I picked up some bad habits in the Las Vegas poker games. Not that they’re real harmful in any meaningful way. But I don’t feel good about them and they certainly don’t serve me well in my newest role.
I think the everyday poker games in Las Vegas are the toughest, snuggest games in the country. I might say in the world but it’s possible that the rake is so high in European locations, for example, that only the strongest can survive there, weeding out splashy loose play drop by drop until only the purest most fundamentally sound participants are left. (I’ve played in Barcelona, Rozvadov, and London, and the rake is not low.) As for the US, and I’ve played poker in many locations across this here country, mind you… And nowhere that I’ve found is consistently as solid as the player pool I’ve been a part of in Las Vegas.
Reasons are mostly obvious—low rake, high entertainment, lots of games, and a traditionally low cost of living (that last part is changing, however) make for a very enticing spot to set up shop as a poker pro. I’ve also heard frequently-banned-from twitter Abe Limon talk about how, aside from wealthy tourists, there just isn’t as much money in the desert city as there is in a location such as Los Angeles. It’s a small town, relatively, so that makes sense to me.
But allow me, dear Substack reader and hopefully subscriber, to present another hypothesis that I’m forming literally as I’m typing this here blog. (Yes I just sit down and start writing. What of it?) I believe there’s an element that is unique to Las Vegas poker when compared to Hustler Casino, Turning Stone, MGM Detroit, Seminole Hard Rock, etcetera. And that element is that Las Vegas is a poker destination, year round. Which means there is a constant flow of tourists; new faces continuously (mostly) losing, only to be replaced by people from the Midwest, from Texas, from China, Brazil, Spain. Sure, the occasional mates from England might make a road trip out of their time in the US and hit all the poker stops from coast to coast. But for the most part, I think the games in other places outside of Vegas are made up of people who are not leaving soon, at a somewhat significantly higher percentage.
Ok so wtf does all this mean? The first thing it means is that if you’re gonna be a pro in Vegas, you have to get your shit together to occasionally battle the other pros. Gotta study and do all that boring shit so that you aren’t bleeding away versus the heroes. Also, steel sharpens steel, and being in the arena pitted against other strong players will make you better faster. It’s like an incubator for poker pro startups. I mean Solve For Why is literally based here and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s somewhat inspired by Y-Combinator, if they only had a proper stable which they may or may not have (I don’t know).
The pro-heavy waters of Las Vegas poker are well known and openly discussed amongst poker people. But what effect do the other inhabitants have on the games, and the fact that the world’s rivers always feed into this pond?
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