Yet another blog on poker.....spare me the details, right? Well, first and foremost this is for me as a player. I'm hoping documenting my play (i.e. my mistakes) will allow for me to be less of a donk at the tables in the future. As a reader (if I ever have any), maybe you can learn from my blunders and not make the same errors.
As for me I am 31 years old and have been playing poker for about 8 years now. I started as a limit hold'em player and then made the switch to NL hold'em in 2005. It's hard to believe that I've been playing poker that long. My screen name is 'Lowcald' and I've played on quite a few sites online. Currently, I'm playing exclusively on Full Tilt. As for live action, I'm playing about 4-5 sessions per week at a $1/2 NL game with a $200 max buy in. I've been playing at that level and about the same time duration for about 9 months. Prior to that I would only play live poker a few times a month. As my live sessions have gone up drastically, the time I play online has diminished quite a bit. I do feel that the live games at the $1/2 level are much softer than that of Full Tilt at similiar stakes.
I just started dabbling in PLO (only online so far). There is a juicy game near me that is filled with players that have a lot more money than they do knowledge of how to play the game. I just don't feel I have the bankroll right now to play that game (as the variance is much higher than it is for NL), nor is my comfort level with the game where I would like it to be. I am currently reading a book on the game and playing micro stakes at Full Tilt in the hope of getting on that table. The book I am reading is 'Pot Limit Omaha Poker' by Jeff Hwang. I've heard the book to be very informative and have liked what I've read so far. I'll provided a more detailed review of the book when I am finished with it. I also have his 2nd book on PLO, however, it has been suggested to me to play extensively prior to reading it due to it being geared towards the more experienced player.
I've read a few other books on poker. The two that I always suggest are Dan Harrington's. His books on tournaments improved my tournament game immensly. As a matter of fact, I had never played in a casino tourney prior to reading those books. At the time, I was within driving distance to Atlantic City. After finishing the books I decided I would take a trip there and play in a $100 tourney. For someone who plays in games where I've pushed hundreds of dollars into a single pot I don't know why I was somewhat unconfortable with spending that amount on a tourney at the time, but that was indeed the case. I ended up finishing 8th out of about 100 players and just making the money. I played in that same tournament 1 month later and chopped it 4 ways for a nice win. Surprisingly, I never played in another casino tourney since. I guess I just like saying that I'm 2 for 2 when it comes to cashing in them. I have played in some smaller tournaments run in charity poker rooms with some success (a few money finishes). I guess the point here is that Harrington's books more than paid for themselves in my eyes and I do look forward to playing in more tournaments in the future.
My goal here is to be extremely honest about my play, my wins and losses, as well as how poker is effecting my life. While I'm passionate about poker, I don't want it to control my life. Poker does not fall under my definition of gambling. This is just due to a player being able to put his money in when odds are in his favor and getting the hell out when the odds aren't there. The part that effects your life is the addictive side of poker. I have to admit, there are times when my urge to play over-rides my senses to the point where I might put things off in order to play for a few hours. This is something that I'm not proud of, but I'm not going to hide it.
Well, lets see how I do. My next session won't be for a few days, so until then good luck at the tables.
