Poker Wannabe: 1/8/2005 - 2004: The Year in Review

January to May--Learning the Ropes

A lot can change in a year. On January 1, 2004, I was a graduate student working diligently towards a degree. Heh, well, I was a graduate student, at least.

I had only been playing poker for about a year and just a couple of months previous I had been introduced to online poker. In between losing money playing online 2/4, I was squeaking out small wins at impressively high limit live games of 4/8, 5/10 and even 6/12 (!!!!). There was even a 10/20 game I'd been invited to play at, but I was not sure I was ready for such a ridiculously high limit.

I'd been playing more regularly, so finally on January 25 I decided to start tracking my wins and my losses. And thus the Excel spreadsheet "Poker" was born.

I ended up playing every remaining day in January, finishing up an impressive $473 for that week (and thus the month, as far as I knew). Wow! $473!

In February, I took my first trip to a casino, ever. No, it wasn't Vegas, or Atlantic City, or Las Angeles or even, say, Foxwoods. It was the Isle of Capri in Lake Charles, LA, home of the closest casinos to Austin, TX (besides the Lucky Eagle, a classy establishment that incorporates gaming trailers into their motif). Super loose and fish-like, I somehow still managed to walk away with a profit of $820 playing 3/6/12 and, *gasp* 10/20.

How fish-like was I? While perusing the trip report I sent out afterwards, I came across some quite memorable lines:

I was playing probably 60 - 80% of hands dealt to me...
I had Q9o as the button... I called for the heck of it.
Best hand of the session: early on, I have 24o UTG. Just for variation's sake, I call.
I got 23 of spades UTG. Remembering my previous success with this hand, I called.
My best starting hand of the evening was 95s.

Wow, and I mean wow. That is embarassing. Not surprisingly, with play like that, I finished the month down $700 despite my "big" casino win. I played most nights of the month.

In March I hit Las Vegas for the first time. While there I played as high as 15/30, finishing with a modest win. The month overall went much better, however, as I won $1900 overall, convincing me that I was finally a poker player. Once again, I played most nights of the month.

I hit my first live Royal Flush on April 17, playing, thankfully enough, short-handed 15/30. I raised with AhKh and the flop came QhJhTh, boom, boom, boom (that exact order, in fact). The BB who had QJo wanted to pay me off, but on the river after I bet and while he was reaching for his chips to call, I had a little premature excitement and flipped my cards over, excaliming "Royal Flush!" His chips went right back onto his stack as he folded. Just like the previous months, I played most nights (24 in fact), posting a modest win.

May would be a transition month. I would end up down a bit at the end of the month, but it was when I really put my experience to good use. One doesn't go spending 80% of one's days playing poker without learning a thing or two. I went over my records and found that I was cleaning up at the smaller and less serious games ($20 buy-in NL, 1/2 limit) while just about breaking even in the larger around town games, like 4/8, 5/10 and 10/20. Similarly, online, I took stabs at 15/30 and larger buy-in NL games and got my clock cleaned, but I was finally able to eek out consistent wins at 2/4. I really evaluated my play towards the end of May and the beginning of June and came to a realization--despite my hours upon hours of play, I was still only slightly up in live play and I was down in online play. I had to focus on playing my best game at all times, and, most importantly, be satsified with only playing games that I could beat.

June to October--Live Player Extraordinaire

The timing for my poker renaissance could not have been better. In early June I dropped out of graduate school with no job and only a few months of living expenses saved up.

Pretty much forced to win, my live play was suddenly focused in two areas--the smaller games I was dominating and casino games packed with fish. Playing a much more refined game, I did very well live, posting my second biggest winning month behind March despite playing less than half the time. When I wasn't playing live, I was playing online, and rather than trying 5/10, 10/20 and 15/30 every time I won a little bit of money at the lower limits, I forced myself to stick to 2/4 day after day after day no matter how I was running.

With PokerTracker installed, I was tracking every hand I played and reviewing all the stats I could compile. I found that my biggest losers were hands like AJo, KJo or Axs. I saw first hand the absolutely huge benefit one has in being the button--at one point after about 30,000 hands or so, I had made more money as the button than I had in all other positions combined.

