I, the Poker Player
Mood:  vegas lucky
Topic: Poker
I took interest in poker as many new players by watching poker on television. I started out by watching Celebrity Poker and then watched the serious poker shows such as WPT and WSOP. The act of watching someone out play an opponent with a bluff gave me a rush like a basketball fan watching a basketball star making 3 points in the last .40 seconds of the fourth period. I'm not athletic or watch sporting events so this is the closest thing I have to it. I tell my wife poker must be a sport if it is on ESPN but she usually disagrees.

My first time playing NL Hold'em was at my god-daughters birthday a couple of years ago. I had no idea what I was doing now that I think about it. My first rake was with pocket eights against my buddy. I even talked smack after that hand not realizing all the characters I would eventually face playing poker at home game, casinos, and card rooms.

I started playing more often after discovering that the younger half (early twenties people) of the family were playing NL every Friday night. I started to get more poker experience but winning was not in the picture for quite some time. The first time I won, people stopped in silence as I cheered with my brother-in-law egging me on.

Eventually I bought one book and another. I have four books on Poker so far and they all are interesting reads. I'll discuss these books later. The information is priceless and it is a shame for rookies not to read these books. Why not read about it versus having to figure it out yourself at the table after losing lots of money. Save yourself the trouble and pick up a book.

Then I went online and played at PartyPoker.com. Play money games are great after the non-serious players get knocked out. I moved over to Pokerstars.com due to the preferred tourney structure. I made my first deposit of $60 which last me a good year. I never played high limit games. I only played $1 tournaments most of the time. Once money is involved, the game is taken a little bit more seriously. I even one a few or at least placed high enough to see some cash return.

I went to Commerce Casino only to get confused with live rings games. I didn't realize that it was totally different from NL home games. I continued to visit Hollywood Park casino to join their satellite games for an 8PM $300 NL game but I never made past the satellite. I played ring games after the satellite only to find I out I still didn't know what I was doing in a ring game.

I finally returned to Vegas wit new intention. I would no longer play slots, craps, 21, or roulette. It would just be poker. I mapped out all the casino tourneys for the weekend which included Luxor and the Plaza. The Luxor tourney was cheap but didn't give you enough chips to play a slow game. The Plaza tourney I found great and would return their every chance I had. Rings games still eluded me but I did take home good money after a straight flush. The poker room paid extra for that one.

I've been to Pechanga a couple of times. They have a great poker room and their weekend tourneys are cheap with plenty of starting chips. I've haven't done well in that at all. I believe it's due to my arrival. I'm usually rushing to get there after a 2 hours drive. I need to take a breather and then play the tourney. I know, excuses.

I've been doing fairly well at home games or at least placing high. I've done fairly well cheap online tourneys as well. But what makes me even happier is that I finally have a sound strategy in rings games. I've gone from 2-4 tables to 4-8 tables and NL tables. A 10-20 game is on the horizon.