A lifetime of poker – and learning about it.

By steve | Jul 13, 2009
poker players
Image by ruminatrix via Flickr

I have been learning more about playing poker in the last few years than I have since I first learned to play five card draw over 40 years ago. Some of the things that I learned then from experience still ring true. My uncle Roland and Auntie Bea were fierce card players and did not brook much foolishness at the card table. Bluffing back then at a home card game was practically unheard of and heaven help you if you got caught at it.

Uncle Roland had always said if you don’t have a pair don’t get in. Even back then, hand selection prior to entering a pot, was the thing to remember. But back then we used to play micro stacks at our home games so gambling for .01/.02 did not seem like a lot.

I continued to play these home games with my parents and my aunt and uncle right up to about 1997. When I married my wife Diane in 1968, she joined us at these home games. As the years progressed, we moved up from the .01/.02 stacks right up to .10/.25. One thing we had started to do was to create a bankroll for each of us. We also kept an index card with our bankroll to record the amount we had left at the end of a session. In this way we could tell for sure that we had a winning or a loosing time playing.  We kept our winnings in a zip lock bag. Even recently we had occasion to use them in home games  long after our parents and aunt and uncle passed on to the great felt in the sky.

What was true then, still applies today. Hand selection is still very important. So is position in regards to the hand you decide to play or fold.

Have you learned from you lifetime of poker? Has your decision making improved over the years or months that you have been playing? Are you an impulsive player or a thoughtful one?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
  • http://fivecarddraw.pokerandblog.com/1969/12/31/a-lifetime-of-poker-and-learning-about-it/ A lifetime of poker – and learning about it.

    [...] bwin Partner wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI have been learning more about playing poker in the last few years than I have since I first learned to play five card draw over 40 years ago. Some of the things that I learned then from experience still ring true. … [...]

  • http://patrickallmond.com/ Patrick Allmond

    My poker playing is improving with every session. I started after the invention of spreadsheets, and I have 10+ years of spreadsheets where I tracked alot (not most, not all) games. For the first several years it was rare for me to walk away NOT in the red for that session. That gets old and boring and frustrating. So the reading started, and the practicing, and the studying, etc. All of that helped (ALong with the blog reading) and so slowly my play has gotten better.

    Now it feels like it is just the opposite. I can cash out mose of the time I play. Now I am working on improving my hourly rate. Winning $500 is great. But taking 8 hours to do it is horrible. I am planning on playing in local home games and casinos very strong for the next couple of months in order to finance the trip out to LV. My
    goal while I am out there is to use poker to finance everything else while we are out there. I'll know I succeed when I can cash out at the poker room and walk over to the hotel front counter and prepay the entire week in cash.

  • stevebrogan

    I like your goals. Mine is to some day go to LV for the WSOP and pay for an entry to the ME and to a Limit Holdem Event and walk away with a bracelet and some cash. :-)

  • http://patrickallmond.com/ Patrick Allmond

    Steve – this is on the way in the mail. Found it online for $2.00. Maybe I should mail it to you when I'm done. Interested?

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/0818406488/ref=ar_gw_dp

  • http://stopdoingnothing.com Patrick Allmond

    Steve – this is on the way in the mail. Found it online for $2.00. Maybe I should mail it to you when I'm done. Interested?

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/0818406488/ref=ar_gw_dp

  • http://fivecarddraw.pokerandblog.com/1969/12/31/a-lifetime-of-poker-and-learning-about-it-dadspokerblog/ A lifetime of poker – and learning about it. : DadsPokerBlog

    [...] stacy wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI have been learning more about playing poker in the last few years than I have since I first learned to play five card draw over 40 years ago. Some of the things that I learned then from experience still ring true. … [...]

  • http://pokerlearning.info/?p=6207 A lifetime of poker – and learning about it. : DadsPokerBlog : pokerlearning.info

    [...] View post: A lifetime of poker – and learning about it. : DadsPokerBlog [...]

blog comments powered by Disqus
All materials licensed under Creative Commons - Creative Commons License -