My One-Year Anniversary on Twoplustwo

[davelin]

Tomorrow is my one-year anniversary on the boards so I thought I’d share a little bit about my online poker “career” and what I’ve learned in the past 365 days. It’s been a long road since these days link . For those of you who have been on the boards for awhile, I’d recommend going back and reading your earliest posts. Quite humbling let me tell you…

I started playing online around the fall of 2003. I deposited a few hundred dollars, played some 2/4 and 3/6 limit, a level much over my bankroll and skill and pretty much immediately got cleaned out. Of course that didn’t stop me from re-depositing but this time dipping my toe in the low-stakes no-limit games. I remember back then having a VPIP almost around 100% thinking that it’s only 50 cents to see the flop and had the potential to double up if I flopped a monster. I actually had some decent short-term results but it was only a matter of time until my bankroll dwindled to nothing. From then til the end of the year, I was in a cycle of depositing, cashing out some winnings if I had gotten lucky, re-depositing, going broke, re-depositing, etc.

Sometime in early 2004 I finally hit an upswing and was able to maintain a semblance of a bankroll. From like March to August I played about 30K hands of NL50 at about a 3BB/100 clip. Just goes to show that anyone can get lucky for a hand number of hands and the long-term is truly long-term.

Somewhere at the end of those 30K hands, I experienced somewhere around a 100BB downswing so I made the decision to move over to limit because I believed (incorrectly) that my swings would be lower in limit. I didn’t start at .50/1 but instead at 1/2 because it was the same “stakes” as the no-limit game I was used to. At around this same time I discovered twoplustwo (not sure exactly how) and spent a ton of time reading, thinking and posting on the boards. It’s totally true, you’re going to get much better posting and reading other’s hands than posting your own hands. I hope some of the advice I’ve given out here has been helpful (or at the very least not detrimental).

I want to give a special shoutout to my bro Grunchcan who’s been very helpful to me on these boards. I still remember a PM he send to me that really encouraged me to be more active on these boards.

Just a few things I’ve learned in the past year –

1) Low pocket pairs are under-rated
2) Slowplaying is over-rated
3) Put your opponents into two categories: those who fold too much and those who do not fold enough. Punish each unmercifully.
4) 4-tabling while surfing por….er…twoplustwo is a great way to spend the evening
5) Rakeback and bonus whoring is the bomb
6) I still get upset when someone hits their 2 or 3-outer against me on the river
7) I check my account every 20 minutes still to see if my bankroll has gone up or down.
8) I’m a wuss, I haven’t ventured any higher than 2/4 on Party
9) I still don’t use 85% of my reads
10) I love limit cash games and NL tourneys. I hate NL cash games and limit tourneys.
11) Check-raising is more a matter of position rather than hand strength in limit (thanks Btspider)
12) I play too tight pre-flop
13) I fold too much post-flop

[@bsolute_luck]

HAPPY BIRTH..er..ANNIVERSARY [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] glad you've learned a lot from your ealier days so i can suckout on your knowledge! glad you to have you as a micro-poster.

[car ramrod]

congrats man, I enjoy reading your posts.
Your list of things learned are very close to mine, so maybe we are on the right track.

I just finally got to playing 2/4 though, so your doing better than me. Are you looking into 3/6 6max?

[TripleH68]

Thanks. Enjoyed reading your post.

At first I played way over my bankroll also. Actually it was more like way over my head.
Currently I also play too tight preflop and fold too much postflop.

Especially like how you mention that playing poker and surfing 2+2 is a great way to spend an evening. I agree.

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
I just finally got to playing 2/4 though, so your doing better than me. Are you looking into 3/6 6max?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the goal. I've played about 7K hands of .50/1 and 1/2 6max. Still trying to get used to the new level of play. I've taken a momentary detour through 1/2 9max, I find those games fun as well.

[shadow29]

14) Poker is gay.

[tiltaholic]

hey man.
congrads on your accomplishments and gl for the future.
i am in a similar boat and am still too chickensh[/i]it to fully commit to learning 6max.

[GrunchCan]

Welcome to the forums.

Ha, just kiddin'. Happy anniversary. You've long been one of the best strat posters in micros. Keep it up.

Thanks for the props.

It was great reading your post, and seeing how you've benefitted from these forums. I started reading and posting here this past month. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this environment, which I think is perfectly suited to teach this fascinating game to those who are willing to put in some work, listen to criticism, and challenge others' opinions. Your post reminds me what a gold mine this place is.

[Wetdog]

Congrats on the year. I just started playing a year ago, so You're way ahead of me. But you already know that.

You have taken the time to explain things to me in a way that makes them perfectly clear to this age and substance addled brain of mine, and I want to thank you. Good luck in moving up and maybe you'll be taking on Barry, Chiau, Doyle et al in another year. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]