Poker in prison
So I have been playing online since the party poker days and played professionally for a few years before black Friday. Then just mostly for fun. I am in prison at a federal camp for money laundering. I get out in 2026 hopefully. So I just started getting back into poker in here but the games are SOOO much different. The dynamic is very bizarre. People will call river value bets so light because for some reason it makes you a coward if you fold too much and the worst thing to happen to someone is to get bluffed. The whole macho mentality is probably where most of that stems from.
My question is if you are playing in a game with 10% rake is it pretty safe to say it's going to be hard to beat over a large sample? What is worse is they play dealers choice which can be anything from Badugi to various PLO 5 card games with double sometimes triple boards. So you have a game that's 10% rake playing games that play looser preflop in NL format. The only benefit is if you lose that week you only have to pay 70% of your losses. It's no wonder by the end of the week all but maybe 1-2 players are down.
Maybe I'm just a nit at heart and hate high variance games. My question there are some terrible players in this game. Many who will call 3 streets with a flush on paired board in 5 card PLO but despite there being bad players that 10% rake is ridiculous to me. Has anyone ever played in very juicy games with very high rake? A lot of these guys have serious impulse control problems so they will gamble on just about anything I just figured I would ask if anyone has experience with high rake live games. Also I am posting because cell phones are everywhere at these minimum security camps part of me is considering going back to playing online but I have no HUD no piosolver which would make studying hard.
Food is terrible sex is great. Lol I should do an AMA I think it would be a funny thread of all the crazy things u see in here. The trannies the gangs which is actually laughable at a minimum security camp.
Go for it!
How is poker going? I would still try to crush them from time to time just to chill, but I would be very careful if I'm losing constantly, always check it there is a marked deck or some sort of cheat. But from what I ready you are street smart so I don't think I have to insist, just mention it. Keep updated this thread
To address the actual question from the OP: 6% rake is beatable in online games where people play decent-ish; given this, I'm pretty sure 10% rake against a very weak field is also beatable.
I suspect this is especially true if you play 5+ card PLO and stuff like that. I think all you have to do in that format is fold a lot. Wait for good odds to (a) the nuts straight on a non-paired non-flush board, (b) the ace-high flush on a non-paired board, or (c) a good full house. Put your money in if you have this and fold the rest; if no-one cheats and the field plays as wrong as you describe, I think this strategy beats 10% rake.
I best 10% to $15 in my casino game. I thought the question related to uncapped though? If so it’s not bearable
Even uncapped, I suspect it's beatable -- again, assuming OP didn't exaggerate on how the field plays.
To address the actual question from the OP: 6% rake is beatable in online games where people play decent-ish; given this, I'm pretty sure 10% rake against a very weak field is also beatable.
I suspect this is especially true if you play 5+ card PLO and stuff like that. I think all you have to do in that format is fold a lot. Wait for good odds to (a) the nuts straight on a non-paired non-flush board, (b) the ace-high flush on a non-paired board, or (c) a good full house. Put your money in if you
Since most games are 5 card PLO games folding a lot only works for so long before you stop getting action. I kid you not me and the only other player are the only ones who ever fold pre. Most hands are at least 5 ways to the flop which makes navigating post flop tricky at times. I have been locked up almost 3 years now but I haven't heard of any solvers for 5 card. If there are I am curious how it would play in some of these spots.
What makes these games so strange is every format is NL so playing Badugi NL most players will just shove if they have a starting qualifying hand to make it too scary for anyone to draw. I feel like the only way I can stay profitable in these games is not to play every day as that uncapped rake causes most people to be down by end of the week. The only day I will play all day is on Wed when it's NL holden all day.
I guess I have nothing but time here so I think I might do an AMA. What do you guys think?
There is 100% a huge market for a prison AMA.
i kno i TOLD you keep yo mouf shut boutnthe games dawg. um startin to think you like the beef injectuions you been gittin ER nite runnin yo sweet mouf like this close it DOWN
now u kno wut time.it is
Well I'll probably start the AMA in the AMA section this weekend when the CO who is more laxed on nightly walks is working.
The other thing that I hate about prison poker is that all the chips areade from ripped and color taped playing cards so it's really hard to tell what villain stacks are and 99% of the time u ask the whole game gets put on pause while he counts his stack. Pretty sure I am the only one keeping track of pot size as the dealer doesn't even know till end of the hand when he rakes. Also you have to watch people as they make calls because sometimes they just throw in a stack of cards and the honor code in here is pointless since I live among criminals.
Also I was wondering if anyone has experience playing these double and triple board circus games. It feels like the higher variance the game the more magnified playing from position becomes. Some games I won't play from OOP at all.
Also I was wondering if anyone has experience playing these double and triple board circus games. It feels like the higher variance the game the more magnified playing from position becomes. Some games I won't play from OOP at all.
The biggest issue is not the position, but the rake. When you play split pot games, high rake eats you alive assuming you do not have 4-5 people seeing things through the river.
I've heard it said before, but I don't understand how a split pot game would make rake even more oppressive. It seems to me that it just makes the rake more noticeable, as it is possible to win half the pot and still lose money.
The only game where everyone is a villain.
An AMA would be amazing - isn't it dangerous playing a game like this? I guess this is a white collar jail so maybe not, but would think emotions can get crazy and you get stabbed.
no one is getting stabbed in the federal camp, there aren't any violent inmates in there
don't know how it is in OP's jurisdiction but Otisville has only about 60 guests in their hotel and many there had to grease some wheels just to get to stay in one, would be beyond stupid to risk getting transferred to a regular "pound in the ass" prison
most of the people there are for financial crimes and are loaded - there was one Jewish guy, who got 800 years for fraud and money laundering, but was later pardoned by Trump
figures presidential pardons for someone like that don't come cheap
I've heard it said before, but I don't understand how a split pot game would make rake even more oppressive. It seems to me that it just makes the rake more noticeable, as it is possible to win half the pot and still lose money.
It's more noticeable because they take more. Eg. compare rake taken online (at almost any stakes) for PLO vs. PLO8.
IME games which don't have as much directly available published strategy (like DB PLO bomb pots) are even worse because players will tend to make bigger errors inflating the pot for half.
I haven't played those games online, but I think in live games they would be raked the same.
When I was playing poker I discovered crypto and saw playing online as a way to make more crypto also I was an agent for poker brose and Pppoker because both sites stopped letting my friends and I play because it was bad for "the recreational poker ecosystem" so I found losing players who played at work and lost to counter my wins. The sites needed $120K in BTC to keep their tables and sports books open so I started selling them crypto. They referred me to other "associates" of theirs who als
Did you take a plea deal? No priors? Seems like a pretty stiff sentence.
