My First Poker Tournament - LIVE

Delayed for a week before i actually blogged on this. Last Sat, 23 July 2011 marks another start of my poker life. I have been playing online poker and home games with friends n family, but never against strangers. It was held at Leisure World cruise, called the Leisure World Poker Series. My friend asked me to go together and I did.

We were pretty nervous about the whole thing. 

Anyway, i rem i was saying i started this poker thing becuz i believe it is a game of skill, instead of a game of chance. I know ppl hear the word poker itself will categorize it with those games u see in the casino. But no, one basic reason y is in those game of pure luck like baccarat or sic bo, u cant choose to purposely lose. 

I packed my stuff quickly n packed like i was gng to genting lol. I left my pokerstars.net cap at home though cuz i dont wan to be seen like a fanboy there. But i was wrong. The people ther were more "enthu". They wore, pose and play like those poker pros u see on youtube. Very interesting. There were even team who made their own jackets with slogan.

Arriving at the ferry terminal, i was surprised to see so many youngster our age. i think people there wants to be famous. Fame, power n money. Who dont wan when what we sees r only the good side of it?? I just wan to see how far i can go in this arena. Im a sucker for success stories, and i wan to be part of it.

We went there in a slow journey probably becuz we were eager. I was a little scared seeing the shaky boat. But quickly adjusted to it and realised how i missed those times in the navy riding against the waves.

Finally, we hopped on the leisure world cruise n left our stuff in the cabin n never see it until 12 hours later. It was bigger than i expected, but not something i wanna bath in or date at. We left quickly to register for our freeroll. Top 3 gets a seat to the main event (which we were there for) FREE!

I play badly n nervously during the freeroll. It was a good warm up. I threw a lot of cards away. I was scared getting kicked out n played super tight. I won only one pot n slowly got eat up by the blinds with A4 diamonds vs KJ. Got a chance there. But flop came x x K, turn K, n river can kiss-my-ass-already.

We went on the grab cheap beers on the deck, free food n cup noodles, before registering for the main event. It was so coincidence that my friend was sitting right nxt to me in the main event. We try not to get in each others’ way but to our surprise, the one n only Singaporean Team Pokerstars Pro Bryan Huang sat at our table. We knoe we were gonna have a tough first few levels.

I played tight but managed to grab a few pots here n there. Until the last hand b4 the first break, i guess it was my highlight of the trip. I was dealt KK – cowboys. I wasted no time and raised about 4 bb pre-flop. An indian guy called. Bryan re-raised all-in, he was short stack that moment. I re-raised all-in too hoping the indian guy would call also. He folded though.

Bryan turned over KJ to my delight, i showed my KK.

Flop came x x J. Nevermind i was still leading.

Turn came another J!! Wtf!! N becuz it was last hand before the break ther were many onlookers. I was speechless.

River came another clubs, and i made a king-high flush, busting Bryan out.

I was happy enuff to sit along playing against our national one n only team pokerstars pro, let alone busting him out. Thanks to that river luck. Well, a pro is a pro, he rebuy again n played all the way to money-finishes at 12th position.

I survived my way to number 25th, out of 95 players. I was happy enough. I think i played better than my usual self. It was about 7 hours. Adding on cash game later, i played a straight 11th hours of poker. I was tired as my cash games even called a wrong bet, which costs my whole stacked. I stopped at there n went to sleep.

I was tempted to play some roulette on the way to cabin but resisted. Promised mum i wouldnt touch those already, i told her poker is different from gambling so i won't touch. I doubt she understands what i meant, but poker IS gAmbling. But it is skill-oriented than luck alone. If not, why the champion no.1 who busted me out in the main event could won twice n have consistent result?

Was kinda creepy slping alone in the cabin. I read online some say haunted, even mum said so oh well. Anyway, ther was nth to do. So i slept a straight six hours after lying down damn long. Next day was simply gng home n talking abt stuff. This was reAlly a great exposure. Although it was soooo expensive.

I had a one week break from poker therafter.

