The first month isn’t technically over, but I am not going back to the poker room until August, so close enough. And I’m not going back to the poker room because it was not a successful month so I’m imposing a self-ban for the rest of the month so I don’t get into more trouble. I played about 24 hours and lost around $250. So I am further away from my WSOP 2011 goal now than I was at the beginning of the month.

I’m not too worried about the trip yet for a couple of reasons. One, I really don’t know if it’s an achievable goal. I tried the best I could with the numbers and think I know how much I need to average per month. But I really don’t know if my numbers are good. And I don’t know a lot of things, like will I be able to get away from work for 7+ days, will something else come up that will impact me financially, etc. It’s just something I’m shooting for. Plus, one bad month can be quickly wiped out with a really good month. Most of this month’s loss came in one session that was just brutal. Take that session out and I’m only down $59. So, one or two good sessions and July will be a memory.

I talked to my GF about the trip and she says I should go anyway…no matter if I win enough to pay for the trip or not. This is one of the things I love about her…she pushes me when I tend to just do nothing. Her feelings: it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I got into poker a few years ago, and I could probably swing it financially without poker winnings. I’m too hung up on the fact that I could blow $3k, have to deal with flying and all the new rules and fees (I haven’t flown in years), and what would I do if I bust out on Day One when I set aside 7 days for a tournament? Personally, I think she just wants me out of the house for a week.

I’m generally OK with the way I played at the casino. I need to make some adjustments though. I need to start getting involved with less than spectacular hands and figure out who I can call down light with. For example, one guy at a table I was at would bet out a lot, especially if everybody checked to him. Usually, it worked. But I knew he was full of crap most of the time or didn’t have that good of a hand, but I wasn’t in a pot with him often or I had real crap when I was in a hand. Thinking there would be no raises behind me based on my experience at the table, I played Q10 from EP. Flop came K-Q-x and I believed everybody checked. Nothing on the turn and he bets. Anybody else and I probably would have folded, but I called with my second pair and we’re heads up. Nothing on the river and he bets $25. Again, anybody else I probably would have folded. But I called and he flipped up crap. My second pair was good. It’s hands like that that I need to play more of instead of waiting around for aces.

Another thing I need to do is slow down. On my last trip to AC, I thought about every decision and I think it helped a lot. Just slow down and think more. I’m learning and adjusting my live poker play, and hope August turns out a lot better than July.

Actually, I won $76, but tipped the cashier a dollar. I gave her the dollar because I like to keep big bills in my poker stash…I’m not going to use a dollar bill to get chips, so why not give it to her. But then I was thinking. I know a lot of the grinding-it-out cash games pros say they don’t tip because it really adds up and cuts into their ’salary’. I can see that. Not saying I agree, just saying I understand. Now that I’m trying to use my money for something, maybe I should have held onto that dollar and just keep it to the side. And I won two biggish pots and tipped the dealer $2 instead of my usual $1. Maybe I shouldn’t do that anymore either. I can’t not tip…that’s not right. I don’t want to piss off the poker gods. But maybe I’ll try to keep track of how much I ‘lose’ in tips.

I did some research on possible costs of a WSOP trip. I found hotel information on this year’s WSOP web site that said rooms at the Rio start at $69. It looks like most of the $1k tournaments are lasting 6 calendar days. And let’s just say I need an extra day to arrive and/or leave, so we’ll call it an even 7 day stay. At $69 a night, that’s $483. And that doesn’t include taxes…and I’m sure there’s a tourist tax or recreational tax or a you’re-from-out-of-town tax or something in there as well. Let’s just call it $75 for planning purposes, although I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it will end up being more. It would be over $500 just for the hotel.

There are cheaper deals at other hotels. For example, the same web site says rooms at Bally’s start at $45. But then I’d have to factor in getting to and from the Rio every day as the Rio is a few blocks off the strip and I’m not walking in Las Vegas in the summer. Plus, I wouldn’t want to walk back at night. I assume a taxi, but I have no idea how much that would be. And I would think you could meet up with some other guys waiting for a taxi and split the cost or something. But it is a cost to consider.

