Playing Better

I am still not playing a lot of poker these days. I have been busy at home getting ready for our second child and I have been busy at work with the 1.3 million things that make my professional like soooooo much fun.

I have also played some Scrabble, where I continue to lose most of my matches. I just checked my record; I have won 7, lost 23. My rating is 97, which is the lowest I've ever seen for someone who has played more than 10 matches. I don't think that I am the worst player out there; I just have had a run of bad luck where I've lost a bunch of close matches. Sounds kinda like a poker bad beat story, right?

Somewhere in the middle of all of this confusion, I've figured out how to play solid poker again. I have been playing almost exclusively at Trident Poker where I get $25 for every 250 raked hands that I play. I initially started playing very poorly, donking away about $50 over my first 500 raked hands.

But since then, I've played rather well, gotten a little bit lucky and I up about $75. It's not much, but it's a start. Perhaps most importantly, my confidence is back and I am enjoying playing again. Too bad that the end of online poker as I know it is about to happen. Oh well!

I'm off to play a game of Scrabble!

Scrabble

It's been awhile since my last blog entry and there is a good reason for that. I have not been playing very much poker lately. In fact, for the first time in three years, I have taken an extended break from poker (exceptions: vacations without electricity).

I am simply not excited about poker right now. Prior to the new US regulations on online poker, I was playing poorly. After the regulations, I found it difficult to get excited about a hobby that I would have a difficult time pursuing over the long term. Furthermore, my wife and I are expecting our second child soon, so that'll limit my poker in the near future also.

The sum of all of this is a great deal of poker apathy. I also found another hobby: Online Scrabble! I really suck at this game but it is a lot of fun. I found an online site where I can play for free and my opponents are quite competitive (unlike free money online poker). So, I can be competitive without any risk of losing money. What a deal!

I had a conversation with my wife about replacing online poker with online scrabble. She said that it sounded like a good idea, but she kind of liked the things that we bought from the poker winnings too.

Anyway, I am sure that I am not finished with online poker. I have played a little in the last few days, generally playing poorly but somehow winning about $10. I haven't pursued my HORSE1000 quest (good scrabble word) at all, but I'll get back to it soon enough.

Last night, I noticed a poker site that had a good sign-up bonus ($200) that cleared after playing 2000 raked hands ($0.25 or more). So today, I downloaded the software and I deposited some money. I plan on playing full-ring limit hold'em, probably at $0.50/$1.00 stakes. We'll see how it goes; I certainly could use a good bonus on top of some slight poker profits.

HORSE 1000

Since I cashed out most of my online poker money, my poker play has been marginal at best. I originally started with $44 at Party Poker and I built that to as high as $90 playing $25 NL, but my heart wasn't in it and I would frequently donk away a buy-in or two. Last Wednesday night, I played just a little bit at Party (starting at $45 or so), winning a few dollars, bringing up my bankroll there to $51.71. I then moved on to play at some other sites (more later). Why is this important? On Thursday, I noticed that Party was going to ban all of their US players on Friday, so I cashed out $51 (the minimum withdrawal amount is $50).

I also played some at Full Contact Poker and this game was just harsh. I took bad beat after bad beat eventually going bust when I pushed preflop with KK and got called with 22... only to see a deuce come on the river. It wasn't that big of a deal to go bust there, considering that I had cashed out all but $50 when I decided to "semi-retire" from poker again.

From there, I moved onto UltimateBet, where I played like a donkey and I almost went bust. I pissed away a few dollars here and there before I totally went nuts. I had a soft table with a donkey who was overly aggressive, although he wasn't playing nearly as aggressive as me (can you say: got tilt?). Anyway, I pushed preflop with Q9o (good play, huh?) and got called by two legit hands (like AA and QQ) but I tripled up when the board was J T 8 X X. The very next hand I pushed all-in with AJ and got called by a big stack who held 22. I didn't improve and I lost my stack. After that, I was left with only $5 in my UltimateBet account. I was tired, so I quit for the night.

As I said before, I noticed that Party Poker was going to ban US players on Friday, so I cashed out my $50. Other than that, I don't recall playing very much at all on Thursday.

On Friday, I noticed that UltimateBet had a reload going and so I deposited enough to get the maximum bonus, but then immediately withdrew all but $50, essentially transferring my Party Poker funds to my UltimateBet account. Late on Friday, I noticed that Full Contact Poker was going to ban US players also (note: FCP is looking for a new network provider as a result).

On Friday night, I started to think about my place in the online poker world. With Party Poker out, my ability to win money was going to be seriously compromised. Their monthly reload bonus was a gold mine, essentially $100 every month for relatively little work. That does not even begin to include the ridiculously soft games at Party Poker. Sadly, the bonuses at Full Tilt and UltimateBet were much more difficult to clear, essentially a crappy version of rakeback; furthermore, I think the play at UB and FTP is much better. This combination meant that online poker was, for me at that moment in time, neither profitable nor entertaining (recall that I was also experiencing some burn-out).

After processing all of these thoughts, I decided to try a little experiment. I decided to play 1000 hands of each of the five games that make up "HORSE": (1) Hold'em, (2) Omaha 8/b, (3) Razz, (4) 7-card stud, and (5) 7-card stud 8/b. Because my bankroll was short, I decided to play all of these at $0.25/$0.50 stakes. It's hardly life-changing money, but I thought it would be fun and keeping track of my stats would help me stay focused.

