4 weeks, 3 days playing poker with a bloody sore ankle

Just a run down of the last four weeks playing full time low limit, its long and self absorbed so ignore if easily bored!

I’m sitting at the PC firing of a mail to somebody or another and I get up to enter the living room where the apprentice is about to start and the missus has a nice cuppa waiting for me. Suddenly my right leg shoots out in front of me and extends well beyond its designed longitude (which isn’t that far as im a bit of a short arse) and I feel a searing, burning pain in my ankle as I tumble over and catch my first glimpse of my assailant, a bright pink ‘little fairy scooter’ gifted to my young daughter on the occasion of her 4th Birthday only a week prior to this viscous unprovoked assault.

I dust myself down and mutter something about ‘b’stard scooters’ to a confused looking wife who enquires about ‘my trip’ before we settle down to enjoy 60 minutes of Alan Sugar snarling and sneering at 16 self infatuated egotistical ponces leading up to the magic moment when he finally declares to one of these tools ‘your fired, you F*&%*ng slag!’ in his best Ray Winston voice, but all through the show there’s a dull ache in my foot. I awake the next day and there’s still the nagging pain and I head of for work, where I spend half the day stamping my foot on the ground (not a good idea really) and complaining to anyone who will listen that something just isn’t right with my ankle. I decide to walk home (3 or so miles distance, smart I know) and not far from home my ankle just gives out on me and I take a spectacular tumble sideways. I guess my foots numb and I can’t properly feel the damage because I walk the rest of the way home and even manage to make dinner that evening.

I can’t sleep and am in an awful lot of pain, after many trips to the doctors and Selly Oak hospital I’m told the good news. I have ruptured my Achilles tendon and strained the ankle ligaments, 8 weeks of my feet basically. And I’m due to go to Florida in two weeks with the family, crapola.

I’m very depressed and having to crawl everywhere until I get my air cast is pissing me off no end. I share my trouble with Mr Moves (UK Pokernews editor Paul Sandells) who cheers me up by suggesting I could give pro poker a try for the duration. I know I should work on my writing or find something meaningful to do with my time but balls to that, here’s my account of four weeks playing almost full time at low stakes.

Week 1 Summary

I’m going to play almost exclusively on poker room because I love the structures on there. Also it takes me a while to get the correct feel for an online room and I think it will hurt me to keep chopping and changing as I will be playing for such long periods, there will be exceptions of course. Mainly for the H.O.R.S.E on full tilt which are very soft and re-buys for the weekly majors on Star’s and Party.

I do think that each online room by there choice of graphics, structures and marketing campaigns create a ‘general’ overall style of punter and I think poker room being from Scandinavia is one of the loosest . For example I have never really enjoyed playing on poker stars because I have always felt too many players are trying to play good poker! Sod that when poker rooms full of scandie nutters!

There’s not much of a bankroll in my poker room account, I have just with drawn $3,000 for the wife to get transferred into travelers cheques for the impending holiday so I’m going to have to run good with my $50 left in there! I’m not going to play much above my usual comfort zone of $5 - $10 entry’s but will try to satellite higher.

I have said this before but will restate it, I am a low limits player and I don’t care who knows it. I’m comfortable at the levels I play, I enjoy the games and can beat them with ease. I have multiple bank rolls on different sites a large number grown from nothing. When times have been hard often a decent poker win has got us through, and all at stakes I can afford. This is something to be proud of not ashamed off.

Too many people feel the need to inflate the level they play at and it’s a mystery to me. I don’t find anything noble in playing for huge stakes and find it annoying when someone slates the lower limits with a quote like ‘well at .25/.50 you can’t read play properly’. It’s no wonder people get caught falsifying hand histories and lying about there level when this is the prevailing attitude (This reminds me of an incident that happened on Blonde many moons ago). On occasion no matter what level your playing at opponents will play like tits an reduce the game to a succession of 60-40 flips, but some times on even the lowest limits games your table will be full of players committed to playing there best poker.

