August 15, 2003

Results of the California poker trip

OK, OK, theoretically it was a business trip with a side order of poker, but the business end of it was the usual 7-day-straight, truly miserable fire drill, so enough of that.

Both of the San Jose card clubs have lower limit Texas Hold 'Em than 7-Card Stud, so despite the fact that my "live" experience is mostly in the latter I took the plunge. The first couple of days I bumbled around a bit but the next 2 I was rolling; each of those two days I walked out with a tidy profit. Yes, I was getting some good hands, especially the fourth day, but it's still possible to mess up even so.

The fifth day I decided to see if I could survive stepping up one (tiny) level of betting. Sure enough, the players were much better, so that day I took a loss. It didn't help much that I just couldn't get a hand that day. Of course, I've got enough common sense to know that the results of each deal are an independent trial, but it's still funny how one's mind tries to make some kind of order out of the randomness. However, I'm sure I was not imagining the level of play being different.

The sixth day I was way down for a bit (again, another tough table) but came back. If I hadn't decided to do what everyone else seems to do (eat at the table), I probably would have broken pretty close to even for the day. I figure that meal probably was one of the most expensive ones I've had in a long time -- probably over $80 for a sandwich ...

Conclusions? Many.


  1. Don't play when you're tired. I was completely dead on my feet by the end. However, since I don't get to play unless I'm travelling somewhere, I decided to ignore my own advice and go for it anyways. (Sorry, playing for money on the Internet doesn't really interest me -- I can play against the computer for free.)

  2. Don't ever eat at the table. Take a break. Go somewhere else. Take a drive. Leave.

  3. Make sure you've got enough bankroll for the game. I was probably a little light at the higher limit.

  4. The rule to look to when you forget all the others is "you are still playing too many hands". The only time I really forgot the rule was while eating (see above).

On the whole, I give myself about a C+ for the trip. For not having played much before, I didn't make an idiot of myself; basically left the state with all the money I brought to it; gained some experience; and learned that I can lay down a promising beginning hand if it doesn't improve (apparently true amateurs never really "get this"). I still have to work on being more agressive in certain situations, in particular, my positional knowledge is still a little light.

But it sure as hell beats sitting at a customer site and wondering why someone else's code is bailing out with some kind of hopeless and cryptic and twisted error message.

Posted by mark at August 15, 2003 01:53 AM