Outside of playing HORSE sit-n-goes, I had little experience with either Razz or 7stud 8/b, but I feel really comfortable playing hold'em, Omaha 8/b, and 7stud in ring games.

So far, I am +$18 after playing 553 hands (out of 5000 total). I have played the most hands at hold'em (196), mostly because I tend to play those on "auto-pilot"; sadly, I do not play well on auto-pilot and I am slightly negative for these hands. When playing the other games, however, I have been concentrating and I am doing very well, especially at Omaha 8/b and Stud 8/b; I am about even at 7stud (one session of auto-pilot play was -12 big bets) and Razz.

I am not surprised to be doing well at Omaha 8/b. I think I play the game rather well; if I were bankroll properly, I could probably hold my own at stakes as high as $5/$10.

I am quite surprised, however, to be doing so well at Stud 8/b, although in hindsight it is almost exclusively a function of the bad play of my opponents. My "strategy"?: follow Todd Brunson's platinum rule very closely (see Super System II for details); this gives me a big edge.

I have managed to scoop a few pots here and there with legitimate hands. But my ridiculous win rate (right now: +30 big bets/100 hands) results from hands where I have scooped pots when I had a board lock for the high and I got called to the end in two spots by opponents with a mediocre high but no low. I have also won a few pots with a board lock low, but then scooped when my opponent folded on the river with a better high hand showing (I had K-high; they had two deuces showing).

So right now, I am quite excited about my HORSE 1000 experiment. I have five different games to choose from, so I doubt that I'll get bored with any single game (except hold'em, perhaps). My bankroll is short (~$100), so I playing at about the correct stakes (~200 big bets). And I am winning, albeit not big money, which is always fun.

Slowly Rebuilding

A sarcastic review of my recent past: My poker play has become so bad that congress passed a bill with the specific intent of keeping me from playing anymore.

Anyway, I cashed out the majority of my bankroll before I lost it or it got locked somewhere on the internet. I started with somewhere around $50 in Party, UltimateBet, and Full Contact Poker. I also kept a small amount in my Neteller account to fund reload bonuses, when available.

Almost immediately, Full Tilt Poker had a reload bonus available so I deposited $100 and started to try and build a bankroll there. I played some small stakes NL Hold'em and some small stakes limit hold'em. I struggled for a bit but eventually I found my way to the $0.25/$0.50 7card stud game. This game has been immensely satisfying. I have been playing solid poker, betting when I thought that I had the better had and folding when I did not. The quality of play at this level is simply awful, which is perfect for me, the guy who needs to rebuild a bankroll while trying to remember that poker can be a fun game to play.

I have also been playing $0.25/$0.50 limit hold'em (6-max) at UltimateBet. I think this might be my best game, so I have been slowly winning at this game too.

The bankrolls at all of my sites are still very short but they're now large enough that I can play these games without worrying that a couple of bad beats will break me. More importantly, I am starting to have playing poker again. I don't feel like I am grinding; I am just playing.

My Semi-Retirement from Poker (again)

The biggest news in the world of poker this week is undoubtedly the Safe Port Act, HR 4954, which may potentially be the end of online poker in the United States. Several poker sites have already banned US players and a couple of others (most notably Party Poker) have stated that they will ban US players once the bill is signed into law. Although my personal opinion is that the law will have little effect (check out CardPlayer's website for more details), the world of onlineis certainly in a state of panic right now.

Even so, this ground-shaking news in the poker world could not have come at a better time for me, personally. My poker play has been awful... I am running bad and I am playing poorly. I am losing money out of every orifice in my body. I am angry, annoyed, and irritable.

The Safe Port Act, however, has forced me to question why I am playing poker in the first place. Do I want to keep playing online poker, potentially circumventing the various safeguards specifically designed to prevent me from playing? Is it worth it to me to break laws to play poker?

As is often the case for me, the best answer to a difficult question involves avoiding the question directly. Instead, I answered a much easier question: Why do I play poker? I play because I like winning and I like playing. I hate losing; I despise it, in any form. Lately, I have been playing poker to win money (i.e., focusing on earning the MONEY), which is not why I play. I honestly would be happy playing for play money if people took play money poker seriously.

So, I cashed out virtually all of my bankroll and I am going to start over. Right now, I have less than $50 in three different poker sites and $600 in my Neteller account. I have cashed out everything else and it'll never appear in the world of online poker.

What is my plan for the future? I plan on going back to playing $25 NL or something like that. I might start playing some of the non-hold'em games. I really need to relearn that poker can be fun to play. When I do that, I am sure that I'll start winning again. In fact, I'll probably start playing really well, and eventually I'll repeat my cycle of playing for higher and higher stakes until I hate playing again.

After having these thoughts and cashing out most of my bankroll, I noticed something really cool. I have won a lot of money playing poker since February, and this time I am not going to give my poker winnings to my wife. No offense to her, and I really like our new kitchen floor and everything, but I genuinely believe that my poker earnings should go to something fun (in her defense, my wife truly loves her new floor). Instead, I am going to buy a fishing boat with my money. I had planned on buying a boat once I had won $10,000. Unfortunately, I never quite got there, but I am sure that I can buy a nice boat with what I have.

So, with apologies to CTBob from the Poker Forum and especially to R.E.M., it's the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine.