Live Poker at the Casinos - 13 views
Poker has grown into a real ‘sport’ over the past few years with millions of dollars pumped into the global economy by sponsors and players alike. Poker can now be found at a casino near you! Gone are the days of playing at home with the wife and kids.
My experience at the casinos isn’t that great. I have had a total of 6 sessions at the R10/R20 table and have gone in short stacked with the minimum buy-in of R500. My approach to the live game isn’t much different to my online short stack strategy – wait for the hand an go in for the kill!
This is how my sessions went:
Session1: R500 buy-in. Saw 5 hands – Picked up k6 in BB, everyone folded to me except for SB. I check and flop k k 10. SB checks, i raise and he shoves. Snap call and he shows k7 and i bust.
Session2: R500 buy-in. Had a 3 hour session. Played 1 hand with pockets 10′s, flopped a set and sucked out pocket aces. Took down a R3200 pot and walked away.
Session3: R500 buy-in. 45min session, table was buying pots and took down a R1100 pot and walked away.
Session4: R500 buy-in. Played a 2hour session, once again table was buying pots. Hand 21, I picked up a set of pocket queens in Dealer position, raised to R120 and got 1 caller in BB. Hit a set on the flop, checked to me and i lead out with a continuation bet of R190 and got shoved with a re-raise that put me all in. I call and get sucked out with runner runner flush! I topped up again and targeted the same player – walked out with R1900 3 hands later.
Session5: R500 buy-in. Tournament, had the initial buy-in and played tight. Biggest lay down was 3 limpers in the pot and i picked up AJ suited in SB. I raised 4.5times the BB. And got a caller, a folder and a re-raised all-in! Note: History of all these players was loose play with weak hands like 7 2 unsuited! AJ suited in that position isn’t that strong and I was forced to lay down even though i knew i had the best hand! I would’ve flopped a full house if i played against pocket 4′s and K 4 suited! I was later busted again with a set of queens on the flop against runner runner flush 
What i have learnt from this experience! Short Stack Strategy is not the way to go at these tables. At least 4 times the min buy-in is what you need to be able to settle in the table with less pressure. There are plenty of fish and plenty of donks, so be prepared to make and loose some money.
