Tag: poker

I'm Back

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Help me give a big warm welcome back to my poker game. I had lost it for almost two months and yesterday I finally found it. I’m back in the ring!

I’ve written before that it’s been a struggle over the past two months. If it wasn’t for deposit bonuses, I would have been done quite a bit. When I last posted about my game, I was in the process of taking some time off. It was well worth it. I didn’t play online at all for a period of 10 days and was able to some reading and think about my game. TOP and ITH are both great books if you haven’t read them.

Party Poker was again offering a great redeposit bonus and it came just in time for my return to the ring. I was disappointed though to actually lose money while working off the required 1400 raked hands for my maximum bonus. Not only did I lose money, but I even ended up behind after figuring in the bonus! So much for taking time off to refine my game and get back to winning!

I was making the same mistakes that had been costing me dearly for the previous two months. I knew what I was doing wrong and just couldn’t stop. As soon as I’d click the button to bet or call, I knew I had made the wrong choice. Always calling check-raisers on the turn is not a profitable situation to be in at the low limits that I play (usually $2/4). You can pick off a bluff once in awhile, but not too many people have the balls to pull a check-raise bluff at these levels. I was calling and then calling another bet on the river. That’s 2 BB each and every time in a losing situation. Not good for the bankroll!

Another mistake I had been making was bluffing way too much. I’d say that of my bluffs and semi-bluffs, I was doing it about 90-95% too much! You can’t win money making this many mistakes and I surely wan’t winning. Bluffs simply are not very profitable at the low limits. There are too many fish that will call you down with bottom or middle pair that it doesn’t pay to bluff them. Simply let them pay you off when you do have a hand. It’s really not that difficult.

While clearing the bonus I think I was down about $350 (or only $150 if you incorporate the bonus I received). Something had to change. I thought about completely moving back down to $1/2 until I could fix my game. I thought about withdrawing $1000 from my bankroll to make sure I wouldn’t blow it. I thought about starting fresh from the lowest limit that Party Poker offered.

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Blogworthy

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

As you may have noticed, I haven’t been on a regular blogging schedule here on MtDewVirus. I didn’t feel all that great a few days this week and ended up taking 1.5 sick days. That doesn’t really have anything to do with my lack of blogging though. I’m not quite sure what it is. I keep asking my self what is and isn’t “blogworthy.”

I also think I’ve been going through a weird time in my life. To use a poker term…I feel “stuck” in more than one way. What exactly does that mean? Well, I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere right now. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get out of here. I haven’t had the motivation to do much of anything lately. I’m just going through the motions of life at times. I ask myself what I want and I don’t have a concrete answer. I do know that I want something different than this, whatever this is. You’re probably as confused as I am now.

In other news, I’ve had some exciting things going on over at Poker Chip Tricks and the traffic has sky-rocketed since Christmas. I recently took 10 whole days off from poker. I didn’t play online at all during that time. I was struggling with my game and needed a break and to do some reading. I read two books and I’m glad to say that I found my game again.

I also haven’t been playing Xbox. I jumped on the other day and played Halo 2 for the first time in probably two weeks or more. I talked to my brother the other day and he was yelling at me, asking when I was going to play again. Let me tell you, 2 weeks away from playing Halo 2 online and I’m rusty! I was to the point where I was dominating other players at my skill level and when I played the other day I was struggling to stay in the middle of the pack.

That’s all for now…

Review: Internet Texas Hold'em

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet ProA little over a month ago, Ammon from ITH offered me a free copy of Matthew Hilger’s book Internet Texas Hold’em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro in exchange for writing a review on my site. Since I always review the books I read and had wanted the book, I quickly took him up on his offer.

At the time, I had just started reading Theory of Poker (my review), so I didn’t start on ITH until last week when I was taking a break from the poker tables. I finished ITH earlier this week. It was really a quick read, even though its length is comparable to most poker books. I was able to read it so fast because I’m already familiar with most of the concepts discussed from reading TOP and Small Stakes Hold’em. That’s not to say that the book is all repeat information though.

ITH is a great book and one that I would recommend to anyone who wants to start playing poker online. Yes, I’d even recommend it before SSH in this case. What sets ITH apart is that the book concentrates on the differences between online and live play. Hilger gives you solid advice on how to beat the online game.

