We're not talking peanuts,
We're not talking chickenfeed,
Let me hear you scream,
The million dollar dream. Headless Chickens
No matter how sad the reality, we all have our dreams of glory. There are some poker dreams that I cling to, but first, lets take a look at the reality:
*I've been playing poker seriously for about five years and I'm running at a loss
*In the last four months my bankroll has plummeted
*I am currently playing at the micro level; games that require a buy-in of a few dollars
*I am following a bankroll management plan that requires me to have a bankroll equal to 20 times the buy-in for a ring game and 50 times the buy-in for a tournament
*I don't play in satellite tournaments
*I don't know anyone in Hollywood.
Bearing all this in mind, let me set out my Ten Big Poker Dreams. These are all things I'd love to achieve, but am realistic enough to know that they are extremely unlikely. I start with the least unlikely dream and progress through the list to the most unlikely. The way I see it, item one on my list is about as likely to happen as me hitting a royal flush in Spades. The chances of achieving item ten are about the same as the chances of me hitting a royal flush in Spades, followed by a royal flush in Hearts, followed by one in Diamonds, then in Clubs, in successive hands.
So, here are my poker dreams:
1. Australian Poker Weekend. Fly to Australia and spend the weekend playing poker. This is based on the assumption that Australian casinos are likely to have a larger range of games available over a longer period of time than Auckland's Sky City. I don't actually know if this is true, but it seems to be a fair assumption. And I like the idea of flying off to another country just to play poker.
2. Vegas Poker Safari. Fly to Las Vegas and spend a week playing poker. The ideal time to do this would be during the World Series of Poker, but any time would be fine. The idea would be play in ring games rather than tournaments. It would be great just to soak up the atmosphere. I suppose that somewhere like Macau or Hong Kong might be cheaper but the problem is: they're not Vegas.
3. Play a Big Sky City Tournament. The Auckland Casino has a big tournament on every long weekend. The buy-in is about $1100. Win or lose, it would be great to play in a big live tournament like that.
4. Play in the Aussie Millions. A bit more expensive to enter this one, but at least it's just ácross the ditch'. This is one of the major tournaments so you might get to rub shoulders with some big-name players. Once again, just being there would be the experience of a lifetime.
5. Cash in a Major Tournament. If I ever reached the point where I had a bankroll that enabled me to enter the Aussie Millions, then I guess I'd have enough to enter other international tournaments. It would be such a buzz to cash in one of these, even if it was at the lowest level.
6. Win a Major Tournament. Winning any tournament is great but winning a major puts you in a whole different class. And the prize money is pretty good too. But beyond the cash, you get bragging rights forever.
7. Play Strip Poker with Jessica Alba. Ok, so I put this one in mainly to illustrate the level of improbability that we are reaching here. But if the opportunity were to come up, I'm pretty sure I could beat her. I don't know what would be in it for her if she won, but that's not my problem.
8. Win a WSOP Bracelet. This is pretty much the ultimate poker prize. Even though there might be more players to beat and more money to be won in other events, a WSOP bracelet is the equivalent of Olympic gold. It's not about the numbers, it's about the jewellery.
9. Become a Successful Omaha Player. We are really entering Fantasyland here. I don't honestly believe that this is possible, but if I could figure out how to win at Omaha.... No, that's crazy talk.
10. Cash in the Main Event. A lot of poker players dream of winning the WSOP Main Event, or at least making the final table. But with afield of 5000 or more, and most poker pros getting eliminated in the early stages, I'd be ecstatic just to burst the bubble and collect some cash. That's something I would never forget.
So those are my poker dreams. Oh well, back to the micro online games.
OMG, a thought just occurred to me. What if Jessica agreed to play, but only if it was Omaha? What a nightmare.
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Monday, 12 November 2012
Spring Bulletin
I went to Skycity Casino with my wife a couple of weeks ago. Over the years it's become a tradition for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary by sitting in different areas of a huge room full of strangers (LOL). Anyway, I decided to check out the 'Poker Zone' upstairs. The previous year I'd gone up there and bought in to a ring game for the minimum amount of $60 and walked out a couple of hours later with over $500. However, when I got there I found that the buy-in had increased. The blinds had gone up from $2/$3 to $2/$4 and the minimum buy-in was now $100. Oh well, back to the roulette. When I first played poker at the casino a few years ago, the blinds were $1/$2. I guess those were the good old days.
I'm writing this on my new notebook. Not only do I have a new computer that measures its speed and memory in gigs rather than megs, but I've also got a broadband connection. Everything happens so much faster now. As an example, when I downloaded the 888 software from the website, a process that used to take more than an hour, it was all done within three minutes! I am so impressed. I haven't had any disconnection problems when playing online and that annoying delay that always appeared during ring games has disappeared. Also, I can surf the net at the same time as playing poker if I want to, although I don't think I will because I need to concentrate on my games.
My results however, have not changed. What I used to describe as a downswing has now become an inexorable slide into oblivion. The last ten times I've played have all been losing sessions and my bankroll is at its lowest point since August 2009. And I am at a total loss to explain why. I simply cannot take a trick. At this point I couldn't win a game of poker against a blind donkey playing with his cards face-up on the table. Nevertheless, I keep plugging away.
