Rhymes with Joker

On Second Thought

In the light of day, last night's idea seems not to be a very good one. I wouldn't mind going to Vegas to play a bit, but the stated reason—try to talk Harrah's into a dealer audition—seems so tenuous that really doesn't make much sense to base an entire trip around that.

So, I'm back to my original plan, which is: nothing. I'm exaggerating—a plan of sorts is coming together—but it's incomplete so I haven't moved on it.

One correspondent (SirFwalgMan) suggested that computer programming meets a lot of the requirements I laid out in my post from a couple of days ago. This is something I hadn't considered. I'm the right age to have spent a lot of time on various projects in BASIC on the Commodore 64, and at that time I would have said that being a computer programmer is what I'd have wanted to be when I "grew up." It was even my major for a time in college. But I haven't thought about that as a career in a long time. Still, I don't dismiss it.

Another correspondent, Pokerdogg, gave me advice that was more in line with what I wanted to hear, and did it in such an eloquent and well-reasoned way that I was planning to build a post around the chat even before we were done talking. I asked, he's okay with it, so here it is.

This will be pretty heavily edited. I'll take out some of the irrelevancies; I'll fix some typos; I'll rearrange the order of certain statements where points overlapped; I'll combine short statements into long; and, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I might fix the punctuation. Still, this rendering will be quite faithful to the chat that actually occurred. I'll probably sum up at the end.

If it's not obvious, "LG" is me, and "PD" is Pokerdogg.

LG:

Read my post from about an hour ago, and tell me if I'm right in the head.

PD:

Hi LG, just read it. First off, a big congratulations! Winning a tourney is not easy, and sounds like you really managed your game well to win this thing. I don't think there is anything wrong with your head at all, and I am happy you feel excited again and are thinking of future plans.

LG:

Heh, that was a little too diplomatic . . . it sounds like there's a big "but" coming . . .

PD:

BUT . . .

PD:

Sorry, couldn't resist.

LG:

Heh

PD:

Actually, it's really great that you are feeling this way.

LG:

It just sounded way too much like How to Make Friends and Influence People, sugarcoating criticism with a layer of praise, so I was bracing for it.

PD:

Now, my question is, how badly do you want to make a go at this and succeed?

LG:

At the dealer thing? Not that badly. But it provides an income in a field I like, even if the job is still a job, and allows me to return to Vegas, which is something I want.

PD:

No, I mean playing poker for a living.

LG:

Oh, at the poker thing? Yes, that's the thing that I can some up with that seems to best fit me. But I'm currently not +EV, I believe.

PD:

I know the dealer thing is a bridge. From what I've read from your blog, I think you can be +EV, and have the intelligence for it. The main problem, from my perspective, has always been bankroll, and secondly, patience.

LG:

I have weaknesses that do manifest themselves in my game, but I agree that I should be +EV. I've never been properly bankrolled for midlimit, and I agree patience can be a problem for me. Pressing into $15/$30 a couple of years ago, for example.

PD:

You obviously have some game, or you wouldn't have won these tourneys multiple times.

PD:

OK, here is what I think, straight from the heart:

PD:

Job 1, you need to build a bankroll. Job 2, you need to work on your game. You need the support of family and friends in this building stage. So, here is what I would do in your situation.

PD:

I would take the winnings, whore the hell out of various sites' deposit bonuses; grind out a bankroll to about $10k. This is doable if you stay at home for the next six months. This gives you time to work on your game, at no higher than $2/4, no exceptions. Once you have this bankroll, go back to Vegas, try to get a dealer job, and start playing with tourists. This is definitely doable; I grinded up my bankroll to about $6k in six months, while being −EV at poker, and I was working full time.

LG:

The missing element here is "Job 2." I'm a bit stymied on how to get my game from where it is, to where it needs to be.

PD:

Well, there are quite a few ways to do that. Reading is good, analysing your game with mentors is also good, or practice using simulation programs (although I get bored with that, myself). I think your post on AK is a great way to learn.

LG:

Heh, I wish it had generated a response.

PD:

Well, you could post at some poker forums; there are some good players that are helpful. Or, just read others' posts; you can learn from those.

