Confessions of a Bored Poker Player

And so begins yet another poker blog, thrilling I know. I bet everyone can't wait to read about yet another young internet player who plays stakes less than we all care about. But, alas, boredom drives many people to try out new things. You can thank my good session today, that I was too afraid to continue for fear of the dreaded sunday blow up.

For those who don't know, or for some reason care to know about my poker history, is goes something like this. I started playing when I was 14, using dimes as chips playing spread limit HE. Eventually we bumped it up to $10 buy-in tournaments with about 5 people when I finally got my chip set. At somepoint, late one night I found myself staring blankly at ESPN, too lazy to change the channel (although, I'm not quite sure why anyone would change the channel from ESPN, save when they are airing golf), and I found myself watching the 2003 WSOP main event. Yes, I'll admit it, I am a Moneymaker boomer. Watching that tournament, I found myself getting drawn into just how strategic and intering poker was. I though it was just about throwing money around stupidly in games with half the deck being wild (thankfully, many people still do), I came to see it then as a beautiful art. I began to take poker much more seriously after that and made it a point to try and crush my home game when possible.

Unfortunately, due to my fairly young age, I wasn't quite able to get into internet poker at that point. I was only 16 and still didn't pay that much attention to the fact that I could try and FR some money without a deposit. Meh so I guess I don't get to tell one of those $0 to $1,000,000,000 stories some people tell (I have a feeling most of them are bluffing about that anyway), anyway I started with $50 at Pokerroom a few months after I turned 18, playing the $5 sngs. And so began the tale of about my first 9 months or so of online poker. Win some in tournaments, go broke in ring games. Busted my first $50 and redeposited. Made my second $50 last for a while until I moved to Full Tilt. And I must say I am glad I did. Even though at that point I would definitely say FT had the hardest competition on the net, it was so much nicer to be playing on a client based site, and company who supports Apple software is a great company IMO. Of course, I really wasn't ready to start playing as much as I did. I was probably what you would call a live one at that point. I was good enough to think that I was usually in the top 30% as far as players go (I think the middle third is probably here I was at), and bad enough to go broke on several occassions. Each time I would deposit more that the last, and at some point I found myself $1200 in the hole. I think my biggest problem back then (it still is) was BR management. I'd bounce back and forth between all types of games, and I was never really rolled for the cash games I'd end up in. I moved to PLO and PLO/8 when I didn't think HE was really working out for me. I actually became a very good PLO/8 player rather quickly (it's almost a total math game, which is my specialty), but I kept trying to push myself into cash games way too big for my BR and would always have my sunday blow-up rear it's ugly head. I'd win all week and then blow all my profit and then some on Sunday when I am worn-out from all the poker during the week and going out on Saturday night.

So anyway, $1200 in the hole, and really down on poker, I decided the pool of Omaha players was too small to be profitable and switched back to HE cash games. I had a $600 roll at that point and so sensibly I played .1/.25. This just so happened to be right after the UIGEA, when everyone from Party Poker flocked on to FT and thankfully, I did well. I also bought during this time what I consider to be the best book on NLHE written yet, Sklansky's No Limit Hold 'Em: Theory and Practice. Before it I was a very tight, big hand type player. That book taught me the value of implied odds and has allowed me to play NLHE cash games on another level. When my BR hit $800, I moved up to .25/.5 NLHE. I didn't do so well there. After dropping about $100, I decided there was something about that level that I hated and vowed never to play it again. However, a section of Sklansky's book had caught my eye. It talked about the advantages that a short stack has against deep ones. So, being the BR management donk that I am, I moved to .5/1 and played a $40 stack on two tables. From there I took off and in 6 weeks I went from about $1100 in the hole to $500 ahead. However, I was exhuasted after that and I planned on taking the end of December until mid January off. Of course right when I was about to start playing again, Neteller got busted (I had all but $200 of my BR in it) and I now had to find another way to fund my poker playing.

