I am working a great deal on my online poker game. One problem I have is that with work, life generally, and actually playing online poker, I don’t take/have enough time to read, think, learn, watch videos, read poker blogs and forums. In short, I’m not doing enough of the things that will make my game better in the future.

When I was a lawyer/law firm marketing director we had a saying, "What you do with your billable hours determines your now. What you do with your non-billable hours determines your future." That holds true in so many facets of life. Poker included.

But I do have the books lined up that I need/am going to read. I am currently reading Sit ‘n Go Strategy by Colin Moshman. So far an excellent book that has taught me a lot. I am also going to read Harrington on Hold ‘em volumes 1-3 and Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky.

For example, last night, I was right on the bubble in a 300 person tourney, was down to about 8 BB’s, and re-raised all-in out of position with KJo. (It was UTG who led out, all folds to me in SB.) Got called with a pair of tens. Tens held up.

Bottom line: I have no idea if this was the right play. That’s what I need to figure out.

I friend of mine just said that he is trying out some new strategies. He needs to play looser late, but needs to know when to lay it down. I think online poker tournament books are part of the answer, as is experience.

Learning to Play Poker is a little like growing up.

When you’re young, you just want to get out there. Try, do, experiment, skin some knees, whatever. Then you start to figure out a tiny bit of what life is about and who you are. You are awkward.

Then a little success, you lose your virginity, and a little happiness sets in. Your parents, your teachers, and any figure of any authority doesn’t know anything. You know everything. Everything. The teenage years are in full swing.

Then real life hits. You go away to school or start a little work and discover there are smarter people with far more experience. You get intimidated. But life is still generally a party, and despite the eye opener, nobody’s hurt you yet. You’ll be fine.

Then the real world hits like a ton of bricks. Work sucks. You’ve got no money. Relationships come and go but a good one is hard to find. And you realize you’ve got two choices - give up or get better.

And you do what you’ve got to do to get better.

I haven’t really been winning or losing very much - just generating a lot of rake.

I am moving my poker playing to Ultimate Bet.  I’ve signed up for Ultimate Bet Rakeback at our site Raketracker.com.

My question is:  Can a breakeven player turn into a profitable player when rakeback is entered into equation?  I think the history of Raketracker and the rakeback industry in general will show the answer is clearly yes.  Now I’m going to find out myself.

12/1/07

When I was in college I used to play poker about three nights a week. I was a drunkin lunatic and I threw away cash like it was my job – a couple hundred a night. It was 2000-2001 and I was making ridiculous money day trading so I cared not. I also thought I was good at poker. Don’t ask me how, donating hundreds a night, that I thought I was good at poker. But I did.

I stopped playing except in an occasional home game until around ’04-’05. At that point, I was in law school, still a drunkin lunatic, but now without the money to burn. However, poker was becoming a big deal, and clearly I thought I was a big deal, so it seemed like a natural fit.

I burned through about $10K in 6 months.

Bottom line – I SUCK AT POKER!

But now here we are in 2007 and I’ve got a job at Poker Affiliate Solutions. So guess what … I take another shot.

And we’ll call this category of the blog A Fish’s Life.

For two reasons:
1.) It’s hard to say.
2.) I’m a total fish.

See you at the tables.

12/12/07

The reason I suck at poker, imo, is because I’m a raging optimist. Good things are always gonna happen to me. So if I’ve got a four-flush, with no pot odds, I’ll throw my stack at it because I’m gonna pull that card on the river. Just because I’ve got the worst of it now, doesn’t mean I won’t win. What a donkey, right?

Wait, Four-Flush? Pot Odds? Worst of It? Donkey? Where did I learn these terms you might ask?

Ahhh, my preparation has begun. On some good advice, I’ve read The Theory of Poker. I’ve also been reading online – a ton. I have looked at my options as far as where to play, how much to deposit, what my goals are, and what the bonuses and rakeback picture looks like.

I want a good bonus. I only want to start with $100 deposit. I want to build a bankroll and I want to play in the WSOP. Who doesn’t, right?

Yeah, but I’m going to.

12/13/07

Yesterday I said, “I want a good bonus. I only want to start with $100 deposit.”

But I also don’t want to get stuck on a network with no rakeback. Down the road that will come back to bite me. But I need Free Poker Money to help me get going. I signed up with YourPokerCash.com. I went with Absolute and got $100 free.

Why Absolute? Strictly an issue of rakeback. You can’t sign-up under a rakeback affiliate if you already have an account. So I am forever eliminating my rakeback at Absolute by taking the $100 free.

But I can get rakeback on the Absolute network at their skin Vegas Poker. So I’m not actually barred from Absolute Rakeback.

Tomorrow my loot will be in the account and I’ll be ready to own you at the tables.  Yah, you heard me.

12/15/07

The Money’s In – I’m Playing - I Crush

I’ve been playing $6 and $10 sit and go’s at Absolute. I’m a beast. I’ve been in the money 8 out of 10 times, won 3 of em.

I’m trying to tell myself that I’m not good, I’m lucky, whatever. But I have a sneaking suspicion I may be a prodigy.

12/17/07

After playing all weekend I have a few revelations. One, I’m not a beast, and I’m certainly not a prodigy. Two, I suck. It has nothing to do with cards or running good or running bad. It’s all me. I’m a maniac. I have no control whatsoever over my emotions.

I pull a flush on the river and some whiner starts calling me a donkey because he didn’t bet enough with his two pair.

1.) I had top pair anyway.

2.) He should have bet more. Maybe I would have folded.

3.) _____ him anyway.

He goes into this diatribe about how playing a K8s shows that I’m a donkey and I suck. Why is it that losers whine? I have made a promise to myself that I will never become a whining loser, even if I never get any good at poker.

I think I actually won that sng. But I was pissed off the rest of the night. I was the putz that played three hands per sng and then got called going all-in with j10o. I must have lost ten sng’s last night. I now know what tilting is.

12/31/07

Losing sucks. My new year’s resolution is not to lose anymore.

1/3/08

My bankroll, from my $100 deposit and $100 of Free Poker Money, stands at $211. I have had a huge emotional roller coaster for what now tallies an $11 profit. This is absurd. I make too much money for this.

One thing I realized in the course of my 4,000ish hands is that I need to have some self-discipline. Not one of my strong suits. So last night I implemented my new strategy. Five $6 SNG’s per night. If I win three or I am in the money on four, I play one $20 sng.

Last night I won three and was in the money in another. I played a $20 and won it. Last night = good night. My dreams of WSOP stardom are not dead yet.