Job with a Little Poker

I'm really busy at my job here in NYC. I'm now playing at the low limits ($3/$6 and below), online for an hour or so each night. Building bankroll is slow when I have that little time to devote to play, so I'm still just grinding it out. I don't have too much interesting stuff to report.

I have been working really hard on game selection. I just leave tables now when the game seems bad. In particular, I look to see if there is too much folding on the flop/turn and/or not enough pre-flop callers. The real EV in the low limits comes, in my opinion, from (a) all those people taking the flop and (b) people who pay off to the river with weak top-pair kickers and middle pair. I look for and only stay at tables where this is happening.

I've also been leveraging some of the diversity in my game that I worked on late last year. For example, on Party where I have been playing, the O/8 games are much better at the low limits than the HE games. I've done much better in O/8 because there is more dead money. I also have played some NL HE Sit-and-Go tournaments, which seem more lucrative than limit HE. However, those can be frustrating because you can play many in a row without a single win, despite near-perfect play. Going out fourth on an 60/40 (your favor) "coin-flip" can be a common occurrence.

I admit that I'm a bit frustrated at how long it takes to build a large bankroll from a short one. I still, however, think I made the right decision to invest my poker money into my real life, and I'm using my the patience skills poker has taught me to wait out the low limits. I actually think my earlier estimates that it will take me the rest of the year to rebuild were pessimistic; I'd assumed the worst possible luck at the tables. If my game selection stays solid, I think I can parlay a modest bankroll to again visit the nearby NYC clubs, and winnings in those lucrative games will help me rebuild much more quickly. It's getting to that "step 2" that is so frustrating, and I am still not sure what the bankroll requirements are for these local $200-$300 buy-in $1/$2 NL HE games. Meanwhile, I suppose I should come out and say it: if anyone wants to stake me to play at the NYC clubs, I'm open to offers. :) If not, that's ok too -- I can grind it out, too.

I know I owe a ton of posts that have been promised. When my job slows down a bit, I'll post more.