Who like's money.......me!

Ok, here is the first post of current poker. Following is the hand history:

$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, May 31, 15:53:46 ET 2006
Table Table 107985 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: ILoveMyNuts ( $47.20 )
Seat 3: mcsoccer1010 ( $47.38 )
Seat 4: tsikatsika ( $24.95 )
Seat 6: GTS420 ( $45.75 )
Seat 2: HERO ( $57.15 )

ILoveMyNuts posts small blind [$0.25].
HERO posts big blind [$0.50].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ Qs Qc ]
mcsoccer1010 folds.
tsikatsika raises [$1].
GTS420 folds.
ILoveMyNuts folds.
HERO calls [$0.50].

Normally I would re-raise this hand preflop, but tsiktsika has been playing a lot of pots, and I figure that I can get a check raise in on a safe flop (no aces or kings).

** Dealing Flop ** [ Qh, 6d, 2h ]
Hero checks.
tsikatsika bets [$2].
HERO calls [$2].

This was such a good flop (Trip Queens), that I decided to slow play it. I'm only slightly worried about a flush draw.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Jc ]
HERO checks.
tsikatsika bets [$3].
HERO calls [$3].

If he's going to keep betting the hand for me, I'm going to let him.

** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
HERO checks.
tsikatsika bets [$4].
HERO raises [$10].
tsikatsika raises [$12].
HERO raises [$12].
tsikatsika is all-In [$2.95]

The river fills me up. I decide it's time to check raise, but how much? After his $4 bet, he only had about $15 left, so I raised enough to hopefully get him to go all-in, which he ultimately did.

HERO shows [ Qs, Qc ] a full house, Queens full of sixes.
tsikatsika doesn't show [ Jd, Qd ] two pairs, queens and jacks.
HERO wins $48.15 from the main pot with a full house, Queens full of sixes.

Personally, I think he played this hand poorly on the river. What hand am I flat calling the flop and turn bets. If this hand were played and I had the QJ, I would be worried about the flush, although AQ would be a likely holding.

What do you think?

How I Built My Bankroll (online)

First off, I've never deposited a single cent of my own money into online poker. It all started back in late 2003 when a friend of mine mention to me that I could play poker online, for free! At first I was a bit skeptical, but hey, if it's free, it's for me! As it turns out, my friend was willing to transfer $50 from his online account (Party Poker) to me, after I signed up with a referral code as part of a promotion that they were and still are running.

Now why would someone just give me $50, well, after I played 50 raked hands (hands in which the pot reached a certain dollar amount and the site took a percentage (5%)), my friend would get $50 for referring a new player who made a real money deposit (or in this case, a $50 transfer). In addition to my friend getting back his $50, as a new player, once I played 125 raked hands, I received a $25 bonus.

Not wanting to lose the $50 before playing 50 raked hands, I went and sat at a $0.50/$1.00 limit texas hold’em table ($0.25/$0.50 blinds) and played tight, basically folding 90% of my hands. By the time I had finished playing my 125 raked hands, I had won a little more than $25 dollars, giving me a bankroll of $105±.

After talking to my friend who introduced me to Party Poker, he explained how he had transferred $50 to his "wives" account to take advantage of the $50 referral and $25 new account bonuses. This struck me as the best idea ever, and I proceeded to refer my wife, sister and sister in law.

I continued playing on Party Poker, varying between $5 and $10 sit-n-go (SNG) tournaments and the $25 and $50 NL tables. After awhile I was able to work my account up to $400±. About this time (May, 2005) I came across a poker forum (www.FullContactPoker.com or FCP) which was run/hosted by professional poker player Daniel Negreanu, a.k.a. Kid Poker. It was from reading the various posts that I came across three new poker/gambling web sites (River Belle Casino, Royal Vegas Poker, and Power Player) which were offering free money for new sign-ups (although you had to meet specific requirements before you could cash out).

River Belle Casino, at this time, was not a poker site, rather they offered blackjack and slots. The promotion they were running gave new members $25 to use, with the cash out requirement being you had to gamble 5 times the amount ($125) before you could withdraw it. I started out playing $1 a hand blackjack for awhile and basically broke even. I then started varying my bets between $1 and $10, with my bankroll ranging between $5 and $30. I eventually went on a bit of a streak, running it up to $50. At this point, I had met the cash out requirement and decided to cut and run, withdrawing the entire amount to a newly opened Neteller account.

Royal Vegas Poker, offered a whooping $10 to new members. The withdrawal requirements included a real money deposit (which is not uncommon) as well as a certain number of raked hands played (100 I think). After playing for awhile in low stakes ($0.05/$0.10 blinds) no limit texas hold’em rooms, again luck was on my side. I was able to run my $10 to over $100. The only hurdle was the real money deposit. However, with my recently created Neteller account holding my blackjack winnings, I felt it was only a small gamble to cash out. The cash out process went smoothly and ultimately I ended up cashing out for just over $150, excluding the $25 I deposited.