I finished June firmly in the black for online play. With my live and online play combined, I managed to equal the amount of money I had been earning as a graduate student.

July and August would be banner months as I would make three casino trips--two to Vegas--in addition to my small in-town games and online play. All three trips were wildly successful, as between them I made more money than I had made previously the entire year combined. My online play continued to be steady, reliable income as I stuck to playing 2/4 religiously, three tables at a time, with now a little bit of 3/6 thrown in. July and August were my #1 and #2 winningest months of the year to that point by a mile.

August also marked another milestone. Since I was playing more regularly online (although still only about 10 hours a week), my "Poker" spreadsheet gave birth to a second page, titled "Online" to go along with the one titled "Live." I also came to the life-alterning conclusion that, "Gee, perhaps I should focus on trying to get some of these bonuses all these online sites are offering."

My live play hit a lull in September, with no casino trips planned. I played mostly online and couldn't get a streak going, and finished just barely in the black. I did hit my second live Royal Flush, however. To show how much my game improved, however, my reaction was actually the direct opposite of my reaction in May. In a limit game, I had AcKc and turned the flush, with JcTc9c on the unpaired board. My opponent was raising me, but then the river hit with the Qc and my reaction was "shit, now there's no way I get more than one bet out of him--heck he'll probably just fold."

In October I found a slew of new sites to hit up for bonuses, and about three-quarters of the way through the month I was up a considerable amount in online play. My live play was booming as well, having made two casino trips, with one more monster trip planned--a week-long road trip to Vegas and back.

We all know how that turned out.

Studying my records in the fallout, I realized that online play had been very quietly my most consistent game. Yeah, there were days that I won $700 and other days that I lost $700, but at the end of the month, time and time again, I was up a comfortable amount. Live play was much more sporadic. I had huge wins at casinos, but finally I had hit a huge loss at a casino. And if live play were like online play, I would hit a 150-200 BB downturn at some point. At 3/6 online, it stings enough, at 10/20 or 15/30 live, it could crush my spirit.

So running down the pros and cons of each, I found that, compared to live play, online play was

A) More convenient (play whenever)

B) Cheaper (no traveling expenses, no tipping, less rake)

C) Faster and more exciting (four tables at once = having a hand to play at least every few minutes)

D) Less pronounced swings, dollar wise and thus much less taxing emotionally.

Casino trips were a blast, but there seemed to be a clear and easy decision.

November and December--Online Player Extraordinaire

So after a few days off to regroup from the disasterous Vegas trip, I began November as primarily an online player. My blog was in full swing by then, so I won't bore people by rehashing all of the details, but finally playing more than 10-15 online hours a week did wonders to my bottom line, especially with my ferociously attacking any bonus I could find. Along the way, my "Poker" spreadsheet was renamed "Poker2004," in anticipation of future spreadsheets. What I had believed in March had finally come true--I was a poker player.

In December I took another step up, upgrading my computer solely for poker and moving from primarily 3/6 full ring games online to 5/10 short-handed.

Both months were tremendously successful. I would play live a total of six times between the two months--a total that was less than any other previous single month that year.

I finished the year having a won a total amount of money that was unfathomable to me on January 1--heck, on June 1.

2005 Outlook

On January 1, 2005 I was a very different player from who I was on January 1, 2004. On New Year's Day 2004, I was a loose-passive live player; by 2005 I had become a tight-aggressive online player. I had learned the beginning lessons of poker the hard way--through experience and hand after hand after hand of play. The experience has taught me well, not only in becoming a better poker player, but also in better handling life situations.

My hope now is that on January 1, 2006, I will be writing about myself as a player now as I am currently writing about myself in January, 2004. Where will I be in one year? Playing 30/60 live? 15/30 online? Broke?

All I know is this--the year will pass more quickly than I can imagine, with more happening than I could possibly hope to appreciate at the time. It will be one heck of a trip. I can't wait to get started.

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