Poker Perambulation

I remember playing one session of poker in college – that’s sure changed. And, it was played against the Pledge Master – my first encounter with customer poker. We played Bridge and would play all night on Saturday nights where the girl’s dorm required the girls to be in by midnight – another change; the hall of the girl I dated went coed. I’d always tried to play poker a bit when I went to Vegas each year for COMDEX even though I knew I had few skills — I’d usually do it the one night each trip that I’d ride the shuttle downtown. Then the WPT hit and I got hooked.

With the WPT enticing so many of us to the tables, I knew I needed a better game and picked up the Warren book on Holdem. It taught the basics. Not sure how many were successful in using it to hone a game – I needed more than it offered, I know. I started on PokerRoom with a $200 deposit and manged to clear the bonus and even pick up an extra $50 with my one-and-only Royal. I think it took about 2-months or so to lose that. I found Sit and Go play (SnG) about then and that became my game. I moved to Ultimate Bet and played cheap SnGs – logging over 100 hours a month. I moved the buy-in up some with success. I made back my losses. I started playing the occasional cash game. Knock on wood, I did okay.

I gravitated to Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT). I used my SnG play to keep bankrolled. I don’t keep great (heck, any) records but I’d say that MTT play has been little more than a wash. I managed a few final tables and even won several. Mostly, on the better days, it was winning back the buy-in and very few extra bucks. MTT play takes more luck than the SnG. Luck runs in both directions.

Would I have stuck around if I didn’t make that profit? I don’t really know. I played golf for a few years and finally hung the clubs up when I figured I had plateaued at a level that I didn’t find satisfactory. So I might have left poker if the modest profitability hadn’t happened. I do know it was never really about the money — other than a general scorecard. Money is the reason that many compete; it is just not my reason. I occasionally move up above my normal buy-ins; but, I don’t find greater satisfaction. Your experience may/should differ from mine in one respect or another.

With SnG there seemed more bang for the buck and my original attraction to them sustained me and is always something I can fall back on.

I just saw a forum post with an “I am hanging it up.” message from a nice guy who was interesting and interested. I don’t know how many of those I have seen but it is a bunch. Poker provides a lot of ways to enjoy the game. PokerRoom didn’t – and still doesn’t – have the real micro limits. If you play enough – even at their .25-.50 minimum blinds – you might lose more than you planned and start thinking about what else you could have done with that money. That may have been his problem and another site might have served him better and made him want to stay involved and grow his game – I don’t really know.

Pick out what you enjoy. Play at comfortable levels. If things go south a bit, try a different site or game for a while – I am playing more Omaha and looked at a number of sites for it. (Full Tilt is currently getting most of my play.) You must make it work your way and not try to work it someone else’s way.

Addendum:

Jeffery Skilling, former CEO of Enron was sentance to 25 years for lying and a bit of angle shooting that cost a lot of people a lot of money. This played out in a world of lawyers and MBAs who knew better.
Poker players who know each other operate in a world where it is your word that counts. Daniel borrowed money from Doyle Brunson on last years High Stakes Poker. Doyle admits to being a total bust a number of times and could get a restart on his word. Our congress talks about the lack of morality in the poker scene and, then, gets involved in money scandles frequently. Maybe they should use it as an example instead.

Statistic is an area I have only a passing knowledge about. It is at about the level of a first grader at math it would seem at times. I almost need to use my fingers under the desk. I have to think and then verify or my results are often off base; or, I don’t not see the obviousness there that is in a statistician’s mere glance. So, grain of salt time here. We like ratios and percentages. Say you take a play that is 60% successful and follow it with a similar 60% chance. That’s pretty close to the normal percentages we might anticipate in back to back all-in moves . The combined success isn’t 60%; by my calculation, it is 36%. Big plays with slight favorites just might kill you a bit quicker than you might think. M and situations may make that a viable option at times. And big bet poker is a counter against much better players. But that shouldn’t be our regular goal at the table.

There is a forum here called, “Ask the Authors” which allows you to chat with us ”” I do check the forums out several times a day. If you have a topic or question you’d like addressed, you can do it there. It hasn’t been all that active but I got a nice post there about the Bonus Whore blog. Stop by and add your thoughts.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 4:34 am and is filed under Journal, Poker Other, Poker Philosophy. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.