DanChile's journey into the adventures of Poker

2010-03-14

This is my 1st ever attempt at writing a blog, inspired by Queen Bee's challenge and I hope you enjoy reading it as I have in writing it.

Let me begin by saying that Poker is a world wide game phenomenon.

Our simple game has exposure to the masses comparable to big ticket sports like soccer and golf, and is as widespread and popular as those examples. If you haven't heard of poker in general even as far back as being a small child then I guess you've either recently arrived from the moon or were raised in wilderness isolation something akin to Antarctica.

Having said this, my journey began in earnest midway through 2009.

I had known of the game for years and even played a handful of social games with friends along the way here & there, but I decided to have a real go at it after seeing alot of the media ads on TV and magazines with relation to Joe Hachem and Daniel Negreanu (the "Pokerstars".

I started playing Hold'em in April via Pstars.Net playmoney tables to get a feel for the game and attempt to learn it.

It's true what is said of the game, minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.

Whilst enjoying myself at these playmoney tables I heard chatter about "freerolls". After doing some investigative research I upgraded to the PStars.Com software a month later in order to have a go at these freerolls I’d heard about, as well as to try my hand at the other poker disciplines that were available like stud, razz & omaha. Suffice to say I was having a thoroughly good time learning, playing and interacting with other like minded players. Even though it was for playmoney chips, competitive spirit and the will to win was ever abundant, intoxicating the experience and playing sessions, luring me back time and time again to the tables.

Over the course of the next six months, I managed to build a playmoney bankroll of 5 Million chips. At this point I said to myself... this is too easy, I have it down pat!! (yes... I also laugh at that too now), even though to date, I had not been able to make the final cut in the freerolls (best effort was in the top 200). And so I decided to try some "real cash" games.

My first tentative deposit of $50 on PStars evaporated in a flash, gone in a weekend. It disappeared faster than smoke from a cigarette dissipating into thin air!!! Sitting in my chair looking at the balance screen in the software lobby I thought.... Damn it!! WTF just happened??... I was only playing the 1/2c, 2/5c and 5/10c tables?!!?!?! Thus I learned quicksmart, seasoned with a moderate dose of anguish, that cash games are played downright tighter and rock solid than your loose/aggressive, calling station, utterly reckless playmoney tables. Annoyed, frustrated and head pulled in I thought lets try the freerolls again, exclusively though this time since I don't wish to lose my cash so quickly again. Thought of including some of the other poker style variants in my freeroll schedule this time as well to mix it up a little.

It’s now October and straight away in that month managed to get 5 tickets to the WR2 (weekly round 2) freerolls from 8game, razz, HORSE, stud and stud hi/lo tourneys. Even managed 1st place in three of them (woohoo!!), and yet the satisfaction I desired from winning a ticket from the PStars NLHE freeroll still remained elusive to my endeavours.

November rolls by and I thought I was the ducks guts again... ready to take on the world. I had a few WR2 tickets up my sleeve so I ended up staying up late on a couple of Saturday nights and made the top 200 again but that's as far as I ever got to in the WR2 Hold'em freeroll. Along the way during the month I also invested (word used loosely there) a couple o' hundred dollars into the other game styles but managed to only tread water for a while with some highs and lows but always bottomed out eventually. After this happened I felt compelled to relegate myself to the micro 10/25/50c SNG's and MTT's both turbo and standard, hoping to somewhere and somehow get lucky and get to a final table with associated cash's.

December pretty much travels the same way the previous month did, managed to achieve a few FT's but nothing to satisfy the drive that fuelled me. Still dedicated to be better, beat the online competition and achieve at least a good starting cash BR for 2010 I thought to myself there has got to be a better way to approach this. Then one day googling "poker" I discovered a lifeline and enter the pokernetwork forum.

There is software out there that helps your game!! Books to read!! Strategies to study and adapt to!! Table position means something!! OMG, what more is there to discover?? Blinds can be stolen!! Pot odds and Implied odds!! Hole card have strengths!! Gee whiz... I was truly hooked now. For the final two weeks of the year, rather than play I studied and absorbed many useful tips, strategies and advice from the various online forums available. I must admit that I have always loved a challenge and really... can you find a better challenge that tests your skills on such a dramatic scale that basically means its you Vs the entire world?? lezz do diss!! bring IT ON.

So since the beginning of 2010 my game has improved to the point where I have been able to regather my initial deposits and cash them out by playing cash games only, both 6max and full ring. Managed to do this mostly via NLHE but also through the 8Game, Razz, Stud & 5card draw games.

In January this year I also found my player stats listed on "officialpokerrankings.com" and though it gave me a little joy, in reality to be rated at better than 20% only of the global online tournament market made me realise I should stop playing these tournaments until I developed an improved approach to tourney play aspects of mid to late stages in the tourney.

Since this point in my journey, I have decided that I will not deposit any more cash into the poker sites. Rather than use my own money, I thought it would be a wise and prudent strategy to improve my tournament game against large field freerolls (usually ranging between 6K to 15K players depending on which site I am playing on) to build the necessary experience and skills required to be a successful poker player that actually wins cash on a regular basis as a sidenote to playing for the sheer enjoyment factor. During this time I have also dedicated myself to researching, obtaining and absorbing what I can from poker literature written by the greats of our game.

Which bring us to the present. I've been able to improve my tournament skills to the point where I regularly finish inside the ITM bubbles of large field freerolls, usually inside the top 100 spots. When I win a few dollars this way I then turn around and continue to play the cash games with the winnings so as not to lose touch with my cash game skillset and also observe & learn from other cash players as I flicker between the stake levels. In this manner, my BR's across a few sites have grown from virtually nothing and continue to grow (with delight) as I continue to play our simple game of poker we all love with varying degrees of passion, commitment and enthusiasm.

To date my Journey has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride... but I look towards the future with optimism and a degree of hope that someday soon I will be good enough to represent my love for this game locally in a highly respected, arduous and competitive arena such as the ANZPT/APPT & also my country to the world stage against the best our globe has to offer overseas in the PCA, NAPT, LAPT, EPT and WSOP, WSOPE.

In closing, to all of my fellow players and enthusiasts, i wish you the ultimate best when playing our game of poker. May the occasional low's inspire you to bounce back with fervour and regain your winng edge. May the high's let you reach out and touch the stars, and most importantly, continue to buoy your dreams long into the future.