Questions about live poker

[zam77]

This is primarily geared towards those who play regularly and at larger poker rooms/casinos, but if you have an opinion either way, please do share your thoughts. (more questions welcomed)

Assume you felt you're skills were good enough to make money on a consistent basis. My financial goals and comfort level playing the game, are to keep it simple and stress free, but to earn some extra cash for spending money. Basically using spending cash to play the game, but with the goal in mind to increase it. That said, how would you answer the following questions.

Is there a time frame of a day and day of week you have found brings you the most success and you feel you're better than majority of the competition?

What is your overall opinion of the skill level at a highly populated poker room/casino that has lots of new faces?

Do you prefer to play against unfamiliar faces or players you've seen and have a read on?

Based on your answers to all of the above questions, do you find more success playing these opponents tight or loose, and how long is your average session?

[El Sol]

As with any question about poker, there is never an easy answer but you are asking the right questions. Often people get so hung up on questions like "....what do I do with this hand" type questions that it completely distracts them from what the game of poker truly is. The very first thing to learn about poker (besides the mechanical part of it) is that poker is a hustle.

You are hustling money out of your opponent. You want them to fold when you have nothing, and call when you got it. There are many different paths to achieve this but the most straight forward way is to study your opponent and have the ability to adjust to their game. This could take time, months or even years before you start showing consistent profits. So based on my experience, the best table is one where you know everyone's game.

After saying this, I will answer the rest of your questions based on my experience.

Most of my poker has been live in L.A. either at the Bike or at the Commerce Casino, and I started before the holdem boom. It was a day in, day out grind. Generally I was playing 10 - 15 hours a day, 6 - 7 days a week. With these hours, you pretty much knew everyone that needed to be known. Truthfully, I really dont remember any time of day that was more profitable, other than later in my working day, I was more fatigued and couldn't concentrate as much. So, to answer the 'when in the day' question is really is based on when you started.

As far as the weekends, when the recreational players came in, I cant really say it was more profitable but there would be larger swings. Often you would play against complete unknowns and have to deal with the inexplicable all ins, putting you in the position to gamble more often and rely more on statistical edges than reading your opponent. I personally hated these spots. For me its all about the grind, and not the big action which coincides with big swings in your bankroll.

The following should answer the rest of your questions. My most profitable nights would be at full tables with retirees and once a weekers, all of which I had a history with. These are the best tables, the retirees really didn't care if they won or lost, and often they didn't have the concentration to remember your moves. The once in awhile players often thought they were better than they really were and would make more mistakes.

So,you would grind the retirees down slowly by three betting preflop and C-betting post flop. The once a week or month players is when you have to gamble a little more, albeit, an informed and calculated gamble. These players are looking for action and never fold big hands. So you simply wait, bait, trap and capitalize. So I suppose, I played more aggressive with the geriatrics and was tighter with the know it all kids.