Bally’s was the last smoking poker room in AC, but they went non-smoking shortly before state law starting making almost every business area non-smoking. I used to play there occasionally in spite of the smoke, simply because the play was good. Now I hardly play there at all, mostly because they have things set up in a way that treats tournament players like second-class citizens.

My best results are single table s-n-gos; I think the most I have played (live) in one week was 45 or so.

Yes, I failed to consider time travel. My bad.

MarkW: I don’t have a problem with that. It is a memorable day when I solve the puzzle of another player and crack his confidence. But the cash game feeling was one of “don’t spook the cattle”, and I don’t want to learn to view other people that way. It would quickly spread to other parts of life, and that would not be good (for me, or the people around me.)

Still, if I ever get around to writing a vampire story, I now know the mindset…

(Hmmm, professional poker player might not be a bad job for a vampire, come to think of it.)

And when you have achieved True Poker Mastery, as Doyle the Magnificent has, you can send your book through time.

It sounds like you play cash games. I learned early on that A) I didn’t like looking at the rest of the table as Prey and B) exercising the self-control required to avoid yelling at idiot players (one in particular blew through a $150 worth of chips in 45 minutes. On a 3-6 table. And bought in again. And didn’t look like she had money to blow at that rate) without major neurosis … if not psychosis.

So I stick to tournaments, saving the rare cash for ‘fun’ play to kill time or simply get a bit of a feel for a new casino.

Good luck out there. Remember, there are no bad beats, just variance coming due in random events that simply delay the idiot giving you his chips.