First real poker loss in a casino. shimmeringjemmy has this great term for when we are playing together at home for fun. it’s called hemorrhaging chips. Well, tonight we went out to the casino and hemorrhaged like a pair of hemophiliacs.
And at different tables, neither of us played “badly.” It was the kind of night where you’d go in with KcJs and watch continual flops of QdQhAd. There were no lucky breaks. And every two pair we had fell to three of a kind. And every three of a kind fell to a flush. It was a bad, bad night.
Yes, it left a sour taste in both our mouths. Especially after we both doubled up our cash the last time we went. I don’t believe either of us were overly cocky at the tables. It just turned out badly as cards may fall. Granted… I have discovered a new form of discrimination tonight. Ethnic older women. We’re talking 55-70, and obviously Jewish, Hispanic, or Asian. These women can only be defined as Elephant-trip/flush magnets. These women bet every hand. And they always have an Ace suited with something ridiculous (4, 6) and they keep drawing three of a kinds and flushes. Every time.
It’s incredibly exasperating. Just wanted to beat my head on the table in the empty spot where a pile of chips had been.
Note: switching seats doesn’t help.
Blah.
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Tough it out. I started playing 3-6 almost a year ago. I did okay the first time, then spent most of the summer losing, or generally south of zero. I went through the same thing, where I concluded that the entire low-limit universe must somehow violate the laws of mathematics. But it’s just that a good player will take more bad beats than bad player. Tight players get drawn out on; loose players are the ones doing the drawing.
You will probably get screwed hard by variance for a while.
You are probably playing too loose. Everybody plays too lose.
Don’t fall in with the superstition. Don’t randomly change seats to get away from bad cards. Take a break if you need to, but only change seats to get position on players you can pick on. Never change decks. Get up and take a break if you have to. Go outside and laugh at the smokers. Listen to the music of the freeway traffic.
Keep your faith in the math. Do pot odds for draws, and feel free to play pre-flop flush draws if they make sense (any suited ace in late position, any medium suited connector anywhere). Five-handed players will get you pretty close to correct odds (about 10:1) for drawing to an inside straight. (Beware of straight vs. flush/boat, and don’t draw to the low end of straights very aggressively.)
Your games may be more aggressive than mine; LA is known to be insane.
I would recommend “Winning Low Limit Hold’Em” and Turbo Texas Hold ‘Em, which probably saved both my game and my sanity. (It may be difficult to configure a computer to play as randomly as a maniac 2-4 player, though.)
You might consider moving up to 3-6. I never played 2-4, so I’m not quite sure how nuts they are, but I’ve heard stories… I’m not sure that I want to make it that hard to beat the rake, personally, but it’s cheap education. 6-12 has not been cheap education for me, but it has been interesting to see people actually trying to steal and bluff.
I drove by your local casino on my way through LA. That… that there is some nice cardroom. How much do they rake per pot there?
p.s. KJo is my least favorite hand.