Back where I belong...

      The movie Rounders came out in 1998. Like it did for Chris Moneymaker, it got me into the game of poker. I started out playing limit hold'em single table satellites on the internet turning $50 into $5,000 in about six months. Eventually poker became such a part of my life that I became a real life Mike McDermott quitting law school after two years to play poker full time. For the next 10+ years, I played poker, taught poker, wrote about poker, dreamt about poker, hated poker, loved poker, breathed and lived poker. I went through relationships, cars, friends, lost close ones, but the one constant I had throughout was poker. It was cliché as it sounds... there for me.

      I got into poker at the perfect time. Rounders and the hole cam coupled with Moneymaker led to a boom of unrivaled proportions. There wasn't a time of the day where you couldn't find poker on television. Anyone remember Celebrity Poker Showdown? I do. And yes... I watched it... along with pretty much any other poker that aired on television. I was never a big time winner at the tables. I never had a big losing year but I never had such a massive score that anyone would know who I was. The one thing I was able to do was articulate how to play the game, both in writing and via teaching others. I taught people to play poker for a major online poker site and made good money doing so. I would write for various publications, both print and online, and made good money doing so. Even if I had a losing year, I would have been fine because of the money I made through these endeavors.

      For three years, I was able to cover the World Series of Poker from start to finish. Where other members of the media would grow tired of the Rio and poker and be ready to run home at the end of the six week poker marathon... I wanted it to never end. I would often be one of the first ones there and the last ones to leave. I wanted to be around the poker action. I wanted to see what was going on. Poker fascinated me in multiple ways. The intellectual challenges it presented. The mental drain and physical exhaustion that came from a long day at the tables. The interactions between players, both good and bad. The drama that often existed in the poker world. It was like a microcosm of society all wrapped up in one big tournament room.

      And then there was Black Friday. I had seen the writing on the wall a few months before that fateful day hit. One of the magazines I wrote for shut down, taking a significant source of my writing income with it. The number of writing requests from other sites was also starting to decrease and the number of students I was mentoring was going down. I decided it was time to move on to other opportunities and took a job working for an internet startup game.

      Fast forward three years, still working for the startup and life is good. Great girl. Great home. Great job. But something is missing. I know what it is but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I still follow poker, and know that slowly but surely legalization of online poker is happening in a state-by-state basis. It's a slow process though and I know it's going to be a while, if ever, that we see the boom of the early to mid 2000's. It doesn't matter though – I know I need poker in my life. I reach out to some of my old contacts and see if there is any opportunities out there for me. A good friend from my days covering the WSOP says he might have something for me. At the last minute, I get a gig covering the Beau Rivage Gold Coast Poker Championship tournament series with another one lined up at the Borgata. The hours are long. The pay marginal. But that's not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because I love poker and being here reminds me just how much I do love it.

     I love the laughter at the table when someone tells a funny story. I love the expletives in the air when someone loses to a one outer on the river. I love a glare or stare given by one player to another when their bet has been raised or the laid back "I know I have you beat" grin that comes over a player's face as they put their arms behind their head, amused at their opponent's attempts to read their soul. And despite being tired as hell from staying up until 7 am, 5 am, and 5 am on consecutive days, I love the long hours. I try and think what I hate about poker and really there's only one thing - disrespect. Disrespecting other players, dealers, tournament staff. That's it. And there's not enough of that around to make me hate the game.

     I've heard people say that poker is dead. Yes, it's not like it was after Moneymaker won the WSOP and it probably never will be but as long as there is life on this planet, poker will never be dead. As for me, I'll be a part of this game until I am. Dead that is.

CAP games are my friend

I've never been much of a cash game player. Not sure why really - but tournaments and SNG's have always been my focus. Listening to podcasts though it had become apparent to me that if I want to reduce variance the best avenue to take is playing in cash games. Make no mistake about it, tournaments are probably the most high variance form of poker out there. SNG's don't have that much variance but the capability to turn a large profit is pretty difficult as most people play moderately well in those and it's difficult to overcome the 7.5%+ rake. As I pointed out in my last post, I played 595 SNG's and showed a profit of $1.80. While VIP bonuses from Pokerstars adds to that sum a bit, it's still an awful lot of playing and not much to show for it. Obviously winning $2 is a lot better then losing a large sum but my goal is to build a bankroll and not at a $100 a month rate.

So with that being said, this month I've decided to make a concerted effort to play cash games. I had some money on Lock - I ran that up $150 playing a mix of $.50-1 and $1-2 NLHE and PLO as well as some high buy in SNG's. I got killed playing these super turbo SNG's - all luck in those and I wasn't very lucky. Fortunately I made up for it in regular SNG's and cash games. Was initially going to try and compete in the Bluff Challenge but when I saw what it would take to even be near the top, I decided to test the Lock cash out and see if I can actually receive a check from them within a month. I have a hunch it's going to take a while as it's been 3 days since I requested it and it's still "pending approval". They might as well say "we're holding onto your money as long as humanly possible in the hopes that you will cancel the cashout."

