Online forums give people the opportunity to follow others who have similar interests. One thread that I looked forward to following: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-return-of-av8tion-poker-as-an-income-stream.76248/, which is the inspiration for this one, turned out to have a disappointing ending.
Playing cards has bought me a lot of joy and fond memories, however I now find myself at a crossroads where poker has lost its luster. Hero may move on from poker after this year.
Since this could be my long adieu, I am going to share details of my humble beginnings and parts of my poker journey.
In early October of 2007, while visiting my cousin and a mutual friend who was home on leave from Iraq, a commercial advertising the final nine of WSOP's main event appeared on tv. That 30 second blip sparked a conversation on how popular Texas Hold-em was among the military personnel serving overseas, which became the impetus for my cousin starting a home game in his basement.
Originally, a dozen of us would play in a $10, $20 re-buy, winner take all NLHE tournament, using casino weight ABS dice chips. Blinds were set at 25/.50, with twenty dollar starting stacks. For every two players eliminated, the blinds would advance to the next level - .50/$1, $1/$2, $2/$4, $3/$6, etc. The winner would take home around $300.
The $10 - to the winner goes the spoils - tournament lasted all of five weeks. Hero had the lone distinction of winning the tournament twice.
After that brief phase we changed the format to cash, $20 buy-in with .25/.50 blinds. Before long, we had 18 players divided between two tables. Within a year, we were playing twice a week.
In late 2010 I joined a NLHE bar league at the behest of a friend. Through that game, I became part of the tournament scene, which in turn opened the door to another local NLHE cash game.
Back then, I never envisioned poker becoming a permanent part of my life, nor did I have plans of playing in larger stake games.
That changed in 2012 when Hollywood opened its poker room. I quickly became a fixture there, playing $1/$2NLHE thirty to forty hours a week for six months while working full time.
Fast forward to May of 2021. I had the good fortune of securing a seat at a NLHE $1/$2 home game an hour from where I live. From May of that year through the end of 2022, Hero banked $48,000. $9,000 (after deducting all expenses) of that $48,000 came from playing $2/$5 PLO over the course of three consecutive three day overnight trips to Chaser's in N.H. in March of 2022.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/show-us-your-live-stacks.3808/post-1799228, https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/show-us-your-live-stacks.3808/post-1800341
In early September of 2022, Hero heard about a new $5/$10 limit poker game at the private bowling club in town: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/play-a-game-with-me.96805/
Around Christmas, Hero's friend decided to host a cash game at his house comprised of a few players from the bowling alley. Unbeknownst to Hero, one of those players, Mr. Limit, was the VP of the bowling alley. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/official-home-game-pics-thread.4135/post-2045654
The following week, Hero gets a phone call from the VP asking him if he would host a competing NL cash game at the bowling alley.
To keep the game simple and friendly, we agreed on nine player max, dealer's choice $1/$1 NLHE (no straddle option) and $1/$1 PLO, $100 min, $200 max. buy-in.
Both games have changed, the latter going through its share of iterations. The $1/$2 NLHE game that I play in has lost a few of its weaker, less dominant players. Two of the players who Hero accompanied on the poker trips to New Hampshire spent a lot of time this past winter playing $2/$5 in the raked underground games that popped up after Hollywood closed its poker room over Covid.
Around Labor day of this year, one of those players, Jared, convinced the host to lift the max buy-in from $300 to $500. To boot, in an effort to please everyone on the player list, there is now a weekly drawing for seats to the game.
Hero quit hosting the mixed cash game at the bowling alley a year ago last September. The game reverted back to $5/$10 fixed limit. After a six month absence, Hero began to get phone calls from a couple of the die-hards in the limit group asking him to come back, for obvious reason, the game was dying.
Hero's solution was to make the game more interesting by increasing the stakes to $8/$16. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/shameless-brag-thread.117522/
We had to find another venue for the game when the bowling club closed its doors for the season. The player who provided the new home preferred NL and pot limit to fixed limit. That is when the game took on its current amalgamation of all three betting variations.
Players demanded a further change to the stakes when we returned to the bowling club this September. The blinds for NLHE and PLO are now $1/$2. The buy-in is still capped at $200, however, players are allowed to buy back in for $300. UTG has the option of straddling up to 5x the BB in NLHE and players are allowed to pull light in fixed limit.
To recap, dealer's choice of games at the bowling club are: $8/16 FLHE/Omaha-hi, $1/$2 NLHE/PLO and $10/$20 Fixed Limit Single Five Card Draw when playing short handed.
Hero has played in 28 games over the last 16 weeks. (The start of summer.) Prior to the last four games, Hero had won $12,770 suffering only three losses in the amounts of $180, $230 and $260, for a net profit of $12,100. Hero hit a downswing this month losing $750 at the $1/$2 NLHE game, $480 at the bowling club and $40 at last weeks $1/$2 NLHE game. Hero bounced back this Friday, winning $1075.
