This will be a short and sweet post concerning my poker experiences over the Month of December. I'll update a january one shortly.
Monthly Home Game (december)
It's your basic home game. Texas Hold 'em only Tournament- usually we play 4 or 5 games. Buy-in is usually $10, sometimes we'll do a $20 buy-in towards the end of the night. We tend to have anywhere between 6-10 people show up. This past month, I didn't do so hot. I did manage to squeak out a 2nd place victory in one of the five games which basically won me my buy-in back for that tournament.
Online
Pretty much all of my online is at Pokerroom.com. I just like it. I especially enjoy their short-handed SitnGoes. Good for quick play, and I tend to do pretty well in short-handed. My aggressive style works nicely. Except this past month. I won a few, but also tried some full tables and Multitable tournaments and didn't fair all that well. I basically burned through my last deposit and am just taking some time to cool off from some tilting. I still have some money to play a private tournament I put together for some people I know from the MSR, All-In Poker Podcast. But that will be about it for a little while.
They just introducded "Teams" on PR which is pretty cool. A team of players challenge other teams to a league. Basically one person from each team plays at a one table tournament (usually about five tournaments at once). Rankings are done and at the end of the league money is awarded. Teams also split the buy-ins which is nice. Unfortunately a team of 10 turned out to be really a team of 4 where most people didn't deposit any money or want to play, so I dropped out of that one after one league game. I was the only person on the team who managed to win their table one night. And another night which I couldn't play (the night of my homegame) there was no one to replace me so I just blinded out. I finished 2nd best on my team (5th place). So I took a break from that. Interesting concept really.
Foxwoods
I haven't hit Foxwoods in 6 months, but there are plans in the works for a trip in January or February. Might try to qualify for a WPT event. Foxwoods Classic (was New England Poker Classic) was recently added as a WPT event.
Other
Got some poker chips and cards for Christmas, nothing fancy. Got my father-in-law and brother-in-law to play a $10 buy-in game. BIL put FIL out and I was pretty short stacked. I did manage to win a couple of hands, but was swatted back down. Finally, I managed to win a few hands, putting my all my chips in with the best hand. Usually Top pair vs 2nd or 3rd pair with draws and the draws never materialized. I finally finished him off.
A delayed report
I Play Poker... and I Lose!
That's right, I'm still relatively new to poker and I'm still learning. But get this... I actually do ... Lose! I know, unbelievable. I talk to a lot of folks online, at the tables, on the PokerRoom.com message boards and on the message boards of my favorite poker podcast, All-in, and the one thing I notice, is that EVERY is a great poker player and they win all the time! And when I lose, it's not just bad beats. It is me playing poorly and making wrong decisions.
Just an example of how bad I can sometimes play, allow me to show you a recent pattern. I deposited $55 into PR. After a few cash games (micro stakes) and a bunch of Sit N Gos, I managed to get my stack to $6.00. No that's not a typo, a loss of $49. But then I hit my stride. I used my last $6 to enter another SNG and BAM, I won, $25. Follow that up with 5 more wins and I'm now up to $140. I'm playing fantastic poker and getting good cards. Now a couple of weeks later, I'm trying to find ways to scrounge up another $50 since I'm out of cash.
Now it wasn't that I was card dead, though at times it felt like I was. I just lost patience. I played hands I shouldn't and I overvalued weaker hands. Figuring what's the chances they have top pair when I have middle pair, and I'm usually wrong. And the biggest mistake I made, often, was the bluff. Now it wasn't so much the bluff, but it was playing aggressive after I missed a flop. And then when people call, instead of raise, BET again, thinking their call was a sign of weakness. Stupid and I know it's stupid playing, but had a hard time backing off at times. Towards the end of my run, I started to play smarter, playing aggressive pre-flop and folding if I miss. But at that point it was too much too late.
So now I wait. Luckily I have a home game coming up next weekend. Maybe I can change my losing ways.
Play Smart.
Welcome to the Table.
Greetings everyone. I'm going to start this off with a quick introduction.
My name is Joe and I currently live in Connecticut, about an hour from Foxwoods Casino which has a great poker room. I've always enjoyed poker, but got bit with the bug about a year ago. I'm ashamed to admit it, but it was from watching... *gulp* Celebrity Poker on Bravo. I still enjoy the show for it's entertainment value alone, not the stars' "poker skills." My game has changed drastically over the course of the year and it continues to grow leaps and bounds (in my opinion anyway). I don't play all that often, and when I do it's on Pokerroom.com and for low stakes, either cash games ($.25-$.50 or $.50-$1.00 limit/no-limit) or low buy-in SitnGos. I've had a string of good luck recently, turning basically $6.00 into $140 (again, not playing a lot, but usually once every other day or so). Unfortunately, I have since turned that to $5.51, and then last night, I won a $5.50 Sit n Go and now back to $25. Hopefully I've turned around my streak of bad luck and bad play.
See you at the tables.
