Inspiration comes from past memories...

BigDragon

Last week after taking hit after hit in MTT's online I decided that I was going to leave off online poker for a while and have pretty much taken away my meagre bankroll. As I was going through some sites that I have a few $ in and I go to one in particular that has been kind to me in the past and see $1.96 in the cashier. I get a 'Deja Vu' moment and go searcing for a blog entry from 'back-in-the-day when in poker terms I was just a 'glint in my daddy's eye'. Heres the blog entry:

Wednesday, November 03, 2004
The $1.71 challenge Part 1

Not satisfied with playing in a WPT event in January I have set myself another challenge....

To turn $1.71 into $1000 dollars.

I thought I had cleared out my Victor Chandler balance, but lo and behold there is this princely sum sitting in there going to waste! I was at Catherine's brothers last night, he plays a bit of poker at home and watches it on TV so I was trying to convince him to start playing online. I told him to deposit a small amount and start at the micro limits and see how he gets on. Whether he does or not is up to him, but I am determined to show that you can start with a little and roll it up nicely. I may not succeed, especially as VC is full of novice's at the lower levels who can bust you with a multitude of suprising hands, but it will be fun trying.

I will only be playing during work, so I will be at a disadvantage as my customers must come first. However at the low limits I think I will still have an edge. Here's the plan :-

1. Take my humungous bankroll to a .05/.1 NL table and work it up to $11
2. Most people would quit while ahead with 500% profit. Not me! I will then use to enter $1 Sit'n'Go's.
3.On reaching 10 buyins for the next level of buy ins I will move up.
4.Wake up!

The First round

Shaking somewhat I found a full table and stuck myself on the waiting list and within a few minutes my hard earned wad was at the mercy of a table full of seasoned VC sharks.

My first hand was a monster. It had been raised in early position and although I was sure I had the best of it, I overcame the desire to max raise all in and clicked my 7 2 off suit into the muck.
10c down already and the blinds were coming round to me. The bullies on the table stole both and I had lost over 10% of my stack already. Not to worry, AJ next hand, raised 4x blinds and now they all fold to the new master of the table.

99 next and again I raised. Respect does not last long amongst these streetfighting players and I am called in 2 spots. Flop contains a magic nine but also 2 diamonds. My mouse hovers over max and I close my eyes and pull the trigger. When I open them I see that I now have $5.07. Dunno what they called with but I saw a diamond on the river!

Too much confidence can be a dangerous thing and a few hands later I am left teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Having raised with AQ suited before the flop and been called by two players, I was first to go on a board of A 9 7 rainbow. Before I could resist I was all in again. This time I was called by a psychic with 10 6 who hit his 8 on the river.

Now only 60c left I sat out a few hands whilst having a ciggie to calm my shredded nerves. I decided to go back and wait for AA and quadruple up. However when dealt KQ hearts my finger slipped and I was all in and my life was on the line as two riverboat gamblers called and proceeded to bet in a side pot after the flop which contained the A of hearts. Imagine my suprise when the turn and river were both hearts and I scooped a pot worth $1.94. Back into profit. Ker-ching!

KK late position, 3 limpers, ALL IN, not one measly caller - chickens.

Miss a few flops, down to $1.50

AJ - raise gets two callers, A high flop, ALL IN, two callers! back up to $4.73

Limped with 5 5 checked down by 3 others, 4 overcards on board, 5's held up.

5 8 in big blind. Flop checked giving me a free 9 on the turn to make my str8. Put low stack ALL IN. He called, now up to $7.54

Nothing for a while and the pick up AK off suit. Raise it up to .5. Low stack calls. J 9 7 flop. Bet half his chips and he called. Turn 2d making 3 diamonds. Put him ALL IN. At last someone folds a hand after the flop!

Only $3 off my target to reach stage 2. Playing poker of this quaility and against such world class players is exhausting, but I manage to hold myself together until this happened :-

A2 clubs, limped UTG. 3 other limpers and blinds see flop of A 9 2, two hearts.I bet .40 and was called by one player. Turn is 2 of hearts. BINGO. I use all my hyena like cunning and pause then check. He throws out a $1 chip and I pause again before raising up to $3. With a zen like belief he has me like a rabbit in the headlights of his 4*4 he re-raises me ALL IN. Quicker than a flash of Janet Jackson's nipple, I am in the pot and now my treasure trove stands at $15.69! I am dealt the next hand before I can leave the table and decide to see the flop with Ac 8s. When the flop comes three clubs I call a $1 bet before folding to a $5 on the turn which is red.

