If no one reads or responds to this, that's fine as well. It's here for my benefit, but hopefully there will be contributions and someone someday can draw upon its knowledge.
I'm going to re-introduce myself, not only for the sake of the journal and its completeness, but for those players that may read this who may not be a regular to the NLHE forum, where my home is on this site.
I play NLHE exclusivley. What follows is fairly lengthy, but will provide a backdrop for what's to follow in subsquent entries. So be warned now guys, if you only have 30 seconds to devote here, you might want to consider going on to the next entry or piecing together my story on the NLHE threads.
BACK STORY
My friend Bobby took me to a live NL tourtament in the backroom of a Chinese restaurant last April (2005). Before this my only exposure to poker in any form were a few episodes of The World Series of Poker and watching Bobby play SNG's online at Party Poker.
The tourament was 20 people with a $55 buy in. I had money to burn, and I was here and not going home since Bobby drove, so I gave the guy who was running the game $55 and took a seat. Other than a 10 minute discussion during the car ride up on the mechanics of NLHE, I had no clue about what hands were good, and didn't even know that a flush beat a straight (needless to say I know now
).
I finished that game in 19th place (one of the favorites actually busted out ahead of me) - I put all my money in with AK and an A on the flop and the person who busted me was none other than my friend Bobby (who had AA).
I was enthralled and watched the rest of the tourtament with great interest, rooting for the very same "friend" (actually we're great friends) that busted me. Bobby finished third and lost on a bad beat with AA again, losing to A6 when a second 6 came on the river.
We discussed how Bobby played and what hands he played and what bets meant, etc., on the car ride home. He convinced me to set up an account at Party Poker and to give it a try for myself.
A couple of days later, during my week off from work, while watching the white smoke emit from the chimney from Vatican Square (signaling the end of conclave and election of Pope Benedict XVI), I was in the process of setting up an account and making my first real money deposit.
I played a few $5 SNG's and lost every one of them. Several days later, I deposited another small amount of money and placed ITM once or twice, and lost the rest of it.
I started to think to myself that only a certain kind of person can play poker for a profit, and that I just didn't have what it took. Out of bordem one evening, I entered "poker" into Google and an online mannual on NLHE tatics by a Rory Monahan came up. I knew he was just as much of a salesman as a poker player, but I paid the $30 and downloaded the mannual. I spent the rest of the evening reading it, and boy, did I learn a few basics that I had no clue about beforehand (you mean you're SUPPOSED to raise PF with good cards? You mean it's better to BET than to CALL?)
With my newfound eagerness, I deposited another modest sum at Party and hopped onto a $5 SNG. I won! My very first victory. The $25 felt like a huge breath of fresh air. Not because it's $25, but because I finally figured out that maybe someone like me CAN actaully LEARN and get better. I tried a few more, and placed ITM in several and won another one.
I felt good. With my new "knowledge", I decided to go out and buy some books on Poker. I had no idea they actually wrote books on poker! Let's see, I bought and read the following, to name a few:
1. The New Player's Guide to Winning at NLHE (Tom McEvoy)
2. Championship Pot Limit and No Limit Hold 'em (McEvoy and Cloutier)
3. HOH, Volumes I and II (when it came out) (Dan Harrington)
4. Tourtament Poker for Advanced Players (Sklansky) - this was my first experience with David Sklansky's writing - needless to say I took me a LONG time to get through this one
5. Killer Poker Online (Vourhas)
6. Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play (Sklansky and others) - oops, this pertains to LIMIT. I had no clue that when people say Hold 'em, they usually mean limit.
7. Shuffle Up and Deal! (Sexton)
8. Mastering NLHE (Fox & Harker) - wait, this was about cash games! What the hell is a "cash" game?
So I asked my friend Bobby what the fuck a cash game is. He fired up his account at Party Poker and hopped into a $25 NL game. Wow, this is real money and not tourtament chips...wild!
But...it wasn't for me (at the time). Way too boring to sit there and fold most of the time.
After some re-reading and watching the WPT on the Travel Channel, I decided it was SNG time again at Party. This time, though, I was playing for real money. I started playing $20 and $30 SNG's, and while I won and placed in a few, the game was too good for my level and I eventually lost my money once again. I did manage to play in a few home games, and win them, even getting revenge on my friend Bobby
This pattern of deposit, play, lose continued for about six months (say November of 2005). During this time in my continuing search for information, I heard about the United Poker Forum, set up an account there, and began posting and making what I thought were contributions. Little did I know I joined a group of mafia-run bozos that regard flaming as a way of life. I soon ceased to post there, but heard a reference to another poker forum - Bet the Pot. Never heard of it. Curious, I clicked over, and wow...I liked the layout and everything was well-organized. I didn't have to wade through spam and limit hands (nothing aganist the limit players here) to get some SNG advice. But, I didn't really feel like joining at this point because of my UPF experience.
While I was at it, I decided that I've had just about enough of Party. So I found UB and liked the software, and that combined with my initial good luck caused me to make a move to where I am now.
The turning point in my experience thus far came in late November, when I won my first MTT (it was a $30 buy in, which netted me $1,300 more or less). Wow! I was estatic! For whatever reason, I decided to explore the cash games available on UB. Since I had 4 figures in my UB account, I decided to start at $100 NL. (Yes, this was not a diligent move) I actually did pretty good, so moved up to $200 a few days later. Here I lost a little and began going on permanent tilt. I moved up to $400 and lastly to $600 in attempts to recoup my losses and get back to where I was so I could go back down to $100.
I lost every cent.
I joined BTP.
At this point I said to myself I will make one more deposit here and if I gamble it away (I say gamble as in go on tilt and do stupid things vs. lose via bad cards, etc.) I will label myself as a gambilng addict and not touch poker again.
I deposited $40, sat down at a $2 NL table, and began my campaign.
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