Thursday, July 30, 2009

Quick update

No posts for over a month, then 2 in one day. I try to stay consistent.

As I had the afternoon off of work, I decided to play a game online. As I expected, I was not able to grind it out and stick to my usual $3 tourneys, so using my latest winnings, I entered a $12+$1 90 player Double-stack, Turbo, Knockout tourney... and I won it too!

$288 for my efforts, + various knockouts, meant my account now sits at just over $380. I'm very happy about the win, it is easily my biggest cash in online poker. Now I just have to stay focused, and not let myself play in any cash games, which has always been my Achilles heel.

The most amazing part of my recent success isn't that I'm making money, because in general I was cashing in about 1/3 of the tournaments I was entering previously. The most amazing part is that I've won three of the last four 90 player tournaments I have entered. A fantastic streak to be sure, especially when you consider that just a few months ago I was complaining about being able to make it to the final table (top 9 pay) but I was never winning, or even finishing in the top 4.

Now I have 3 victories in short-order, and I actually think I know what I'm doing that has made the difference. Obviously poker is a game where luck is a significant factor, I'm not claiming to be the next 'Great One" of the poker world, but I know I was in some key situations that I managed to avoid getting in to trouble, whereas previously I may not have been able to get out of the way.

I picked my battles, not the other way around. I was very patient, waited for my opportunities, and was fortunate to take advantage of them and not take any devastating bad beats. Well, that's not entirely true. With 12 players left, I lost half my stack when I called an all-in preflop. I had A-K, my opponent had A-Q and flopped two Qs to win the pot. I thought that was all for me, but I avoided going on tilt, and got all-in shortly afterwards in a great situation to make all the lost money back and then some. From that point on, I was very patient and focused... and lucky. You always have to be lucky to win.

So now, I'm left possibly with the answer o my question at the end of my last blog entry. I knew I couldn't keep myself from playing larger buy-in tournaments, but now I at least have enough of a bank-roll to justify playing in $6 to $12 tournaments. More to follow soon as, not shockingly, winning has rekindled my desire to play poker.

Recent activities

For the first time in many years, I am going through what I have seen many other people go through. Summer comes along, and all of a sudden there's so many other things I would rather be doing then sitting around a poker table losing my money to fish. Mix in the demands of a full-time job, a wife and 2 kids, and I haven't had much time for poker, live or on-line.

In fact, for the past 3 months, I have only played live poker 3 times, at the monthly tournaments that I help run. Hopefully, this trend will change soon, but at least I know my interest in poker is returning, as I have played a few games online, and with significant success.

Last week, with the wife and kids safely asleep, I decide to check on my account at Full Tilt Poker. All my loyal readers (hi Tom) may recall my attempt at getting into the WSOP without contributing a penny of my own money. I started by winning a Freeroll which gave me $15 for 6 hours of poker beating out 2700 players, then I did it again a few weeks later.

After some success playing small buy in 90 player tournies, my account was briefly in excess of $200, but then reality happened. I got over-confident, buying in to more expensive tournaments, and took some of the world's worst beats. When I checked my account just last week, I had $3.85 left.

Just enough to buy in to my favorite 90 player, $3.30 Double-stack, turbo, knock-out tournament. Guess what? I won! $72 added on to my account, and I'm back in business.

Proving that I cannot learn from my mistakes, I immediately buy-in to a $26 tournament, and after another brutally bad beat (my QQ vs 55 preflop, he makes a miracle straight by the turn) my account is quickly depleted significantly.

So I go back to what I know, and win another $3.30 Double-stack, turbo, knock-out tournament. My account now sits over $100 again, and my quest to win a free buy-in to a WSOP event starts all over. This time I have almost a year to get the job done.

Do I play it safe like Joey Knish, and try to slowly grind it out, or do I swing for the fences like Michael McDermott?