First live cash game

unityofsaints

Hi,

I'm moving to Dublin in two weeks to study there and I'd like to give live cash games a try. So far I've played a few pub tournaments (unfortunately only single-table because of limited numbers), about 2,000 tournaments hands online (freerolls mainly), about 500 hands of (low-limit) cash games online and one year of playing tournaments every lunchtime at school. I also watch a lot of poker on T.V. (about 25 hours so far, according to my recorder) and read these forums almost every day. I've also recently read "Super/System 2" from cover to cover and occasionally check out other poker forums.

It's worth mentioning that I've done extrememly well in the pub tournaments (no surprise, 90% of the players there are fish) and generally play very well live, finishing first or second most times (with 6-8 players). However, most of my live experience is against a small group of friends because the poker scene in West Cork is limited to say the least. Online I play above-average (for the small buy-ins I play) but my online cash game is mediocre because I already find tournaments boring but cash games are worse because everyone is so passive. I have tried multi-tabling to keep it interesting but I can't hack that, so I usually just play one cash table and watch t.v. poker, surf or listen to music while I'm playing:

Bottom line: I don't like online cash games.

Live is a different story, I can't remember a single live tournament that I have gotten bored in, even though some of these lasted well over four hours. That's why I really want to give cash games a try, even though I'm probably slightly too inexperienced.

I'm heading to Dublin for a long weekend tomorrow and would like to try it out then. What are usually the lowest limits avaliable and which casino would you recommend for starting out? It's got to be well-connected public-transport wise though because I have to get back out to the suburbs afterwards (I'm staying in a friend's cusin's place). I don't really mind if I end up only having 2-3 buy-ins for that particular limit as long as I gain experience and have fun for the time that I'm at the table. I'm not considering tournaments because I need to get back home relatively early and wanna try out cash games.

Thanks in advance for the advice guys.

Kamaldihnio

unityofsaints wrote:

Hi,

I'm moving to Dublin in two weeks to study there and I'd like to give live cash games a try. So far I've played a few pub tournaments (unfortunately only single-table because of limited numbers), about 2,000 tournaments hands online (freerolls mainly), about 500 hands of (low-limit) cash games online and one year of playing tournaments every lunchtime at school. I also watch a lot of poker on T.V. (about 25 hours so far, according to my recorder) and read these forums almost every day. I've also recently read "Super/System 2" from cover to cover and occasionally check out other poker forums.

It's worth mentioning that I've done extrememly well in the pub tournaments (no surprise, 90% of the players there are fish) and generally play very well live, finishing first or second most times (with 6-8 players). However, most of my live experience is against a small group of friends because the poker scene in West Cork is limited to say the least. Online I play above-average (for the small buy-ins I play) but my online cash game is mediocre because I already find tournaments boring but cash games are worse because everyone is so passive. I have tried multi-tabling to keep it interesting but I can't hack that, so I usually just play one cash table and watch t.v. poker, surf or listen to music while I'm playing:

Bottom line: I don't like online cash games.

Live is a different story, I can't remember a single live tournament that I have gotten bored in, even though some of these lasted well over four hours. That's why I really want to give cash games a try, even though I'm probably slightly too inexperienced.

I'm heading to Dublin for a long weekend tomorrow and would like to try it out then. What are usually the lowest limits avaliable and which casino would you recommend for starting out? It's got to be well-connected public-transport wise though because I have to get back out to the suburbs afterwards (I'm staying in a friend's cusin's place). I don't really mind if I end up only having 2-3 buy-ins for that particular limit as long as I gain experience and have fun for the time that I'm at the table. I'm not considering tournaments because I need to get back home relatively early and wanna try out cash games.

Thanks in advance for the advice guys.

Cant believe nobody replied. 1+2 pot limt cash games, minimum 50 euro buyin. Fitzwilliam Card Club or Sporting Emporium are the main places to go. Next time mate.

unityofsaints

Kamaldihnio wrote:

Cant believe nobody replied. 1+2 pot limt cash games, minimum 50 euro buyin. Fitzwilliam Card Club or Sporting Emporium are the main places to go. Next time mate.

Thx mate. I'm not a limit player though, I'd feel a lot more comfortable with NL, even if it was higher buy-in. What would be the smallest stake NL game avaliable in the Fitz or SE? Would you have rough directions to these places? I've checked both websites and they don't seem to have addresses up. A quick search in google maps didn't produce anything.

