Friday, May 23, 2008

Poker In May Is Proving Tough at Party

I have sort of lost my flow at the Micro Stakes No-Limit poker tables lately. I’ve taken my share of bad beats but then, who hasn’t? What I have noticed though is – and I thought this would be damn near impossible – the standard of the poker being played is actually falling.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for crap poker players coming and splashing their money around with their loose-aggressive style (for want of a better word). But it begins to wear you down when you’re on the end of some pretty horrendous hits.

The way things are going this month I’m going to record only my second losing month since I began my winning strategy that has so far taken my bankroll from $30 to over $200. The month started poorly, I clawed my way back to almost break even before I took another couple of nights’ worth of savaging. Now I’m once again slowly pulling it back but the complete noobs who chase flushes (and are hitting) are seriously starting to piss me off.

5 comments:

EvertonYorkie said...

Move up in stakes to where they respect your raises!
Using the 20 buy-in rule you are rolled for 10NL.

Damien said...

Yeah, you're right. I need to challenge myself a bit more and make the move.

epoh said...

I live in Sydney too and play on Party on the micro-stakes like yourself. First started in Nov 07 on 5NL with $100 BR, lost 1/2 my buyin in Dec before learning about poker. I was able to get back above $120 before moving to 10NL.

At this level, I could not get my BR to grow. I might win a few sessions but then get beat back over the next few. I started playing worse since it seems somebody was always re-raising with nothing. I found myself going back and forth between the 5NL and 10NL depending on my BR. It was getting to me. Kept thinking I was wasting so much time playing poker but not making any headway.

Anyway, I started dabbling in the regular tourneys and won the $2 regular one night. It finished at 4:30 am Sydney time making me buggered for the next 2 days. The most important thing this did was not the actual winnings (even though it was good) - 1) I can now play on 25NL with the BR which I found to be easier since more people take it a bit more seriously and will fold (actually a lot of tight weak people who multi-table too much - ie hit the check/fold button all the time); and 2) To increase your BR, you need to supplement cash tables with tourneys.

I found that if the grind on the cash tables are getting too heavy, the tourneys are a great way to get back the motivation to play. This is because play is more predictable and it is exciting to see yourself move up in position and into the money.

EvertonYorkie said...

Are you no longer using this blog mate?

I see it isn't in your profile anymore.

Damien said...

Yes, the blog is still live. I just haven't gotten around to updating lately. I don't want to turn the entire blog into a long rant about bad beats, but I've suffered some doozies over the last couple of weeks.

I'm quietly licking my wounds and regrouping at the moment.