Now when I say I don’t find anything noble about playing at nosebleeds stakes that does not mean I that they I don’t find the desire to climb to the highest level’s admirable. I believe the people who have the drive to climb like this are different to me, they are totally committed to playing at the highest level and will probable reach there goal because poker is there life. This is one of the most common traits in those that reach there goals, they are totally driven to reach them because they have little else to focus on because little else matters to them. I on the other hand have a family and career away from the tables so my outlook is simple and obvious really, I ensure I take what I want from the game. And I don’t let it take from me more than I am prepared to give.

Anyhow, I get off to a really good start as I discover a new series of WSOP qualifiers running on the site called pocket qualifiers. These $5 stats are in differing poker disciplines that include PL Omaha Hi-lo (PLO8) and seven card stud (7CS) and qualifying secures a ticket with which to buy into a weekly $30 +5 event that pays entry into WSOP minor events. Theses tickets can also be used to play normal $30 + $5 sit and go’s. I quickly formalise the plan to attack these qualifiers and try to run up some good cashes in the $30 events, I registered quickly and was quite surprised to see the tournament because its quite rare to see PL08 on poker room as they mainly play No Limit Hold’em (NLHE).

It quickly becomes apparent that the standard of play is abysmal and most of the players are NLHE regulars giving PLO8 a spin. I treble up on the third hand (the first I play) when I call a pot sized bet from under the gun along with the rest of the table! I was holding A2 56 with the nut flush of clubs. The flop comes 4,8,3 with two clubs, UTG ‘pots it’ effectively committing himself with an over pair, jacks! Another player moves all in with pocket kings! and a third calls with an A-5 low! A club falls on the rivers and I scoop a four way pot eliminating three and I have effectively already earned my first ticket! I use the ticket and manage to cash second in a $30 ten man sit and go and the balance is over the £150 mark in no time!

I notice the 7CS tournaments are very poorly supported during prime hours and most of the time they are barely making the 7 players to pay the guarantee. I still can’t sleep because every time I move my ankle wakes me so I start playing these at night. On occasion there where as little are two other players meaning that there is $20 overlay most of the time. The other players are bit novicey at the game and I win two or three tickets this way expending very little money doing so and turning one into a second in a $30 shorthanded sit and go for about $45, disappointing return really.

I play and come second in a $5 H.O.R.S.E tournament on full tilt for about $50 and I play the $3 rebuy sat to the party and rebuy three times before hitting some luck and good cards. I win a ticket to the weekly $210 after many hours of struggle. I then Waste $6 on stars in a sat for the Sunday million. Play a bit on Blue Square after discovering $100 I didn’t know I had in my bookies account, think it was part of a prize from a free roll I came third in.

Week 1 Guestimate Totals

Full tilt + $45
Poker Room + $170
Party -$12 + $210 ticket.
Blue Sq +$10

Week 2 Summary

Week 2 starts on a Sunday and I’m playing in the Party Poker blue riband event, I double up early holding AQ on a A Q 10 board no suites when my opponent reraises me all-in. Pretty sure he has not flopped the nut straight and call to see Q 10. The starting stack’s are bigger than usual at 5,000 and the clock slower at 20 minutes but this does not seem to affect play.

I’m playing very laggy as often seems to become my style the higher I play. Not sure why this happens to me but it always seems to work as there is just so much scared money playing. I approach it much as I would a free roll and am quickly among the chip leaders. That’s the funny thing about the satellites you would think that the further you progressed the more bad players would be eliminated and the better the standard of player would be, but it’s just not the case.

I guess this is why all the top players are super lags, big buy-ins are populated mostly by small stakes players who have sated in and are now playing scared and desperate to cash. I again learn why im not a top player as I continue to push and push once too often and forget how to apply the brakes. I Cut my stack in half and from then on I play terrible poker, get lucky for a while than re-raise a guy who I had noted had the goods everytime he made a move, quelle surprise he has it this time also (don’t know why I did it) and I’m out in some non descript bubble-ish position.

I continue to do well in the pocket qualifiers and then begin to play the other WSOP step 1, 2, and 3 sats (see below for how it works) in an attempt win a seat to the $650 + $50 final held on Saturday’s and Wednesdays.

