Poker Blog 77

Poker short historic

2011-06-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

In the early days was considered to resemble the Persian game of As Nas . It also presented similarities with German card game pochspiel and French poque. In 1937 , R.F. Foster wrote : "the game of poker, as first played in the United States, five cards to each player from a twenty-card pack, is undoubtedly the Persian game of As Nas."
         In the years to come , poker games were played with full 52-card decks and term such as “flush” , “draw” , “straight” became part of the game. However , poker started to grow in popularity since 1970 , when the World Series of Poker took place but it wasn’t until the beginning of the 21st century that the poker card game made a significant impact , most of it due to the introduction of online poker and hole-card camera , thus making poker a spectator sport.
        As more and more people became interested in the action and drama of the game , audiences sky-rocketed through broadcasts of major poker tournaments such as WSOP and World Poker Tour.
Also ,live audiences became more and more greater at poker events. Those who mastered the art were known as pokerstars with fans worldwide cheering for their favourite.
      Online poker spread like wildfire , people registering and playing for a chance to participate at a major poker event and have a shot at first prize or the opportunity to sit side-by-side with the best of the best. As an example , the ’03 and ’04 WSOP champions , namely Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, earned their places in poker history , after booking their seats at the final table via online satellites.

Poker More Valuable Than You Think

2011-06-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Playing poker is not only good for recreational purposes but also presents a way for maintaining levels of health. Poker is a game that is always evolving. To stay ahead of your opponents you must adapt to new styles to stay ahead of the learning curve. Learning this new information produces stimuli that can promote better health. The decisions that you make at the poker table can be translated into all facets of life. When playing cards the brain is challenged at every moment of the game. You have to solve, predict, and memorize the tendencies of other players. These actions make your brain go into overdrive causing it to become more active and alert. Poker players make and get feedback on hundred of decisions every session, which greatly accelerates the learning process.

Research shows that individuals repeat positive actions while ceasing negative actions. Poker teaches by rewarding desirable actions as thinking logically and punishing undesirable actions such as ignoring the odds and action impulsively. Furthermore, poker is a game of complex decision making. In a poker session we are given a lot of information. This could be anywhere from how long it takes the person to act to the way the poker player is sitting in their chair. With this extensive information we want to come to the correct conclusion even if it is sometimes wrong. This can equate to other parts of life where information-gathering is the origin of a correct or incorrect decision. All experienced players have made mistakes in reading their opponents sometime or another. However learning from your mistakes is one of the best ways to improve your concentration.

Mathematics is an essential part of becoming a winning poker player. Learning how to use mathematics at poker can be a little overwhelming at the beginning, but if you seriously want to become a long-term winning player you must develop and use math skills. You must learn and understand odds, counting outs and expected value. The more you use your brain for functions like this, the more successful problem solve you’ll become.

Poker teaches us to apply logic because in the end it’s just a series of puzzles that players have to figure out. So the next time you win a big pot, think about the other long term benefits of playing poker.

Play Good Poker to Aim For Higher Stakes

2011-06-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

If you practice good fundamental poker from the start you will develop habits that will help you succeed in the long run. Most players develop bad tendencies when they start out in the game at a very low level. This is due in the fact that they are playing with players that are new to the game as well. They pick up on actions and behavior of other players. Sometime these actions could be correct but other times they are inherently wrong. They may see a player hit the river and win against an opponent. They think ‘hey’ I can do that too. So they start calling bets that are against the mathematics of the game. They may win the pot that hand, but in the long run expectation they’ll loose money. To learn that game the game the right way you should understand the mathematics and consequentially pot odds of the hands you play. A solid poker player knows the general probabilities of the game. For example, they know that you have 1 in 3 chances of completing a flopped flush draw by river and 1 in 8 ½ chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair. Math skills and how they relate to poker are very vital in becoming a consistent winning player. These skills can help you not only at the penny tables but as well as higher stakes.

