Lonesome Gambler
Well-Known Member
Sure, there's plenty of forums for poker, but I wonder about the perspective of blackjack players and other APs that have decided to add solid, winning poker to their repertoire. Since my bankroll has taken some hits recently, and there are no playable games in my area, I've been focusing a lot more on poker until I can get some time to travel to some good games; I play mostly online, but I prefer live. Here's the details:
Live: $1/2NL. It's not "200NL" due to certain restrictions that force a capped buyin on these games, so you're playing with 50BB stacks. In the $2/5 game, you only have 20BB stacks, so this game can be VERY profitable with some alternative strategies, but it's too high-variance for me at the moment. So far I've had some success over a very small sample size, and I find the players in these games to be hilariously inept compared to even micro-limit online players. I've been staying away from the live games for a bit so I could focus on clearing some bonuses online.
Online: I've moved up from 10NL to 25NL and currently play between 4-8 tables a couple of hours a day, when possible. Although I generally dislike the idea of tracking software, I'd be an idiot not to use it, since the site I play at is known for solid players at the micro stakes (all of which are likely using HUDs). The other reason I decided to get a tracker with a HUD (heads-up display, if you're wondering; the little box that tells you stats like how often people enter pots, how often they raise, and so on) is so that I can analyze my stats and see a visual depiction of my "table image," which has helped a lot. It also helped to verify that I'm a reasonably solid player once I compared my stats to stats on the 2+2 forum. So now I'm just grinding the micros, clearing bonuses, and getting plenty of hands under my belt.
How many of you guys have taken some serious time to add poker to your arsenal? Are there any tips/recommendations on books or concepts that have helped you? Do you wish you could just sit at a nice shoe game instead of getting your big hands crushed by bigger hands over and over?
Live: $1/2NL. It's not "200NL" due to certain restrictions that force a capped buyin on these games, so you're playing with 50BB stacks. In the $2/5 game, you only have 20BB stacks, so this game can be VERY profitable with some alternative strategies, but it's too high-variance for me at the moment. So far I've had some success over a very small sample size, and I find the players in these games to be hilariously inept compared to even micro-limit online players. I've been staying away from the live games for a bit so I could focus on clearing some bonuses online.
Online: I've moved up from 10NL to 25NL and currently play between 4-8 tables a couple of hours a day, when possible. Although I generally dislike the idea of tracking software, I'd be an idiot not to use it, since the site I play at is known for solid players at the micro stakes (all of which are likely using HUDs). The other reason I decided to get a tracker with a HUD (heads-up display, if you're wondering; the little box that tells you stats like how often people enter pots, how often they raise, and so on) is so that I can analyze my stats and see a visual depiction of my "table image," which has helped a lot. It also helped to verify that I'm a reasonably solid player once I compared my stats to stats on the 2+2 forum. So now I'm just grinding the micros, clearing bonuses, and getting plenty of hands under my belt.
How many of you guys have taken some serious time to add poker to your arsenal? Are there any tips/recommendations on books or concepts that have helped you? Do you wish you could just sit at a nice shoe game instead of getting your big hands crushed by bigger hands over and over?
