Monday, July 27, 2009

Is this the ultimate poker goal?

Having goals is ingrained for Americans. Poker players are particularly likely to do this around New Year's Day. Many goals are easy to achieve, so are not really goals at all. They might be called baby goals.

Jamie, of Wall Street Poker, has one of the most interesting goals that I've heard or read about. He wants to play in all the legal poker rooms in all 50 states! Yes, you read that right -- all of them and there are 280. Now that's a real goal, a man-sized goal.

He first posted about this Aug. 9, 2007, and you can read what he wrote here. He set certain standards as to what constituted a "visit." He is keeping track on a google map, something I'm eager to see him post on his web site.

Jamie is an excellent writer, and you can read about the time Wall Street came to Tunica here. He calls it Mississippi Blues Traveling. When he came, we were going to meet, but, unfortunately, I already had plans to take my mother to Florida. When I got back, he was gone.

You can read his report of when he travelled to the Chicago area here, and here. He visited five states (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan) and played in 14 different poker rooms during his seven-day trip. He has some photos in the second one, and you know how I am about photos. I was born in Chicago, so I have a warm spot in my heart for these two reports.

Finally, he won a lot of mobneys in a tournament and you can read his excellent recap of it here. What I like is that he describes his read and what he is thinking. Most bloggers don't bother, but this appeals to me. It's like getting inside the writer's head.

Here are some nuggets from the same report that I liked:

Bam! The alarm sounded at 7AM and I jumped out of the comfy bed like a greyhound who's just had the gate lifted.

It's amazing what people tell other people after a hand; What they had, why they bet that way and why they laid it down. All the info I was looking for was right there for the taking! I soaked it up like a sponge and vowed to use that knowledge when the time was right.

... my job was to accumulate chips, not eliminate players.

Often, my opponents would look at their hole cards directly after being dealt them rather than waiting for their turn. Then, they would subconsciously pick up their cards as if to muck them. If they intended to call or raise when the action came to them, they would often pull the cards towards themselves as if protecting a treasure. Sometimes they'd even cap the cards in advance! This subtle, but highly reliable tell, gave me an incredible amount of information in advance and was the primary indicator I used when deciding whether to steal blinds or not.

After the chop, ... I should tighten up a bit because things would start loosening up because of the guarantee.

There's more, but you'll have to go to his excellent blog and read for yourself.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for dropping by, Mojo.

    Mojo, mojo; where have I heard that?

    Ah, I remember. It's a tale .....

    The question not stated maybe answered by Google or Wiki. Just insert the numbers.

    Edit: The zoo. Good stuff.And is your RSS feed on?

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  2. ALL the legal poker rooms? Well, that's a goal. I mainly stick to one or three poker rooms in Vegas. Some of the outlying casinos, like the Station ones, that cater to locals, don't even have NL most of the time.
    How many poker rooms does Vegas have anyway?

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  3. @Wolynski: I'm hoping Jamie will comment.

    I think he has an atlas or some reference book that lists all of them. Maybe he can answer your question.

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  4. Mojo - You're too kind

    Wolynski - Vegas has something like 50 poker rooms. There are about 8 or 9 more in Laughlin. Yes, the local rooms don't cater to NL players, but the goal is to see them all, not just play poker. In fact, having to hop around is usually a detriment to playing good poker. If you want to have a nice time playing 4-8 with the locals in a pretty room, get thee to The Cannery.

    Also, the number of legal rooms in the country is closer to 500. When I wrote my first blogpost, I underestimated. Go to ThePokerAtlas.Com (an excellent website) for a full list.

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