Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis

Last night, a very rare gap in coverage left the slot floor to me for several hours, just after prime time on a busy Saturday. Before that, there had been only one Asian Syndicate player on the floor—this gentleman was new to the job, and may not hold it for long based on his slipshod coverage—and there were no American grinders, also rare on a Saturday.

Consequently, I found more plays than I have in a very long time, and I took home $400+ during a long 6 hour run.

Regarding Rich Little Sheep, the extra row minimum number should be 5, and not 4 as I had posted earlier. The authority on this adjusted that number after he ran into a few bad sessions, and one player claimed that they'd lost $900 at $2.25 per spin on a 4-sheep play, a disastrous amount for that denomination.

I found no Rich Little Sheep plays at the new number, but I did clean up on Rich Little Pigs and Rich Little Hens, so that was nice.

Nice job. When was the last time you were checking slot plays on a Saturday night? May want to put it in your rotation.

perfect slot to use a rich little rickles video to your advantage

I try to play Saturday nights, but they typically have 2-3 of the best Syndicate grinders present, along with 1-3 independent players, so last Saturday was unusual, and fortunately lucrative.

Yeah I wrote Rich Little three times and summoned the great impressionist.

Still winning at the MGM. Last night +$400-ish.

I took today off to play some freerolls and private cheaprolls and try to grind up an online nut, but I've been getting my ass handed to me online for weeks, with bad beats abounding. Fortunately, it's cost me nothing but time and a scant few dollars for the cheaprolls.

I've broken even over the last few days, playing both poker and slots; however, I broke even by getting stuck early on, then digging my way out, which always feels better than merely breaking even, and it feels much better than going up early, then losing it all back. Funny old thing, perception.

Last night I sat with a reg who has the annoying (but sometimes helpful) habit of spilling his mostly accurate reads on other regs to everyone at the table. He seems to think that I never bluff, and he insinuated that to the table last night. I bluff, but not terribly often—$1/$2 being more about capturing value than playing tricky. Naturally, I took the first good opportunity to run a 3-street bluff, and I showed it. I did not have a chance to bluff the tattletale reg, so a rando player had to be my whipping boy.

Now, there's an argument for not doing this, and instead keeping quiet and bluffing the tattletale at every opportunity, but I think that I can get more value in the long run from shutting him up, because he's at my table a lot, spouting reads on everyone, but I'm not in a lot of hands with him. I think he might be avoiding clashing with me for some reason.

Best case scenario is that I can still bluff the tattletale, even after showing that bluff, because he has staked some of his prestige on his initial read on me, so I'll have my cake and eat it too, if I can just get him to shut up and stop value blocking me.

I'm back at the casino tonight, then I'll take Monday and Tuesday off. I might take a crack at reviewing the next Rolling Stone Top 500 album.

float the waves sj and let the plankton come to you
happy sailing

I sometimes show a bluff, mostly early in the session, when I get no action and have the perception that peeps think I'm tight. Should abs be a part of your arsenal but used very infrequently IMO. You don't want to help the other players too much to understand how you play.
Ofc sometimes you can also show a bluff just for the lolz if you're playing on a friendly table.

Thanks brother! I approve of the whale shark's way of doing business.

I would like to show an occasional bluff when there are observant regs at the table for the reason you stated above. I just forget to do it. I often show when I'm caught bluffing, but I'm not caught very often. I'll have to set a reminder.

i am disappointed in you

Bottom line: Helen is not a bad person, but I find myself annoyed and irritated when I'm with her. That may be a me problem, or just chemistry, but life is short, and I don't have to hang out with her.

Helen's impression of NYC is that there are too many "India people" there.

Yeesh

isn't she a non-native english speaker?

A comment like this coming from a visitor to the country, always throws me off-guard, leaving me speechless and incapable of answering something adequate in the face of the obvious... I remember years back certain European collegues of mine (with a 1 year working visa for Canada) criticizing the abundance of (East) Indians in Vancouver - who are obviously 100% Canadian - which left me dumbfounded, coming from passerby tourists...

Helen is Taiwanese, but there's no logic to xenophobia. Her read on me, I believe, is that I'm a White middle-aged American—a type she sees spouting off on the US conservative news network she watches—and that means that I'll appreciate her Archie Bunkerisms. When I give her evidence to the contrary, she disregards it.

