This turned into a long entry so broke it into two parts. Background in part 1 and hands in part 2.
I have a reader, Tilt. I checked out your blog and noticed you have been following me for a little while. Not sure how long but I wasn't the last one listed on your site. I think I added you to my list but don't know if it took.
I noticed the other blogs you follow haven't been kept up so I will try to keep mine current so you have something to read. So you can keep my ramblings in perspective, I play 50nl on the internet and 1/2, 2/3, and 3/5 NL live, mostly In Reno, NV and sometimes at Lake Tahoe. My goals are to beat these games regularly to build a bankroll and move up. I use the money I make live to pay some bills so it takes a lot longer to build a roll. Online, I have been mostly a small loosing player, kept alive by rakeback, moving to break even the last couple of months, and this month making money. How much remains to be seen. My end goal online is shooting for the nosebleeds but in the mean time I have short term goals.
I see online as the real money maker and "live" as a social gathering. My first step is to build my bankroll, then be able to cash out enough for some bills, increase my live bankroll, and finnally buy or do things l want to do. I belive I can do the fist two at 50nl. Doing both at the same time will be slow at the start but neccesary do to financial constraints. Once I move up to 100nl I should be able to move to goal 3 and 4 every now and then. A trip to Vegas would be nice and hopefully profitable. I don't know how long this will take because I want to be overly bankrolled before I take the next step. This will give me security from going broke, because even at low limits, multi-tabling takes up alot of money.
Another night another loss at the live tables. I could blame it on bad luck, and there was, but I over reacted and lost more than I should have. I think this is due to the difference between the styles of "Live" vs "Online". I play very tight online but I am a LAG at the Casinos.
I belive this comes from the slow pace, percieved skill of the players, and the macho ego of winning big pots and having a big chip stack. Obviously you see far less hands playing 1 table instead of 8 and then it is 3 times slower. Although last night I lost with premium hands, AKs, AQo, QQ, and 67s. Ok, the 67s is not a premium hand and the AQo is pushing the definition.
The slow pace makes marginal hands look good after an hour but I think the other two play a bigger role. Honestly the players suck. 7-9 players limp in every hand and if there is a raise they all call because they have money out there already. My favorite is they are getting the odds to call. This may be true for player 9, but does 72o ever get enough odds to play? So thinking I can out play them post flop, I limp or call with a very wide range.
Now my ego comes into play. I flop a hand and want to narrow the field while building a pot. I bet and half call. On the turn there is a draw so I give them 2-1 odds and they call. Now the draw gets there on the river and they bet into me or check raise me. I know this sounds like crying but are these big swings the nature of live play? The fact that they call makes it a big variance game and because of my small bankroll I have trouble taking the hits? This my be true, but what can I do to reduce the variance?
I came up with two solutions. Play passively and just check and call until I have the nuts, or play overly aggressively. Bet the crap out of the hands and don't worry about over betting because they will still call. I am leaning towards the aggressive play although it can also increase variance. I just don't want to play one way on the internet and then another live. Besides, I would loose out on alot of profits because I didn't bet.
I tried to apply my new strategy last night but I don't think I let go of the passive, low variance idea totally. In short, I bet to little preflop and on the flop so when I did bet big on the turn and river it was to late. This brings me to hand 1. Continued in part 2
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I'm assuming you are a full ring player? I've played a lot of hands online now and have only played at a casino once. I'm trying to get more experience, but haven't made trips out to casinos for various reasons. The variance of this game truly astonishes me and I question how hard it's to make it grinding small stakes live. I've learned having a small bankroll is a terrible idea, but I also understand you have to have a bankroll to build one. The easiest way for me to deal with variance is to get massive volumes of hands. I've had stretches of break-even poker where only rakeback and bonuses have kept me afloat. I usually am able to average about 80k hands a month online, and I think in a live setting that would take nearly a year if I assume playing 30 hands an hour for 8 hours a day every day for the year. If you keep getting the money in good, you'll be fine. I understand what you are going through in building a bankroll and having to constantly withdraw for the life roll; I have the same problem. I do want to be competent in a live setting and that was what drew me towards your blog as I've no experience live. I also think it's fine if you play one way online and another live, sometimes changing it up makes you a better player and it's natural to play tighter online and laggier live because of the hands seen.
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