I've been watching the World Series of Poker Main Event final table on TV recently. The final table was shown live and my wife and I recorded it and watched it in manageable segments. The first six players were knocked out within a few hours, but once it was down to the final three, it turned into a marathon. It was ten hours before the seventh player was finally knocked out. But even though this was not edited and at times the players took an age to make a decision and we didn't get to see the hole cards until the hand was over, it was still fascinating to watch. I was glad to see that two of the three were 888 players, and I was cheering for Jake Balsiger, because he was the short stack and I like to cheer for the underdog. However, in that epic battle he was eventually overwhelmed and had to settle for a measly couple of million dollars.
So we settled in for a long heads-up contest between Greg Merson and Jesse Sylvia. But it all ended in anti-climax. After just 17 heads-up hands, Merson pushed all-in with K5 and, to my surprise, Sylvia called with QJ. King high won the hand and Merson took out the title, the $8m, the bracelet and, for good measure, enough points to beat Phil Hellmuth in the Player of the Year contest. A good win for Greg Merson, who looked to be in control of the game pretty much all the way.
I've also been watching The Big Game on TV. Even though they're only showing highlights of previous shows, it's still fun to watch. The thing I like most about this show is the commentary. The guy who commentates on the play (I don't remember his name) is very knowledgeable about the game and really adds another dimension to the show. He's always explaining why he thinks particular plays are being made, what the players' reasoning might be, what sort of odds they are getting, and lots of other details that make it much more interesting than other poker shows. It's nice to see a show that's both entertaining and informative.
I'm still struggling to figure out a successful Fixed Limit 6-max strategy. I had a series of decent wins last month but have now reverted to my usual form in this game. Last week I tried ultra-passive pre-flop combined with more aggressive post-flop play but it didn't do me any good. When I play again tomorrow maybe I'll try the seat-of-the-pants make-it-up-as-I-go-along strategy. Or maybe the hope-to-get-lucky-strategy. Or maybe the call-everything-to-the-river strategy. Or something. Time will tell.
Another advantage of having a modern computer is that I can watch video now. I started reading poker-pro Daniel Negraneau's blog a while back, but I could only read his old stuff because he switched to video-blogs (vlogs?) earlier this year and my old computer couldn't hack showing video. So now I've started watching his more recent posts. These can be found at www.fullcontactpoker.com. Check out the first one, 'Real Talk', where he goes off at the people behind the Fulltilt Poker scam. Classic.
I'm writing this on my new notebook. Not only do I have a new computer that measures its speed and memory in gigs rather than megs, but I've also got a broadband connection. Everything happens so much faster now. As an example, when I downloaded the 888 software from the website, a process that used to take more than an hour, it was all done within three minutes! I am so impressed. I haven't had any disconnection problems when playing online and that annoying delay that always appeared during ring games has disappeared. Also, I can surf the net at the same time as playing poker if I want to, although I don't think I will because I need to concentrate on my games.
My results however, have not changed. What I used to describe as a downswing has now become an inexorable slide into oblivion. The last ten times I've played have all been losing sessions and my bankroll is at its lowest point since August 2009. And I am at a total loss to explain why. I simply cannot take a trick. At this point I couldn't win a game of poker against a blind donkey playing with his cards face-up on the table. Nevertheless, I keep plugging away.
I've been watching the World Series of Poker Main Event final table on TV recently. The final table was shown live and my wife and I recorded it and watched it in manageable segments. The first six players were knocked out within a few hours, but once it was down to the final three, it turned into a marathon. It was ten hours before the seventh player was finally knocked out. But even though this was not edited and at times the players took an age to make a decision and we didn't get to see the hole cards until the hand was over, it was still fascinating to watch. I was glad to see that two of the three were 888 players, and I was cheering for Jake Balsiger, because he was the short stack and I like to cheer for the underdog. However, in that epic battle he was eventually overwhelmed and had to settle for a measly couple of million dollars.
So we settled in for a long heads-up contest between Greg Merson and Jesse Sylvia. But it all ended in anti-climax. After just 17 heads-up hands, Merson pushed all-in with K5 and, to my surprise, Sylvia called with QJ. King high won the hand and Merson took out the title, the $8m, the bracelet and, for good measure, enough points to beat Phil Hellmuth in the Player of the Year contest. A good win for Greg Merson, who looked to be in control of the game pretty much all the way.
I've also been watching The Big Game on TV. Even though they're only showing highlights of previous shows, it's still fun to watch. The thing I like most about this show is the commentary. The guy who commentates on the play (I don't remember his name) is very knowledgeable about the game and really adds another dimension to the show. He's always explaining why he thinks particular plays are being made, what the players' reasoning might be, what sort of odds they are getting, and lots of other details that make it much more interesting than other poker shows. It's nice to see a show that's both entertaining and informative.
I'm still struggling to figure out a successful Fixed Limit 6-max strategy. I had a series of decent wins last month but have now reverted to my usual form in this game. Last week I tried ultra-passive pre-flop combined with more aggressive post-flop play but it didn't do me any good. When I play again tomorrow maybe I'll try the seat-of-the-pants make-it-up-as-I-go-along strategy. Or maybe the hope-to-get-lucky-strategy. Or maybe the call-everything-to-the-river strategy. Or something. Time will tell.
Another advantage of having a modern computer is that I can watch video now. I started reading poker-pro Daniel Negraneau's blog a while back, but I could only read his old stuff because he switched to video-blogs (vlogs?) earlier this year and my old computer couldn't hack showing video. So now I've started watching his more recent posts. These can be found at www.fullcontactpoker.com. Check out the first one, 'Real Talk', where he goes off at the people behind the Fulltilt Poker scam. Classic.
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