Progress Report After 2 Sessions of FL Holdem (26/02/12)

Things are going well so far. After 1544 hands and 10 hours of play I've made $2.93 playing exclusively $0.02/$0.04 Limit Holdem on PokerStars. It may sound weak, you may wonder why is he doing this, or you could be saying "he could spend a lot less time if he just deposited." But it's not about the money, it's about the challenge! Sure, I could save up a BR and deposit it on Stars, say $600. But I'd rather prove to myself that I can maintain dedication and discipline regardless of the stakes I'm playing for. In my opinion that's the mark of a good poker player.

And when I go to get staked again some time down the line, having succeeded in building the money to $1000, I can pick every single hand from 23rd February onwards and it'll all be from this challenge. There'll be lots of hands and it'll be difficult for them not to be impressed.

In my first session I just played one table. This second time I played four. During both sessions it was rough at times, and during my second session I was at one point below $9. I am fairly happy about the way I played, I don't remember many mistakes but I know that I made some, I just can't remember enough to describe most of them apart from them being in all the spots where I faced lots of postflop resistance. One hand I had top set Aces and check/folded the river when a one liner to a straight came in vs a guy who was super passive postflop and had raised me on the turn when broadway completed and we capped it but he still led the river when the one liner came in. I guess he had to have KJ for the nuts but maybe I should've paid it off in case he had queens up or aces up or a worse set. I just feel he checks the river without the straight.

Anyway, until next time, adios.

-LUCIUS VARENUS

The Fixed Limit Zero To Hero Challenge

It has been a long time my friends. I am no longer staked. I work for Dusk Till Dawn as a dealer. In the 4 months I have been working there, I made a friend who plays there regularly. I won him some money on his account and he sent me $50. Long story short, I eventually cleared out the account and during playing hitherto that point I became a SilverStar and earnt enough points to give myself an "out".

Today is 24th of February 2012. Last week I earnt a $10 Stellar Reward on PokerStars. That was the same week I cleared out my account. This week I have decided to buy that $10 for 1fpp and set myself a challenge: to turn it into $1000 or more.

Over the past year I mainly played fixed limit poker and I realised that I aint much of a no limit or pot limit player. But I play really well at fixed limit. I don't know why. But I love to play limit poker. And I have played quite a bit of fixed limit holdem besides my usual favourite, Omaha 8. And it turns out I'm pretty good at it.

So I wonder: can I build a bankroll from almost nothing? No deposit. No stake. No cost to me except 1 FPP? I have decided to test myself by playing only fixed limit hold'em and Omaha 8 in this Challenge, starting from the smallest possible stakes, $0.02/$0.04 on PokerStars.

From now until $1k this blog will remark upon my progress in this epic feat! It's going to take a long time: remember I don't have a lot of time because I am working 4-6 days a week, and even with tremendous winrates possible at truly nanotastic stakes, the grind at the beginning will be in increments of cents rather than dollars so I shall be at first winning money as fast as a snail races. But that is part of the test. To win in poker you need patience, so much patience, to be able to sit and win nothing for hours as a matter of course and expect it, knowing it is part of the uphill battle. The temptation is always there to give up and play higher stakes or throw good playing strategy out of the window when this happens. But if you can't keep your cool, you'll always go broke. I should know. I've been there dozens of times. It happened just last week. But as some famous guy once said, "We shall overcome!"

Signing out in the name of all that is minbet poker,

-LUCIUS VARENUS