Welcome to my little corner on the internet – where typos are welcomed, grammar plays hide and seek, and puns are intended. This blog is like a rollercoaster ride – there will be twists, turns, and chip-filled churns. You will find here 15% wisdom, 30% nonsense, and 55% attempts to GII ahead. Math skills are not required, just a sense of humor.
Amidst the chaos of the digital world, let this blog be a sanctuary of wisdom to be shared, a refuge for thoughtful and kind minds. So, Ante up, dear reader! This blog is your window to the thrilling world of micro stakes poker – where strategy meets chance, and every session is a potential jackpot.
I like to take chances. At least in poker. This is my first blog on the internet. I do scribble many of my thoughts and journeys into notepad on my desktop but thought that writing a public blog could be a fun and engaging thing to do. I’m like a super introvert, mostly stay home, play some poker and that’s about it. I love to play poker. Not terribly good at it though but been able to make some extra $$$ along the way.
Been playing quite consistently for the past 3 years. Not a full-time high-volume grinder but a decent number of games in a yearly view and slowly learn and get better via practice. Before that, I didn’t play poker that much, just occasionally played some tournaments or cash games purely for fun.
Up until exactly a year ago, I mostly played spins. A friend of mine played them back then; he was quite good at it. So, he introduced me to spins and helped me to understand basic strategy. And then he quit poker shortly after. Started with $1 spins, then $2 and $5. I have played a decent number of $10 and occasionally some stretches at $25, but mostly I have stuck to the $5 limit. It is a comfortable kind of limit. There are just a handful of regulars that seem to be ok and disciplined, and swings aren’t that bad.
One year ago, I decided that I would like to play tournaments. To play them alongside spins. Playing only spins every day, every session can get dull, at least for me. But also, to have a chance at a huge payday is appealing with tournaments. I mean in spins that can happen and have happened, but I thought that it would be cool to try and get some consistent results in tournaments. Because prior to that, for me, tournaments were donkaments. I really thought that one just must run good to cash in them. So, I decided to try and make $$$ with tournaments, for one year. On the side. Strategy-wise I knew nothing at all about them. Nor did I ever play full ring. Started with getting a BBZ subscription to learn pre ranges. Then got a couple of books – poker satellite strategy, PKO strategy, and endgame poker strategy. And that was it. Mostly played mid and high buy-in tournaments, up to $215, all via satellites only.
One $500 and one $1k tourney as well. Of course, I felt like I was the only big fish at the table with a big sign on my forehead saying: free chips.
Skipped playing micro MTTs, sometimes direct buy-in to low stakes. Last couple of months been playing on WPTG, smaller buy-ins and small fields with okay-ish success. Direct buy-in $11-$22, and via sats to $30-80 tourneys. In this year, I’ve made a little over $10k with tournaments.
And now I want to try 6max cash, for fun. For a year, on the side.
I mean I will keep playing tournaments on the side a bit, but mostly those on WPTG, smaller fields, and ones that fit my daytime schedule. Hopefully, I can increase the bankroll to include $50-$100 for a direct buy-in as there are no satellites for them. But overall MTTs are not quite for me. I don’t like to be glued to my seat for 4-6 hours at a time with 5-minute breaks, going hungry, playing tired.
Plus, cash games should be much lower variance and potentially bit easier to study and learn than MTTs.
So, what else. Right, a daily mini hustle 1: The Deal twice a day in PokerStars. *(read about this today, here in PokerStrategy, great post and all the thoughts from members) I will not be waiting for the increase in the jackpot and start today. Currently have years’ worth of coins. So that’s set.
Mini hustle 2: in WPTG I play 100 cash hands a day for their ironman cash challenge. Could win from $100 to $2k, random shuffle, weekly. But playing higher stakes gives more raffle tickets so chances are higher to win higher prices.
But I don’t like cash games in WPTG as they are full ring 3-blind + ante tables. So, for this challenge I just play zoom nl10 to get in those 100 hands. But they do have nl100 regular 6max tables…. So perhaps someday.
/ Fun story, at the beginning of the year i took part of PLO cash challenge in WPTG, that was not based on luck but purely on who has most tickets. Nobody really played PLO, only micro stakes ran. There was certain 2 hour slot for double points. I was there for happy hours, started tables, played HU and then some thruout the day. In a month won around $3k in cash and $1k in tournament tickets from that promo plus around hundred bucks with actual game. Beat: would have very likely won another $2k but accidentally reset my weekly LB points just one day before the week ended. After that next promos were adjusted heavily lol. /
In PokerStars I play spin daily around 30 games on 2 tables and now for a couple of days been playing nl5 zoom. The idea is to play zoom and practice pre ranges at a fast pace and complete CardeX challenge. When I feel like I have preflop down solid then I move to regular tables starting 10NL. And then see how it goes. All profits from cash go towards taking shots at higher stakes. I don’t mind taking 2-3 buy-in shots.
My goal for the year ahead is to keep up consistency, play spins and take timely shots to $10 and maybe even to $25. Play one small field tourney a day to keep a doc away. And learn to play 6max cash, show some profit and take timely shots. Would be great If I could manage to get to and show positive result in nl25 withing a year.
Also, workout reasonably consistently.
The river of this blog post has been dealt, and now it's time to cash in your thoughts. Until we meet again at the green baize of pixels and paragraphs, play smart and embrace the gamble of life.
Good luck everyone and stay strong.
/-\
VS
