Lessons from trip to Atlantic City

[AlexMorris]

I just got back from an AC trip playing $1/2 and $2/5 NLHE and learned a few important lessons about live poker.

1. Never play tired. It's like burning money.
2. Table selection is not important. All table have 2-5 decent players, 0-2 sharks, and the rest are fish.
3. Seat selection is critical. Never sit to the right of a good LAG. No matter how badly you are crushing the table, all of your money will end up in his stack.
4. When in doubt, fold to aggression. 80% of your opponents are tight passive or loose passive. The moment they get aggressive, you're crushed. (This is by far the most important bullet point.)
5. Whatever the obvious hand is for your opponent, that's what he has.
6. 3xBB raise pre-flop is the same as calling. Nobody folds to anything less than a 4xBB raise. Therefore, always raise 4-10xBB pre-flop (depending on limpers). You'll get plenty of action.
7. Nobody pays attention to pot odds. A $35 bet into a $20 pot is viewed the same as a $35 bet into a $100 pot.
8. Nobody folds a pre-flop monster, regardless of post-flop board texture. Your money will be made by cracking aces and kings, not by getting aces and kings.
9. Suited connectors and small pairs are the best possible hands pre-flop (see previous point).
10. Women are ultra-tight. Any woman that is not ultra-tight is a shark.

Thoughts? Clearly all of this advice is useless against sharks. Against sharks, simply play your game (for me, that's LAG from late position and TAG from early position, i.e. positional poker).

I'll post some specific hands from the weekend later.

[Deanglow]

I disagree with most of this.

1. You can play tired of you still are sure that you are hugely EV in the game.
2. Agree table selection isn't important but in live I have never met a legit person I didn't think was terrible.
3. All my money is not going to "end up in his stack". Just play against him well.
4. OK
5. sometimes
6. Very true
7. right again
8. sometimes true
9. No way. You will make huge money with AA when a guy calls down with QJ on a J5568 board. I make most of my money with big pairs and AK
10. maybe, haven't played with enough women and I think your sample size is too small to make a conclusion

[AlexMorris]

I disagree with most of this.

It looks like you only disagree with 1, 2, and 9, or did I miss something?

Clearly #3 is a bit of an exaggeration, but sitting to the right of a good lag is extremely difficult when your goal is to take the money from the terrible players. Just switch tables or move to his left and start syphoning off his chips.

I don't agree with your #2. There a lot of mediocre players, some terrible players, but there are a few good players at $2/$5 (none that are great, they play higher limits). There certainly aren't enough good players for you to worry about running into a table full of sharks, but you need to be cognizant of who's good at your table and change your play against them.

For #8 and #9, of course AA, KK, QQ, and AK are going to be hugely +EV. If you're playing TAG, then those will be where you make the vast majority of your money (by exploiting #6). If you're playing LAG, your goal is to bust someone that is holding one of those hands, since they frequently overplay the hands and don't have a clue how to size bets to push out a draw. Just draw for your hand cheaply, and then push hard when you hit and get paid. Which is why suited connectors and small pairs are great hands.

For #10, my sample size is quite small, but I've only seen two women that were not ultra tight / passive. Having only clocked 50-60 hours in casino play, the sample size is miniscule, but I'm pretty sure this one is true based on my limited observations and conversations with other casino patrons.

[sil693]

10. Women are ultra-tight.

Did you find this out by going all in??

[GatorJH]

10. Women are ultra-tight.

Did you find this out by going all in??

Funniest post in a long time.