I have no idea how much to bring for food. $50 a day? $350 for the week? I also have no idea how much a flight would be. $500? I don’t want to leave/arrive at weird times, so that will cost me more. A non-stop would be great, but I’ll take one stop. No more than one, though. And don’t forget money for cash games. So, what are we up to? Let’s see…$2,375, plus cash for cash games. And that’s assuming $500 for a hotel, but I think it will be more. So I was pretty close with my $3k estimate in my other post if you factor in $900 for cash games…I’d like to bring 3 $300 buyins.

It might actually be cheaper for me to enter a $1.5 event. That would knock off 3 days (I think) of playing time. So 4 days of food/hotel (flight would probably be the same). Let’s see. Close, but it’s still cheaper to do the $1k. It would be $2,500 (plus money for cash games) for 4 days and a $1.5k tournament…just a $125 difference for playing in a $1.5 tournament though. Something to consider.

But there’s one other thing I need to know. What happens if I plan this 7-day event and bust out on the first day? What the hell would I do for the next 6 days? Can I check out early and get my money back? Would I be able to change my flight? Probably…for a fee. Of course, if anybody can shed some light on my questions or has an experience to share, do it below in the comments.

I guess at this point, it doesn’t really matter. I think I need at least $3 grand and I only have $76, er, $75.

UPDATE! I wrote most of the above Monday, and then ended up going to the casino that day after work. I’m proud to announce my WSOP 2011 fund is now up to $95. Just $2,905 to go.

But when I logged on, my good feelings quickly changed. First off, I was shocked that I haven’t played a cash game online since April 11th!! Wow. I know I haven’t played much online lately, but I was shocked. I’ve played a couple of tournaments in June, but no cash games all of May and really, all of June except for last night. I went through the hassle of trying to find a table. This is the first time I’ve played at PS since they split up the min/max buyins to help with the short stacking issue. So I had to adjust my filters. Then I had to find a ‘good’ table. Well, all the ‘good’ tables (in my eyes) were full with like 5,6,7 people on the waiting list. The others had VPIPs of like 12%, 9%…WTF? I know the days of having a number of tables at 35% and over are done, but at least get me in the upper 20’s.

I finally find a table and sit down. I had PT3 going but noticed no stats were popping up. I have a crazy guy directly to my right (which is where I want him, so that was good), but he’s making me change how I play. Everybody is trying to trap him. So I’m watching him and not understanding why my HUD stats aren’t showing up. I’m fooling around with PT3, trying to get that to work, watching the table to see how everybody is playing, going to the PT3 forum to see if I’m not the only one with the HUD issue (apparently, it’s just me), and getting frustrated.

Crazy guy hits a set on the river against me after I was ahead on the flop and I lose half my stack. Where are my freaking stats? Shut down PT3 and restart. No good. Crazy guy is open raising for 9bb and has tripled his buyin to $30. I fool around more with PT3. I open up another table to see maybe it’s just the one table that isn’t pulling in stats. I don’t want to close the first table because I’m trying to trap crazy guy. No stats on the second table either. I close that one after one round.

Screw it. PT3 is bringing in the hands, but I can’t get the HUD to work so I’m done fooling around with it. This might be the first time I’m using it since I bought a new PC with Windows 7 and it may be because I’m not running the poker stuff as an administrator, so I have learned from the PT web site. But I can’t do nothing now because that would require leaving the table and restarting PS. So I concentrate on the game…crazy guy blows his stack and rebuys. Blows that, rebuys. Blows that and leaves. I hang around for a couple more hands (sure…now I get KK) and leave. Very frustrating 81 minutes and I lost $7. Trying to get the HUD working, trying to find a good table, and on and on. Bah, I think I’m done.