PD:

I hope you don't mind me asking, but are there any issues staying with your folks for the next six months?

LG:

Probably not, if I have an actual plan, but without one, yes. And they'd have to buy into the plan, which with poker, would be an issue.

PD:

You need a business plan. It would be a tough sell, but there is a way to do it.

LG:

The business plan idea is good, but I'm hung up on the "improving my game" part. I'd want something to put under that category.

PD:

How do you best learn? Is it through books, peers, mentors, trial and error, video?

LG:

Probably 4, 1, 2, 3, 5.

PD:

OK, that's good. You already do 4 all the time; what about 1? What books have you read, and which have you reread?

LG:

One of my favorites is Miller's Small Stakes Holdem, which has often been my bathroom reading. I took it with me to Manistee today in case I busted significantly before Gil. I've read a lot of books once, because Gil buys them all, but SSH is one of the few I've gone over a number of times, because (as I posted yesterday) Miller's explanations resonate with me. I own Super/System 2, and Harman's limit Holdem chapter is better than I expected, but it's only a chapter. I'm not sure I actually own any other books.

PD:

I am reading Secrets the Pros Won't Tell You. It's really good, and I think it will help your game a lot.

LG:

I'll have to look for that one (which means suggest it to Gil, and he'll immediately buy it, and then I'll borrow it). The title makes it one I'd skip over, myself, so it's good to hear a positive review.

PD:

Now, that's good thinking. I'm about a third of the way through it, and really made me realize some of the things I'm doing wrong.

LG:

That's a good thing to hear. Miller made me look at the game differently, which is why I like it so much. I think before Miller my game was, "play good hands, hit the nuts, get paid," and the online game has toughened to the point where that's no longer enough.

PD:

I like the way he (and the co-author) breaks down the problems. They start each section with some high level concepts, and then break down into more details tidbits. It's short and concise, good bathroom reading book.

PD:

Can I be brutally honest, speaking from very little info except what I gleaned from your blog?

LG:

Since you're not an asshole, yes.

PD:

Heheh . . . I think you need to treat poker more seriously as a job, which has all the bad trappings of a regular job. I noticed that when things run well, you don't keep going. Again, this is from the blog reading, so I might just be misreading. You need to put in the hours every day, 5 days a week.

LG:

I don't disagree with you. When I was playing $3/$6 all the time, if I had a good "morning" I wouldn't put in an "afternoon," but I usually would if I'd had a bad morning. This had the effect of giving me a stop-win but no stop-loss.

PD:

Exactly. The nice thing about poker is it's flexibility, but that's also its pitfall. You need to say to yourself that you are going to spend x hours each day in playing, and y hours in reading and thinking about the game.

LG:

On the plus side, I always did put in the hours. I think I only took three or four days entirely off, the whole six month period. But I would often do Y at the same time as X, while doing X on autopilot. That's not ideal.

LG:

My thought if I was in Vegas [as a pro], is that my "morning" would be online and my "evening" would be live.

PD:

I am actually playing only one table at a time now, to improve my game, even though it slows down bonus clearing.

LG:

Yah, I'm currently working off a free $40 PartyPoker gave me. I probably have about 50 raked hands in, of the 400 I need. At 50¢/$1, they rake 50¢ at $5 [pot size], and the average pots are only $6–7.

PD:

. . . So, get this book, Secrets the Pros Won't Tell You, by Lou Krieger.

LG:

Oh, it's Krieger? He was at Binions once when I was there, recording a radio show. Man, he's a sleazy-looking character.

PD:

LOL, really?

LG:

Yah, he's kind of greasy-looking, and when someone went up to talk to him, he had the most fake get-away-from-me-you-fuck smile I've ever seen.

PD:

That's too bad. But, he does write well on poker. Probably his best known book is Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner.

LG:

I'm not positive that I've read that, tho' I've been through most of Gil's library, up to this time last year.

PD:

It's pretty good, similar to Lee Jones' book. It's one of the first books I read.

PD:

So, anyway, back to THE PLAN.

PD:

I would suggest taking your $700 winnings, and spend some time bonus whoring. There are lots of sign up bonuses that you can do.