Current bankroll stands at: $11,900.
Playing cards has bought me a lot of joy and fond memories, however I now find myself at a crossroads where poker has lost its luster. Hero may move on from poker after this year.
Since this could be my long adieu, I am going to share details of my humble beginnings and parts of my poker journey.
In early October of 2007, while visiting my cousin and a mutual friend who was home on leave from Iraq, a commercial advertising the final nine of WSOP's main event appeared on tv. That 30 second blip sparked a conversation on how popular Texas Hold-em was among the military personnel serving overseas, which became the impetus for my cousin starting a home game in his basement.
Originally, a dozen of us would play in a $10, $20 re-buy, winner take all NLHE tournament, using casino weight ABS dice chips. Blinds were set at 25/.50, with twenty dollar starting stacks. For every two players eliminated, the blinds would advance to the next level - .50/$1, $1/$2, $2/$4, $3/$6, etc. The winner would take home around $300.
The $10 - to the winner goes the spoils - tournament lasted all of five weeks. Hero had the lone distinction of winning the tournament twice.
After that brief phase we changed the format to cash, $20 buy-in with .25/.50 blinds. Before long, we had 18 players divided between two tables. Within a year, we were playing twice a week.
In late 2010 I joined a NLHE bar league at the behest of a friend. Through that game, I became part of the tournament scene, which in turn opened the door to another local NLHE cash game.
Back then, I never envisioned poker becoming a permanent part of my life, nor did I have plans of playing in larger stake games.
That changed in 2012 when Hollywood opened its poker room. I quickly became a fixture there, playing $1/$2NLHE thirty to forty hours a week for six months while working full time.
Fast forward to May of 2021. I had the good fortune of securing a seat at a NLHE $1/$2 home game an hour from where I live. From May of that year through the end of 2022, Hero banked $48,000. $9,000 (after deducting all expenses) of that $48,000 came from playing $2/$5 PLO over the course of three consecutive three day overnight trips to Chaser's in N.H. in March of 2022.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/show-us-your-live-stacks.3808/post-1799228, https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/show-us-your-live-stacks.3808/post-1800341
In early September of 2022, Hero heard about a new $5/$10 limit poker game at the private bowling club in town: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/play-a-game-with-me.96805/
Around Christmas, Hero's friend decided to host a cash game at his house comprised of a few players from the bowling alley. Unbeknownst to Hero, one of those players, Mr. Limit, was the VP of the bowling alley. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/official-home-game-pics-thread.4135/post-2045654
The following week, Hero gets a phone call from the VP asking him if he would host a competing NL cash game at the bowling alley.
To keep the game simple and friendly, we agreed on nine player max, dealer's choice $1/$1 NLHE (no straddle option) and $1/$1 PLO, $100 min, $200 max. buy-in.
Both games have changed, the latter going through its share of iterations. The $1/$2 NLHE game that I play in has lost a few of its weaker, less dominant players. Two of the players who Hero accompanied on the poker trips to New Hampshire spent a lot of time this past winter playing $2/$5 in the raked underground games that popped up after Hollywood closed its poker room over Covid.
Around Labor day of this year, one of those players, Jared, convinced the host to lift the max buy-in from $300 to $500. To boot, in an effort to please everyone on the player list, there is now a weekly drawing for seats to the game.
Hero quit hosting the mixed cash game at the bowling alley a year ago last September. The game reverted back to $5/$10 fixed limit. After a six month absence, Hero began to get phone calls from a couple of the die-hards in the limit group asking him to come back, for obvious reason, the game was dying.
Hero's solution was to make the game more interesting by increasing the stakes to $8/$16. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/shameless-brag-thread.117522/
We had to find another venue for the game when the bowling club closed its doors for the season. The player who provided the new home preferred NL and pot limit to fixed limit. That is when the game took on its current amalgamation of all three betting variations.
Players demanded a further change to the stakes when we returned to the bowling club this September. The blinds for NLHE and PLO are now $1/$2. The buy-in is still capped at $200, however, players are allowed to buy back in for $300. UTG has the option of straddling up to 5x the BB in NLHE and players are allowed to pull light in fixed limit.
To recap, dealer's choice of games at the bowling club are: $8/16 FLHE/Omaha-hi, $1/$2 NLHE/PLO and $10/$20 Fixed Limit Single Five Card Draw when playing short handed.
Hero has played in 28 games over the last 16 weeks. (The start of summer.) Prior to the last four games, Hero had won $12,770 suffering only three losses in the amounts of $180, $230 and $260, for a net profit of $12,100. Hero hit a downswing this month losing $750 at the $1/$2 NLHE game, $480 at the bowling club and $40 at last weeks $1/$2 NLHE game. Hero bounced back this Friday, winning $1075.
Current bankroll stands at: $11,900.
