NOTE: Copied from 2021 Thread
Glad to hear about the lion. Maybe the Penn National Poker Room will re-open sometime this century.
January activity is in the books, and things are much worse than last reported.
One session ended up being my worst loss in my entire 8+ history of playing Texas Holdem. Subject session included the following:
--- 4 times when I flopped a set, I ended up having a 2-1 advantage after the turn and going all-in. Villains sucked out on me each time. If I did the math correctly, this will happen about 1.2% (or 1 out of every 100 occurences.).
--- I had AKo, Villain had As3s. Flop comes A4s8s. As short stack I go all in. Villain turns a spade to make a flush and another spade comes on the river just to rub it in. Hands like my lose 47% of the time, so essentially losing a coin flip here.
--- Someone raises to $12 pre-flop and their are 5 callers including me. I have Ac9c. Flop comes A 9 3. I go all in and get one caller who has either a backdoor straight or flush draw, which gets there.
--- Villain raises $15 preflop, and when it gets to me, I go all-in with about $70. I have QQ and loose to AA. This simply happens from time to time, but included it because it was a part of the horrible session.
My very next session was a loosing one as well. I played relatively breakeven after the following:
--- I have KK and flop a set. Flop is K Q 4 rainbow. I go all in for about for my remaining $125. Villain has T9s. I am a 2-1 favorite, but villain gets a J on the turn. I now still have 33% equity to get a full house, which does not come. And to make matters worse, I get teased in a later hand when I get AA pre-flop, with a flop of A Q x, and a turn of Q. Even though I don't expect it to hold, I have a High Hand of AAAQQ with about 40 minutes to go. The High Hand pays $400 per hour, but since no one had a qualifying hand the hour before, the roll-over of $400 made this one worth $800. With 17 minutes remaining I hear the dreaded "High Hand, Table X, JJJJ with an 8.
Trying to get it all back quickly is a recipe for disaster. My challenge will be to grind away over the next 2-3 months, hopefully playing smart and getting a bit of favorable variance, to make up the current to-date losses.
In answer to your playing questions regarding playing conditions, tables have a maximum of 8 players, there are no dividers, and masks are NOT required, even by the dealers. I would estimate that about 90% of the dealers wear masks, and 15-20% of the players do. High Hand promotions are typically $300/$400 per hour, and run about 7-8 hours each day the room is open. The room is open 9 a.m. to 3 or 4 am. Wednesday thru Sundays, and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Each day can be a little different, and because there are still not as many dealers as there were pre-covid, one has to plan wisely in order to not have to wait several hours before getting on a table.
