Casino visit number 3 hit home the true realities of live poker.

I arrived at the casino at around 9.30pm and sat down straight away.

I left just after midnight £8 down having not seen a single hand all night.

(That is a small lie. I actually saw one flop. I get dealt 45 hearts on the cut off and limp. The flop is AJT, one guy bets, someone else calls, I fold.)

I’m happy with this result. I think a lot of players would have started playing weak hands just to get some action. I figure the cards will come next week, so I should just keep hold of my money and wait until then.

I got chatting to the guy sat two-to-my left. He was quite obviously a regular. He knew the names of the staff and most of the players. He was quite opinionated about most of the other player’s betting patterns. He regularly discussed the whole hand out loud. Comments like “You raised preflop, bet £4 on the flop and then checked the turn with J9 right?”

He seemed to know his poker, so we disc...

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I hit the casino again on Wednesday night. This time I finished work at a reasonable hour and managed to get the to poker room around 9.15pm. There was a £50 re-buy taking place and the cash tables were not open. I now realise the cash tables only open once the dealers have been released from tourney duty. As it was a re-buy, less players had been knocked out and I guessed I’d have to wait a lot longer. Therefore I put my name on the waiting list and went and sat down in the bar to watch the end of the Chelsea – Everton game.

Once this finished I decided to watch the PL £1-£2 HE & Omaha (alternates every rotation) table. There was a heated discussion between a few smokers about when they should go for cigarette breaks. Apparently, there were two players already outside having a break when another player gets up to go. A fourth player starts moaning because he had been waiting to leave for a break, but felt he should wait until one of the other players got back first. The othe...

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I've been in my new job now for 4 weeks. At the moment i am really enjoying it. I work a mixture of shifts from 8am to 10.30pm 7 days a week.

Although the project is to help homeless 16-25 yr olds, the reality is most are 16-18. Some of the stuff I have come across is amazing. It makes me realise how lucky I am. Some have genuine issues as they were abused at a young age and some have just been made homeless because their parents have split up and can't afford to look after them.

The most distrubing thing though is the waiting list. We gaurentee 6 months accomodation. The theory is; within this time we give that young person the lifeskills to make sure they are never homeless again. Some spend this time to get proper counseling and psychological help, others need this time to learn about budgeting, general household tasks and finding work etc.

Anyway. Before taking this job I had to think long and hard. I've come from a background which was pressurised and focused purely around...

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I haven’t contributed to the forum for ages. It feels like years! Apart from yesterday, I haven’t studied the forum for over two months.

I lost my job on the 18th December and have desperately been looking for work since. I’ve had lots of offers, but most have been for small projects working irregular hours as a freelance consultant or even on a ‘commission only’ basis. Therefore poker has been on the back burner.

In the end I decided to totally change careers. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and suppose this was the push I needed.

So, last Monday I started my new job as a support worker for the YMCA. Basically, I’m helping homeless people between the ages of 16-25 get their lives on track. I’ve only been there 5 days and some of the stories I could tell you are already shocking me.

This is totally new territory for me. I will be spending a lot less time in front of a computer, I never have to wear a shirt and tie and I will be working a mixture of...

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Wow. What a big difference a few days can make. I really felt out of my depth on Friday night (Read forum HH hand 1 to hand 10). I don’t know why, but it just didn’t click. Every decision I had to make I froze. I knew it was unlike me and I know I knew better. Maybe it was a form of tilt.

Anyway, the guys answer all my questions on the forum and I try and study their opinions and advice. I didn’t play over the weekend as I wanted to make sure it sunk in properly. Some of the advice varied, which is fine. Either way it gives me options.

So tonight I sit at the $0.25-$0.50 NLHE tables for one hour and trampled on everyone who got in my way. I played for just less than one hour and won $56. I know this is not long enough to draw any conclusions, but I want to stop now and sleep on it when my confidence is high

14 hours on the cash tables total= +$49

edit
Played 2 hours.
My pocket kings ran into trip eights on the flop and I lost $57.
Got some back though.
2 hours total ...

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