Stupid Poker Ramblings - My First Year

[Twitch1977]

Almost A Year Of Poker

I've been playing poker almost a year now I started at the penny games on Paradise with $10 a friend gave me on the site, worked it up to about $300 and moved over to Party to get some of this rakeback everyone seemed to be talking about, with bonuses and play I got my bankroll up to $600 and played some $1/$2. I promptly lost $100 or so and dropped back down to $.50/$1 where I've barely broke even since. I usually play only one table at a time, a good month I'll squeeze in an astounding 3000 hands, time to learn to multitable I guess [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Learning to play the 2+2 style of aggressiveness has been the hardest part thus far. I'm not, by nature, an aggressive, or self confident person and learning to play in the necessary style to reflect that has been really hard. My nature is still reflected in the fact that my aggression factor numbers are backwards from most of the stat posts you see in that my aggression numbers are higher into the later betting rounds where I finally start gaining a bit of confidence in my hand. This is something that I will really need to continue fighting my natural urges on.

My concept of the value of money is slowly starting to change and my poker bankroll almost seems like virtual or play money to me now where it never did before. When I started out the thought of losing $1 on a hand of poker seemed insane to me, that's almost a cup of coffee! But now, with more play and playing more aggressively I've slowly started to get into the mindset that my bankroll is my bankroll and I need to risk it to win.

I have found poker difficult to learn, I find dealing with the abstractness, and inability to determine the proper move each time very hard to deal with. I probably have a touch of OCD, almost certainly, but I really like my things laid out, if A happens, then do B, but if C happens then do D followed by E. I think this is why Ed's Small Stack Strategy in GSIH appeals to me so much. But in poker there is no such manual, not always a clear cut answer, I feel that being forced to adapt to this has been healthy.

Since I went on the losing streak I mentioned at the start I have found it very hard to sit down to play, I expect to lose before I ever get a seat at a table. If I do manage to win 10BB or so I usually pick up and leave from the table preferring to leave on a winning note then risking having it dwindled away.

I do all the required reading that I can find time for, I try to read through hands people have posted on 2+2, I do put an honest amount of effort into trying to learn on 2+2 I tend to feel overwhelmed by people that seem to post such drastically better win rates then I have managed and that really treads on my confidence. In a world where everyone seems to be good at something, from scrapbooking to gardening to carpentry and beyond I feel left out, I haven't found my niche yet but I hope to fill it with poker, even though it's a rollercoaster it's something I enjoy and hopefully something I can some day get good at.

So as my first year closes I am happy to say it's been a winning year, not a lot of winnings mind you, but the number in PT is green and that's all I care about right now. I have slowly been pulling my stats in line with what are considered to be 2+2esque. I certainly wasn't born a great poker player but I hope I can get there through some hard work.

I can say with certainty that the biggest holes in my game have nothing to do with playing too many hands or cold-calling too often. They're the mental ones.

T