2021 Poker Discussion Thread
 

Here is the place to discuss most of poker and related activities for the current year.

It certainly has been a very strange while trying to play poker over the past 12 months. Hopefully things will return to the "somewhat" normal in the not too distant future. The current "normal" has been playing at tables with plexiglass, wearing masks, more limited eating options including no food at the tables, and participating in games where full ring used to be 9 players but now games with as few as 5 players are not common. In addition, my local and much more convenient and closer poker room has still yet to reopen. That said, I am still very happy for the opportunity to play regularly, and that the earlier year-2020 rumors that my "home" poker room might close permanently have so far not come true.

Here are my results for the year 2020, which were impacted by having fewer playing sessions AND perhaps more significantly, playing in tougher 1/3 NL games in large venues (vs. 1/2 NL):

Venue Visits = 126
Hours Played = 997
Session Results = -$1710
Hourly Rate = - $1.72

Not included in the above are promotional winnings (e.g. High Hand) of $2315, which are due almost entirely by luck, but one's odds are at least improved some by the more hours one plays.

To the casual observer it might appear that (exclusive of expenses like gas) I ended up with more money in my pocket now that when I started ($2315 - $1710 = $605). In reality, I have about $800 less due to the customary and expected tips given to dealers for winning hands. (Dealer tips are simply part of one's winnings which were given away.).

I am continuing to study and work on my game, but only time will tell if I can be successful at 1/3 NL in the bigger city environment or whether I have reached my skill level max. It is entirely possible too that my success at 1/2 NL over the past two years has been due mainly to favorable variance (vs. skill), along with benefit of a weaker player pool at a small playing venue.

My 2021 poker activity likely starts tomorrow. :)

didn't you get hours on a card for food/cash credit?

Yes, thanks for reminding me!

In reality, the "promotions" category includes not only High Hands, but things like bonuses earned for certain weekly playing hours reached (popular at my local Charles Town poker room), lucky tables, etc., and FOOD credits.

I'll post the food credit number after I take the time to look it up online.

Some casinos can be a little misleading and sneaky when advertising promotions. For example, Maryland Live Casino, which become my new regular poker room because of the pandemic, gives $1 per hour food credit. The problem is there are only two food facilities out of the in-house eating venues that allow food credits to be used, and they use them at a 2-1 ratio. This means that effectively one only earns $0.50 per playing hour. Of course, any credits are better than ZERO!

BTW yesterday's return to the felt for the year 2021 was a successful one. I held steady, around 1/3 down my starting bankroll, until the key hand late in the session. I had AK offsuit in late position and raised pre-flop. I was called by a guy who was passive and seemed to play both weak and well at different times. The flop came A K 7 rainbow. I bet all three streets, including all-in for my last $50 on the river. I was pleasantly surprised to see he had A3 offsuit. (At least two other times earlier in the session he held A x and flopped two pair.). Having recouped my small loss along with a nice healthy profit, I promptly ended my session the next time the Big Blind came around.

One session does not make a year but it is always nice to get off to a good start. :)

not exactly. because usually when you lose an all in you would have bet those extra chips saved from not tipping on earlier won pots. maybe you could argue that you could have won all your opponent's extra chips in pots they were all in on to balance it out but maybe they didn't win any pots or didn't tip? JMO but i would stop counting tips and just use a simple cash out minus buy in formula. i would include splash pot winnings and would only count high hands and jackpots on the side. again though, JMO.

i've played better players but you're a good player who can win, no doubt. maybe ramp up the aggression a little? (like 'cuse said, "i'd raise there...") but imo (and i've played a decent amount of live poker) you're a solid player. also idk how weak your pool is compared to what you call "city" casinos where there are higher levels (2/5, 5/10, 10/10) that the better players will gravitate to?

the last time i was at ct i was playing some very tough players for the 1/2 level, mostly because there was no bigger game going yet.

Hi Shayne and great to hear from you!