Enough! I said to myself, my basket is full - no need to be greedy. I left the table and made my self a cup of coffe to celebrate!

If you are able to stand the suspense, please tune in for the next episode soon......

This get's me thinking about my game and what I'm not good at. Cash games online. So I decide to use this blogger for inspiration and try building a bankroll. So I set my self a bit of a target. Not $1000 but $350 and I can only play for 1 hr on a single table. I will play NL Texas Hold'em only to avoid the swings. I am allowed 1 max buyin a night.

Why do this? Well, Im getting a bit disillusioned with online poker, even after watching Daithio take down the 50r on PS late last night. The enjoyment is gone and I am only getting a buzz from live tournaments at the moment. So we'll see how it goes.

For you newbies here that blog entry is from a dead blog by a guy called LuckyBlind who was the first decent blogger in Ireland and was actually quite inspirational to alot of newbies to poker about 2 years ago.

You may know him as antesup.com's Mike Lacey or Shortstack on boards.

Nostalgia, at my age! Suits you sir!

brianmc

Nice. I remember that.

Did the follow up episodes ever see the light of day?

fixer

"I will play NL Texas Hold'em only to avoid the swings."

BigDragon

fixer wrote:

"I will play NL Texas Hold'em only to avoid the swings."

Have been playing mostly Ommie online and the variance is probably too much for this little ass-kissing challenge.

Started on 0.01/0.02 and am 2 seeions in and I'm up to $8.44 btw.

Dub13

I used to enjoy Mikes old blog,his new one on antesup would be good if he ever updated it.You see thats what happens when you become a International Poker Journalist,you just don't have time for "the little people".

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

BigD

- hadn't read that before, very funny! I really enjoy the writing style...

fixer

BigDragon wrote:

Have been playing mostly Ommie online and the variance is probably too much for this little ass-kissing challenge.

Started on 0.01/0.02 and am 2 seeions in and I'm up to $8.44 btw.

I was surprised, since NL hold-em isn't too far down the variance scale. why not grind out some limit hold-em to build a stack?

BigDragon

fixer wrote:

I was surprised, since NL hold-em isn't too far down the variance scale. why not grind out some limit hold-em to build a stack?

Suicidal tendencies playing limit online. My limit guru has had severe psychological problems and had to restrict his limit play. The advantage of NLHE at these micro limits is that if you play ABC poker post flop you get paid off and hence I think that the swings are less than in Ommie.

Shortstack

Oh the memories

There were a few follow ups I think, the blog is still there, I got it up to $300 until I took it all to a PLO table to either reach the grand or bust, suffice it to say I bust.

The blog on Antes Up will start to gather pace again soon, I enjoy writing them but I just have not got the time to do it justice at the moment. Plus I don't really play many tournaments at the moment and writing about online cash games I find boring.

Culchie

Mike, your original blog was 'de business' and absolutely riveting stuff.

Imposter

fixer wrote:

I was surprised, since NL hold-em isn't too far down the variance scale. why not grind out some limit hold-em to build a stack?

Limit holdem can have bigger swings than NL!
PLus at the lower limits if enough muppets pay to the river you're good hands will rarely hold up and make you a profit.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

can't seem to find it on twoplustwo, but there is some sort of 'quest' on it, where you start with $50, and try to work yourself up to playing $30-$60 limit. Read it yesterday. Quite interesting. Obviously the whole $1.96 thing makes this a bit hard!

RoundTower

Inspired by this post I too decided to take $10,000 and turn it in to $1.71 as quickly as possible, starting at the 1c-2c tables. I'm at $9,992 at the moment, haven't yet decided when I'll move up to the next level.

brianmc

RoundTower wrote:

Inspired by this post I too decided to take $10,000 and turn it in to $1.71 as quickly as possible, starting at the 1c-2c tables. I'm at $9,992 at the moment, haven't yet decided when I'll move up to the next level.

When you reach a min... eh... maximum of ten buy-ins. It's all about patience!