tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-138213632011-04-21T18:52:28.862-05:00This blog brings you on my poker journey and serves two purposes. 1) To keep me accountable and help me grow as a poker player by putting my thoughts into writing. 2) To entertain and teach beginning poker players who are as excited and enthused about poker as I am.Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.comBlogger271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1133387922970433732005-11-30T15:56:00.000-06:002006-01-04T17:41:22.343-06:00

Lesson/Topic: Starting HandsI was asked the following question: How does your preflop card selection change based on the number of players at the table?This is an interesting question and very relevant to a beginning poker player. It is also relevant to a more experienced player, but starting hands always seem to be the first lesson of a beginning poker player's learning curve. When people

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1132777501276496612005-11-23T13:54:00.000-06:002005-11-23T14:25:01.290-06:00

Lesson: When to leave the tablePoker Players are infamous for "what if" questions. What if I would have raised. I wish I would have folded. If only the river card hand't been an ace. Another popular question that poker players ask themselves, is when is it the right time to leave the table? For example, a player plays for four hours. After two hours the player is up $50. However, during

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1132002948358706152005-11-14T14:54:00.000-06:002005-11-14T15:15:48.386-06:00

Empire was advertising a deposit bonus. The bonus paid 100% up to $100. I deposited $400 so I could maintain my normal 4 table 2/4 routine. The bonus was released after you played raked hands equaling ten times the bonus amount in ten days or less. My bonus was $100, so I had to play 1000 hands before Nov 20. Since I have been 4 tabling, this would be no problem. My only hesitation revolved

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1131654680637924562005-11-10T13:36:00.000-06:002005-11-10T14:31:20.696-06:00

This past Sunday I headed to Canterbury card club to play some 3/6 with a friend who came into town for the weekend. As I was driving to the card club I realized that I had a confidence that was contrary to the hope that I felt when I have visited in the past. I have played at Canterbury a handful of times back when I was in college and during the first year or two after college. Thinking back

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1130861501061167082005-11-01T09:38:00.000-06:002005-11-01T12:58:52.746-06:00

Just wanted to give a quick status report and talk a little about positive tilt. I had a very good October. If you read below you will see that I have had success playing multis. After my big multi win I have decided to play a couple others.Last Friday I finished 15th out of about 700 in a $30 Multi. Unfortunately, this only nets out at around $100. I have played a couple others where I have

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1130256995874432092005-10-25T11:01:00.000-05:002005-10-25T12:43:40.666-05:00

If you look down to an earlier post you will notice a freeroll tournament from PokerStars. Well, I was knocked out in the first 20 minutes as I wrote in the comment field under that post. I wasn't prepared to play and it was free so I didn't take it seriously. So last night, I got home and had some time before my wife returned home. I decided to fire up a couple 2/4 games and then I noticed

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1130178037620359432005-10-24T12:55:00.000-05:002005-10-24T13:20:37.626-05:00

This has been a pretty good month for me. I thought there would be a huge transition to switch from NL to Limit poker. However, I am a bit surprised that I have continued a positive swing in my bankroll. I have been fortunate lately with good cards coming my way. However, I think I have been playing good poker as well. Up to $2/4 now and enjoying Poker Tracker and GameTime+. I ended the

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1129653056145253772005-10-18T11:23:00.000-05:002005-10-18T11:30:56.156-05:00

Update: I'm beginning to really like limit hold em cash games. I have fared pretty well. I have began playing a lot and seem to do pretty well. Amazing that if you look at a database of hands and classify people based on three categories, there is one distinct feature that separates the profitable from unprofitable. If you look at the following three categories, what do you think is the most

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1129128453596121502005-10-12T09:29:00.000-05:002006-03-20T19:28:31.423-06:00

This past weekend caused quite a stir in the poker world. I explained rakeback in a previous post. I was anticipating collecting between $200-$400 a year in rakeback simply by playing the same games I was playing before only on Empire Poker. For those of you who don't know Party Poker was a main site that was interconnected with a few other sites. Empire Poker is one. So if I was playing at

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1128181114085343072005-10-01T10:37:00.000-05:002005-10-01T10:38:34.093-05:00

I have registered to play in theOnline Poker Blogger Championship! This event is powered by PokerStars. Registration code: 8262091

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1127853111155225872005-09-27T15:20:00.000-05:002005-09-27T15:31:51.180-05:00

I have always heard about rakeback but never really understood it. Well, I investigated further and found that it is a very very good move. I just signed up yesterday. I had to open a new account at Empire Poker, but Empire is a party skin so you are playing on the exact same tables against the same players with virtually the same software as if you were on party.I played one table of .50/1.00

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1127141562739060632005-09-19T09:40:00.000-05:002005-09-19T09:52:42.746-05:00

I had a pretty successful weekend. Won a couple tourneys and moved up to the $30 SNGs. I took advantage of a sign up bonus for Pacific Poker on Saturday. I know an affiliate to the site who will give you $75 for signing up and playing one raked hand. So I decided to test my SSH Lee Jones experience on the .50/1.00 limit tables. Result = I lost 10-15 bucks when a guy hit his three outer on

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1126557789249678122005-09-12T15:38:00.000-05:002005-09-12T15:44:49.460-05:00

I've been playing SNGs and studying limit ring game play, but yesterday I decided to play a $33 Multi for a change of pace. 1100 people entered the tourney and I made it past the first breaks. In the third break I started to daydream about the first prize of $6,500 or a top six finish with prizes all in the $1000s when this hand came up...I'm sitting on 20,000 (average around 17,000) and we are

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1126285619507781692005-09-09T12:00:00.000-05:002005-09-09T12:06:59.520-05:00

