The beautifully lithe sun-kissed female bodies strolled past me one after the other, their bikinis barely covering their assets. The beach was as golden as the sun and so was the company, oh god….this is what heaven must be like. The life of a poker pro feels good as each passing lovely gave me the eye as well as an obvious come on.
The only thing that was spoiling this seaside paradise was a very annoying buzzing sound that kept getting louder and louder. Suddenly without warning, the ladies started to fade and the beach began to appear less golden. What was happening? Bleep…..Bleep……Bleep……Bleep, on and on it went, my eyes opened to see the digits 5:30 am staring me in the face.
That damn alarm clock really gets on my nerves at times especially as the tone is so utterly annoying and doubly so when it drags me away from the bikini clad beauties. I never did like getting out of bed at set times but there was a reason for this if I could only remember what it was. I staggered out of bed and wondered downstairs into the kitchen to make a coffee. My head started to clear and I suddenly remembered why I was up at this godforsaken hour.
Oh yeah, I was going to play poker and to try and capitalise on a site where there was a heavy mix of American players, many who which would be playing in the wee small hours stateside and could be therefore much the worse for wear. I had scheduled a 6:30am start, plenty of time to get a shower and something to eat and finally clear my head. This was the first time that I had bothered to do anything like this as I had only previously played online at times that were comfortable to me.
The large volume of traffic outside was comforting as it made me aware that other ordinary souls were up for work even earlier than me. I was at my desk by 6:10am and doing what I always do before an online session, playing a few simulated hands on my “Turbo-Texas Hold’em” program to get my head into sync with actually playing poker.
This is an often overlooked side to online poker, the sheer speed at which you can actually play. Whenever you play in a bricks and mortar card room, there is always a time delay between the moment you intend to play and the time that you are actually being physically dealt the first hand. This time delay can be several hours and it helps you to mentally prepare for the session ahead.
It is different though online as you can literally jump out of bed and be playing poker within a couple of minutes tops. I finally log on and I am now into the sites poker lobby. I look for my bread and butter game which is limit hold’em and I see three tables going at my usual $30-$60 level.
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I now bring up the files from my documents on the players that I have taken notes on from previous games and then miniaturise it on the screen. A quick check of my notes revealed that I did not actually have any information on anyone who was active at this time although I had not been playing on this site for all that long.
I selected a game to watch, one of the tables had a better flop percentage and average pot size than the other two so I decided on that one. I like to watch the game that I am about to be playing in for about fifteen minutes or so because you can “feel” the players out in that length of time.
The game looked relatively standard, there was one player who was raising more than the norm but the rest of them seemed average to me. I have often been asked why I do not use software like “Poker Tracker” or something similar to assist me when playing. I have several reasons for this but the main ones are that software of this type is actually not allowed on some of the sites that I have played but the most important reason for me is that I want to be in control of what information I take.
I have my own system of note taking that has proved very successful and I have certain things that I look for. Another reason is that I want to know what a player is possibly feeling now……this minute and not just blindly follow some notes of what they did two weeks ago. Has a player just had a series of vicious outdraws and has then started raising like a crazy man, are they tilting, possibly feeling tired etc. Just because you cannot physically see them does not alter the fact that there are human beings behind those avatars and screen names and they suffer from emotions just like everyone else.
If you try and become at one with the screen then it is surprising just what information can actually be gathered. Much of which would be beyond the capability of poker software. I do not multi-table for this reason also. Multi-tabling may work for certain players but a massive amount of information is lost when you do this and your earn rate per table falls dramatically. Another reason that I do not multi-table is that it starts to feel that I am not actually playing poker, just some glorified fruit machine.
By 10:30 am, I am ahead by 24 big bets which is $1440 but I have also had my share of luck. This is far and above what my hourly earn rate is but you have to take the rough with the smooth especially in a game like limit hold’em where the overlay of a good player is nowhere near as great as it is in no-limit hold’em. I get dealt A-K again, it feels like I have had this hand a hundred times today and another pot comes my way.
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I do not let my emotions carry me away when my session goes through the $2000 profit mark at just after midday. The day before yesterday, I had lost over $1500 on another site. Limit hold’em can be a very frustrating game to play especially at the lower limits below $10-$20.
It is 1:00pm and the games are drying up and I must admit to no longer feeling my best now. The early start is beginning to take it’s toll as one by one the yawns start to creep in. This started to happen just after midday and I have now played for a full hour while not being at my peak. Why have I done it?……….I have no idea!
A bad beat in a $600 pot is my signal to call it a day. I am happy with the result not just because of the $2150 win but because my reason to rise at 5:30am seemed justified as the level of play did not seem as strong as it had been previously.
I log off at 1:10pm and end what has been a very good session, I need to rest now from the constant glare of the screen. Sometimes I wonder just how people who work in computer jobs actually do it. Depending on how I feel, I may go back online in the early evening and play some no-limit on a different site. But if I do this then there is no way that I am repeating the early start tomorrow, that feels too much like work to me.
I tend to alternate my play between limit and no-limit hold’em to prevent the game from becoming a bore. Relentless ring games can get to be pretty tedious and this is why many players play tournaments. But I have always preferred the flexibility and steady income that ring games provide. If I am not feeling at my best or I want to stop playing for any reason then I can, whereas tournaments kind of lock you in to playing for a set period of time. I guess that this means that I will never get to be on TV but I can sure live with that.
I go through my session notes and update my files, I have found a couple of very weak players at $30-$60 that I will lookout for the next time. I mentally go through the session to see if there is anything that I could have done better. I conclude that I let several big bets slip away which sort of annoys me because I am somewhat of a perfectionist at limit hold’em.
What to do next, do I go out for a walk or watch TV. Common sense would dictate that I should be giving my mind a rest from poker so what do I decide to do, why some more work on my first poker book of course. I could be taking a nap to prepare for a possible evening session online but that seems very dull. Whenever I sleep these days, I invariably dream about poker in some capacity. Usually I am playing in some game with funny characters, many of which I have never met. Last night I dreamt that I was in a game where we were all using biscuits for chips. Man do I need a change of job!!
This article has been reproduced with permission by Carl ‘The Dean’ Sampson. Carl, a professional Online Poker Player writes for Poker Pro Europe, World Poker Tour and Online Poker Pro as well as being the author of 2 paperback books! You can visit Carl at http://202203.sharkpool.hop.clickbank.net/
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