The Experiment Continues

I had a great idea for a post the other day but I didn't write it down. The idea has since vanished into the ether. You would think that, as a writer, I'd have learned by now to write down my ideas.

One idea that I had a month ago that I didn't need to write down was to tinker with playing NLHE cash games instead of LHE cash games. CK has had more success here in Vegas with NLHE than I've had with LHE, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find LHE games bigger than $4-$8 in Vegas (Venetian promotion notwithstanding) that have a favorable balance of decent-to-bad players.

Years ago Vegas turned over from a LHE town into a NLHE town. The range of games and the juicy action of L.A.- or A.C.-style LHE doesn't exist here. For a long time I stubbornly tried to fight it but early indications of my NLHE experiment suggest that I was an idiot to do so.

Am I running good right now? Maybe a little. Two nights ago a decent portion of my profit came by turning a two-outer against two players who both slow-played flopped trips against my top pair+board pair and then couldn't get away when I made a bigger full house on the turn. Last night I flopped quads and managed to stack a guy for $200.

But I also feel that in NLHE I do not find myself in marginal spots as frequently as in LHE. I can control my variance much more easily and, because of the player caliber and the betting structure, am more easily able to narrow an opponent's range. It also doesn't hurt that many NLHE players will happily stack off with one pair.

That's easy money.