For those of you under 40, this is Archie Bunker.

Am 48, but had never heard of him.

I was going to set it at under 50, but there were reruns of the show into the 80s. It's more of a range than a number.

the asian perspective on race is very jarring at first contact but over time very comforting when you realize they are not stemmed from racism but rather tribalism

they come from a mono ethnic and mono cultural society so their natural perception is that the rest of the world is like that

so even though helen has been to the usa many times, it'll still jarr her a little - maybe last time she finally came to grips with latinos and the time before that the blacks, but now there's all these indians she wasn't expecting

and frankly, any sort of brief glance into crime statistics will objectively show that there are differences and while i have no ill will towards other races and due to our culture, it makes having frank and honest conversations about this stuff very difficult because everyone is afraid of being accused of racism, just last week rococco, one of the kindest people on the forum caught strays of racism accusations just because when he gave an example of a dumb but talented tennis player he chose pete sampras who is mixed race\

like i never feel like i ever need to have my guard up in asia because there's just zero chance of anything happening, at worst i'll get pickpocketed or scammed by some overpriced services - nothing where i'll ever be in any physical danger

so we tend to bury our heads in the sand instead of having honest conversations - for example, not once has a black man who I didn't know approach me in a city been a non sketchy encounter - it's always been asking me for something like money or cigarettes or trying to sell me something illicit - i've never once had a random black person approach me in nyc and it was because they were asking me what time it was or directions to the museum - so yes, when a black person who i don't know approaches me i'm going to naturally have my guard up significantly more than if someone of another race does so and that's not racist, it's common sense

i think that's generally how asians feel and probably where helen is coming from, she's just not articulate enough in her own language to express that and also there's a cultural gap where she doesn't know this is a third rail and needs to be broached delicately and it's more of a situation where she thinks she can just reference it and you'll instantly "get it"

and they are just the same way amongst their own

they have clear rankings and hierarchies for other others - none of those countries welcome immigration, and you're also going to hear them complain about phillipinos as often as blacks

and not just that, but people from within their own country as well, ie if helen is from taipei then it's very unlikely her parents would ever approve a marriage to a taiwanese not from taipei because taipei is the where the finest taiwanese are from and thus anyone born outside that city is utter trash

i think the biggest difference between the west and asia is this

this event gets broadcast on local news, goes viral, cops show up and thank the people etc

for those who don't click, it, basically a couple cars shut down all but one lane of traffic on a highway to protect a stray dog that was running down the highway

in asia, the people who were slowing down traffic would not have been praised as heroes but ridiculed if not outright arrested for disrupting traffic

99.9% of asians would happily see that dog get run over rather than impede traffic for tens of thousands of people

this very same stuff goes viral in asia as well, but not because it's a story of love and compassion, but of how utterly rtarded the west is

you can always count on always sunny to explain how the world works

Crime statistics track those who can't afford good lawyers to mitigate their crimes. Years ago, I essentially got away with a DUI because I had $3.5k in ready cash at the time to throw at a decent lawyer. For those without money, the public defender system is an infuriating travesty. You'll have to try for a plea deal because I'm juggling 50 cases right now and I don't have the time to look into yours. Next. Same for you. Next.

Anecdotes ≠ Data

I'm often guilty myself of equating the plural of anecdote with untainted data. It's how we're wired, but it's not correct. My experience in many years in Las Vegas was of White sharps and hustlers and beggars approaching me. Sure, there were a few Black drug dealers in bad neighborhoods who mumbled "You 'aight?" or "You square?" as I walked by, but they were profiling me as a White guy walking through a bad neighborhood, and judging that the chances were good that I was out looking for drugs.

Again, these are anecdotes, not data.

Back to Helen: her interactions with Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshies in New York were likely not as hustlers and sharps and beggars, but as Uber and taxi drivers and bodega owners; hard working people trying to do an honest job and being looked down on by Helen.

And finally: you and I are hustlers and sharps, whether it's deceiving people at the poker table into losing their money, or taking people's equity at the slot machines without offering a reciprocal product or service.

Bear in mind that the gang are all sociopaths.

Also, I'm really enjoying Rob and Charlie's Mythic Quest show. I'll put it in the top 5 of the shows I've watched so far in my media bucket list run.

