Archive for February, 2008
The big break through win tonight
Feeling pretty good so I was messing around today with some new concepts. Watched some great video’s on MTT play and feeling a little bold. Playing in the 11$ 20k guarantee tonight…and will be posting my interesting hands here on pokersift.
Misplay or just bad luck?
Here’s another hand from my still-ongoing Commerce trip..this one was about five days or so ago. Again, 20/40 NLHE, folded to a middle-position raiser, next guy folds, and I look down at KK–needless to say, I reraised. I got called, but I was happy to play the hand heads-up in position, of course. The flop seemed innocuous–T44 with two diamonds. He checked, I bet, he called.
How do you react to bad books?
My mom does not know much about poker. I taught her the rules one evening, when we were bored, but she played so weak tight, it wasn’t fun to play with her. She would only bet if she had it and always was afraid to bluff. She is a tad interested in poker, though, because she is a psychologist. She just hates the gambling/money aspect of the game. I still don’t know if she thinks that poker is a game of skill. I know after explaining to her 1000 times that blackjack is beatable through card counting, she still doesn’t believe me. She just knows the stories of patients that have gambling problems and lose their shirt playing blackjack. She is not a very math inclined person, so you could show her an equation and she still wouldn’t believe me card counting gives you an edge at blackjack. Now poker it is even harder to prove you have an edge, yet because of the psychology aspect, she is willing to halfway believe it might be beatable (go figure!).
Playing Creatively at Higher Levels
I have definitely put my dues in moving up in levels. I was a big-time loser for about six months when I first started playing cash nlhe at the $1/2 stakes. It takes a while before you learn what the standard play is for each situation, but once you master it, playing the game becomes almost automatic and you can expect to nit/grind your way to a pretty steady winrate, pretty much only earning money from players who haven’t learned standard plays yet and breaking even against everyone else.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie Here…so I can relate. Have you ever won the lottery….this is how I feel right now…let me explain.
For those of us that our Rounders listeners, been to bigpoker.ca or now TwoplusTwo podcast listeners…some exciting news.
The radio show has been hyping a contest to take a silver or bronze level player to the SUPERNOVA status.
A Most Unusual Session
Last night was pretty strange. A while back UltimateBet put $10 in my account because I had not played there in forever and now I am trying to grind it up to $50 so I can withdraw it. I have worked it up to about $30 so far playing $10 no limit and some .25-.50 limit hold’em. It is kind of a slow grind because I have very little room for error. Even though that money is less than 1% of my total roll I still want it. I guess I am just a sucker for free stuff.
Layne Flack and “Fun Bobby”
Wow, has it been that long since I last posted here? I’m still at the Commerce–games have been awesome–in both directions–had some of my biggest losses and biggest wins ever in the past week or so. This first story is only mildly about poker strategy, more of a poker lifestyle anecdote…Necessary background information: I’m not a “poker lifestyle” kinda guy–I don’t swap percentages, get involved in backing arrangements, bet on props or non-poker things like golf and stuff. This is on purpose–I think of all those things as -EV, and kind of a distraction from the +EV activity I’m pursuing by playing poker. Besides, more importantly, it keeps me “under the radar”–nobody ever asks if they can borrow money from me or anything like that.
DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “If you don’t prepare to win, be prepared to lose.”
The do over’s are over, I am setting a goal today, I am going to get to $10,000 in my online bankroll. I currently am not even close.
At work today we were talking about what we do best, our core business, and the need to restart this business and then grow our non-core business. I am in logistics, we move product from place to place on trucks, servicing our customers is our core business.
On the Tourney Journey
Played in the “Saturdays with Pauly” PLO tournament last weekend and had a good time. Saw Poker Kat there, among other familiar names/avatars. I ended up finishing 10th, a few spots shy of the money. (Wrote about it Monday over on Hard-Boiled.) Looking like I might be able to try again this Saturday. Let me invite others to join in the fun (see the ad below for details & password).
It’s a Poker Thing
I was asked a very interesting question today. On the surface it seems easy enough to answer, but I tend to over analyze things. I was asked “Why do you like to play poker?”
I gave the standard answers, the competition, the fun, the people you meet, etc. Ok they asked “Why do you really like poker?” They went on to say that “Poker is a game where people trick each other and take advantage of the weaker players to take their money. Also, they stated that you play online, rarely do you go to a casino, how do you meet people.”
