The Hate

I had one of those "I hate poker and I hate poker players" days yesterday.

I've been building up to longer sessions lately at this place near the apartment called Silverton. They claim they're a "locals" casino and sure enough, it's a nice place with a great aquarium and a Mexican restaurant that has become a habit for me. Their theme is outdoorsy/lodge-life. Anyway they have a little 4-table poker room tucked away that mostly runs 3/6 limit, 2 tournaments a day and an evening 1/2 no-limit game. My first several days there I killed the 3/6 game. The play was terrible -- passive callers that would pay me off whenever I had a hand. The flip side of that environment was what went on yesterday; the passive callers kept hitting their miracle card on the turn and river. I've never seen so many people that call with bottom pair trying to hit trips or two pair. I'm glad for the action long-term but in that short window I became sour and nearly disgusted after a 6 hour session. I "rescued" myself by going to dinner at the Mi Casa restaurant and wolfing down three mahi tacos.

I guess the lesson there is more of a reminder. One pair isn't all that great a hand if you're ahead. You're not ahead by much. Thinking back to the session, I don't think I made one set yesterday, and sets, straights and flushes get paid off in that game handsomely.

July review

Well, July is to be considered a success. I did what I intended to do: stick to hold em and post a profit. I finished the month up $860. From the mid-July review, you can read that I was concerned about a recent $1000 loss. I played basically even until the end of the month, still averaging about 22 hours of poker each week.

On July 28th I went to Caesar's to play around 3:00 pm. My friend Roger was in town and I was trying to meet up with him. He was playing in a tournament there that I was too late to attend. So, I got seated in a 1-3 no-limit game and bought in for $300. The game was short, but filled up within a few hands.

Early in the session I was dealt pocket eights in early position. I raised it to $15 and everyone folded but the guy to my left. The flop came 7 7 3 rainbow. I bet the pot and the guy hesitated and called. The turn brought a blank. I put him on two big cards and decided I didn't want him to draw. I also had him outchipped. So, I shoved it all-in and he instacalled and turned over pocket sevens. Ouch. Running into quads blows. I guess after that loss I had about $50 left on the table, so I rebought for another $200.

Over the next hour I ran the $250 up to about $325 and then would lose a few small pots in a row and fall back down to about $250. Then, I'm dealt A Q suited on the button. There were a few callers already, but I didn't mind raising it up to $15 to go even if just to lose the blinds. All previous callers called along and so did the small blind. The flop came A 2 2. They all check it to me, so I bet about the pot and shove out $60. Everyone folds but the guy who had the quads against me earlier. He says, "$60? What's that?" "It's a pot-sized bet" I tell him. He says he HAS to make a bad call. The turn brings a 10 and adds a third club to the board. I check to the guy and he bets $100. I'm sure he doesn't have the flush, but I'm confused about what he does have. Quad deuces? No, I can't put him on those. I just don't know. I call the $100 and the river brings a blank. I check again and he shoves all-in. I've only got $100 left and at this point I just can't get away from the hand. I call and he turns over A 10 and wins with a bigger two pair.

So, that was minus $500 in an hour and a half. I didn't bring much more than that, so I left, remembering my own advice about getting out of a game that isn't paying me. I think I couldn't help the first hand I lost very much. But on the second I probably should have released my A Q. One pair isn't very much to go on when someone else takes over the betting on the turn. Even if it is a bluff, it's alright to let some of those go.

Looking over the entire month, if I didn't have the two big loss days ($1000 and $500 respectively) I would have finished up somewhere around $2300. Hopefully these latest lessons will sink in for me and I'll be able to protect my chips better.

I'm taking a break for the first week or two of August as a kind of vacation to do nothing and to reflect. There's something else I'm trying to absorb regarding the difference between playing poker recreationally (but seriously) and as a profession.

Because I've got a bankroll and enough stashed away for bills separately, I shouldn't have any difficulties with losses here or there. But because in my head I'm thinking "this is my job" and I'm trying to consistently make at least $1500 each month, when I don't or when I hit snags I get a little panicky. When I had played in Seattle and hit losing streaks, it bothered me from the standpoint of not wanting to make mistakes or play bad. The monetary loss didn't bother me really as I had a job to pay the bills.

My friend, Tony, narrowed it down for me on the phone a few days ago. When playing is your only job, when you're winning you feel like you should play more. When is enough, enough? And when you're losing, you feel like you should play more to try to get back into the black. So, psychologically it can be a bit daunting to wrap my head around.

Mid-July Review

Sticking to hold em has paid off. As of July 18 I was up @$2600 for the month. My mindset at that time was to not give it all back, or at the very least, not give any back in a large chunk. Unfortunately, I had a rough day at the 2/5 NL game and lost $1000 -- exactly what I didn't want to do! Ugh. Fortunately I can pinpoint exactly why the session was a loser and corrections can be made for future sessions.

In a non-poker book I've started to read there is a bit about investing and how greed and stability can each be trouble for investors. I think the same applies to a poker game. Greed can be trouble -- staying too long in a session trying to win more, for instance. Stability can be trouble -- staying in a game even when it is unprofitable simply because it may hold promise for eventual profit.

If you haven't guessed, here's what happened to my 2/5 session that day. I had made about $150 in an hour -- usually more than enough for the short sessions I'd been playing. The game appeared to be good, so I got greedy, lost back my profit and then misplayed a hand that cost me the rest of my chips. That was enough to get me on tilt so that when I rebought for another $500 I lost all that in a couple of hands, too. At least I was quick enough to leave after that!

