I'm a Blogger Now!

Actually, that title is misleading. I have been a blogger before. What feels like a lifetime ago, I would actually blog on a daily basis. This was before I got married, had a baby and stopped drinking. Now, I simply change diapers, feed the baby, and think about drinking. For the longest time, I really thought I would never blog again, simply because my life was so different than it was. Frankly, I was completely miserable, and I thought that was what made my blogs so interesting. In reality, it was me bitching for 400 words. Now, my life is somewhat normal. I work for a sex toy company, I play poker online, and I produce a podcast that stars my wife answering questions about extreme sexual interests. Ok, so my life is not completely normal, but I am finding that playing online poker is very normal.

Last night I played in the Twitter Poker Tour. This was my 5th or 6th entry into this weekly event. The usual amount of players is anywhere between 25-40 players, each buying in for $5. Not a huge pay day to the winner, but its nice for all your Twitter friends to get together and play some poker. I look at it as one more way for an online community to become more of a community.

Last week was by far my best showing in the tournament, coming in 5th place and winning about $17. The bottom of the money, but still in. I played the short stack strong and steady for the last 30 minutes of my game after building a decent stack early on. This is my typical play of winning early and calling off my stack and finishing just in the money. It's not a good system, but it keeps me from going broke.

Last night was the second event of the season and the first one on Poker Stars. Now, let me be frank, I hate Poker Stars. Daniel Negreanu is one of my favorite poker celebs, but for some reason, Poker Stars has never been profitable for me. Every 2 weeks I look at the TPT as the most expensive tournament I play in, simply because it always follows this pattern:

1. Tweets start popping up about the #TPT reminding me that its Thursday.
2. I deposit the minimum $25 on Poker Stars and sign up for the #TPT
3. I get home and sit down to play a little on Stars to reaclimate myself to the software.
4. I lose $19.50 in about 15 minutes playing with AK vs QQ. (yes, it is always that hand, the suits occasionally are different, but it is always those particular values)
5. I go back to Full Tilt until 9pm.

Last night, there were about 35 entrants in the tournament, I came in a whopping 23rd! Way outside the money.

Here are the holes in my play from last night:

1. I raised with 3-5 off suit whenever I had it.
2. I did not get the proper values with the strong hands I played, simply because of my never-ending fear that my very strong hand is second best.

Let me explain number 2 for a second. I have been trained by online poker to assume that every single hand, the nuts are out there. Someone was dealt the nuts to every hand, and all I can hope is that they folded pre-flop. When I flop a straight, check it, then the board pairs, I assume that someone just made their boat. This could also be because I play a lot of Omaha, and that scenerio is much more likely in that game, but either way, I always fear the nuts. So, that is my goal for 2009. Don't fear the nuts, they are not always dealt, and they if you don't get the value for your made hands, you are throwing away money. I cannot afford to fear the nuts.

Be well my friends,

Nick