friends, foxwoods, etc.

[Theraflu 1,035]

I'm six st. pauli's and half a pint of grey goose in, and waitin for the next tourney to start on UB so i thought i'd ask a few questions...1) I was at foxwoods on tuesday when it was packed cuz of all the rich kids getting money for xmas and couldn't get a seat at the 1/2 NL table. Technically, that table is stretching my bankroll but its the lowest they have, so I don't mind playing it if im the best player there. However, there were some 2/5 seats open. If i had an extra 4-$500 in my bankroll i definately woulda sat down, but i didn't want to risk all of my available money at one table. I was wondering what the step up is at foxwoods to the 2/5 tables? with a $500 max buy in, i wouldn't think it would be nearly as difficult as the limit seems, especially during a holdiay with all the fish there playing with daddy's money. But i couldn't in a good conscience bring myself to play with my whole bankroll at a table that i dont know the skill level at. anyone play there regularly with a decent read on the game? the 1/2 table is kind of a joke since anyone will play there, but without a lot of live 1/2 experience i know i shouldn't just hop right on into the 2/5 game.2)i dont even remember what my other question was. I know that in 2 hours i managed to win one hand and split one hand 3 ways earlier this evening at my friends house in a cash game, which was an amazing run of bad cards i had yet to experience, but i didnt have a question about that. i dunno, maybe ill remember later.cheers

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

Good times on the goose.What's your live bankroll?I think you should probably not play 2/5 if 1/2 is stretching the bankroll.I also think you shouldn't buy into 2/5 with less than 500, and avoid like the plague games with less than a 100 big blind max buy-in.

[Theraflu 1,035]

i really dont have a live workin bankroll, ive kept track of all my profits/losses since i started playing about 18 months ago, so i know what ive made since i started, and have a general idea about how i play live vs online and such. im just a college student w/a shtty job that hasnt made enough to buy in for 500 two or three times. obviously a couple buy ins can be lost just due to bad luck and being outdrawn, but the question was more on what kind of competition the 2/5 table was, since my initial observations were that its a relatively weak table.

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

i really dont have a live workin bankroll, ive kept track of all my profits/losses since i started playing about 18 months ago, so i know what ive made since i started, and have a general idea about how i play live vs online and such. im just a college student w/a shtty job that hasnt made enough to buy in for 500 two or three times. obviously a couple buy ins can be lost just due to bad luck and being outdrawn, but the question was more on what kind of competition the 2/5 table was, since my initial observations were that its a relatively weak table.

In that case I'd stick to 1/2.I come from a similar situation. When I was playing a lot more live in Atlanta, I didn't really have a defined working bankroll, but based on my money situation at the time, I felt fine playing 1/2 1 or 2 nights a week... and not so much for 2/5.I took shots at 2/5 when I was running good at 1/2, and I was fortunate enough to be ahead career for 2/5. Win or lose, though, each time I felt like I'd overextended myself... and didn't play much 2/5 compared to 1/2.The game wasn't much tougher because people made the same types of mistakes, but it was DEFINITELY more aggressive. I'd imagine in a casino it'd still be almost as soft as 1/2... but for your roll and the risk it's probably not a great idea.All that having been said, I've never played in any casino before anywhere, so take it for what it's worth.

[Theraflu 1,035]

ohhhh yeaaaaaaa my other part of my original post:i read in someones post a week or two about one of phil gordon's necessities for becoming a pro was that you gotta have someone to talk to on a regular basis about poker. someone said that was the only element they were missing, and it turned out to be very important to their success.(mother ******, just get drawn out on a 2 outer. anyways)i was wondering how much having somone to talk to on a regular basis helps your regular poker game? I started playing almost 2 years ago, and me and my friends learned the game together for the first year, and it was both fun and a great learning experience all the time.But for the last 6-8 months, I'm the only one that's anywhere near to my passion for the game, and the only person that plays consistently is an 1 year old that i've helped play onbodog and such. and he cant help me learn anything.Ive started reading FCP a lot more and im going to start rereading my books, but how important is it to have someone to talk to and dissect hands and such? I really got no one to talk to, but its all i think about, so im in such a shitty position...

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

I taught my best friend how to play, and for the longest time I thought he was as pumped up as me about poker. That was when I first started immersing myself in it, reading here, 2+2, cardplayer, blogs, everything I could find.Then it seemed to me that my friend didn't care as much about it as I did, and casual hand dissections and online play didn't really matter.The funny part is, he's still the very last person on earth I'd want to play heads up, because he knows my betting patterns and tendencies the absolute best.The point of all this is when I first started with him, it was teacher/student, or journeyman/apprentice, or whatever......but I personally have LEARNED more AND TAUGHT more about poker when I feel like I shouldn't consider myself better or worse than the people with whom I'm talking about poker.

[Eastwood Jr. 0]

I'm six st. pauli's and half a pint of grey goose in, and waitin for the next tourney to start on UB so i thought i'd ask a few questions...1) I was at foxwoods on tuesday when it was packed cuz of all the rich kids getting money for xmas and couldn't get a seat at the 1/2 NL table. Technically, that table is stretching my bankroll but its the lowest they have, so I don't mind playing it if im the best player there. However, there were some 2/5 seats open. If i had an extra 4-$500 in my bankroll i definately woulda sat down, but i didn't want to risk all of my available money at one table. I was wondering what the step up is at foxwoods to the 2/5 tables? with a $500 max buy in, i wouldn't think it would be nearly as difficult as the limit seems, especially during a holdiay with all the fish there playing with daddy's money. But i couldn't in a good conscience bring myself to play with my whole bankroll at a table that i dont know the skill level at. anyone play there regularly with a decent read on the game? the 1/2 table is kind of a joke since anyone will play there, but without a lot of live 1/2 experience i know i shouldn't just hop right on into the 2/5 game.2)i dont even remember what my other question was. I know that in 2 hours i managed to win one hand and split one hand 3 ways earlier this evening at my friends house in a cash game, which was an amazing run of bad cards i had yet to experience, but i didnt have a question about that. i dunno, maybe ill remember later.cheers

The 2/5 game at Foxwoods is in my mind a better game than the 1/2 by far. For one the rake is fairer since the stakes are higher. In the 1/2 game if you post for about an hour and pay the rake without playing a single hand you'll be stuck for over 20% of your stack. I've never before had a problem with paying the rake but in that one particular game I found it to be obnoxious. The second reason is that you are right when you described the 1/2 game as sort of a donkey fest. Personally I find it more difficult to beat a table with eight clueless maniacs then if there is a mix of weak tight, weak loose, tight aggressive, loose aggressive and maniacs. My ideal ratio is about 3 or 4 donkeys, 3 average players, a strong player and myself in the mix. 8 donkeys can turn poker into craps and unless the deck is hitting you square in the face it can be frustrating since it takes most of the complex decisions out of the game.When you have a mix then there are weak tight players who you can steal from when you don't get cards, weak loose players you can tax with big hands and loose aggressive players you can reraise agianst. You can also get a read on where people are at in the hand better since they actually have a clue about how the game is played. But it's always nice to have a few guys who are just in over there heads. I liken it to a shark chasing a school of fish compared to a couple fish dropped into a shark tank. When the shark chases the school all or most of the fish will escape but when the fish are dropped into the shark tank then they'll surely be devoured. So in retrospect I guess you should play whichever game you feel comfortable with but the 2/5 game is much better.