Posted by Johnnymac 10:53 PM
I asked my brother to write about his first Vegas experience this weekend when we played $2-4 holdem together at the Flamingo on our last night in town. This is what he had to say:

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From: Bert
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:22:34 -0500
Subject: RE: Idea
To: johnnymac

As you predicted, I enjoyed my first casino poker experience. I always thought it might be fun, but the speed at which it is played, coupled with my lack of poker skillz, had always intimidated me and kept me from taking the plunge. Your offer to stake me was just the motivation I needed, I guess.

Not surprisingly, I learned quite a bit in the four hours we played:

1.) It's quite possible to sit at a casino poker table for a couple of hours and lose no money, even with very minimal poker skillz. I know this to be true because I experienced it during my first couple hours at the table. I played REALLY tight for the first couple hours (folding pocket queens TWICE) just so I could get a feel for how casino poker works, and after scooping a couple of small pots, I was right where I started after 2 hours. After I loosened up my play, though, I learned lesson #2 . . .

2.) I'm sure this is self-evident to all serious poker players, but once you start playing some hands, you better either get REALLY good cards or know what the hell you are doing. Unfortunately for me, I neither got really good cards nor did I know what the hell I was doing. Thus, the second 2 hours of my experience saw me lose most of my, errrrrrrr, your money. In hindsight, I made lots of really bad plays (as you were quick to point out to me), such as playing K5o (and subsequently getting whacked by a better kicker). Mistakes like this were really a reflection of the difference between a full table in Vegas and my usual poker game in Austin, which typically only involves 4 players (In my usual game, you can often get away with playing hands like K5o - not so in Vegas!).

3.) I have to admit - you definitely know your way around a poker table. I would really like to see you play with the heavyweights at a $10-20 game. I would also like to figure out some way to have you narrate your decision-making process to me as you play, as I think it would be quite educational and interesting to hear your strategy in real-time.

That's all I got for ya. Thanks again for staking me and showing me the ropes - hopefully we can do it again soon (preferably with your money again and not mine!).

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