I started school last week so poker has taken a back seat for a little while. I was waking up between 10-11 most of the summer so getting up at 5:45 and working all day has been draining. I know...waaaa...poor me gets the summer off. I tried playing a little last Thursday but it is very difficult to make good decisions when you're drained. I spewed about $800 in cash games that night...half of the losses resulting from me being stupid. This weekend I camped and went to a Dave Matthews concert with some friends so I've had a little poker hiatus. DMB is ok but his fans are crazy, my girlfriend being one of them...I just don't get it.

I wanted to get my poker goals in writing.

1. Make 30-40K a year playing poker
I obviously would like to make much more but I'm trying to make realistic goals. Now that school has started most of this would have to come from cash games during the week. It's very difficult to play tournies during the week because I can't play for 5-6 hrs and go to bed past midnight because the next day would be difficult. I played basketball in college and coached at my school but I quit coaching last year (bunch of different reasons). The stipend wasn't huge but every little bit helps so I'd like to cover that with poker playing so I don't feel so bad about quitting. I constantly get asked why I'm not coaching anymore.

2. Move up to at least 3/6 6 max by the end of the year
I already think I can play at that level but I'd like to take the conservative approach with my bankroll. I'm currently playing 1/2 and have a system for moving up. When I get to 10 buyins with the money in my account I'll move up. For example: When I get to $4000 I'll go to 2/4. I was at $3800 a couple of weeks ago but have spewed a bunch of it away. I had been playing great but my confidence led me to opening up more hands than I should have been and not paying attention to my opponents. It's amazing how little things can affect the way you play.

This is a simple way to move up but it suits me. I could probably win a lot more money if I only played cash but they get monotonous. I need a goal to motivate me to play. That's why bonuswhoring worked so well. There was always a goal to reach...hands played, hours, etc. I have the same problem in video games. I can't play the games that never end like World of Warcraft. It's the satisfaction of beating the game that keeps me going (By the way, Bioshock for 360 is pretty damn cool so far). That's why I enjoy playing tournaments so much more. There's satisfaction in saying you placed X out of 1000 people.

3. Have a decent score on Stars
I mentioned before that for some reason I've always just donked around on Stars. My list of tournaments played and results is laughable for Stars. I'm still not sure which tournaments I should be entering but I'll look at that soon. I actually don't have much money in Stars anymore so I may have to start low.

4. Find a mentor/coach/poker friends
This will probably be the hardest goal to attain. I'm happy with my results but I really think a mentor/coach would really help my game reach the next level. The problem is finding one. I'm sure most of the top players get constant requests from people and that has to be annoying. I'm not going to be a f-ing nat bothering someone to help me out. I also realize that there is probably no incentive for them to help me. I would be more than happy to give a percentage of my winnings if the situation is right.



These are my current goals and I'll fill you in on their progress. #1 is more of a yearly goal as the others are by the end of the year.

After writing my entry today I entered a Stars $109 and finished 2nd to last...lol. I had TP with a fdraw and villain flopped a flush with 24s.

Then I entered the Bodog 25k gtd and took first place. I usually go out Friday and Saturday nights but I happened to be around and cha ching! The 5th place FTOPS was on a Friday too...hmmmmm

Here was a critical hand that gave me the chip lead...kind of a donk move...curious what people think.

Blinds 6k/12k 1200 ante
7 people left

The button was the chip leader and had been active.
Button 360k
Hero SB 165k

He raised to 30K. I had K 9
I figured I was ahead of his range so I rr to 90k
He pushed making the pot roughly 270k and I called getting greater than 2:1
He turned over A J ugh! but I spiked a 9

I was planning on calling a push with my rr as I felt the extra chips would well be worth it. Please let me know what you think.

I started playing poker 2 years ago. The Moneymaker craze was in full effect and many of my friends were hosting tournaments which I never attended. I had never been a gambler and had no idea how to play poker. One night my friends asked me to come over later after a tourney to hang out. When I arrived they had just finished their first tourney and were going to start a new one. They talked me into playing since it was only $10. Small blind, big blind, button…these words were all foreign to me. I had to have a sheet in front of me to tell me what hands beat other hands. I ended up taking second which wet my appetite. A couple of weeks later my sister’s boyfriend was having people over to play so I joined them. There were 8-9 guys who had known each other forever so while they hashed over old stories I sat and paid attention taking 2nd in both of the tournies that night. I was hooked.

