Casino Play Better, Home Game Worse...

Now, this is a switch.

For as long I've been playing poker, I've held my own at the home games, but been very inconsistent at the casinos.  Part of the reason is that I've played most of my casino play in Minnesota, where the cash games are limit poker only.  That's the only time I ever play limit poker, and I've never been a winning player in that game.

Lately my issue has been losing in home games.  I'm afraid my play has become too predictable.  Am I running bad?  Playing too many hands?  I've focused on not playing out of position.  I'm really confused about why my results have changed over the past several months.  I think the remedy is some time off.

Maybe I'll hone my skills online at low stakes for a while, and go back to the live game refreshed and less confused.

It's not good to play poker confused.

Respect the Game

This has been a tough week.  On Sunday I lost a personal friend who died unexpectedly and way too young.  It has also been a busy week, with more than usual routine "errands" to deal with.  I have ended up coming home late in the evening, logging on to PokerStars, and escaping reality for a while.  Last night, I was tired but logged on and played anyway.  It is relaxing to get your mind away from the affairs of the day.

Well, it turns out that I was so tired, I actually turned my brain off (which on some level was probably good under the circumstances) and played poker in a mindless escape from reality.  In recent nights I have played well, gotten some good hands, been patient, and turned $1.36 into over $20.  Last night was different.  I had been at the funeral home, and it was difficult.  I logged on out of habit and hopeful to return to my recent success at the table.  After all, I had to miss my weekly Wednesday night home game because of the funeral services.  Anyway, I played until I was dozing off to sleep and had mindlessly gone through seven $1 re-buys at the same table before I woke up and logged off for the night.

Poker is a solace at times, and occasionally luck can make winning easy.  However, as I have found in the past, playing poker as an escape from reality clearly does not pay; in reality performance and mental sharpness matter, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill.

Roller Coaster Month

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is to get lucky.  Recently I was fortunate enough to increase my bankroll by almost 50% in a session of 13 hands!  I played only 2 sessions that day, each for only $1.  The first one went 9 hands, and since I doubled up, I had to leave by the blinds.  The second one went a whopping 13 hands, and after doubling up (or better) right away, I caught another monster hand in a 3 way pot and turned my $1 buy-in into $9.32!  That was the good news.
The bad news is that I apparently came to expect that kind of luck a little too much, and began taking too many chances again.  The result has been a month long roller coaster ride and an effort to get back on an even keel so as not to play like a maniac just so I can double or triple up real fast.
Could my bankroll have been better off without the windfall of luck?

New Challenge!

Here are the results from Month #1:
Now that I've been trying to freeroll my way back into the game, I've found that I need to start with some $. The good news is that the freeroll circuit has taught me to appreciate having and protecting a bankroll again.

Bottom line, deer_nevets transferred back to me a dollar I'd deposited in his account a couple of years ago. So I've started the challenge again, a 4th time, but this time WITH ONLY $1.

Heading to Vegas

To be honest, the last 2 weeks have not been confidence boosters for my upcoming trip to Vegas. I'm doing pretty well in tournaments, but my cash play has not been very productive, in fact, I've lost $660 in the last 3 weeks, including -$500 at the Hollywood on Friday night July 3. In that time, I've won $200 in tournaments. I've also gone from just a couple of bucks online up to $7.99 and back down to below $1. Not exactly the same sense of invincibility I was feeling a couple of weeks ago. Dawson said that is probably a good thing. Maybe I should be a little guarded as I wander out to places like Bellagio, MGM Grand, and the Golden Nugget. I think I'd rather head out feeling at the top of my game, but maybe it's best to be reminded how poker can turn on you before the trip than finding out again on vacation. I was curious and looked at my longest losing streaks and overall win/loss variance. Twice before I've lost money 4 times in a row; in my last 4 sessions I've lost 3 and broken even once. That ties my two longest droughts ever. I have never lost money 5 times in a row. I also counted up how often I sit down and win money. It is less frequent than I expected: 32 of 63 times (50.7%) I've won money or broken even. So if I take the long view of my play, I really have no reason to think I'll have a bad poker experience in Vegas.