Last night I found some good plays on the slots, and lost, and lost again. I quickly went down around $250, which is a lot for the slots, given that I lean towards conservative play. I felt a strong urge to cut my losses and go home early. I've had a good month so far, why piss it away towards the end?

Instead, I pulled myself together and hit the poker table, and won. After that, I hit the slots again, and won, finishing up the night +$400 overall. The lesson from this is: chase your losses, and never stop gambling.

No. There's no lesson. It's just another night in the chance factory.

One quick hand that illustrates some of the pros and cons of promo chasing:

Two limps, and I'm on the BTN with A♦T♦. I make it $15. Folds around to EP, who calls, and MP, who calls. MP is the main Villain; an Asian gentleman in his 50s or 60s. He's seems straightforward: piles in money when he has the goods and check/calls small or check/folds when he doesn't. He has about $200 in his stack, and I cover.

Pot ($48) - 3 players.

Flop K♦K♣9♦

Checks to me. Pretty good flop for my hand and range. I bet $20. EP folds, and MP calls.

Pot ($88) - heads up.

Turn: Q♦

Bingo. I have the nut flush and one to a royal. Villain's stack is mostly green $25 chips, and I've seen him tossing them in whenever he's hit a good hand. I expect to see two or three greens go in as a lead if he's turned a boat. He checks.

Now, the high hand promo has ended for the night, but MGM pays $500 for a royal flush any time. I've never made one in live play. What do?

If I check back, I'll see the river. What is it worth, trying to hit the royal flush promo? $500 x 2.17% for one out, therefore $10.85. What are the chances of getting called if I instead samebet $20 on the turn. Are they better than 50%? The river is a separate entity. It could double pair the board or bring out a third king, either killing my action or putting me in a bad spot if Villain flings in greens after it.

On the other hand, if he calls and the river is a blank, the extra $40 from the turn will help to build the pot for a bigger river bet. In the end, I can't help myself when there's likely value sitting in front of me, along with Villain equity to be denied. I bet $20, and he tanks for a long time before folding.

The dealers won't let us peek at undrawn streets, which makes sense because everyone would ask them all the time if they did, so I'll never know if the J♦ was next or not.

i'm with you, same with my brother, he was caught smoking weed in a car parked at a public school parking lot (they had no idea just found a spot that looked empty and quiet) and the best thing possible was his friends were very wealthy and hired a lawyer who was great friends with the judge and said "these are good boys all going to attend college next year don't want to ruin their lives" and the judge agreed and dismissed the case

so and that's also verified by data

but the access to lawyer/racist judge angle doesn't explain the extreme disparity in crime statistics and that stuff is more about getting minor charges dropped - your dui was not a felony nor was my brother's marijuana charge because he only had a token amount

first of all, crime is huge in america, about 19 million americans are convicted felons, that's 8% of the adult population

13% of all men are convicted felons, which is an astounding percentage to think about

33% of all black men are convicted felons - that gap can't be explained with lawyer shenanigans, it can be explained by other factors - most notably poverty - if you dive deeply and look by income rather than race than things are pretty similar - a destitute white commits crime at similar rates

however, that still doesn't change the fact that everyone is afraid to say out loud other than asians out of fear of being labeled a monster is that statistically speaking if you had to choose one of two dark alleyways to walk home to and one was in a black neighborhood and the other wasn't that the other one will be much safer

last year i was strongly considering moving to nyc and being a self employed gambler with serious ups and downs obviously didn't want to pay 4k a month in rent - even the most liberal whites in the city, people who helped campaign and fund raise for kamala, were constantly telling me it was a terrible idea to live in certain neighborhoods that i was targeting due to reduced rental costs because i was not the right skin color for that neighborhood and would face some sketchy situations a few times a year when coming home late

Interesting discussion

I feel quite the opposite about folks being afraid to say out loud would they think : in this day and age (and realm), I feel that, WAY more then ever historically, peeps are speaking up about whatever they think, especially politically!!! I am referring to where I live (in LATAM), especially online, and even in small town Canada where folks used to be way introverted about political opinions, imho.

And with all due respect Rick, as certain points in your post were solid, but I feel that the whole not being able to speak out loud narrative, is victimizing oneself/one's tribe, imho.

But Suited might see this discussion as a derail, IDK...