I was bored so I thought I would post about what Poker means to me and my life. Where I have been, where I want to go with it. Should be a boring read but maybe not. Guess you will just have to read it and go from there.
I started getting interested in Poker when most people did. During the 03 WSOP. Watching that donktastic Moneymaker win it. I didn't like him then and not a fan now but watching that got me intrigued about the game. So I started playing on Pokerroom around Sept of 03 I believe. Play money and freerolls. Never played much poker growing up except for maybe 5 Card Stud. This Hold Em thing was completely alien to me. So after some months of dilly-dallying I decided to take my first step into online gambling. I can be a very paranoid person at times and if not for my fear of something going awry like people always tell you I might have been playing for real money sooner.
So I deposited $40 and started playing $5 SNG's and MTT's. No success. Lose it and wait till next month and try it again. Watched a lot of poker on TV and read some stuff in books but never really was terribly serious about it. Then on 10/28/04 I had $11 in my account and decided to play a $10+1 SNG and call it quits if I lost. Luckily I had won and was now sitting on a massive $50 bankroll.
From there I was just tearing it up. I was on such a nice upswing that I didn't deposit more money into an account for over a year. By the end of 05 I was up $2K. Not all that impressive when compared to some of these young phenom stories you see on poker forums, but for a guy playing strictly .25/.50 LHE, and $5 SNG and MTT's. It's not that bad. I won a few MTT's but the best for me was a 397 player $5 MTT that I won for $500.
06 has been a different story all together. I play a lot more than I did but I am not getting better results for the most part. I have moved up and am playing .50/1 or 1/2 LHE. I play $10 MTT's and lots of satellite tounries. I have not won a MTT all year. Best was a 7th in a 2000 person tourney but the payout structure sucked so hard I only tripled my buy in if I remember correctly.
I am part of a large home game that I look forward too each month. Great competition and good times. I do well in that game. I also play 3/6 LHE at Casino Windsor from time to time and am up in that game as well.
At one point this year I was down to $14 online and $50 for live play. And within a month I grinded it out to $800. Felt good about that. Sadly the poker trip that is one of my blog posts cleaned out $350 of that. Still sitting on about $350 online and $50 off but I am just not happy.
I talk poker with other players a lot. I read a lot of strat posts on FCP and Thunderkellers site. I have my hands analyzed and I analyze other peoples hands. I love the game. But I feel like I am in a total rut this year. I need that one big win to get me feeling better but if you are looking for that one big win you might overplay and then play worse.
Where do I want to go with poker. I guess right where I am at. Not looking to go TP/MM (Turn Pro/Make Millions for you non-FCP'ers). I am looking to do well enough not to dive into my bank account and have fun. So far so good I guess, but I know I am better than what my 06 results show me. But I gotta keep grinding away and see what happens. Luckily I have a few good efriends who talk poker with me and are honest with me and I have a very supportive wife that is there cheering me on every step of the way.
So that's it. A brief history of my poker career. Flame away. :P
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3 comments:
Steve,
Lately I've been popping on to check out your blog a couple times a week. I like them because they are very candid and have some interesting insight.
This particular post caught my attention because I have went through the same thing over the past couple years. When I started, I didn't understand position well at all and played very weak / tight. If I was holding a high pair and an overcard hit and was bet out, I almost immediately folded. Despite this simplistic playing style, I was cashing out $100 - $400 each month playing primarily $10 SNG's.
Since I have gotten "better" I have much less success at the same stakes. This year I'm only up $160 between the online and home games I play. Also I play more MTT's now, and haven't even made a final table this year despite consistently finishing in the top 20% of the field.
As you've seen on the TK forum, you're not alone. Hang in there, stay focused, and get ready for the positive variance to get you back on track.
Hello there Tiger. Still awaiting your RSVP on my heads up challenge - joe23419
Hey Steve!
Good blog! I have very little pressure to win events, so I don't think of things like "needing to win a MTT," but I know it can get you down to play so well for so long and still not have good results to show for it. Stick to it. Poker is a very long term game... :)
Ray
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