I really don’t want to go back to work!

I’ve had two phone screens with companies near me, wanting somebody with pretty much exactly my set of skills.  In both cases I answered the questions easily, and the interviewer seemed both optimistic and interested in getting me in for face-to-face interviews.  Ugh.

It’s bittersweet; in the last month alone I’ve made more money playing poker than I’ve ever made as an employee in one month.  I understand that I’m running well right now.  I have no way of knowing whether this is sustainable.  If I had a 6-12 month track record of this kind of success I would feel a lot more comfortable, but even I know that statistically it’s unlikely.

It’s kind of funny – I had done well enough over the past few weeks that I’ve decided to spend less time playing and more time on other things.  I took about a week off, and then on Thursday decided I should go ahead and play one night.  I went to Snoqualmie and played in the 2/5 no limit game and ended up making just under $1000.  My weekly goal is $500 – and I doubled that in one night.  I promise I’m not saying that to brag – it’s nothing more than someone running good and trying to make good decisions.  And I’m a little surprised.  :)

So I have a pretty solid runway – I don’t need to take the first job I am offered – I never planned on doing that.  In fact, during both phone screens I made it clear that I would need to believe in what the company was doing before I signed on.  I wasn’t going to take a job just for the paycheck.  In fact, what I didn’t tell the interviewer was that I would be willing to take less pay for a job with a company that was doing something I believed in, over a job that paid more but didn’t bring something “good” to the world.

Anyway, I’m so close to my 20k goal – except I ended up using some of my bankroll.  Here’s the thing – in order to play 8/16 limit comfortably, I only need $8000 – which is 500 X 16, for 500 big bets.  That’s really where I spend most of my time, and intend to spend most of my time in the future.  I have more than double that in my bankroll, and because of that I’ve felt comfortable enough to play at the 2/5 no-limit tables a little bit.

So intending to stay above $16,000, I used some and bought some techie goodies for myself (a new netbook), and a birthday present for a friend’s daughter.  It feels really good to make enough money to both support myself, and also to have discretionary money to buy birthday presents and feed my geeky needs.  :)

I really like the netbook I purchased – it’s an HP Mini (I’m using it to write this blog entry).  I’ve taken it to Starbuck’s every morning to browse the web and drink coffee.  It’s tiny – 10.1 inch screen, and has no DVD or CD ROM drive.  The battery lasts 6 hours, and it’s portable enough to take with me everywhere I go.  Okay so enough about that – I’m still a geek at heart.  :)

So to round off this blog entry I’d like to explain a hand I played last week that I thought was fun.  ColdPlacePoker mentioned that he likes no-limit a lot more because you get to think about things like position and bluffs more – which I agree with.  Situations like this don’t often happen at the limit tables…

The maximum buy-in at the 2/5 no limit tables, at Snoqualmie is $300.  I actually like to buy in for $100, for two reasons:  first, I’m only risking $100.  If I bust out I can easily buy back in for another $100.  Second, I like to play a tight/aggressive game that is more natural for a short-stack.  Using this approach I tend to wait for quality starting hands and try to get all my chips in preflop or on the flop when I have a significant equity edge.  After that fate decides my success or failure.  :)

Anyway, I had bought in twice before this hand – so I was in for $200, and I had about $140 in chips in front of me.  A guy under-the-gun limps – he has about $2000 in front of him, and has obviously done really well.  4 other people limp in behind him, and I’m on the button with Ace, 8 suited (Spades).  I decide to raise to $20.  All limpers call, so there is now 6 people to see the flop with $120 in the pot.

I can’t say that I had a plan for what to do on the flop.  I had position, so I was going to make a decision after seeing what my opponents did.  That I had been the preflop aggressor meant they were likely going to check to me anyway to see how I react to the flop, so being in position may or may not help immediately.

The flop hit me pretty well:  4s, 6s, Jh

So anybody with a pair is ahead of me, but I have the nut flush draw.  To my surprise, the player under-the-gun bets $50.  The other 4 players fold, and the action is on me.  If he had something like Ace Jack, I’m almost positive he would have raised – I had watched him raise with lesser hands in that position.  Also, why wouldn’t he check to me, to see what I do?  It seemed strange for him.  He’s clearly not afraid of a raise, but if he had something as strong as a set he would want to trap me for all my chips.  It smelled a lot like a draw – could he have bet into me with a straight draw, something like 7-5 or 7-3?  He has enough chips to sneak in with something like that and bust a big pocket pair, which he might think I have.

So I have $120 behind, and there’s $170 in the pot.  Like it or not, I’m committed to probably getting all my chips in the pot – with such a strong draw, I’m not getting away from this one.  I’d love to take the pot right then and there, so I decide that there’s nothing for me to do but go all-in.

I shove, and he calls instantly.  The turn just happens to be the card I needed, the 2 of Spades, completing my flush – and as it turns out, also completing my opponents straight.  He turned over 7-3 of Hearts and I showed my flush.

He was good natured about it – he laughed and said he was happy to see the deuce, until he saw that it made 3 to a flush on the board.