It's the new year, so I decided I need to keep better track of my poker sessions. I suspect I'll be making enough from the game this year that I'm going to have start to paying taxes on it. It's kind of annoying that I can't just declare my net win for the year. I have to add every single winning session to my income, then deduct every single losing session. It'll be vastly easier to start tracking this in a spreadsheet right now. Since I'm doing all this improved record keeping anyway, I ...

Ok, I'm a retard. I was eligible for a freeroll tournament last week, since I'm a charter member over at Full Contact Poker . I thought it was a qualifier for the Daniel Negreanu's Protege tournament (the winner will be tutored by Negreanu for a few months and he bankrolls you in four $10,000 tournaments). I took that tournament very seriously and ended up getting 3rd (out of about 500 players). Man, that was a stressful evening. I was stoked, thinking I would go onto the next tournament ...

I made about $25 after an hour of play last night. Not too bad at the stakes I play, I was doing pretty good at both tables I was at. Multi-tabling is definitely where it's at. I tend to lose small amounts of money most of the time when I'm playing, but occasionally get a big win. Those wins cover all my losses, and then some, which is how I've kept my bankroll growing. By having two tables going at once, I get a few benefits: 1. More chances to get a big win during a play session. 2. Les...

Oh man, I'm totally nervous about that tournament tonight. I only have to finish in the top 40 to advance, but it's through a field of 400. I'm visibly shaking with nervous energy as I type this. I want to win it bad . Anyway, onto the article... Playing poker well requires a rather wide skill set. Lately, I've been thinking about those skills and how I stack up. Math skills: This is more essential in limit, but still plays a critical role in no-limit. You need to be constantly compari...

That tournament I won last week was a qualifier for a bigger one tomorrow. There are going to be 400 players and I just have to finish in the top 40 to advance. Fighting those big fields is tough, play lasts so long that the blinds start getting really huge. I'm going to have to accumulate a lot of chips early, so I'll have enough room to put the pressure on during the mid-stages. I'm already nervous. I've been doing more tournaments this week to practice. I played $2/$4 for about 15 minut...

w00t! I got first place in that FCP Protege tournament! I just had to finish in the top 40 to qualify for the next tournament, but only first place had an actual cash prize of $200. I wanted it bad. I had been working on a strategy for that structure and it was nice to see it all come together. It was great, I didn't feel like I made more than one or two mistakes the whole tournament. The last tournament I was in was pretty tough, I was short stacked most of the time. I went into the final...

I lost about $25 after an hour last night. Kind of frustrating to get so close to having enough to move up in stakes, but then to watch the bankroll shrink. I still need at least $75 more before I'll let myself take a shot at $2/$4. I wish I could say it was just bad luck, but I know I made a few mistakes last night. It was bad luck that started me out, though. I had QQ against an opponent who had A4. He paired his 4 on the flop and we got into a re-raising war (he was a loose/aggressive)....

Last time I talked about what makes a good table. Today I'll talk a bit about the different individual personalities you'll encounter. A majority of players can be classified along two dimensions: loose vs. tight & passive vs. aggressive. Loose vs. Tight This dimension is primarily about what cards a player is willing to play. Loose players tend to see a flop with a much wider range of hands than tight players. At the extreme, a loose player could be playing with any two cards. Tight pl...

I did pretty good this weekend, scored about $80 total. As predicted, the tables were great Friday night. My favorite tables are the ones where there are a lot of players that call one bet before the flop, but rarely raise before the flop. This let's me play a lot of marginal hands at a profit, like small pocket pairs or Ace-something suited. I love those hands because they usually don't require much decision making. If I have a small pair, I'll only continue with it if I get a three of a kin...

If you've been keeping track, you'll see my bankroll took a hit today. But not from poker. My wife has been on a downswing lately and hasn't really had the cash to join me at the casino tournaments. So for Valentine's Day, I gave her a small chunk from my bankroll to hers. Cash as a gift? I know, I know, it sounds like a cop out in lieu of a real gift. But it actually means a lot... she knows that there is only one thing more important to me than building up my bankroll right now and that's h...

I made the final table at the Casino San Pablo tournament again. That's three weeks in a row! I only got 9th place, but since I had to get really lucky to get there, I can't complain. Twice, I was all-in with the worst hand and caught some perfect cards. Early on in the tournament, I had taken half of this one guy's stack. On the very next hand, a big stack raised and that guy pushed all-in. I looked down to see AQ. I had the short stack covered and didn't want to play it three handed, so I p...

A ninja is not reckless. A ninja hides in the shadows and only strikes when he has the advantage. A ninja understands that late position is his shadow, allowing him to watch his enemy's movements before making a decision. He understands that early position provides no cover. Without cover, a ninja only attacks with his strongest weapons, such as high pocket pairs or other strong cards. But from the shadows, he can sneak in with more subtle weapons. Suited connectors & low pocket pairs are his...

I had another good session last night. Won about $70 at $3/$6. I was actually down about $100 for a while, but then managed to win $150 off of just one guy in two hands. He was a total maniac and was capping almost every betting round. At the showdown, the person who made the last bet shows their hand first. The other players only have to show their hands if they can beat the first player. But all that information is stored in the hand history logs. I have some software that goes through thos...

Last night was interesting. I won $64 playing $3/$6 for about... oh... four minutes. That was enough for me and I quickly logged off That's been my pattern lately, I play for a short amount of time, accumulate some cash, then log off. The one time I didn't do that, I was up over $100, eventually gave most of it back, and logged off with only a $15 profit. If I keep doing this, I'll never get a big payout. But at least the bankroll keeps growing. A little later, I got 3rd place in a $20 sit ...

I played the tournament again at Casino San Pablo and won first place! I'm feeling pretty good about my play now. Heh, there were some fun moments at the casino. I was playing $3/$6, while waiting for the tournament sign-ups, and check-raised this one guy. He wasn't very happy about it and left the table for a little bit to steam. My mentor introduced me to him later and it turns out he's the guy I'll be sharing a room with during the WSOP this summer. Well, at least we know each other now ...