It wasn’t just the crazy guy/PT3 issues. I just wasn’t into playing online. I still have an itch to play. So my desire to play is not the issue. Anyway, it’s not like I’m quitting cash games cold turkey after playing tons of hands. I’ve been slowly losing interest in online poker for a while now. I only top out at 2.5k hands a month at my peak (I think once I was over 3k), so it wasn’t like I ever was playing tons. But it’s been slowing down month after month and now I’m going months without playing cash games online. It’s not even me taking a break…I just don’t feel like playing online.

I have been starting to get into tournaments. I’ve played a couple of the $5.50 45-man MTTs and do OK. I think I can do well if I keep up with it. I also played a couple $1.10 SnG, but that was because I was on tilt (and the 45-mans can take 2 hours). I don’t know if I’ll keep playing those cheap SnGs, although the play wasn’t totally horrible for a 1.10. It was good for a quickish poker fix without blowing a lot of money. At any rate, I am planning on just playing tournaments online…no more cash games.

With live poker starting in Pittsburgh next week, I’m hoping it will be easy to be done with online poker cash games. Unless things change on the political front and there’s a rush of new fish. Then maybe I’ll try them again. With live poker (which I still greatly enjoy) about ten minutes from work, I could see me heading over there once or twice a week for a quick session after work before heading home, then doing longer sessions on the weekends. As usual, I’ll keep you posted because I know you’re all dying to know.

I don’t play enough online and don’t play high enough (just 10NL) to use poker as a second income for fun stuff like trips, electronics, etc. But with live poker coming to Pittsburgh on July 8th, I’ve decided to try something out. I want to make enough money playing live in one year to fund a trip to the 2011 WSOP, and maybe play in one event.

This could be another Party Poker type goal that gets dashed on the rocks below. I don’t know what the games will be like in Pittsburgh. For example, when poker came to West Virginia, I thought it was going to be the greatest thing. With poker about an hour away, I thought I’d be down there once or twice a month and rack up some extra money. Playing 1/2NL live, obviously, you have a better chance at making more money than 10NL online. And a better chance to lose more, but we don’t think like that. But I’ve only been there a total of maybe 4 times in two and a half years.

Part of the reason I hardly go is I got my ass kicked every time. Small sample size, to be sure. But the play was pretty good for 1/2NL and I was outclassed. I think it’s because it’s hard to attract the tourist element to West Virginia…the guy who wanders by the poker room and thinks he can play because he saw it on TV. No, I think if you’re playing poker in West Virginia, it’s because you made a decision to go to the casino and play poker. Not like in AC, where maybe somebody is there on vacation and decides he’s going to play poker once or twice when he gets there.

Also, there’s no free alcohol in West Virginia. I’m not proud…I know I need that drunk tourist to better my chances of having a winning session. Let’s face it…drunk people are usually easier to play against. But unless you’re going to slam $4 beers all night (actually, I have no idea how much they are), you’re probably not going to get drunk in a WV casino while playing poker. I believe Pennsylvania will be the same…no free alcohol. This may cut into my chances of reaching my goal.

I might see some of that tourist element, as Pittsburgh does have a lot to offer. People do vacation here and we do get our fair share of conventions. Why, Anthrocon 2010 is in town as I write this. The casino is right next to Heinz Field (Steelers), and PNC Park (Pirates) is right down the street. So, time it right, and you could have pre-drunken fans stagger in. Especially from the Steelers games. Although it’s so crazy in and around the stadium on game days, I might not even try to go over to play poker.

As far as actually playing in the WSOP, my goal is to win enough money to fund the flight, hotel, meals, etc. If I do really well, I’d like to play in one of the $1k events. Sure, it’s a long shot to go deep in one of those, but I’ll be happy just saying I played in the WSOP. Then I could get a WSOP hat, wait for someone to ask me about it, and act all cool as I tell my story…impressing strangers in poker rooms. Really, I would be happy just being there and maybe playing some cash games. Just to soak up all that poker…seeing the pros, watching the action. Trying to get on TV with the Felt Poker patch Randy will pay me to wear.

