Saturday, December 17, 2005

What? Playing No-Limit?

Yes, folks, that is in fact me you see playing NLHE at Full Tilt and Interpoker. Limit hasn't been very kind to me since the downswing. So, I figured I'd mix it up a little bit and start climbing the NL ladder the same way I climbed the limit ladder.

I think it's a simple, but very important lesson to learn. I have the bankroll for higher games, but I started at $25 NL. Why? It's not your skills alone, nor your bankroll alone that dictates where in the world of poker you belong. It's a combination of both. Poker's been extremely good to me over the last year (yep, it's almost a full year that I've been playing for real money), and I feel that I've learned a great deal. I've played limit (playing up to the 10/20 game on Stars, and having a cup of coffee at 15/30--not bad for a guy who started '05 playing in the 0.25/0.50 LHE games, eh?), no-limit (up to the $200 NL on UB), and other games, but for right now, I don't feel my NL skills are sufficient enough to handle playing higher than $25 NL. I want to win some bucks at these games, re-learn the differences between limit and NL poker, then move up. I think it's solid advice to start low and go slow. For me, it's not a money issue--it's an issue of pride, and playing the best game I can, and learning the game the best way I can. Hell, I want the tournament circuit. Experience is only going to help me, both near term, and in the long run.

Ramblings:

For the first time in a while, I'm seeing a few Tuesdays off in January--are you listening, Dom? AC trip time--long overdue.

I wonder how many players have final tabled NL and Limit tourneys (with > 300 players) in the same year? Don't embarrass me by telling me that thousands have, especially since it's one of the poker accomplishments I'm most proud of this year. Hey, it's my ramblings section, and I'll gloat if I want to.

I glanced over my NL database (open since 12/05--I somehow lost my UB database from the spring), and I saw that in the 10 hands I lost the most money with, I either ran JJ, QQ, KK, or AK into AA or got my money in the middle with the best of it. Can't ask for anything more than that, right?

Weird thing is that I'm playing as much poker now as I've played any time this year, but the money's coming slower. I guess that's the difference between playing 5/10 LHE for $200 pots and $25 NL for $10 pots...

That's both a good thing, and a bad thing. Some time around mid-October, I hit a wall in LHE, where I would lose with everything, and I endured some really pathetically bad beats. (November was the first losing month (albeit small) that I'd ever really had) Now, when some schmuck pushes in $25 NL with his TPTK and his $10, and I'm sitting there with a flush draw and call the bet, I'm thinking, "Yeah, like I'm laying down my nut flush draw for one bet?"

I lose more money that way...

The one thing that I thought that NL would teach me is discipline. It's common knowledge that I'm a fairly tight player (LHE VP$IP 17.5%). I looked over the NL DB, and what do I find? A VP$IP of 20.8%! What the hell? Am I taking the implied odds concept THAT far? Or am I really just a sLAG? I feel like I should be around 15%, and pushing the crap out of those hands. I think I'm a good enough player post-flop to be around 20, but I can't help but recall that I was a good limit player until I got my VP$IP below 18%--then I became a great limit player. Maybe that's the answer.

I think some time in the new year I'm going to make a triumphant return to the limit games--hopefully by then I'll be off the schneid I was on at Stars. The schneid coincided with a) the dissolution of the Party network, and b) my 'decision' to go semi-pro and take regular withdrawals. This means that either a) the fish were getting the best of me short term, or b) I need to go make my tinfoil hat and join the masses that say that online poker is rigged.

I'll take (a), especially since if online poker was rigged, it sure as hell was rigged in MY favor for a long time.

Quote of the year--from the loving and supportive (and very pregnant) Mrs. PokerShark, in response to me saying that I really don't have any vices, except my love of poker...

"Honey, as long as you keep winning, me and the baby don't care how much poker you play. And don't worry, if you spend too much time playing, your baby's first word won't be 'daddy,' it'll just be 'Tiffany's.'"

How screwed am I?

Don't forget to visit the linked blogs on the right, and play at Full Tilt Poker. HDub and the folks over there run a helluva good site. Patronize our friends over there, mmkay?

In case I don't get back to blogging before the holidays, I hope that the holidays bring you closer to those you love and that the new year brings you nothing but the realizations of all your dreams. Good health and good luck everybody!

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