I suck at poker

Posted by RipCity

December 26, 2007

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.

So that’s my poker story. Hopefully being a BigPoker blogger will help me get better all the more quickly. If I do get better, all of you will be there with me every step of the way. I will post all my poker epiphanies as they come. For example, I recently noticed that the limp-reraise can be both a blessing and a curse (more on that in the next post). I have been in the California Bay Area for the past week for the holidays so no poker has been played (bummer), but I’m headed home for Oregon in a matter of hours and I’ll have plenty more to write about upon my arrival. I suppose I’ll spend the ten-hour ride home reading The Theory of Poker for the tenth time and Small-Stakes Hold ‘Em for the dozenth (ok, exaggeration). Until then, keep grinding.

RipCity

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