Card Dead

That big dry spell. You know, we've all had them. Those times in your poker life when you just don't seem to catch a starting hand for hundreds and hundreds of hands. I'm in one right now. I play mostly small stakes poker on Full Tilt. I'm a SNG player with some cash games mixed in when I don't have time for a SNG. About two weeks ago, I had about 4 times as much money in my bankroll as I do now. I'm employing good (Chris Ferguson) bankroll management rules. I'm not playing any single table SNGs bigger then 5% of my 'roll. I'm not playing any MTT SNGs bigger than 2% of my 'roll. No cash buy-ins bigger then 5%. And still, over two week's time, my bankroll has shrivelled up and died.

I'm used to the ups and downs of poker. You win for a while and catch mad cards, and then you feel like you never win for a while. It's a very bi-polar kind of deal (I, by the way, am Bipolar. Look it up sometime.) But the kind of dry spell I'm talking about doesn't happen very often (thankfully) but lasts seemingly for ever. If you've gotten stuck in one of these card dead deserts, drop a comment and let me know that I'm not alone.

For anyone still learning the game of Texas Hold'em (and if you play hold'em, you are always still learning it), check out Full Tilt's "Academy. It's full of great lessons and challenges that you fulfill while playing at live Full Tilt tables.

Poker from the Beginning

I've been playing poker, in some form, since I was about 13. Clearly I remember getting together with the same bunch of guys (we could never get girls to come) and playing for very small stakes. We had all kinds of crazy games that we played for money (at that time, it was daddy's money, so who cared?) There was Gut, Three Legged Memphis, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Double Draw, Between the Sheets (an especially brutal game which usually cost someone lots of money), Omaha, and, one of my friend's fathers introduced us to Texas Hold'em (which at the time, we thought was a stupid game with too little action.)

I've been playing since then. Not so much in college...we were too busy dong other things (like beer and girls). But After college, in graduate school, in the first part of my professional life, and since. I've always been able to find a group of people to play with. Some of those groups include people that I don't really know or like. Some of the groups I've been invited into by one person who then never shows up again (leaving me playing with people I don't really know.) But WHO you play with doesn't matter much at all. Playing is what matters.

Then came the invent of online poker. "Really!" "I can play poker for money on the computer??" "Is it safe? Is my money safe?" "Is it legal (the answer to which is, of course, 'no')?" I've had many casino experiences, but online poker is the ting for me. I'm not a social person. I mean, I like people ad all. I get along with just about everyone, but the pace and anonymity of online poker is the greatest.

This blog is my tribute to the greatest game of all. Some people call it a sport now (mostly because it's shown on ESPN), but whatever you call it, it's fun to watch, it's fun to talk about, and most of all, it's fun to get in there and mix it up. Whatever your stakes, come back and read often as I lay out my many tales of a lifetime of poker, my road to becoming a good (maybe great someday) poker player. Good luck to all, donkeys and sharks alike.