still a fish

[salt3d]

My poker career consists mostly of weekend home tournaments with lots of booze and bad beats. After deciding there must be more to winning than getting good cards, I started reading various web sites to gain an understanding of the fundamentals.

Since the home games are only once a week, I tried my hand at some online poker. A few SNGs and what-not later, I was out of cash, and went back to reading. Ordered a couple of books (should arrive tomorrow) and thought I'd wait until I'd read them before I restarted with a proper bankroll.

So last weekend's poker night came along and we had only five players. $10 buy-in; winner takes all. About half an hour in, I realised that the two guys I'd been giving the most credit (mainly because of their very vocal and pretty good reads) were as loose-passive as the rest of the chumps! I did my best impression of tight-aggressive and ended up $50 richer. The last hand heads-up summed up the night; I called the short stack's all-in with top pair and outkicked him.

Felt a bit pleased with myself for the win, but more so for the way I'd played. I folded crap and smiled when it would have flopped a full house. I folded strong drawing hands when the chumps bet random amounts that just didn't give me the right odds. I got out on the turn with top pair bad kicker and left it to someone else to pay off the winning hand. By no means did I play perfectly, but in the main the only hands I would have played differently if the cards were face up were small pots that didn't cost me much.

So this weekend rolls around and we have a few more players (eight in total; $20 buy-in). One semi-regular who won a few weeks ago on an unbelievable run of cards, picked up where he left off. I think he had two hands all night that didn't have at least one picture card. Thankfully I wasn't fooled into thinking 'he can't keep getting good cards', because he just did. He had more trips that night than the rest of us combined. I expected him to bust out if he managed five bad hands in a row, and eventually he lived up to my expectations.

My cards, however, were a different story all together. I caught one decent hand in about three hours. It was QQ, and I value bet it on a jack-high board for a decent pot. I ended up seriously short stacked, finally had a decent hand (AKo) and went all-in, caught top two pair and tripled up.

By the time we were down to three (me and a couple of others who normally finish in or close to the money) I was significantly short stacked (i.e. 10% of the other stacks; about 3xBB). One of the guys started the WPT 'cash on the table' routine, but as an automatic response I reminded him we only paid 1st and 2nd (too many people had been playing for third). When I put that thought into the context of my stack, it confirmed that my measure of success was not whether I came first, second or third, but how I played to get there. A liberating moment, to say the least. As well as looking at my decent hands as an opportunity to double up, I had the edge over the other guys who were trying to hang on until they were ITM. I knew it was unlikely I'd be outplayed and I'd go down only to a bad beat, so I got all my chips in when I had the best hand, and it came off beautifully.

So with $100 burning a hole in my pocket, I put some more money online. First hand at a $5NL ring game, I'm dealt JJ, put the decimal point in the wrong place and end up raising $2 on a 16c pot. Called by the big stack who catches his Q and takes all my chips. Oops!

So I decided to give the SNGs a go again, since I've read plenty and applied it somewhat. It wasn't until somebody three-bet that I realised it was a limit tourney! Sheesh. So I joined another tourney, and made sure it was NL. What I wasn't ready for was the pace. I've played three tables before, but they were ring games, and two tourneys at once seemed to give me no time to think. Before I'd had time to catch my breath, I was ITM in both tournies! I realised I'd been short stacked but too flustered to notice, and it hadn't affected my betting. A couple of times I was betting the turn or river only to find that I was going all-in! I figured it was a good thing I was betting as if I didn't care that I was short stacked, even if the real reason was I hadn't noticed.

I ended up 2nd in the limit tourney and 3rd in the NL (busted out to a flopped four of a kind), so I was fairly pleased since I'd been on a sort of auto-pilot. I haven't had a chance to look at the HHs, but I'm hoping I won't disagree with too many decisions when I do. Most importantly I'm looking for consistency, maybe a few iffy decisions I wouldn't repeat, and ideally a complete lack of donk bets. One can only hope, eh?

I played another couple of NL tournies, busted myself out early in a fit of sheer stupidity in one, and managed another third in the other. This time, though, it had my full attention, so it'll be interesting to compare my on-the-spot decisions to those made with a degree of consideration.

I don't know if I'd even heard of holdem six months ago. Now I'm ordering books, planning to build my own table, and trying to figure out how to get chips shipped cheap from the US. I love it!

[Fortune 500]

Welcome aboard sir. When you get back into the online game, continue to utilize FTR. Initially, the poker books will do you a lot of good, but you'll quickly fins that this is a better resource in the long term.

[UG]

Welcome aboard sir. When you get back into the online game, continue to utilize FTR. Initially, the poker books will do you a lot of good, but you'll quickly fins that this is a better resource in the long term.

What he said.

Welcome.

[edudlive]

So with $100 burning a hole in my pocket, I put some more money online. First hand at a $5NL ring game, I'm dealt JJ, put the decimal point in the wrong place and end up raising $2 on a 16c pot. Called by the big stack who catches his Q and takes all my chips. Oops!

I've also learned this the hard way: USE THE SLIDER

[Pelion]

So with $100 burning a hole in my pocket, I put some more money online. First hand at a $5NL ring game, I'm dealt JJ, put the decimal point in the wrong place and end up raising $2 on a 16c pot. Called by the big stack who catches his Q and takes all my chips. Oops!

I've also learned this the hard way: USE THE SLIDER

Still doing it

Welcome aboard

[Irisheyes]

Good story and a quality first post! You'v come to the right place sir.

[STIdrivr]

welcome to the forum

[salt3d]

Initially, the poker books will do you a lot of good, but you'll quickly fins that this is a better resource in the long term.

Exactly my thinking. I'm looking for the broadest foundation I can get. FTR is probably more valuable when it comes to specifics.

I've also learned this the hard way: USE THE SLIDER

Ha! I hate the slider. I spend too long trying to land on the exact amount I want to bet, then end up checking because I'm out of time. I'm getting used to remembering the zero before the decimal point, and I hope not to be stuck too long playing tables where <$1 is still a meaningful bet.

[Pizzaman]

Welcome to the boards. I have found that there are a number of posters here that have an INCREDIBLE amount of knowledge here, and I'm sure you will as well.

[Muxy]

Welcome mate.

[aokrongly]

Welcome, your life as a hopless slave to poker has begun.

She's a good master. You'll enjoy it!!

[salt3d]

Thanks one and all.

I won the home game again last night. It was as loose passive as I could imagine; people would check/call to the showdown with a flopped set or two pair. I caught myself trying to get tricky early on, so I slowed down and made sure I could show the winning hand.

I think this type of player will call just about anything if there's even a remote chance of making the best hand. Most of the time, an ace or king overcard is enough. The key to beating these guys (that I equate to the how-do-I-beat-them-when-they're-this-bad type players people complain about) is to charge them a fortune for their draws. Even when they hit their cards, they'll just check to a showdown because they're still terrified of your flop bet. Tailoring the pot size to your hand is good fun.

I may just have a 'special' group of friends to beat at poker, but I'm not complaining. They're bankrolling my online exploits. It certainly doesn't hurt the confidence to bust out all five opponents in one night.

[salsa4ever]

yep... still typing in my bet amounts; raised 1000 instead of 100 the other night with QQ: fortunately it held against the AK that called (this was a SNG)