Career Choices

For the last few weeks I’ve been given the opportunity to live the life of a professional poker player, to play in a WSOP event and rub shoulders with the likes of Dennis Phillips and other professionals.  I’ve started a daily routine which consists of many hours of poker each day, trying to build up my bankroll as much as possible before my last paycheck arrives and it’s all I have.  After returning from Vegas, I feel like I’ve found my stride; I’m playing the best poker I feel I can, and I’m making money and growing my bankroll.  I feel like I’m in control when I sit at the table; I let bad beats happen without getting upset, and probably more important, I’ve played very consistently, not letting anything change the way I play, whether because I’m tired or upset, or angry about something.  I recognize that I am able to achieve an hourly rate that accounts for bad beats and big wins, and I just try to play my best and rely on the hourly rate I’m able to make.  I feel that I’m playing the best poker I’ve ever played in my life.  Situations seem to be easy to handle; I don’t have to put a lot of thought into most situations I encounter.  I pretty much know what my plans are when I play a hand, and I pretty much develop a plan for post-flop play on each street.  The easy stuff is becoming second-nature, and it’s pretty rare that I’ve found myself surprised by a situation I have to spend a lot of time thinking about.

So with that being said, there are a few conclusions I’ve come to, concerning the situation I’m in.

First, I’m playing poker at the wrong time of day.  Mostly because of habit, I’m getting up at 7:00am almost daily and I’m at the casino by 9:00am ready to be one of the first players of the day.  Most of the people who play in the morning are retired men who have been playing poker for something like 30 years.  They understand the game at least as well as I, and have decades more experience than I do.  I am still doing well against these people and have a positive ROI, but I think my win rate is lower in the mornings than it is during the evenings when the players are often drunk or just want to play poker after work and not think.  My ROI is much better in the evenings.  I need to capitalize on that.  Besides, who really wants to be up at 9:00am anyway?

Second, I’m not getting a lot of tournament experience.  There’s a morning tournament every day at The Caribbean, and I usually pass it up because there just aren’t enough players to make it worth while.  It’s not that I’m passing up an opportunity, it’s more of a financial decision; I make more money at the cash games than I do at a small-stakes tournament with only 20-30 players.  If there are more than 40 players I’ll consider the tournament, but if I feel like I’m sitting at a good table where I am confident I’m going to take more money I’ll pass it up.  The daily tournament at The Caribbean is also a very fast tournament – the levels are only 12 minutes and you start with 1500 in chips and 25/50 blinds.  You generally either get lucky early or bust out trying.  Go big or go home.  So I need to spend more time on PokerStars playing in tournaments.  I need to get more tournament experience, but I want more reasonable tournaments.  I also need to spend some quality time with my two-plus-two books that talk specifically about tournament play.  I’ve read and re-read almost all of the two-plus-two books about limit hold’em, especially small stakes hold’em, but I haven’t spent much time with the tournament books.  I need to use some of my spare time with those books.

Third, I need to learn to relax.  I have the opportunity of a lifetime right now and I’m falling back into old habits!  I need to embrace this situation and live the life.  I can finally stay up late playing poker until the wee hours of the morning, and then sleep in until noon.  I really shouldn’t be at the casino until about 4:00pm.

The reality is, this probably won’t last.  I’ll probably have to go back to my web development career in order to pay my student loans off and have enough money to live comfortably.  Playing $3/$6 and $4/$8 to win 2 big bets per hour ($12 – $16) just isn’t enough.  If I can manage to build my bankroll up to the point where I can play $20/$40 AND I can still win 2 big bets per hour ($80/hr) I might be able to swing it – but that’s a dream that requires some pretty significant bank to pull off.  I can do it – I know I can, but I want to be honest with myself and set realistic goals.  We’ll see what happens.  A select few players in my situation have found themselves going from this to $100/$200 limit at The Bicycle.  That’s rare – but it does happen.  Maybe me?  :)

Until then, I have my bankroll and an emergency fund.  My only debt is my student loan, and being single I don’t have an expensive lifestyle.  I can still look for work and be selective about the opportunities I decide to investigate.  While doing that, I’m going to enjoy the life of a professional poker player.

I remember after I found out I was being laid off, I started a conversation with my Mom where I kind of tried to explain my intentions in a round-about way.  It’s difficult to tell your parents that you’re going to start playing poker full-time instead of focusing on your chosen career, especially at such a vulnerable point – between jobs.  At one point my stops me and says “It sounds like you want my approval.”  I told her, “No, I just don’t want you to worry.”  I’m probably one of the most careful gamblers I know.  I try really hard to manage my own expectations and I know very well the risks.

