Wondering where all of the online poker fish have gone over the past few years? A great place to check would be your local casino, at least according to The Atlantic, which wrote a great piece on the matter this week.
The article follows a poker pro, who goes by the alias “John Calvin,” around the Maryland Live! poker room. The article also adds some details about 2012 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson, who happens to be present when the writer is there. Here’s one excerpt from the story:
John Calvin (not his real name) swims somewhere in the middle. He is a grinder, a cautious type who doesn’t bluff that often or do anything hair-raisingly spectacular in tight situations, and who makes his living by doggedly adhering to the odds against lesser players. He got his start making a few dollars a hand on the Web site PartyPoker, then graduated to long weekends of live play at the Borgata before taking up residence at a casino poker room in Charles Town, West Virginia. These days, he commutes from his home, in Washington, D.C., to Maryland Live, where he feeds on fish who are happy to lose a few hundred dollars an hour playing No Limit Texas Hold ’Em.
The Atlantic piece also describes some of the other players at the Maryland Live! poker room – both sharks and fish. If you read it, you’ll get an in-depth look at how somebody like John Calvin spots the weaker players and takes advantage of the situation.
Anybody who plays online poker these days would certainly appreciate reading the article. The internet game seems to have fewer and fewer fish every day, making skilled players wonder if the pool is drying up. But it’s nice to see that there are still places where bad players are donating enough money that good pros can earn “$300 to $400 an hour.”
The only problem is that you’re going to have to visit your local casino to find a large population of fish. And this can be a problem for those who are short on time and/or really shy. But we have to say that this is preferable to grinding 12 tables of $0.05/$0.10 Hold’em just to make profits.