Daniel's Poker Shenanigans

Friday Yuck, but also....phew? I don't think I was ever up money in the entire 11 hours I played. Things got off to a bad start and went downhill from there, including this little gem: An active player in early position opened for $20, two players called behind him, and I raised to $100 in late position with AK. The initial raiser called, and the first caller behind him backraised  all in for $400 which is also a "cap" (no one else can raise until the flop). One fold to me, I called, and the initial raiser called.  942r. A total whiff. The initial raiser checked to me. At that point, he had just under $300 behind and it was hard to imagine him folding anything better than AK after calling $400 preflop. I checked behind.  An ace fell on the turn...and he shipped his remaining stack into the middle. Jackpot? Call.  A 7 on the river. Both players seemed reluctant to show their hands. I showed and the player who was all in preflop immediately mucked his hand. The other player

Patience -->Stress-->Relief/Pain-->Patience.   ...this loop pretty much sums up my experience over the weekend.  For me, that is full-ring poker in a nutshell. That is:  1) Wait patiently for what I assess to be "a profitable situation."  2) Wager as much money as necessary in a way so as to maximize said "profitable situation." This is usually the most stressful part of poker.  3) Win or lose depending on how accurate my assessment of the situation was, how skillfully I acted on it, and how lucky or unlucky I got. Winning is typically met with feelings of relief, while losing is met with feelings of brief pain. 4) Go back to waiting patiently.  …it's not exactly the most glamorous or alluring thing, tbh. Why bother?  A small part of me still doesn't believe it's actually possible to win at poker in any reliable sense. There are, without a doubt, thousands of actual  people who have made very good money playing poker. A lot more have lost. A lot

 A lot has happened since my last update. I will get to all that in another blog soon-ish.  ...but for now, I'm presenting a challenge to myself publicly, both because I need some outside motivation and also to hold myself accountable.  The challenge is simple: start with a $10,000 bankroll and either double it by playing poker every weekend or lose it trying. For people who actually play professionally, this could hardly be considered a challenge, but for a recreational plebe like me -- it's going to be a real test of resolve.  Quick recap of my "recent" poker endeavors: - Played a decent amount of volume after quitting my job (summer 2019) up until I went back to Japan last year (right about when the pandemic hit). Won approximately $20,000 during that time.  - Returned to the USA last summer with intentions of continuing to play (and finish a college program) in Vegas. Instead, went to Vegas and played very little. I did, however, complete my certificate in editing