From Blackjack To Poker

Been a long time

2008-06-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody. Well it turns out that I don't make a great blog writer, as you can tell from my complete lack of updates for nearly three months!

To be honest, I haven't had a lot of time to do as much poker related stuff as I planned. I went and got a job you see. This wasn't quite what I planned as I was look forward to some time out, but an offer came along that was simply too good to pass up. And, best of all, after the first few months it's going to be a part time position!

So I've pretty much put my assault on the poker world on a back-burner until then. I have been playing a bit, trying out a few different sites and different types of game and it has kind of got me hooked. But I'll be patient until I can have a real crack at it.

The majority of my bankroll is preserved - I've lost a little bit on poker and a little bit more on my old friend blackjack. I try and stick my head into my Harringon Books reasonably regularly as well.

So bear with me, I will be back and the plan is still similar - just a bit delayed. I'll probably post periodically with some news about what and where I'm playing too, so please keep checking back.

Cheers for now!

It's time!

2008-03-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Had a busy week with non-poker related stuff, but have still been doing a bit of Harrington reading.

I've made some decisions anyway so for any of you remotely interested, here goes.

I'm allocating roughly half of my winnings to be my "Official Bankroll", so $5,000. I've deposit $500 onto Bodog, which is where I'm going to start playing. I got a fifty dollar instant bonus too, so I'm in profit already!! Not sure this will last for long though! I'm going to start with some $5 tournaments and see how I get on. I'm out tonight so wont get to start til tomorrow, when I shall keep you all informed about my progress.

Starting Bankroll - $5,000
Money on sites - Bodog, $550
Money in account - $4,500
Total current Bankroll $5,050

Cracking on

2008-03-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

I've read some more, and I think I'm starting to get a (basic!) handle on things.

I'm itching to play now to be honest, and I think it's going to be sooner rather than later. I watched the game I mentioned on Wednesday and it was really interesting. I'm not sure the standard was particularly good really - I certainly don't think I'd have been hugely out of my depth playing. There were only a dozen or so people playing, and some of the hands being shown down really surprised me, based on what I've been learning so far.

I have a few plans this weekend, so probably won't be doing much poker related. But I'm going to have a think about which site to start playing at, and what to start playing. I think I'm leaning towards tournaments rather than cash but I'm still not sure. Also need to have a bit of a think about what stakes to play -they'll definitely be pretty low though!

I plan to make a decision by next week, so expect to start reading stories of abject failure soon!

The Learning vs Playing Debate

2008-03-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been reading. A lot. Web stuff and my Harrington book. My head is starting to hurt.

One piece of advice I've had from a few places is that I need to play as well while I'm learning as it will help it all sink in.

So last night I had a few friends over for a game of cards. They all play online quite a lot and have regular home games too so I was obviously outclassed. But to be fair to them, despite the fact that we were actually playing for money, they did try and help me out a bit. When they weren't after my chips that is.

We played three tournaments and I wasn't first out in any of them, so it wasn't all bad. But it was a bit difficult to try and remember everything I've been learning and actually put it into practice. So I guess what I've been told about playing while learning makes sense, a more gradual learning curve is perhaps called for.

I'm going along to a local pub tonight with a couple of mates. There is a weekly poker game at the pub in some kind of national poker league. I think I'll abstain from playing tonight and perhaps just watch and soak it up, but I might get tempted!

I'll update tomorrow, hopefully without tales of embarassing failure!

Weekend details

2008-03-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

I'm fully rested and ready to update you all on my weekend, and fill in a little more background detail about what I'm doing.

You may recall (if you don't just read it again!) in my first post, that I mentioned I won a bit of money soon after I'd been made redundant. Well that "bit of money" was actually £5,000.

Shortly before Christmas, I joined The VIP Card Club having been referred by a friend of mine (thanks Martyn!!). They run a prize draw each month for new members, and I qualified for the draw at the end of January, and won it!! Five thousand pounds!! Luckily I didn't get the money straight away (as I think I may have been inclined to deposit a big chunk of it online and probably lose it playing blackjack!!) I had to wait for a cheque. It was while waiting for the cheque that I first started thinking about what to do with it, and that's when the whole poker thing came up.

I spoke to the guys at the VIP Card Club about what I was planning to do (I even offered to write my blog for their site, but was politely declined! Although I have asked them to link to it as I would like a few more readers!!) Anyway, they were pretty helpful and gave me a few tips and pointed me in the direction of a few other places to read up stuff.

I got a call on Friday from them, explaining that they had a space this weekend on "Sky Poker Boot Camp" and would I be interested in going. They'd run some kind of promotion to give away this ticket and the winner had had to pull out at the last minute. Lucky for me! Of course, I accepted and went along on Saturday morning.

