Thank you for the kind words, gentlemen (and Zg). Nonetheless, as I did award the Hello Kitty! Vader to Buzzard, I think he's allowed to bite back a little. And yes, Buzzard, it was a very long summer. The hourly return was $26.08/hr. Four months, ~800 hours. Now, this alone is nothing to write home about. However, the approach I took was relatively unique and allowed me to play a winning game from the first session onwards, with *negligible* downswings ($125/hr variance).
So how was it done?
Pretty simple, I became a systematic ratholing bastard.
I would buy in short, play exceptionally tight (1-2 hands per hour), and upon doubling up, would cash out and move to the next poker room. I circled among 3-5 poker rooms throughout the night to work around the 1-2 hour time delay in place for buying in for the minimum again.
Such a strategy is virtually unbeatable ... regardless of the stakes. Sklansky in NLTAP concurs. At the lower limits, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Dan Harrington built his bankroll this way when he first started playing 5-10 NL. Barry Greenstein often buys in short, and speaks well of the strategy.
Essentially, you skip reads, tells, psychology, and whatnot, and beat the game with raw math (preferably with the human element at it's weakest). However, I know from past experience that I cannot convince anyone to give it a try. Even my poker acquaintances, most of which whom went broke that summer, didn't have the patience for it. On that note, I believe I have a the unofficial record for longest time sitting at 1-2 without playing a single hand:
3.5 hours.
I was card dead, and after the second hour simply treated it as any other discipline. Now some might argue the merit in this, however I recall James once telling me that early in his career, he waited the entire night for a dealer to flash a next-card Ace. Shucks, I got off easy. I only had to wait half that long for two of 'em.
(and yes, they were cracked)
But generally speaking, every hour or two I would make a small profit, then cash out, and drive to a new poker room and sit down relatively fresh with a min buy in. From this, I witnessed first hand the decline in lucidity and rationality that occurred as the evening wore on and desperation set in. I was shielded from this as I had a flexible route laid out that would take advantage of all the free meals throughout the night.
God did that food suck.
Anyway, that's the story behind my $20K summer at 1-2 poker. There is more to it, but that's probably enough for a blackjack forum, lol. On this note, if I do come across somewhat dismissive of counting, I can assure you it's not without cause. I have spent the better part of the last decade supporting myself solely as an advantage player (with the occasional sojourn in Asia), and romanticism towards any given technique begins to wane when it no longer provides a minimum standard of food, shelter, comfort, and pretty girls in summer dresses
Especially pretty girls in summer dresses.
All the best,
Syph
(ps Monkey, much to be said on this topic. Alas, I must sleep now. More later.)