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Hey Sportsfans — it's time for Week 4 of baseball's 2020 Power Rankings — Four weeks into the season and we've learned a lot: some teams win, some teams lose, and some don't play baseball at all. We solider on, trying to make sense of a season best described as 'baseball as viewed by a drunk Jake Peavy through a broken kaleidoscope'.
You may notice the Cardinals are being treated differently this week.
There was one tie this week between the #22 and #23 teams -- our 2nd tiebreaker, run differential, was used to break. Difference of just two runs!
Every voter has their own style / system and the only voting instructions are these:

"To an extent determined individually, you must take into account how strong a team is right now and likely to be going forward. You must, to some degree, give weight to the events and games of the previous week."

The auxiliary post with added data / fun can be seen here.
TRANSPARENCY: this link will show you who voted each team where and has added neat statistics!
If something is a little messed up, feel free to pester me let me know.
Total Votes: 29 of 30. So close.

#		Team	Δ	Comment	Record
1		Dodgers	+1	Ohhhhh Mooookieeee, when you caaame and you gaaave without taaakinnnng, and I need ya today ohhhh Mookie. I am in love. Hell, even AJ Pollock did the impossible, and won me over despite his 0 for everything playoffs last year. Now if only Cody could find himself... Here's the scary part: The Dodgers are rolling and they are nowhere near playing at their ceiling. If you can't beat this team while its firing on half its cylinders, how the hell do you beat them when they're firing on all of them?	11-5
2		Yankees	-1	Bit of a rough week for the Yankees, but the bats are still alive and well against pitchers I've never heard of. Everyone knows Judge leads the league in HR, but did you know DJ leads the league in Singles? Great to see him having a bit of a repeat from last season's performance. Additionally, Britton and Green have been fantastic out of the pen, and Chapman is going to be back at some point.	10-6
3		Athletics	+4	Mon. had a ten run W vs. the M's. Next was TEX- Piscotty hit the 2nd walk-off GS of our year then we finished a quick sweep. The HOU series opener was cursed- we had 15 LOBs, left a runner on 3rd with 0/1 outs 3 seperate times, but down to our last strike A. Allen hit a single and M. Semien sealed the game. Montas/Luzardo/Bassit were dynamic and our pen is the league's best. Our lineup might lead MLB in Ks, but we're second in BBs. Just before sweeping the cheats R. Laureano, worth 1 bWAR, got his 2nd HBP of the day. We lead the league in those. After jawing at the RP, he arrived at 1st base. Their batting coach, a human dirtbag, taunted our mvp into a brawl even if it was he worked for a club shamed by scandals and a HS JV quality bullpen.	12-4
4		Braves	0	Roller-coaster week for the Braves. We lost our ace for the season. We got Markakis back and Will Smith made his debut. Acuña quadrupled his homer total in one day and Freeman continues to hit. Still looking good for us, but we definitely need to make a move. Our bullpen is incredible, but this meme made by u/riseupidemic sums it up: Our bullpen is doing big things, but...	11-6
5		Twins	-2	We capped off a six game winning streak with a 4 game losing streak. Some were pretty flukey, but we really need the bats to wake up. Also, having three starters on the IL isn't ideal.	10-6
6		Cubs	0	The Cubs played well against the Royals, and then the Cardinals series was postponed. With no evidence that any Cardinals players actually went to a casino or broke protocol more than any other team, I believe that fans making moral judgments against the Cardinals are wrong. Perhaps we shouldn't blame teams for getting a deadly disease during a global pandemic; getting the coronavirus is not a moral indictment. Let's be better fans and better people as the world is falling apart.	10-3
7		Indians	+2	The Tribe pitching continues to dazzle - the rotation has put up a quality start in all but two games, one of which was 5.2 shutout innings. Meanwhile the bullpen has a sub-1 ERA if you take away a single nightmare outing by Brad Hand. The less said about the batting order the better, but there's no way they can rank dead last in BA and SLG all year, right guys? G-g-guys?	10-7
8		Rockies	+6	The Rockies have the 2nd best run differential in baseball going into Sunday's games due in large part to their starting pitching. Their offense has been middle of the pack so far but that's with Nolan Arenado hitting about as poor as we've ever seen from him. Charlie Blackmon is the early favorite for NL MVP as he racks up a .446/.475/.679 slash. Last week: 5-2. This week: 3 vs AZ & 3 vs Texas.	11-4
9		Rays	-1	A return to Dome Sweet Dome is what the Rays needed to right the ship, splitting the sox and winning a tight series with the Yankees. The bats still need to come around, you would think it'd be hard to stay ice cold in Florida and all. The most inspiring things for Rays fans this week were the retunr of Austin Meadows and having a non-Zunino catcher not only bat, but also get the clutch walkoff to send the Yanks home. Let us all pray Charlie Morton is ok and flap on.	8-8
10		Padres	+1	The Pads scored every one of their fourteen runs in the Arizona series by way of the long ball. We got to see Luis Pattiño in some relief after being called up, and saw Hos return to action. Fernando Tatis Jr. is very good at baseball. This week we started against the Dodgers, then played the D’Backs, while looking ahead we play the Dodgers, then have a series against the D’Backs…	9-7
11		Astros	-6	Our pitching is, for the most part, bad. Seriously, almost our entire bullpen is comprised of AA and A rookies with a handful of MLB appearances under their belt. When the pitching is not bad, our offense is bad and we can't provide enough run support. I've seen enough extra inning games this season. Hard to feel confident in the team right now, but hopefully the beginning of a homestand will turn things around.	6-9
12		White Sox	+1	Eloy getting tangled in the left field netting is going to be on lowlight reels for a long time and his 0-20 slide makes it worse. Thankfully, we're looking at a 4 day weekend with the Cards series in doubt. If you told the fanbase in the spring we would be 8-8 after 16 games, most would be happy. A week of the offense averaging 2.5 runs makes 8-8 feel a lot worse. On the plus side, Giolito has looked like an ace again and Moncada is on a 20 game on base streak.	8-8
13		Brewers	-1	Props to BeHereNow91 for stealing my lead in about Yelich this past week, short version Yelich is rocking a 1.400 OPS this week. A few other key players have been getting some really interesting BABIP stats. Hiura with his .333 BABIP and only .250 AVG and Gyorko with the .375 BABIP/.250 AVG split.	6-7
14		Reds	+2	It’s a special kind of hell having the best rotation in the entire league and the worst bullpen in the entire league. Yesterday’s loss was a microcosm of the season: leading 2-1 going into the 6th inning and trailing 9-2 by the end of the 7th. Michael Lorenzen has surrendered 10 earned runs in 5.1 innings while the combination of Gray, Bauer, Disco, and Mahle have allowed the same number in 64.1 innings. If you remove Tejay Antone’s stellar mopup job against Chicago, the Reds’ bullpen has an unfathomably bad 8.32 ERA. In other news, they’re batting .203 as a team and got shutout by the Indians two nights in a row.	7-9
