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Session 1 is neither a success nor a failure
So I finally got sit down and play some 6 max .05/.10 NLHE today after I got done with classes. It was my first real session in a while and I felt I played pretty well despite coming away a small loser for the day.
Back to the grind
Now the fun begins. I have arrived back in Eugene, Oregon on the eve of Winter Term. I will be attempting to juggle school, extracurricular activities, and poker without compromising my grades or my bankroll. I can’t promise anything. Here’s basically how it all shakes out. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I am in class from noon to three. This should give me ample opportunity to get in some serious poker in the afternoon. Of course, academics come first and I will attempt to get all or most of my homework done before cranking up Full Tilt. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am in class from 10 AM to 3 PM. I never play poker in the mornings (that time is reserved for running) so this shouldn’t affect my poker time too much. Weekends are a free for all. If I have completed my homework during the course of the week, there will be lots of poker to be played on Saturdays and Sundays.
Obligatory 2008 goals post
As far as I’m concerned, a new year really only means I have to buy a new planner and calender. However, it seems like as good a time as any to set some poker goals for 2008. As people around me were making their imminently broken resolutions, I realized that I have never actually made any “goals” for poker. I have played because I enjoy it and because I like getting better and learning as much about the game as possible. Now seems like a good time for some legit goals.My first goal is to be a competent tournament player.
The limp-reraise: +EV?
I have been struggling with this question for many moons. Personally, I rarely ever limp. If I am the first person into a pot, I am raising 99% of the time. By raising every time I enter a pot, my opponents have a bigger problem trying to figure out where I’m at preflop. However, at the micro limits I play at, I don’t think the other players are overly observant about my tendencies. I have been contemplating whether or not to implement some limp-reraising into my game. However, I’m not convinced it is a positive EV play. In micro limits, an open limp usually sets off an epidemic of other limpers. Very rarely will another player raise if he can see a flop for cheap with many other players already having limped (This is another area where I differ from the usual micro-donk. If there are a number of limpers in front of me and I have a hand worth limping, I am going to raise almost every time. I suppose that makes me susceptible to the limp-reraise).This is where the problem lies in limp-reraising. If I limp with a big hand (AA or KK) and it gets limped around, I am seeing a flop against three or four other players and I have no idea where I’m at in the hand. As the adage goes, “Never go broke in a limped pot.” If there is no raise behind me before the flop, I really have to tread lightly on the flop and my attempt at building a big pot with a big hand has deteriorated into an exercise in caution.
I suck at poker
I just thought I should get that out of the way right off the bat. Maybe it is a bit of an overstatement. I did tear up the home game I used to play (did that for about two years), but that means basically nothing when you take into account how horrible the players were at that home game. I have been playing poker for about four years. I started off playing small buy-in tournaments with a group of friends from high school, but that got pretty boring once I realized very few of them were taking the game seriously. They were there for the social aspect of poker. After I realized I would not get any better playing with those guys on a weekly basis, I deposited $50 (the minimum) into Full Tilt. That was about six months ago and ever since then I have been playing mostly micro-limit NLHE in an attempt to build up some kind of bankroll. There have been plenty of ups and plenty of downs (see: title), but overall my game has improved exponentially. I take poker more seriously than anybody I know. I love discussing strategy, although none of my friends have any idea what I’m talking about when I bring up things like fold equity, implied odds, and scooping. I am also a huge poker fan. I constantly check the live updates during WPT events and am addicted to poker podcasts (such as Rounders, PokerRoad, etc.). I am passionate about becoming a better poker player. I read poker books, study my hand histories, read articles and posts on 2+2, and think about the game as much as possible. It isn’t always easy juggling a double-major at the University of Oregon but I do what I can. I have noticed that my current downswing coincided directly with the start of the school year. Whatever. I still want to keep getting better.
