Getting Better. Even if it means reading a book.
Posts tagged NLH
At first I thought I was playing poker.
Feb 3rd
This post was going to start with me fuming on the car ride home after a dismal night at the casino. But after a little reflection, I realized the bad night wasn’t the point, it was my bad thinking.
It started with me sitting at a $100 NLH game. There was this drunk guy, so drunk the dealer had to help him count his chips drunk. He was sitting in front of a pile of chips and raising every, and I mean every, hand. It looked like easy money. In a pronounced slur, he would tell anybody who listened that he had racked up over a $1000 in less than half an hour.
It was obvious this guy wasn’t walking out of the casino with one dime of this money. I figured, why not be a pal and help him part with it. Why wait for a great hand? This guy’s drunk, why not help myself?
I pick up a very marginal hand. It’s an insta-fold against anyone but this guy. He raises and I’m happy to get it all in. He’s happy to call.
I have him dominated. He catches. Re-buy. No big deal.
Soon, I’m against him heads up again. He puts in his auto-raise. Once again, I figure I’m ahead and I call. Turns out I’m right again, but moments later, I’m out another buy-in.
This happens a few more times.
Getting the picture? Of course you do. At first glance, I was outraged I wasn’t winning. But then I started thinking about it. I may have known where I was, but truthfully I was barely ahead. At best, no more than 70/30.
I never considered there was a good chance I could lose four times in a row. In my excitement to take down the King of Coronas, I didn’t factor in the grim reality: he had the chips to weather the storm and I didn’t.
Big mistake.
So now I realize that I didn’t even play poker that night. I gambled on a few expensive coin flips.
And from now on, that’s not why I play poker.
Why do you play? Let me know at stories@whydoiplaypoker.net
Replay Hand — Curse and Blessing
Jan 14th
“Man, you should play online. If you don’t play like a dick, you can win some cash. I turned $50 into $1500.” This is my uncle talking. He’s a retired hippy from the 60s. Now he’s a tattooed poker player who tells everyone at the casino that his nephew, that’s me, likes to pack fudge. If I hear him say this, my retort is that I only do it with him when he begs for it. But I digress. I took his advice about online poker and haven’t looked back since.
He was kinda right. I turned $50 into $600 in losses. Then I made some changes to my game and now I am a winning (only by a bit!) online poker player. Here’s how it went down.
I put $50 into a Full Tilt account and played $1 sit n gos. They were ridiculous because no one cared about the money. So I decided to go big, to the tables where my bets would be respected. That’s right, the $5 sit n gos. I have to admit, even at those low stakes my heart would pump like mad. I play for higher stakes in live games, but this just felt different.
It’s so easy to press the all in button. If you win, you can jump up and down and celebrate. If you lose, you can curse the screen and throw your mouse across the room. Better than that, there is no walk of shame. No awkward moments when you avoid eye contact with the players after a miserable defeat. No insincere, “nice hand”. You can click yourself off that table with those fuckers and click right into another game.
Needless to say the $50 went fast. But I was really getting off. People say online poker is rigged. Sometimes the beats are so unreal, I want to place the blame on something out of my control. Shit, it couldn’t my sucky play! More often than not, I made some fundamental error that put me in a bad spot. I know this because I am a big fan of the replay hand button. Watching me be a donkey, over and over again, as I replay hands hurts me ego in a big way, but it sure doesn’t hurt my game.
I play poker because I love learning and studying. Other than my family, nothing teaches me more about myself than poker. It forces me to stare in the mirror and ask, “Who’s the bitch now?”
Why do you play? Let me know at stories@whydoiplaypoker.net
I just read a new poker book. I’m bracing myself for the inevitable losing streak.
Jan 11th
I know that’s it’s not supposed to work that way. I would prefer to be able to read a poker book, preferable just the back blurb, and go on some endless winning streak. All of the game’s mysteries unlocked in one key paragraph. For about an hour’s worth of leisurely reading I think its only fair that I become invincible. I would like to sit down at the poker table and announce, “I want you to know I’ve skimmed through some of the Harrington books, please give me the contents of your wallets.”
It definitely doesn’t work that way for me. Actually, it means the exact opposite. Finishing a poker book kicks off a three week losing streak.
Even with that knowledge, I still love a new poker book. Sure, most of them say pretty much the same stuff, but every once in a while someone really changes the way you look at the game. Or at least, one aspect of it. Like three-betting an under the gun raiser.
So what do I do? I work the price of the losing streak into the cost of the book. It’s an education I believe is worth paying for. The whole point is to get better, right? If I’m going to keep playing the same mediocre game I should just get out of my seat and stop playing now. You have to get better. And I do. Slowly.
I play poker to get better. To possibly someday rule the table regardless of stakes.
Why do you play? Let me know at stories@whydoiplaypoker.net
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