15		Nationals	-5	The Nats did not respond well coming out of their break. They have played poorly against AL East power-team, the Baltmiore Orioles, and have not given a lot of reason for hope. However, Sean Doolittle is a national treasure and it is completely unacceptable to harass a human on Twitter for poor sports performance. If you logged into your account and tweeted or DM'd Doo, you should be ashamed of yourself and turn in your World Series gear because you don't deserve it.	4-7
16		Mets	+4	This was an interesting week. Just when you think the Mets are in freefall they come back, and go 4-2, including taking 2 of 3 from "The Best Team in the League" (technically, at the time) Miami Marlins. On top of that Conforto is swinging a hot bat, the team has scored a couple of actual runs, and deGrom even got a win (two in a row!). However, Alonso is quickly turning into Adam Dunn with a better (at times) glove, and the bullpen is still shaky despite Jared Hughes being the bright spot nobody saw coming. Well, what's see what this next week brings... together :) #GiménezNLROY2020	7-9
17		Phillies	0	The Phillies didn't have all that bad of a week all things considered. After a week long break, they split a series with the Yankees and went 1-2 against the Braves. Harper and Realmuto have looked great, and the introduction of Spencer Howard a better (?) Arrieta means the Phillies might just have a servicable rotation. The bullpen is a different story. If they can somehow put together a not terrible bullpen, they should have a shot at the playoffs and maybe some more.	4-6
18		Marlins	+9	What this team has been able to do with a bunch of replacement players is a testament to the coaching staff Miami has. Primarily, the bullpen. We may have even found a couple diamonds in the rough. That being said, replacement batters havent fared as well. After some initial success, solid Mets pitching has shown that the lineup sorely misses Ramirez, Rojas, Cooper and Alfaro at the plate. Once our guys come back from covid, this team should be able to finish out tough games like yesterdays. Wouldnt be a surprised to see them finish at or slightly above .500 this season. We got Blue jays and Braves this week.	7-3
19		Tigers	+6	Don't look now, but Detrot is one half game off the lead for the AL Central, making these boys rather tough to rank. If the Tigers can continue to be competitive, look to find Casey Mize getting the call sooner rather than later to help shore up the back end of the rotation. This week: 3 vs. CWS, 2 vs STL (although this is unlikely), and 3 vs. CLE.	8-5
20		Orioles	+4	It's week 4 and the Orioles are at .500. A miracle if you ask me. They get swept by the Marlins (probably to avoid COVID) and then should have swept the Nats. Can anyone explain to me why the Yankees got a rain shortened win earlier this year and the Orioles have their game suspended? Weird...	7-7
21		Angels	-3	Sometimes, a single play captures a season perfectly.	5-11
22		Rangers	0	Wear a mask. Wash your hads. Started the weekend with the worst record in the AL, now 2nd place in the AL West with a playoff spot after a sweep of the Angels and still 2 games below .500. That's the Rangers way.	6-8
23		Blue Jays	-7	The Buffalo Blue Jays are finally going home! The first MLB game at Sahlen field will take place on Tuesday, and the migratory birds will be able to settle in. Hopfully it will lead to the bats waking up. The Jays have been the 5th worst hitting team in baseball by wRC+, posting a pitiful line of .218/.277/.366. Good thing the pitching has been good.	5-8
24		Giants	-3		7-10
25		Red Sox	-2	Decent week for the Sox this time around. Our pitching staff came to play for once, however with impeccable timing the offense decided to disappear for a bit, leaving us with a respectable 3-2 record for the week. Of note is Verdugo, who had a standout game against Toronto with 2 HRs as well as robbing one from off of none other than Former-Red-Sock Travis Shaw. Calling it now, Verdugo 2022 AL MVP	6-9
26		D-Backs	-6	D-backs continue to underperform their talent level as their streaky offense can't buoy a terrible, no-good pitching staff. MadBum hasn't looked like himself all year and is currently being evaluated for back issues in Phoenix, while Ray is as frustrating as ever. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly have looked legitimately fantastic, but it's hard to get by on two good starting pitching performances a week.	6-10
27		Royals	+1	A winning streak and a sweep of the Twins? Really? That just happened? While Brad Keller helps the rotation, and getting rid of Jorge Lopez helps any pitching staff, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. This is still a rebulding team, and while the sudden show of competence is nice, the Royals are not suddenly going to contend for the postseason. Unless Lopez was that fucking useless...	7-10
28		Mariners	-2	Justus Sheffield claimed his first career win this past week. Another bright light in a ridiculous season. Once baseball returns for real, the Mariners should be a force to reckon with as the new guys are looking fantastic. Evan White's glove is a beautiful thing.	6-11
29		Pirates	0	D̷̥̗̬͇͕̗͕̙̱̪̄̈́̆̃̔̂͆̍̆̒̓͛̑͝ȩ̶̣̞̣̻͈̲̰͉̰̪̏͛̅̅̈́͑̉̅̓̌̊͒͠͠a̵̡̡̙͚̭͕̳͕̖͔̫̪̘̐̓̿ͅr̸̡̧̢̙̞̤͙͍̭͕̦͙͈̀̍͋͋͜ͅ ̴̡̗̲̗͍̣̞̝̤̜̱̑͆͊͂͂̽̋̒̾͘̕͜T̴͈̝̥͚͂͘̚ẁ̶̢͎̱͈̳̘̜̙͆͐̈́͂͐̈́̔͊̂̕͠i̷̩̩̹̫̫̾́͌́̿͂̑͐͋͝͝n̶̡̧̠̘̝̟͔̩̫̩͈̰̍̔̽̈́̈́̕̚s̸͔̖̈́̈̇̐͘̚ͅ ̷̛͓͙̙͇͔̯̻̟͓̣̫͖͖͈͗̍̂͂͌̔̈́̽͊̐͋͒̇̕ͅǎ̴̢͎̪͇̬͔̻̼̯̀̀̋͂ͅn̵̳̩̰̠̱̳̯͕͊̔͐̿͛̇̊́̄͂͝d̵̡̹͓̣̺̪̦̺̗͊̈́͌̃̈́̆ͅ ̴̡̗̮̤̣͙̗̰̗̊͂͊̑̍͊̒̀̚͝T̵͇͍̯̄̑̈͛͗̉̅͂i̷̩̱̇̈́̈́g̴̡̧̣͈̪͉̹͈̞̺̜͖͕͇͋͐͒̿̚͝ͅe̷̮͊̌̈̃̔̂̇̊͌͘͜͝r̶̨̛̛̭̺͉͎͍̘̗͊̎̀͗͛̍͌́͊̉͒s̴̫̭͍͉̠̰̙̍̈́̋̕͝:̴̡̨͚̭̥͉͖͎͍̪͖͙͚̝͓̀̈́͂̄̌̾̒̂ ̶̨̢̢̫̱͉̣̥͈̈́T̸̡̧̢̩̖̼͈̮̙̟̬̹͕̈́̈̎͗͘͝h̵̢̥̳̣͔̜͈̝͎͎́̎̂̊́a̸̧̻̝̪̝͎̙̟͕̬̾͐̌̎̕ṅ̸̛͇̲̻͍̦͙̏̓͊̉̀͆̓̽̓̿̕k̵͍̳̰͉͑̑̊͌̆̃͒̚͠͝ ̶̛̱̮͈̙͖̫̉́͛̔̄͒̾͐͐̀̏͝ͅy̷̧̛̻̬͉̤̥͔̩̼̲͊̂̅͜ͅo̵͇̬͔̣̼̰̟̐̑͒̽͒̐̀̕̕ͅṷ̶̧̧̢̬̳͕̙̖̺̫̹̮̤̪̈́̌͂̒̔̽̉͂̅̇̕ ̶͇̻͓̱̘͔͚̙͙̟̉̋́̽͑̈́͌ͅͅf̵̛̮̈́͗͛̔̉̕͝ó̸̢̞̲͕̫̳͈͙͙̎̀̕͜͜ŕ̶̨͉̞̠̠̤̳̯̻̱̬̩̻̽̇̄̀̒̈͊̈͛͊ ̵̧̢̙̝͎͚̙̩̺̥̙̱̝̈͛̒̅̓̎͠ͅh̵̯̄̍͊e̷͍̗̞̬̪̣͙̦͇̲̓̈́̾̀̃̑́̽̀͌̀̍̚͝ͅl̵͈͖̰̭͐̂͑͝͠p̵̠͌͌̇͗̅į̷̨̡̱̻̭̮͖͗͐͗́͜͠ͅn̸̢̨̛̟̯̫̦̰̻̘̠̻̗̯g̸̢̥̯͊́̅͗̈́̉̇̿̈́͝ ̵̛̜̮̮̲̝͊́̀̄̈́̏̑͒͘͠t̴̤̥̓̐̾̄ḩ̴͖̼̞͔̱̦͎̞͆̇̋͆́͛́̓͘͝͝ė̷̛̥̠̏͌̎͗̀͒̃̓́̚͠ ̵̧͍̦͖̯͛̊̽͛͆̅͂̔̒́̇̿͘P̴̝̭̬̬̣̿̾͒̈́͌́̈í̵̡̭̠͈̦͕͕͓͚̲̓͋̎̈́͊̈̊̍̇͗͒̉͘͝t̶̢̨̡̩͚̖͇͍͍̥͈̀̒̀́̒͊̐̎͝t̶͍̪͚̻̭͍̩̼̮̰̺͌ş̵̨̠̮̱͔̪͕̜͎̻̳̱̆̇̈́̄͝͝͠b̸̡̮̝̯̗̥͋̓̾̃̈́u̵̳͂͌̈́͛̽̀̈́̾͝͝r̴͇̲̟̓̃̿͌̇̍̈͘͝͠ǧ̴̝̯̲̙̠̜̲̱͋͌h̷̢̢̡̛̬̹͈̠̰̼̼̭̤̹͂̑͗̂̌̈́̇͘͝ ̶̱̪̝̦̭̮͙̮̬͊P̸̢̤͈̰̠̟̹͕̐͂̋̃̌͌̓͝͠í̸̢͚̟͇̣̏̾̌ŗ̵̲͙͓͇͖̝̳̻̖̔̑̂̏̂̕͝ä̵͕̱̤̝̥̪͇̮͙̖́̑͒̈́͐ț̴̢̛̛͉͈̪̙̜̖͍͔͉͂̃̓̈́͛͒̋̆̈́͜͜ͅe̶͈̠̔̄̈́̐͒s̵̜͙͖͉̪̝̘̼̏̇̋̃͋̏͗̍̍͊̓͊̕̕ ̴̨̯̯̭̻͚͈̜̯̺̤̗̂͊͂̊̂̓̾̆̔͑̌̈́̕͝ồ̵̡̨̝̬͈̮̲̲̥́̽̆͂̅̓̽̄̈́̕̚͠͝ͅn̶̲͉͍̞̍̀̓̌̿͆͂̅̄̀̀̃͠͝ͅ ̷̳͖̭̤͓̹̞͚͉̥͔̟̱̣̍̂̽͜t̸̨̥̣̪͚̘̻͔̳̠̲̦̺̰͐̀̿̂͌̅͝ḥ̶̛͍͙̗͎̪̬̱̰̙̄͛̌͋̋ẻ̶͍̦͖̥͎͆́́͂̈́̚ͅḯ̸̢̜̖̖͍̭̙̱̙̘̫̙̂͑̀͒̓ͅr̷̼̯̗̙̞̼̄̈́ ̶̡̨̳͔̦̂̾̈͑͝͝ͅq̴̡̛̙͕̺̗̪̜͇͉͕̱̟̩̊͌̈́̐́̔͐̓͌́͛̈̏͝u̴̡̥͓͍̭̿̀̆̃̃̎̓̽̓͊̓͝͠ę̷͓̗͈͚͙̒̎͌͘̕s̶̡̝̮͚̜̣͚͇̖̭͖̓̈́̃̔͊̿͗̓̚̕ͅͅt̸̻̝̜̺̺̳͍̜͎̹͖̔̎̏̓̃̇̀̀̏̚̚ ̴̧̳̱̣̯͓̗̞̰̻̆͂̆̍̂͑̀͐̃̈̌͋̾͆͜f̵̣̻̝̹̖̱͍̂̽ơ̴̡̛͖̝̮͕̜̞̣̤̩̜̦̜̑̅̉͒̿̋̆̉͠r̸̨̙̹͚̰̣͓͐͆̋͆̓͂̆̃̓̃͂͛̌̿̃ ̸̢̨̙͓̱̫̯͉͙̘̙͙̻͇͆K̶͉̲̞̪̮̜̤͉͉̗̖̿̆́̂̀̄̍́͑ͅͅų̴̜͇͕͔̲̺̭͍̩͗̾̉̊̀̊̆̚ṃ̵̧̡̢̣̞̮͇͓̱̥̹̒̈ͅͅą̵͖̞̖̼̣̠̤̥̪͚͋͌̀̽̋͝r̵̢͚̬̺̍͒̂̒̽̏͝ͅ ̸̮̀̄̐̀͊̿̋͂͌̆̈̕͝R̷̡̨̬͚͙̫̻̱͍̬̭̅̿͒͋͒́̿̇̆̕ǫ̵̨̖̗̳͍̹͉̤̘̯̣͕͊̔̈̍̏͋̊͐̅͛͝ͅc̶͖̪̙̣̲̤̖͚̠̹̖̳̞͙̏̅̐͜ḵ̷̢̨̘̙̹͕̠̙͍̳͙̠͙͒͒̅̒ͅe̸̢̻̦̮̻͌̉̄̉̀̎̇́̇̽̑̓͂ŗ̴̗͙̲̝̱̠̭͙͕̮̯̱͠	3-13

