First, it's important to point out that I've always played a lot of cards. I was born and raised in Atlantic City and so playing cards, rummy and stud especially, go back for me as far as I can remember.
Basically I didn't play for money, at until I was in my late teens (1993-1994 ish) and even then it wasn't for much and not very often. I could play several games reasonably well by the amateur standards of that time, although that wasn't saying much. I only played limit games though, and I had a fair if rudimentary understanding of drawing odds and so on, which was really enough. Still, I didn't play enough poker to really think about anything long term.
In '95 I was in the army, through '99. I played a lot of spades for a while, and then got into a poker game off base that wasn't too bad. I had an excellent edge in 7Stud, and was better than average in LHE, but they played a lot of games I'd never played before or since, like KC lowball. A couple of those other games are all but dead now, in fact they were probably all but dead then too. Lot of house rules games too. I didn't really keep records, but I was certainly a net loser in most of the games for a while.
I should also note that the locals in this game were native Alaskans, pipeline workers, fisherman and people like that. A lot of them weren't that GI friendly, and it wasn't like a casino with security guards and whatnot. We played in the back room of a bar in town which wasn't legal AFAIK, but I don't think a cop has ever once stepped foot inside half those bars. I was regular enough, and friendly with the wait staff and tried to be with other players, but there were a lot of times I had to STFU. The crap you see you kids pull at the local tourney with the "ship it" nonsense, man that would have earned me an easy ass beating in this place, and I wasn't a big threat to anyone's money other than a couple games.
I lent money a few times that I knew I wasn't likely to get back, but that wasn't as bad as it sounds because a couple of them would avoid me over the $100, and when someone else would come to borrow I'd say, "hey, I would, but I'm still trying to get back that $100 from so-and-so."
Anyway, so eventually (in mid 1999) I got out of the army/Alaska and was back in NJ. Found a job, enrolled in school, bought a condo. I was 23 and old enough to gamble, but my trip I went to casino without a poker room (duh) and wound up dropping 700 on roulette and dice. By the way, [censored] roulette and dice.
The next time I wound up at Taj playing some low limit 7stud and LHE. I was still reasonably better than a lot of the players, but there were others who clearly had more knowledge of the games (especially in stud). I was +EV, but not by much. I had reasonable table experience and decent card sense, but some of the other players just understood the game better than I did. I finally figured out that I should actually read something.
I bought Super System as my first book, and an issue of Card Player (which I doubt I ever read). I thought then, as I do now, that the stud chapter was very good. I rememeber Caro's chapter being a good read, and really liked th ebook. Doyle's NLHE chapter was intriguing, but oddly enough I'd never played NLHE. Sounded fun but it wasn't a big game in AC, I hardly ever saw it and probably wouldn't have noticed if I had.
I was pretty busy with work, school, and volunteer work, so I didn't get to play that often, but I got into LHE most and maybe played once a month or so.
Fast forward to 2004. Holy crap.
Moneymaker won the WSOP and goddamn everything on TV is no limit hold 'em. It was coming to all the card rooms. Online poker has been around a little while but it's all over the TV. WTF? I'm really the only person not playing this stupid game.
Ok. At this time, wow, was I strapped for cash to play poker with. I'd left a job I hated and a new job fell though and I had to go work for a lot less with a former employer. I actually played for play money to learn NLHE on Pacific Poker (remember them?). I read Theory of Poker and Harrington 1 somewhere around here and it clicked fast. A lot of it was learning names for things I understood already.
I'm in school, underemployed, and just seriously barely getting by. As a matter of fact my girlfriend had just moved in and that's the only way I made it. Still, I throw $400 on Pacific Poker, that was my first deposit.
I went right to NL200, yes with $400. Bought in for max LDO. Some of the players were making really awful plays like calling without outs on weak draws. I defintely played it Doyle style as best as I could, and raised preflop most of the time and stayed aggressive. I ran into some worse players and ran hot against the better players, and of course I run it up to $1,300 when my angel appeared in the chat box (from memory went about like this):
Random Player: Dude I'd love to play you everyday man Me: Who, me? RP: Yea you suk you lucky bastard ME: ? RP: You suk so bad ME: Maybe, but I just more than tripled my poker money RP: No you did 6.5 times your $200 ME: No I mean I only have $400 in my account Angel: You're playing 1/2NL with only $400? ME: Ya RP: Dumbass Angel: Did you know they usually say you should have at least 30 buy-ins to play at a limit? ME: 30 buyins? What do you mean?