I’d like to have everything wrapped up by March, 2011…meaning I want to know by then if I can afford it. I want to make my flight and hotel reservations in March. That’s nine months of playing. I’m not sure how much I’ll need. $3k should cover flight, hotel, $1k buyin, food, hopefully cash leftover for ring games. $2k without the tournament buyin. So, let’s see. If we shoot for $3k…oh, that’s $334 a month. Hmmm. That could be rough. If we go for $2k and drop the tournament idea, that’s, uh, $223 a month. Well, that might work. Two $100 sessions a month? And I could always sell pieces of myself if I really wanted to play a tournament.

I don’t know if my figures are right. I tried to look at flights to Las Vegas from Pittsburgh last night, just plugging in random dates, and they were a lot more expensive than I thought. But I was being picky…I’d love a non-stop, but that’s probably doubtful from Pittsburgh. I’ll take one stop, but I’m not doing two. And I don’t want to spend 10 hours getting to Vegas or coming home. I’m also not sure about the cost of a hotel. I’d want to stay at the Rio since that’s where the WSOP will be. I know deals can be had, so maybe I’ll score a cheap room and save some money there. Oh, and on those rare occasions I play online, maybe I can supplement my fund that way. Maybe divert any Loose Change Freeroll money into my WSOP fund.

So, $222 a month. Hmmmm. I think, as long as the games are good, I can do that. Of course, I might be down one month and win $500 the next. But I’m anxious to give it a go. I already have my first buyin set aside and hope to check out the games as soon as they open on July 8th. And if things don’t go well in Pittsburgh, there’s another casino about 30 minutes away that I could try. I’ll keep you posted!

I do remember that I was in a tournament.  Although I’m probably 90% a cash game person, this makes sense because I played a 45-person MTT Sunday morning, the first ‘real’ poker I played in a couple weeks, at least.  And I’m planning on trying the $65 tournament at the Showboat when I go to AC in a couple weeks.  So I’ve been thinking about tournaments more lately.  (And, of course, the WSOP is going on…although I don’t think the dream took place there.  I’m pretty sure it was AC.)

I was either coming back from a break or returning for, like, Day Two or something.  At any rate, I remember being extremely nervous.  I think we were near the bubble or maybe it was a final table.  In my dream, I kept thinking about $5k.  So, if it was a bubble situation, I guess that was the first payout amount.  Or if it was a final table thing, then maybe that was first place money.  Either way, I remember really, really, REALLY wanting this $5k.

The nervousness makes sense too because when I think about playing in my first live tournament, I get nervous.  Obviously, when you play online, everything is there for you…the chip count of all the players (not just at your table), how far you are from the money, your position in the tournament, and so on.  I’m worried that when I play live, I’m not going to be able to pay attention to all the little things that come easily online.  Like paying attention to the other people’s chip stacks at the table or paying attention to the clock for each round to see when the blinds go up.  Heck, even paying attention to the blinds and making sure I put out the right amount without being the annoying guy who always asks “how much is it?  I don’t know…I play online and it’s taken care of for me”.

This is kinda embarrassing, but I also worry about the math.  The starting stack for the tournament I’m looking at in AC is 10k.  I’m worried I’ll get confused about the chip amounts and not raise or re-raise enough…not being able to do quick math in my head.  Uh, let’s see.  He made it 2,450…uh, so, um, 3x that is like, uh….  It’s easier online and almost all the tournaments I’ve played online start with 1,500 chips.

I also worry…yes, I worry a lot…about managing my chips and getting bets together.  Like, if someone bets 1,775.  I know I’ll be fumbling around.  Let’s see…that’s one 1k chip, um, 1 500-chip, uh, like 2 100-chips, uh, how much was it again?  Wait.  I lost count.  Then I’ll knock over my stack.  I mean, I play 1/2 ring games live.  I only have to worry about white and red chips…and the occasional green $25 chip.  Throw in more than that and I get confused.

I’m looking forward to my first live tournament, though.  Should be a fun (I hope) experience.  With the casino in Pittsburgh getting a poker room in July, I hope they have inexpensive tournaments that I can start playing.  You all know a Trip Report will be posted when I get back!  Wish me skill!

