Category: Poker

Mr. Boy Genius has linked to this blog. I don’t think I’ve had any worthwhile posts in a while, so I’m not sure what y’all are going to read here while visiting.

On the poker front, I lost $50 or so yesterday playing no limit and limit. Wasn’t getting cards to play, and couldn’t get them to connect at all. I haven’t had a day like that in a while. Pretty disheartening, especially since I had just recently moved into the black. I still haven’t paid myself back for my poker bankroll, since that would only leave me with $10 of other people’s money (OPM).

Today I wasn’t able to take advantage of the WPT-fueled fish due to academic commitments. I still managed to get in a late night session and made a few bucks, averaging about 22BB per 100. That was a little more like it. One table was pretty amazing. I caught a run of good cards, and even several of the hands I folded pre-flop turned out to be winners. The table was still as loose and aggressive as it had been when I decided to quit, but when a few orbits go by and your cards don’t catch, sometimes you figure you’re ahead and that’s good enough for an early Thursday morning.

Actually, now that I think back on it, I think I realized that I had just been lucky and had to get out of there fast. On one hand, my KQ and someone else’s KK sucked out the winning straight on the river, much to the dismay (I’m sure) of the guy who had rockets. I had paired the queen and then stayed for the straight, convinced that the other guys were full of it. Lucky me. On one of my first hands I had pocket queens that sucked out a set on the river after my oppponent flopped two pair with big slick. I had raised pre-flop in the big blind and bet first in after the flop put both overcards on the board. Then, instead of folding to his raise, I called. After the turn gave me a flush draw, I decided to play pot odds instead of folding to his bet and fished for the flush. Lucky again. One time in the BB, I had J4o and flopped two pair. Damn lucky.

Of course, on one hand with cowboys, I decided to fold to a guy representing three queens. He had, of course, nothing at all. And that probably had a lot to do with my quitting a half hour later. It was really way too late for me to stick around for a chance to slap that guy around with a big pair.

I was bored of the .50/1 games and decided to try my hand at the $25 NL tables. Wow, I got killed. I lost $21 in an hour and twenty minutes. I folded cowboys to a boat on the board and queens to a flush. That was tough.

The one hand I won I flopped a flush with big slick. Everyone checked on the flop, including me. When the king appeared on the turn, I bet a buck and a half, hoping to get some kind of money out of the game. Two people called and two folded. With the river pairing the board, I bet $3. One person folded, one called. He had big slick suited, but it was the wrong suit.

And that was it. With $4 left I decided to cut my losses.

About half an hour and four drinks into the weekly game, I realized I just didn’t care about a game with a $5 buy-in. I liked playing, but it wasn’t that important to win.

I ended up losing $4.

I signed onto Party and made $12.25 in 18 minutes. Before our game I’d made $10.75. While $4 is a significant percentage of that, it’s not like I’m trying to grow my bankroll at the expense of my friends. Plus, the play’s too slow and the limit’s not that interesting. That said, I think I played mostly right, but got caught by better cards, or shittier cards sucking out on me.

There were a couple hands I would have played differently, but I won’t go into them here.

DavidRoss has a new post: Playing online for a living Week 50

Worth reading.

When he talks about a win rate of 2BB/100 hands, you start thinking, “Hey, I can do that.” I’m actually at 4.22BB/100 hands, but I’m playing far lower limits. I’d love to get my hands on some of his hand histories.

Like I said, DavidRoss should be your hero, too. For those of who play, talk of going pro always comes up, even when our bankrolls are easily the size of a 5/10 or 15/30 pot. Whether unemployed, voluntarily off the payroll, or in grad school, the idea of living off of other people’s disposable income sounds appealing. To me, it’s also a bit unappealing. I have a scorn/pity relationship with stupid people.

Anyway, DR also talks about how the 2+2 forum has taught him a lot about not only play, but also the virtues of Party and PT. You infidels should heed this as well.

The older ones are worth reading, too. I’m not actually trying to re-use content. Eventually I’ll get through all 50 weeks and have a master list somewhere. For now, this is all I have the time and patience to compile.

Playing online for a living week 34, 35 and 36

Playing online for a living week 39

Playing online for a living week 40

Playing online for a living week 41

Playing online for a living week 45

Playing online for a living week 46

Playing online for a living week 49

It’s been three weeks since I’ve started tracking my poker play. While week 3 wasn’t as awesome as week 2, I still made $65 for the week. Hourly, it’s terrible. Oh god it’s terrible.

On the bright side, I’ve finally pushed into the black, even while counting money I’ve spent on poker-related items. Of course, that includes bonuses I made over the past week and half. I’ll take ’em. As someone else put it, deposit bonuses are really rake refunds, and I’ve seen more than my share of rakes. Okay, maybe just my share.

The plan from here on out is to continue to win other people’s money week to week, and finally get my own personal money out of my bankroll. Then keep building the bankroll and move up in limits. This will take… at least another month or two, and it’s going to have to be a strong two months.

I have to admit… this post isn’t anything near what DavidRoss posts:

Playing online for a living week 34, 35 and 36

Playing online for a living week 39

Playing online for a living week 40

Playing online for a living week 41

Playing online for a living week 45

Playing online for a living week 46