Nothing in life is easy

I want to bring up something that has been brought about a lot in VPP but I don’t think a lot of people follow it. Nothing is easy in life, nothing is easy in poker. Lots of people who post on the VPP message boards are people who play poker as a hobby, but also try to rake in some extra money a year. As well, lots of people in the beginning don’t understand how to make money in poker. The way to continue to make money, is to play non emotional poker, play the games that you are good at, and don’t ride the pipe dream.
As I was sitting down at Full Tilt poker today, a person who had $350 at the $2/4 table said he moved up from .50/1.00 and every time he reaches 50BB he was moving up a limit. This is such a bad idea, sure it might sound good, taking a small amount of money and then keep on moving up till you are at a huge limit, but you will eventually hit a cold deck of cards, and you will go bust. You will try the experiment over and over again, and you know what you will find, you will lose more and more money.
If you read my intro post, I really started high stakes poker when I won a few $100 freerolls; then took that money and built into 1K in 2 sit and goes. I eventually lost all of it, but to me, it was easy come easy go. Instead of that people should think of poker as weight lifting, you don’t go from 100 pounds and then try 300 pounds right away. Slowly build your strength and you will eventually be able to be with the big boys.
Just like in poker, if you want to someday move up one, two, three, limits, it is best to pace yourself. Nothing is easy in life, nothing is easy in poker. You have to build your bankroll, learn new things in poker, and play better poker. If you want to move up a limit, there is no rush, it will always be there tomorrow. When you finally feel you have the bankroll, and the skill to move up a limit, test out that higher limit. Take 25% of your bankroll and see how it goes, or better yet, stick at the lower level a month or 2 more, and built an even bigger bankroll, so in case you still need a learners curve in the beginning of this new level you will have it. Just don’t jump into a new level without a proper bankroll. Remember the fundamental rule of poker, always leave yourself with outs, without outs you are dead.

Making a change

If you guys have read my posts on the message board I have had a horrible few months. After getting suck out after suck out I took a few days off from poker...... that didn’t work, I lowered limits….that didn’t work. I went to another site and bonus whored……that didn’t work. So what did I choose to do? The answer is switching games. I have been playing Limit Holdem ring games for 2 months straight with no tournaments except for VPP tournaments. And sometimes you just need a change and have fun. This month when we played Razz in the green chip free roll I had so much fun and decided to take a day and play stud and Omaha high/low. I had so much fun playing those 2 games, made a little money, and got my head straight. I came back to Limit Hold em today with a completely clear head and a new start, and whenever something bad happens to me I am able to truly laugh it off knowing that their bad play will pay off for me in the long run. I have a completely clear head, and I am having fun again. When you stop having fun playing poker it is time for a change. It is just like professional athletes who stop having fun when they play pro sports. If you aren’t having fun playing poker, switch it up. There are so many different games of poker, there are 3 different types of limits of poker, and there are ring games and tournaments. Whenever you start losing your mind in one game switch it up. Poker can either be a grind, or it can be a whole lot of fun, it’s your choice.

Monthly Assessment

How good of a poker player you are can easily be determined by one factor, how much money are you making. If you just play until you go bust, or move money around so much that you don’t know how much you are up or down, you really cannot determine how you are doing playing poker.

There are several ways to keep track of how you are doing; the easiest way is to get Poker Tracker. Poker Tracker has a ton of information that can help you become a better play, especially when you use 300 VPP points and add on PT HUD. But the biggest thing that I take from Poker Tracker is how I am doing at each level of play. After playing for 4 months on Full Tilt I realized that I was getting killed at 6 max tables (actually yielding a –BB/100). I also realized that I had a better BB/100 at $5/10 than at $2/4.

That is one way PT improves your game. Helping you determine what limit and type of tables you should play. But the goal of playing poker (if you want to make any money), is at the end of the month have more money than you started. How can you determine this if you do not keep any records?

Ever since I started to gamble 3 years ago I have kept a detailed record on Microsoft word and spreadsheet. But for the month to month assessment this is how you would go around doing it. Choose a day you want to start recording, I do it on the 1st of every month. You write down somewhere in a safe place that you won’t lose (either on the computer and/or on a piece of paper or calendar), how much you have in each site, neteller, and any other place you have money for poker. You keep track of any money that you have deposited to a bank or withdrew from a bank. Here is a short example.

Month A:
FT 1540.32
Titan 1540.10
Neteller 1850.50
Bank (withdrew money into neteller) -650.00
Add it up and that is month A $4280.92

Month B:
FT 1104.50
Titan 1650.54
Neteller 540.50
Bank (you withdrew from neteller into bank) 2,000 Month B $5,295.54
Month B- Month A = $1,014.62

Good work you are on pace for a $12,000 year. Keep doing this month to month and see if you are meeting your set goal of whatever you want it to be. If you see you are losing money each month, it might be time to lower your limits, or cut out the places and limits where you are losing money. If the goal of playing poker is to make money, you have to start keeping records. Just like at a real job when you get a paycheck each month, think of poker just like that. If you don’t you will never know how good or bad you are really doing.

The start of another gambling delinquent

Before I joined the poker craze, I was one of the best fantasy baseball players out there (in 1998 finishing 2nd overall in yahoo). When I was 19 in March 2003 I started to bet on sports, and started off very bad. After getting myself in a deep hole, I bet on the under for all 6 of the NBA Finals and won 6 bets in a row, getting myself out of the hole and very well into the green. When I went off to college, I watched less sportscenter, and the results were very negative and I actually went on a 2 month slump in football not winning a single bet. By that time the poker craze was insane and I signed up for party poker (like all the other fish) and dropped a bunch of money and absolutely hated poker. 1 year later I turned 21 and my brother took me to Atlantic City and I sat down at my first live game at fixed limit Texas Holden and I wasn’t too good and I dropped the buy in.

After watching the WSOP on ESPN for 2 years, I started to get back into poker. I played in home games at college, went to Atlantic City frequently, and I was frequently winning money. I decided to go back to online poker after getting a message from Phi Ivey on Facebook. I was in a need for a chip set, and on the ESPN poker page I saw a banner for a free poker set. I signed up for VPP and then Fulltilt Poker and started playing No Limit right away. I eventually went broke again but I was getting a little better at poker. I then got a flyer at my college for a free college tournament which was held by WPEX. I was one of the top college players there, winning the satellite 3 times, which was tied for the best. I ended up getting bad beats in 2 of the tournaments, and getting a disappointing 3rd in the other tournament winning myself $500 and an Ipod.

I then took that money and joined another VPP site Titan Poker. I took my $500, and won 2 sit and goes more than doubling my money. After playing $5/10 on WPE I decided to jump to $30/$60 Limit Holdem and made it to over $10,000 in a 3 day period. After losing some of that money, I moved up to $50/$100 Limit in a horrible bankroll management and lost everything. However while playing on Full tilt poker; I played with the big boys like Juan Juanda, Quiet Lion (Richard Brodie) and numerous good players that made me into a better player.

I then finally discovered VPP message boards and my game went from above average to good, to semi professional. I have management my tilt factor, know how to manage my bankroll (I was bound to go bust with the crazy limits I was playing), and I now get extra money from bonus whoring. But my biggest motivation to continue playing poker after losing it all was after watching the movie Rounders. After losing everything I had several times in my gambling life, one quote from the movie kept me playing poker “We can't run from who we are. Our destiny chooses us”. Most people play poker online for a hobby, I wish to in the future do it for a living for half of the year while teaching math the other half. In the poker world there is a pond of fish for any shark to eat up.