Yesterday concluded the main portion of the Flux WSOPC trip in AC. It was a good trip in the sense that I got to take some shots at $2/$5 and some of the key Flux team members got some invaluable live experience. The bottom line for the trip though, was a little disappointing.
The cash guys experienced some sick variance and with the exception of one, all either had losses or posted small wins for the week. After logging some long sessions over the course of the week, I was only up a little over a buy-in at $2/$5.
We did have a member make two final tables on the tourney side, one being a fifth place finish for about 9.5k. But, due to a couple of rough days at the cash tables we essentially had a break-even trip.
Seeing how beatable the $2/$5 games are gave me some renewed vigor moving forward. Between the cab fares and the rake, the $1/$2 games can be frustrating during rough weeks. The bigger games, which were proven this week to be very soft at times, provide me with an opportunity to make some real money by January.
My schedule is rarely static for very long but for the time being I am going to be playing online Sun.-Tues/Wed and live Wed./Thur.-Sat. I think this should allow me to utilize the best games live while striking a balance between live and online play. I have some aspects of my game to work on in the upcoming weeks but feel like I can make some real money this month. Wish me luck.
whiteyslacks
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
BBV FTW
The last thing I want is for this blog to simply become another BBV (brag, beats, and variance) thread but variance is the only aspect of the game that is really relevant to my poker life in the last two weeks.
So, I am in Atlantic City now, finally. I have been playing cash online and now have 3 sessions under my belt at my most commonly frequented poker room at The Borgata. Neither online nor live has been kind to me since my arrival in NJ.
The other Flux member who is staying out here has been witness to endless beats, coolers and simply laughable spots but I will only subject the readers of this blog to two of the lowlights before I move on.
My first online session yesterday set the tone for all things to follow in the next 36 hours. The first 4 big hands of this session were all aipf (all-in pre-flop). AKo loses to AKo when the fourth spade hits the river. AKs loses to AKs when an all diamond board is slammed out. Two flips (QQ < AKo, AKo < QQ) within the next 5 minutes and I am down 4 buy-ins in the first twenty minutes minutes of the session.
The last lowlight I will subject you to is the last pot of the evening last night which wiped out my entire day's grind. This one still kind of stings so I am going to gloss over it. Basically I have position on and am very deep with literally the worst player I have ever played with. This is not hyperbole or or exaggeration in any form. I've played with first-timers this bad but never did they reload until they luckbox into a 700 bb stack. Long story short, I flopped a set against her flopped flush and lose a 1.1k pot. Good times.
After that loss I wished my opponent good luck and headed to the cashier window because I was exhausted and wasn't entirely sure I would be playing my A-game until I had some time to myself. I then realize I have left my phone at the house so I have to use the AC cab service at the Borgata valet instead of my normal company. I get to the house and find out that they are twice as expensive and chalk it up to a taxi-selection bad beat.
Variance is great for the game. Without it bad players wouldn't play and this game would not be a viable profession for so many people like me. I just hope that I have front-loaded my run-bad on this AC trip because I really want to be out of MU by the time I get to Vegas in the spring and would also like to have a little fun while I am out here. That may be a tall order but I'm going to do what I can to make it happen. That's all for now. Wish me luck in the upcoming weeks, apparently I need it.
whiteyslacks
So, I am in Atlantic City now, finally. I have been playing cash online and now have 3 sessions under my belt at my most commonly frequented poker room at The Borgata. Neither online nor live has been kind to me since my arrival in NJ.
The other Flux member who is staying out here has been witness to endless beats, coolers and simply laughable spots but I will only subject the readers of this blog to two of the lowlights before I move on.
My first online session yesterday set the tone for all things to follow in the next 36 hours. The first 4 big hands of this session were all aipf (all-in pre-flop). AKo loses to AKo when the fourth spade hits the river. AKs loses to AKs when an all diamond board is slammed out. Two flips (QQ < AKo, AKo < QQ) within the next 5 minutes and I am down 4 buy-ins in the first twenty minutes minutes of the session.