Your cash out minus buy in formula is basically what happens anyway with regard to tax liabilities.

Yes, I've been working on becoming more aggressive, particularly pre-flop. The problem is learning how to play against other good players post-flop. As an aside, identifying previous players I have gone up against and their tendencies has never been one of my strong points. Nowadays this gets even worse with the covid precautions because everyone wears a mask, coupled with the increased difficulty of seeing them thru curved plexiglass shields.

My thinking is that the player pools will soften up when the covid restrictions are lessened. Then we will see the return of the casual/recreational player who has so far been afraid to venture out.

Any inside word on when your local Hollywood Casino at Penn National Races might open up again?

if you are considering 'tax implications', are you keeping track of mileage/commuting costs?

you list 126 venue visits, are these separate days? a third of the days last year you went to play poker?

Yes, mileage is one of the expenses I report on my Schedule "C". Mileage for trips specifically for poker in 2020 was 11298. This year "expenses" are not going to be needed/helpful, but in the 2018 and 2019 they were very helpful.


Yes, I played poker at brick-and-mortar facilities on 124 different dates in 2020. For a brief period of time when everything was shut down, I also engaged in on-line poker (PPPoker). My in-person participation rate will go up should my local casino poker room (which is approximately 1/3 the total roundtrip driving distance of the Baltimore-area poker rooms) decide to reopen.

I am semi-retired, which allows me the flexibility to participate in poker as much or little as I want.

i'm not sure about hollywood pen??

last week i snuck away to ac but stayed 4 nights on the pokerless boardwalk.

on the way out of town we snuck over to borgata, where they had games going, but i ended up not playing although i did snag some blackjack profits.

maybe next time?:popcorn:

How is Borgata?

Borgata is great!

delicious french toast downstairs at casa taco!

one negative is i always feel like the racing section could be bigger.... although at least they still have one. ;)

shame on mohegan....
 

this kid's a complete wildman but i really enjoy his videos. the table footage makes them especially great.

youtube is really tremendous advertising for the casinos and it is time for all of them to stop this silly anti-filming policy.

some of the comments on this i find amazing regarding "player anonymity" and "bob's wife might see him at the casino when he said he was going to be somewhere else".....really they are just baffling. as if civilians are going to be randomly watching casino poker videos searching for spouses who got lost at the grocery store last month? wtf? :rolleyes:

anyhow hope everyone is well!!

greetings poker thread. hope all's well and you're playing well/running good. as usual tldr

must admit i almost never play anymore. felt i had to stop. life was untenable as a reg. game got better but at the expense of the relationships in my life. wasn't even a pro. asked myself if it was a fair trade and didn't like the answer.

regged some games online the other night cuz they emailed me a promo that was a good deal and i had nothing else going on. if they were all like this session i'd have probably never quit. there was no adversity. was 3 tabling .25-.50 cash and playing a 4th table in a 55bi 8 max tournament. was a challenge to keep up, but got the tempo good in under half an hour. played from 9:30 at night to 3:30 in the morning.

the cash tables i bi for 60 x 3. kept getting all in on the turn as between a 65 and 80% fav. held up in every single one of those spots. 7 for 7. nobody runs that good. by session's end all three stacks increased to at least 180.

ran good in the 8 max too. final tabled. key hand was a 3 way all in pre that i 3 bet shoved 22 bigs with jacks. cracked aces and queens. we were already itm, but that gave the stack needed to make a run. came into ft 8/8 and laddered up to 5th from 230 runners. good but not great ft. elim by calling an all in vs my bb w ace ten off. villain had kj off and outflopped me. first piece of runbad the entire session. instaquit and haven't been back. know this feels like a brag, but realize in my heart and mind that any mouth breather is gonna win running like that.

emptied the account and forgot how much i hate the payout shit they put you through. when you bet races online they pay you direct deposit and it's there in a couple days at no cost to the player. don't use krypto or bitcoin, so i can either pay through the nose for moneygrams or i can wait up to 6 weeks for a check. opted for the latter. that was wed the 17th. would be nice to receive before the derby.