I hope to see some results from my poker soon. But i still played like shit today. Anyway,if i could find a good salary degree job nw to focus on i might put these on a hiatus n focus on my job. Unless time permits. Realistically speaking, how to make living out of these? I would if i could hahaha.

Anyway fuck casinos. After busto out in genting resort world playing sic bo, i had enuff. I had enuff of being fooled by these randomness. I told myself never to bet in the casino again. There r no success stories in casino except for the casinos themselves. 

Casino, Shares, Poker cept FX

Been awhile since I have updated. Basically spending most of my June taking a break from exams, going out, playing basketball with Bottle and friends, went to Genting Highlands over the weekend for a short getaway. Genting is located at the top of the mountain in part of Malaysia. It has nice cooling weather, basically u're staying with the clouds. Interesting fact is that the hotels do not need cost for air-con, nature will do its work! Anyway, I went with my parents and girlfriend. We went casino and haunted mansion. Make sure you try the haunted adventure because it is nothing we expected.

In the casino, I lost 400 Ringgit, playing Sic bo, Roulette and Jackpot. Due to insufficient capital, my roulette system went busted in no time. I spent most of my time in sic bo. Interesting. At first I simply go for Big and Small, but always get killed by triples. So I played around the board. On our last night, I had about 50 ringgit left. I bet everything into small - and double up. Then another 100 (everything) into big, and double up. I wanted to break even. So I wanted a last double-up to win back my 400 ringgit with my current 200 capital. I waited and then put into BIG. It was a machined operated sic bo, the 3 dices landed one by one. First one FIVE... followed by second one FIVE........... WOW.. (BIG is as long as u have 11 and above).... lastly..... FIVE AGAIN!!! DAMN!!! everything slain by triple. hit the 1/6 loss!! (after first two dice appeared FIVE, for the last one, other than FIVE I would have won with any other numbers).

Simply fooled by randomness. I told myself never to "grind" in casino anymore. Casino are based on probability. At least poker are skill game, when you suck, you usually lose. When you're good, you win in the long run. As for trading, there are technical and fundamentals to learn and analyse. I didn't take the triple too hard, was interesting story to tell though. But I find that casino are simply based on probability and randomness, there is never a pattern even if you play for a 100 years.

Recently, I finally bought my first share. With some guidance from Bottle and my girlfriend, yeah. Decide to hold some shares for a longer term "investment". Not looking for some quick buck. I trade forex since 2009 and I know they are nothing for a quick buck. Quick buck leads to doom. Quick buck I can go to casino.

I have not traded forex for weeks.

Been playing poker. Had a live session two weeks back with Bottle and friends. Was so fun, although I didn't win, but I enjoyed it. I find that I'm so much more timid to bet in realife than in online. There is a HUGE difference in both game play.

But I find that I'm slightly better at reading. For eg. a case I was holding an A7. Was a two way pot. I called pre-flop raise about 2bb. Flop As Js 5d. I raise 3bb. He re-raise with 10bb. I had top pair mid kicker. Based on his past betting patterns, he was trying to chase anyone with straight/flush draw out. To chase someone out he may least have a top pair too although highly unlikely in such case when I already hold one too. I thought for awhile and muck my cards. He turn over aces.

Im still playing Causeway Freeroll but no results. Nowadays grinding Heads-up shootout 4-players. Although you risk losing in the final table but the reward for winning is better than play 2-player heads-up. Also found the Heads-up book recommended by Soma - Colin Moshman book. Still halfway reading but it indeed give some insights.

Hopefully to find time reading chart by next week. Have a great weekend and good luck people! :)

Black.

Back & Alive!

I'm.. BACK!

After so long. Since the last post, I had almost zero trades (as usual), and zero poker. Was busy with my school assignments, and followed by two weeks study/exam leave from work. I had 3 papers and the last one was 26th May. If I could pass all my subjects, this will be the lastime I will ever go hiatus due to school work as I will be graduating hopefully! This partime studies has taken it's toll on me. It's really hard to keep a life-style balance during school days but that was the path I chose.