So, if I hate shorthanded tables, then why did I pick a 4-max tournament? Because I had to use my $33 ticket on a $33 tournament and I had 3 to choose from. This one, a 7-card Stud High event last week (which I thought about playing) and an 8-game mix that starts at 2 in the afternoon…which means unless I take the day off from work, I can’t make that one anyway. Plus, I don’t know how to play all 8 games.

When I signed up over the weekend, there were around 320 people registered. As I sit here now, 10 minutes away from the start, there are over 2,800 people registered, and growing fast. I have to think they are people who are used to shorthanded play. My plan is to try to stay out of the way, but be aggressive when I am in a hand. But with only three other people at the table, I don’t think I can really stay out of the way that much! I need to think things through…try to put people on hands. I’m not going to be worried about slowing down the game by stopping and thinking. The guys on the forum offered some tips that I just reread. I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

Oh, I will be distracted though as the Pens are playing Montreal in game 6 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We win, we’re on to the Conference Finals. Lose and we have a game seven. Which I don’t want, but I do have tickets if it gets that far. No TV in the ‘computer room’, so I’ll have to listen over the ‘net…if I’m still playing at that time.

I know I’m going to do shorthand in my running blog and go back and fill in the details later. So, here’s the cleaned up version. Well, it’s cleaned up as far as spelling, etc. There is adult language, so you’ve been warned:

Over 1k players registered in the last ten minutes.

A10o a winner…raised pF, check/check on flop, turn bet took it (had nothing).

66 flops set…good size pot…called raise pre.

Tournament’s been running 7 minutes…late registration still going on…up to 4753 players.

Another pocket pair, another set. Wish I’d save some of these for later.

One guy at table SUPER tight…one guy horrible…one guy seems good.

Over 5k people now. About 200 have busted out.

Again AK rears its ugly head and I lose a pot…to the donk, no less. Still above average chip stack.

Doing OK…getting just enough of the flop to keep me in and betting and winning some pots.

19 minutes in, over 5,300 players.

Donk got moved…decent guy keeps raising pre…I play back w/a king and take a pot.

Hey…I’m chip leader at my table! Now I’m not. Decent guy is pushing me around. I fold when I have TP against two others. Whew. That turned into a big hand. and I was right to fold. Decent guy lost a big one and is down to 2.5k (ave is 5.6k). New chip leader is tight guy…I’m third at my table.

Oh! Decent guy is out. New player (late reg) joins. I need to loosen up. Not playing many hands now.

We’re 31 min in and still late reg…how long does that last?

Another set and I lose a big pot. Down to almost starting stack. Fuck.

New guy is aggressive and to my right. I win a smallish pot. Low stack at the table now.

Raise w/K10spades, one caller. Flop 3-6-6, 2 diamonds. He leads out, I raise hoping to take it. He thinks and calls. 3rd diamond on turn, check/check, fourth diamond on river, check/check…his AJ takes it…no flush for either of us.

Over 6k people now.

AK wins me a small pot.

Current prize pool is $183k.

KK, raise in front, I re-raise, he 4-bets (is that right? I never get that right) I shove expecting AA, but he folds. That helped, but still a little below average chip stack.

Crap…I keep raising pre, one guy keeps calling and betting out on the flop. I miss, but am too chicken to raise him back with nothing but two overs. I try once or twice (see above) but he still ends up winning. I need to stop laying down on the flop as I’m sure he knows I’ve been folding to him most of the time.

Finally, registration is closed. 6695 players. First scores a nice $28k. I need to be in the top 1,200 to cash. Only 3,500 more people to bust out and I collect a cool $38!

I win the first two hands after the break and am just below chip average.

A couple of pocket pairs that don’t win set me back.

Wooo! The mighty pocket deuces takes out AK as we check down the board all the way after I preflop raised and he just called.

One guy at our table has twice the stack as the next guy (I’m the next guy). It’s the guy who keeps pushing me out of pots.

I raise w/66, tight guy repops me, but it’s not that much more for me to call. I do, hoping for the set. Miss the flop, but he checks. I get my set on the turn, bet out, he folds.

Hey! I won a pot off of the table chip leader guy!

The table isn’t as aggressive as I thought it would be. Certainly there are plenty of preflop raises and I know I’m getting pushed around a little bit…but it isn’t too bad. I’m trying to pick my spots and play good poker.

Well, I’m just about done. AK AGAIN fucks me. Raise in front, I just flat. Get my K on the flop w/two clubs. He bets, I raise, he shoves, I call. He flips up AJ of spades and not only gets his one club, but another one on the river. Drops me to 2.8k in chips w/blinds 40/80. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck AK. I was doing well. Now I’m pissed off. Another hand where I was favored when the chip went in, but I lose anyway.

Just sitting around waiting to shove. I have over 20bb, but think I need a hand I’m willing to shove all my chips in with anyway, so what’s the point of fucking around preflop?

55 and I’m all in…i get two callers. Set on flop, and I take a nice 5.8k pot. This puts me 3rd at the table. Trying to be aggressive to get more chips. still about half the average stack of the tournament. Oops…back to being the short stack of the table.

And now I’m back to being at the starting stack of the tournament.

Aaaaand now I’m out. OMG. WTF?? Just like that.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 33 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t8000)
Hero (UTG) (t5198)
Button (t6242)
SB (t11370)

Hero’s M: 27.36

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, J
Hero bets t300, 2 folds, BB calls t200

Flop: (t690) Q, 7, 4 (2 players)
BB bets t400, Hero raises to t1200, BB calls t800

Turn: (t3090) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t3688 (All-In), BB calls t3688

River: (t10466) J (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: t10466

Results:
BB had 5, 6 (straight, eight high).
Hero had Q, J (two pair, Queens and Jacks).
Outcome: BB won t10466

I’m too pissed to continue the blog. Out 3189th. Same asshole who knocked me down to 2k with his flush draw shove. 63% fav pre, 65% on the flop. Well, at least it’s just in time for the Pens game. Let’s Go Pens!!

Yes, I’ve said this many times and I’m not very serious this time either. I’ve lost the desire to play, so why bother? If I was crushing the game, then I’d probably feel different. But I’m not crushing, and playing usually ends up just frustrating me. I finished the Take Two promo on Full Tilt on Sunday the 11th and haven’t played since, other than the Loose Change Freeroll later that day.

But what I’m thinking of doing is switching to tournaments. And multi-table tournaments at that. I do OK in the Loose Change freeroll. Yes it’s a freeroll, but for the most part, I don’t think it plays like one. Early on, sure. But once you get going, to me, it’s more like a low-level buyin tournament with a couple of people who are pretty good. I think it’s good practice for someone like me.

I thought about giving MTTs a try and a couple forum members have also suggested it to me. I like the actual game of poker…I just don’t like losing money. I’m not talking huge MTTs..I was looking at a 45-player tournament on Stars with a $5.50 buyin. That would probably be a good amount of play (time-wise) for only $5.50. Of course, I’m hoping to cash as well…7 players cash. I watched a table for a while. The play seemed, well, pretty bad.

I wanted to try it out, but risk even less money than $5.50. So I played a 210 FPP tournament with the top 6 getting a ticket to another tournament. I’ve done these before and do OK. Luckily, I was in the top six on this one and quickly unregistered from the bigger tournament, taking my $11 tournament dollars and signing up for a $5.50 45-player MTT.

Oh, the play was pretty bad. We weren’t really losing a lot of people quickly, but there were chances to build a stack. But no chances for me as I couldn’t get a good playable hand. Finally, KK. Got it all in preflop with 2 other players. One guy flipped up 44, the other AK. Ace on the turn and BOOM…I’m out.

So of course I quickly fire up another one, being all pissed and tilted. This one, the play might have been slightly better. I got some hands and made it into the money, ending up fifth for $20. This time, there’s a 3x raise to 3,600 in front of me, folded to me and I shove 10k more with AQs. At this point, I was actually second in chips, although we were all pretty much bunched together. I was called by the original raiser with A7o who happened to be the chip leader, seven right on the flop and I’m out.

It lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, I got knocked out around the 2-hour mark. But I was happy with the $20 since basically I was freerolling. I think I can at least consistently make the money in these things. Not every time, of course. But I think I can be a winner with them.

I do have a couple concerns. Probably top on my list is I really don’t like tournaments that much. I’m tight and nitty, and with tournaments, you have to start playing at some time. When I first started playing the occasional tournament, I would usually end up just missing the money or just making the money. I’m a little better now. I realize I’m there to win it and will take more chances before and around bubble time than I used to. I realize I need chips to win so I’m more apt to play a hand aggressively rather than folding and hoping for something better…trying to get those chips to win.

Another concern is time. I can play a cash game for 20 minutes and leave. But once you start a tournament, especially a MTT one, you hope to be locked in for a while. I don’t have much time now for poker. Playing 45-player MTTs would probably mean no weeknight poker as I rarely have 2 hours to set aside for poker during the week.

Another small concern…sometimes it takes a little while for the tournament to fill up. It’s not like cash games where there are all kinds of open seats.

It’ll be interesting to see how things go. I’m kinda excited about it. My usual over-dramatic mind is kicking in, telling myself that maybe this is the start of something that might lead to live tournaments and maybe even a low buyin WSOP tournament in my future.

First off, I’m going to give away a great money making opportunity. And all I ask in return is a lifetime free membership. I wish there was a video training site for a small micro player like me. I’ve checked out some of the training sites and a lot of the videos are for 1/2NL and above. Maybe some 50NL, and the odd 25NL. And the membership prices are high for a player like me, when you consider it in the amount of buyins and what I would get out of it. Sure, it might be cool to watch some 1/2NL videos, but can I really expect to be able to use things I learn down in my little 10NL game?

So, my million dollar idea is to open a video training site for micro players. And real micro players…25NL and below. And make it cheap enough that I can justify spending the money. So there…there’s the idea. Someone run with it and let me know when I can use my lifetime membership.

OK, on to the tips/rules/guidelines. These are things I wrote down after watching some low limit instructional videos. I did actually find some 10NL videos, so I’m hoping these things help me. But I don’t think the first one is very good. I wrote:

Sit to left of deepest stack and/or most aggressive/best player, if you can.

This one is hard to do online. And at 10NL, there are a lot of players and a lot of times when I sit down I only have a decent hand history on one person…two if I’m lucky. So it’s not always easy to spot the good player right away. When I pick a table, I usually pick a table with one or two open seats (based on things I look for) or I put my name on a waiting list, so I really don’t have much of a choice of where I’m sitting in relation to the other players. And on Stars, you can’t easily change seats once you sit down. But, if I do find myself in a bad position, I will leave the table.

I listed this tip because while talking about this tip, the instructor also suggested something I thought was interesting. He contends that a lot of bad players won’t bother using the stats most poker lobbies give you…average pot, VPIP, etc. They just look for an open seat and jump in. So, he says, if you want your best shot at bad players, start your own table or join a short one.

I’ve tried this a couple times lately. Not starting my own table, but I’ll watch one with like 3 players, wait until it gets to about 6, and then jump in. Not sure if it’s working…I haven’t done it enough. And I suppose I should make an effort to maybe write down when I do this and check my PT3 stats to see if there is a difference. But people come and go so much at 10NL, I wonder if it really matters.

Next up, changes to my HUD display.

But I am going to TRY to blog more. The reason I stopped was because nothing exiting was going on. I was pretty much breaking even in poker and nobody wants to read about that. But I think things are going to start changing. I basically find myself at a point I’ve been at for quite some time. Learn to be better at poker or stop trying. And honestly, I keep going back and forth on what I want to do.

