home it would be an hour. The game never gets that big and the NL game is not really no-limit. The max bet in Washington state is $500. So if you get a big pot, you can not push someone out with a big bet. Not my idea of a good game. May try it once though this year sometime.
#3) Sorry to the person who posted the question about money and limits. I never saw the post so I did not mean to blow you off. To be adequately bankrolled to play the $50/100 game on a regular basis I would use about 200BB to have in reserve. You may never need it but it is nice to know it is there. You could argue you need more, I have been told you would need less. I like to know I have $20,000 in reserve. With respect to how I got the bankroll to play the game it came from a job, not playing poker. I have been lucky enough to work at something I love and make a lot of money doing it. The downside to that is that I do not get to play that much. Comes with the job part. No big deal. I play enough to make me happy. The average net worth of the people in that game is all over the board. There are some of us that have good jobs and I suspect the money part is not that big of a deal as consideration to play the game. They like me don't really keep a bankroll. We keep some money around to play cards and then take out more to play bigger and put it back when we don't need it. If I started losing on a regular basis I would rethink my playing. Hope that won't happen soon. There are professional players, I suspect a few have $100,000 plus bankrolls. There are some that are just taking shots at the game. They have enough to play one session or two. If they lose they are back to the 10/20 game or lower to build back up to take another shot. If they are lucky or good or both they stick. They win enough to stay in the game on a regular basis and never look back. I don't see too many of those. They usually go broke and then we don't see them for a while.
With respect to moving up limits, I guess that I just did it when I felt I could beat the games. I had enough money to play higher many years ago, but I was not a good enough player to jump up in limits. Even if I could afford to lose the money, I HATE to lose money. I play cards to win, and that means the money. Until I could beat the lower limit games on a regular basis and started getting bored, then I moved up. It was also a function of the games not being available in Seattle. The bigger games only started happening in Seattle two years ago. The $50/100 game only started happening in October of 2005 so not that long ago. We actually started a $100/200 list last night but could not get the game going. It is only a matter of time however. It will happen soon in Seattle. The move up in limits does change your game slightly when you first start to play. You are scared shitless the first time you jump to a really big level, like going from $10/20 to $80/160. I did that the first time, went right to $80/160 in Vegas from the local $10/20 game. You play a little scared at first but then you realize there are the same types of players every limit. They all make mistakes, they all make moves, some just better than others. You tend not to find as many bad players at the higher limits but they are all there. The money is just relative. They are super rich and like to play a little cards so they sit in the $80/160 game, just like the local recreational player will sit into your $10/20 game. Once you sit there for while you get used to it and then you don't even think about it. They way I got used to playing $50/100 was to go to Vegas and jump into the $150/300 game. I did that and then came back down. The money then did not register as an emotional feeling. They are just units or bets. You get chips, you bet chips, then you add up the chips at the end of the night and see how you did. They just happen to be chips of a different color. don't know if that would work for everyone, but it did for me.
I do hate it when you lose $10,000 straight, but it happens. You also win $10,000 or $20,000 straight. My biggest streak last year was $19,000 almost straight up, felt cool. I have mentioned before that I have a friend Aaron who plays super huge. I have had the fun to go sweat him on a number of occasions. He won't even play the $50/100 game locally because it is not fun for him. It is like playing $4/8 to me. I have a hard time fathoming that comment but I guess I know what he means. The first time I saw him put $65,000 dollars in a pot on what looked like a bluff I just about crapped my pants. It was about 4 years ago and I sill remember it. Aaron was playing $100/200 blind pot limit hold-em heads up at the Commerce with someone I did not know. I was watching behind him as he picked up pocket QQ's on the Button and raised the pot. The other guy re-raised the pot and Aaron just called. The flop came A,6,6 two diamonds. The guy bet the Pot of like $6,000 and Aaron called. The turn came the 3 of diamonds. The guy bet around $20,000 into the pot and Aaron moved in all his money of around $65,000 with the two QQ's and no diamond. The guy thought for 15 minutes and then folded KK's face up with the K of diamonds. I thought holy crap you just put all of your money into that pot drawing to two cards. He had the read that the guy could not call so he went with it. I can't do that, it is not in my blood. That is a lot of money to anyone, even a super rich guy. Just amazes me when players can do that and distance themselves from the money that much. I guess you get used to it the way I did with the limits I play. I don't know if I could ever feel that way about $65,000, but some of you might say that about $3,000 and that to me is part of my game. It is what makes him such a great player. That and he is a damn good player anyway. He has since played in the big game in Vegas and won and lost like $750,000 pots. I watched him run $10,000 into $200,000 at the World Poker Open in Reno a few years back. I also was there when he won his only WSOP bracelet in a limit event at the 2004 WSOP and cashed for $234,000. I got to carry the money back in a bag to the Bellagio. It was heavy and looked very cool laid out on the table. So I guess it is all relative. If you can get comfortable you can play. He was the one who told me to play a short session way above what I wanted to play and then go back down. It worked for me, of course it cost me like $8,000 to get comfortable. But it did work.
I hope that answers everyone's questions from the last month of missing posts. I promise I will not do that again. Talk to you soon. SJ
#1) Foodbanker is a player here in Seattle. I don't see him that often, but have played with him at both Parkers and at the Muck. He plays mostly medium limit but he has played in the $50/100 game on occasion. He is a good player, and hopefully is doing well in his pursuit as a pro poker player. I actually saw him last night, but he did not come over and say hi. I was in the game and by the time I was unfocused on the game I did not see him anymore. I don't even know his real name. Really nice guy though.