N/A, Quarantined Rank: 17||Cardinals|-2| 5 games lul |2-3

Yes, I know what you're all thinking.. how many of these stupid posts am I going to see. Why can't these freakin kids just read the subreddit wiki or the past posts...
Lol yes, I have done both of these things and even played online poker a few years back. I'm only playing NL Holdem and am going to be playing pretty low/micro stakes at 1/2 cent or maybe 5/10 cent max. My real reasoning here is that I just took a pretty helpful poker course and would like to practice the techniques and feel more comfortable to use this at lower (softer) online stakes before I play more casually in my local casinos and in vegas. Also, I am in the US but my state of residence is a "grey area" state so unfortunately no WSOP or Pokerstars websites. As for the wiki page it is very helpful but some sites like Global Poker are not even on there. The old posts (that are somewhat recent) are relatively helpful when they aren't extremely biased and start teaming up on certain websites. Basically I want to get a comprehensive taste of what your opinions are. The more opinions the better :)
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I really would like to devote my time on one website. My ideal website to focus would encompass hopefully most of these rules:

1. The site works in the US “grey area” states (so 888, Pokerstars, and WSOP are out of the question)
2. Has decently soft low/micro stakes. (I don't expect fish everywhere, but something not incredibly tough)
3. Doesn't have any issues in terms of money going in and out and allows for crypto deposits/withdrawals.
4. No true evidence of a lot of bots or collusion going on.
5. Lively cash games (although I might dabble in some tournaments)

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Here are some things that I would like to see but aren't really mandatory:

1. I would like to use PokerTracker 4 HUD if possible, but it’s not a dealbraker.
2. A decent deposit bonus and rake back would be appreciated but again its not the end of the world if they dont
3. I would like a decently stable software that doesn't have so many holes in it and constant crashes.

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***PLEASE don’t just say a site name. Give me an explanation too! Pretend like I’m a huge noob (which I am).
Thank you for all of your help! I've heard good things between Global (which I’m still not sure if this is just one website?), ACR and Ignition.. but these are just a few to name. Let me know of any and please give reasoning! I appreciate it so much!

This is taken from his guide on the forum. Highly recommend for anyone who's new to live/casino poker. He and the other 2 players at this year Main Event Final Table are the ambassador that we need to make poker fun again.
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I'm crossposting this from the HUNL forum, but I wrote a brief summary of live poker; some of you may find it interesting and/or (in)accurate.
Rumnchess's Guide to Live Poker
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART VIII - IntroductionPART XI - Attitude & EtiquettePART XIII - General StrategyPART XV - Bankroll Guidelines (an extremely short section)PART XVII - Player Profiles (quite long by contrast)PART XXIII - Conclusion
PART VIII: Introduction
Live poker is my bread and butter. It has been one of my favorite pasttimes for the last five years of my life, and will always remain so. Along with golf, fine dining, and women, live poker constitutes one of the four core pillars of my life. Over the past few months, I have experienced a period of extraordinarily erratic, and for the most part tumultuous, results in online poker. The advent of heads up superturbos has been particularly disruptive to my confidence, state of mind, and bankroll. Nonetheless, my live results have remained consistently good. I consider live poker my best form of poker, not only relative to the respective fields, but in absolute level of skill. Perhaps just as important as my results, I love everything that live poker has to offer: easily attainable food and beverages, chip shuffling tricks, and an incredibly social and lively atmosphere. Through live poker I have attained an internship with a day trading firm in New York, and free business class flights for the next year. The opportunities for conversation and networking are plentiful, and the live poker world encompasses a fascinating crossection of society. Rarely do such a diverse group of individuals come together. Everyone from min-buying truck drivers to lawyers to wealthy Middle East businessmen can be found at the poker table. To my knowledge, the plethora of people you meet in a cardroom have only one thing in common: they are all notoriously poor players.
PART XI: Attitude & Etiquette
It is extremely important to approach a casino poker game with the correct attitude. Often I see online players who are new to live cardrooms walk into a game with an attitude that is not only harmful to themselves, but to the overall quality of the game. Berating poor card players is not only disrespectful, but is extremely harmful to your bottom line. It is imperative to treat your opponents with respect, and in particular, you should often make an effort to befriend the poor players. Of course if a guy at the table is acting like a complete *******, I will make no effort to be friendly towards him, but at the same time, I will typically avoid being rude towards him, unless absolutely necessary. It is important, however, to make a distinction between your conduct as a person and your conduct as a competitor.
Conduct as a person: Your conduct as a person is the way you act in conversation, your demeanor towards others, and also the way you respect the ettiqute of the game. If I see somebody slow roll another player or try to angleshoot, in my eyes this speaks towards their character as a person, and not their character as a card player or a competitor. There are some exceptions: sometimes a guy who is clearly a novice will take a long time to roll his hand on the river, or make a string bet. Here he is just inexperienced and unfamiliar with the code of the game. It should be fairly obvious to you who is simply new to the sport, and who is deliberately trying to take advantage of their opponents by use of non-poker tactics.
Conduct as a competitor: While I am extremely friendly to my opponents in conversation, etc., I am a ruthless beast as a poker player. If I think a guy wants to avoid playing big pots, I will relentlessly three-bet him in position. Sometimes I will reraise him on each of his first three opens while we are both at the table. This often frustrates and even angers your opponents, but its completely within the ettiquette of the game, and says nothing about your character as a person. Ideally, I want my opponents to like me as a person, but fear me, or dislike me as a card player.
Etiquette:

1. If the dealer asks you to go to the cage to buy your chips, comply. Every card room has a different process (and in most you can buy chips right at the table), and the last thing you want to do is get off to a bad start with the dealer. Bad karma.2. If a dealer makes a ruling that you disagree with in a hand that you are involved in, do not be silent. Ask to speak to a supervisor, and explain your case clearly and concisely. Be as polite as possible, but be firm.3. Always make your big chips visible. Nothing irks me more than when I think a guy has a $500 stack and he is hiding a tower of black chips behind his red chips.4. String betting is not allowed in any casino I’ve been to. Either announce the amount of your bet or raise, or make sure you bet in one clear motion.5. Tip the dealers when you win a pot of any decent size. My rule of thumb would be that a tip is not necessary for a pot of $40 or less, but for anything beyond that $1 will suffice. I typically tip $2 when I win a pot of $400 or more, and $5 when I win a really huge pot.6. Tip the cocktail waitress $1 when you get a drink.

PART XIII: General Strategy
Before I get into specific player types, I’ll list of general adjustments to make when transitioning from internet poker to the live arena.

1. Raise bigger preflop. You can get away with raising to 5x or 6x (sometimes even more, depending on the table), because people will call you with the same or greater frequency that they would call a 3x raise online.2. 3bet less frequently. Your edge on the table should be so big that you want to play large pots with deep stack to pot ratios. You also typically want to keep the bigger fish in the pot. Obviously if you are playing at a table of loose fish who will call very wide, it is okay to three bet a reasonably wide value range, but generally, I try to avoid 3betting trash, except against the nitty guys who want to avoid playing big pots.3. Overbet more often. Live players are notoriously unaware of the size of the pot, and of the correct sizings of bets in relation to the size of the pot. A player will typically think more about the actual dollar amount you’re betting than the amount relative to the pot. You will often see opponents make absurd bets like $50 into a $500 pot. As a good player, born and bred on the internet, you should be able to control the size of the pot and determine the correct betting amount in a given situation. Do not be afraid to bet $600 into $400 if you have a big hand, believe your opponent to be reasonably strong, and perceive him as the type who doesn’t care too much about money.4. Play suited junk. As heads up players, most of you should feel in your element here. I advocate playing hands like K4s and Q7s in a live game, particularly if the pots are multi-way. Stacks tend to be deeper in a live game, so your implied odds are greater. Most pots in a live game will be multiway, with poor players who allow you to dictate the size of the pot post flop. Flushes and straights are like jackpots in a live game.