The last lowlight I will subject you to is the last pot of the evening last night which wiped out my entire day's grind. This one still kind of stings so I am going to gloss over it. Basically I have position on and am very deep with literally the worst player I have ever played with. This is not hyperbole or or exaggeration in any form. I've played with first-timers this bad but never did they reload until they luckbox into a 700 bb stack. Long story short, I flopped a set against her flopped flush and lose a 1.1k pot. Good times.
After that loss I wished my opponent good luck and headed to the cashier window because I was exhausted and wasn't entirely sure I would be playing my A-game until I had some time to myself. I then realize I have left my phone at the house so I have to use the AC cab service at the Borgata valet instead of my normal company. I get to the house and find out that they are twice as expensive and chalk it up to a taxi-selection bad beat.
Variance is great for the game. Without it bad players wouldn't play and this game would not be a viable profession for so many people like me. I just hope that I have front-loaded my run-bad on this AC trip because I really want to be out of MU by the time I get to Vegas in the spring and would also like to have a little fun while I am out here. That may be a tall order but I'm going to do what I can to make it happen. That's all for now. Wish me luck in the upcoming weeks, apparently I need it.
whiteyslacks
Monday, October 25, 2010
Still in Dallas...
The logistics of my move to Atlantic City have changed somewhat but I should be arriving there sometime this week. In the meantime I did get the internet fixed at the house so I was able to finally get the requisite volume and ROI to move up in stakes in the turbo 180s. I have been playing about 100 of these per day since the internet has been working properly. Here's the graph:
Keep in mind that during the 600 to 900 game mark there were two sessions which were horribly affected by my internet so the winrate should actually be a bit higher (Stars did refund all the buy-ins for one of those sessions which came to a total of about $220). Nonetheless, I am fairly excited about being able to play full turbo sessions in the future.
I have also been playing the HU SNGs but they have taken somewhat of a backseat this week just because I am trying to grind out some solid winning days before I go further into MU during the move.
I guess that's about it for now. I'll be incorporating the $3 rebuys and $7.70 turbos into the sessions throughout the week. Hopefully I'll enjoy continued success in those as well. In either case I will be posting a graph after this weeks play, good or bad. Glglgl.
whiteyslacks
Keep in mind that during the 600 to 900 game mark there were two sessions which were horribly affected by my internet so the winrate should actually be a bit higher (Stars did refund all the buy-ins for one of those sessions which came to a total of about $220). Nonetheless, I am fairly excited about being able to play full turbo sessions in the future.
I have also been playing the HU SNGs but they have taken somewhat of a backseat this week just because I am trying to grind out some solid winning days before I go further into MU during the move.
I guess that's about it for now. I'll be incorporating the $3 rebuys and $7.70 turbos into the sessions throughout the week. Hopefully I'll enjoy continued success in those as well. In either case I will be posting a graph after this weeks play, good or bad. Glglgl.
whiteyslacks
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Stuck in Dallas
So I'm stuck in Dallas until the Monday after next. I'm trying to get my now long-expired TX DL renewed so I can play tournies up in NJ and hopefully pass the rigorous NJ ID criteria. The process is taking a ridiculously long time, which wouldn't be that bad if the internet at the house here in Dallas was halfway decent.
I am still trying to put in some volume in the micro-turbo-180s so that I can play the bigger turbos when I get back to NJ but I have halted the mass multi-tabling turbo sessions for the time being since when I was 27-tabling a couple days ago, my internet decided to cut out. Stars was nice enough to refund the buy-ins but I'm scared to play more than a few tables at a time with this internet.
Until I get back to a decent internet connection I'm going to be single-tabling HU SNGs and playing low volume non-turbo 180 sessions. I am little more than break-even in the HU SNGs thus far and ready to break out but I feel like it's coming. The backer bought me a membership to husng.com which comes with some very quality videos. I have been watching as many vids as I can and posting on fluxstables.com's forums as well. I will also be posting on the forum at husng.com so that I can get some input from their coaching staff. Hopefully the feedback I get will provide me with the insight I need for a breakout session.