#2) I have never been to the new Tulailup casino up north. It is really out of the way for me. I work in the South end of Seattle so the Muck is only 15-20 mins away. To go North from work would take me an hour and a half. From home it would be an hour. The game never gets that big and the NL game is not really no-limit. The max bet in Washington state is $500. So if you get a big pot, you can not push someone out with a big bet. Not my idea of a good game. May try it once though this year sometime.
#3) Sorry to the person who posted the question about money and limits. I never saw the post so I did not mean to blow you off. To be adequately bankrolled to play the $50/100 game on a regular basis I would use about 200BB to have in reserve. You may never need it but it is nice to know it is there. You could argue you need more, I have been told you would need less. I like to know I have $20,000 in reserve. With respect to how I got the bankroll to play the game it came from a job, not playing poker. I have been lucky enough to work at something I love and make a lot of money doing it. The downside to that is that I do not get to play that much. Comes with the job part. No big deal. I play enough to make me happy. The average net worth of the people in that game is all over the board. There are some of us that have good jobs and I suspect the money part is not that big of a deal as consideration to play the game. They like me don't really keep a bankroll. We keep some money around to play cards and then take out more to play bigger and put it back when we don't need it. If I started losing on a regular basis I would rethink my playing. Hope that won't happen soon. There are professional players, I suspect a few have $100,000 plus bankrolls. There are some that are just taking shots at the game. They have enough to play one session or two. If they lose they are back to the 10/20 game or lower to build back up to take another shot. If they are lucky or good or both they stick. They win enough to stay in the game on a regular basis and never look back. I don't see too many of those. They usually go broke and then we don't see them for a while.
With respect to moving up limits, I guess that I just did it when I felt I could beat the games. I had enough money to play higher many years ago, but I was not a good enough player to jump up in limits. Even if I could afford to lose the money, I HATE to lose money. I play cards to win, and that means the money. Until I could beat the lower limit games on a regular basis and started getting bored, then I moved up. It was also a function of the games not being available in Seattle. The bigger games only started happening in Seattle two years ago. The $50/100 game only started happening in October of 2005 so not that long ago. We actually started a $100/200 list last night but could not get the game going. It is only a matter of time however. It will happen soon in Seattle. The move up in limits does change your game slightly when you first start to play. You are scared shitless the first time you jump to a really big level, like going from $10/20 to $80/160. I did that the first time, went right to $80/160 in Vegas from the local $10/20 game. You play a little scared at first but then you realize there are the same types of players every limit. They all make mistakes, they all make moves, some just better than others. You tend not to find as many bad players at the higher limits but they are all there. The money is just relative. They are super rich and like to play a little cards so they sit in the $80/160 game, just like the local recreational player will sit into your $10/20 game. Once you sit there for while you get used to it and then you don't even think about it. They way I got used to playing $50/100 was to go to Vegas and jump into the $150/300 game. I did that and then came back down. The money then did not register as an emotional feeling. They are just units or bets. You get chips, you bet chips, then you add up the chips at the end of the night and see how you did. They just happen to be chips of a different color. don't know if that would work for everyone, but it did for me.
I do hate it when you lose $10,000 straight, but it happens. You also win $10,000 or $20,000 straight. My biggest streak last year was $19,000 almost straight up, felt cool. I have mentioned before that I have a friend Aaron who plays super huge. I have had the fun to go sweat him on a number of occasions. He won't even play the $50/100 game locally because it is not fun for him. It is like playing $4/8 to me. I have a hard time fathoming that comment but I guess I know what he means. The first time I saw him put $65,000 dollars in a pot on what looked like a bluff I just about crapped my pants. It was about 4 years ago and I sill remember it. Aaron was playing $100/200 blind pot limit hold-em heads up at the Commerce with someone I did not know. I was watching behind him as he picked up pocket QQ's on the Button and raised the pot. The other guy re-raised the pot and Aaron just called. The flop came A,6,6 two diamonds. The guy bet the Pot of like $6,000 and Aaron called. The turn came the 3 of diamonds. The guy bet around $20,000 into the pot and Aaron moved in all his money of around $65,000 with the two QQ's and no diamond. The guy thought for 15 minutes and then folded KK's face up with the K of diamonds. I thought holy crap you just put all of your money into that pot drawing to two cards. He had the read that the guy could not call so he went with it. I can't do that, it is not in my blood. That is a lot of money to anyone, even a super rich guy. Just amazes me when players can do that and distance themselves from the money that much. I guess you get used to it the way I did with the limits I play. I don't know if I could ever feel that way about $65,000, but some of you might say that about $3,000 and that to me is part of my game. It is what makes him such a great player. That and he is a damn good player anyway. He has since played in the big game in Vegas and won and lost like $750,000 pots. I watched him run $10,000 into $200,000 at the World Poker Open in Reno a few years back. I also was there when he won his only WSOP bracelet in a limit event at the 2004 WSOP and cashed for $234,000. I got to carry the money back in a bag to the Bellagio. It was heavy and looked very cool laid out on the table. So I guess it is all relative. If you can get comfortable you can play. He was the one who told me to play a short session way above what I wanted to play and then go back down. It worked for me, of course it cost me like $8,000 to get comfortable. But it did work.
I hope that answers everyone's questions from the last month of missing posts. I promise I will not do that again. Talk to you soon. SJ
posted by Seattlejohn at 1:52 PM
1 Comments:
Hey John!
Have you heard about the 'Commerce Flu'?
I know you've been pretty prone to catching the crud...So be careful!
Rubber gloves perhaps?
-G
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