Discipline and other psychological factors span the game at all levels, whether that be low or high stakes. A disciplined player knows when to play and when to quit. He recognizes when he is on tilt or when a game is too juicy to quit while ahead. Furthermore, a competent player will think about what other players have while playing hands by their body language and subtle tells. This is very important information at the table that helps you make crucial decisions at the poker table. A poker player tries to answer questions and create a picture that will help them execute what they think is the right decision. Gaining experience and learning good ways to interpret what you see at the table will help you in your poker journey form low limits to higher limits.

Learning the correct way to play poker from the start can be very beneficial as you move up. Sometimes you can get lucky and win a pot. However if you’re not using and understanding poker math you will not be able to sustain winning in the long run. You must understand that playing good poker is a combination of a lot of factors. Learning correct ways to use this information will help you grow your bankroll and sustain long term positive expectation.

2011-03-05T02:42:00.001-08:00

Worst period ever

2011-01-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Since I moved to Poker Stars I had the worst period in online poker.
Total profit for 2010 is 4612$.

I'll just try to start fresh but life is so sick right now. I hope I can get over it.
I will play some tournaments but I don't expect to get in the right zone to soon.

Poker Rant

2010-12-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

Why I don't tell people I play poker

2010-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Micros - Episode 1: Pilot

2010-12-09T02:12:00.000-08:00

Endgame

2010-12-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

The Restraining Order

2010-12-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Shitty Month on Poker Stars

2010-11-29T09:43:00.000-08:00

PokerStars was full of bs with me from day one. Result after 1 month, almost 0$ profit. I played the 23$ games and I don't know after this if I should just play the 34.5$ regulary or try to see if I just had a bad run this month...stupid poker

Moving

2010-10-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

I moved to a new city this month (uhmmm old, because is actually the city I was born and grew up). But anyways, after all this years is a nice change and maybe I can get out of this mental block I'm in. I'm still waiting for my internet provider to come and set up a connection so I haven't played poker at all this month. I'm not stressing to much about this because I made 1450$ profit in just 60 games in october, mainly from tournaments.

Also, I decided to move to PokerStars. As my bankroll grew bigger ( for me at least) I started to fear the security from UB ( plus I heard some rumors about this network). I really enjoyed Cereus Network...but no further comments. I might still play there but with a smaller roll.

I don't know how PokerStars will treat me, as I know there are far better players there but time will tell.

Bellow is my Ultimate Bet 2010 graph. It includes all games. The profit is bigger due to rakeback though.

12

2010-10-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

September

2010-09-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Finished September with a 1300$ profit. I haven't played many hu sng but I managed to win two $1.5K GTD tourneys for ~500$ each. Even though it was a good month for me in regards of profit, I still failed on volume in head up sng.

The 33's

2010-09-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

August - Low Volume

2010-08-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

The actual profit is only 300$. I don't know why sharckscope shows the stats below. Anyway, in september I want to move to 33$ hu sng. I think I will do just fine in those and I have the 50 buy-ins necessary.

The same ol' story

2010-07-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

I still haven't found my concentration. It's seems I'm playing scared at my normal limits so I continued donking out lower. Probably is a bad month to gamble/play poker. At least that is what I found out watching an astrology show on TV :)

An old story

2010-07-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

The month hasn't even started and I feel I am already failing in volume and play. I feel so depressed this days (more than usual) and yesterday had 2 bad sessions at 23 $ level that made me play today some 5 $ games ( so lame ).

Also, as a late note, please excuse my grammar errors and my english in general because I am not a native speaker and never was an A grade student at english in school :)

Sweet - Bitter June

2010-06-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

It was a sweet month because I managed to make my biggest profit in a single month since I started to play poker, but I failed miserably in putting any volume. I played only 303 games and made a profit of 1122$ (115 $ from rakeback). I can say that is summer and I use 3 days a week to go fishing, BBQ or whateva' but the rest of the days I am playing I should put in 25 games a day minimum. For July, even though it may be a busy month, I will try to put in 25 games/day for 20 days. (hope I won't fail, like always).