So why choose this path getting a bachelor degree when I want to poker and trading? Beats me. Anyway I picked up both of these during my partime studies though. School with a certificate is probably an investment though. So it comes down to path from what I see ahead of me:

1) Using the degree, find a high-paying job if I could and climb the corporate ladder. high chance of a high paying job will demand lots of time rendering no time to trade or poker.

2) Using the degree, find a normal stable job (most likely government sector?), that gives priority to work-life balance, so I can focus also on trading or poker.

I am not a corporate ladder kind of person. I don't have excellent inter-personal skills nor a specific set of technical skills. On the other hand, 95% of the trader/poker players are not profitable/successful. So I'm not exactly sure whats ahead of me. Maybe I will strike lottery one day and retire by 30 year old!

I am taking the next few weeks to catch up with myself and some friends. And will resume my trading soon. Shall take it slowly at start.

Went to the casino for the second time last week, since last post. Just in case you don't know, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents have to pay a $100 levy every single time you enter the local casinos (only 2 here). Unless you pay $2000 for a yearly levy, but only per casino.

I remembered previously using the 1st & 3rd row system, and betting every single round. This time I take it slowly. Mixing a little with the Martingale system, I was down a while at first and profitable throughout. Had a couple hundred of bucks won. I believed it is all random and probably just follow a certain "systems" or "believe" to give you a style of play. May not be going back any sooner yet due to the levy, which suck big time.

Gonna get some rest now. Gl all! Will update whenever there are updates =P

I'm.. BLACK!

Casino Expedition

This post is more on my trip to local casino I was talking about in a few post back. SGD100 have to be paid as a levy for locals. So you basically lost 100 before u even start to gamble. That prevent a lot of small rollers like me from entering the casino at will.

I went there with my family last week during the public holiday. We reached there at night about 21:45. So the time you enter, you have 24hours in there, if in any case you came out 21:46 the next day (say if you stayed for 24 hours), you will be told to pay another SGD100 levy - thats what I heard.

It is the newer casino, Marina Bay Sands. Beautifully designed. I like the layout and the place just seem new and feels good (except for the cigarette smells). There are table games like Black Jack, Bacarrat, Roulette (table and machine), Big Small (thats what we call it), and Singapore Stud Poker etc.

Of course, I went over to check out the Singapore Stud Poker, I read the rules of the game before I went there. I didn't play because I didn't plan to gamble more than simply 3 bets of the game (Ante: $50, if you bet it cost you another $100 which therefore $150 per hand). It seem pretty hard to play too. I went on to the machine roulette thereafter.

You can simply place your bet bet bet bet bet all over 1-36 of the roulette table. I felt that the odds is greatly against us. So I bet for Red & Black. Didn't make it either. Down to $100 in 3 hours by then. It was $1 minimum per bet, probably the only game I coulda afford that night. Then I went on bet on between 1-36 and it seem like a slow death so I was down another $50. Finally, I bet first column. I thought the reward ratio is better though the odds is only 1/3. I only hit once and finished my last 50 bucks quickest.

Day One: -$200

Second day, we went in the afternoon (still within the 24 hours, sound pretty desperate -_-). That morning, before brushing my teeth I started to surf for some roulette system. I manage to find the Labouchere System (I dont know what to put in the numbers basically), Martingale System (seems too risky for me), and the 1st & 3rd Column Strategy (which I adopted).

On the second day, I tried 1st & 3rd column right from the start. But because I also bet an additional "Black", which makes it always break-even like what the author said, or else I will lose all my money, and pretty hard to win all. So first half of the gamble, I was basically +40 then 0 then -50 then back to +10.

I decide to stick to simply 1st & 3rd column. Seems more like a better odds to me. You get a probability edge of about 2/3 against the dealer, although the lost is x2 of per win. I was pretty lucky from there and then. I caught most of the moves. I was up +75 before I raised my stake size. When I hit +150 I raised again. This time round I was hanging there pretty long, before I hit +200 and called it a day. I'm in love with this system but you have to stay discipline and it can be a pretty boring betting style (nothing more than using my thumb and middle finger to tap the two bets every hand). If can win, who cares if it's boring?

Day Two: +$200

Nett: -$0 + (-$100) = -$100

Screw the levy man.

Black.