Rags to Riches

"What potent blood hath modest May."

-Raplh W. Emerson

So its been about three weeks or so since I started playing poker seriously and the results have been good. I've passed 2NL and i'll have to say that it was very, very tedious. However, the benefits gained from the limit made it worth every hour played. I've logged over sixty hours and i'm pretty proud of that.

My BR was at about 90$ and I decided to take a shot at 5NL. Although 2NL and 5NL are pretty soft (even for a noob like me) i'd have to say there are differences. Call me crazy but 5NL seems more volatile as every other player seems to go all in for no apparent reason. I've also identified various bad players such as IntelliPoker and anyone with a "Dream" prefix attached to their name.

Not to say the journey so far has been easy, far from it. I was about to give up at one point but I decided to take two days off and party. Come Sunday, my mind was refreshed and I tackled 5NL again at 80$ and ended the session with 110$. I'm currently standing at 160$ and hope to hit 250$ soon so I can start 10NL.

Some graphs of May...




Overall, poker is challenging me in a way no video game could. I've decided to quit competitive gaming forever (i'm 22, it's about time anyways) and focus on this. I think that's it...

8D

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TLDR, long ass blog post!

So my friends wanted to hit the casino today so I checked out the website and found that they did have no limit tables. Excited to try poker live, I called them up and reserved some seats (2.5hr wait, yuck long weekend) and made our way there. Having read Myth's articles about live hold em, I didn't feel hopeless because I knew there must be some players worse than me.

The tables were 1/2, max 100$ buy in (???) and considering my Pokerstars BR is 100, it was just intimidating once I sat down. My table was populated with young college students and middle aged casino regulars. There was this guy that tried to start a conversation with me but I ignored him and focused on my cards. That instantly labeled me as an asshole at the table and I could tell from their looks they wanted to bust my ass.

I folded the first few hands to get a feeling of a live game at a casino. I immediately identified the table as loose as people were betting like crazy with low pair or even nothing; Almost like 1/2cents at Pokerstars. The best thing in my mind was to tighten up my range and play premium hands only until I had some fear in them. Five minutes in, I get dealt AKo in dealer position. I raise about 8 dollars and everyone quickly folded except for this one, big black guy. I heard him earlier talking about Harrington's book so I figured he must know some OK poker. Boy, was I wrong.

So the flop comes out, A 2 4 rainbow. In my head i'm screaming OH I HIT OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG WHAT DO I BET LOLZZZZZZ but on the outside, I maintained composure and waited for him to make his move. He minraises me and I raised a significant portion of my stack to him back. He then says, "That's it? Isn't it past your bedtime kid?" Everyone got a good laugh but I maintained silence and watched him call. Turn comes, a Jack. By now I was thinking, "oh god what if he hit two pair or a set or something disgusting, omg omg" He raises me all in (he was deepstacked so he covered me well) and i'm sitting there, screaming internally. Did he hit something on the turn? Or was I being dominated from the flop? I don't know if it was a dumb call or not (you guys can criticize me later) but after a couple moments of deliberation, I called. After the river, he flips A 6. I have the superior kicker and double up within 5-10 minutes of sitting down.

The feeling of winning a huge pot live was amazing. Especially since I knew they all disliked me made it so much sweeter. I think the black man I robbed was the most well liked guy and some fat lady sitting beside him looked especially pissed.

Long story short, I lost my winnings nut flush vs set and the board paired on the river giving the guy a full house. I walked out of there without a word but after deliberating, I felt that I played the hand well and it was just bad luck. My friend who blows at poker won 300 dollars but surprisingly, I wasn't jealous. I knew that in the long run, i'd be ahead. I'm going to keep grinding microstakes on Stars for now and build up my BR so that I can continually buy in comfortably at live games if I get hit by a bad beat or something.

Next subject...

I've been talking to my friends about poker recently and this game seems to have a huge negative connotation attached to it when it comes to profitability. They love to play casually but when I mentioned a steady, consistent overall profit, they scoffed and said it was mostly luck. I've made the decision to stop telling them about what i'm trying to achieve on Pokerstars because really, it's pointless if they're so close minded. I'll let my wallet speak for itself when I get to a decent level. You guys are the reason why I believe that with improving your game constantly, profit is just one of the many benefits from learning no limit holdem.

Jew, out.

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My friend got me interested in playing "serious poker" one fine Sunday afternoon after church service. What interested me the most was that he said the strategic elements of poker were akin to high-level video gaming.

The words of a gambling addict or a wise sage? I soon found out.

Remember the scene in the Matrix where Neo takes the red pill and life as he knows it changes? It was like that, except i'm not Keanu Reeves and my life didn't change, my view on poker did. I'm terrible of course but I hope to rise above the mediocre. I did enjoy poker casually but it was to gamble, and not to win. Being a huge supporter of the "play to win" mindset, I realized I needed to change my ways and dominate this game.

My meagre buy in of 20 dollars has transformed into 70 within two weeks, with micro SnG's and grinding augmenting my BR. Learning the terms, honing my game and reading countless e-books are a grueling chore but I see the light far, far ahead.

I cannot wait to patch my numerous leaks and move ahead to the next level!

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