Tao of Poker

Life, Death, and Party Poker

"To expostulate why day is day, night night, and time is time, were nothing but to waste night, day, and time" - Hamlet, Act ii, Sc. 2

I had this thought on the subway this morning.... How many poker players believe in God? And if they do, do they honestly think God cares if you catch your eight outer on the river to crack a set of Aces? I always had this feeling that Jesus was alive on Earth, living in Reno, dealing blackjack and talking to Elvis impersonations on his lunch break.

OK, that's my brief dip into the tepid pool of religion, philosophy, and poker.

First off, condolences to Iggy and his wife over the loss of a loved one. I hope you're both able to get through this rough patch. We'll all shed a tear for Monty.

Secondly, it seems like any day now that Otis is going to be a father. Mrs. Otis had a false alarm the other night, but everyone is still waiting. I picked: August 9th, 4:20am, 7 lbs. and 7 ozs. I feel confident in my pick after I won my buddy Senor's pool when his son was born in late November. To this day, my brother is sure that I rigged that contest, by getting Senor to convince his wife to hold back delivering the baby a couple of hours so I could win the pool. I'm good, but not that good. Best of luck, Otis. Just hold out for four more days!

Name Change?

I was thinking about changing the name of my blog to something like: Diary of a Break Even Player. Perhaps there was a misconception that I'm a big roller with a bankroll the size of a poodle. I was recently asked how I was doing for the year. I consulted my notes... and I'm not doing too well. I'm up for the year... but only barely.

I first started playing online at Party Poker in February. Before that, I was strictly a live game player, focusing on trips to Foxwoods. I dropped almost $1000 during my Vegas trip in April. That hurt. I followed up an awful month with my best month (May) to date. I started to get back on track, but then I went away and took a two week hiatus from poker. When I came back, I was a little rusty, and my July was up and down, and I fought to keep even for the month, then dropped $180 at the last game at The Blue Parrot. The highlights of my brief poker career from 2004 had to include winning seats in two satellites to the WPT Championships at the Bellagio and placing 12th in the actual satellite on Party Poker.

The Skinny:
Jan: -110
Feb: -130
Mar: +237
Apr: -910
May: +1264
Jun: +170
Jul: -186
Aug: +395
TOTAL YTD: +725

My bankroll was around $1000 when I got back from Miami in early Januaray. I cashed out almost $1000 (all on Party Poker) to cover expenses (rental car, hotel, concert tickets, food, etc.) for my first Phishin' trip in June.

So far, this month, I've been hot. I posted three triple digit wins on Party Poker this week alone. Earlier today, I won a $30 SNG, coming from behind as the shortstack to win it all. I was sweated by BG's brother m7, who was my good luck charm for sure. I'm on a roll, finally, and guess what? I hit the road on Monday for a week of partying and misadventures. Fitting, eh? My mini streak is going to end on Sunday no matter what.

Reflections?

Not right now. I'm too busy to analyze my entire life and poker game right now. But in short here's what went wrong:

1. I played too many hands in early and middle positions.
2. I failed to lay down big hands and high pocket pairs when they were outflopped.
3. I didn't bet enough preflop or on the flop.
4. I was playing the wrong games and limits.

And here's what's been going well:

1. I'm able to read players in live games much better than last year.
2. I've eliminated a few trouble hands and played my strong hands more aggressively.
3. I've accepted that bad beats are a part of the game. I move forward.
4. I found my niche in $20 and $30 SNGs.
5. I improved my game selection and stuck to NL (specifically the $25 NL ring tables on Party Poker), vowing never again to play micro limits online and in casinos.

Hopefully I'll have some more time in September to go more in depth and elaborate what I've learned so far. I guess I should be somewhat happy that I didn't lose any money despite the numerous hours I logged at the tables in Foxwoods, Vegas, The Blue Parrot, and on Party Poker.