Thx in advance.

shoutman

I dont think there are any NL cash games in Dublin at the moment but I could be wrong.
It seems most of these cash games in town are mentle anway....

Just in case you didnt know Pot limit means you can bet as much as is in the pot at that time, so they arent exactly limit games.

unityofsaints

shoutman wrote:

I dont think there are any NL cash games in Dublin at the moment but I could be wrong.
It seems most of these cash games in town are mentle anway....

Just in case you didnt know Pot limit means you can bet as much as is in the pot at that time, so they arent exactly limit games.

Yep I'm familiar with Pot limit, thinking about it I suppose a full ring PL game wouldn't be too bad as you'd practically be able to move all-in on the flop. I've played it shorthanded before and it was a pain because you couldn't put ppl all-in to stop them from out-drawing you. I'd say I'd give it a crack. Surprising that there are no NL cash games, it's the most popular game by far isn't it? By the way, are there any stud high/low cash games or would u have to play horse to get those less popular formats in a cash game?

Cheers guys.

shoutman

I dont know of any Stud cash games in dublin at the moment, and i dont know why all the hold em games are pot limit, i could be wrong though there may be a nl cash game around somewhere,

Lazare

If you're up for the weekend try the afternoon tournaments in the Fitz.
There's a scalps game on Sat afternoon, and a €30 freezeout on Sunday afternoon, both start at 4.30 I think.
Oh and check out the 'ORSE! thread on the tournaments forum (it's a cash game), Des runs that in the fitz every Saturday at 6.30pm.
You say you're worried about getting home early, most of the cash games don't really get goin till late night anyway.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

unityofsaints

Lazare wrote:

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Ty, I've posted before but I'm more of a reader than a poster

The weekend's over and I wouldn't have gotten a chance to go to the casino but I will definately head there once I move to Dublin on the 9th of September.

RasTa

There is NL in the SE I heard.

El Stuntman

RasTa wrote:

There is NL in the SE I heard.

negativo in my experience, all PL

Killme00

Lazare wrote:

There's a scalps game on Sat afternoon, and a €30 freezeout on Sunday afternoon,

Hi,

Can you tell me where these games are..is it the fitz?

Thanks

ianmc38

There is NL in the S/E/. Never enough interest though.

ollyk1

Killme00 wrote:

Hi,

Can you tell me where these games are..is it the fitz?

Thanks

Yeah both in the Fitz starting time 4.30.

Saturday €60 +€5 scalps and Sunday €27+€3 FO

Games get anything between 25 and 45 runners depending on whats going on that particular weekend

Killme00

ollyk1 wrote:

Yeah both in the Fitz starting time 4.30.

Saturday €60 +€5 scalps and Sunday €27+€3 FO

Games get anything between 25 and 45 runners depending on whats going on that particular weekend

Oh Cool i think i will try both of these this weekend.

Thanks for replying

califano

ollyk1 wrote:

depending on whats going on that particular weekend

Nicely put;)

unityofsaints

Well,

I'm just back home from my first visit to the fitz. Unfortunately I had a few limitations tonight, namely:

1. Only had roughly 2 hrs in the card club as I needed to catch last bus (in the future I will make sure to have 3-4hrs)
2. It's midweek so it took roughly 40mins until a cash game started up as there was a match on (so I only played 30 hands in total).
3. I was aware beforehand that tha smallest game was 50 euro min buy-in, however I only found out inside that the blinds were 1/2. I honestly don't know why anyone would want to buy in for only 25 big blinds. Talk about ultra-short stack! I only had 100 euro at my disposal so I was quite limited, next time I'll buy in for 150 and have a few rebuys in the back pocket.
4. It was my first live cash game so I struggled for a while.


Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the night. The staff were friendly and table talk always pleasant. Free drinks are a pleasant addition to round off the experience.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the standard of play at the table. I expected superb play, but as far as I could see (in the limited number of hands I played), there were only two genuinely flawless players at the table, the rest seemed to be recreational. I was able to make a good few correct laydowns and in general I was happy. As mentioned earlier I was the shortstack so I was being pushed around quite a bit.

