Sorry for the lack of updates in the last week but I have been dealing with the most difficult thing to deal with in online poker… variance. It’s something that everyone that plays for a living must deal with from time to time but no matter how many times you experience it, or how prepared you think you are for it, it always seems to catch you by suprise.
After a 795 hand session yesterday when Martonas took a break from high stakes play Antonius has reduced Durrrr’s lead to $334,000. They have played around 43% of the overall challenge having played a total of 21,442 hands of the alloted 50,000.
A very quick blog today just to say that I am now over a small bout of man flu and will be looking to very soon blast another podcast to the poker world. I’ve been pretty ill and feeling awful, but a look on sharkscope yesterday at pokerstars sees me rated 62/100 in terms of ability with a nice shark next to my name. I’ve only played 136 games and need to send my 3 cents to sharkscope to opt-in but this shall be done!
I will be soon starting my SNG attack after being inspired by Boku87. This may cause a downswing in my stats but rest assured I will do all I can to keep my shark! 
This is a link to the pokertube video that Gary made about how to win a $2 SNG. He goes through the hands he played during the tournament using a replayer. It has got some great comments on pokertube and certainly they are a tough crowd to please!
Look out for video by Gary coming very soon.
Poker has become very popular in the past few years. Many people watch the poker players on television and think that they could make poker lucrative for them. The key to this is bankroll management. Let’s take a look at what that means and which techniques are most likely to help us to bring home money.
Every poker player has to be concerned with how much money they win and how much money they lose. It is a fact of life that most of us cannot afford to play losing poker for very long but can reduce loss by playing on free poker sites to improve our winning game plan. One of the first tips in managing our poker bankroll is that you must first find a limit that you feel comfortable playing at. Whether in live play or online, you must play poker at a limit that fits your skill level and that you can afford.
Many players make the mistake of moving up in limits too quickly and find that the players are much better than they are, or they are so worried about how much money they stand to lose, that it affects their poker play. It is better to be successful at a lower limit and make a little money, than play over your head and lose all your buy-ins on a consistent basis. The $1 – $2 no limit is a good place to play when starting out, the blinds are low, and you have the all-in option of playing no limit.
The style of player you are is something to be considered also. I became a very tight player out of necessity; I couldn’t afford to play if I kept losing in poker tournaments. Tight players will need a little less in terms of bankroll as they have fewer swings in their bankroll most of the time. Looser players will spend more money, because they take more risks. Notice I said most of the time, poker is not a game of absolutes. Players will need to figure out what works best for them and stick with it.
No amount of bankroll management tips are going to help bring home money if you are a consistently losing player. Every poker player has ups and downs; they are just part of the game. Keep records to find out if you are a winning player over time. Good record keeping is the only way to know if you are coming out ahead.
Thanks for visiting! I’m Mal and this is my first post in my new blog series. I hope you guys are all enjoying the podcasts and we are working on getting some videos sorted also which we will host at pokertube. I will start this blog by giving you a quick overview of how I get this far, which I hope you will find interesting. Any movie directors wishing to buy the rights to my life story get in touch…
Normally I hate playing poker on Fridays, it’s just the day that I can never seem to get ahead on. I know most regs love to play at the weekend, as it’s the time that all the weekend warriors come out to play and start dumping money off left, right and centre. For me however, that is never the case, I repeatedly double up idiots all over the place. I decided to get up early on Friday though and face the donkeys head on, I managed to log about 3000+ hands and although the day started off badly, I finished the day + 3 buyins…. a minor miracle for me.
Online poker has flourished in popularity over the years because it has always been accessible to players even if they have a small bankroll. The higher buy-in tournaments like the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour or European Poker Tour is the pinnacle of live poker, with buy-ins of £5000 – £25,000 depending on the tournament. This can often feel a little out of reach to many poker players either for the buy-in amount or the travelling needed to participate. Whilst online poker still caters for the tournament players at the lower levels it is now building on the seemingly insatiable appetite for high stakes tournament poker by offering large online tournaments branded into online series of poker. Satellites are now running to offer all players the opportunity to compete for massive cash prizes from the comfort of their home.
This will be the first entry of many that will hopefully give you an insight into the world of a grinding poker pro. My name is Gary Hurst and i’m 28 and currently live in Grapevine, Texas having moved from Newcastle, England about 3 years ago. My start in poker came a lot like many of yours, a small game with friends on someone’s kitchen table surrounded by beers, take-aways and lots of laughter.
We have added the latest podcast for this week which you can listen to right now.
This week we discuss the new direction of the site and the funky new design. We discuss some of the ideas of the new coaching program we have. We muse over pokertube and how to make the best poker videos and announce both of our blogs which will be appearing in the main site. Gary discusses a very tough hand towards the end of the podcast with Mal offering his thoughts on the interesting hand. We also discuss other podcasts on offer online. Overall a very solid show this week.
Download This Podcast (Right click and save target as)
You can also visit our podcast page and download the other shows directly to your computer.
I have not had much of a chance to play poker the last few days, although I have been pondering how to move forward with my poker considering now a certain loan has been paid off. Don’t worry, I am not going nuts with the extra money I am saving but am hoping to free my mind to a little more cash games online to see if I can make it another income stream. Read on for more blogging…
Pokerstars are offering a juicy reload bonus for existing players.
The current reload bonus is 50% of your deposit amount, up to a maximum of $300. You may also deposit in three separate increments and still take advantage of the bonus, to avoid a large initial outlay.
The first time deposit bonus is now 100% match up to $600. Pokerstars allows you to deposit three times within 90 days up to the $600 dollars to redeem this bonus which is great.
Click on the image below to visit Pokerstars.
