Gifted

So, the Evil Denmother has transfered 0.10 USD into my PokerStars account so I can play in a dime tournament with her and the Degenerate Cub Scouts. Which is incredibly nice, and an incredibly friendly gesture. And kind of begs for a decision (and some serious thinking) on my part.

I've avoided putting cash into any of my accounts because I know I'm somewhat obsessive, and I always try to run before I can walk with any new obsession, and playing for real cash early looked like a great way to lose a chunk of money. Hence, my tidy little bankroll of play money.

Recent real-world experience makes my decision look pretty good. I'm not ready to swim with the sharks yet, although I don't doubt that I will be ready eventually. Really, when you get down to it, swimming with the sharks takes a combination of the following:

1. Talent
2. Balls
3. Ruthlessness
4. Patience
5. Money

It's possible I'm wrong, but I think I have the first two. I find I don't like pushing around people I like, so the "Ruthlessness" thing may be an issue. (On the other hand, it makes playing "Tight/Aggressive" against them easier. When I'm sure I have a hand, I try to make it easy for people I like to fold. Something to think about.) I know I have patience issues, but because I know it and it's an internal issue, I can train myself to deal.

There ain't no way to compensate for lack of money, though.

Now there are low stakes, and there are low stakes. I wouldn't mind playing the .05/.10 real money tables if the play didn't suck major ass. I remember the play at the entry level PokerStars tables. I remember it being very much like playing in a room full of psychotic children high on PCP and armed with shotguns. I remember it so well now because the other night I signed up for Full Tilt Poker (PokerStars was down, and besides, their stance on Frist's Folly has not been promising) and the play at the entry tables there is as gruesome as I recall from PokerStars.

Would the play at the micro-stakes table be any better? I don't have much reason to think so.

To get around the piranha pool aspect of the entry-level cash tables, I built my play money stack at PokerStars playing in Sit-and-Go tourneys. I would play the 330 and 2200 SnGs until I had about 100,000 PSD, then switch to the 100/200 cash tables. Took me a couple of cycles of this before I found my rhythm and started winning consistently at the 100/200 level. Since then, with the exception of my Bad Run, I've been pretty steadily ratcheting up.

(An unfortunate side effect has been my tournament game has really deteriorated. Investing 2200 PSD to potentially win ~40K PSD doesn't make much sense when my ROI at the cash tables averages about ~20K, and a SnG can take 2-3 hours to complete. That means I haven't been playing many tourneys, and that means that when I do I don't do as well as I once did. Practice counts. Which means I'm likely to just piss away that gifted dime. Sigh.)

So maybe the answer is to put 50 USD into an account at FTP, play exclusively low-stakes Sit-and-Go tourneys, and see if I can adjust and build a bankroll that would let me play the $1/$2 on-line cash tables.

Which of course brings us back to Frist's Folly.

Any money I put into any system right now I'd have to treat as lost money. I've got not problem in theory with dropping $100 down a rat-hole if said rat-hole provides me with hours of amusement. (Even this mind reels at that metaphor, but I continue....) But if I start winning, I am going to be so freaking pissed if I can't get my money out that I'm likely to pop a blood vessel.

Ahem.

Eh. Maybe just to spite Frist, I'll drop a hundred into Full Tilt Poker next week (because they seem more committed to overcoming Frist's Folly) and start playing their low SnGs. See if I can build a bankroll.

And maybe put $50 into my PokerStars account just to hang with Evil Denmother and the Degenerate Cub Scouts. Who knows, maybe they'll show me the secret handshake someday.