I’m playing for tires; what are you playing for?

I just turned 38, and I’ve almost always played poker. I played for the first time at about 8 or 10 years old with my older brother and some plastic play chips we had. I played for money for the first time in high school at about 15. From there, I played various different games and always did pretty well. I won $500 or $600 a few times in live cash games, but mostly I was playing for fun. Then I got introduced to online poker, and I started playing for tires. <READMORE>

Let me start at the beginning. My cousin introduced me to online poker in 2004. He had been playing online for about a year and told me to check out Ultimate Bet. I did, and I made my first deposit of $25 a few days later. He played something called sit and go’s, and those looked fun, so I thought I’d try one. I bought into a $10 sng and ended up taking 3rd. That was pretty fun, so I tried another one and took 1st. It was like taking candy from a baby. I was going to be the next WSOP champion in no time at all. Imagine my surprise when I soon lost all that and had to redeposit. That cycle happened over and over again. Deposit, win a little, lose it all, deposit, win a little, lose it all, etc. Having played sports very competitively all my life, owning my own business, and just generally coming out on the better side of things most times, I was not accustomed to losing and had always found a way to win. However, it was time to admit that I was a losing poker player.

I bought a book and read it. I was excited because now I really knew how to play. I got better, especially at starting hand selection, but I still was a losing player. I bought another book that talked about being more aggressive and going for the throat. I got even a little better but was still losing. I kept buying books and picking out the parts that were useful. Each time, I improved a little more, and it took me longer and longer to lose my deposit. I also talked with others about poker and played in live freeroll’s in some of the local pubs. I even made the finals in one of the local freeroll leagues where the top prize was a trip to Vegas and a buyin to one of the WSOP events. I didn’t win it, but I played very well, and at one point, with just 4 tables left out of the 22 that started, I was the chip leader. I was gaining ground, and all the while I was playing a lot of sng’s and an MTT once in awhile. But even with all this improvement, I was still not winning overall online.

One day, I wondered over into the cash games and did pretty well. I more than doubled my buyin. I soon realized that most of the books I’d read were more geared to cash games, not sng’s. I continued to have success at the cash tables and felt like things were starting to click. However, I still struggled with sng’s and MTT’s. Those were the most fun to play, but I just couldn’t get over the hump. I was approaching breakeven for my “career” with online poker because of the cash tables, but I really wanted to improve at tournament play. I knew when I became a winner at tournament play that I would see some pretty dramatic results because my cash game had already become pretty solid. I felt like I needed just one more thing to add to all the other things I had learned, and that would push me over the top.

Because there were really no books on sng’s, I decided to hit the internet and see if there was a forum or somewhere I might be able to get this information. I tried several web sites and finally found Pocket 5’s. I read the posts, considered the advice, and implemented those things that worked. I was reading things that weren’t published in any books on sng’s or MTT’s (I’m sure several books are not too far off though). I saw my sng game improve. I stayed away from MTT’s, because I’d never even cashed in one in the few attempts I’d tried, and my confidence was pretty low in playing them. My confidence soared though at sng play. I started to finish in the money more often, and I was really “getting it.” I was starting to understand the dynamics of sng’s. Everything was starting to fall into place, and I had now broke even and was on the cusp of being a decent winner.

I’m married, have kids, and I work full time, so I play mostly on the weekends when I can and a day or two during the week in the evenings. One weekend, I sat down for a session of playing poker. I needed some new tires on my truck, which were a little over $700, and I thought, “Man, wouldn’t it be nice if I could win enough to pay for the tires on my truck and not have to take it out of our regular money.” I started out on the cash tables, where I did very well at the lower buyin NL tables. Every time I sat down at a table, I’d at least doubled or tripled my buyin within an hour or two. It was going very well, but the tires weren’t quite paid for yet. I decided to try some sng’s, so I started at the $10 buyin’s and did very respectable. This went on over the course of 3 days, and between the cash games and the $10 and $20 sng’s, I was officially on a rush. Towards the end of this rush, I decided to take a shot at a $50 sng. I got 3rd, decided I was freerolling and played another, and I took 1st for a nice $250 payout. I then thought I’d take one more shot and play a $100 sng, and I took 3rd. It was at that point that I decided to stop, assess what I’d done over the last 3 days, and see where I stood. Needless to say, I had enough to buy tires and quite a bit more to give me a very nice bankroll. That was the point where I could officially call myself a winning player.

Since then, I’ve stayed in the black and have had other sessions like that and have not had a losing month again. I’ve now turned my learning and attention to MTT’s, as that’s still an area where I need improvement. That is starting to turn around too though, and I just recently won my first MTT and am starting to FT a few more of the smaller one’s. It wasn’t a huge win dollar wise but still satisfying nonetheless and that marked another goal reached.

My point in sharing all of this is to encourage those of you who are on the brink of being a winner but have some frustration with the goal being so close. For a few people, it comes very naturally and they pick it up right away. There are a lot of things like that for me but poker didn’t seem to be one of them. I think that’s why I see it as such a challenge. It’s competition with others, but it’s also about pushing myself to accomplish a goal of being the best poker player I possibly can. I worked hard at it, and I’m now in a position to have some pretty good success.

Will I ever be ranked? I doubt it, because it’s not a goal, and I probably won’t ever play enough to be considered for a ranking. Will I ever turn pro? No, I have a good job that pays me well, although I do take poker seriously. Does that mean I can’t be a good poker player who experiences success? You don’t have to be a fulltime player to be a good and successful poker player. I’m a winning player now, and with the bankroll I’ve built up, I don’t see myself ever having to deposit again. To me that’s successful. I’m a lot better poker player than I was a year ago, and I’ll be a lot better poker player a year from now.

The moral of the story: Do the things you need to do to become a winning player: Keep practicing, studying, reading posts, and learning. Above all, set a specific goal and some intermediate milestones on the way to that goal. Be honest with yourself about your progress, and make adjustments where necessary. Be critical of your own play, and seek the constructive criticism of others. You can get there, because this is a game that can be learned, and it can be beat. It may take you a little time, but you can be a winning player. If you’re already a winning player, then turn to those areas of your game that are weaker and apply these same principles. Once I get my MTT game where I’m comfortable, I will turn my attention to Omaha and add that to my poker bag of tricks. Bite your poker game off in manageable pieces and you’ll be just fine.

I was reminded of my progress this morning as I walked by my truck and admired those tires for a minute. I thought to myself, “Man, those are the best looking tires that I’ve ever bought.” As I turned around, my eyes then fell over to the tires on the car, and I noticed how they were looking a little worn…

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