I've often said that nothing has helped my cash game like Harrington's Cash Games Volume I. Zach just brought it back to me after borrowing it this spring. I'll re-read it now and on the plane, and go out there and play smart, tight-aggressive poker and be patient for the right hand to hit. Poker is all about patience and good decision making. I hope I pack plenty of both for my trip. One caveat: this trip is going to be all about time with my wife. She obviously supports my interest in poker, but I don't want to leave her stranded on our trip together. We will discuss it and I know we will arrive at the best balance of poker and time together. BTW, here is how my live poker bankroll looks now. And, for the record, $500 of it is on hand in cash, the rest has been spent on things like rent at UC and vacations. I have some cash in the bank I think I'll take along just so I can play in some of the best poker rooms on earth.

A Fresh Look at My Bankroll

The WSOP satellites are over now, and I never really got as close as I did that first week or so. One other time I was in first place at the break of an 81 player tourney where only one player qualified for the WSOP. I "played to win" and not to survive till the final table. I ignored the fact that 2nd-13th place paid several hundred dollars. Ooops! I became too fixated on going to Vegas in First Place. Duh, I should have survived and put myself into position to get the money and a chance to win at the final table. I spent a little more money overall trying to qualify online than I initially thought I would, but it was spread out over several pay periods, $15 at a time, and only had to get into my live-game poker stash once to pay for it (near the end when I decided to do a re-buy satellite, mentioned above.) I am happy I tried, and satisfied overall with my performance. Next year perhaps fewer tries....just like online cash play, too much is too much in a short time.

Throughout the same time period as the WSOP satellites, my live cash game play has been on a roll. I have only really lost in Minnesota where the cash game is a limit game, which I am less informed about. I have won a lot of money in both cash and tournament formats in both home and casino games since April. I was invited to the Honnerlaw Wednesday night game, and placed in the money in both tourneys so far. I am very confident in my game right now. Check out my live-game cash bankroll below:

This chart dates back to July '05 and includes every single live game in which I have played, including cash games and tournaments. It shows my bankroll in terms of net profit/loss, which now stands at an overall profit of $1,580.00. Although I have recorded every single buy-in since I began playing for money, only recently did I decide to create a chart, as I have done so consistently with my online bankroll. The first thing that struck me after creating this chart was the fact that only once throughout my time playing live poker was I a "losing player." The first time I ever played I showed a $3 profit, and the second time I played I lost $20 for an overall loss of $17; the only time in my life that I've shown a net loss in live poker.

I found this "discovery" to be quite impressive. Though I've lost money in several individual sessions, I can say without equivocation that since June 2006 I have not shown a net loss in my overall poker bankroll in any one year period, and my bankroll has never dropped to zero.

Another interesting fact revealed by my thorough record keeping involves my performance in limit hold 'em. I have a net loss of $380 in limit games. I only play limit hold 'em in Minnesota where no-limit is not allowed except in tournaments. Even with this considerable drain on my bankroll, my net profit since I began to play live games for money in July '05 is $1,580.00.

Knowing all of this, playing very well recently, and the long break from playing in cash games online has really been good for my attitude concerning the $10,000 Bankroll Challenge. I have also established the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour, and I exercise a lot more now. I am confident that if I play less, and don't play too late at night, that my online bankroll will slowly swell. I am not giving up on growing it to $10,000.

Good News, Bad News

My online bankroll stands at $2.13. However, I've decided to make a serious attempt to qualify online for the World Series of Poker Main Event. Pokerstars has lots of interesting satellite opportunities, and the one I prefer is the Steps qualifier. There are 6 levels, or steps you can buy into, and move up if you place high or win, and if you make 3rd-6th place on most of them you get bumped down a level or replay the current level. The first week I tried this, I made it to level 6 (on a $7.50 buy-in) and played in a $2,000 game for a WSOP package. I played pretty well, but came in 6th hitting a flush but losing to a BB special full house (he had Q4.) Since then, I have not done as well, and I'm considering buying in for more or trying the quadruple shootout. I'm getting encouragement from my wife to press on!

The good news is that my live play has been very good lately. I've profited $933 since April 16 in 4 buy-ins. Three home games, and tonight at Argosy. I had to widen the column on my spreadsheet to accommodate the 4 digit profit margin on my running total. In 49 sessions of live poker since April 2006, I've profited $1,134. This includes all tournaments and cash games at both the casinos and home games. My confidence in live poker, especially cash games, is very high right now. My summer job is promising a lot fewer hours this year, so I plan to get to the boat once or twice per week until I decide it's not a good idea. I think I stand to make a lot of money this summer at the boat.

My online bankroll experiment is not going very well, but the whole point of it was to improve my overall play while not losing money online. To that extent it has worked out well. I credit most of my cash game success to Dan Harrington's books on Cash Games. They made a huge difference in my play.