C
chernoff
Rising Star
Bronze Level
I hate to make a big story of it, but its all leading into where I am now.
I started playing cards online at a couple rooms when I was 15. I started with $50 in the account and got on a run of cards and turned it into nearly $2000. Twice as fast as I made it I lost it. After another month or two of winning and losing at cards I began handicapping my true passion in life, sports. Waking up a year later half way through the 11th grade I was making calls to to New Jersey, Las Vegas, Australia, England and Costa Rica with my daily plays. Not knowing really what I was into or knowing how to handle the money that I had coming in I stopped going to school regularly and began playing live games across Calgary at various casinos (remember, it is 18 years in Canada, I was 17 at the time but no one suspects and under aged minor to be sitting $2/$5 no limit at 11am in the morning with a stack of hundreds in his pocket) After nearly 3 months of grinding out point spread winners and cards on the felt I was offered a job at a sportsbook/poker room in Malta. I officially dropped out of school, took off half way across the world and ended up on a flight back before I was even out of Glasgow Airport. After facing the consequences I spent the rest of the year at home not attending school still advising sports wagering moves to clients across North America. I made the choice to finish my schooling packing 4 extra classes into my senior year which officially finishes with graduation this weekend. Things were fine and rolling along and a return to cards seemed unnecessary until April 25th/26th when the Milwaukee Brewers were hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park. The biggest wager of my career came on the Brewers as a -140 fav. on the 25th, A 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th was blown by Trevor Hoffman and the Brewers saw defeat. Devastated the clients pressures for another winner. Encouraged to back the Mets the next day (Who won 4-0 thanks to Johan Santana's complete game) I ended up backing the Brewers again against my initial feelings. Like a bad movie, Hoffman had a one run lead in the bottom of the ninth after the Brewers recorded 7 scoreless innings in a row he let the Pirates tie the game. In the 14th inning ESPN which I was watching in school showed Jim Edmonds score the winning run. Relived and estacic I took off home with a grin on my face only to find out the report was wrong, Edmonds was out at home and the Pirates scored in the 15th inning to win by a run.
Sports betting was done, so was my future career. It was everything I had done and everything I had wanted to do. With a month to finish school, I was literally, Running For "Cover". A term which a friend of mine in New Jersey would say when he was betting the Monday Night Football, his team "Covering" the point spread meant the difference between paying his bookie or being paid by the bookie.
Recently I have built up enough a bankroll to begin playing cards again. My plan is to play online as a Prop and earn rakeback as my source of income. I have graduated with a B+ average and had an offer for Broadcasting Scholarship in College. (If you haven't noticed, im quite the talker.) It is not what I want with my life, as amazing as I am as the announcer at the hockey game or filling in for the local late night radio show, I don't get excited unless I am playing cards.
I will get into my Prop/Rakeback situation later on as I still have a week before I plan to make my inital deposit.
As for now im fooling around with some money left on Titan, here is where I seek help from you guys here.
I am an all over the place, free living, laid back guy. On the golf course, basketball court or baseball diamond I am the most talkative, competitive fired up son of a gun you will ever meet. I drive people crazy. I am always in the game but never really "focused" if you know what I mean. When I play cards online, I am so zoned in, I have no clue what is going on around me. Normally you say, that is a good thing. Here is the problem, When I finish a session, I remember absolutely nothing except how much money I started with, and what I finish with. I played micro no limit yesterday on Titan for six hours. I had a total buy in amount of $75 and a profit of $180. In those six hours, I didn't eat, I didn't talk, I didn't answer any phone calls, nothing. I literally remember nothing. I get so zoned in I don't even think at the table. I play extremely quick and slow play the death out of strong hands and over bet the weaker hands to steal the pot. When I have a made hand Im like a deer in the headlights, if people are betting into me, all I see is the call button.
For one example, I had a stack of roughly $40 in $.10/$.20 NL. I had 5 5 in the small blind and limped to see the flop with the big blind. The flop came A 9 5 rainbow. I checked and had the guy fire back $.50. I just called. Turn came a 9. Guy fired $4 at me, I called again. River came a 6. He bet $10 at me, I called again. He turned over 6 6.
I didn't realize the full extent of what had happened until 3 or 4 hands later and how poorly I played it.
As locked in as I get online its even worse in live games.
I was playing at the casino, after three hours I decided to pack it in. When I stood up I was light headed. Why? For whatever reason, I look down the entire game. Im not talking straight down but my eyes go from my cards, quick glance at peoples faces then at my chips and stay there. The weird part is I can get reads on people by how they are betting. I rarely look at the peoples face but you can feel out what they are trying to do by how quickly they respond and the amount of their wagers, just like online tells.
Maybe this is just a rare case of me being tunnel-visioned (if that is the word for this) at the table, or perhaps this is common? Why am I so locked in and zoned out at the tables?
I know I need to get rid of this and start playing the right "mental" game at the table when I start playing for keeps late this month. I hate to rant on but this is serious and any help I can get would be great as it will improve my game in a big way.