I see the hands Mirage and Johnny and others post on the forum and I don’t see myself thinking like they do. Online poker right now is tougher for me and you have to be so much better than you used to be. I was a winning player pretty much by just playing my cards. Not a huge winner, but I wasn’t losing and that was good enough for me.

But now, there’s so much more to think about…even at the 10NL level that I’m at. It almost doesn’t matter what your cards are. OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But there’s so much more going on now…how aggressive your opponents are, what are the stats of the person who just limped, did they limp re-raise before, what about that guy that just raised, what did they raise with before, if someone limped and I raise to steal preflop are the blinds going to defend, what beats me and what are the chances he has those hands, who’s behind me waiting to act, which of my opponents are multi-tabling so they’re more prone to play ABC, who’s here blowing off steam because they stacked off at 100NL, what is this guy’s range of hands who just raised?

I grabbed some training videos and watched some 10NL ones. I saw some things right away and am trying to use them. And Ugi has agreed to watch more of my videos and offer what he can. Which is great, but I’ve been lazy and haven’t made one yet. And he has warned me that he’s going to get busy soon and might not have the time. So, I better get going on that.

I’m also posting more hands on the forum, but they tend to just confuse me more. I’ll post a hand expecting most people to tell me one thing and they end up telling me the opposite. I’m getting frustrated and actually wondered if I’m just not cut out for poker because I don’t think like I’m supposed to.

But, for now, I am moving forward and trying to get better. Again. Hopefully, this time I’ll stick to it. I have a new list of rules I’m trying to follow. Rules I came up with after watching some training videos. What I want to do is start posting them one by one, with my reasons for doing them. So we’ll see what happens.

Small sample, but let’s look at this month. Here’s a graph from January 8th:

I know it’s small. I’ll tell you the important stuff. It was a two-tabling, 621 hand, 273 minute, down-3-buy-ins session. Even though you can’t make out the numbers, I’m sure you can see that there are a lot of downs and not a lot of ups. I ran into a little bit of bad luck and, as usual, misplayed some hands. And as a point of comparison, I usually don’t play that long. But I was never up and just kep going and going, even though I was not winning, was very frustrated, and not having fun.

Now, let’s move to the 13th…a quick two-tabling, 62 hand, 30 minute session:

Again, start out losing. Two quick ‘big’ hands (AA on one table against a shortstacker, and QJ on the other were I was able to drag someone to the river with top pair). Shortly after, I stopped.

The 16th…two-tabling, 45 hand, 28 minute session:

Again, start out losing, hit my ‘big’ hand (AQ > 77 when I flop two pair against the shortstacker), hang around for a few hands and leave a winner. Only 7 BBs, but a winner. Actually, the GF and I were getting ready to go out so I jumped on planning on playing 30 minutes and stopping wherever I was as I’m trying to limit my play to see if it helps…and to see if I could do it (walk away, I mean).

And, one more…today, a two tabling, 55 hand, 24 minute session:

Finally, I actually win a hand early in the session, grab a couple more hands, do a little dipping before ending strong and stopping.

Now, I know what people might say. Why am I stopping in those short sessions when I just get things going? If you’re winning, you should keep playing. And I guess that’s what I’m fighting. Because another part of me wants to protect those winnings as soon as they happen. But that’s another post altogether.

But I think it would be in my best interest, based on my poker spreadsheet, to limit my sessions to 60 minutes or less (or, after losing x buyins…I’m thinking one, but that might be too limiting if you get coolered on hand 3 or something). I think, overall, it would save me a lot of money. I have to learn to walk away. Not every session is going to be a winner. Then, maybe over time, I can build that up. Or learn to cut my losing sessions short and expand my winning sessions.

I think I’m going to try this for the next month or so. I used to try to set aside a weekend afternoon every once in a while just for poker and they usually end very badly. For some reason, when I sit down with plans to play for a long time, things don’t work out. So, from now on, 60 minutes or less. Unless I’m having the poker day of my life…then maybe we’ll still keep going.