Now this was a course for exisiting players who were looking to go onto the next level, so I was a little bit out of my depth. I kept a low profile and tried to take everything in. Some of it was bit much for me, but most of it made perfectly logical sense. The trainers were fantastic, including a couple of professional players who everyone seemed to know but me!

I had to miss the tournament on the Saturday night as I had a prior arrangement, but was back Sunday morning for the second training session and more of the same. Slightly disappointed to miss a chance to actually play for the first time, but I may have embarrassed myself anyway!

All in all a fantastic experience. I fear it may have come a little too early for me to have taken full advantage of it but a lot of it has lodged in my brain and I'm sure having so many things verbally explained to me will really help. So thanks Sky Poker, thanks VIP Card Club for a great weekend.

Now, I can actually start with the book, although that seems a little boring after being trained in person by professionals!!!

Interesting Weekend

2008-03-09T15:19:00.001-07:00

I never got round to reading Harrington at all this weekend.

I've just got back from Bristol, where I've spent the weekend on a poker training course! Completely unexpected, but what a learning experience.

I'm absolutely shattered as I've just got back.

I'll fill in the details tomorrow.

Time to start reading!

2008-03-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Harrington on Holdem Volume I has arrived. It's a big book!!

It seems that's my next few days sorted ploughing through this weighty manual. I've done a bit more browsing on the web and read up on some basic strategies and, specifically, bankroll management.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be right for me to start at the low stakes at work my way up. Given the sort of bankroll I'm going to be starting with, I don't think I'm going to struggle "playing with in my 'roll".

Once I've read this book I should hopefully have Volume II to get through so it's going to be information overload I think!

I guess I'll then have to start thinking about where to play to start with and also which games. I've got an idea of the bankroll I'll be starting with, but I'll write more about that later.

Ok, time to start reading!!

Early Steps in Online Poker

2008-03-06T04:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've had a bit of advice so far and been browsing the web for more info and I'm taking it all in.

I've read up on the basic rules and hand rankings on various websites, and I think I'm pretty comfortable with how the game plays.

Two particular pieces of advice seem to have cropped up a lot so far,

1. Buy some poker books.
2. Learn bankroll management.

Now I don't want to overload my brain at this stage so I've settled on two books to start with (again, under advice from people who know far more than me) - Harrington on Hold 'em, Volumes I and II. I've ordered them from Amazon and Volume One should be with me tomorrow, thanks to express delivery, while I'll have to wait for Volume Two That's my first £30 spent on this project. I'm going to keep a track of how much I actually spend on this, as well as how much I lose/win.

With regards the bankroll management, I've had a little search around on the web and there seems to be plenty of informtion available about this too. I've briefly looked at a couple of articles and it seems to come down, primarily, to discipline and understanding your limits.

I'm going to spend my time today firming up on the rules and reading some more about bankroll management. I'm taking notes as I go along to make sure I retain the info - I feel a bit like I'm back out school and studying for exams but I'm taking this seriously so I may as well put the effort in.

First Post

2008-03-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Right. Here we are then.

Now I've never written for public consumption, and I've never played Texas Holdem poker. Yet, here I am, writing a "blog" about this game I know nothing about. Although I'm not sure I can quite class this as writing for public consumption anyway, as I'm not sure anyone is going to read it!

There's nothing to report really, as I've yet to properly start this little adventure. I just wanted to get the first entry out of the way.

Perhaps a little bit of background at this stage, although I'll save the details for later posts. There's three points really that have led to the creation of this blog.

1. I love to gamble. I always have, since I was just a boy. Don't get me wrong, I'm no degenerate, but I just really do love a gamble. It used to be the horses and dogs, with regular visits to my local casino. Then online casinos happened!! I play a lot online, pretty much exclusively blackjack but also a bit of three card poker and Carribbean stud. I also now do a lot of football betting.

2. I got made redundant in January. Not all bad though, as the package I received was really spectacularly generous and has given me plenty of time to mull over my future and decide what to do next.

3. While I was taking a few weeks out to relax and (vaguely) think about what to do next, I won a bit of money.

Now rather than just waste it, I decided I wanted to something exciting with it. I was chatting with a friend of my mine who plays a lot of online poker and who's been trying to persuade me to start playing for ages as he reckons I've got the discipline for it. (I'm sure he just wants to get to play against me and take my money off me) He showed me the site Pocket Fives and also showed me a few poker related blogs - mostly by people who seem to be making some money and having a lot of fun at the same time.

So I thought, why not? I'm in a pretty comfortable position for a good few months thanks to my redundancy pay. So I figured I should cut out the blackjack and other gambling and use this money won as my staking money for my poker exploits. And having read some of the blogs my friend showed me, I thought I'd make it a bit more interesting and do one of those too. So here it is.

Only problem is I know nothing about the game! So I'm putting aside the next couple of weeks to do some ground work and learn the basics, and will hopefully start my assault on the tables by the end of the month at the latest.

Well I think that will do for starters, I fear I've started to ramble!