Short Stack Experiment

I've decided to try out the shortstack strat - buying in for the min and pushing with JJ+ and AQ/AK (though AQ is foldable). I've also added a few hands into the mix as late position hands (88+, AJ). I've been 6-tabling this and it's a good way to get introduced to some serious multitabling action. The most I've usually done is 3 tables, so this is a nice way to get used to the rythym. I've also started throwing in a few HU matches, so that I have a table to focus on. The SS Strat is fairly robotic, so I'm adding in a few tables of non-robotic action into the mix. Today I had 4 tables of NL open and 2 HU tables.

It's proving an interesting strat so far, as I am "up" 6 min buy-ins so far, though I might lose one right now with JJ.

Nope lost it. JJ vs. QQ. vs. QTo. Guess which hand won? I'll give you a hint: the flop was J8x rainbow.

It'll be fun to see where this goes.

Eye of the Tiger

Ok, I think I am going to officially be back on with this. So I'll do a little intro for the newbies.

I've been playing poker for three years now. I got into while recovering from brain surgery and having nothing else to do. In the fall of 2004, a won a trip to Howard Lederer's poker fantasy camp the next spring on Full Tilt. I went there, met a lot of pros (and I learned the one trait you need to be a great poker player. You have to be tall.) and had a good time. I also won a seat into the WSOP Main Event that year. To win that, I had to play headsup against Howard Lederer. Of course, I lost, but he could win a prize at his own camp :) As I couldn't make it, I opted to sell my seat. Eventually, I was able to cut a deal with the sponsers of the camp to give me the cash for it. $10,000 seemed pretty sweet. So I waited. And waited. By August, I was assured I would get a check any day now.

At the end of August, I decided to drive to Vegas with two poker buddies of mine. One of them agreed to loan me $2,000 as I was expecting the check any day now. I get there and come out of it a $1200 loser. Yeah, I wasn't that good back then. With no check in the mail, I had to move back home and I worked to try and get some money together. In January, after much stressful back and forth, I finally got my $10,000. So with the $1500 I had on me, I came back to Berkeley. I payed off my friend, payed off $3000 in bills, and got myself an apartment. I then began quickly moving up stakes. For the first four months, I averaged about $10,000 a month and by the beginning of May, my bankroll was at $35,000. I had also loaned my friend $3200 for poker, figuring I owed him that much. I was playing 10/20 NL and 20/40(30/60) Limit. I became a pretty good heads up player and I was mastering (by 'mastering', I mean getting pretty good at them) all of the games. I actually cut my teeth on both Badugi and 2-7 playing HU.

And then May happened. And 24 hours of disgusting tilt and a bad run. I started playing 50/100 SH and having some success. So I jumped into a 5-handed game. And I got killed. Some of it was bad play, the rest of it was bad varience. And then I played 10/20 NL HU. And I really tilted. I ended the first 12 hours -$12,000. After sleeping, I came back and lost a huge pot at 10/20 NL to a one outer. So then I proceeded to tilt away the rest of my money and ended up at -$20,000. That hurt. A lot. But I felt that it wasn't the end of the world and that I could climb back.

And came the sickest run in my life. Over the next three months, I had a really rough run. At the end of it, I checked my stats and I was winning with AA 60% of the time over that period, with similar stats for other 'big' hands. That, with the combination of bills and paying off another loan wiped me pretty much out. I then tilted hard at 1/2 PL Omaha at Bodog to finish myself out.

But I figured, 'no problem, my friend still owes my $3200 and that can keep my afloat until the end of the year.' Of course, he didn't pay me back. Well, that's not quite true, I got $700 back, but after that I kept on hearing promises. Empty ones at that. So the last year has been a struggle for me financially. Since January, I've had my brother living me so that he could go to college and I've been covering most of his expenses. Which means that every month, I had to figure out a way to come up with $1500 dollars (rent in the Bay Area is brutal). For some reason, I couldn't find a job. Or, I should say, people would not get back to me. So I would take my few dollars and grind it up for the month's rent and then be broke again on the 1st. Not a fun way to live my life. It would have been much easier, except when Neteller closed down, I couldn't get any money on a site.

So now I'm living with my dad, and I finally got myself a job. I make salads and desserts at a pretty nice restaurant. I don't get paid for shit, but money is money and I don't have to worry about rent.

Anyways, for some reason my BofA checkcard actually allowed my to make a $50 deposit at Full Tilt (it hasn't before, but I tried on a lark), so since Friday I've been playing a little poker. I start at the $2 level, playing SNGs and HU, and right now I'm sitting at $150. So if I am careful this time, hopefully I won't tilt and lose it all.

So I will try to keep this updated as I enjoyed having this the last time I played a lot of online poker. Hope to see you at the tables! Just not my table.