August came and went without so much as a post. Apparently one or two people still stumbled across my kodok99 blog, but it really has been a case of radio silence at Cell Towers. In early August this collection of ramblings passed its second birthday without a telegram from the Queen. In fact its author forgot, so you can’t blame anyone else! Of 251 posts three quarters of them were penned in the first year.
Apart from being pretty busy with life stuff I’ve played an awful lot of poker. My fantasy of playing on the laptop in the garden in the sunshine surrounded by tumbling baskets of flowers and with a glass of something chilled was a bit off the mark, though. It rained for 26 consecutive days in August and even allowing for 2007 which in itself saw a horrible summer, it was the worst I can remember.
I’ve had a look back over many of the posts that I’ve made, and some of them seem so fresh in my mind I could hardly believe that they were written in 2006. The complete obsession with sit and gos after my first faltering steps following my first deposit is as laughable as the views I held on cash games, given the fact that I’ve played virtually nothing else since March this year.
We poker players are consistent in one thing – constantly changing goals and priorities!!!
Anyone looking in who has read the blog before will know that while I’ve played a little outside my finances the basic rules of bankroll management have been numero uno. That means that I’ve sat playing NL5 more or less exclusively without any threat at all of going bust and slowly but surely growing my roll. But even at a rate of 12BB/100 hands consistently for six months it will take me around a year to be fully rolled for NL10. I had considered moving up when my profits hit $250 (they’re currently $190), but before I had the chance to put that into effect something else cropped up which has changed everything.
BurnleyMik approached me with a staking deal – to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. Recognising my predicament (which I’d mentioned on the Raise The River Forums ) he offered $400 on Cardoza at NL20 which obviously opens up all sorts of avenues for me. Full details can be seen in the Staking Forum on RTR, but having spoken to him at length on MSN it’s clear that he knows the risks, views the stake as a long term commitment and is prepared to lose the lot. I very much hope that won’t be the case, but poker is an uncertain game.
I’ll do another entry on how this has changed things for me, the pressures (yeah, even at NL20!) and the opportunities at a future date. The major difference is that I’ll be able to change my naturally conservative play, increasing potential rewards without the worry of the downsides. That in itself presents challenges because it takes a while to change a style of playing which has developed over six months
… Continue reading