One Hundred And Eighty

 

Poker is fun, fascinating and frustrating, usually all at the same time! I have been back playing for a couple for months now and generally I am loving it. I certainly look forward to every session. However, performance and profit wise I am not consistently achieving my goals and this very fact is probably impacting on my performance and profit at times. Welcome back to poker Kartajana, 2022 style!

The experience of playing in 2022 is somewhat different from when I played the game between 2005 and 2015. There is very little in the way of friendly conversation or respectful acknowledgements. I have had a total of one such interaction, so long gone are the days of nh (nice hand) and gg (good game). Instead the Pokerstars software allows us to virtually attack/wind up our opponents by the use of throwable virtual objects. At the age of fifty one I am past launching a virtual rocket or fried egg at one of my rivals. Also it is clear that in this ironically mature phase of poker that many of its players, usually the worst ones, are convinced the game is rigged. Despite this, they play. Indeed it would seem a good 20% of the players don’t trust the software. The other 90% think statistics are subject to both error and manipulation! In truth, variance can be very tough at times, but I genuinely do trust the software, in the sense that over infinite time we would all get our fair share of the good and bad luck that inevitably is out there. I have, in addition, researched the performance of a lot of the regulars I now play. Some are good, some are not but I have concluded, especially at this level, none of them are to be avoided at all costs. It is they that should avoid me, he writes confidently!

In terms of my challenge to play $2 sit n gos in April things started well. Then things stagnated to leave me with only small progress. By the end of April I had played 180 of the $2 nine man sit n gos so far this year allowing me to neatly examine my performance from a finishing position point of view. If the game was purely random a player should finish in each place 20 times. I am thus using my skill and managing my luck the best I can to secure the top three spots, paying out 50%, 30% and 20% of the entry fees. The chart makes interesting reading.

My highest finishing positions are the top five spots which is encouraging but I definitely need more first places. I showed my son the chart and he asked an interesting question. Do you not get frustrated when you come ninth, knowing that you are one of the better players? My answer was no, unless I had made a mistake in my decision that saw me exit the game. I explained not being frustrated at losing was a key to my success playing poker. I made maybe a modest $40 playing these games which is way below where I feel I should be. I should maybe play another 180 to prove it, to both myself and anyone else that cares! How to make progress in future is certainly a key thought. How do I turn lower positions into cashes and thirds into wins. Probably I need to be more cautious early and more aggressive late on. Being more patient in my heads up matches could also help.  

My return to poker so far has been very encouraging though. Every session I see players making obvious mistakes. I am making the odd one or two but am hopefully learning from them. I am having fun making an average of $2 per session. So it looks like I am saying good bye to Fortnite for now – Taxi please to the nearest poker game! I ended April with a nice win of $25, first in a forty-five player $2 sit n go. I still enjoy the thrill of a final table so mixing in some of these games helps keep me balanced when I am playing lots of single table games. One familiar poker nemesis has returned though. Internet connection problems still exist all these years later. My connection seems to occasionally reboot at 11pm which has cost me on a couple of occasions now. I have now withdrawn my initial deposit so I am playing with other players money. My profit balance moving into May is $115 and the new month has started well. I am back reading my old poker books which hopefully remain extremely relevant in 2022. If this return to poker is to be worthwhile I need to move my bankroll up much further. I intend to stick at the $2 level for now though, build my confidence and funds to get ready to move up a level or two.  Watch this space.

Cheers

Jason (Kartajana)