Part XV: Bankroll Guidelines:
I tend to not worry too much about my bankroll because I consider my winrate to be extremely high in these games, and am just a general degenerate. But in general, you need far fewer buy ins to be properly rolled for a live game than you would online. I like to buy into a live game for 200 bbs, and I think that having a roll of 10 such buy ins would be plenty. Keep in mind you are only one tabling, and seeing far fewer hands. Not only that but your winrate per hand should be at least triple what it would be online. $10,000 should be plenty to play 2/5 live.
PART XVII: Player Profiles
It would be extremely time consuming to identify and describe each of the many different player types you will encounter at the poker tables. Therefore, I have chosen five different player profiles that I believe will provide a solid framework for the type of creatures we are dealing with. In parentheses, I’ll indicate that player’s corresponding play style.
The Businessman’s Son (LAG)
Description: Usually Lebanese or Middle Eastern (though they can be Greek, or from other parts of the world), the businessman’s son is a party animal with a seemingly limitless budget. Typically single, under the age of thirty, and comes with an air of sheer and utter lack of responsibility.
Plumage: Designer shirts, designer jeans, expensive jewelry, crocodile shoes.
Poker Style / How to Adjust: The BMS is not afraid to put money in the pot. He comes to play, and he doesn’t like folding. Not only that, but he is almost always accompanied by a couple of cronies, and is sure to try to impress them by showing bluffs, scooping large pots, and being the center of action and attention. As such, the BMS is extremely loose both preflop and post flop, and will often employ tactics such as large unnecessary overbets, merely designed to display his true indifference to money.
3bet a reasonably wide value range vs. this player, but never 3bet as a bluff. Don’t worry if your image is rock tight, you will still get action when you 3bet AA vs. this player. BMS’s have a fold to 3bet of about 1.8%, a decision they usually only make when they are receiving an important phone call on their blackberry. If you have a strong hand, and perceive the BMS to be weak, it can often be correct to trap this player. Even a BMS will sometimes throw away their total air to a flop check/raise, but they will rarely slow down if you check/call. While you will get action from the BMS regardless, it can be helpful to build up a slightly looser image, perhaps even attacking them early, as they will develop a need to personally show you up in the future. It is considered advantageous to show a BMS a bluff for this reason.
Old Man Coffee (TP)
Description: If you never play poker between the hours of 7AM and 8PM, don’t bother looking for old man coffee; he’s at his home, likely sleeping. Usually between the ages of 55 and 90, old man coffee shows up to his local poker game on a strict routine. Some OMC’s are daily grinders, others only show up on Tuesday. But every OMC has a strict poker schedule that he follows and incorporates into his weekly routine. The OMC arrives looking fresh and ready for action. He quietly sits into his favorite seat, pulls out a newspaper, and orders a coffee, black. He rarely displays much emotion, and avoids conversation, unless it is about a violation of the rules, in which case he leaps into action and displays his authority on the matter. Every dealer and supervisor in the casino is on a first name basis with the OMC.
Plumage: Weathered flannel shirts, warn out khakis, bland sweaters, goofy straw hats (more successful OMCs, such as Dan Harrington, have even been spotted with baseball caps)
Poker Style / How to Adjust: The OMC is completely positionally unaware and completely unaware of his opponents. He knows that KJ is a limping hand, so he limps it under the gun, and he limps it on the button. OMC’s generally play tight, and when they do raise (even on the button), you can be sure it’s one of seven possible hands (AA,KK,QQ,JJ,TT,AK,AQ). While Some OMC’s protest raising AQ and TT, most have come to understand that these are acceptable raises in today’s poker environment. Postflop, an OMC will rarely slowplay a big hand, and will often even lead into a multiway field when he flops a set. If an OMC comes out firing big, back off. If he comes out firing small, this is often representative of a middling made hand like middle pair or top pair, weak kicker. It’s often a good time to try to get the OMC off his hand. OMC’s pride themselves on being able to fold hands - they consider it a skill they have honed through decades of poker experience. For this reason, you should almost always try to make an OMC fold his hand by the river if you have reason to believe he is not very strong.
OMCs are weak prey that a professional poker player can eat up for consistent small gains. While you will rarely win large pots form an OMC, you can win many small ones. OMCs are easy to manipulate by simply altering your bet sizing. Often you will arrive at the river in a $180 pot vs. an OMC. You know from experience, that he has top pair, weak kicker here. You also know that he will begrudgingly call a $100 bet, and you know that he will fold to a $150 bet. It’s very simple: bet $100 when you have a hand that wants to be called, and bet $150 when you are bluffing. It sounds too good to be true, but with the OMC, that is the beauty of his game. His decisions are mechanical and predictable. Even if he were perceptive enough to alter his decisions based on his opponent type, he is too stubborn. Raised by a strict father in a household where rules were rules, the OMC was never given enough freedom to actively develop an imagination or any sort of creative thought of his own.
The Middle Aged Guy With Everything To Prove (A mix)
Description: Often from New Jersey, the MAGWEP owns a small business, and he can’t wait to tell everyone around him about its success. In reality, MAGWEPs almost always earn between 35 and 100k per year. The MAGWEP is happily married, as you can see by obnoxiously large wedding band displayed around his ring finger. The MAGWEP loves to talk strategy; rather, the MAGWEP loves to tell you how you misplayed a hand. When he gets sucked out on, the MAGWEP always lets out some sort of verbal declaration, and then often bangs the table and gives the dealer some sort of dirty look. MAGWEPs cannot stand young internet poker players; they are subconsciously aware of their own inferiority in skill to these players, and are threatened by the seemingly reckless attitudes of their competitors. When a young internet player sits down at a poker table, a look of concern appears very briefly on the face of a MAGWEP, but not long enough for anybody to notice. This look will disappear quickly, and the MAGWEP will refer to the internet player as “kid” for the rest of the session, announcing his dominance. MAGWEPs always appear to be more interested in sports than they really are (they are interested, but not obsessed, as they try to convey), and often try to converse with the other players about the table about the future of their football team. Generally, but not always, it could be said that MAGWEP’s have some form of need to assert their masculinity, which can often be attributed to physical deficiencies in certain areas.
Plumage: Working man’s jeans, sweatshirts (often emblazoned with the logo of their son’s university), baseball caps.
Poker Style / How to Adjust: MAGWEP’s can range from being reasonably tight to quite loose, but they are almost always aggressive. They understand the basic theory that raising is better than limping in, and have incorporated it into their game. They are even somewhat positionally aware, and would do things like raise 76s on the button, something an OMC would never dream of doing. MAGWEPs tend to get waaaaaaaay too attached to premium starting hands, and are often even guilty of overplaying AK on whiffed flops. Flop a set when a MAGWEP has aces, and the money is all yours, no matter what.
MAGWEPs give away several very obvious tells. The most noticeable one is when a MAGWEP is involved in a hand, and he has check/called a bet on the flop, and then the turn falls. The MAGWEP will look his opponent right in the eyes, and then he will check the table so viciously that it might even startle some of the other players. When the MAGWEP does this, you can be damn sure that he has a marginal to strong, but not super strong, made hand. Occasionally he will have a semi-strong draw in this spot too. The MAGWEP is essentially trying to intimidate his opponent into keeping the pot small by checking behind. He feels that his eye contact and intense slamming of the felt will do so. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether or not to continue with a bluff in spots like these. On the one hand, the MAGWEP doesn’t want to fold, but on the other hand, he knows that you know that he is pretending to be committed to showing his hand down, so he may feel that you won’t bluff him here (the MAGWEP does have some poker smarts). My advice would be go with recent history: if you have a crazy animal image, now would be a good spot to cut your losses, but if you’ve been reasonably tight thus far, try to take it away from him.
The Internet Kid (LAG/TAG)
Description: While you will find “internet kids” of all descriptions playing live poker from time to time, the most common one I see is the 1-2 NL grinder. The kind of guy that plays 6-8 tables 15-20 hours a week online, and, when he sits in a live game, thinks he is God’s gift to poker. Often wearing a backwards hat and a smug grin. Typically enters the casino with two or three of his buddies, one of whom is almost certainly a novice poker player. While generally congenial and easy going, the internet kid can get extremely defensive when his poker skills are brought into question.
Plumage: Jeans, polo shirts, Birkenstocks, hooded sweatshirts, watches in the $100-500 price range, sometimes sunglasses.
Poker Style / How to Adjust: The IK tends to be tight aggressive, while some more brazen varieties are loose aggressive. He is positionally aware and willing to mix up his game and play creatively. While the IK will make quite a bit of money from the fish in the game, an experienced and aware opponent can profit quite nicely from the IK by putting him in spots that he is uncomfortable. If you are seated to the left of an IK, both flat and 3bet him relentlessly, and establish your presence as table captain. You want to be the one playing multiway pots against fish, and when he opens the pot, he cuts into your win rate. Figure out what kind of IK he is: some will buy in for 50 or 80 big blinds and play a scared money style, others are overly bold and bluff happy. Focus much of your people reading skills on figuring out exactly how the IK plays (it will be incredibly obvious to obtain this information on the other players at the table). Also try to figure out how the IK perceives you: unlike the other player types, the IK will actually be capable of adjusting his play based on your play and your dynamic with him. Do everything you can to take the IK out of his comfort zone: show him bluffs, own him with overbets for value, etc. etc.
Keep in mind that some more inexperienced IKs can actually be good opponents to have at the table: they will play a straightforward style, and their ranges will be very obvious. Study the IK at great length, and even go out of your way to make eye contact when you get involved in pots with him - this will often make him uneasy and you will be able to pick up physical tells. Remember, the IK is used to hiding behind a computer screen, and is not necessarily socially adjusted or in solid control of his emotions and body language.
The Friendly Whale (LP)
Description: We save the best for last. The Friendly Whale is an icon in any live poker game - there’s almost certainly sure to be at least one at every table. Some of my best friends in the poker world are friendly whales, and most are between the ages of forty and fifty-five. Not only do FWs consistently give me large sums of money, they also tend to be accomplished, interesting, and conversational people. And the best part about them is that they don’t care when they lose, so there are no hard feelings, or awkward moments when your hour long conversation is interrupted only to have you win $1,000 off them. Friendly whales come in many shapes and sizes, but tend to be middle aged businessmen with successful business ventures or other forms of employment. Despite being the poorest card player I have profiled, the FW is arguably the most life successful type, and is the envy of MAGWEPs worldwide.
Plumage: Business casual: dress shoes, khakis and casual/dress shirts. More conservative FWs may sport a blazer or slacks.
Poker Style / How to Adjust: FWs are the loose passive fish that poker players dream of. Recreational players who enjoy the thrill of the game, FWs rarely miss a flop with any two cards that have even the remotest of similarities to each other. The beauty of the FW is that he is eager and willing to call large bets, but will rarely bet or raise himself without an extremely powerful hand. It is therefore extremely easy to bet/fold extremely strong hands on the river against an FW, as he may well call you with fourth pair but would be unlikely to raise you without the nuts. Value bet, value bet, value bet. Often you can get three streets of value out of 2nd pair, top kicker vs. an FW. If you have a huge hand, consider overbetting for value, and also consider incorporating some overbet bluffs into your arsenal (even an FW can fold a hand to significant pressure, but try to feel the situation out and use this move sparingly). If an FW is in the pot, you should not be looking for an excuse to play a hand, but rather looking for an excuse not to. Mix in some overlimps with your weakest hands, and make small to medium raises with your suited connector type stuff, and bigger raises with your pure value hands. Nobody at the table will notice when you make it 6x with AA and 4x with Jts - remember, you are trying to accomplish two different things with these two hands, and so it would make sense to adjust your raise sizes accordingly. When you make a very strong nut type hand, and believe the FW to be reasonably strong, hammer the pot with large bets and raises. Do not be scared of frightening the FW off, if he likes his hand, he will stay in almost no matter the price. FWs favorite thing to say after making a bad call, usually accompanied by a chuckle and a smile, is “well at least I can sleep at night”. FWs are wonderful people, great for the game, and fantastic for your bottom line.
PART XXIII: Conclusion
Live poker is the nuts. You get to sit at a table with interesting people from around the world, and hear their life stories. You hear married men ***** about their wives, and listen to Norweigan businessmen who have played 100,000 euro pots. You experience a general sense of comraderie that cannot be replicated in the online arena. I advise you this: do not judge a person’s character by the way he plays cards. Even the biggest whales in the world can be fascinating, interesting and successful people. Take time to soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the full experience of playing live: winning money will take care of itself.