June Graph

May Conclusion

2010-05-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

Played 417 games and made 650 $ profit ( including rakeback and some 5$ hu sng on iPoker). I played some games like a total retard and got tilted real bad by some idiots who bluffed me so huge and who always hited 2 pairs and trips whit crappy hands... Also, fish raped me so hard but I played so bad and got sucked on tons. I wonder when will my hands finally hold?? I'll take couple days to cool off and re-see some vids and read some hand history reviews. I have to do something to play more optimal and crush everyone who sits me.

May Graph

So sick

2010-05-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is so sick...Game after game i get suckout on and running against the nuts. WTF! I thought I got it but after today I sure don't. I'm so frustrated right now. I'll just quit for couple of hours but the universe just like to screw me over and over again... I'm 200 $ on the green right now and withdraw them so I can build a 1.5 K $ roll to play on PokerStars on the 33 $'s games.

Current bankroll
1.000 $

A Short Update

2010-05-19T04:28:00.000-07:00

Started May whit 1k $ bankroll ( made a withdraw of 250 $ for a personal thing) and also started playing on the 20 $ - 33 $ levels. Some graphs and stats will be posted at the end of the month. Thats all for now. Later

April Conclusion

2010-04-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

April is over and I managed to play 441 games ( 5 $/10$ ). The profit for this month is 412 $ (including rakeback), so my bankroll is now standing at 1251.50 $. I know I'm such a nit and didn't played higher than 10 $ games but in May I'll start playing some 20 $ games and see how it goes.

5 $ games played - 286 ( + 70 buy-ins)
10 $ games played - 155 ( + 15 buy-ins )

1K Games Played

2010-04-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey
I just got back home couple days ago and started playing poker again, mainly heads up sng.When I left last month to spend the Easter Holyday whit the family I had a big downswing, but meanwhile I watched some good videos and realized some mistakes I was making (ex. being a donk that I am, I was making to many loose calls out of position )

The bankroll is very close to 1k now but I started playing 5 $ again just to gain some confidence and prove to myself that I can crush them. Some may call me a nit but I'll play them for a week more and then for the rest of April I'll move to 10 $ again exclusively.

So for the last 4 days/sessions I'm up 32 buy-ins at the 5 $'s, meaning the graph took a turn and went up, almost recovering my bad play/bad luck/downswing

March Conclusion

2010-03-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't play to much poker this month. What seemed to start as a good month turned into something bad. Downswing, bad play and bad luck came hand in hand and made me lost all the interest in achieving that goal called 'more volume'. And if that wasn't enough I managed to get a nasty Trojan that fucked my laptop so I had to stay couple days without a PC. Now, even there are couple days left untill the end of the month, I won't play; I'll just chill hoping I'll make a come back and get more motivated for April.
For now my bankroll is at 840 $, but disappointed I didn't brake the 1k mark. Oh well...

February Conclusion

2010-02-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

So until now according to sharkscope I played 689 games in total whit an avg roi of 9%

5 $ games played - 244
10 $ games played - 445

This month I want to put in some more volume and see how it goes. As for tourneys goes I decided I want to play only the heads up tourneys because I got sick about the bad beats I got in the 6max and 9man formats, and also I want to improve my mtt hu game b/c I've puted aside some money so I can play miniFTOPS Event #9 Heads Up 200k GTD, and I hope I can make a ITM finish ( that will help me a lot in this stage)

February
Bankroll 650 $

February at 10 $

2010-02-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

This month I moved up to the 10 $ heads up sng. My goal on february is to play at least 400 heads up games and also try mixing some tournaments in there. In another note, I got 25 $ from YPC on Tower Gaming and I'll play some 2-5 $ hu on there to; I'm already up to 70 $ but as soon as I release the bonus worth of 75 $ I'll stop playing there as the rake is so huge ( 10 %).

Current Bankroll
400 $

Heads Up SNG

2010-01-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

Got a little tired of playing low stakes tournaments so I decided to add a new game on my list: heads up sng. I will still play some tournaments and sattelites now and then hopping for a big win but most of the days I will focus on hu sng. I will start whit the 5 $'s and hopefully I will get to 50 $'s buy in games until the end of the year.

Current Bankroll
200 $