Usually when I learn a new form of hold 'em the epiphanies or "ah-ha!" moments come pretty quickly but I simply haven't experienced that yet with HU SNGs. I have all the resources needed and am confident that they will pay dividends but am getting anxious to really start crushing the $11.50's and $23's. As soon as I feel like I am crushing my current stakes I will be writing about it immediately. Until then, wish me luck.
whiteyslacks
I am still trying to put in some volume in the micro-turbo-180s so that I can play the bigger turbos when I get back to NJ but I have halted the mass multi-tabling turbo sessions for the time being since when I was 27-tabling a couple days ago, my internet decided to cut out. Stars was nice enough to refund the buy-ins but I'm scared to play more than a few tables at a time with this internet.
Until I get back to a decent internet connection I'm going to be single-tabling HU SNGs and playing low volume non-turbo 180 sessions. I am little more than break-even in the HU SNGs thus far and ready to break out but I feel like it's coming. The backer bought me a membership to husng.com which comes with some very quality videos. I have been watching as many vids as I can and posting on fluxstables.com's forums as well. I will also be posting on the forum at husng.com so that I can get some input from their coaching staff. Hopefully the feedback I get will provide me with the insight I need for a breakout session.
Usually when I learn a new form of hold 'em the epiphanies or "ah-ha!" moments come pretty quickly but I simply haven't experienced that yet with HU SNGs. I have all the resources needed and am confident that they will pay dividends but am getting anxious to really start crushing the $11.50's and $23's. As soon as I feel like I am crushing my current stakes I will be writing about it immediately. Until then, wish me luck.
whiteyslacks
Friday, September 24, 2010
A Long Week
I must start off by apologizing for the delay in making this post. About 3 days ago I started coming down with a cold and it has been kicking my ass ever since. This cold, coupled with some general laziness, has meant that, other than playing poker, nothing productive has really been accomplished the last few days.
As I was wallowing in my misery this evening I looked out the open patio door and noticed that the sun was going down over the bay and that it was a beautiful evening. I don't know if my reaction to this beautiful moment was typical but in any case, it made me realize that I need to stop being such a bitch and get some shit done. So here I am.
Since I have been sick I have been playing more online the past few days. The backer wants me to clear 1k games at the current level with a 40% ROI before I can move up so I have been trying to knock those out ASAP. I also had one short, but fruitful, session at The Borgata yesterday. The table was great and I would have loved to have stayed but was just a stopped up, coughing mess and thought it best that I not infect everyone at the casino with this bug.
Aside from neglecting my own blog, I have also been neglecting my responsibilities as a mod on the flux stables forums. I am going to be posting some of my more interesting HU hands on the HU SNG thread and talking on some general topics. If you're looking for a little more strat and gossip head over to fluxstables.com .
Glgl.
whiteyslacks
As I was wallowing in my misery this evening I looked out the open patio door and noticed that the sun was going down over the bay and that it was a beautiful evening. I don't know if my reaction to this beautiful moment was typical but in any case, it made me realize that I need to stop being such a bitch and get some shit done. So here I am.
Since I have been sick I have been playing more online the past few days. The backer wants me to clear 1k games at the current level with a 40% ROI before I can move up so I have been trying to knock those out ASAP. I also had one short, but fruitful, session at The Borgata yesterday. The table was great and I would have loved to have stayed but was just a stopped up, coughing mess and thought it best that I not infect everyone at the casino with this bug.
Aside from neglecting my own blog, I have also been neglecting my responsibilities as a mod on the flux stables forums. I am going to be posting some of my more interesting HU hands on the HU SNG thread and talking on some general topics. If you're looking for a little more strat and gossip head over to fluxstables.com .
Glgl.
whiteyslacks
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Atlantic City
I get to Atlantic City only to only find out I can't register for any tournaments. I'm trying to get the problem resolved and will discuss it in more detail once it is resolved but for now I'll just have to talk about the cash games I've been playing.