hope you can find some middle ground that allows you to sneak in an occasional game and truth be told i'm trying to find that for myself too.

track collector, at last word, was hitting the two baltimore area casinos pretty consistently and doing well!!

cards are in the air again at the venerable west virginia bullring charles town but they are really easing into things due to a lack of dealers and only a limited number of short handed tables. rumor is that track collector has dipped his toe in the water but continues to favor the maryland rooms for his live play.

happy 40th birthday to our old friend the whizz!

hope he is doing well!!

trooper on the excitement of las vegas....
 

i'm about a million miles away from the game right now but occasionally watch youtube and the itch returns.

recently vegas has gained a new room in resorts world but several rooms have been lost.


here youtube og trooper 97 loses 241 in one of the final games at planet hollywood but in the last six minutes of the video he gives a beautiful speech about the feelings of anticipation, excitement, and nostalgia that a trip to vegas can bring as the waters of bally's blu pool glisten in the background!

hope to be back soon!!

2+2 website has been sold - not sure how they plan on making money from it.


https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...2-2-a-1792772/

i agree with a lot of the posts that limon shouldn't be banned but hopefully he's outgrown that douchey site even if he's reinstated. :D

I have been playing like a maniac lately. No, not from the playing style, but from the volume standpoint. Crazy me, but except for a 1-week vacation to visit my favorite race meet in Prineville (Oregon), I have been consistently been getting in 40+ hours per week.

I went thru a "cooler" streak over 6 weeks where very little went right and I dropped about $2400. This was followed by a big time "heater" streak where over the past 6 weeks I have experienced 17 out of 20 winning sessions with a +$4500 result. Sprinkle in a few winning High Hand promotions and Hot Seat table drawings (worth another $1500) and poker life is pretty good right now.

My confidence level is high but guarded, knowing the next "cooler" streak could be just around the corner.

In today's playing session:
--- Raised pre-flop with KK, flopped another K, but lost when my opponent turned a straight.
--- Had an all-in with AQs after the flop which yielded an A. My opponent had AT and rivered a T.
--- Had my AK flop KKJ, but lost to my opponent who had KJ
--- Had 2 other hands with pocket pairs that flopped trips, but lost to turned/rivered straights.

Given the above mentioned hands, I was very happy only to lose $161.

No complaining here as the above hands are just a part of the game, and we tend to forget the times where we are behind and catch up. :)

(day 1) for our eyes only, bunfortunately.....
 

ok poker fans, it has been way too long but we're finally back on the road with a trip report from exciting atlantic city, the place where the sands turn to gold!!

this time we have company on the trip as my amazing girlfriend estrella* joins us for the trip where we will meet up with my good friend the lion, king of the pen poker jungle!

estrella isn't a poker player but was known as "la reina del seis" (queen of the pick 6) at her home hipodromo and even knows the ortiz brothers. like mr beyer wrote of susan vallon, estrella "understood the gambling life."

we park in the caesars garage and skip check in to take a relaxing stroll up the famous ac boardwalk where we will meet up with the lion and his wife at club wyndham skyline tower.

the lion's are on the 26th floor with a balcony that has a breathtaking view of the northern end of the city and up the coastline. if you had a telescope you could probably watch real housewives of new jersey live, without a tv!

back out on the boardwalk, however, the view isn't as good.

"mi amor!!" estrella gasps as i turn to see an older man walking near steel pier wearing only a g-string!! indeed the entire boardwalk in shock, save for the lion and his wife who are obliviously posing for instabook photos!

tomorrow: meester sun of a beach, let's play some cards!!

game: none
year: 0 (0-0)

*name changed to protect the innocent!!

GREAT to see you back and looking forward to your stories and results!

I have been out of action for a while now. The wife is still having a difficult time from knee surgery more than a more ago.

