Monday, February 27, 2006
Victories
I'm going to start keeping better track of my places, my wins. I know I'm making money but I think it's important keep my places to really see how I'm doing.
For my Thursday night games I announced to my group that I will be having a Player of the Year Award. Keeping track of places and using a point system which should keep more players come. People like to be awarded and should make for good competition.
Tonight I already took a 2nd place in a 9 player sit-n-go. I don't know if I'll get in another one tonight. One of my favorite shows 24 is on tonight, I'm logging during commericals. Plus I have a couple of movies I want to sit and watch Flightplan & two for the money. So I probably just wait until tomorrow to play another game after work.
For my Thursday night games I announced to my group that I will be having a Player of the Year Award. Keeping track of places and using a point system which should keep more players come. People like to be awarded and should make for good competition.
Tonight I already took a 2nd place in a 9 player sit-n-go. I don't know if I'll get in another one tonight. One of my favorite shows 24 is on tonight, I'm logging during commericals. Plus I have a couple of movies I want to sit and watch Flightplan & two for the money. So I probably just wait until tomorrow to play another game after work.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Notes From My Other Blog - The Beginning
After beating out 5000 people in a tournament a friend said I should start tracking my success and failures.
I started playing in 2003 right after Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP. I played in a home game tournament with about 16 people. We didn't know what we were doing but I made it to the final table then lost right away. The game started at 4pm and went until 6 in the morning, that's what happens when you don't increase the blinds or break up the tables. We've come along way since then, running monthly tournaments with 20 plus people there each month.
After my first tournament I was hooked. I started reading books and took up playing on PartyPoker with $25. I lost that quick in Sit & Go's. So I brought in another $25 and started playing $.50/1.00 limit games, I also brought $25 to Ultimatebet & PokerStars. I mainly read books on low limit play & ITH. Thanks to the books I played for the rest of 2003 & 2004 on those funds and by playing low limit games nothing above $.50/1.00 I turned my bankroll into a $1000.
Then I decided to read ITH again and noticed a key point I missed which was chasing bonuses. So I started chasing some bonuses over the last couple of months some sites were very successful some other sites I discovered the play was so tight that I figured everyone else was chasing bonuses at these sites too. So I decided to go back to my favorite sites PokerStars, Ultimatebet, PartyPoker, PokerRoom, & Doyles. I also may go back to Pacific, Paradise, PokerChamps & Bodog one day. At this time I'm getting away from the chasing bonuses but playing tournaments. I love tournament play, I perfer B&M games versus internet but it's still thrilling to make it to the final table online as it is when you are playing in a room full of people.
Online I usually play the $1, 3, & 5 games at this time. And I play $40 B&M tournaments. By now you probably realize I'm a low roller and by choice. I'm not a gambler, and I hate losing money. Don't get me wrong when I'm at the table with my chips I will mix it up. But I control my losses at limit games, I set a certain amount I will lose at a sitting, and when I'm winning I set a dollar amount I won't fall back to before I leave the table.
I have five kids so I love the internet because I can play and still be around for them. And they like it when I go play in a tournament because when I finish in the money I take them out the next day to a movie with my winnings.
Online I've won two 1,000+ people tournaments, taken a 3rd through 9th place on several others. I have more 9th places than anything, but hey at least I've made the final table alot.
As for B&M tournaments I've won 1 tournament and have more 2nd places than I care to talk about, a couple of 3rd's, and many 4th through 6th. I've made alot of final tables and probably should play more B&M games but family is important to me so I get to play one once every other month or so.
Well that's my story for now.
Well my Thursday games are in full swing with a variety of players showing up. It's really exploded. I didn't win any games this week but I did last week and my wife took 2nd in two of our sit-n-go's so I was happy for her.
What was cool was on my monthly Saturday tournament I had a pro player show up to my game to play. Now he is a local pro and a cash player converting to tournament play now. He was the third player out in the tournament but we had a side cash game going where he made so money. What impressed me most was how he could hold a conversation and catch everything that was going on at the table. I felt good about my play against him and I think he respected a couple of my friends play, he didn't walk over the game. I home he continues to come and play in our Saturday tournaments.
As for my poker results I've been holding my own in live games and I'm up on my winnings colum versus my payout. But for online I've been finishing in the money in almost every sit-n-go I play. So I'm loving it! Like today there were only 2 I didn't finish in the money and I played in alot today. I only stopped because I just got tired of playing. Nice having a day off of work and actually make money at home. One day. I've also given up playing limit poker online and now just playing pot limit and no limit. It was just to much of a grind for me and I'm making alot more money in a quicker amount of time. I grinded it out two years at limit starting only with $25 playing 1 & 2 penny limit games and worked my way up the limits. I've made over $1500 online, not a bad return on that $25.
