The Background Post

I suppose I should cover some background about what I do and why, just so you can get an idea of where I’m coming from.

I waited until 2006 to start playing online. I missed the golden years. I had played in casinos and home games for several years, but I waited to start online, because I didn’t know if I trusted the sites to pay out once I started winning my millions. In addition, it took some convincing before my wife would part with a couple hundred bucks for me to start my adventure. At this point, especially with legislation getting kinda crazy, I’m not planning on re-depositing, so I’m going to grind my way up. I’ll deal with withdrawing when I get there.

I play on Pokerstars exclusively. The reason is pretty simple. I tried UB and PartyPoker, but UB had a terrible game selection, and PartyPoker did too. I didn’t want to put a ton of money online, because I have a family and a limited budget, so my bankroll precluded me from really playing on those sites. They don’t have the tiny .01/.02 games. Having a limited bankroll, I can’t spread it around.

Due to some poor choices, after building up my bankroll to about ~$800, I’ve blown most of it on WSOP satellites, a PS $215 Sunday Million buyin, Pokertracker software, and a couple of rounds in some larger games, ignoring good bankroll management strategy. Back in September of 2006, my online BR was down to a paltry ~$3.00. I decided to start playing .01/.02 NL, lower than I had ever played, where the minimum buyin is $1.00 to see if I could accomplish what Chris Ferguson was able to. Using the ‘Jesus Experiment’ guidelines (aka the 5% NL rule which I’ll cover that in another post), I was able to build up to about $250 again in a couple months. Once again, I got ahead of myself and played in some larger games ‘taking a shot’, and I’m back down to about ~$75.00. Overall, I’m clearly down some money in my online adventure, but I’m also clearly up for stakes where I have large hand samples. I’d like to think that I’ve just had a run of bad luck when I move up, and that’s the only thing keeping me in the micros, but it may be that I’m just not good enough to move up. We’ll see.

I play part time, probably less that 8 hours a week. Usually I play on nights when my wife is working and my daughter is asleep, or on a weekend night when everyone has gone to bed. I’ll usually 4-table .02 or .05 NL for an hour or two. I get in about 55 hands per hour per table, so I’ll get in about 200-400 hands a session a few times a week. I don’t have too many opportunities to play tournaments, because they take too long. I’d like to play more of them, but that’s the way my schedule is. When I do play them, I usually play the 45 man $1.20 buyin SnGs. I do fairly well in them, but not great.

My greatest online poker accomplishment is winning a $215 PokerStars Sunday Million seat in a 36 man FPP freeroll. I didn’t make it much past the first break. I’ve also won seats to several satellites viaWSOP and WCOOP supersatellites. I’ve come close to winning a couple satellites, but I’ve never gotten there.

My main game currently is 9 man .02 NL, buying in for $5. I have a bankroll for about 15 buyins right now. Most people suggest 20 buyins (the 5% rule again), so I’m pushing it a bit, but based on my Pokertracker stats, I’m confident that this gives me plenty of breathing room at this limit. I’ll explain why in another post.

I may talk about my home game and casino exploits, too, but I haven’t done much of either lately.

I’ll be posting my current BR at the end of each post just so everyone can keep track of how I’m doing.

BR=~$75.00