(day 2) seeing red???.....
 

ok poker fans, we are back in exciting atlantic city for day number two of our gambling adventure!!

after a great night of sleep in our centurion tower room at caesars, i fling open the curtains to be greeted by a view that is damn near the polar opposite of the lion's suite over at club wyndham skyline tower.

concrete. lots and lots of concrete. :bang:

oh well, we're not in atlantic city to look out windows.... we're here to gamble!!

so i get some coffee in estrella and we begin walking down the boardwalk to tropicana for our season opener!

i kickoff the campaign in a 1/2 no limit contest but our good friend and penn national ace, the lion, is nowhere to be found?? :confused:

i fall behind early but am playing very well off the layoff and soon rally ahead with a set of 4s.

and then i hear the lion make his entrance!

in rounders terms this guy has the personality of worm and the game of mikey. and imo it's this combination that makes him so damn tough at the tables!

back at my table AK sees a T 6 2 flop. i c-bet, get raised, call, and turn A giving me top pair and the nut flush draw.
i check here, but later discuss this play with the lion who has a reputation as a big turn bettor. the villain checks back and sensing he's drawing for a flush i pray for a nice red heart.

we don't get it and he folds to my river bet. :bang:

across the room, the lion is struggling.

he loses twice with AA... once after flopping a set... and also loses with a set of 4s. he drops $100 in a game where most players would've dumped much more and we round up the girls and head back up the boardwalk to talk about the game over supper at the soon to be shuttered harry's oyster bar, under the cj's dad tower in bally's.

against the advice of his wife, the lion orders a medium rare steak and is quite agitated when it comes back medium medium.

his home poker room taking their good ol' time reopening, a horrible run of luck at tropicana, and now an overcooked steak?

when's the lion going to get a break? :confused:

game: +71 (1/2 nl)
year : +71 (1-0)

(day 3) glory days, well they'll pass you by.....
 

ok poker fans, we are back in exciting atlantic city where caesars is booked for the night, so we pack up to head for our new hotel: hard rock.

as we ride the moving walkway over pacific avenue to the caesars parking garage i'm stunned to see a guy who looks like one of the most vicious high school wrestlers in pennsylvania history entering the casino. after losing in the state finals his freshman year, "mr w" employed his punishing, physical style to maul his way to three consecutive crowns, along the way making my own junior year hell. in an early season tri-meet with a future penn state wrestler and mr w, i cruise to a major decision win against the nittany lion to be ...but mr w pins us both. later at piaa regionals he smashed me 10-1.

after high school mr w didn't take the conventional path. pre-internet there were rumors of injuries accumulating from his hyper aggressive style to a strange comeback attempt at a big 8 school. who knew for sure?

i turn to look back, but mr w, or whoever it was, has faded into the crowd.

me and estrella spend the afternoon at the outlets before checking into our new home in the hard rock south tower. this time when i fling the curtains open i'm greeted with an amazing view, similar to the lion's over at club wyndham skyline tower.

down on the beach i step on a sharp seashell. for a moment i think a skype consultation with 46 zilzal may be necessary but the salty atlantic waters naturally make things better. the lion has plans for a night time assault on marina poker rooms borgata and harrah's but estrella and i opt to stay on the boardwalk for the evening.

tomorrow: blue oyster bar?

game: none
year: +71 (1-0)

(day 4) wicked game??....
 

ok poker fans we are back in exciting atlantic city for the final day of our gambling adventure.

across town, our friend the lion has prevailed at harrah's before packing his bags and heading back to the pokerless reality of central pennsylvania. he looks forward to bethlehem's wind creek casino starting up poker again in early october. i know he'll be more than ready!!

me and estrella checkout of hard rock but we aren't quite ready to leave our beloved vacation destination and head back up the boardwalk, ultimately stopping at tropicana where this time i'll put my rusty limit skills to the test in a 3/6 contest.

