I’ve been reading a new book on no-limit and practicing in pot limit games, the latter both in a small, fun game on Friday evenings with co-workers and online at the micro-limit level, in part because I’d been taking a break from my “normal” cash game play after hitting a particularly bad stretch and deciding [...]
For the first time in months, I returned to the tournament table. I almost got blocked, but I decided to do it. I had stepped away from tournament play because, after a run of success, I was 0-fer all of last year. It was not a pretty sight; most times I didn’t even get within [...]
As I’d hoped, the losing session that I endured Sunday night was a one-time event. Or to be more accurate, it didn’t turn into a back-to-back, because no way am I ever going to not ever lose at a poker session again. It’s going to happen, guaranteed. It is the nature of the beast. But [...]
The simple answer to this complex questions is: Yes. I’ve found this out in the past few weeks. I’d been having a bit of a bad run, and I tightened up my game. It turned out to be to my detriment, and to the detriment of my bankroll. I turned to Old Reliable: the Small [...]
After a few weeks away from what is for me the “big game,” I hit Artichoke Joe’s Saturday night full of confidence. I left badly beaten. I cannot say if one bad decision affected the rest of my night, but because I’m still thinking about it on Monday morning, it can’t be inconsequential. I had [...]
I had an interesting and nicely profitable weekend playing poker. I didn’t plan it this way–no way was I thinking I was ready–but I ended up tackling my first $15/$30 game, my first foray into the realm of middle-limit poker, and came out unscathed. There’s no telling what the future might bring should I decide [...]
It wasn’t Vegas and the World Series of Poker, but with Monday off from work, I made the long, four day July 4th “weekend” a poker tournament playing marathon, including a “midnight’ tournament. Unfortunately, the Bay Area tournament scene isn’t the greatest for tournament players. First, the daily tournaments that several card clubs run are [...]
After a hot run Friday night (more then $300 net in 2 hours at $6/$12), I decided to head back for some more play Sunday night after a long weekend of fun and frivolity. I was debating whether to enter the evening tournament or sit and play in a cash game, but it was decided [...]
One of the most oft-quoted lines from the 2005 World Series of Poker broadcast on ESPN–or at least the most aired by ESPN–was Phil Hellmuth, after a hand laydown, standing up and announcing that he could “dodge bullets.” Well I’m here to tell you that I did just that, twice, and lived to tell about [...]
I got a brief experience Saturday night of one of the craziest limit table I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, (a) I got to change tables quickly, and (b) I left with more money that I started with. For the second weened in a row, I played all three nights. And for the second weekend in a [...]