My registration issues may actually be a blessing in disguise. I wasn't exactly looking forward to three straight weeks of 14 hour tournament days. If I can get everything worked out and play the last week and a half I will be perfectly happy.
I don't mind missing some of these tournaments because the cash games at the Borgata are so full of value. My backer is dragging his feet on clearing me for $2/$5 but just playing $1/$2 I am up 1.1k over three days of play.
The other horse that came with me has yet to cash but is a proven tournament player and will undoubtedly have a couple good scores before we leave. Our backer came in last night and instantly found success by shipping a SNG for about 2.5k. Coupled with my cash contributions we are now up on the trip and plan on staying in the black for the remainder of our time in AC.
If any readers are or are going to be in AC over the next few weeks be sure to come find me. I'll be in the Borgata poker room all day, 6 days a week. I'll be the guy with the shaved head and the big stack! Glgl.
whiteyslacks
My registration issues may actually be a blessing in disguise. I wasn't exactly looking forward to three straight weeks of 14 hour tournament days. If I can get everything worked out and play the last week and a half I will be perfectly happy.
I don't mind missing some of these tournaments because the cash games at the Borgata are so full of value. My backer is dragging his feet on clearing me for $2/$5 but just playing $1/$2 I am up 1.1k over three days of play.
The other horse that came with me has yet to cash but is a proven tournament player and will undoubtedly have a couple good scores before we leave. Our backer came in last night and instantly found success by shipping a SNG for about 2.5k. Coupled with my cash contributions we are now up on the trip and plan on staying in the black for the remainder of our time in AC.
If any readers are or are going to be in AC over the next few weeks be sure to come find me. I'll be in the Borgata poker room all day, 6 days a week. I'll be the guy with the shaved head and the big stack! Glgl.
whiteyslacks
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Last Day in NYC
The last few days in New York I have been trying to learn a new game. My backer was briefly a turbo HU SNG (heads-up sit-n-go) professional and under his tutelage I have been attempting to learn the game. It's a very interesting form of poker. These turbo SNGs force a player to understand proper play at multiple stack depths while at the same time utilizing their understanding of game flow and meta game.
My foray into HU SNGs started out beautifully. I was crushing at what was apparently an unsustainable winrate. Since the first full day of play it seems a statistical correction has occurred. I am now only slightly profitable in the 150 or so games I've played. I am quite sure I am running very badly over the last 60 games but am also sure that I am doing things which are exacerbating my swings.
A hundred and fifty games is a small sample size, even for HU, so I'm not too concerned but I am really looking forward to getting to Atlantic City tonight and playing people older than me (for once) that are going to be perpetually "waiting for better spots." There's no better variance limiter than playing retirees that believe patience is key and aces will come. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
I'm not sure exactly when I'm leaving New York but I do know I'll be heading out sometime tonight. In the meantime I'm going to work on plugging some HU leaks and trying to get my mind right for the Borgata tournaments. If anyone has any particularly effective methods of maintaining a proper mindset during downswings please feel free to leave a comment. Glgl.
whiteyslacks
My foray into HU SNGs started out beautifully. I was crushing at what was apparently an unsustainable winrate. Since the first full day of play it seems a statistical correction has occurred. I am now only slightly profitable in the 150 or so games I've played. I am quite sure I am running very badly over the last 60 games but am also sure that I am doing things which are exacerbating my swings.
A hundred and fifty games is a small sample size, even for HU, so I'm not too concerned but I am really looking forward to getting to Atlantic City tonight and playing people older than me (for once) that are going to be perpetually "waiting for better spots." There's no better variance limiter than playing retirees that believe patience is key and aces will come. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
I'm not sure exactly when I'm leaving New York but I do know I'll be heading out sometime tonight. In the meantime I'm going to work on plugging some HU leaks and trying to get my mind right for the Borgata tournaments. If anyone has any particularly effective methods of maintaining a proper mindset during downswings please feel free to leave a comment. Glgl.
whiteyslacks
Friday, September 3, 2010
Variance, I Hope
I thought I could play poker, apparently I was wrong. Played some 100NL on gr88, got crushed. Moved back down to 50, got crushed. Went deep in a $22 $12.5k guaranteed on Stars and got crushed by J7o with 18 left. Right now I'm adding to my makeup with a veracity that has not been seen at small stakes in quite some time.
