Absent online

I’m just not getting any hours in at the moment. Since playing a long session last Saturday, I have managed precisely one hour and ten minutes. Admittedly that session was ended prematurely by a site crash, but the fact remains that I’m just not getting my head down and playing enough.

My annoyance with myself over this fact has made me realise the point I have come to in my poker playing. Although I play at a very low stake level, poker has become an important addition to my income; over the last few months poker has topped up my salary by 20%, keeping myself going in the latter stages of each month with my withdrawals - however much I wish I didn’t have to draw on the bankroll. I do play poker when there are other things I would as soon be doing (watching DVDs, reading, socialising, a little guilt-appeasing family time etc) because I see it as a part-time job.Anyway, the lack of hours this week has been due to a combination of social and work circumstances. I intend to play a ton over the weekend and next week.

One of the social circumstances was watching a docu-movie called ‘The Corporation’ on Wednesday night, after which I slept at my brother’s house. The film was excellent; informative, intelligent and sober. I’ve not seen any of Michael Moore’s films, but I don’t think many of the criticisms aimed at his work could be levelled at ‘The Corporation’. Highly recommended, unless you are convinced you couldn’t watch a well-over-two-hours documentary - I didn’t get bored myself.

Another social circumstance was playing in the private clubby sort of tournament. Five paid and I came seventh. I felt I had played really, really well moat of the way (although perhaps I should have been more conservative with the very large stack I had at one point), but I went out on a really, really poor move with Ace Two. I was very tired indeed by that stage, but I still should have known better.

I must say that, as a dedicated online player, it has been enormous fun to play live for about ten hours over the last two weeks and be reminded of all the factors that can inform your decisions which are absent online. People folding or checking out of turn, the way they handle their chips and cards, where they are looking, how they react to the flop, how much money they seem to have, and so on. I certainly made a number of bets that I wouldn’t have made in the same situations online, deprived of some of that information.All that said, I may give it a miss next week. I could do without the tiring late finish and spending on the taxi home, when I could be sitting in an armchair raking some Omaha pots.

Have a good weekend.

Mr. Sit-on-the-fence

So I lost last night, continuing a very mediocre little run. I’ve only won $101 over the last seven days. Even though I feel I haven’t played much, I still have 20 hours in that past week. Not totally sure how to feel about that as a week’s return; I have run… not bad, but certainly not good, and still have $5 an hour. At my stake level that is nothing to be concerned about at all.

I’m not sure I was in particularly good games last night; I faced a few more troublesome large bets or raises than I would have liked. I don’t think either game warranted leaving - I was sure I would be able to trap one of the bet-happy players, and had a bead on the other’s game - but I have been reflecting today on that flipside of game selection. I believe I am good at only sitting in games that (I think) are good; but I can’t recall the last time I left a table when it either went bad, or proved to be much worse than I had thought in the first place.

Somebody quoted the esteemed Tommy Angelo on this in their latest post: "Game selection to me is not so much about getting in games when I have way the best of it as it is about getting out of games when I don't."

On the other hand (sheesh, I am Mister Sit-on-the-fence today), given that I play the lowest rung of Pot Limit Omaha I often think I should be more prepared to face off against some of the stronger players from time to time, or how else will I improve? I don’t want to play $50 max buy-in game forever, bankroll permitting. Actually, bankroll is the key issue there; the swings against stronger players will be far greater than what I currently experience, so the bankroll will need to be dramatically bigger before I consider playing any higher.

One small benefit of my site’s frustrating crash last night was that I ended up devoting some time to reading the Bob Ciaffone book I bought on Monday. ‘Improve Your Poker’ is the one, and I must say it is really, really good. There is loads to chew on, and Ciaffone is not without a sense of humour - his comments on the standard recommendations for required bankroll made me laugh out loud. I would highly recommend this book to just about any poker player, especially since it will be of interest whether you play limit or big-bet, Hold ‘Em or Omaha, cash or tournaments.

I tend to agree with Ciaffone’s approach to most poker issues, in particular his preferred table image and thoughts on bluffing and advertising, but I don’t think that is why I like his writing so much. I simply find that he discusses ideas that I don’t see elsewhere, and articulates them well. One passage in the book made me realise something quite significant about the way my table image in my PLO games may be somewhat different to the reality of how I play.

Moving on into real life, I weighed myself last night and was surprised to find I have gained lately. Virtually twelve stone now. I’m off to see ‘The Corporation’ tonight with my brother. May as well see an anti-corporate movie on the day that USA inc. re-elected their objectionable chief executive.

Personal content in poker blogs? Boy Genius might have a rival in Daniel Negreanu, who has finally got a journal up and running on his site. Hell, I only wish I were as ‘busy’ as poor old Daniel!

The darkness

Don't you hate it when the clocks go back? I don't mind winter for the cold, but for the darkness.

A dearth of entries last week, because I didn't play all that much poker. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday were all busy evenings for me, and it was an enjoyble but expensive and tiring week. Actually, Thursday was busy with live poker, a sort of private club type of thing, low stakes tournament. I came third out of twenty and had a great time - while learning for the first time of the chunk that drinks and travel take from profits.

I did play quite a bit on Saturday, making $90 in about five hours of unspectacular PLO. For some reason, though, I have a strange dark feeling at the moment. I'm a bit jumpy about my life and my job and my finances, and somehow it feels like the poker has been going so well for so many weeks that the gods owe me an almighty kick in the teeth.

It's a stupid feeling which hopefully will pass, since I feel strongly in control of my game and there is no reason why I should suddenly get shafted for big losses. I think I'm just in a negative mindset at the moment.

On a positive note, I was able to visit a specialist gambling bookshop yesterday, where I picked up four poker books. I bought the novel 'King of a Small World', Jim McManus's well-reviewed 'Positively Fifth Street', Sklanksy's tournament book and 'Improve Your Poker' by the estimable Bob Ciaffone. I'm in reading heaven for a week or two!

Later:

Bah! Down $50 after an hour or so, and then my site crashed. It sucks only being on one site. I'm desperate to play and prove that my dark feelings are just stupid superstition.. and I am thwarted.