KK has caused me a lot of grief over the years but i actually notch an early win with the cowboys. but the game turns quickly when AA flops a set but is gunned down by broadway. a J 5 2 flop looks encouraging with AJ but i'm third best to J5 and 52. down $35 the game breaks and we head back up the boardwalk with our first loss of the campaign.

along the way we decide to stop for one final meal at harry's oyster bar at bally's. i don't know the specifics but apparently the lease is up on september 26th and maybe harry's or bally's or both want to go in another direction?? anyhow harry's oyster bar was always one of our favorite stops and it will be missed.

weighed down by all the fried oysters we could eat, estrella and i slowly crawl our way back up the boardwalk. she stops at a couple shops to browse what i dub the "$2500 claimers" of fabric. one says "i'm not gay, but $20 is $20." i cringe, but estrella soldiers on, seeking the john henry of t-shirts. as chris isaak's "wicked game" plays at an adjacent shop, the young beauty running our store sways back and forth like a charmed cobra rising out of a wicker basket. i'm unsure if the real wicked game is love, poker, or even life itself? i turn toward the ocean and take a final deep breath of atlantic air.

thank you for reading.

game: -35 (3/6 limit)
year: +36 (1-1)

Not finding much updated information on Catskill Resorts Poker Room. Any information on current playing conditions is greatly appreciated, such as whether masks are required, if they are playing full tables, if there are any dealer shortages, is there drink service? I've been holding off getting back in the swim until it isas back to "normal" as possible. I can deal with no drinks service and playing less than a full table but I have no interest playing with a mask on my face nor do I want to sit around waiting an undue amount of time for an open seat because they are short on dealers.

Bad beat at Charles Town tonight.

Quad Kings over Quad Sevens.

The bad beat jackpot ($4K to loser, $2K to winner, $500 to each player dealt in the hand) that existed pre-covid was not re-instituted when the poker room re-opened, so bad for everyone, especially the Quad Sevens.

Not as good for the Quad Kings either because the High Hand Promotion ($400/hr) had ended a few hours earlier.

Year 2021 is in the books, and fortunately it was another successful one for me.

Was it good enough to earn a year's worth of wages? NO
Was it good enough to earn a significant part-time income vs. working somewhere else for the same number of hours put in? NO
Was it something that I enjoyed the hours I participated in? YES

What it (and other years to date have done) is allow me to build up a sufficient bankroll to likely play 1/2 NL and 1/3 NL for virtually the rest of my life without dipping into my pocket to purchase chips, to cover expenses incurred for gas, and even a small meal at the casino. This of course assumes that my skill level does not regress to any significant degree going forward, including patience and discipline, and learning to adapt to future player-pool tendencies as needed.

My game is still relatively conservative, but I have implemented a few more bluffs to my advantage because of my solid/tight reputation. One thing that I want to work on more in 2022 is to significantly increase my number of 3-bets pre-flop, with a significant number of those coming from hands other than pocket Aces and pocket kings. This will definitely take me out of my comfort zone and put much more variance in my game, but profits should increase overall if I choose the right opponents and situations. Time will tell whether this becomes an improvement to my game, or whether I fail at it and need to revert back to my current conservative, but low profit style.

One aside for anyone wanting to approach and make Texas Holdem a profitable activity. You are going to be unpleasantly shocked when you find out how much of your profit is eaten away by the necessary/expected cost of dealer tips when playing 1/2 and 1/3 NL.

thoughts, prayers, and lambo white light to pen great the lion who is battling "covid pneumonia" in a local hospital.

track collector, can you give us an overview of the game conditions at your regular casinos?

Hope "the lion" is now on his way in recovery.

You will have to be more clear with regard to what type of overview you want.

BTW, year 2022 has not gotten off to a good start. Will probably end the first month in the RED.

sorry to hear about the month. :mad:

just looking for general info like are the tables reduced to 9, 8, or even shorter handed play? are there masks and dividers? any radical comp and or promotion changes?

look for "the lion" to come ROARING back in 2022!! :jump: