Another run at it........

Hey out there, long time no blog. My apologies for that. I decided that between the crummy way I've been playing, and the birth of my second baby(as if anyone who reads this doesn't already know that), I would take a small break from poker to relax and get re centered.

So during that time, I saved up some money, and also had some released from an online poker site. All is all, I ended up with around $300ish. And that changed dramatically when I decided to take a monthly trip to the casino for some "friendly poker"

So I'm sitting at the casino playing some 1/2 No Limit hold em. I bought in for around $100, which is WAY to big of a chunk of my bankroll to be risking, but..... well I didn't have any other games running. So I've probably built my stack up to around $140ish; it was a very passive slow moving table, most people had between $100 and $300 in chips. And I overhear the dealer talking about a PLO game running over on table 9. As you all know, PLO is my fav game, but also a very crazy game. But............. I just couldn't help myself and I went over and sat down. All I can say is WOW. Most guys had between $400 and $1000, and one guy had well over $2000 in chips in front of him. Needless to say, I was definitely out chipped, but oh well :)

First hand I get dealt AdQdQhJd, a VERY nice PLO hand. I figure "well here we go" and put in a pot sized raise, around $20 and get two callers. Flop comes Qs Kh 2H. I throw out a pot sized bet and the guy to my left immediately goes all in for $120 total, basically the rest of my chips. I figure, well unless he had Kings, I'm in great shape, and I quickly call. He had 2 pair and a flush draw, and luckily he didn't make his flush, so I went from $140 to over $300 on the first hand. And since I've already bored you enough with my poker ramblings, I'll give you the cliffs for the rest of the night: I pretty much played solid, and ended up leaving with around $350. Not the biggest score in the world, but it basically doubled my bankroll.

Which puts me back to the present. I now have a bankroll of around $550. If I happen to get the $120 that is still on Full Tilt, then all the better, but I really can't count on that. So I'm back to the battle, with a decent bankroll now.

So my plan is to not get too carried away, and not risk too much at a time so I don't go busto. I've never had a bankroll this size, so I'm hoping that I'll respect it better, and not be dumb.

Updates to come......................

Back to School....

Before you get your hopes up, I haven't actually decided to to back to school. More of a "poker school". I've learned quite a few things in the past several months since I decided to get back into poker. One, I really love this game, like A LOT. It constantly challenges me, and allows me to put a lot of my talents to good use. And two, I'm not quite as good as good as I thought I was. Well............ let me rephrase that, I'm as good as I thought, but the collective online poker community is FAR better than they used to be.

Back in 05, if you'd read ANY poker book, or understood even the basic concepts, you could at least make a little money. But nowadays, you'd get crushed with that aptitude. People are MUCH more educated, the internet has accelerated people's learning curve, and basically I'm saying that I NEVER should have quit poker for 5 years. Bad move Jules........... bad move.

So I guess I should quit right?? With all the new, upcoming additions to my life, who has the time or money?? Time to give up huh??

WRONG!!









I'm not giving up because it's hard. That's what pussies do. BUT........... I do need to get better. Quite a bit better if I want to turn this from a "hobby" to a "lucrative hobby", which I do!

So I'm still playing, and I've decided to redirect some of my playing money and invest it in some wisdom; books, videos, and maybe even have some seasoned pros review my sessions and give their harsh critiques, which I welcome of course.

Seems like a lot of work and money for a "hobby" doesn't it?? Well guess what? Poker makes me happy. Read my most recent Random Crap Blog for this "happiness" concept I speak of. And I'm also very fortunate to have a VERY supportive wife who cares quite a bit about her hubby being happy :-)

So cliff notes for this blog: Poker's harder than I thought, but I'm not givin up.

It's been awhile.......

My friends it has been a while since my last post. A lot has changed, take my BR for one; that's now $300 lighter. And honestly, I lost about $100 of it, and $200 had to be withdrawn for other reasons. One being a ticket I was VERY lucky to get, but that's a whole other story all together.....

I also had a little change of perspective, and a little different outlook on poker. Wait, that's the same damn thing, anyway............

I'm still loving poker, A LOT (just ask my wife) but in a little different way. I realized that when I embarked on this journey, my goals were a little off. Hell the whole reason I play poker is because I enjoy it so much. Kinda like golf; I'll never be on the PGA tour, nor will I ever win even a local tournament, but I play because it's fun and I enjoy the game. So to play poker with the sole purpose of making money kinda takes the fun out of it. I mean, I still wanna make money, and hopefully make enough money that it can help with my day to day expenses, but I want that to be a byproduct of just having fun and playing well. Man that sounds confusing doesn't it??

What I'm trying to say is the with poker(again like golf) my number ONE priority is to have fun, and play well. If I make money, great, if not, well this is still my most profitable hobby. I can honestly NEVER remember leaving the golf course with more money than I came with. And I can also guarantee that all the buy ins, books, and decks of cards I've spent money on will NEVER add up to the amount I've spent on green fees, clubs, balls, and........ of course the beer cart girl. :-)

So as far as goals, yes I still have goals. I still get my $20 a month poker allowance, and I'd like to turn that into............... let's say $1,000. Once I hit 1k, I'll have to re evaluate and see what the next step is. I plan on playing pretty aggressively with my money, and if I go bust, well I'll just have wait till next month when I can dump another $20 in there. And let's be honest, what other hobby only costs $20 a month; AND has the potential to yield MILLIONS!!!! OK, maybe that's a little over the top, but it's true....................

Easy Come...... easy go??