Power Player, a poker site and Poker Room skin, was the next site I joined, and they were offering free $25 to new players. While you could cash out any winnings, you couldn’t cash out the original $25 until acquiring 1,250 power points, something I have yet to do. This site was very, very good to me and I was able to cash out a number of times totaling more than $500.

I have also played on Poker Stars and Full Contact Poker (FCP) which was launched in December, 2005. I no longer play on Poker Stars, but I still actively play on FCP and Party Poker. I have had a good run playing online and luckily have been a winning player on each site I've played.

For people who are looking to start out online, check out Poker Source Online which has good reviews of the sites as well the current promotions they are offering. Also, you can sign up to Party Poker (new players only) through Free Money and get a free $75. Check it out!

Good Luck and I hope the tables are as kind to you as they have been to me!

My first big win.

We continued playing our brand of poker throughout our freshman year. No specific details stand out in my mind about our poker games, except that T-Bird continued to make frequent trips to the ATM, or at least it seemed that way. I was never a big winner or loser in these games, but I would say that I was generally a winning player.

I'm sure everyone remembers there first big win, and I am no different. The circumstances surrounding it make it all the more memorable. It was memorial day weekend of my freshman year. It seamed that everyone on my floor was going home for the weekend and I had no plans. One of my friends, Joe, told me I could crash at his house and we could hit up some graduation parties. It was a tough decision, but hitting on chicks and drinking beer won out over sitting around by myself, although it was a close call.

We get to about our third party and what do we find, a poker game. The only problem was that I had a total of $5.00, not nearly enough to play. So I just hung out for awhile and watched as Joe and his friends played. They were playing a lot of the same games we played in our group, but others which I'd never heard of. As it turned out, I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The guy I was next to had just raked a big pot and threw me a quarter, yes that's right, he gave me twenty-five cents.

A new game was just starting (339) which called for an ante of, you guessed it, $0.25. Now I don't recall all of the particulars of this game (if you do, leave me a comment), but to the best of my recollection it was a version of 3-card poker in which threes and nines were wild with the best hand being 339. After everyone antes, the cards are dealt. Right off the bat you have to make a decision whether or not you want to play the hand. If you stay in the hand and lose, you have to pay the pot, but if you fold, you get to play the next hand. Shit, I really wish I knew how to play this game...LOL. Anyway, I folded until I got a monster hand. Remember, I only had $5 and I only knew one person playing. Well I won that first hand which gave me enough money to play more hands. By the end of the night, I ended up with $75 plus change, all from a quarter that was given to me.

I was so psyched after that night, when we got back to Joe's house I spread the money out and took pictures of it! I think I still have the pictures, 14 years later. Maybe I'll get around to looking for them and post them in this blog. I know you are probably saying "wtf, your first big win was for $75?", but you have to remember I was a poor college student, who started with a quarter!

I've had bigger wins since then, but this was my first, and much like losing your virginity, you never forget your first.

It all began......

...at Ohio University my freshman year. While I had played poker (in various forms) from time to time, it had always been for fun. Thinking back on it now (almost 14 years later), I think I have to credit my first real poker experience involving cash (actually nickels, dimes and quarters - mostly comprised of laundry money) to my next door neighbor, whom I'll call Snake.

This first poker game involved 5-6 guys sitting on the floor around a small circular table playing a variety of games. While I guess this was technically a poker game, it could be more accurately described as gambling, in that we rarely played any actual poker (5 card draw/stud or 7 card stud). The games we played included Acey-Ducey, Follow the Queen, 339, Guts, Balls, Little Chicago, and my roommate's (T-Bird) favorite, a game I still hate to this day, Midnight Baseball. These games oftentimes included multiple wild cards and involved more luck than skill.

While I can't remember if I won or lost money in that game, two things will remain ingrained in my mind forever. The first involved T-Bird losing all of his laundry money (which may have only consisted of $10±) and making at least one trip to the nearby ATM. This is something we still bring-up when we get together. The second involved a bet made by Snake. Typically, the games were played with a maximum bet of $1, which I know sounds low, but come on, we were college freshman with limited funds. Anyway, Snake bet out $0.95 and then sat back and waited for someone to say, "Just make it a buck" and throw a dollar into the pot. The action would make its way around the table back to Snake who instead of just calling the nickel raise would then re-raise another dollar, completing his plan to perfection.

Fast forward to today.

I've come along way in my poker playing since that first day and while I'll still play all those crazy games involving multiple wild cards every once and awhile, I mostly play No Limit Texas Hold'em. I play both online and live home games, and once a year I make it to a Brick andMortar (B&M) casino for cash games and tournaments.

I am no means a high stakes player. These days I have been mostly playing $50NL ($0.25-$0.50 blinds) with the occasionall $10/$20 multi-table and SNG tournaments. I have built my bankroll up online without once having to deposit any of my own money, but that's a blog for a different day.

What can you expect from my blog you ask. Well I hope to update at least once a week with stories both old and new. Feel free to drop me a comment, question or suggestion.

Good Luck!