I am not a (good) cash-game player
...Yep.
An increasingly fleeting part of me wants to be.
I'm not.
I strongly believe I have the technical "know-how" and work ethic to become one. However, as life's other priorities have taken up the vast amount of my time, and, given a handful of other circumstantial reasons...
"syouganai."
That is - "It cannot be helped." I should mention I have taken up learning Japanese. Ganbarimasu.
I just got back home from working in San Diego for a couple months. That makes two work trips this year (including Japan from Jan - May) for a total of approximately six months.
Outside of my WSOP stint and the couple of tournaments from January - I have not played any poker. This year is, by far, the least amount of poker I have played since picking the game up in 2007.
I opted not to blog my WSOP experience. Mostly because it felt burdensome. I bricked every tournament (I think 6 total?) for a net loss of about $4k. The good news is I felt pretty good about my play and never felt severely outclassed. I look forward to next year.
But I digress. Cash games...*sigh*
Haven't played in months, so, I opted to play a quick session at Clearwater. 1-3 300 spread. Played about 3 hours and lost just shy of a single buy in. Nothing spectacular to note. But it got me thinking...
I have a pretty strained relationship with cash games. I really enjoy poker, but I have hard time justifying cash game play. Here are the top reasons that come to mind:
Selection - Kitsap and the immediate surrounding area has a painfully small selection of "appreciable stakes" games. That is, games wherein the stakes are high enough so that a sufficiently skilled player (relative to their opponents) can expect to beat the game for a decent hourly rate. Poker is, and always will be, a hobby for me. Having said that, I do play with the expectation of making money and, if I don't think I can make any at a reasonable rate, it is hard for me to justify playing. Currently the only game I have any (mild) interest in runs once a week on Fridays. 300nl. They call that the "big game."
My preferred casino to go play is Muckleshoot. Unfortunately, it takes over an hour to get there, which leads me into my next reason...
Opportunity cost - Deciding to play poker is an entire-day commitment. This is fine in theory, but with two large caveats. First, if I end up far away from home and cash games are not "good," I always feel compelled to play anyways. Why waste the trip? Not an ideal situation. Second, overtime is a fairly common option at work on Saturday. Deciding to play even 500nl in a good game is almost certainly less profitable than just grinding it out at work. And finally...
Lack of interest/discipline - 100bb (often less) nl cash games are, in a word, boring. Profitable hand selection is often thin and the pace of these games can often be excruciating. Unlike tournaments, which offer a barrage of mental stimulation in the form of ever-increasing blinds, and hence, constant strategy adjustments, cash games are a fairly bland endeavor. I often find my eyes wandering toward my phone or the tv instead of what's going on at the table.
Unlike cash games, tournaments are pretty much always "good." They don't hold me responsible for playing when I shouldn't be. They have a definitive beginning and end. They are exciting to go deep in. They require specific strategies that can more-easily be studied and memorized (namely, shallow stacked play and other tournament-specific nuances). The best-value tournaments often occur on Sunday, which never coincides with work. Overall, they are just better-suited to provide results for someone in my situation.
Over the course of my poker-playing "career," I have profited somewhere north of $40,000 from tournaments. Hardly exciting over a 10-year span, but, not bad for a hobby. I never kept diligent records of my cash game results, but, I wouldn't be shocked if I were near break-even lifetime.
Lately, my passion has been the pursuit of FIRE. "Financially Independent Retire Early/Eligible." The basic gist: live frugally, never acquire debt, don't let "lifestyle inflation" happen as you make more money and, invest diligently. It's good stuff and has definitely put me in a place I feel confident and enthusiastic about. Between that, Japanese, work, trying to stay fit and the occasional social outing/movie/game, poker feels like it is becoming an even smaller priority in my life.
I have no intention of stopping altogether, but, pick-and-choosing the occasional "high value" tournament is likely my future. I'll blog them when I do play. Might start blogging non-poker stuff too.