I was able to get back up and running at the end of the month and tried to pick up where I left off. Unfortuately, this was about the same time as the third FTOPS at FT. I ended up blowing most of the $500 I depostied on sats, which I managed to do horrible in all of them I floated for a while on what was left for a month or so before going busto. Then did try two with another $500 held my own until spring break and then, through a combination of my SS NLHE strategy, and my newly found $36 turbo sng's, I went from $500 to $2200 in almost 2 weeks. But, what goes up that fast, comes down even faster. Me, being the BR donk that I am, decided to take a shot at 1/2. Two full buyins later, and one bad beat, and one full boat getting sunk by quads later, I was on massive tilt. It was time for a sunday blow-up like I've never done before. $400 more blown at that level and I was long past Caro's threshold of misery. I decided you know what, I am a good player, I am going to full-buy in a 2/4 game and just not allow my self to loose. WRONG!!!! Full boat vs. quads again. So then I figured I'd try $200 at 2/4 and work my SS magic. Nope. Sorry. No magic. $200 gone. I will spare you the details of how I lost the rest of the $600, and the $500 deposit I made afterwards, but needless to say, it was UGLY!!!!

Thankfully these days are better. I made another $500 deposit, and so far so good. I currently play 6-tables at a time, sizing my buy-in 5% of my BR and it's worked. After a nice session tonight I am currently sitting on a $1500 BR, and looking forward to once again being in the black. My goal for this year is to 1) NOT DONK OFF MY MONEY BY PLAYING TOO HIGH. Hopefully blogging my stupidity will force my not to do it. 2) Have a big enough BR to play 3/6 by the end of the year. $12000 is a big of a loftly goal, but I have high standards for myself. I also want to be able to play poker semi-pro while I am in China for a semester starting in January. GL to me, I'm gonna need it. I make sure I water my Bamboo to keep the luck flowing.

Oh yeah, and what would any poker blog be without a HH. This is my favorite hand of the session. There is no better feeling than when a LAG play is rewarded, and the person who paid you for it lets you know who the donk REALLY is:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2633977519: Table Charitable - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:15:12 ET - 2007/06/10
Seat 1: HHammer878 ($118.35)
Seat 2: Richman316 ($37.60), is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 ($55.35)
Seat 4: bakes1251 ($60.25)
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht ($77.40)
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet ($76)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey ($42.65)
Seat 8: angelsach ($121.20)
Seat 9: jimc43 ($285.90)
bakes1251 has 5 seconds left to act
bakes1251 posts the small blind of $0.50
Jaturongkabaht posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Jaturongkabaht [5h 7h]
Rock HaEmet folds
Ellen Mikey folds
angelsach raises to $4
jimc43 calls $4
HHammer878 folds
jsk213 folds
bakes1251 folds
Jaturongkabaht calls $3
*** FLOP *** [3d 4s 6s]
Jaturongkabaht checks
angelsach bets $8
jimc43 folds
Jaturongkabaht has 15 seconds left to act
Jaturongkabaht raises to $22
angelsach has 15 seconds left to act
angelsach raises to $78.50
Jaturongkabaht calls $51.40, and is all in
angelsach shows [Qh Qd]
Jaturongkabaht shows [5h 7h]
Uncalled bet of $5.10 returned to angelsach
*** TURN *** [3d 4s 6s] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [3d 4s 6s Jh] [3h]
angelsach shows two pair, Queens and Threes
Jaturongkabaht shows a straight, Seven high
Jaturongkabaht wins the pot ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
angelsach: wow
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $159.30 | Rake $3
Board: [3d 4s 6s Jh 3h]
Seat 1: HHammer878 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Richman316 is sitting out
Seat 3: jsk213 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: bakes1251 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Jaturongkabaht (big blind) showed [5h 7h] and won ($156.30) with a straight, Seven high
Seat 6: Rock HaEmet didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Ellen Mikey didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: angelsach showed [Qh Qd] and lost with two pair, Queens and Threes
Seat 9: jimc43 folded on the Flop

angelsach: what a fckin donkey
angelsach: calling with 57
angelsach: stupid fck
Jaturongkabaht: =)

There only one thing to do when someone calls you a donk after a play like that, smile like you are goin' to Hawaii!