With all that said though, I'm having a good time with the backer and his lady friend in NYC. I'm here for about 6 more days and I'm not really looking forward to leaving. Right now I'm grinding on a very nice set up during the day and either going out or playing some cash in the evenings. Things could be worse.
The upcoming Borgata trip should also offer a nice respite from soul-crushing internet play. I plan on shipping the first tournament I play and immediately getting out of makeup. Until then the online MTT grind will have to do. If anyone feels like witnessing anymore soul-crushing tournament defeats feel free to search for whiteyslacks on PokerStars the next few days.
With all that said though, I'm having a good time with the backer and his lady friend in NYC. I'm here for about 6 more days and I'm not really looking forward to leaving. Right now I'm grinding on a very nice set up during the day and either going out or playing some cash in the evenings. Things could be worse.
The upcoming Borgata trip should also offer a nice respite from soul-crushing internet play. I plan on shipping the first tournament I play and immediately getting out of makeup. Until then the online MTT grind will have to do. If anyone feels like witnessing anymore soul-crushing tournament defeats feel free to search for whiteyslacks on PokerStars the next few days.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
NYC and AC
It's official, I am paying rent on a place which is no longer my home. I'll be heading back eventually but it seems my plans have changed once again. Instead of going to Chicago and then Atlantic City, I am now going first to New York, Manhattan specifically, to visit my backer and put in some time on a proper computer set up.
From New York I'll be flying to Atlantic City to play some events at Borgata. After I run over the competition in AC I don't really know if I even want to go back to Dallas. If my dog wasn't there I may have already given my roommate the 60 days notice.
If Vegas didn't seem like a soul-sucking dream pit I would move there in a second. This will be my first trip to Atlantic City. Maybe it won't be as awful of a city as I've heard and it will become my next semi-permanent destination. An apartment in Jersey has to be cheap, right?
As one can easily tell, I really don't have any idea where I'm going to be 6 months from now. Maybe by the time I get back to Dallas I will have decided what do with myself in addition to just playing online poker. Maybe I'll just fly around until my backer gets tired of sending me places, I don't know. Glgl.
From New York I'll be flying to Atlantic City to play some events at Borgata. After I run over the competition in AC I don't really know if I even want to go back to Dallas. If my dog wasn't there I may have already given my roommate the 60 days notice.
If Vegas didn't seem like a soul-sucking dream pit I would move there in a second. This will be my first trip to Atlantic City. Maybe it won't be as awful of a city as I've heard and it will become my next semi-permanent destination. An apartment in Jersey has to be cheap, right?
As one can easily tell, I really don't have any idea where I'm going to be 6 months from now. Maybe by the time I get back to Dallas I will have decided what do with myself in addition to just playing online poker. Maybe I'll just fly around until my backer gets tired of sending me places, I don't know. Glgl.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Turbos
This has been a frustrating week. I'm in Minneapolis visiting family and friends and don't have a proper poker computer set up. I'm working with a 6 year old PPC based Mac which can only acquire the PokerStars client. The cash games on Stars have the least value of any site, in my humble opinion, so I will only be playing various forms of tournament poker this week.
There is nothing inherently wrong with playing tournaments on Stars. That is, mind you, how I got my start in professional poker. My current problem is one that I've been dealing with off and on for the last few months. The problem can only be described as game-selection purgatory.
I don't have the financial cushion I had previous to my staking transition so I am trying to mitigate the variance in my schedule as much as possible. Since I'm not playing cash this week that means high-volume turbo sessions. I am beginning to understand why the turbos are popular but I'm stuck in tiny, tiny stakes until I have posted positive results over 1,000 games (the number my backer set as reasonable sample size).
