I've been playing poker for around 3 years now and this is my poker story.
I started depositing small sums of money on several sites, including Ladbrokes, Party, Pokerstars, Bet365, Stan James to name but a few. Guess what? I sucked at poker!
Any Light Bulbs?
This continued for quite a few months, until I had my light bulb moment. What was it you may wonder.... Well I was sick of depositing £50 here, £50 there (that's around $100 US - to convert for my overseas friends) and watching it disappear in a matter of hours. I eventually decided I needed to research some basic poker stuff and stumbled across a couple of poker forums that have managed to turn this failing poker player into someone who can grind out a fairly decent profit. Believe you me, that's no mean feat as I'm a bit of a thicko when it comes to learning new skills.
After researching a vast wealth of information available at my fingertips, I decided to make a fairly substantial deposit to Pokerstars. In March 2007, I deposited £100 ($200) and I have managed to attain a bankroll of $5k up until now. I have made a couple of withdrawals since then, so all in all not a bad 15 months.
'But hey, what exactly was your light bulb moment FFS!'
Ok Ok! As a result of this new found knowledge I discovered something that is extremely basic to knowledgeable poker players, Bankroll Management (BRM). Yep something as simple as BRM is quite possibly, the most important lesson I have learned in poker. I realised that playing within my roll, I could actually cope with the swings that the poker gods, in their perverse wisdom, heap upon us.
Yes I learned all of the other crap as well that we all have to wade through to be able to squeeze out a profit, like pot odds, implied odds, table image, CB'ing blah blah blah!
Poker Forums!
So where did I get all this information from? I have browsed several poker forums over the years, and there are two that stand out for me. Cardschat and 2+2.
Cardschat (CC) is a great place to be and there's always lots of stuff going on in there. There's loads of links to the major poker playing sites, were sign up bonuses are available through their links. They also have a host of freerolls and value added tournies for members. Strategy can be discussed in a friendly atmosphere and newcomers are always welcome, with a wealth of strategy articles available to you.
2+2 is an entirely different beast altogether. Strategy is discussed to a greater degree and with some vigour. Each facet of poker and the various levels of the game, are catered for at 2+2. I have gained a lot from my time at 2+2, but sometimes there's a lot of aggro on the site from various member and this detracts from it somewhat.
Anyways FWIW, I regularly post at Cardschat, my name is Jagsti, and I have made some good friends on there.
Poker Goals anyone?
Well LDO!
At the start of this year, I decided I want Supernova, I need Supernova. 100k VPP's? Definately!
I really wanted to start a thread on this on CC (or blog for that matter), but was kind of scared I'd balls it all up and make a fool of myself. Plus I wasn't at all confident that I was a decent enough player, shit who am I kidding, I still don't think I am wtf!
So at the end of last year I started out on the cash game scene at 100nl, 50nl and 25nl 6max games. And yes in that sodding order! As you can guess I was crap at it and went down limits pretty quickly. I then stabilised at 25 and 50nl killing the games for like 12ptbb/100...... yeah LOL! Ok 4ptbb/100 maybe ;). Then in February, I went on a downswing of almost epic proportions, dropping around $1300 for the month, over 20 buy ins. I eventually got my shit together and read some strategy on CC and 2+2. For the next month it was still quite painful TBH as I was break even for well over 100k hands. I eventually decided to have a go at 50nl full ring. It's quite simply the best poker decision I have made. You see, I was multi tabling 6max upto 12 tables at a time. What I failed to realise is that 6max depends greatly on aggression and knowing villains tendencies. Playing that many tables, I seriously lacked both.
Full ring has enabled me to play as many tables as I wish but utilise some of the skills I attained in 6max. I can now earn lots of VPP's and hopefully get to Supernova status for August 2008.
I'm not that far from Supernova, I only need around 45k Vpp's to get it, this blog is about my poker experiences and my quest for Supernova....... and beyond!
GL at the tables.
Champagne Supernova, Enjoy!
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