Unfortunately my first hand went like this (I was hoping for a bad hand so I could observe first before getting involved):

I have Ad Kd, just limp in UTG+3
limped around, two folds in late position iirc
flop 6d 4d 7d
checked to me
I raise 8 into a pot of 14
everyone folds


I completely realise I should have checked, but flopping the nuts on the first hand just caught me off-guard. I'm learning fast but getting used to 1000-1500 euro on the table when you usually play online micro limits or 10 euro tournaments is a bit of an adjustment!

Regardless I'll be back tomorrow (thursday) with a few friends to play the free tourny and a longer cash game if possible.

Give me a shout if any of you boardsters will be around!

iBoT

unityofsaints wrote:

two genuinely flawless players

i hope that was me next to the dealer in seat 1
next time bring more money, say 2 buyins of 150 euro,
the nitelinks run until 3.30am from thursday to saturday.

phantom_lord

unityofsaints wrote:

I have Ad Kd, just limp in UTG+3
limped around, two folds in late position iirc
flop 6d 4d 7d

I completely realise I should have checked, but flopping the nuts on the first hand just caught me off-guard.

That's not the nuts....

cardshark202

A nine high flush draw is the nuts in that game.

unityofsaints

iBoT wrote:

i hope that was me next to the dealer in seat 1
next time bring more money, say 2 buyins of 150 euro,
the nitelinks run until 3.30am from thursday to saturday.

Well I was actually going to ask you if you were a boardster! Next time I'll chat with you. Yep was thinking 2x175 euro or 2x200 euro the next time.

phantom_lord wrote:

That's not the nuts....

Well, as far as I'm concerned "the nuts" is the best hand in play (or just a really good hand) and "the absolute nuts" is the very best hand possible. In realistic terms there was about a 50,000:1 chance of someone having a straight flush here... Not only would the player have to be playing very marginal hands (nine high?), he would also have to hold the two exact marginal cards for this board to have a straight flush. Since everyone else folded it's safe to say I had "the nuts" (the best hand going).

iBot: Out of interest, what did the guy in seat 7 buy in for? Looked 400-600 to me (still getting used to the chips). Seems like he's the regular to watch out for :P

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

ianmc38

unityofsaints wrote:

In realistic terms there was about a 50,000:1 chance of someone having a straight flush here...

I was thinking more like 5000000:1

Agree with Lloyd re: the SE. The Fitz is grand but I just find the SE to be that much nicer. Different strokes.....

Bandana boy

unityofsaints wrote:

Well I was actually going to ask you if you were a boardster! Next time I'll chat with you. Yep was thinking 2x175 euro or 2x200 euro the next time.



Well, as far as I'm concerned "the nuts" is the best hand in play (or just a really good hand) and "the absolute nuts" is the very best hand possible. In realistic terms there was about a 50,000:1 chance of someone having a straight flush here... Not only would the player have to be playing very marginal hands (nine high?), he would also have to hold the two exact marginal cards for this board to have a straight flush. Since everyone else folded it's safe to say I had "the nuts" (the best hand going).

iBot: Out of interest, what did the guy in seat 7 buy in for? Looked 400-600 to me (still getting used to the chips). Seems like he's the regular to watch out for :P

35ds and 58ds would not be so very unusual in a full ring live cash game with no raise
I am not saying you should be afraid of it with your nut flush but it not that unlikely

Nuts is best hand possible regardless of likely hood
Semantic i know but you will be pulled up on it every time you post we are a petty petty bunch here

phantom_lord

unityofsaints wrote:

Well, as far as I'm concerned "the nuts" is the best hand in play (or just a really good hand) and "the absolute nuts" is the very best hand possible. In realistic terms there was about a 50,000:1 chance of someone having a straight flush here... Not only would the player have to be playing very marginal hands (nine high?), he would also have to hold the two exact marginal cards for this board to have a straight flush.

I was just thinking of hj's vegas where he had trip sixes and went all-in, along with the guy with aks with 'the nuts', only for the third player to show a sf for the 'real nuts'. Albeit t'wud be a rare one.

iBoT

[QUOTE=

iBot: Out of interest, what did the guy in seat 7 buy in for? Looked 400-600 to me (still getting used to the chips). Seems like he's the regular to watch out for :P[/QUOTE]

i think about 350 nah hes just a muppet with lots of money, u ll get to know all the players pretty quickly and how they play etc

phantom_lord

iBoT wrote:

nah hes just a muppet with lots of money

Those kind of players are the nuts.