My problems are further compounded by the fact that I can't transfer Holdem Manager or Table Ninja to this ancient Mac. Without these programs it's fairly difficult to put in the volume needed to negate the variance of any one turbo tournament. Futile endeavors are kind of my thing so I guess I'm just going to keep 12-tabling turbos.
Now that the $11 and $22 non-turbos 180-mans aren't running I just don't know what do with myself. I don't know, maybe I'll move to Korea and start working on my StarCraft skills. Glgl.
There is nothing inherently wrong with playing tournaments on Stars. That is, mind you, how I got my start in professional poker. My current problem is one that I've been dealing with off and on for the last few months. The problem can only be described as game-selection purgatory.
I don't have the financial cushion I had previous to my staking transition so I am trying to mitigate the variance in my schedule as much as possible. Since I'm not playing cash this week that means high-volume turbo sessions. I am beginning to understand why the turbos are popular but I'm stuck in tiny, tiny stakes until I have posted positive results over 1,000 games (the number my backer set as reasonable sample size).
My problems are further compounded by the fact that I can't transfer Holdem Manager or Table Ninja to this ancient Mac. Without these programs it's fairly difficult to put in the volume needed to negate the variance of any one turbo tournament. Futile endeavors are kind of my thing so I guess I'm just going to keep 12-tabling turbos.
Now that the $11 and $22 non-turbos 180-mans aren't running I just don't know what do with myself. I don't know, maybe I'll move to Korea and start working on my StarCraft skills. Glgl.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Turning Stone
About a month ago my new backer asked me if I wanted to play some events at Turning Stone Casino outside of Syracuse, NY. I said absolutely and immediately went back to doing whatever I was doing, thinking that the chances of the trip coming to fruition were very low.
A month later I was playing in the Empire State Poker Championships. My tournament results were not what I was hoping for, to say the least, but the trip as a whole was a great experience. The five Flux team members that attended the events ( the 2 gentlemen that run things and 3 horses) got along fantastically but couldn't be from more different upbringings.
With that said, I'll take this opportunity to describe our team to the best of my abilities. These descriptions will only be brief intros but will give you an idea of how contrasting the personalities were.
In the aforementioned group of five we had: an ex-Starcraft nerd (you're still my boy, Dino), a talented bowling coach from Bermuda, a man who I call my friend but is simply indescribable, a hard-dancing Canadian, and me. I'm completely normal, obviously.
I think I speak for everyone when I say it was good times all around. Our results weren't as mind-blowingly good as we had hoped but I think we learned a ton and are all encouraged moving forward. Furthermore, our backers were treating this trip somewhat like a promotional trip for Flux so none of the buy-ins would have gone to makeup anyway. It would be kind of hard to complain about a freeroll...
I'm re-learning turbos this week so interesting post-flop situations will be tough to come by. But I do plan on posting some interesting spots as they come up and talking a bit more about Turning Stone and my upcoming poker trips. Glgl.
A month later I was playing in the Empire State Poker Championships. My tournament results were not what I was hoping for, to say the least, but the trip as a whole was a great experience. The five Flux team members that attended the events ( the 2 gentlemen that run things and 3 horses) got along fantastically but couldn't be from more different upbringings.
With that said, I'll take this opportunity to describe our team to the best of my abilities. These descriptions will only be brief intros but will give you an idea of how contrasting the personalities were.
In the aforementioned group of five we had: an ex-Starcraft nerd (you're still my boy, Dino), a talented bowling coach from Bermuda, a man who I call my friend but is simply indescribable, a hard-dancing Canadian, and me. I'm completely normal, obviously.
I think I speak for everyone when I say it was good times all around. Our results weren't as mind-blowingly good as we had hoped but I think we learned a ton and are all encouraged moving forward. Furthermore, our backers were treating this trip somewhat like a promotional trip for Flux so none of the buy-ins would have gone to makeup anyway. It would be kind of hard to complain about a freeroll...
