Transitioning to live poker: Topping up your stack

As a player who mostly studied the game online, I've had to adapt a lot to playing live: stop being a tell-box, dealing with distractions, wearing presentable clothes, counting and learning how to handle chips, etc.

Today I'm sharing another adaptation that most live players don't do: automatically topping up.  Failing to do this as a winning player is costing you money.

When you play online, the software has an option to automatically rebuy back to whatever level you want immediately after you lose money.  It's smooth, seamless, and it maximizes your EV compared to topping up only when you get felted. Those extra big blinds matter when you double up through someone who has you covered.

But how would you do this live? Playing in a brick and mortar establishment, refilling means getting out cash and bothering either the dealer or the cage to get more chips. This is okay-ish for $100+, but it would be a real bother for a small amount of chips, and doing it means you slow down the dealer or miss a hand going to the cage.

Solution? I buy extra chips beforehand and stuff them in my pocket. If I drop below the max buy-in, I just flip some out to my stack.  Voila! Automatic (okay, analog, shut up) topping up in live poker. 

I take all credit if you win more, but no responsibility if you lose extra money doing this fancy maneuver.

Atlantic City 2015- A Dying Land

The landscape has changed.

I haven't played much over the last few years except my annual Atlantic City trip with friends, and this year was drastically different.

Not only did 1/3 of the casinos close down in the last year, but so have four other poker rooms within casinos. 

Sadly that includes my favorite at Trump Taj Mahal. RIP! You will be missed as my 2/5 launch pad.

Tropicana, Bally's, and Caesar's also closed their poker rooms, but Bally's renovated and opened a new one in the Wild Wild West casino.  It's actually really nice. They provide free Wifi (ask for the password), and it meets WSOP standards so they can hold circuit events.  

Then again, both Caesars and Bally's were included in a January bankruptcy filing by Caesars Entertainment Corp. Damnit. 

In 2016, will the city even be worth visiting anymore?  More casino closings are all but certain. Crime and unemployment are sure to go with them. Borgata may one day be the only poker option left.