The book is broken down into chapters and the order was great. The jump from one topic to the next flows smoothly and would allow a beginner to easily follow along. Perhaps the best part of the book is the examples and how they are used to supplement the text. At the end of each chapter there are 15-20 real examples taken from online hand histories. The situation is laid out in plain English and then a question is proposed. Should you call? Is raising a better play? Right after each question, Hilger lays out what he believes is the correct play for each situation. Another thing that sets the examples apart from the other books I’ve read is that the author doesn’t use large card images to show you the hand and situation. He simple explains it in text form. This helps to cut down on a lot of space and flipping back and forth between pages.

ITH is not only a great book for the beginning poker player, but it can be a great resource for anyone’s online game. I’ve been struggling with my game over the past two months and the book helped to reinforce some of the concepts and strategies that I had forgot. There are other books I like better, but since the book does so well at what it’s meant for I have to give it an A.


No Play

Aside Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Just a quick post to say that I haven’t played online in a week now as I had planned. I’ve really got the itch, but I’m going to stick to my plan. I’m about 1/3 of the way through reading Internet Texas Hold’em and I think I should be able to finish if I spend […]

Party Poker Cracked

Nick Momrik88 Comments

I just read an interesting thread over at Full Contact Poker. It’s about Party Poker Cracked.

…I will not call a raise, or place a bet more than $5 preflop with AA, KK, or QQ! If I bet $2 and it goes to $10 I am usually going to lay that hand down (fold). I almost always check these hands. After the flop, if I don’t get a set I usually fold if there is a bet over $1.

I need to find out where this guy plays. Who in their right mind wouldn’t go all-in pre-flop with pocket rockets? I don’t care how many opponents are already in the pot or how many call after you, but you’re getting more than the correct odds on any call in this situation in a ring game. The author of this book probably walks around his home wearing a tin foil hat. I’m suprised he even uses the Internet. Doesn’t he know that the FBI is tracking our every move. HA HA!

I’m amazed at how many people still believe that online poker is rigged. Why on earth would these companies risk going under when all they have to do is run a legitimate business and make hundreds of millions a year?

Party Poker Bonuses

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Party Poker is once again offering a 20% deposit bonus up to a maximum of $200 on your next deposit between 00:00 EST, January 21st and 23:59 EST, January 26th 2005. If you’re new to online poker, there couldn’t be a better time to put in some cash. Here’s how you can get three different bonuses…

  1. Sign up through the banner on the right and get a $25 bonus when you make your first deposit or use bonus code “twohole” when you make your first deposit and get a 20% bonus up to $100. Take the bonus that suits your situation best.
  2. Then make another deposit between the times noted above (using bonus code “BONUSJAN”) and get up to $200 more with Party‘s 20% bonus.
  3. As an added extra special bonus, I’ll give you an extra $25 if you sign-up and deposit at least $50 before the end of January, provided that at least 1 other person also signs up. This is not an additional deposit. If you follow point #1 and at leas one other person does the same, I’ll give you this bonus. Pretty simple hey? You don’t even need to play a required number of hands or anything.

You could get up to $325 in bonuses!!

If you sign up through my link or with my bonus code, just let me know which day you made your first deposit. After I verify that Party gave me credit for your sign-up (and at least one other person has also signed up), I’ll transfer you the $25.

Sign up for Party Poker now!

Review: The Theory of Poker

Nick Momrik1 Comment

The Theory of PokerThe Theory of Poker by David Sklansky is probably the most comprehensive book ever written on poker strategy. Sklansky covers bluffing, slow playing, game theory, table selection, and every other topic you can think of. While the book was written several years ago, almost everything can still be applied to today’s styles of play.

I will say that this book should not be the first poker book you read. It shouldn’t even be the second or third. The concepts would easily confuse someone that is just learning the game. There were times while reading TOP that I was confused. The book is just loaded with information. I doubt I’ll ever understand it all, even if I read it 100 times in the next year. I’m not trying to scare anyone away from reading the book, because it’s a must read for any poker player serious about learning the game. I’m simply saying that there’s a lot to take in.

One of the most brilliant, yet simple, things I’ve ever read about poker is Sklanky’s Fundamental Theorem of Poker:

Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose. Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose.

The age of the book can be seen by the number of examples relating to games such as Stud, Razz, and Draw poker, but the concepts can be applied to any game out there. It would be nice if Sklansky would come out with a revision that just related to hold’em, the most popular form of poker today.

Like I said before, if you’ve read a few other poker books, feel free to jump into TOP, otherwise wait until you have some more experience and reading under your belt. Once you do though, dive right in. I give the book an A.