The only thing I feel bad about now is some of my poker friends have decided to see if they can make money online except they want to start at higher limits and in doing so have lost a lot of money. They just don't have the patience to build a bankroll. So some of them now can't afford to play on Thursdays because they lost so much money online. I guess that is my one word of advice to a new player with a low amount to start out with "Patience." I know it's easier said than done and my buddies say I have more patience than all of them put together. But that is the key. Be patient when you win and be really patient when you lose especially to players that shouldn't have been in the hand at all.
I started playing in 2003 right after Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP. I played in a home game tournament with about 16 people. We didn't know what we were doing but I made it to the final table then lost right away. The game started at 4pm and went until 6 in the morning, that's what happens when you don't increase the blinds or break up the tables. We've come along way since then, running monthly tournaments with 20 plus people there each month.
After my first tournament I was hooked. I started reading books and took up playing on PartyPoker with $25. I lost that quick in Sit & Go's. So I brought in another $25 and started playing $.50/1.00 limit games, I also brought $25 to Ultimatebet & PokerStars. I mainly read books on low limit play & ITH. Thanks to the books I played for the rest of 2003 & 2004 on those funds and by playing low limit games nothing above $.50/1.00 I turned my bankroll into a $1000.
Then I decided to read ITH again and noticed a key point I missed which was chasing bonuses. So I started chasing some bonuses over the last couple of months some sites were very successful some other sites I discovered the play was so tight that I figured everyone else was chasing bonuses at these sites too. So I decided to go back to my favorite sites PokerStars, Ultimatebet, PartyPoker, PokerRoom, & Doyles. I also may go back to Pacific, Paradise, PokerChamps & Bodog one day. At this time I'm getting away from the chasing bonuses but playing tournaments. I love tournament play, I perfer B&M games versus internet but it's still thrilling to make it to the final table online as it is when you are playing in a room full of people.
Online I usually play the $1, 3, & 5 games at this time. And I play $40 B&M tournaments. By now you probably realize I'm a low roller and by choice. I'm not a gambler, and I hate losing money. Don't get me wrong when I'm at the table with my chips I will mix it up. But I control my losses at limit games, I set a certain amount I will lose at a sitting, and when I'm winning I set a dollar amount I won't fall back to before I leave the table.
I have five kids so I love the internet because I can play and still be around for them. And they like it when I go play in a tournament because when I finish in the money I take them out the next day to a movie with my winnings.
Online I've won two 1,000+ people tournaments, taken a 3rd through 9th place on several others. I have more 9th places than anything, but hey at least I've made the final table alot.
As for B&M tournaments I've won 1 tournament and have more 2nd places than I care to talk about, a couple of 3rd's, and many 4th through 6th. I've made alot of final tables and probably should play more B&M games but family is important to me so I get to play one once every other month or so.
Well that's my story for now.
Well my Thursday games are in full swing with a variety of players showing up. It's really exploded. I didn't win any games this week but I did last week and my wife took 2nd in two of our sit-n-go's so I was happy for her.
What was cool was on my monthly Saturday tournament I had a pro player show up to my game to play. Now he is a local pro and a cash player converting to tournament play now. He was the third player out in the tournament but we had a side cash game going where he made so money. What impressed me most was how he could hold a conversation and catch everything that was going on at the table. I felt good about my play against him and I think he respected a couple of my friends play, he didn't walk over the game. I home he continues to come and play in our Saturday tournaments.
As for my poker results I've been holding my own in live games and I'm up on my winnings colum versus my payout. But for online I've been finishing in the money in almost every sit-n-go I play. So I'm loving it! Like today there were only 2 I didn't finish in the money and I played in alot today. I only stopped because I just got tired of playing. Nice having a day off of work and actually make money at home. One day. I've also given up playing limit poker online and now just playing pot limit and no limit. It was just to much of a grind for me and I'm making alot more money in a quicker amount of time. I grinded it out two years at limit starting only with $25 playing 1 & 2 penny limit games and worked my way up the limits. I've made over $1500 online, not a bad return on that $25.
The only thing I feel bad about now is some of my poker friends have decided to see if they can make money online except they want to start at higher limits and in doing so have lost a lot of money. They just don't have the patience to build a bankroll. So some of them now can't afford to play on Thursdays because they lost so much money online. I guess that is my one word of advice to a new player with a low amount to start out with "Patience." I know it's easier said than done and my buddies say I have more patience than all of them put together. But that is the key. Be patient when you win and be really patient when you lose especially to players that shouldn't have been in the hand at all.