“Risk factors” for corporations typically include things such as increased foreign competition, changing consumer behavior, or perhaps the odd natural disaster.
But mass shootings have become so commonplace that some companies are now including them in the business risk sections of their annual reports. The SEC mandates that all companies detail the factors that might make an investment in the company risky.
In its past two annual reports, Caesars Entertainment noted that “visitation to Las Vegas also declined following the mass shooting tragedy on October 1, 2017.”
And Wynn Resorts included the following paragraph: “Furthermore, the attack in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 underscores the possibility that large public facilities could become the target of mass shootings or other attacks in the future. The occurrence or the possibility of attacks could cause all or portions of affected properties to be shut down for prolonged periods, resulting in a loss of income; generally reduce travel to affected areas for tourism and business or adversely affect the willingness of customers to stay in or avail themselves of the services of the affected properties; expose us to a risk of monetary claims arising from death, injury or damage to property caused by any such attack; and result in higher costs for security and insurance premiums, all of which could adversely affect our results.” Interestingly MGM Resorts International, the owner of Mandalay where the Las Vegas shooting took place, did not include it in their risk factors, but did include it in their legal proceedings section.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Del Taco Restaurants, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, and Stratus Properties have all added active-shooter situations to the “risk factors” sections of their annual reports this year.
Del Taco, a California-based restaurant chain said “terrorist attacks or an active shooter could have a material adverse effect on consumer spending,” in its March filing. Dave & Buster’s, a Dallas-based entertainment and dining chain cited acts of violence, “including active shooter situations” could cause customers to avoid their stores, which would adversely affect their business.
The number of fatalities continues to rise from mass shootings, including two incidents over the weekend killing 31 victims. One mass shooting that took 22 lives occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Walmart does not list gun violence, active shooters, or mass shootings in its risk factors section. It does mention such geo-political circumstances as war and terrorist attacks as many publicly traded companies do.
Like other catastrophes, both natural and man-made, so much of mass gun violence is random. “These things are difficult because you don’t know where it’s going to happen,” says Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “It’s societal. It’s something that almost everyone is aware of as a risk factor. It’s beyond the control of the company.”
Every company has risks. And the Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies to disclose to investors the significant factors that make an investment in the company’s offerings speculative or risky, according to Laura Richman, a corporate and securities attorney at Chicago law firm Mayer Brown, whose specialties include corporate governance and SEC disclosures. Risk factors aren’t supposed to be generic, according to the SEC rule, but specific to a particular company.
When it comes to mass shootings, there are some companies that may be more susceptible than others because of the industry they’re in, Richman notes. Publicly traded companies that operate stores, restaurants, movie theaters, concert venues, hotels and casinos—places where large numbers of people gather—may decide gun violence poses a noteworthy risk to their investors if an incident occurs and customers no longer feel comfortable going to their venues.
For companies that make or sell guns, there could be concern about publicity from mass shootings damaging corporate reputation or resulting in a legislative response that restricts sales. As the largest general retailer and a gun seller, Walmart falls under both of these scenarios. CEO Doug McMillon is surely grappling with this position. He wrote an Instagram post yesterday saying: “We’ll be thoughtful and deliberate in our responses, and will act in a way that reflects our best values and ideals, focused on the needs of our customers, associates, and communities.”
Despite the irrational and random nature of mass shooting perpetrators, the tragedy over the weekend in El Paso, could motivate Walmart, along with other large merchandisers, to start adding language around mass shootings to their risk factors section in next year’s disclosures. “I think that’s quite possible to the extent that if some companies start doing it, other companies may also choose to do it,” says Richman.