I put $100 into Pokerstars later that week and started playing mainly sngs. I would go up and down without really making any money. Then I somehow came across bonuswhores.com in the summer. The site lists all of the bonuses that could be acquired by playing poker. It was extremely easy. I was signed up with 10-15 different sites and would jump around to where the bonuses were. I also started diving into any poker book that I could find. I bought a couple and hit just about every library in my vicinity for the rest. As my poker knowledge grew, I was able to play a very TAG style on 5-6 tables of .25/.50 without barely paying attention and gain a little profit while playing and from the bonus. It was ridiculously easy to grind out a profit this way.

I would dabble in a tournament here and there but never anything expensive. I only entered the extremely small buyins on Stars. In fact as I write this I realize to this day I haven’t played many big tournies on Stars. If you looked at my database you would laugh because it’s filled with mostly $4 180 sngs. I enter those while I’m playing cash games and barely even pay attention to what’s going on. Interesting…I probably need to do something about that…enough of the sidetrack.

The biggest change in my game came when I read Harrington on Hold Em. I played his style to a T. Early in 2006 I won a seat to the 500K guaranteed on Totalbet. It was the biggest buyin tourney I had entered and I ended up finishing 12th. Even though I had won some decent money I was still whoring around entering a tourney here and there, making the money but never a final table. A few months later I won a seat to a WPT satellite where the top 2 people won a $12,000 package to Paris. I was second in chips with 5 left, raised UTG and folded AQo to a push like a weak nit. The blinds were high and I made a play I would never make today but I still won 1K. It still haunts me 

Bonuswhoring built my bankroll but definitely hurt my game. It was so easy that I didn’t have the balls to venture any further. The decline in bonuses was the best thing for my game. I started to move up in limits and ventured into 6 max. Although I was still reading books and 2+2 posts while whoring I increased my reading posts mode drastically in the fall of 06. I read every day and looked at many hand histories that were posted by generous members. Since then my game has changed a ton (definitely not the extreme tight ass I used to be) and has led to some of the scores I mentioned in my first post. I’m a teacher so I’ve had some time to dedicate to poker this summer. This post is getting long so I’ll talk about my goals next time.

I never thought I would start a blog but I'm doing this for one main reason...to meet other poker players to help improve my game. I've read countless numbers of posts with people mentioning how other players have helped them grow as a player.

"I would venture to say that there are very few excellent players online who haven't made any friends at the table, don't know anyone at the table, don't discuss hands with anyone, and make poker a completely solo project. It's just not very likely. I think that to be successful in this game, you need a good support system around you to help you develop your game." - Belowabove
Below lives in the chicago suburb where I lived most of my life and my gf lives there currently. I would love to learn from him but he is a top rated player and understandably is not interested in someone like me. Below's statement is similar to tons that I have read.

I have posted hands (not a ton) on 2+2 and read countless other posts that have helped me improve but I'm not satisfied with my stagnant state. The network on 2+2 seems to be composed of mainly mid to low 20 year olds who post frequently throughout the day and this is not an option for me. It seems like the only way to infiltrate that system is to be younger and post a crapload. I have no problem learning from someone younger. I'm 32 and not married so I act like I'm 25 anyways :)

No one may read this damn thing anyways and I may be going at it all wrong but it's worth a try. I'm not asking for someone to teach me everything they know and how to win. I don't feel like I'm a complete novice. I placed 5th in the FTOPS event #1 earlier this year, 1st in FTP 15K gtd, 5th and 8th in Bodog 40K this summer. I'm also a winning player at 1/2 6 max. I know that this is nothing special which is why I want to improve.

What drew me to this site were Adanthar and Nath. I've been reading both of their posts on 2+2 for quite some time. I always seemed to agree with what Adanthar said so I started reading most of his posts. In order to loosen up my game I began to read some of Nath's posts and watched a couple of his hand histories (Although Adanthar has loosened up quite a bit over the past year or so). I read many other peoples too but they have stuck out to me the most which was very strange when they both started blogs here.

Thanks for reading and I'll write how I got into poker in my next post. I hope to update my blog at least once a week.