When playing no-limit hold ‘em, as in all other forms of poker, most of the money to be won comes from the weaker players, or what I refer to as the tourist types since my play is at live games here in Las Vegas. So, the idea is to find a game, which is usually easy to do as long as you don’t play in the largest games, which contain one or more of these weak opponents.

What I have noticed since no-limit began to come in as a viable form of poker in the Las Vegas in 2004 is that the tourist types buy in for small amounts, usually $300 to $400 in a $2-$5 game and double that at $5-$10. On the other hand, the better players almost always buy in for the maximum, which can vary from card room to card room, and I believe that this creates a problem.

A couple of years back, I would occasionally play in a $5-$10 game that had no buy-in cap. The tourist would still buy in for their $800 or less, and some of the “pros” would sit there with as much as $30,000 or more in front of them even though someone who played well with only a thousand in front of them could take care of the tourists just as fast as the person with lots of chips.

But I’ve also noticed something else. The live one with the small buy-in would frequently seem intimidated by the players showing off all their money, but was comfortable against the opponent with just a little more in chips on the table than he had. In fact, on several occasions, I was convinced our tourist type left the game, usually going to a smaller game where they felt more comfortable. So, clearly the worst plays at the poker table were being made by the best players.

Anyway, the conclusion to this is:

1. Card rooms shouldn’t let their max buy-ins get too big.
2. Card rooms should watch for players who try to sneak extra chips on the table — this may also be part of the problem.
3. Professional players should be more aware of who they intimidate at the table. If they over do it, they just might be running off their best customers.

December 29 2011, Josh Bell

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