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* More Details Here

First and foremost, here is a landscape screenshot of the HUD I programmed via mobile Excel and have been using for the past year and a half in L.A. casinos with great success. It has earned me roughly $48/hr playing the $3/5 NL holdem games in L.A. over about a 1,000 hour sample. I'd estimate my expected EV is running right about average, and this winrate will look the same (give or take $5/hr over 10,000 or 100,000 hours). I take some credit for being an on-and-off player, but consistent winner since I learned the game at 18 (I'm 31 now). But this HUD has a lot to do with my winrate being where it is, and frankly keeping me from being bored to tears playing live poker for the past 18 months or so.
As are many of you, I'm a former U.S. online player who stepped away from poker after Black Friday turned my world upside down back in 2011 (Full Tilt, thanks for everything). I've had a few decent, middle of the road analyst-type jobs since and have recently left my last one to pursue my Master's degree. While doing so, I have been playing live poker seriously to cover living expenses and supplement my income.
Early on around the spring of last year, I realized that the biggest obstacle I had in adjusting to live poker, especially after 4 years away from the game where I was used to 16-tabling at FTP, was managing the slow crawl of being dealt 18-25 hands per hour of NL holdem. This was a far cry from the 700-900 hands per hour I was used to from my online days. However, to compensate for the slow drip of cards to work with in live games, I noticed that the players I faced when actually receiving playable hands, were absolutely horrendous on average. The slow crawl poker that I thought was a joke during my online days was actually a huge benefit in a sense, as I noticed that patiently waiting for premium or semi-premium hands in loose L.A. casinos almost guaranteed significant winnings in the long run assuming the hands weren't butchered by me post-flop. Everyone else gets 18-25 hands per hour to work with as well, and most of them get impatient at some point or another and KJ suited starts looking like aces to many.
However, even as a patient player, I was still extremely bored folding 84 offsuit all day and actually seeing a flop with a playable hand 3-5 times per hour. I could manage my time browsing the front page of Reddit or watch a mindless YouTube video about how to make a great pizza and still make an ok profit on most days, but I wasn't learning much about my opponents while in between hands. If I managed to stay attentive after repeatedly folding my hands and watching the action, I was picking up on play styles of my opponents, but not to the extent my HUD allowed me to passively do when I played online and everyone's stats just popped up next to them as I played... it was mostly to the extent where I'd noticed seat 3 at my table played a lot of hands and bluffed lots of flush draws, or seat 8 was nitty and seemed to be sacrificing all his blinds. Getting this vague, but incomplete understanding of my table, while knowing how vital it was to pick up on every piece of information I could to ideally play my 3-6 flops per hour as perfectly as possible with these 8 other guys around me... That's when I had the idea to create this live HUD. As much as players say you can get plenty of info just by watching people play their hands (which is true), I wanted to take it a step further. And despite the common consensus that live HUD's are too small of a sample size or too much of a pain in the ass to ever be worth using, I'm glad I went through with this idea.
My biggest worry in making the program was that it would be far too time consuming to be on my phone entering tedious numbers while a live poker game was going on and people were all around me asking me "what game am I playing... that looks weird." Well, I can honestly say that around half the players at my local casinos are browsing on their phones and tuning out while waiting for their next hand. In general, people don't give a shit at all what you're doing on your phone, and even if the floor came over and were genuinely interested in what my program is (which they never have and will never care), I could tell them the truth and they would most likely just find it "cool." I do occasionally have an old timer in the seat next to me take a peek at my phone, but they have no idea what they're looking at. If I don't really care for them and they ask, I'll tell them it's a spreadsheet for work. If I'm cool with them, I'll tell them exactly what it is and joke with them that they should start playing more than their 17% of hands they're playing, or everyone will think they're a nit. They'll usually just laugh when I tell them, and compliment me or ask how "the stats say they're playing". I'll lie and tell them something like "the stats say you're gonna donate all your money to seat 2 in the next 10 hands"... because I'm a poker player.
My next biggest worry in making the live HUD was that half the players in L.A. casinos play for around 1-2 hours at most before going bust or leaving with what they made, which means I'm only getting about a 40-50 hand sample size. I figured this wouldn't do me much good until I realized that the differences in play style statistics in casino players become apparent much, MUCH more quickly than online. I'll explain...
In full ring online games, extremely tight players' VP (voluntarily put in pot) percentages were between 10-13%. Loose players' VP's probably were around 20% and above. In 40-50 hands online, tight players could easily play 20-25% of their hands just by being dealt a good run of hands, making that sample size pointless.
In LIVE games, on the other hand, I quickly noticed that players' VP's (in my casinos) ranged anywhere from 10% to 90%. Yes, 90%. Casual players who come over from blackjack and don't really know much holdem strategy will sit down and literally want to play every hand unless the action has a $500 all-in preceding them, and the player looks down at 62 offsuit and has to begrudgingly fold. In fact, after about 5 sessions of tracking stats, I deducted that the average VP in my casinos is around 28-30% (note that this screenshot is from my most recent Thursday afternoon session, and my table was tighter than typical for this location). And this was among plenty of casino regulars. This average VP in my live games would be considered a MANIAC VP on a Full Tilt ring game back in 2008, when online players were frankly loose and terrible. Yes, tight players in live games will still get a hot run of cards over 40 hands and have a deceivingly high VP%, while loose players can be card dead and be deceivingly low. However, they will usually balance out to within 5-10% of what they are after just 50 hands if you played with them for another 200. You will not see a player play at 20% VP through 50 hands, and be at 45% after 100 hands. It just doesn't happen, unless there's some uber-tilt going on, which is easily picked up on without any need for a HUD.
The point I'm making is that I was noticing that just after a 15-20 hand sample size at any table, I was seeing some players playing 15% of their hands vs. others playing 60%, 70%, or 80% of hands. And this was plenty sufficient to at least give me a ballpark estimate of a player's style without having to mentally remember whether I keep seeing common players playing lots of hands, as most live players do to label players as tight or loose in their minds. The longer these players stayed while I tracked their preflop stats, the more detailed of an analysis my HUD gave on their ranges and play styles. 50 hands of data on a player in a live game is equivalent to about 200 hands of data on an online player, simply due to the DRASTIC percentage differences in VP, PFR, 3B, and even Fold to C-Bet stats among live players.
Finally, probably the most glaring concern, and the one I have spent by far the most time addressing, is the amount of time one would have to spend entering data into the spreadsheet after every hand. Keeping track of what every single player is doing after every single hand is a giant pain in the ass. However, only having to keep track of non-folding players makes things significantly easier. Especially when just tracking preflop stats (the most important stats), which is essentially what my HUD does. By making folds as blank cells by default, and only counting hands where at least one number has already been entered in its respective column, I was able to create a spreadsheet where the program counts everyone's action as a fold by default until a 0, 1, 2, or 3 is put in its place. This cuts down the time it takes to enter stats for each hand by about 80%. If seat 1 raises preflop and everyone folds, I am putting a "2" in row 1 to signify they raised, and leaving every other row blank. That's it. The program automatically calculates row 1's raise into their VP, PFR, 3B, and all their other stats, as well as the overall table stats, while automatically tallying up a fold for seats 2 through 9 in all of their respective stats. If seat 3 raises preflop, seat 5 reraises, and seat 3 folds (along with everyone else), I'm entering a "2f3" (to resemble a raise and fold to 3bet) in row 3 and a "3" in row 5 (to resemble a 3bet). Done. If a new player comes into the game, I'll enter what hand number they started on, and all hands before it are automatically entered as "0"s for that player, which tells my data to ignore those "0" hands for that player.
To debunk a few other commonly brought up myths as to why keeping stats during live games is supposedly pointless:
1) Casinos, at least in California and most in Vegas outside of crazy high stakes games, couldn't care less as to what you're doing on your phone. Apart from being on your phone with a buddy in the middle of a big hand and asking them what you should do, casinos do not want to make it their business as to what you're doing on your phone while you're out of a hand (or even in a hand, as long as you're not slowing the game down). Entering in a couple 1's and 2's into a spreadsheet to gain an analytical edge that they can't comprehend is far from a casino's concern. Even if they wanted to know what you were doing, nothing in any casino rules even hint at this being frowned upon.
2) It is NOT difficult to follow the action preflop, enter in a couple one-digit numbers into a spreadsheet, and then go back to whatever it is you're doing at the poker table. If you already folded your hand, you can enter in whatever seats actually had an action immediately. If you're actually involved in a hand (eg. you raised from seat 1 and had seats 5 and 9 call you), just play your hand as normal and enter the appropriate three numbers when your hand completes. If you miss a hand or happened to have tuned out while watching a cute dog do a somersault on aww, it's not a big deal. The spreadsheet doesn't care. It's at your disposal to give you as much information as you want to take from it.
3) People do NOT treat you as a nit and give you no action just because you keep glancing at or using your phone. It's 2016, and people all around us are on their phones and tablets doing god knows what. In fact, what I've found about live players, is that they're impatient, and even if they KNOW you're studying them or playing nitty (which I do on occasion, but not always), live players are bad and they really can't help themselves. If they have K9 offsuit and see you 3bet them. They aren't focusing on the kid who keeps playing on his phone... they're focusing on the fact that they have K9 offsuit, and maybe this is the time they'll finally peel off a flop and see three 9's hit... because they're totes due!
I can address several other things about my HUD, such as the "action graph" at the bottom of the screen that fills as you play or the shading of each player's cell in column A, which is lightest for the most profitable seat at the table based on the loose/tight players on your left or right and darkest for least profitable seat... But this has turned into a pretty long explanation already. If you have questions, I'll try and address them in the comments. No, this is not currently available for public use yet. But I'm not opposed to releasing it to the masses at some point should it gauge enough interest. I'd ideally like to find some other individuals who are actually enthusiastic about my project and perhaps even find a few app developers with a poker background and turn what is essentially a full-fledged backend spreadsheet into a frontend app with an actual table interface with 9 seats where each seat could simply be tapped, double tapped, etc. to signify limps, raises, etc. for each hand. That is the dream at least... I have no idea at the moment whether it could plausibly ever be a reality. But I can assure all that having this program at my disposal while I've played has been +EV for me, helped me in a couple very key spots where I would have never known to fold my two pair or steal blinds with my junk, or 3bet light, and it's given me some advantages that most would consider unheard of in live poker.

So am looking to take a Poker vacation early Dec to get away from the daily routine and some of the Xmas hype, am wondering if anyone has a recent experience of some good places with good games to go
Ive seen Costa Rica, Panama and Aruba, but the threads were 3-4+ years old
Ideally would like somewhere hot, decent hotel (with WiFi) with pool or beachfront, with at least 1-2x 200nl-1kNL Holdem running every night, multiple nearby casinos would be better
Thanks

