Wonderful World Of Poker

I started playing online poker two years ago, and how I wish I had started a blog at that time to keep track of the ups and downs, of visiting the world series of poker, of the bad beats I had suffered and the times that the river came to the rescue. Better late than never, as they say, so now I'm starting a poker blog to detail the accounts of my play.

A few months ago I opened an account at Absolute Poker with $50. Over 14,000 hands later, I'm presently sitting at a little over $300 in my account. It's not exactly enough to support myself, but at the same time I AM making money, which is why I refer to myself as a semi-pro player.

The reason I chose Absolute is because there is an abundance of new players at their site. The more newbies there are in the poker room, the fewer chances of encountering a shark, and the greater the chances are of making a little money. That's not to knock new players at all - everyone is new at some point and I don't have any WSOP bracelets (YET), but the simple mathematics are that new players are more prone to making mistakes, and if you stay sharp, sooner or later they will present you with an opportunity to capitalize on them. They're also more easily intimidated by large bets, which gives you a chance to steal the pot from time to time.

It should also be stated that I do not play ring games at all. For those who do not know, a ring game is a normal cash game. I play strictly tournaments, which is a different style of play. At this time I play two different types of tournaments:

Freerolls - Yeah, I know, freerolls are for chumps, right? Well, it is at least true that people play differently in a freeroll than they do in a game they have paid to enter. Most people do anyway. Sometimes you get lucky and find a table with people that play normally, but never in a normal tournament have I seen the entire table go all-in before the first flop, which I have seen (and participated in) in freerolls. But the value of freerolls, at least for me, is in getting more refined at gauging the statistical probabilities of my hand paying off. On that note there is a practical value in playing the freeroll, and unless I just get bored with the length of the game, I can often make a dollar or two at it as well, which is risk free money (although once you divide by the hours played it's not so attractive).

Sit-N-Gos - I've come to love SNG tournaments, much better than multi-table tournaments. Once the table is full, the tournaments starts, and you only have to outlast a small number of people to get paid. Usually the top 3 finishers get paid:

50% for 1st place
30% for 2nd place
20% for 3rd place

Usually if you get 3rd place it is a 50% increase on your buy in. For example, if I play the cheapest SNG at Absolute, it cost me $0.50 towards the pot, plus a $0.10 fee to AP, so I'm paying 60 cents total to play the game. If I come in 3rd place, I am paid $0.90, or $1.35 for 2nd, or sometimes I get lucky and hit first place for $2.25. I only play low stakes SNG at this time, and usually get paid on the game about 60-70% of the time. I attribute this to conservative play, which you can tell from my stats (over to the right), because I try to play the probabilities of the hand. They don't always work out, but as long as I make the right choice statistically, I am satisfied even if I lose. I almost never bluff, although if I have a short stack in late rounds I may make a run on the blinds from time to time.