The Stakes

Today begins the next step in a great journey, a journey that started around my friends mother kitchen table 10 years ago, playing with silver coins and no idea. Tonight i am going to the casino but it isnt my usual visit, this time I am playing with someones else's money.

Getting a bankroll is not easy, those casual twice a month players arrive on the felt with their money and dreams and want to double or triple it and forget that the swings of no-limit hold'em over the course of a night will make it nearly impossible to make a good return. If they get lucky and get out, then kodus to them, but they will usually stay and raise their dreams and lose their profits.

I have often been this person, with 4 hours or $200 whichever runs out first, with twenty minutes remaining upping the stakes, playing fast with marginal hands. I forget to look to the big picture and look at the bankroll.

Poker is an easy game, with 2 cards and your chips as weapons, the objective to win more chips from other players. The hard part is making the right decisions when your money is on the line. Tonight I have a financial backer, a person who nervously shares an interest in my performance. they supply the bankroll and I the skill, together we split the profits.

The biggest hurdle in casino level poker is that you have the skill, and the confidence but it is still your money in front of you. pulling the trigger know it might cost you $500 but your instinct tells you they are weak, can you make that call. You know you are right 90% of the time but what if you get this one wrong, the other goods reads don't matter.

This mental barrier has been removed, only time will tell if the profits will follow.

Life on The Edge

Casino are amazing. Bright lights, Excitement, 24 hour entertainment, amazing sounds, great food and hospitality, but it is The Edge that goes unnoticed. The Edge is everywhere, it is the bright lights and it is the sounds all designed to encourage you forget you have a regular life, family and responsibilities, somewhere outside these windowless walls.
Walk onto any Casino floor and I guarantee the first sound you will notice will be coins dropping into the payout trays, and the Pokie features ringing as someone hits it big, all design to distract you away from the sad looking guy who just took his shot, and lost.
The most important Edge however is on the gaming floor. Blackjack, Pontoon, both play to 21 in the same way, but Pontoon players beware, there are no 10's in these decks. Math and logic used by most players are now wrong and your going to lose.
The most obvious Edge feature is the 0 and 00 on a roulette wheel. Any player betting black or red will only win 47% of the time.
The best example of an Edge I have seen was a legend created by casinos and passed on by superstitious players for a hundred years - never remove a winning bet. After each spin, the croupier caps the winning number with a marker and pays all winning bets, once this is done they announce "place your bets" and your bet remains in play with a 0.008% chance the same number will appear twice in a row, a probable donation to the house. This extra chip equates to between 0.03% and 1.4% Edge depending if the bet was straight up or corner or rows.
I remain optimistic nonetheless, I'm on my way to the dice tables and I've got a system.