Does anyone have advice on this or any comments to say. I would appreciate it.
Thank you for reading.
I started playing cards online at a couple rooms when I was 15. I started with $50 in the account and got on a run of cards and turned it into nearly $2000. Twice as fast as I made it I lost it. After another month or two of winning and losing at cards I began handicapping my true passion in life, sports. Waking up a year later half way through the 11th grade I was making calls to to New Jersey, Las Vegas, Australia, England and Costa Rica with my daily plays. Not knowing really what I was into or knowing how to handle the money that I had coming in I stopped going to school regularly and began playing live games across Calgary at various casinos (remember, it is 18 years in Canada, I was 17 at the time but no one suspects and under aged minor to be sitting $2/$5 no limit at 11am in the morning with a stack of hundreds in his pocket) After nearly 3 months of grinding out point spread winners and cards on the felt I was offered a job at a sportsbook/poker room in Malta. I officially dropped out of school, took off half way across the world and ended up on a flight back before I was even out of Glasgow Airport. After facing the consequences I spent the rest of the year at home not attending school still advising sports wagering moves to clients across North America. I made the choice to finish my schooling packing 4 extra classes into my senior year which officially finishes with graduation this weekend. Things were fine and rolling along and a return to cards seemed unnecessary until April 25th/26th when the Milwaukee Brewers were hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park. The biggest wager of my career came on the Brewers as a -140 fav. on the 25th, A 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th was blown by Trevor Hoffman and the Brewers saw defeat. Devastated the clients pressures for another winner. Encouraged to back the Mets the next day (Who won 4-0 thanks to Johan Santana's complete game) I ended up backing the Brewers again against my initial feelings. Like a bad movie, Hoffman had a one run lead in the bottom of the ninth after the Brewers recorded 7 scoreless innings in a row he let the Pirates tie the game. In the 14th inning ESPN which I was watching in school showed Jim Edmonds score the winning run. Relived and estacic I took off home with a grin on my face only to find out the report was wrong, Edmonds was out at home and the Pirates scored in the 15th inning to win by a run.
Sports betting was done, so was my future career. It was everything I had done and everything I had wanted to do. With a month to finish school, I was literally, Running For "Cover". A term which a friend of mine in New Jersey would say when he was betting the Monday Night Football, his team "Covering" the point spread meant the difference between paying his bookie or being paid by the bookie.
Recently I have built up enough a bankroll to begin playing cards again. My plan is to play online as a Prop and earn rakeback as my source of income. I have graduated with a B+ average and had an offer for Broadcasting Scholarship in College. (If you haven't noticed, im quite the talker.) It is not what I want with my life, as amazing as I am as the announcer at the hockey game or filling in for the local late night radio show, I don't get excited unless I am playing cards.
I will get into my Prop/Rakeback situation later on as I still have a week before I plan to make my inital deposit.
As for now im fooling around with some money left on Titan, here is where I seek help from you guys here.
I am an all over the place, free living, laid back guy. On the golf course, basketball court or baseball diamond I am the most talkative, competitive fired up son of a gun you will ever meet. I drive people crazy. I am always in the game but never really "focused" if you know what I mean. When I play cards online, I am so zoned in, I have no clue what is going on around me. Normally you say, that is a good thing. Here is the problem, When I finish a session, I remember absolutely nothing except how much money I started with, and what I finish with. I played micro no limit yesterday on Titan for six hours. I had a total buy in amount of $75 and a profit of $180. In those six hours, I didn't eat, I didn't talk, I didn't answer any phone calls, nothing. I literally remember nothing. I get so zoned in I don't even think at the table. I play extremely quick and slow play the death out of strong hands and over bet the weaker hands to steal the pot. When I have a made hand Im like a deer in the headlights, if people are betting into me, all I see is the call button.
For one example, I had a stack of roughly $40 in $.10/$.20 NL. I had 5 5 in the small blind and limped to see the flop with the big blind. The flop came A 9 5 rainbow. I checked and had the guy fire back $.50. I just called. Turn came a 9. Guy fired $4 at me, I called again. River came a 6. He bet $10 at me, I called again. He turned over 6 6.
I didn't realize the full extent of what had happened until 3 or 4 hands later and how poorly I played it.
As locked in as I get online its even worse in live games.
I was playing at the casino, after three hours I decided to pack it in. When I stood up I was light headed. Why? For whatever reason, I look down the entire game. Im not talking straight down but my eyes go from my cards, quick glance at peoples faces then at my chips and stay there. The weird part is I can get reads on people by how they are betting. I rarely look at the peoples face but you can feel out what they are trying to do by how quickly they respond and the amount of their wagers, just like online tells.
Maybe this is just a rare case of me being tunnel-visioned (if that is the word for this) at the table, or perhaps this is common? Why am I so locked in and zoned out at the tables?
I know I need to get rid of this and start playing the right "mental" game at the table when I start playing for keeps late this month. I hate to rant on but this is serious and any help I can get would be great as it will improve my game in a big way.
Does anyone have advice on this or any comments to say. I would appreciate it.
Thank you for reading.