I've been back in work now for nearly two months and it's made a huge difference to my enjoyment of this game as well as the quality of my play. One of the first pieces of advice most of us get as a poker player is "don't play with scared money" when I was forced into a situation where I was trying to scrape a living from playing and dealing £20/£30/£50 games every penny was scared money. playing a £30 freezeout when winning means feeding the family is no way to live. battling to get an hour dealing the £1/£2 cash game to try and scrape buy ins together. Now I'm not part of that I can't believe how sick it looks watching others do it. The long and short of it is that *I was playing too tight, afraid to commit myself with anything but the nuts and I was never going to be able to build a bankroll because if a recreational player picks up £1000 it's a nice boost to the bankroll. to me it was a couple of weeks buyins and a couple of weeks groceries
So now I pay my entry fee (anything between £30 and £200 at the minute) and I play without any financial pressure. not only can I enjoy my game but I'm free to try stuff out. I've made three final tables on the bounce and I've had to do it without premium hands. I've forgotten what AA looks like but I'm not worried. I'm also able to make some big calls I wouldn't be able to make two months ago. heres an example.
SB 300 is Blondite 'The Kid' who, for those who don't know him, is a very good player. Definitely someone I try and avoid marginal situations with.
I'm in the BB for 600.
UTG is a very nervous tight first time player. He's only played monsters so far and he limps in.
it passes round to The Kid who makes up the blinds.
I have
so obviously check.
flop is
not the worst flop in the world for me. The Kid checks and because the guy to my left is in I check too. so does UTG
turn is
and The Kid leads out for 1500. me and the UTG guy look like a mini Rock garden so he could do that with anything. I decide to speculate and call the 1500. I'm going to try and take him off it on the turn. Im happy to see the nervous guy pass.
river
The kid carefully chooses 3000 into the 4800 pot. First thought is to pass but I think about it and it doesn't feel right. This guy is one of the few people there I'd credit with making this move with no club in their hand. certainly I'd expect him to bet any pair oir any ace preflop with only me and this other guy in. It doesn't feel right for a flush because the 1500 wasn't enough if he was drawing and if the
made his flush I think he probably checks (maybe). so what else could he have? well on the turn I thought
maybe which is good for me. I was still leaning towards passing though, until he put me on the clock. I pretty much called instantly because I think if he's rivered a flush he doesn't want to rush me into passing. I think actually he's figured out I was sitting on a very small flush and was trying to hurry me into a pass.
As it happens it was the right call I think he had
although he was in seat 10 and I was in seat 1 and we were separated by the dealer so I didn't actually get a clear look. as I said, this guy is a very good player and has bet two danger cards as they've come. there's no way I'd have been able to make this call two months ago. I've been making a lot of this kind of very tough call as well as alot of tricky moves of my own. I'm playing to win every comp I'm in where it's £30 or £200 and it's very liberating. As it happens all my hard work was in vain. 13 players left I made a move on the same guys BB from the cut off. once with
and once with
both times he had
and I only made 10th for my £30 back.
I was warned right from the start that poker is a much better hobby than it is a job and generally I think that's right. unless you have the proper bankroll playing small stakes poker for a living is a horrible existence. I'm fortunate enough now that I'm in a job I enjoy enough that, even if I picked up a 5 figure win I'd keep working (big 6 figure might be different). everyone's a a pro these days, even in a £30 freezeout.
for what it's worth, my advice to anyone thinking about it is dont rush going full time. Thewy had made two EPT final tables and picked up a Sposorship deal and was still part time for six months
I love poker again
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