It feels a little like that time I parachuted when I was a teenager.  True story – a friend of mine and I decided to parachute when I was about 17 years old.  I had to convince myself to jump into a great big sky and hope the parachute would keep me alive.  I am not a very comfortable flyer – I kind of hate airplanes, so it was kind of hard to convince myself that it would be okay to jump out of an airplane!  It was a wonderful feeling floating up there above all the people with nothing but the wind and clouds.  I remember on the ground thinking that if I hadn’t taken that chance I would never know what it was like – and it was so worth it!  I have to jump now, and see what it’s like – if I don’t like it I can always go back to web development.  In the meantime I’m going to relax and enjoy the view.  :)

So I know that I owe some more blog posts about events in Las Vegas.  They’re coming!  I’m going to take tomorrow off (Friday) from poker.  (It sounds so strange to say that!)  I have a lot of laundry to do, and stuff I need to take care of at home, in addition to a home game tomorrow night with several guests.  So while the laundry is going, I’m going to sit down and add a few more posts to my trip report.  :)

A fun hand

So the following happened yesterday; I started playing at about 8:00pm, and by 9:00pm had moved up to table #1.  Right after sitting down, a couple of regular players started teasing me about luring unsuspecting players to their demise.  They were being very good natured, and well, I love hearing conversations like that!  :)

I hadn’t been at the table long; probably 20 minutes or so, but in that time I had managed to win a couple of pots with some lucky hands, so that I hadn’t yet been involved in a pot I hadn’t won.  That, combined with table talk seemed to add up to some pretty good respect and I had every expectation to take advantage of that.

So the following situation comes up, involving me (AKA Hero) and one of the players talking who teased me (AKA Villain) who seems to give me a lot of respect.  I’m in the small blind, and look down at King of Spades, 8 of Spades.  There are 3 limpers preflop, including Villain who is on the button.  Small blind folded.  There are currently 4 small bets in the pot, not including the $1 small blind (3 limpers plus my big blind).

Preflop I didn’t have much of a plan, except to see if the flop afforded me a flush draw (Spades), and fold otherwise.  I hadn’t given much more thought to my hand than that, as my expectation for King-8 suited is pretty low.  I suppose I expected to lose my blind and be done with it.

The flop comes Jack of Diamonds, 8 of Diamonds, 3 of Clubs.  I check, and 2 of the other preflop limpers check behind me.  The Villain, on the button, bets out and I suddenly found myself with an interesting opportunity.  See, the Villain is on the button and I’m next to act (the big blind).  I know that I currently have a lot of respect with the Villain, and might have just found the opportunity to use that respect.  If I raise here now, the other 2 preflop limpers will have to face the prospect of calling a bet and a raise (2 small bets) cold.  They will probably fold unless they have a great hand, in which case my coup is finished.  If they do fold, I believe I can use my table image to get the Villain to fold also.  On the turn and/or the river, if a scare card of any kind appeared, I will try to use that as a semi-bluff to scare the Villain out of the pot and win it.  I decided that if another Diamond appeared, or maybe an Ace or a King would be sufficient.

So I decide to execute on my plan and raise.  As expected, the 2 preflop limpers both fold, and the Villain agonizes over calling.  His agony made me think I might actually be ahead anyway; it didn’t seem like he had a Jack, or maybe he had a Jack with a weak kicker.

The turn was the card I needed – the King of Diamonds.  So not only did a 3rd Diamond appear, making it look like I just made my flush, but I now have 2 pair:  Kings and 8s.  This is the perfect opportunity for a semi-bluff.  As I’m looking at the Villain, I see him reach for chips so I decide to check and then raise when he bets.  I’m actually a little surprised he bet; most players who know me are a little hesitant to give me the opportunity to check/raise, but he did in fact bet and per my plan, I raised.

The Villain then started talking.  :)  He said “Nice catch; I can still beat your flush if the board pairs!”  He called my raise.  I laughed, but inside I almost wanted to faint!  He was telling me that he had a set, and was drawing to a full-house should the board pair.  The only good news is that he put me on a flush, so if the river doesn’t pair the board, my only hope to win this pot is to bet out again and hope against odds that he will fold.  Interestingly enough, he gave me a LOT of information by saying what he said.  I now knew that I was behind him – my 2 pairs weren’t enough to beat his set.  He would have raised preflop with pocket Jacks, so he either had pocket 8s or pocket 3s – and because I am holding an 8, I kind of lean towards thinking he has pocket 3s.  If I catch either a King or an 8 on the river, I have a bigger full-house but that honestly isn’t very likely.

The river is a 5 of Hearts.  It doesn’t pair the board, and my only hope is to bet out and hope he folds, which is, in fact, exactly what he does.  That’s actually kind of a mistake (in my opinion) on the river for him to fold.  The pot had become big enough I would probably pay off a player like myself with a set.  But again, I was capitalizing on my table image, one the Villain himself helped to build.  :)

After, the Villain showed pocket 8s and asked for sympathy, wanting me to show my hand but I responded that he knows I never show – of course I couldn’t.  I was wrong about assuming he had pocket 3s – he had the only other 2 8s in the deck, so had he decided to call on the river as I believe he should have, I would have had to catch a King and only a King to beat him.  Since there were only 2 remaining Kings in the deck, I only had 2 outs.  Sometimes when your hand can’t win, you have to outplay them.  :)

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