One thing we need to get straight though, is that poker is most definitely NOT getting any easier. What is happening, particularly online, is that the pros and the rich maths geeks are playing a huge volume of hands and are dominating the many tables they play at, thus making it almost impossible for lesser mortals like Mr Casual, Mr Recreational and Mr Average to get any sort of significant slice of the pie.
Consequently, as these players get left behind, and realise that they're just not able to compete, they effectively drop out of the race and leave. The upshot of this is that more of the good players are left to face each other and hence just make the games tougher. Over the next few years, with less and less fish entering the fray and more of the good players hanging around, the game will be less about targetting fish and more about outplaying the other sharks at the table - usually with the help of added aggression! We'll then get to the situation where any edge you have will be so miniscule that the game will, indeed, be the game of luck which many people think it is anyway.
So why am I, a self-confessed average player, still sticking around? Well, it's really all to do with the love of the live game. At the live table, where you can see your opponent, the game has less to do with patterns and maths - and more to do with understanding people and their behaviour. There are still enough casual live game players around to make a visit to the poker room worthwhile and it's my new-found aggression, along with my improved hand-reading ability and improved post-flop play, that means I think I can make a real go of tackling the live game - and making it decent blogging material.
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All this brings us to the present day and the second half of 2012 - which is where I draw a line under all my past accomplishments (for what they're worth) and start all over again. Here are the changes...
1) For me, online poker has had its day. I've played for long enough now ($16.3k paid in rake to PKR alone) to realise that I no longer want to compete in that particular arena. As I've mentioned countless times in the past, 2 years of break-even online poker and around 100k hands at the $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 cash game tables tells a very clear story and sends a very clear message - IT'S GAME OVER!!
True, I could start playing $0.25/$0.50 but even at those stakes players are starting to study and read the game very well and I really don't want to sit on my arse and stare at a screen for another gazillion hours, at those stakes, when I've already "been there and done that" at the higher stakes already as it were. Therefore, it's my intention to keep well away from online poker.
2) The "arena" will be the live poker scene around London. I'll mainly be playing and blogging about the £1/£2 cash games with the odd visit to the £1/£1 tables thrown in if and when the £1/£2 game is getting me down. I hate the 10% rake though so I'll try to keep this to a minimum. I'll also make the rare appearance at the odd low buy-in MTT donkfest once in a while. I'll report on every session (1 session from Sunday 1st July to come) and be discussing key hands, strategy, metagame stuff and so on. I mainly play at The Empire but also visit Aspers, The Vic, The Fox and, very rarely, The Golden Nugget. I am also really looking forward to the Hippodrome Casino opening - which is going to be very soon, so this may well be one of my haunts as well. There are a handful of other venues but their locations are inconvenient for me so these six will be more than enough. In a future post I'll do an up-to-date review of each one.
3) Finally, let's talk bankroll management strategy. At the end of last year I believe I mentioned the figure of £8k-£10k as my starting poker bankroll. Well, despite the two daughters being at university and a meager income from a job as a Teacher of English I'm still happy to report that I CAN start with this bankroll from 1st July! I know, as I mentioned before, £8k-£10k does not sound like much of a roll when talking about the £1/£2 game, along with a maximum buy-in of £400, but I still reckon I've got what it takes and - I tell you right now - I'm up for the challenge baby!!
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As hinted at, poker for me now is less about attempting to make some serious money (although that would be nice) and more about getting out of the house to play the game I love for some social interaction and for some stress-free relaxation. I'll still do my all to win money, of course, and I still might get a little vexed if I lose a few hundred quid to a two-outer on the river, but it's really now all about the enjoyment of the game and experiencing the thrills and spills in the midst of real people at a real table rather than in front of a screen of avatars and a virtual table. Let's just see how we get on eh?
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GAME ON !!
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