WSOP Stage 1 $1 MTT buy in, 1 seat in stage 2 for every 7 dollars in the prize pool
WSOP stage 2 $7 MTT buy in, 1 Seat in the stage 3 for every $50 in the pool
WSOP stage 3 $50 MTT buy in, 1 seat in the weekly WSOP super satellite for every $650 in the prize pool

I win a $50 ticket and at 3am I’m awake and notice a qualifier for the weekly final coming up in half an hour. I’m tired and want sleep but notice no one had entered yet, I keep and eye on it and with five minute to go there is only one player registered and with one $650 seat guaranteed I jump in. Shortly after another player registers but then amazingly no one else does! HOLY OVER LAY BATMAN! $50 entry 3 player’s with a $650 + $50 guarantee. I eliminate one player early in a AA KK coup and then just lean on the other player till he cracks and I wake up with AK to his A rag. Lovely $650 seat won, I miss the midweek qualifier and will be flying to Florida on Saturday, Oh well it will keep. I also use all the money in my Blue sq account to play a GUKPT for Brighton (although I will be in Florida that week!). Play like a tit and exit early.

I have run my account on poker room to about $600 but then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the tide turns and I run about as bad as you can. It’s horrible it really is, well you have all been there so I won’t bore you with the details. At one point I manage to go 30 STT’s without a cash and decimate my roll back down to about $150.

Week 2 Guestimate Totals

Full tilt + $30
Poker Room up to $600 then swing down to $150, win a $650 WSOP main event ticket
Party no play
Blue Sq -$109, play a GUKPT qualifier for Brighton (I will be away that week, don’t know why I do these things)

Week’s 3 and 4 Summary

We arrive in Florida and I won’t be able to go out much due to the leg, walking in the cast is painful and I was so embarrassed being wheeled around at Gatwick and Orlando airports that I won’t be using the chair we hired. Also feels not quite right expecting the missus to wheel me around sea world all day in +100 heat with 70% humidity. Thankfully we have a PC with high speed connection so on with the poker.

I do ok week’s 3 and 4 probable up 300 or 400 dollars winning a cannonball along the way. The cannon ball comps (speed first 6 levels then back to normal) really suite my style and are a lot of fun, I play the beginning and end stages of MTT’s well just tend to get bored in the middle, a big leak in my game and probable extremely common cause of underperforming.

I quite enjoy playing poker all day and then going out to one of Orlando’s many eateries at night. I can heartily recommend Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant and the best ribs in the world at Tony Roma’s! I manage to hobble around Disneyland and enjoy Seeing Becky having fun but overall it’s a bit crap. Quote of the day over lunch in some horrible Disney world canteen, ‘What should be queue 45 minutes in searing heat and crippling humidity to do next?’

On Wednesday I play the poker room WSOP $650 qualifier I had won a ticket for previously, early doors I get my ace’s busted and have the mega fecking hump. Post the hand for analysis but leave out some of the details, I played the hand poorly and sometimes have trouble admitting it to others. Something I want to work on, need to be honest with myself although one argument is that by leaving out specific details you know you made a mistake but I personally feel I’m trying to deny what happened and this means I’m more likely to make the same mistake because I have not truly accepted my own culpability and fallibility. Any way I am soon over it as we head out for a dinner at pizza uno’s which is the best damn pizza in the world, you can take a fat mans word on that!

Summation

I was really bored after two weeks of poker and started playing poorly which made a bad run much worse. I enjoy poker but don’t think I would want to do/be equipped it full time because it quickly becomes a job like any other and required tremendous discipline.

I made $600 in two weeks and won a $210 and $650 seat which came to nothing in the end! I guess if I moved up levels I might win less % wise but probable more money overall, with the drop of in win rate I have seen as I moved up levels (90% ROI at $5-$10 tournaments became -30-40 at $30-$50 and beyond) it would put extra strain on my boredom and tilt control mechanisms.

I might be able to make a living at the game but again I don’t think I want to and it has been a relief returning to work.

Final Guestimate for all 4 weeks

Full tilt + $90
Poker Room +500
Party +20
Blue Sq -$109