Hopefully not, but it is a concern. My friends, I've had a DAMN good week. Well......... by my piddly ass standards I've had a good week. Most poker players would laugh at my small stakes success, but I'm pretty happy with it.............

In a period of just over a week, I turned my $100 bankroll into just under $350, actually $345. And I definitely took some risk, but I never had all my money on the table or anything like that. I would call it more of a "controlled explosion", with me being on the good end of most of the big pots.

My concern is now that, the amount of money in my Bankroll is MUCH more irreplaceable than a $100. Not that I could just go to the ATM and get $100, but if I lost it, I could be back in the game in......... maybe a few weeks or a month or something?

And due to the fact that I basically tripled my bankroll in a week means I'm on a HUGE card rush. Not that I'm not playing well, but I'm definitely getting some good opportunities handed to me as well. And I need to make sure that now more than ever that I protect my winnings.

You all know by now that I DO NOT lose well. And it's not outside of my history to get upset while playing and blow through some(or all) of my BR. Especially when I built it up so quickly, and pretty damn easily. Hence the "easy come, easy go"

But let's be honest, if I truly want to be a successful player with a MUCH bigger bankroll, I'm gonna have to learn to keep it under control, maintain limits, and NOT GO ON TILT when things don't go my way.

The next few weeks are going to be a very good indicator or whether or not I really have what it takes to move to the next level.

A pebblestone reached..........

Hello out there!! Well I was going to talk about my reaching a "milestone", but then I realized that it's more of a "pebblestone". But...... I finally broke $200!! At least for now :-) I was actually up to $170ish, and I made some money in a live game last night. That, plus my $20 a month contribution that my wife and I agreed on propelled me over the $200 mark. Whoo hoo!!

I've been playing a lot of mixed games, and they've definitely helped me expand my horizons with more variety.

I think my next pebblestone will be $500. Not sure how long it will take me, but we'll see........

JWC

Hands that play themselves

ACES......... FUUUUUUULL, Mike. If you've ever seen the movie "Rounders" you probably can't even think about this part without wanting to puke. The part where the hero, Mike loses his ENTIRE 30k bankroll on ONE HAND, ouch. The sad thing is, he was screwed WAY before the cards were even dealt. The particular hand he lost on, well he played it perfectly, no one could have gotten away from that hand without being cleaned out. HIS only(albeit HUGE) mistake was putting every penny of his bankroll on the table. When he decided to put all his eggs in one basket, he was screwed before he even shufflrd up and dealt.........

Setting yourself up for failure is easy to do. Often times in poker(or in life for that matter), your actions before the flop pretty much guarantee you're untimely demise. Let me explain using a hand I (mis)played recently........

I get J 9 suited in early position. I call, the guy to the left of me calls, and we go to the flop. The flop is J J 3. I bet out, and get raised. So I think to myself, "does he have the LAST freking Jack in the deck??" Surely not. I re rasise all in and he quickly calls and turns over A J. Well he DID have the last Jack in the deck, and a WAY better kicker, which he filled with on the river, not that it mattered.

So I'm sitting there steaming, thinking how unlucky I was to flop trips at the WORSE possible time. But I wasn't unlucky, I was stupid. I st myself up for failure before the flop even came out. J 9 suited isn't the worse hand in the world, but no self respecting poker player would play it from up front. So when I through my blind in, I was setting up a bomb under my OWN chip stack. When I hit trips on the flop, it was impossible for me to get away from that hand, but I shouldn't have been in that hand in the first place.

Renowned poker guru Brandon Adams did a very informative interview where where he said simply "you reap what you sow" in poker. Playing sub par hands pre flop leads to flopping second best hands that WILL break you. So true BA, so true............

Till next time,

JWC

So Close, yet so far.......

So I accidentally locked myself out of the cash games last night, don't ask how. And of course...... Wednesday being my "Poker Night" I was quite disappointed to find out that it takes 24 hours to reverse. But then I realized that I hadn't locked myself out of tournaments. Now I'm usually not a tourney kind of guy, but what choice did I have?? I was craving some CARDS!!

So I found a 50 person, $10 buy in, Pot Limit Omaha tourney and started grinding it out. I started out real well, doubling up, and then stealing a few pots. Then I got all my money in with a Broadway Wrap and a flush draw against a smaller straight. When my sweet diamond hit on the river, I was happy as hell, and in the chip lead. But it was all pretty much down hill from there. I was not getting ANY good cards, and the blinds were getting bigger and bigger. We were down to 10 people, and the money starts at 8. But I'm not the kind of guy that will sit on the bubble just to make a little money, I wanted to go for the WIN, which was over $100 BTW.

So I got dealt J 10 8 7 double suited, and decided to raise. The chip leader called me, and the flop came J 10 2. With top two two pair, at a table of 4, I was pretty sure I had the best hand. I bet the pot, he called. The turn was an 8, putting a possible straight on the board, but I really didn't think he had it, so I bet the pot again, he re re raised me all in, and I called. Well, I was right, he didn't have the straight, he had Q Q 5 6. I was in great shape to double up, and take this tournament.................... till a Queen hit on the river, and I was done.

I can't be too upset, I went with my read, which was correct. And I got my money in with the best hand, which is all I could do. Unfortunately, the poker gods just weren't in my corner.

But as my good friend(and poker legend) Bobby Balwin says "If you're getting sucked out on, then that means you're getting your money in with the best hand, and that's what winning poker is all about. One hand, one session, or even a week of bad luck really doesn't matter at all, playing good solid poker ALWAYS wins the money in the long run".

So true Bobby, so true.

JWC