Thursday, September 29, 2005

Recipe For Success

C'mon in and see what we're cooking up today. Apologies to Roy West.

These last few weeks have reminded me that once in a while even total emus/donkeys/lemurs like myself can manage to snag part of the poker pie.

How do you get to cut your share out of that pie?

Well... many new players think success is found by watching WPT reruns and trying to bluff with T5o into a calling station because he/she saw Gus Hansen do it last night.

Bluffing IS part of the game. But probably not so much at the $.50/$1 limit Hold Em' tables. "But but but Jimmy said he wins EVERY NIGHT bluffing people off $3.50 pots!" Son, I'm going to say this one time, Jimmy is a crackhead and does unspeakable things with spatulas and sheep. Stop listening to him.

Kidding aside, why DO people try to emulate others while playing poker? Gus Hansen's success is from being... Gus Hansen, not Barry Greenstein or Jennifer Harman or Paul Phillips. Some of our higher limit poker blogger brethren have found success from playing how THEY feel they should play and what THEY'VE learned while playing. You can read about them using the links on the right.

Tight is right? It can be in certain games. Game theory guru? Yep, another excellent strategy, maybe a bit advanced and better used in middle to high limit games. Maniac facade then getting paid off with your monsters? High variance, but VERY profitable if you can ride it out.

The point is to find YOUR playing style. What good does it do if you don't know WHY a certain player bluffs at a pot? Unless you have ESP or have sat down with the player for hours discussing their play, chances are you'll go broke attempting such tomfoolery and ballyhoo. Sorry, watched Good Will Hunting on Sunday and George Plimpton never fails to crack me up to look so serious saying those two words.

Henry Lipkin, Psychologist: Now no more shenanigans, no more tomfoolery, no more ballyhoo. Ballyhooooooooooo. Gets me everytime.

So here's your recipe for poker success, jabroni.

1 Tbsp. poker books (don't read them, study them, highlight, put cute little stars next to important points if that floats your boat)

6oz. of patience (poker isn't Blackjack, you're not going to get instant gratification playing)

1 1/2 cup of courage (as stated by Iggy... stasis = death in poker, keep learning and attempting new limits)

2 slices of humility (if you never learn that someone IS better then you at the poker table, you're going to get a cold shower moving up in stakes after the lap dances dry up in lower stakes games)

Add a dash of internet resources (there's stories about lives, strategy, and how to keep the game fresh with the links I have on the right. Read them)

Garnish with 1 Gallon of Captain Morgan (that's my addition, you probably have a more refined taste like a 40oz Natty light) Its an ingredient to remind you to have fun. You can substitute anything that reminds you that poker is social even on the internet. Grinding out .5/BB win rates on 16 tables WILL lead to burnout without this.

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A big thanks to Helixx for his rockin streaming DJ show last night (start bugging him to come to Vegas though, he needs a shove or four). And to a certain poker princess for once again helping me break out of uber-rock mode. Not very nice picking off my semi-bluff though ;) Awesome job Maigrey, I was humbled!

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Since Bet365 was gracious enough to turn $10 to $170, I got an email from Pacific Poker *shudder* stating they were going to give me $5 NO DEPOSIT NECESSARY! OH MY GOD!There's no PLO8 (just limit there) so I'll be braving the NLHE games for my next attempt to turn a freeroll into my fun money for the WPBT Imperial Palace event.

Day 1 of the $5 to Penny slots fodder challenge + $22.37

Very first hand... set of tens flop four all-ins at the $10 NLHE table, I lose to a flopped straight.... but he only had .50 in his stack at the time, so I take the big side pot :)

Thanks for dropping by, I'll be at the cabin for the last time this year and wife willing, may get a couple hours in at Grand Casino Hinckley to swim in some low stakes live poker pool. Little Drizz will be handicaping the NFL games tomorrow. Drizz the Greek needs a week off to celebrate his first break even week of the season!

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