Gutless Wonder

So, I'm still hemming and hawing about this whole "make the jump to 1/2" think... Mostly because I'm intimidated by the huge two day swing I had... While I realize that swings of that magnitude in either direction are rare, my brain works in percentages, and when I take a $50 hit into a $300 bankroll, it hurts more then if I apply that hit to a $400 bankroll.

So, I'm a chicken.

I think what I am going to do is grind away at .50/1 for the weekday sessions and on the weekend days I'll tap into the 1/2 goodness, as I imagine they'll be a little softer then. We'll see how that theory fleshes out.

I've also got two things I'd like to do, but I'm not quite sure yet whether I want to tap into my Party bankroll to do it.

The first is PokerTracker. It really is a required tool for the serious player, which I'm becoming. Also, logically, the benefit of having PokerTracker would more then pay for the initial $40 hit I'd take out of the bankroll to fund it. Perhaps I'll just pay for PokerTracker out of pocket and leave the bankroll alone.

The other thing I want to do is tap out $100 for some live play. I've got some days off coming up and I'd really like to go play at the Indian casino again. It was fun, and now that I have an idea what I'm doing I might actually be able to extract some positive EV out of the experience. The trouble is, if I do take $100 out, now my Party bankroll is $200. Clearly out of 1/2 range now. The attempts to bolster the Ultimate Bet bankroll up to the requisite $125 to tap the $100 out of there is going slowly. Rather, not going at all. I've been stuck at or around $75 + or - $5 for the last week or so. I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday for the trip to the live game, and considering that Firepay is probably going to be slow (anyone with experience on how FirePay is about depositing stuff into your bank, please chime in). My Party account is funded by IGM, which I think is rather rapid in their delivery of cashola, especially since I've already cashed off of them once. Of course, we are talking about the weekend, so all bets are off.

Here's what I'm thinking... I'll tap off the $100 from Party. Meanwhile, I'll work UB up to $125, transfer $100 of that back to Party and keep the $25 in UB for "fun/uhoh-party-is-down-again money". This, of course, requires that I get UB up to $125. Urrrg. Then there's that stupid "cashout curse" to deal with, but I'm not very superstitious so I don't put much credence in curses of any kind.

One would argue that it's all one poker bankroll, so by taking money from Party to play live, you're really not "losing" anything, but rather simply taking a buyin to a B&M instead of a virtual table. This makes excellent sense, except the actual act of withdrawing and re-funding my Party account is tedious at best and usually a pain in the ass. For the purpose of the immediate future though, I don't have the luxury of having a deep enough bankroll to maintain separate bankrolls for live and online play. Perhaps if I have a very good day at the live casino, I may well solve that problem, but I'm still far beyond assuming I can exact a +EV in live play.

Though the players I saw when I was there last did suck quite badly, the implied collusion was through the roof, since no one had the sense to fold anything. You only gotta hit one or two good pots though to pay the rent when 4 people oblige to call you to the river.

And the satisfaction of a large stack of chips being pushed your way. The feel and sound of the chips as you stack them.

Live poker > Online (thanks Iggy)

Not sure yet whether I'm going to play Monday or Tuesday.. Or Wednesday... Gotta see what days have the best action... I'm thinking a call to the poker room tomorrow is in order.

There is a casino about 45 minutes closer to here that just opened a card room. Not sure it's for me though.. They spread 3/6 as a minimum limit game, and they only have like 5 tables. Clearly 3/6 is a little rich for my blood at the moment.

I'll try to update this more often. I do like writing, and I've gotten a compliment or two on my writing style, so my head is the size of Nebraska. Just hard to come up with subject matter.

Anyhoo, Fun with weekend poker tomorrow. Give me comments.. Feedback.. Talk to me Goose.