Tao of Poker

Holiday Online Poker

Without any deadlines to meet, I have all this free time! I've played a slew of online poker the last few days on a couple of different sites. Just a few days ago I was stuck... big time.... aproaching $4K in losses since All Saints Day. I was worried that I'd end the year on one of my biggest slides and all-time losing streaks. Whenever you are in a slump, you start questioning everything you do and you go on slumptilt. I kept wavering back and forth with the notion that I was playing too tight or too loose. Or I'd get down on myself for not taking better notes. I tried to do everything to get out of my slump. I even asked Change100 to grab my junk again to pull me out of that horrible funk. I think it worked.

I was getting bummed out about my game when Derek reminded me of two reasons why I have been losing. The first was that I played in the most tournaments this year over the past three months. MTTs were always a -EV situation to me. I'd get so close to the money and bubble out, or I'd make the money and cash a tiny amount. Either way, I was wasting my time playing for four or five hours and having a horrible hourly winning percentage to show for my efforts. And the two or three MTTs that I did great in... were in super-satellites so all I won was a seat to a satellite... and no cash. Since my time is valuable due to a packed schedule, I'm better off playing ring games where my hourly rate is signifcantly higher.

The second item that Derek pointed out was that I was playing more low-limit games than I'm used to. Between all the tournament fees and all the low-limit donkey poker I had been playing, the loses started to add up. Tack on a few losing sessions at Pai Gow and craps, then more that 2/3 of my losses could be accounted for. That meant 1/3 of my total losses were from stupid plays from yours truly and the nature of luck and suckouts. The stats tell me that I'm way off my game, but the reality of it was that I wasn't playing as bad as I thought. My game was far from perfect, but as Derek pointed out, most of those loses could be justified. If I eliminated blogger tables, tournaments, casino table games, and prop bets... then I'd barely be phased by a small dent in my bankroll.

My degeneracy has hijacked my bankroll. I'm trying to get it back on track. The prop bets with Grubby were getting a little out of control. And yes, we even bet on what drink Change100 would order at the poker table or which one of us would win a hand of Pai Gow first. Luckily, I left Vegas on a winning note in prop bets and in poker. Change100 gave me 4 to 1 odds that I couldn't throw a piece of gum out of the window of her room at the Excalibur. I nailed it.

Full Tilt

You've probably alreay read about my Christmas Eve $3/$6 session on Full Tilt with Derek, Jen Harman, and Andy Bloch. That was pretty fun and completely unexpected. It's one of the cool things that FT has to offer over other sites; the ability to play with pros. I'm still cringing over some of the questions Jen got in the chat. Some guy even asked about the rivered straight flush against her in the main event of the WSOP.

I still have a chunk of my reload bonus to work off and have been doing so over the past weekend. I played $3/$6 with Derek, Daddy, and Boobie Lover on Christmas late night. Daddy was all liquored up and well stuffed after a Christmas feast. I had a nice session at that table while Daddy won a huge hand with 9-3o and promtly tilted the table.

I was checking out the Full Tilt Store. For $1 million points you get your own custom Avatar. I heard a rumor that the Poker Geek has to pay $2 million for his.

Poker Stars

If you don't know, Poker Stars is awarding double FPP or player points from now through the end of the year. Time to rack them up! I've been two tabling $3/6 ring games and adding a PLO table to the mix. I played with Alan on Christmas. I rivered a gut-shot straight flush. He was wacthing with April on Christmas Eve when I flopped quads playing PLO. Anyway, Heather sat down at my PLO ring game table as did Alan today and later Sparky.

I've had plenty of up and down sessions of Poker Stars at the $3/$6 tables. I recall a time when those tables were tough to beat. Even some of the $5/$10 tables on Poker Stars have become super fishy. Lot's of folks chasing baby flushes in heads up play.

I played in a two EPT Monte Carlo FPP round one freerolls. My best was a 37 out of 518. Of course that got me nothing.

Wil is hosting the Obie34 Invitational at Poker Stars on Tuesday at 7pm EST. I'll do my best to make it. I took 2nd place in Wil's tourney on Thursday when I blew a huge chiplead to Marty.

Party Poker

The suits at Party Poker sent me an email saying that they'd cancel all my Party Poker points unless I logged in and played. I played a few freerolls with Grubby before I left Vegas using my Player's points.

I had a bad session at a $5/$10 6-max table. I made some of those losses back at the $50 PLO tables yesterday. I busted two guys when I flopped a straight flush draw, then turned it.

Played some of the $3/$6 bad beat tables and walked away about even.

Well, it's not the Bellagio, Mirage, Mandalay Bay, and MGM... but I'm still enjoying my time playing online poker at Full Tilt, Party Poker, Sun Poker, and Poker Stars. After all, I can't sit pantless in a room that's filled with thick ganja smoke in a casino in Las Vegas. Gotta enjoy those moments while I can.


Recent Poker Playing Music...
1. Miles Davis
2. Charlie Hunter
3. Karl Denson
4. Velvet Underground
5. The Funky Meters