Mortis
The Saurus
Loyaler
So, I guess it's about time I make a worthwhile post, for my 2,000th post, haha. In the nearly 3 years that I have been playing Hold 'Em and Omaha, I have learned tremendously. First, I want to start off how I got into poker. If you want to skip over this, just head down to the 2nd part of "Mortis' 2K Poker" Post.
Please feel free to pick away at the post!
October 2006
My roommate at the time was a huge poker fan and player, he kept trying to get me into it, but I never thought I would, even though I learned the actual game of poker (5-card stud and draw) when I was 5 years old on my grandpa's lap, who also taught me how to play many strategy games like chess and checkers, and led to me playing board games like Stratego, Risk, and Monopoly. My roommate was hellbent on teaching me Texas Hold 'Em, so I hesistantly accepted his proposal. It ended up I actually liked playing.
January 2007
3 months into learning Texas Hold 'Em, I entered a free bar tournament of 30 people, and ended up taking it down in my first tournament. I won $20 that night on the free entry, and was instantly hooked.
Now, I didn't win because I was a good poker player. Hell, I horrible at the time! Luckily, I had a knack for reading people. My mother was a police officer for 11 years and taught me the ins and outs of her work growing up, including facial expressions and hand gestures, and how to tell when someone's lying (she also told me horror stories of some stuff she's seen, which is probably one of the reasons why I never got into drugs or anything like that, lol). In high school, I also took up psychology, because the human mind has always fascinated me, and I began to watch people, their actions, and learn why people do the things they do.
Joining CardsChat
I'm a forum junkie! I like getting on the internet and talking to people about my interests. Right now, I'm a member of 3 different forums (Video Games, Poker-CC, and MMA-which I am the mod of), and I actually had no idea about the freerolls going on here, haha. I was actually semi-clueless about online poker at the time that I signed up in November 2007. My (now ex-)roommate at the time convinced me to sign up on pokerstars, and played in play money games every now and then but that was about it.
When I first signed up in November 2007, I looked around the site, thought it was a very nice forum, but didn't think I would fit in with the poker community, to be completely honest. One of the reasons why I was even hesistant to start playing poker. I didn't even really visit the site that often until about August 2008.
A Lot to Learn
So, I finally started to take part in discussions at CardsChat, found out about the freerolls, and began to take part. Online poker was a lot different than live poker. Gawd, I didn't really know wtf I was doing, lol. I would raise big on mediocre hands, and go all-in with low pocket pairs. You can't read people as well like you can in live poker. I actually had to learn the game!! So, here is what I learned in my time with CardsChat, which I want to thank everybody on this board for helping me learn the game, whether you know you did or not.
---------------------------------------
2nd part of Mortis' 2K Poker post
(I should point out here that I am mainly a tournament player, and don't play many cash games.)
You don't have to play every hand. Choose your battles.
Just what the title says. Pick your battles! One hand can change the course of the game. Don't be afraid to play big with the big hands. It's better to win a small pot then to lose a big one, and never slow play Aces (unless you're heads up, then sometimes it's appropriate). You never know what cards will hit.
Positioning
A/8 is a very medicore hand, but it's stronger in late position on the button if everyone else has folded. Not a hand you really want to play UTG with 7 or 8 other players. Know the strength of your hand.
Pot Odds
This is where my point about "play big with big hands" comes in handy. You bet little, your opponent may be on a draw, and can see the remaining cards with little risk, and could hit their straight or flush. Yeah, sure, some people may also chase that flush, but a good poker player knows when to fold. Honestly, I'm still learning pot odds, but realize the importance of it. A couple of years ago, I was in a live tournament, with a large pot. I raised big pre-flop with Pocket Q's, and got one caller. And Ace hits the flop. I bet 1000 chips in a pot of about 2200 chips (blinds were around 200/400, I believe. Opponent calls. The turn was nothing.. I bet another 1000, he calls. River didn't matter either. I checked. Opponent bets the 1000. I folded. With me still having about 10,000 chips, and 6200 chips in the pot, I should have called. Opponent showed his Pocket Jacks. My Queens would have won, and if he did have that Ace, then I would have just been down another 1000, no big deal with the stack that I had.
