Nobody every plays enough
tachyonweb, Apr 24 2007
Almost everyone has a continual goal have playing more hands. Why is it that so few succeed in reaching that goal? Well, I can think of a few reasons why I don't play enough:
1. Poker as a job is still a job. I have a full-time job, so I don't really want another one. I don't want poker to become something I feel obligated to do whenever I have any free time. Feeling like some of the more seasoned players do, where the game is not really that enjoyable but not playing is "losing money," would be (I think) detrimental to my game. That's not to say that I feel that way right now, but I just don't want to get to that point and ruin my enthusiasm. If ever poker becomes my main source of income (maybe in grad school), I'll definitely try to do stuff to keep it fresh, like playing in more tourneys, low stakes challenges, non-NLHE games, etc.
2. I'm losing. Well yeah. Do YOU want to play when you're questioning your play, running bad, needing to rebuild your bankroll, and reviewing brutal hands in PT day in and day out? Well I don't. This is certainly a mental leak and I hope that in the future, I can minimize this effect. Every poker player will pass certain points in their bankroll multiple times (hopefully an odd number). Viewing that as zero progress is a mistake. Long term. EV. Profit.
3. I'm winning. What the hell, right? I'm guessing I'm in the minority here, but when I'm running and playing well, I want to savor that feeling a little bit too much. I don't want to get right back into it and risk sinking down. This is the a similar leak to wanting to end a session after winning a big pot when the tables are still juicy and you're still playing your A-game. Once again, it's a continual battle as a poker player to not be results-oriented when you've been taught to be that way your entire life.
Anybody else have any thoughts?
Defining the blog
tachyonweb, Apr 23 2007
No, just kidding. This blog will be whatever pops into my head that is somewhat poker-related. I'll start by copy-pasting my post in the "introduce yourself" thread and adding on a little since I didn't want to make that post too bloated.
My name is Brian and I was radar14 on TL.net. I live in California, but it looks like I'm about to go to the East Coast for med school. I was initially interested in all the poker discussions at TL, but I never really got into it.
My friend got me a free $100 on partypoker back in 2004 and I played full ring limit 0.25/0.50 for a while. Hit a high of like $350 and then made the brutal mistake of saying "I'll buy myself an Ipod when I hit 500." Obviously I halved my bankroll soon thereafter and stopped playing after I hit about $200.
I later tried to cash out $150 by check, which Party NEVER mailed me. When I called them about it, they said it was already cashed and there was nothing they could do. Yeah, fuck you Party. I got the remaining money I had up to like $100 and then got bored (and distrustful).
So after graduating and applying a lot of 2006, I went to Vegas for New years where I played 1/2 NL at the Bellagio. That got the poker itch off and running again. I deposited $50 at PS mid-January and eventually transferred over the $100 I had at Party. Grinded the pennies for a while and moved over to FTP for 10NL and rakeback. I'm now at 50NL 6-max with about $1400, helped out by the Sunday Million seat I luckboxed into.
Where I'm at, pokerwise:
I have been binging on strategy posts/threads/articles/books everywhere. I think NLHETAP is definitely a good book to get a general overview of the game, but the strategy at 2+2 and LP are far better for the specifics of the online game.
I've discovered PT and PAHUD and have been using them extensively. Like almost everyone else here, my game is "TAG in early position, LAG in late" and my stats are usually around 20/12/3. I hope my ABC game will be decent soon.
I'm looking forward to moving to higher stakes, obviously for the money, but also to start making some more advanced plays that simply aren't worth it at the microstakes. Stuff like 3-betting light pf, finding profitable 2nd barrels bluffs, semi-bluffing with fake draws, etc.
Until next time.
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