[luckbox]

Originally Posted by No_Mercy

PS: Try playing higher stakes. It'll take you forever to win anything meaningful at micro stakes. You have a really good mind for poker at your age.

I'm a student without a job on the side. I would love to move up to where winrates would mean substantial money and the rake isn't so crippling, but for that I would need something like $5000. I don't have that kind of money, well I do, but thats for living expenses.

http://www.runitonce.com/plo/free-phil-galfond-video/ - Free Galfond video from RunItOnce

[No_Mercy]

Check out the satellite. Yah the rake is unbeatable at micro. I actually tried it out and I remember I won $10 on FT years ago as an experiment...playing 1cent 2cent...roflz! It took me a whole week. To win that I had to play incredibly tight...Chris Ferguson style. I've adopted a much more aggressive game now. It's funny when I first started I was a maniac, then TAG, and now I'm a LAG.

Studying Omaha makes Holdem so much easier. It's like playing Snookers vs regular pool. So many hand combinations, variations, and one card on the turn can alter everything. PLO is a serious game.

If I bink a big tourney I'll wire you a decent sum and back you...hehe. I dunno though. From 2006 - 2008 the games were much softer. Everybody is incredibly good now.

[luckbox]

Originally Posted by No_Mercy

If I bink a big tourney I'll wire you a decent sum and back you...hehe. I dunno though. From 2006 - 2008 the games were much softer. Everybody is incredibly good now.

This is definitely true. Back in those days I broke even in the games even though I was truly terrible. The me of 2012 would crush those games but that goes for most regulars today. Still, these things goes in waves. NLHE was around for a century without the skill level really rising at all. Then poker boomed, cash flowed in, young, incredibly bright guys like Phil Galfond, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Ben Sulsky and all the online superstars of today saw an opportunity to make major cash, worked insanely hard at poker and nearly solved the damn game. But poker won't be like it is now forever. It's booming in Asia, and when it gets regulated in America, if the US economy is steady, fish will flow in again. I wouldn't worry about the games being this tough forever.

[No_Mercy]

Originally Posted by luckbox

This is definitely true. Back in those days I broke even in the games even though I was truly terrible. The me of 2012 would crush those games but that goes for most regulars today. Still, these things goes in waves. NLHE was around for a century without the skill level really rising at all. Then poker boomed, cash flowed in, young, incredibly bright guys like Phil Galfond, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Ben Sulsky and all the online superstars of today saw an opportunity to make major cash, worked insanely hard at poker and nearly solved the damn game. But poker won't be like it is now forever. It's booming in Asia, and when it gets regulated in America, if the US economy is steady, fish will flow in again. I wouldn't worry about the games being this tough forever.

Hope you're right. I like competition, but I gotta say it's a LOT funner making money consistently. Wonder when the sites are going to allow US players again. Germans and Russians give me headaches cuz they NEVER fold. I mean I shove with the nuts and they still call...which is scary. Cuz more time than not one has a marginal hand or say JJ or QQ and you want to end it. I still get nightmares over a pretty big pot I lost years ago on FT. It was against Ionoso.

Listening to the video. He makes a good instructor. That's pretty neat, they'll analyze your plays for you if you sign up.

[luckbox]

The GOAT is back. This graph blows my ******* mind.

[No_Mercy]

Yep as I was playing in tourney the other day someone asked quoted Isildur saying that he's not going to defend his PCA high roller title because he's made more money the last three days. Got a friend in the Bahamas. Man she must be living it up.

It's the new year, does this mean you're making a return to the poker circuit!

[luckbox]

Originally Posted by No_Mercy

It's the new year, does this mean you're making a return to the poker circuit!

Going back to university tomorrow, then it's back to the grind.

[No_Mercy]

Originally Posted by luckbox

Going back to university tomorrow, then it's back to the grind.

Nice! Turbo Coops start Thursday. $27 for a $750k prize pool. Starting to play PLO now. Played in my second ever live tourney, didn't do so well...haha. Although I learned a lot. One can only call with second or third nuts cuz for some reason SOMEONE USUALLY HAS THE GOODS. It's amazing the outs two extra cards give you. Then someone came up with an idea to have 3-2-1. Three community cards on the flop, two turns, and one river. Interesting...

Have a friend in the PCAs and another making a run in the live game pro poker circuit. Inspired, but not deluded to know how extremely difficult this game is to win on a consistent basis. Finally posted a win in a 1-2 game after my hands held. Doesn't matter what kind of hole cards one gets. It has to hold. Thankfully my KK's held against an all in and another big stack who pushed me all in with his draw.

Previous hand, guy raises to $15, another calls and I get my drink and discover Alaskan Airlines. Rather than slow play I decide to 4x it. Fold, fold, scoop up the pot!

[No_Mercy]

Just watched Rounders again last night. Prepping up my return to poker in a month or so. Got several friends who are on the pro circuit. One is on a road trip playing at all the casinos in North America after having built his bankroll for the last seven years online. Another won $30k in the main last year, and a good friend is on a roll placing top 5 in two separate WSOP events! But there's also others who are stuck considerably.

Just finished Josh Duhamel's book and reading another on Omaha to refine my skills and re-evaluate my game. Thinking about building my bankroll back to where it was before and play in the 5-10 games. I despise 1-2 games. Online of course is a bit different. Playing .25-50 with multiple tables running can be the equivalent of playing one big game because you're accumulating VPP points/rake back and dragging down the occasion big pots.

Online cash games vs tournies. I'm debating.

[No_Mercy]

Made my return to poker after a month long hiatus. Lost in the finals on Tuesday, then made a triumphant return coming in 1st in a local tourney. I was the chip leader going into the finals then I doubled up one person, another, and another twice (friend/nemesis) which finally crippled my stack. Kept my cool and fought my way back.

Hand of the night.

1,500 - 3,000 blinds
Small Blind: Raises to 13,000
Big Blind: No_Mercy calls 11,500

Flop: Ad 7c 8c
sb: checks
bb: Bets 15,000

sb: calls 15,000

Turn: 9c
sb: checks
bb: checks

River: 8s
sb: Bets 45,000 (effectively putting me all in leaving me with 1k left "IF" I call.)

Tanked for 10 minutes.

After careful analysis and looking at equity, betting sequence, hand combinations, and realizing whoever won this pot would win the tourney my final decision was to trust my gut.

I called with pocket 2s putting him on Q10,K10. He had the former. Took down the pot taking em out a few hands later. Then went into an hour long heads up battle eventually taking 1st - $450 - after paying the bubble. So $420 which is a pretty good number.

Feels damn good.

Huge PS tourney this Sunday I hear.