An increasingly fleeting part of me wants to be.
I'm not.
I strongly believe I have the technical "know-how" and work ethic to become one. However, as life's other priorities have taken up the vast amount of my time, and, given a handful of other circumstantial reasons...
"syouganai."
That is - "It cannot be helped." I should mention I have taken up learning Japanese. Ganbarimasu.
I just got back home from working in San Diego for a couple months. That makes two work trips this year (including Japan from Jan - May) for a total of approximately six months.
Outside of my WSOP stint and the couple of tournaments from January - I have not played any poker. This year is, by far, the least amount of poker I have played since picking the game up in 2007.
I opted not to blog my WSOP experience. Mostly because it felt burdensome. I bricked every tournament (I think 6 total?) for a net loss of about $4k. The good news is I felt pretty good about my play and never felt severely outclassed. I look forward to next year.
But I digress. Cash games...*sigh*
Haven't played in months, so, I opted to play a quick session at Clearwater. 1-3 300 spread. Played about 3 hours and lost just shy of a single buy in. Nothing spectacular to note. But it got me thinking...
I have a pretty strained relationship with cash games. I really enjoy poker, but I have hard time justifying cash game play. Here are the top reasons that come to mind:
Selection - Kitsap and the immediate surrounding area has a painfully small selection of "appreciable stakes" games. That is, games wherein the stakes are high enough so that a sufficiently skilled player (relative to their opponents) can expect to beat the game for a decent hourly rate. Poker is, and always will be, a hobby for me. Having said that, I do play with the expectation of making money and, if I don't think I can make any at a reasonable rate, it is hard for me to justify playing. Currently the only game I have any (mild) interest in runs once a week on Fridays. 300nl. They call that the "big game."
My preferred casino to go play is Muckleshoot. Unfortunately, it takes over an hour to get there, which leads me into my next reason...
Opportunity cost - Deciding to play poker is an entire-day commitment. This is fine in theory, but with two large caveats. First, if I end up far away from home and cash games are not "good," I always feel compelled to play anyways. Why waste the trip? Not an ideal situation. Second, overtime is a fairly common option at work on Saturday. Deciding to play even 500nl in a good game is almost certainly less profitable than just grinding it out at work. And finally...
Lack of interest/discipline - 100bb (often less) nl cash games are, in a word, boring. Profitable hand selection is often thin and the pace of these games can often be excruciating. Unlike tournaments, which offer a barrage of mental stimulation in the form of ever-increasing blinds, and hence, constant strategy adjustments, cash games are a fairly bland endeavor. I often find my eyes wandering toward my phone or the tv instead of what's going on at the table.
Unlike cash games, tournaments are pretty much always "good." They don't hold me responsible for playing when I shouldn't be. They have a definitive beginning and end. They are exciting to go deep in. They require specific strategies that can more-easily be studied and memorized (namely, shallow stacked play and other tournament-specific nuances). The best-value tournaments often occur on Sunday, which never coincides with work. Overall, they are just better-suited to provide results for someone in my situation.
Over the course of my poker-playing "career," I have profited somewhere north of $40,000 from tournaments. Hardly exciting over a 10-year span, but, not bad for a hobby. I never kept diligent records of my cash game results, but, I wouldn't be shocked if I were near break-even lifetime.
Lately, my passion has been the pursuit of FIRE. "Financially Independent Retire Early/Eligible." The basic gist: live frugally, never acquire debt, don't let "lifestyle inflation" happen as you make more money and, invest diligently. It's good stuff and has definitely put me in a place I feel confident and enthusiastic about. Between that, Japanese, work, trying to stay fit and the occasional social outing/movie/game, poker feels like it is becoming an even smaller priority in my life.
I have no intention of stopping altogether, but, pick-and-choosing the occasional "high value" tournament is likely my future. I'll blog them when I do play. Might start blogging non-poker stuff too.
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