LG:

Yes, although a lot are hard to work off at micro stakes.

PD:

Some of them can still be worked off at $1/$2 easily. Two-tabling, you can earn $15/hr easily if you break even. There are bonuses that can be cleared at 50¢/$1, also. So with that approach [and another I've edited out], you should have $2000 by the end of September. Then, you can sell that to your folks, if you keep records, and project that for the next six months.

LG:

That seems reasonable, although I'd have to get my folks to buy into the plan, since it's dialup here, and they already complain that "I'm on the phone all night."

PD:

Hmmm, that won't work; you will have to invest in ADSL or cable. I guess you should use part of your winnings to secure a high speed line—got to invest in the infrastructure.

LG:

My dad said he's planning to get cable, including cablemodem, but he hasn't moved on that front for nearly a month, I assume because he feels it would mostly be for me to "waste" my time.

PD:

Well, now you can pay for it; a gift to him.

[]

[A bunch of stuff deleted about the phone company and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]

LG:

Hey, I should ask; I've been planning on using much of this conversation in a blog post, do you mind?

PD:

No problem.

LG:

Heh, I was just bailed out by the turn; he really had a hand.

PD:

A dollar saved is a dollar earned!

LG:

No, I mean the turn gave me top and bottom pair, instead of just bottom pair, top kicker.

PD:

Ahh, that's even better; more dollars earned.

LG:

He raised late, I called with A5♥ in the big blind, and the flop was ragged (with a 5). I checkraised, and he folded to my turn bet.

PD:

The turn was an Ace?

LG:

Aye, so it probably looked to him like I'd flopped a set.

PD:

Or, AA made a set on the turn; he might even fold KK there.

LG:

I would have three-bet AA preflop, but he wouldn't necessarily know that.

PD:

Some people like to smooth call AA to a preflop raise. I've been stung too many times by that lately.

LG:

Well, I can see an argument for that, but on balance I figure that preflop with AA, I'm way ahead, so I want as much money going into the pot at this point as I can arrange. Also, it's hard to play 72 like they're Aces, if you don't play Aces like they're Aces.

PD:

True.

LG:

Most likely, in the hand in question, he had something like KQ.

PD:

Yeah, or a mid pair. Was the flop all rags?

LG:

Yes, but a straight was a possibility, and a straight draw a near-certainty: Something like 568.

PD:

Yeah, that's a scary board.

LG:

Heh, I'm looking for the hand history, and I found one where I folded preflop and would have made the wheel. Ahh, here we go:

LG:

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LordGeznikor [ Ah 5h ]
[UTG] folds.
[EP2] calls [$0.50].
[MP1] folds.
[MP2] folds.
[LP1] folds.
[Villian] raises [$1].
[Button] folds.
LordGeznikor calls [$0.75].
[BB] folds.
[EP2] calls [$0.50].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 7d, 5s ]
LordGeznikor checks.
[EP2] checks.
[Villian] bets [$0.50].
LordGeznikor raises [$1].
[EP2] folds.
[Villian] calls [$0.50].
** Dealing Turn ** [ As ]
LordGeznikor bets [$1].
[Villian] folds.
LordGeznikor does not show cards.
LordGeznikor wins $6.

PD:

Yeah, I would fold lots of hand to your turn bet. With your checkraise on the flop, I could be drawing dead by the turn.

LG:

Considering his likely holding, yes. It had to look like I'd flopped a set.

PD:

Yep. Anyway, time for bed.

LG:

Aye. I'm currently thinking I meet Gil for lunch tomorrow halfway between here and there, discuss my idea and yours. Yours is clearly the saner.

PD:

Cool. There's a higher probability of success, much higher.

LG:

Yes, although I'm not thinking I'd turn pro when I get there [on $700]. But it'd be a gamble just to go out there and rely on my charm to get me a job.

PD:

You can still do that, six months from now, with $10k in your pocket.

LG:

That's clearly the saner idea. The chief advantage my idea has is that it lets me do something right now.

LG:

Wow, there was just a $35 pot, at 50¢/$1. It ended up being split between two flopped straights.

PD:

Wow

PD:

OK, good night, and let me know what you decide to do.