Over at Pokerstars, I started out the month playing .05/.10 full ring (while most online players prefer 6 max because they can see more hands, I 12 table and prefer full ring as it gives me a little time to observe how my opponents play and make better decisions). Played 75 minutes, 915 hands, profit of $8. Not bad, so I decided to make the jump to .10/.25. Played 3 hours, nearly 2000 hands, lost $25. OK maybe I suck at this. I reviewed the hands I played though and felt like I played okay so I wasn't ready to give up cash just yet. Despite the loss I decided to move up higher in stakes to .25/.50. With my bankroll in the mid $700 range and buying in for the minimum (I prefer playing short as my tournament skillset suits shorter stacked play a bit better then uber deep stack play) of $20, I could 12 table comfortably for about 1/3 of my roll. If I lost that, I would obviously move back down. Played a quick 30 minute session and won $18 bringing me to break even for the month after the first week of April.

And then I discovered CAP games. Oh CAP games, how I love thee. Obviously a short sample size, but in the last week I've played about 2.5 hours and approximately 1,750 hands of .25/.50 CAP. The CAP is set to $10 so even with 12 tables going, my maximum risk was minimal. Profit over the 4 quick (I usually have time to play for 30-60 minutes) sessions... $105. Now here's the funny part - playing uber tight aggressive in these games is very +EV as people are generally idiots. My normal VPIP/PFR in tournaments is somewhere in the 15-25/10-20 range depending on table make up. That was pretty much how I was playing in the non CAP cash games as well. In the CAP games, however, I'm running at 10.1 VPIP/6.1 PFR. My strategy in these is simple. In early position, I fold most hands, raise the big hands and will limp with a few (but not many... I was routinely folding AT/AJ/KQ and at times AQ depending on how aggressive the table was). If I play a hand it was usually either in position or when I had a hand that I thought had good equity against my opponent. I would liberally re-raise a player with a top 20% hand if they had a high VPIP/PFR number (yes, I use these numbers in these situations as it's a pretty accurate indicator of a player's aggression level). And I wouldn't even try and get cute with AK, JJ+. If I had one of those 5 hands it was going in pre-flop. If someone has a better hand, it's only $10 at most I'm losing... I can live with that.

The play at these is so bad it's comical at times. I guess people feel like if they can only lose $10 they can gamble it up. I've been called by T8s, K5s, pairs between 2's and 10's about a kajillion times (which the majority of time I crush if I move in), etc. Gotten lucky a few times and unlucky a few as well (those situations have broken about even). The really good thing though is that in the 2.5 hours, I've earned over 200 VPP's. It takes me about 75 $6.50 SNG's to earn that amount which even if I am 24 tabling would take me about 3 hours. Now variance might come back and bring my win down some, but for now, I'm going to keep rolling with these CAP games. Might even throw in some longer sessions when work dies down a bit.

I'm not a very good blogger

So it's been 3+ years since my last blog post. Oh how time flies. I no longer play poker full time for a living any more. Work for an online football MMORPG. It's a pretty kick ass job that pays well and I still get to work out of the comfort of my own home and set my own hours so in that way life it still good. I love taking my two hour naps - couldn't do that it an office job.

Took a break from poker for about a year but I recently started back up again. Playing about 3-4 hours a day most days, trying to grind out a bankroll so I can play in some bigger events. Deposited $200 in Stars. My goal in March was to hit Gold Star and not go broke. Managed to hit Gold Star on the last day of the month. I tried my hand at 24 tabling. It's crazy hectic so needless to say I only do that when I am playing $3.40 SNG's and my play is pretty robotic. Here was how the month of March went for me (I played some Omaha but I don't have Omaha Poker Tracker so no numbers from those events):

Starting Bankroll: $200
Ending Bankroll: $737.75
Profit: $537.75

Pretty good if I say so myself, especially considering that I bought in direct to the Sunday Million 5th anniversary event for $215 (and of course not cashing in it). Here's how I mainly did it:

368 $6.50 NLHE SNG's $2,392 buy in $2,392.20 winnings $.20 profit .01% ROI
227 $3.40 NLHE SNG's $771.80 buy in $773.40 winnings $1.60 profit .21% ROI

I'm happy with break even in these as I am mainly playing these to earn VPP/FPP to get VIP Stellar Rewards and VIP FPP bonuses - the play earned me $80 in bonuses for the month.

The main money came from the following:

189 $2.20 180 man SNG's $415.80 buy in $569.16 winnings $153.36 profit 26.88% ROI
40 $4.40 180 man SNG's $176.00 buy in $336.24 winnings $160.24 profit 91.05% ROI

Out of the 229 180 man SNG's I played I should be expected on average to do the following:

Cash: 23 times
Final Table: 12 times
Final Three: 4 times
Win: 1 time

I did the following:

Cash: 30 times (13%)
Final Table: 15 times
Final Three: 7 times
Win: 3 times

Obviously the reason I did well is that when I do cash, I make it to the final three/win a higher percentage then average. One win in a $2.20 180 man is $108. If you win one, you're basically guaranteed to break even over a 50 tournament sample size. The play in these is also horrific at times. I definitely have to deviate from standard plays to take advantage of this. For example, if we are at the 25-50 level and I have 2,000 in chips and I see a guy that is 60-40 VPIP/PFR open up a pot to 200, where I might normally just flat or make a raise to 450-500 with a hand like queens, in this case I'll just shove because the majority of my time they aren't going to fold and I want to maximize full value for my hand. Yea, I get sucked out on from time to time doing this (and occasionally run into a legit hand) but when I'm 12 tabling these $2.20's, I just go join another one and move on.