I Played my second monthly work poker tourney last night. Finished 2/10. Three big hands from last night's action.1) Down to 8 guys. Playing against a total LAP. I raised from late position with KK to isolate him. He called and flop was 984. I bet pot he called. Q on turn. I could sense it helped him and I had him on two big cards from the preflop so I put him on a pair of Q. He bet about a 1/5

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1125421125283497582005-08-30T11:18:00.000-05:002005-08-30T11:58:50.356-05:00

I need to make myself more accountable for updating this blog once a week. Not sure if I will but I'll continue to try. The problem is that I like to update my blog at work. Usually during lunch or when there is nothing else going on. Problem is that recently I have been extremely busy. I could consider posting while at home and I sometimes do, but when I have free time after work I usually

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1123881324510857522005-08-12T17:19:00.000-05:002005-08-12T16:15:24.543-05:00

My consecutive winnings streak came to an end this week. Although the week was still a success. My week starting off with a live game, continued with some more live action at a friends cabin, and concluded with some up and down Party Poker results.There were twelve people playing at a live game I played through work. The plan was to start with six at each table and combine the table once we

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1123103077371821672005-08-03T15:38:00.000-05:002005-08-03T16:04:37.383-05:00

First off, thank you for all of your feedback. I think it has helped me fine tune my game a bit. I have already learned too important lessons from this blog. One: I am limping from Early Position with suited connectors or mediocre hands way too much. Two: Calling from the BB when the SB raises 2x can be a very profitable play with whatever two cards you are holding as long as you are not

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1121696453616589842005-07-18T09:02:00.000-05:002005-07-18T09:20:53.640-05:00

I played in a game on Sunday afternoon that really bothered me. I felt I played fairly well, but the poker gods were not with me on this one. I am going to post all of the meaningful hands here. Beware this could be long. I'm hoping to go through it myself in the next couple days to see if there was something else that could be done. Poker is a game of luck and skill. It is a game of long

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1121299477615390852005-07-13T18:51:00.000-05:002005-07-13T19:04:37.620-05:00

It's been a while since I have posted. Things have been pretty busy and I have been working more so I haven't had a lot of time to post. As for poker, I've still been able to sneak a game in at least every other day or so and usually one a day. Lately, I've been finishing 3rd a lot. It is a bittersweet feeling. Yes, I'm winning money but over the long haul you need to pull in more first and

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1120744518539222952005-07-07T08:46:00.000-05:002005-07-07T08:55:18.546-05:00

As most of you know, I post online to an actuarial website. There is a group of poker players that have created a weekly game and we share stories, ask advice, etc. in the interest of improving our games. Well, there are four players among this group that are going to play in the WSOP main event.One of these players is named Freeman. His real name is Zelong Dong and he finished 10th in Event 4

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1120669823503392742005-07-06T12:08:00.000-05:002005-07-06T18:26:09.023-05:00

I was invited to Pelican Rapids, MN to spend the holiday weekend with Jonah and Janelle’s family. First of all, it was a blast. Golf, jet ski’s, great food and even a little poker. Jonah and his brother Andrew have been trying to learn poker by playing on Party Poker with play money. So I played a couple games with Jonah looking over my shoulder. I was teaching while playing, trying to point out

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1120056350723400892005-06-29T09:29:00.000-05:002005-06-29T09:45:50.730-05:00

So I snuck in a game last night before the NBA draft came on. (Side Note: I think the Wolves either made a fabulous pick or an awful pick. I don't think there is any middle ground with this guy. I loved when the announcers said that "if I had a nickel for every time this guy played defense, I would have a nickel". Anyone else instantly think of him and Wally playing at the same time?). Okay

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1119801292209402772005-06-26T10:47:00.000-05:002005-06-26T11:54:51.406-05:00

Played a $5 Multi this morning. I have no idea how to play multi tournaments. I think I need to start being more aggressive and taking more chances with slight advantages. For example, if you have a pair and you suspect you are up against two overs, do you take the chance early so you can double up? If anyone has had success in Multis and has advice, I'm all ears.So after busting out fairly early

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1119716869316218842005-06-25T11:08:00.000-05:002005-06-25T11:43:41.263-05:00

Sometimes you get in a rhythm at the poker table. You have good feel. You make good reads and time your bluffs well. It is a good feeling and I feel like I have it right now. Didn't win tons of money or anything. Just played two $10s and finished 2nd and 3rd. Then moved to a $20 table and finished 3rd. Although I didn't get any wins, I feel like I'm putting myself in a position to win and making

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1119540613160228162005-06-23T12:29:00.000-05:002005-06-23T10:30:13.166-05:00

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Last night, played one $10 NL SNG and won. Once it got down to four players all were fairly good with the big stack being very tight aggressive. Blinds were at 100/200 and I was in the SB with 900 chips left. 2nd and 3rd had between 1000-1100. I picked up K2o and UTG and Button folded. I raised all in knowing that the very tight BB would only

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1119450307332839212005-06-22T12:12:00.000-05:002005-06-22T10:12:27.200-05:00

I played 7 $10 NL SNG's last night. You may be saying wow, that is a lot of poker, but I didn't get deep in the tournaments so the games didn't last as long as I would have liked. I made some very good plays, but I think my biggest pitfall was gambling too early. I like to play a lot of hands early to see if I can hit a big hand and trap someone who thinks top pair without a kicker is worth going

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13821363.post-1119292040983874342005-06-20T15:30:00.000-05:002005-06-20T13:58:55.580-05:00

This is the beginning of a new approach to poker. I have played off and on my whole life and started to read a bit and play a lot more in the past two years. Now I have started this blog because (a) everyone else has one, but more importantly (b) I think by writing out my experiences at the tables, it will allow me to become a much better player. Lots of poker players complain about dry spells,

Steve Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06899770425088788240noreply@blogger.com0