2018 Poker Discussion Thread
 

Here it is........a place to post your current year poker thoughts and happenings. Don't be bashful about telling us about your activities in the world of poker.

Venessa Selbst is more or less retiring from professional poker.

https://twitter.com/VanessaSelbst

https://www.facebook.com/VSelbst/posts/1539524546084021

It sounds like a combination of things contributed to the decision, but among them is that the game is getting a lot tougher.

"Beatable" gambling games always get progressively tougher as the "fish" eventually drop out of sight...and then there really isn't any money left on the table for those who are primarily out to "have fun", without really applying themselves with a high level of resolve and discipline. And this applies to the "superstars" like Selbst...as well as to us "grinders" out there.

Of course...the fact that Selbst has other attractive career options had a lot to do with her decision to abandon "serious poker". We should all be that fortunate...

Thask,

Do you play blackjack?

Not any more. The horses, poker, and basketball/baseball-betting now occupy my time. I am also currently working on a craps system that has shown considerable promise over the last year or so...but that's still a work in progress. :)

at least i'm rounding again??......
 

after an extended hiatus i finally kicked off my gambling season the other day with a trip to the charles town races and slots in wild and wonderful west virginia!

the old 3/6 game isn't running.... not even a list.... so i jump onto the 1/2 no limit list and within fifteen minutes a new game is called.

there are some questionable players in this one. a guy beside me is playing every hand. he quickly taps and two players (beavis and butthead in seats five and six) pick up where he leaves off.

some things never change as i lose with KK. :rolleyes:

i also drop several hands with 66.

one hand i lose an extra ten dollars thanks to the brilliant play of beavis.

me (66) and a couple other players have limped and beavis limps in the small blind. butthead raises the big blind to $10 and we all call the extra $8 until the action gets back to beavis who, i guess anticipating that butthead would raise the big blind :rolleyes:, now raises to $20! butthead just calls, the rest of us call, and no six hits the board.

i'm not sure if beavis and butthead are kicking each other under the table or what exactly is going on? in a few hours beavis loses $600; most of it to butthead.

eventually i rally to win $15 and raise my record to 1-0 on the year. over at live racing i pull in another $6. but after spending $17 for a pregame haircut and $5 for a daily racing program i depart charles town with a dollar less than i arrived with.

at least i'm rounding again though. ;)

game +15 (1/2 nl)
year +15 (1-0)

On my recent horseracing trip to Prineville, OR I had a unique poker experience in the nearby town of Bend. Seems they have this place called "The Poker Room", which is a social club which among other things offers Texas Holdem. The player pays a one-time admission fee ($10) for the privilege of playing until closing. They offer tournaments almost nightly along with a few tables for cash games. And, all games are player-dealt. The dealer simultaneously dealt and played in the hand (like in home games). They dealt in one-hour increments, and players could either volunteer to do so or were assigned by lot. And with the cash games, the player received the entire pot because the house did not extract any rake.

Because The Poker Room open hours and the times the races in Prineville run pretty much overlapped, I was only able to play about 1 hour on each of 2 different days.

On the first day I ended up winning $194 in the 1/2 NL game. Most of that coming from going all in after the river with the nut flush. The main villain called with less with a lesser flush.

The second day in a 1/2 NL game I offered to serve as dealer. Since I have always played in the casino and never a home game, I was a little nervous at first. It is definitely a challenge to concentrate on one's hand while simultaneously dealing and managing the overall game.

On one hand I ended up flopping Aces with a King kicker only to lose to a rivered flush. My last hand before leaving had me limping in on the button with 34o. Normally I don't do this but most of the other players called and I would be leaving anyway in about 5 minutes. The flop comes 3 4 7 rainbow. The first player bets $20 and a 2nd player calls. When it gets to me I jam my remaining $115. The 1st bettor calls after about 3 minutes of thought, and the 2nd player surprisingly calls as well. The turn yields a King and the river a 6, and the 1st player scoops the pot with Trip 7's. So I was basically crushed unless the turn and river were either 3-3 or 4-4, which is extremely rare.

In hindsight I played this hand really bad. Not because I ended up losing, but because of my play both pre and post-flop. Under the same conditions at my home poker room I probably would have folded 95% of the time with 34o on the button and a bunch of callers. Then I compounded the error by raising all-in post-flop. I should have probably raised about $50-$60, which would likely have folded out over pairs. Once called I am now definitely behind, and check/fold on both the turn and/or river allows me to lose about $60 less.

Poor pre-flop play like this often land you in hands which require more difficult decisions, which ultimately result in having less chips at the end of the day.

I lost $4 over the two days and certainly enjoy my time, despite such short playing sessions.

Probably not an issue in small stakes games in Bend, OR (a town I have actually been to, by the way :) ), but the experience in California is that self-dealt games were full of corruption and mechanics.

One of my favorite small towns in this country(Bend). I hope you made it out to the Pilot Butte Drive In. Some of the nicest people I've ever met, and the burgers are just wow.

Backers
 

During the WSOP I heard Nick Schulman talking about advertising for backers into the Main Event on Twitter.

Does anybody know how that works? What are the terms for the investors?

I was wondering if it might be a good idea to try something like that for myself in Horse Handicapping Tournaments.

Any input on any aspect of this post would be much appreciated.

Thanks

V J S

Thanks Thask.

What would you think about a player seeking backers in horse racing tournaments?

Do you think there would be investors interested?

What do you think would be fair terms?

What would be the average tournament outlay?

The smallest would be $3000 the largest $10,000

How many do you expect to play in a year?

Are these all brick and mortar?