In April, I'm going to try and maintain Gold Star, get the roll over $1,000. Also going to be playing some on Lock for the Bluff Poker Challenge and see if I can win a long shot.

Like a little boy...

A poem about poker... about remembering that poker is a game. A game that is often representative of life. The highs. The lows. But it is a game. Remember to have fun with it. Remember to laugh with it. Remember to love it. Remember when you were a little boy (or girl) and there were no worries in the world. So often I see too many people take this game entirely too seriously, as if the hand they lost is the end of the world. It's not. There is always tomorrow, and as long as you can enjoy and appreciate this game and realize that there is a human element and an element of luck, it'll be a game you love forever and that will love you in return.


He'd been here before,
the click clack music to his ears.
Gray and old,
he'd been shuffled like a deck of cards.
Over... and over...
again.

He remembered,
the first hand he'd ever been dealt.
It was a pretty simple one...
a fold.
And he waited for the next hand...
what would be the first of many.

There were the rushes,
where he won hand after hand,
and nothing could go wrong.
She smiled at him then...
and he laughed.
Like a little boy.

But this game wasn't always kind,
it broke him,
over and over again.
She yelled at him then...
and he cried.
Like a little boy.

He sat down in the chair,
knowing glances as he fiddled with his chips.
Cards thrown in his general direction,
and as he looked at his cards...
he was young again.
Like a little boy.

Like a little boy.

No, I'm not dead...

So it's been nearly three weeks since I've updated. Visited family for nearly two weeks and have been playing catch up since I've got back. That and ummmm I've met someone and have been spending a lot (read: nearly every second) of time with them and enjoying every second of it. She's a fantastic woman and I'm thrilled that she is part of my life. Only time will tell how it turns out but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Finally!

Poker has been pretty break even. I haven't been doing the heads up thing lately (I still haven't had a losing session) as I've been trying the prop thing... and I've figured out that is more of a grind then the heads up thing. You know how hard it is to generate $200 in rake a week when you can only play $1/2 and up and decent games ever get going. I'm going to try one more site but the first one has been a struggle (down $100, although I did win a seat into another $200+ tournament so technically speaking I'm up $100). Mainly though I've been writing to make some money and spending time with the new girlfriend. I'll get to playing more seriously here soon (kinda have to if I want to pay the bills lol although I am doing ok on that end right now thanks to the writing and teaching gigs).

Offline for a few...

I am going to visit my brothers in the Deep South over the course of the next two weeks, followed by my 20 year high school reunion. That should be interesting considering I have not seen one person since I graduated and I've gained oh... 100 pounds (I used to be a skinny, long distance running, dude). Living large isn't that what they say? I'm the proverbial definition of that one. LOL.

Didn't play too much the past few days as I've been researching some articles I'm writing and trying to get into a prop program or two. I figure if I'm going to be playing so much online I might as well get 100% or more rake back rather then the traditional 25-30%. Oh and part of the reason I haven't been playing so much is because FullTilt caught my new account when I tried to do a cash out... apparently they do a name check. Bah. It's not like I was logging in and playing two accounts, I just wanted to start new and get rakeback, which you can't do with existing accounts. Kind of sucky if you ask me. Ah well, they lost my business... thankfully they gave me my money back.

I did get signed on as a prop at one site... obviously can't say what site it is, but it's 100% rakeback, which is a good deal. I played a $20+ SNG into a bigger buy in tournament there tonight and won it... it was one of those up and down affairs. I start off tripling up early when some guy thought it was good to call my limp push with A6s. I had QQ. I got down to about double what I started with, doubled up to be massive chip leader and then in back to back hands lost with K-K to A-7 (same A-6 idiot) and 10-10 to Q-Q. Kept afloat with timely steals and resteals, then raise with K-K in the SB, BB (guy who had Q-Q earlier) pushes with Q-J. Of course the flop comes J-T-9. Jesus. I survive though and win a fairly long heads up session.

So, I'm off to see the Wizard... or something like that. Hope everyone has lots of good food and family fun. Catch ya on the flip side!

Busy, busy...

I've been swamped the last couple days writing for pokerworks and Inside Poker. Not that I'm complaining... I love it... just gives me less time to write here. Still made my $100 each day playing... throw in the extra money the writing gives me and things are good on the money side of things (for now, give me time I am sure I can fuck that up lol).

Nothing too exciting on the poker front. Check out my articles at pokerworks if you are bored, they've given me some freedom to write what I want so I am going to basically be presenting a series of tournament strategy primers since it's what I know and teach best.