Hitting the books
It amazes me that I have advanced to the point where poker is profitable, but still answer the hand quizes wrong more than 50% of the time. There are a lot of bookmarks in the middle of poker books sitting on my desk and its about time that is corrected.
I have played enough poker now, that examples in books are similar to hands that I have played in, and theories can be related back to how I am currently playing the game. Playing poker after work has been a net loss, while playing on the weekends has been a net gain. Going forward, in an attempt to relocate bookmarks and improve my game, I will discontinue playing during the week right after work, and instead study. During the weekends, I will play in the afternoon and evenings.
Party Poker’s FEBBONUS was completed Friday night, but I took such a beating during the week that most of my weekend gains were wiped out, leaving me down $16 excluding bonuses. After $550 worth of bonuses in 3 months of play, I am pretty happy, but I would still like to be even. Some play today will probably get me there, and not playing during the week should keep me there.
So the new goal is to complete Internet Texas Hold’em by Matthen Hilger. His website is pretty good too, but doesn’t work right in lynx. I am sure that will affect absolutely no one. There is no time limit for this goal, since the goal is more about understanding and being able to implement the ideas in the book.
Of the books on my desk, I would recommend this one as good starting point for playing online. Why? This book covers the basics just like all the other beginning books, but it also covers bank rolls, bonuses, site selection and online tells. Those are topics missing from the rest of my poker library, which might now be larger than my perl library. Oh perl, how I miss thee.