With the holiday season, I have had a bit of time free up and was able to hit my goal of making $1000 net profit at a casino. You may be thinking, what was someone as generally frugal and money savvy as yours truly doing anywhere near a casino!? While I can’t advocate anything of the sort to anyone who is working on escaping the maze, I can share my story and perhaps a controversial perspective. While most casino games will statistically take your money over the long run no matter how well you play them, a game like poker pits players against each other and a better player can have a real advantage over a worse player. A poker legend once said that Texas Holdem “takes five minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.” For the last 15 years, I have played Texas Hold em, rarely at a casino, but occasionally with friends over a few beers. Some of us got pretty good and one of us even went on to cash in some WSOP tournaments to the tune of about $70K. For me, playing this game has never been about playing for money. The money simply puts something worthwhile at stake for the competition and I very much like winning.
You Got to Know When to Holdem
So after 15 years of playing and reading books and watching advanced strategy videos, I wanted to see if I could crack the 1-3 NL table that is about 40 minutes from my house over a larger set of hands than I previously had time for prior to achieving my financial independence. On a weekend, one could stay sober and play against amateurs who are at the table for free drinks and some exciting action. However, weekends are my family and friends time. Because I did this experiment during working hours, it meant that I would be playing against experienced poker addicts and semi-professionals (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive). I made my goal of $1K in winnings over 6 different days of play at 4.5hrs per session (approximately 950 hands). I averaged about 35 bb/100 hands or about $37 profit per hour of play. The internet tells me that this is a pretty solid win rate for a 1-3 NL table so I am going to call this a victory. It does feel good to make money at a casino of all places. However, $37 per hour took the most disciplined and calculated poker that I have ever played and perhaps some positive variance to cover the mistakes I still made.
A Cast of Colorful Characters
If one wanted to make money, I could think of easier and less risky ways to make $1000. However, if you have been reading my blog, you understand that this is not about money but experiencing adventures for me. I met some interesting characters at the table. I ordered virgin daiquiris and pina coladas with a retired professor while everyone else laughed at us, gently explained what a surety bond is to a man who’s son had just been arrested and then secured bail, and chatted with a modern day prospector who wore about 10-20K worth of gold and used a gold nugget as a card protector. I have friends that tell me that they don’t gamble. I think the truth is that we all gamble every day with every decision that we make and our actions have results and also give information about the strength of our hand in any given pot.
Some Things I’ve Learned From Poker
For me, poker has improved my understanding of some basic things like evaluating risk vs return, being more observant of people, using math and knowledge to one’s advantage, and how and when to win with a weaker hand. However, it has also taught me less obvious things such as what my decision making weaknesses and patterns are, how to consider scenarios of a hand playing out and act accordingly, how to manage a table image, and how to responsibly take chances to gain valuable information. It has improved my ability to manage emotions and make better decisions quickly under pressure and it has taught me about discipline prevailing over aggression. Any money wagered should be money that you are ok losing. My dad taught me that. I can’t advocate that anyone play poker but I wanted to share this personal perspective. I’m a moral person and I like to surround myself with caring people. I generally don’t like to gamble but a life with absolutely zero risk sounds boring to me. You learn a lot about yourself when playing an emotionally prone game with money on the line that is kind of designed to create situations where one makes mistakes. “If you can’t spot a sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.” -Rounders.