Daniel's Poker Shenanigans

This one left a bad taste in my mouth. A quick rant on structures: I've become spoiled playing at Muckleshoot for most of my tournaments. They really do an excellent job catering their poker tournament structures to be player friendly. They now only deal 9-handed (as opposed to 10) and generally have very good structures as far as starting stacks and blind levels go, which means more time playing with deeper stacks. As stacks get shorter, play becomes much less creative and much more robotic. This is not to say there are not skill edges to be had playing with short stacks, but I think most poker players (amateurs included) would agree that playing deeper is preferable. Generally, the higher the buy in for a poker tournament, the "better" the structure becomes in terms of level length, starting stacks and blind levels. While decent, the structures at Tulalip have not been impressive as a function of buy-in cost. By level 6, it seemed like the average stack had fallen...

For 2018 onward I have decided I am going to blog about every live poker session I play - both cash games and tournaments. I believe doing this will force myself to really review my own play and hold myself accountable.  A couple caveats for any readers - my primary motivation for this blog is self improvement. Poker contains its own language and I won't necessarily be catering every post for a general audience. However, I will happily answer any questions and engage in discussion. I normally play at least once every weekend, but I may also be leaving to Japan for several months soon, which means there will almost certainly be a large absence of postings.  A quick intro about me and poker: During the summer following high school graduation, I recall watching a Travel Channel special about card counters (in Blackjack). The basic premise is that one can gain an advantage over the house by memorizing which cards are no longer in play and betting accordingly. When the...