Prologue

I decided to take a little break from playing Texas Hold 'em to start a blog of my experiences. As the blog description says, I'm trying to build a poker bankroll of $1,000 so that I can play in the larger limit tables. Hopefully by the time my bankroll grows that large, I will be a good enough poker player to make keep the earnings up at the higher limit tables. I should have started logging my activities a few months back, so let me back up to the beginning.

A few months ago, a couple guys at work were talking about their experiences playing online poker. I had played quite a bit of the play money poker over the last year or so, but I never tried the real money games. Their stories intrigued me enough to open an account with Party Poker.

At Party Poker, my initial $100 deposit lasted several weeks. Some days I would be up and others I would be down. My bankroll was trending up, but the swings were sometimes $20-30 each way. I didn't know what I was doing or what type of game I liked, so I played in limits from $.50/$1 to $2/$4. When I talked to my coworkers, they suggested that I try the tournaments, "That's where the money is."

My tournament experience was brutal. I played several $5 single-table tournaments at Party Poker with dismal results. Although I could regularly get to the top five finishers, I never made it to the money. I'd win a little at the ring games then lost it at the tournaments. Eventually, I withdrew my remaining balance in frustration: $70.

A few weeks later, one of my buddies suggested that I try Poker Stars. He said that it was much looser than Party Poker, so I opened an account there with $100. Over the next few weeks, I lost my bankroll at the $5 single-table tournaments. Beaten and bruised, I gave up. Thus ended my first foray into online poker.

posted by Kent @ 5:03 PM