This Place Is Definitely Not Vegas

Many thanks Maudie, Heafy, and Drizz, for the encouraging words on the previous post. I'm probably 95% pot committed to the plan but extra nudges are always nice.

I do have to admit that part of me is mightily tempted to give the full-time poker gig a go. The idea of solely relying on poker for an income scares me, honestly, and at heart I'm not a true gambler, in the real sense of the word. Calculated risks, yeah, sure, I'm in, but I don't like leaving things to chance. Especially when it comes to pay mortgages and insurance and what-not.

I still can't get over how badly the majority of people play poker, and the amount of money they're willing to put at risk doing so. Well, that's too harsh. It's not even necessarily "bad" play, just play that gives them absolutely no chance of being a long-term winner. Taking advantage of that play isn't very difficult, if you're willing and patient. At a certain point it becomes an exercise in math, more than anything. If the standard deviation of whatever limit you're playing is smaller than your bankroll, you win. If the standard deviation is larger, your risk of losing is inversely propotional to your skill.

That said, I still don't think I have the stones for it. Or my safety net isn't quite large enough yet. Take your pick. But there's definintely something to be said for Heafy's advice, as far as your likelihood of success increasing dramatically if you take the plunge and insert yourselves in situations where failing simply isn't an option.

Switching gears a slight bit, I have to say that I was pretty amazed by my foray into live poker, even at the 2-4 tables. I expected the overall quality of play to be lower than 2/4 online, but I didn't expect it to be quite so muppetish. Most of my poker play was one session at MGM and I had an older lady to my immediate left who not only saw every single flop, but she'd grunt and visibly shake her head, in a negative fashion, when turn and river cards fell that she didn't like. I think Caro missed the grunt/head shake tell in his book, but I managed to pick up on it pretty quickly. 'Cause I'm savvy like that, see.

Then there was the drunk younger Asian guy on my right who kept getting hands cracked, who'd comment out loud before everyone had acted. He was in the BB when I limped UTG with 22, and a lady a few seats down somehow got confused and said "call" but pitched out $4. As she was saying that she just meant to call and was taking back $2, Asian guy mutters, "Yeah baby, go on and raise, I've got aces." Three or four people limp, Asian guy raises, and I go ahead and call, fully believing that he does indeed have aces but willing to pay one more bet to see a flop.

Which comes K 2 10, and we're off to the races. He eventually slows down when another K comes but I take down a pretty nice pot. Which of course leads to the inevitable "Man, what the hell are you doing calling me with a pair of 2s?" conversation, and I mumble something about feeling lucky.

Granted it was 2/4, but still pretty interesting. I definitely need to make a point of playing live more, as it's definitely more engaging and entertaining than clicking mouse buttons, even if less profitable overall. It's a bit of a hike to Louisiana but not that bad, especially if I can sneak away for a four day weekend here and there.