Rookie's Journal Part 5: Hands Played for (Unexpected) Values

[Still the Spank E]

Here’s something I wasn’t expecting. I played a long session this weekend—14 hours, in fact—and did well by my modest (i.e., realistic) standards. I made what amounted to $10/hour even after giving back probably $35 in the waning hour or so. I didn’t keep track of what I lost in rake or gave in toke, as I didn’t want the former to depress me or the latter to affect subsequent decisions as to how to compensate the dealers (they work hard). So I feel very on-target, goals-wise, but I then realized I had gotten something ELSE of real value to me--something I hadn’t anticipated or foreseen. Two things, actually.

I was getting respect. That is, my PLAY was. One opponent turned to the guy sitting next to me and said something like: if THAT guy’s in, you know he has something. He then said it to his buddy seated on the other end of the table and his buddy agreed. Now, he wasn’t saying “you always know where this guy is at, rock that he is,” one could tell by his tone that what he was saying was that my play was solid; that you’d better show me a hand because I’m surely gonna show YOU one. Of course, the very next opportunity I had, I intentionally overplayed AKs, knowing that I wasn’t ever going to bluff all four of the people who’d stayed in the pot with various small pairs and weak draws, and then proceeded to show them I’d been bluffing all the way (I think 44s took the pot) for the sole purpose of giving them something ELSE to think about. (This paid off later).

But the point is that I could tell—from both my chip stack and my opponents’ comments—that my game was being taken seriously. I was reading the other players’ hands well, I was making the tough laydown when called for, and I was indeed showing them hands that would take BIG hands to beat.

I’ve been writing these weekly journal entries for a variety of reasons. First, as a way of introducing myself to the forum and to enlist the help, advice, and encouragement of anyone generous enough to offer them to a rookie such as myself. (My thanks to many of you, by the way). But I’ve also had a few posters tell me that they’re finding this “my first year in the league” narrative an encouragement to THEM to get into the rooms and begin the journey I’ve begun: toward becoming a professional poker player.

There, I’ve said it! Out loud! I wanna be a pro. The lifestyle appeals to me, the game and everything associated with learning and becoming better at it appeals to me. In a nutshell, there’s nothing else I’m focused on with anything near the degree of focus or concentrated energy than getting my game to where I can someday live well from the earnings generated from the use of my mind and my nerve (I’m aware that it takes real cash reserves, too, by the way, so don’t write!); which brings me to the second surpise reward I found I’ve received—one I had anticipated, only not quite this soon.

I was the best player at the table I played for long periods during yesterday’s session. Not at all times, mind you: there were a couple of other guys who sat down at different times during that 14 hours (!) who clearly had game and I could tell that I didn’t need to tangle with them unnecessarily. But I could tell that—at this piddling 2/4 level I was (and have been) playing at—I was outplaying the overwhelming majority of the rest of the ever-changing group throughout the day.

Now, I’m not telling this in order to get anyone to tell me how I’m the man, or “good work,” or anything like that. I’m relating this sense that I got while playing yesterday as a way of communicating to some of my fellow-newbies how do-able this is! That, if you feel you’ve played poker more solid than much of your opposition only to suffer from things like bad beats, bad cards and the occassional tilt-factor that they can bring on—DON’T WORRY! Get in there and keep going back! I mean, I fully expect to have setback days in the future—both at this level and particularly when the day comes that I decide that I’m ready to move up to the next betting limit(s) (either 3/6 or, God knows, 5/10), but so long as I know that, at this level anyway, at 2/4, that I can win the majority of the winnable hands, wait out the runs of bad cards, and adjust my game to the various types one encounters at the low limit tables (e.g., passive calling stations who outdraw your pocket Kings with their 23s; maniacs who make you risk too many chips on every hand by capping everything pre-flop; and everybody in between), then I know that the combination of singleminded devotion to purpose, endless practice and study, and the humility required to put my game and its many flaws out there for the other 2+2ers to comment on and help me to improve upon will ultimately prove the recipe for getting me where I want to go.

Sure, it was only $140. Of course, I’m going to have days when I run out of the room $140 down, rather than up (more, probably), but if there was anything to recommend the value of this forum, of poker software such as Wilson’s and Acespade, of reading, reading, reading (Sklansky/Malmuth, Brunson, Jones, and others) and then, finally, of GETTING IN THERE AND TAKING YOUR LUMPS in preparing oneself to play the cards they deal out with such mechanical and unrelenting efficiency (don’t forget to tip your dealer!), I hope it is these things I’ve been saying here in the five weeks since I began these postings. I hope the other wannabes such as myself can use all this.

[bernie]

cool post.

alot of what you said/realized is a great move in the right direction to your goal.

remember this post when you really go on a bad run. not just a bad session. im talking days/weeks at a time when nothing holds up. to remember what it felt like playing with alot of confidence. those times will come when youll really question your game and ability.

that's part of the process too. actually surviving those times. that will be the test.

have a good one

b

[Mike Gallo]

Good post SpankE.

[umdpoker]

oh man i can't wait til i get to play in a casino. i have only played blackjack every time i have gone so far. i was nervous as hell the first time i sat down at a blackjack table, where strategy is cut and dry. i know the first time i sit with 9 other people i don't know, i'm gonna feel some butterflies. but i'm sure it will be a lot more fun than online poker, even if i end up losing money. keep up the good work.