High On Poker

An interesting thing happened about a week and a half ago, perhaps even a bit earlier. My online poker game began to click. Everything started to fall into place, and the results started to pile up. I decided to use my wins to play higher stakes, instead of cashing out like I had done in the past after a decent score; and amazingly (or not) the good times continued.

Last night was a prime example. I had been on a tight bankroll for months, hovering between $50 and $300 on PokerStars (my FT account is funded, but at a very low amount that I mostly ignore unless there is a particular event that catches my eye). I played mostly SNGs in the $5 to $17 range, preferably turbos, with a lot of variety mixed in. The $17 PLO8 games were a favorite for a while, both single table and two-table variations. The 6-handed games were favored when I wanted to play more hands (multitable 6-handed SNGs) or get in a quick session (single table SNGs). I mostly avoided the generic NLHE full table games, but I dabbled in 45-person NLHE SNGs, and 18-person NLHE SNGs. Basically, I went wherever the wind would take me, enjoying the game for what it was.

I also began multitabling with regularity. I have been an off-and-on multitabler for a while. When I first started playing online poker, I kept to one table so that I could learn the game. When that got boring, I would often two table, merely to allow more decisions and more playable hands. Eventually, I got up to four tables. Here and there, I would revert to single table sessions. In my estimation, at the time, I was giving up volume in favor of quality. I could watch my opponents and get solid reads that made winning a little bit easier. It also got me to break the habit (admittedly, its a recurring habit) of playing on autopilot, which often led to less-than-optimal results. By playing one table, or even just one SNG a night, I was able to relearn the importance of good decision making, including using all of the information available to me.

I got back into multitabling in a big way when I fell in lust with the Super Turbo SNGs on FT. Since the games were so quick and the decision were so finite (usually push all-in or fold), Super Turbos were the ideal situation to relearn multitabling.

I have to give credit where it is due as well. Edgie (hey bud, where you at?) had convinced me on a day trip to Atlantic City that multitabling was not only a good idea, but a necessary one. He correctly reminded me that the variance in poker is my enemy, and the only way to defeat variance (if defeat is the right word) is to overwhelm it. By playing volume, the long run comes that much faster. I accepted that if I started four tournaments at once, I was very likely to lose one or more of them via good old fashioned variance. Either someone would hit their three outter, or I would go card dead, or I would get a cooler hand. It was going to happen. I, therefore, had to find a way for it to matter less when it happened. Hence, multitabling became a cornerstone of my play.

While I am giving credit, let me also give some due love to Poker Meister. Its not easy for me to take advice. I’m just too stubborn in my ways, and I may not be the best at accepting constructive criticism (but I try). But Meister helped me realize some of the errors of my way without making me defensive. He was actually voluntarily helping; not boosting his own ego or bragging about his results. He didn’t belittle my play or experience. He simply offered some good advice and then even followed up multiple times to see if I was doing the right thing. Specifically, he helped me realize that I was making a mistake playing without certain technological advancements. At his suggestion, I tried out PokerTracker 3, and then eventually purchased it. As a multitabler, it allows me to fill in some, but not all, of the blanks that I lost by multitabling.

Finally, I have to give some credit to me. I began to take better notes on my players. I relearned how to make good decisions; its one of those poker lessons that even once you learn it, a refresher course is often needed (repeatedly).

As of today, my bankroll is over four figures, even after a recent withdrawal. I have been consistently playing $25-30 tournaments and SNGs, usually four at a time, with several sets in an evening, when I feel like playing. The results have been promising. In most sets, I can at least break even, and usually, I am able to squeeze out a couple of buy-ins profit. Even when I lose a full set of four SNGs, I don’t let it bother me. I do perform a self-assessment. If the losses are due to bad play, I stop. If not, I may or may not continue. In this way, I have been able to grow my roll while compacitng the long term into something that at least feels manageable.

Last night, for instance, I started with four SNGs, including a 45-person SNG, an 18-person NLHE SNG, and two other random SNGs. I lost them all, but was able to jump immediately into four new games, including a PLO8 SNG, a single table NLHE SNG, a 6-person NLHE SNG and even a 6-person FLHE (that’s Fixed Limit, people!) SNG. In the end, I closed the night up more than $150.

After last night’s run, I decided to make that withdrawal I mentioned earlier. As I have mentioned in the past, I track my online poker wins and losses different than most people. I record any deposit online as an instant loss, and I only record withdrawals as wins. This way, if the money is ever ceased, I already accounted for that possibility. It also makes tracking wins and losses easier and encourages withdrawals.

With this in mind, it has not been a great year for HoP and poker. I’m up for the year, but I am less than 1/4 toward my eventual annual goal. I don’t really care if I cannot meet that goal; it is a disappointment, but Lady Luck and the Poker Gods are not on a yearly calendar, so it is largely arbitrary. BUT, I did not love the fact that the $350 WSOP Circuit event could mean an instant -$350 in one fell swoop on my ledger.

After my recent successes online, I considered locking in some winnings by withdrawing a sum. The WSOP Circuit event is the perfect excuse. So, last night, I withdrew $350, a sum that keeps me above 4-figures online, but also means that the WSOP-C event is practically a freeroll in my mind. It doesn’t mean I will play poorly; I still hope and plan to win the damn thing. But some of the pressure is off, at least where my ledger is concerned.

It feels good to “earn my way” into the WSOP-C event. It reminds me of my original goal in poker, something that I have largely followed to this day: Earn my way up the ranks. It was with this spirit that I began my online poker career with a $20/mo. budget and built my roll with a series of freeroll wins on Golden Palace Poker. It was the inspiration to the various Challenges I arranged with other bloggers before blogger tournaments took over the schedule. It was the reason why I have built a live and online bankroll from the ground up, taking the good with the bad but always knowing that it was me that I was funding my poker through my own talents.

Now all I have to do is win that WSOP-C event so I can do with live poker what I have been doing online lately: play higher.

Until next time, make mine poker!