I'm re-learning turbos this week so interesting post-flop situations will be tough to come by. But I do plan on posting some interesting spots as they come up and talking a bit more about Turning Stone and my upcoming poker trips. Glgl.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Introduction to the one, the only, whiteyslacks.
Before I begin chronicling my mostly vertical journey through the micro and small stakes, I feel like I should tell everyone about myself and explain the reasons I have for making this blog.
For the time being I'm going to refrain from using my name but my screen name on most poker sites is whiteyslacks. Until recently I was grinding out a modest living playing $4/$11/$22 180 man, non turbo tournaments on PokerStars. I also played large field, mostly small buy-in mtts (multi-table tournaments) with the occasional Sunday majors thrown in. This has all changed recently since I was forced to switch backers due to liquidity issues on certain sites. The change has been great but the transition hurt the real life bankroll considerably. For this reason I have been playing 50NL cash and am in the process of moving to 100NL. I miss the tournies but my cash game is strong and the variance is not quite as soul-crushing. The fact that non-turbos are filling very slowly these days due to the mass migration to turbos has also kept me on the 6m cash tables most days. I'll be talking about my progression through the various games in future posts but at this juncture I think it would be good to explain my motivations for writing about my personal grind.
Mine is an essentially selfish desire for this blog: I want to get much, much better. By writing everyday about how I am struggling in certain areas (this does not mean bad beat stories) I believe I can inoculate myself against my own biases. It's my belief that these biases are what most frequently keep good players from becoming great players. Too often poker players convince themselves that they are much better than they are and thus lose the ability and/or desire to work on their games as diligently as they should. Poker, now more then ever, is constantly evolving. Any player with a static, or worse yet, absent approach to development, will be left telling bad beat stories to those who will listen as they look for real jobs.
Secondly, I simply want to provide an accurate portrayal of a small stakes grind. PAD and HSP have introduced the world to the tiny segment of poker players which are the super high-stakes grinders. I'll be joining those guys in the nose-bleeds soon enough but, in the mean time, I'm going to show the world what a real grind is all about....
In the next few days I'll be talking about the very interesting trip to Turning Stone for the PokerStars Empire State events and hopefully have some interesting spots in 100NL to throw out there. Good luck.
whiteyslacks
For the time being I'm going to refrain from using my name but my screen name on most poker sites is whiteyslacks. Until recently I was grinding out a modest living playing $4/$11/$22 180 man, non turbo tournaments on PokerStars. I also played large field, mostly small buy-in mtts (multi-table tournaments) with the occasional Sunday majors thrown in. This has all changed recently since I was forced to switch backers due to liquidity issues on certain sites. The change has been great but the transition hurt the real life bankroll considerably. For this reason I have been playing 50NL cash and am in the process of moving to 100NL. I miss the tournies but my cash game is strong and the variance is not quite as soul-crushing. The fact that non-turbos are filling very slowly these days due to the mass migration to turbos has also kept me on the 6m cash tables most days. I'll be talking about my progression through the various games in future posts but at this juncture I think it would be good to explain my motivations for writing about my personal grind.
Mine is an essentially selfish desire for this blog: I want to get much, much better. By writing everyday about how I am struggling in certain areas (this does not mean bad beat stories) I believe I can inoculate myself against my own biases. It's my belief that these biases are what most frequently keep good players from becoming great players. Too often poker players convince themselves that they are much better than they are and thus lose the ability and/or desire to work on their games as diligently as they should. Poker, now more then ever, is constantly evolving. Any player with a static, or worse yet, absent approach to development, will be left telling bad beat stories to those who will listen as they look for real jobs.
Secondly, I simply want to provide an accurate portrayal of a small stakes grind. PAD and HSP have introduced the world to the tiny segment of poker players which are the super high-stakes grinders. I'll be joining those guys in the nose-bleeds soon enough but, in the mean time, I'm going to show the world what a real grind is all about....
In the next few days I'll be talking about the very interesting trip to Turning Stone for the PokerStars Empire State events and hopefully have some interesting spots in 100NL to throw out there. Good luck.
whiteyslacks
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