Trip Report - Postal/Federal Employee Tournament, Chicagoland
(tl;dr late 30s guy who used to be good, but now bowls once a week due to having family and busy career enjoys moderately successful tournament weekend)
I was part of a group of 80 people from Central Ohio entering the 1st weekend of the postal tournament. I enjoy this tournament every year because my friends bowl in it, and because of average caps, Thanks to the caps, i am one of the better players in this field, as opposed to scratch tournaments, where the field has a huge edge over me.
With us bowling first shift for singles/doubles on Saturday and team event on Sunday, I figured I could get away with just the Halo and my spare ball, but I brought a 5 ball arsenal just in case. After all, I prefer to change lines, speed, and hand position over making a ball change, unless it’s obvious that the ball is too much/not enough for the lane conditions.
After a 6 hour drive and a +$1000 poker session (2/5 NL) at Horseshoe Hammond on Friday night, I settled into my hotel around 1 am and quickly went to bed knowing I had to check in before 8:30 squad.
Around 7:45 am after some strong coffee from and a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant from Dunkin Donuts, I roll my equipment into the beautiful 84 lane Stardust Lanes in Addison, Illinois. After getting in $200 worth of brackets for singles/doubles, I settled into my lanes for 10 minutes of practice and I could tell right away that the modified house shot was very favorable to straighter players. The back ends were really jumpy and the oil was relatively flat between 15 and 25, but there was plenty of play on the outside lines. (This is good for an old tweener like me)
I settled in playing around 12 board at the arrows out to 9, and around 16.5/17 mph. My first 2 games were nothing but strikes and 10 pins. I was a little frustrated with carry, but managed to put together 238 and 247, an ideal start for brackets.
3rd game of singles I whiffed a 10 pin early, left a 4-9, and knew I had to relax or I would fall apart. I decided to look a little further down the lane to move the breakpoint a bit further, and I managed to salvage a 204, but was disappointed i couldn’t get 700 (as well as a few more bracket wins).
1st game of doubles, my partner shoots 270 and I shoot 248. This game was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. It was around 10:45 am and I was already 4 beers deep and feeling amazing. Game 2 he goes 236 and I go 213 as my thumb starts swelling. Game 3 I bottom out and shoot 182. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. My partner shoots a good series in the 720 range, and I only get 631. I hate making excuses, but my thumb really got in the way as I am now used to bowling only 3 games and leaving the alley.
I spend the afternoon taking a long nap as I often do after day drinking. Then the team meets up at a Greek restaurant for dinner. I had plans to go to the Tigers-White Sox game, but it is snowed out. So a bunch of us decide to hit the casino. After the +1k poker session the night before, I’m determined to not give it back, so I mostly spectate. I end up -150 in blackjack and Pai Gow. Glad I didn’t chase that 150, that’s where the trouble starts.
Today I thought we started team event at 10:30 but apparently we started at 10. I get a call from my doubles partner at 9:57 that we have 3 minutes of practice left. I was already driving there, but I pick up the pace and skip the Dunkin’ Donuts trip.
I get there when the 3rd bowler on my team is up in the 1st frame, and I am anchor, so I didn’t miss any frames. (Not sure if the rule is I would have to take zeroes for missed frames, or I would get until the 4th/5th frame to show up. Glad I didn’t have to find out.) After some stretching, I throw a flush strike and yell “who needs practice!” to my team as they roll their eyes.
I go spare, spare, and the last 9 off the sheet for 268 that game. Fortunately they let you get in pots and brackets until 10 minutes after starting, and my 268 is good for 2nd place tie in scratch and 2nd all to myself in handicap pot. Score!
2nd game I grind out a 202 and finish with 4 in a row after realizing the left lane is playing tighter than the right lane. 3rd game I start out with the front 7, then throw my left lane line on the right lane for an 8/, and get mad at myself for the mental lapse. I strike in the 9th, leave a 4-9 in the 10th and only get 1 of them for a disappointing 244. Never did ball change from the Halo. The oil must have been really high quality as I only moved 3-4 boards total. I did get faster as the day went on as well.
Scores: 689, 631, 714, 2034 all events Brackets: In for 300, out for 525 (+225) Jackpots: In for 40, out for 165 (+125) Casino: +850 Events: Probably won’t cash singles, should cash doubles due to having a great partner, won’t cash team due to team not doing well. TBD in 5 weeks.
All in all, a very fun weekend with great friends and a great escape from reality. I feel like I could have done better, given the fact that the lane conditions were well-suited to my game, but I can’t complain about my performance at all. Looking forward to next year’s event in Indy already.
If you enjoy bowling, travel and compete in some tournaments. It’s great for the overall health of the game, and it will help you as a player. You will either get paid or get experience. Either is a good result.

Translation of http://www.quotenet.nl/Nieuws/Gulden-oprichter-Rijk-Plasman-pleit-voor-een-keurmerk-om-cryptocrisis-te-voorkomen-209486.
January 6th 2018
Gulden-founder Rijk Plasman pleads for a ‘quality mark’ to avoid cryptocrisis.
By Mark Koster / Quote
Cryptocoins are a hype, but some digital coins certainly have potential. We just have to make sure that criminals don’t have to much influence. Now that blood is flowing through the streets of cryptocountry, Rijk Plasman, founder of Gulden, is pleading for regulation. “It’s a casino now.”
That the monetary rebel is sitting at a table in a restaurant that is right next to the ABN-headquarters at the ‘Zuidas’ (South Axis) is a coincidence, Plasman says. “I live right around the block”. That his name is Rijk (Rich) and he is the founder of Gulden, the only coin that hasn’t been affected by the cryptocurrency crisis, is what he calls ‘logical’. “There’s not much you can say about it. There are 1500 crypto-coins. You might as well go to the casino.”
Rijk Plasman, son of a famous lawyer and named after tv-icon Rijk de Gooijer is drinking black coffee, but has a worldview so bright it almost scares you. The high-school drop-out is the Steve Jobs of Gulden, the digital coin he developed in 2014. He may even be more stubborn that Apple’s turtleneck. “I’m continuing this, because I know it’s going to be fine”.
To avoid some misunderstandings, Rijk Plasman is not some scary close-minded anti-Euro activist or a ‘Forum voor Democratie’ supporter with a nostalgic feeling towards the florin, the mothercoin of the ‘Lage Landen’ (Low Lands – Netherlands).
The 32 year old founder wants to realize a digital payment system with Gulden to make payments more efficient. It could all be a lot easier and simpler. “Gulden should be able to co-exist next to the Euro. Most people, despite the criticism on low interest, still have faith in their banks. At Gulden we work day and night to improve payments”.
It has to be said. Anyone with a computer can buy Guldens. You just install the Gulden software and pay with Ideal to get your Guldens into your account. The Gulden has a certain popularity. The past few days the trend exploded with gains of 600% till a value of €0,29/$0.36 (today the value dropped by 11%). Plasman, who owns a warehouse of Guldens, doesn’t care. “Equity is not important. I want this to grow. Maybe we can not talk about money for a change. That is not the essence”.
He only gets involved in improving the technique. Together with the South-African programmer Malcolm MacLeod he is working on a procedure to improve accessability. Gulden wants to become the modern payment method where two people can transfer money to eachother, without the use of a bank or money intermediary, using the blockchain technology. “I’m all about the practical implications. If you can’t do anything with a cryptocurrency, it has no right to exist. I believe in the blockchain technology. This is the new internet. It’s the internet of the internet. But who is going to survive? When internet arose we thought WorldOnline would have world domination, but that company flew too close to the sun. There was a lot of greed in the market”.
De crypto-connoisseur sees parallels with the wild starting years of the internet, when venture capitalist-cowboys and greedy hyenas were circling the new technology searching for a quick way to cash out. The IPOs within the crypto universe, the Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) – show signs of overheating and foolishness. “You are investing in an idea. A lot of coins don’t have a working procedure.”
The Gulden does, let’s make that clear, Plasman says. The founder shows some benefits in comparison to a very popular cryptocurrency, the Ripple.
Gulden can be bought directly without the need for a cryptocurrency exchange where you first have to buy Bitcoins so you can buy other cryptocurrencies. “Gulden should be easy to buy and easy to sell back to Euro. We shouldn’t pretend that this form of payment is accepted everywhere. People are skeptical.”In the meantime Gulden can be used in dozens of shops. Plasman doesn’t interfere with marketing. “That is up to the community”.
The statement that a couple of big Gulden holders are guilty of pump and dump activities to make money of volitile shocks is discarded by Plasman. “How? I’m not selling anything and I can’t see what other people are doing. In this time there is a lot of fake-news about manipulation. Even that the Chinese government is controlling everything”.
Today the hype has changed into a dark mood. The blood is flowing through the streets today. The cryptomarket is laying in the gutter with bullet wounds and no one is there to help it. Plasman has seen it before and is sure that the blockchain technology, the tech Bitcoin is based on, will survive. “I do think that there has to be a regulation of some sort to stop the current madness”. Maybe something like a quality mark. That way the government techs should judge the technology”.
Isn’t this against the idea of the blockchain, that doesn’t want a centralized business model? “Yes, but you can still judge the technology on its merits. It’s just ones and zeros”.
Plasman has already seen the so called white paper – the technical DNA of a coin – being sold for five dollars. “In that case, it’s not worth anything. It’s just air. We have to be against that.”
And why should we trust him? He smiles. “I can be very stubborn. I think I’m a know it all. A lot of people i worked with already quit, because i have another vision. But I’m not in charge you know. At Gulden the community decides where we are heading, they can help us with the technology. I just want to do the best I can”.

I've played a lot online and I've played a lot of spread limit cash game and NL tournies, but I've never done a NLHE cash game before in a casino (only 20 and WA doesn't allow NLHE). An Oregon casino (the Wild Horse in Pendleton fwiw) opens it's doors to 18+ twice a year for a huge poker round up, and I'm heading down on Thursday
The smallest NL game they offer is 2/5 and I'm bringing about $2,000. I know it's not an ideal bankroll for that size of a game, but it's all I got to play with and I won't have an opportunity to play NL until next summer so it'll have to do. Any tips or advice about what to expect would be greatly appreciated