Let's see how the end of the month shapes up! Despite the ugly loss, it's been a month of progress.

In Review

Well, here it is early July and this is the 4th post on this blog. Lame? Lazy? Busy? Parts of all three, to be sure. Let's review the previous couple of months to bring this thing up to speed.

In April I made money overall. Just over $500, or about a third of what I'd like to be making at a minimum for the month. During this month I began to play Omaha 8 or better extensively as my "main" game. I'd read that in the right game, one can make a better hourly rate than in comparable Hold Em games. It's also a more interesting and perhaps more involved game because each player gets 4 cards to work with and the pot is split between high hand and low hand. And sure enough, some of the biggest pots I've ever taken have occured in this game.

The month of May began horribly for me and never got much better. I lost about $1600 overall when it was all said and done. Most of this was in Hold Em games, primarily No Limit, and at one location (Mandalay Bay) over a few sessions. Of course, nobody likes to lose, but I had to suck it up and move on to June in the hopes that things could turn around.

June started out fantastic. At one point I was up around $2200 for the month. I finished 25th of 360 players in an Omaha tournament. Took 6th of 98 players in a Hold Em tournaments and basically carved up every game I came across. Until one day at the Omaha tables I ran into what I'll now call a "learning experience". One player came into the 10/20 game (and later the 20/40 game) and jacked up the action on every hand. Not just on every hand he played; he raised every hand and turned the entire game into a coin flip. I should have left -- gone home, gone for a walk -- whatever. Instead, I got good cards and got competitive. He got lucky and I gave up most of my profits for the month in one day. Bad bad bad! Expensive lesson there. Finished the month down $770. Again, not too bad really, but certainly a bit alarming from the whole lack of income perspective.

Looking forward:
So, after much discussion and introspection and analysis I've refocused on what I'm really trying to do. The Omaha game will be shelved for the time being while I focus again on finding good Hold Em games. Somewhere along the way, I became a little competitive and concerned with ego-related poker rather than taking care of the bottom line. I've got a lot of work to do in July to catch up. But a positive month would be a good beginning.

Minimal Play, Tidy Profit

I was feeling a little tired on Sunday and a tad nervous about my ups and down from Saturday night. I had worked up my account at Full Tilt to play a little higher than normal, so I started out the day playing 8/16 Omaha. About 20 minutes into the session I took 3/4 of a big pot with a nut flush/nut low hand and was up $116. I gave a little back a few hands later with a mediocre call, finished that trip around the table and cashed out ahead $73.

Later in the evening I ventured out to the Wynn again, anticipating getting into the 15/30 Hold Em game again. It was full but 10/20 Omaha was open, so bought in for $500 there. I won the first couple of pots I got involved in and was soon up about $300. A couple of marginal calls later and I had given back nearly $150. I really need to get a grip on when to chase after some of these pots. I think my problem is that I'm chasing without considering the size of the pot, especially when I'm only chasing for half that pot. Realizing this, and feeling nervous about giving my back my quick profit, I picked up and cashed out $149 ahead for the session.

Up about $220 for the day was just fine for me considering the small amount of time I had invested.

Ups and downs of play

Until I get settled in on some kind of regular schedule I've decided to play a lot of poker whenever I feel like it. I'm hoping this will lead to a regular schedule based on good game locations and times.

Saturday night I played at The Wynn poker room. I've been playing there pretty much every day since moving here. I've had success there in the past and I like the overall feel of the room. They also usually get an Omaha game going -- although this week, the game has been weak and hasn't lasted very long into the evening. While waiting for the Omaha game, I played 15/30 Hold Em for about twenty minutes and finished $143 ahead. My Omaha seat then came open and I proceeded to blow through about $500 in maybe an hour or two. All of my premium hands failed me and none of my draws ever "got there." I was prepared to rebuy and keep playing, but four players left the game at the same time and within a matter a minutes, the game broke up and I was steaming about my loss.

Luckily, the 15/30 Hold Em table still had room, so I took I seat there and bought in again. For the first couple of hours it felt like a low-limit Hold Em game, as again the pots I was involved with went to the other guy's draws that "got there" on the river again and again. Soon I was down about $400. This was not shaping up to be a banner day for the new poker professional.

Finally, sometime between hours 4 and 5 and I went on a big rush, got some great cards and played my position with aggression. The results being, I climbed up from $100 in chips to over $800. During the last hour I held on to my winnings (and got cold cards) and finally got sleepy enough to call it a night. That session I finished up $306. So, for roughly six hours of total play I lost about $50. Not bad, considering that at one point I was going to be down about $900 for the day.

Launching a Professional Poker Player

Could I become a professional poker player? This is a question that gradually became important enough for me to answer by changing my life and relocating to Las Vegas. The question itself arose from four years of constant poker work and play in the Seattle area. The Seattle game had limitations. The games were capped at low betting limits. The players were mostly locals, pushing the same chips back and forth for years. The casinos were small and often fought each other for the same group of players. After a few trips to Vegas to see the differences in the games there, it seemed that a move there would be prudent if I wanted to succeed as a professional poker player.

Now, just two weeks and couple of days after completing the move to Las Vegas, I'm starting this blog to document the experience, to record useful information and to report results and observations.