And this Angel continues on long enough to convince me I'm playing way out of my bankroll, which is a pretty good feat to accomplish in a handful of sentences in a little chat box. I would have probably stayed there until I lost my money, but instead I immediately cashed out all of my winnings.
The money arrived the same day my transmission went, and as it happened, was just about enough to cover it. I could not absorb a hit like that.
Now I started reading everything in sight. I read a lot on the internet and 2+2, but never really posted on the forums at all. I did catch up on bankroll management and figure out that I really couldn't afford a BR for any game that would really be worthwhile to play, but when I had a chance. When my finacnes improved, I put another $600 into some other site and played .25/.50 or below.
By 2005, I was playing NLHE exclusively, and at a pretty good clip. I'd slowly built my BR to the point where I was playing 1/2, but still had a tendency to play underolled. That summer I played on FT and Party and really did well, and this was two tabling up to 5/10 (usually 2/4 though).
Summer ended and I got myself a pretty decent job finally and was out of school, and had a second job also. My time was kind of in short supply and my gf and I decided poker money would be better suited to renovations. I never wanted to be a pro anyway, but I did want to be a competitive player and be profitable in the medium stakes cash games. So there went my bankroll for the time.
I figured a good way to keep me from jonesing would be to play some cheap tournaments. Only problem was I'd never played in a tournament, and it's the end of 2005 during the crazy boom. Literally, not even once.
I went to a Trop rebuy tournament, took a beat with KK vs 99 and was felted on the 3rd or 4th hand, rebought once and cashed. Not bad. Entered another and final tabled. Also not bad. Did maybe 5 more and felt okay, but I didn't really enjoy tournaments all that much compared to cash.
I played a bunch of super cheap $1 tourneys for a while and maybe broke even. I'd read the Harrington books and got what he was saying, but I really wasn't as focused when I played. I wasn't all that interested. The competition wasn't really good, but I know I was on my C game. I got annoyed with Full Tilt over a service issue, withdraw, and haven't played there since.
I continued at Party and a couple other sites with a smaller bankroll, going nowehere near the bigger games I used to play. 5/10 on my roll was out of the question. However I did start reading voraciously, and I mean everything. I started going back and learning a lot of the stuff I really should have studied years ago.
My rationale was, since I have a lot of capital tied up away from poker, I could use the time to learn more about the game from a theory and math standpoint. I have a lot of live table experience compared to most players, and have played more hands than most, excepting the serious online grinders.
In early '06 I really started catching up and really killing at .50/1, which isn't saying mcuh considering where I'd been, but again I couldn't devote huge amounts to poker with my other projects and two jobs (even if one job is a breeze).
Eventually I got on twoplustwo, then cardrunners, and my bookshelf was filled with good stuff. I was up to speed with pokertracker, PA HUD, SNG PT, a decent computer and so on. I started posting in a couple of forums and a lot of the gaps started filling in as far as my understanding of the game.
Then the ban hit, and I cashed out everywhere except Stars. Not a bad run, I moved $1,500 to Stars and kept the change.
So, fast forward to now. I still have my main job and deal on the side, and play in a private game and a little online when I can. I continue to have the habit of cannibalizing my bankroll rather than growing it to make more. It's a little frustrating, but at the same time my money is getting pretty good returns outside of poker and I do have other pursuits. I just spent a couple of weeks designing the new Tournament Poker book cover, and of course there was the PNL. Won't get rich doing those, but the hourly rate for 14 hours isn't bad compared what I'd get in poker.
Also, lately I've been trying to devote more time to going back to play more LHE and 7Stud, at which my skills are a bit obselete (the private game I'm in is fairly good since there are no superstars in it, and we all play NLHE reasonably well). All of the the non-NLHE games online have improved with the times as well. I've had my eye on improving my PLO game, which is horrible, for some time too.
I think stepping down or starting at VERY low limits like you can now is fantastic. You guys that started out at .01/.02 are probably the smartest of all, I only wish I could have done the same. That's a great way to start out, I don't care what anyone says.
It really just takes time and effort. It might take 200k hands, or it might 50k hands. You might need to read one book, or 12 books. You might play for years before you start working seriously at it. Just get the normal software, read up, and try to enjoy what you're playing, instead of setting up some arbitrary guideline for moving up or whatever. There are so many people seeing guys like Brian Townsend and getting frustrated when they aren't able to do the same overnight.
Being a winner at any game or limit is a huge accomplishment in poker, especially now a days. A lot of people forget that because they're dreaming of making a living 6 tabling NL200, when they should be figuring out why they're not beating .05/.10 instead.
About the Author
Thanks to http://www.blackjake.net http://www.casinoebooks.com>; i am a player that love the game and help gamblers.
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