Learn Texas Holdem

Question : Hi,

I had sent this question to you a while back and that is fine if you don't feel it is relevant to place on your site. I saw the hate email from that one guy and trust me it doesn't hurt my feelings at all if you are not sure or don't want to advertise this question. I was hoping that maybe you might be able to send me back a quick email if you have time. I am interested in this question because I am going to Vegas next week and usually play 1-2 or 2-5 no limit when I go. I was wanting to step up to a higher limit but do not want to be the fish in a very good pro's game. Do you happen to know what most pros would play in Vegas?

I hope you have a minute to answer me.

Sean

Older Question:

"I was wondering if you had any thoughts on at what No Limit Holdem blind level(i.e. 2-5, 10-20, 15-30, etc.) is a suitable level for a professional to earn a respectable living at. I understand that games change day to day but just curious in general if you know at what level would a No Limit Holdem poker professional in Las Vegas play as a cash game to earn a living."

Answer: That's a good question. First of all, the majority of professional poker players you'll find will be either in tournament play or in limit holdem play. No limit holdem cash games just recently have gained popularity -- within the past couple years. Before that, it wasn't easy to find no limit holdem action for cash games. Generally speaking, any game where you can make around a $1000 and up per session, you'll find serious players. So for a no liimt holdem cash game, if the blinds were $10/20 on up, you'll find some more serious players. Or another way of looking at it would be to look at how much money is on the table for each player. If you are talking thousands and not hundreds, you'll have some people trying to make a living at it. That is just a general rule, not every game has pros in it. And even if the game did have a "pro" in it, it doesn't mean it is a bad game.

There are actually far fewer successful professional poker players than you would think. Many people delude themselves. You can go into just about any cardroom, big or small, and find someone claiming to be doing it professionally. Sure they will be in there day-after-day, but making a living salary from it is something different. And I've found that the type of player who volunteers that they are "pro" is usually the kind of player I like to have in my games. You need to watch out more for the quiet ones.

To put things into context, you won't bump into Gus Hansen or Phil Hellmuth in any game you'll find -- that is unless you can play a game like $1000/2000. The majority of their play is done in tourneys and in big mixed side games. They are also a very small percentage of the poker professionals. I think you'll be very comfortable at a blind that is $5 or below.

As for limit holdem games, most pros will be playing in middle limit games -- $15/30, $30/60, $40/80, etc. The problem though is that most small towns don't have a lot of action. If you don't live near LA, Vegas or Atlantic City, you are out of luck for finding regular good sized games. Most cardrooms only spread games like $2/4 up to $9/18, which isn't easy to make a living at. But now that the Internet provides so much action, anyone sitting anywhere in the world could make a living playing cards.

Lastly, don't let titles or limits fool you. It is a general rule that the bigger the stakes the better the players, but there are plenty of exceptions. There are really tight horrible $1/2 games, and there are loose crazy wonderful $100/200 games.