Playing against yourself
This is one lesson that I usually try to play with. I usually play as if I'm playing against the blinds when I'm playing online. Always be aware of what the blinds are, what's in the pot, and your chip stack.
Min raising on my BB
I'm going to call.. unless I'm shortstacked, I'm going to at least call your min raise, whether I have 7/2 off suit or better. The flop come come 7-7-2. You never know. This goes back to the "don't be afraid to play big with big hands."
Playing style
Alright, giving myself a way a bit here, haha. I started out playing a bit loose aggressive, then loose passive. Both were big no's to me. I finally found a play style that suits me well in both live and online poker. I like to say semi-aggressive/semi-tight. Now, not trying to contradict my "playing against yourself" topic, but I sometimes play against my opponents habits, too. Watch how aggressively or passively they play, and mold myself to their style. Also, try to adapt to your surroundings. Change your style in another person is beating you, or you feel you're giving yourself away..
Conclusion
Because of CardsChat, I have won more money on poker than I have put in. I have never deposited on any poker site, and still have money in my FullTilt account. I've took 1st out of 2700 in a FT Freeroll, Took 1st out of 154 in a CardsChat freeroll, Recently took 33rd out of 7,513 people in a $1 tournament, and have been to CardsChat final tables 8 times all on FullTilt
games, because that's the only place I play right now (including taking two 2nd places in CC buy-ins). I have also placed in 2 Harrah's live tournaments. Taking 1st out of 80 people, and 3rd out of 80 people, which again,
I feel that CardsChat is partly responsible for me winning. I have also met a lot of cool people on CardsChat, and have enjoyed playing the games and just talking on the forum.
I am hoping to hit a couple of tournaments on the wsop 2009-2010 circuit, and may even have a sponsor, believe it or not. So, we'll see how that goes.
Alright, I know this isn't the best poker write up, and I still have a lot to learn, and I might even be wrong on some points, but this is what I have gathered so far, and it's great to be here at CardsChat. I have learned a lot since becoming a regular poster. Thank you again, CardsChat!
Please feel free to pick away at the post!
October 2006
My roommate at the time was a huge poker fan and player, he kept trying to get me into it, but I never thought I would, even though I learned the actual game of poker (5-card stud and draw) when I was 5 years old on my grandpa's lap, who also taught me how to play many strategy games like chess and checkers, and led to me playing board games like Stratego, Risk, and Monopoly. My roommate was hellbent on teaching me Texas Hold 'Em, so I hesistantly accepted his proposal. It ended up I actually liked playing.
January 2007
3 months into learning Texas Hold 'Em, I entered a free bar tournament of 30 people, and ended up taking it down in my first tournament. I won $20 that night on the free entry, and was instantly hooked.
Now, I didn't win because I was a good poker player. Hell, I horrible at the time! Luckily, I had a knack for reading people. My mother was a police officer for 11 years and taught me the ins and outs of her work growing up, including facial expressions and hand gestures, and how to tell when someone's lying (she also told me horror stories of some stuff she's seen, which is probably one of the reasons why I never got into drugs or anything like that, lol). In high school, I also took up psychology, because the human mind has always fascinated me, and I began to watch people, their actions, and learn why people do the things they do.
Joining CardsChat
I'm a forum junkie! I like getting on the internet and talking to people about my interests. Right now, I'm a member of 3 different forums (Video Games, Poker-CC, and MMA-which I am the mod of), and I actually had no idea about the freerolls going on here, haha. I was actually semi-clueless about online poker at the time that I signed up in November 2007. My (now ex-)roommate at the time convinced me to sign up on pokerstars, and played in play money games every now and then but that was about it.
When I first signed up in November 2007, I looked around the site, thought it was a very nice forum, but didn't think I would fit in with the poker community, to be completely honest. One of the reasons why I was even hesistant to start playing poker. I didn't even really visit the site that often until about August 2008.
A Lot to Learn
So, I finally started to take part in discussions at CardsChat, found out about the freerolls, and began to take part. Online poker was a lot different than live poker. Gawd, I didn't really know wtf I was doing, lol. I would raise big on mediocre hands, and go all-in with low pocket pairs. You can't read people as well like you can in live poker. I actually had to learn the game!! So, here is what I learned in my time with CardsChat, which I want to thank everybody on this board for helping me learn the game, whether you know you did or not.
---------------------------------------
2nd part of Mortis' 2K Poker post
(I should point out here that I am mainly a tournament player, and don't play many cash games.)
You don't have to play every hand. Choose your battles.
Just what the title says. Pick your battles! One hand can change the course of the game. Don't be afraid to play big with the big hands. It's better to win a small pot then to lose a big one, and never slow play Aces (unless you're heads up, then sometimes it's appropriate). You never know what cards will hit.
Positioning
A/8 is a very medicore hand, but it's stronger in late position on the button if everyone else has folded. Not a hand you really want to play UTG with 7 or 8 other players. Know the strength of your hand.
Pot Odds
This is where my point about "play big with big hands" comes in handy. You bet little, your opponent may be on a draw, and can see the remaining cards with little risk, and could hit their straight or flush. Yeah, sure, some people may also chase that flush, but a good poker player knows when to fold. Honestly, I'm still learning pot odds, but realize the importance of it. A couple of years ago, I was in a live tournament, with a large pot. I raised big pre-flop with Pocket Q's, and got one caller. And Ace hits the flop. I bet 1000 chips in a pot of about 2200 chips (blinds were around 200/400, I believe. Opponent calls. The turn was nothing.. I bet another 1000, he calls. River didn't matter either. I checked. Opponent bets the 1000. I folded. With me still having about 10,000 chips, and 6200 chips in the pot, I should have called. Opponent showed his Pocket Jacks. My Queens would have won, and if he did have that Ace, then I would have just been down another 1000, no big deal with the stack that I had.
Playing against yourself
This is one lesson that I usually try to play with. I usually play as if I'm playing against the blinds when I'm playing online. Always be aware of what the blinds are, what's in the pot, and your chip stack.
Min raising on my BB
I'm going to call.. unless I'm shortstacked, I'm going to at least call your min raise, whether I have 7/2 off suit or better. The flop come come 7-7-2. You never know. This goes back to the "don't be afraid to play big with big hands."
Playing style
Alright, giving myself a way a bit here, haha. I started out playing a bit loose aggressive, then loose passive. Both were big no's to me. I finally found a play style that suits me well in both live and online poker. I like to say semi-aggressive/semi-tight. Now, not trying to contradict my "playing against yourself" topic, but I sometimes play against my opponents habits, too. Watch how aggressively or passively they play, and mold myself to their style. Also, try to adapt to your surroundings. Change your style in another person is beating you, or you feel you're giving yourself away..
Conclusion
Because of CardsChat, I have won more money on poker than I have put in. I have never deposited on any poker site, and still have money in my FullTilt account. I've took 1st out of 2700 in a FT Freeroll, Took 1st out of 154 in a CardsChat freeroll, Recently took 33rd out of 7,513 people in a $1 tournament, and have been to CardsChat final tables 8 times all on FullTilt
games, because that's the only place I play right now (including taking two 2nd places in CC buy-ins). I have also placed in 2 Harrah's live tournaments. Taking 1st out of 80 people, and 3rd out of 80 people, which again,
I feel that CardsChat is partly responsible for me winning. I have also met a lot of cool people on CardsChat, and have enjoyed playing the games and just talking on the forum.
I am hoping to hit a couple of tournaments on the wsop 2009-2010 circuit, and may even have a sponsor, believe it or not. So, we'll see how that goes.
Alright, I know this isn't the best poker write up, and I still have a lot to learn, and I might even be wrong on some points, but this is what I have gathered so far, and it's great to be here at CardsChat. I have learned a lot since becoming a regular poster. Thank you again, CardsChat!
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