Party Poker Blog

Poker Blog - How to make $800 in a few months playing 50.1 HoldEm.

I'm waking up from a 12 year coma!!

What's that feeling that is the opposite of shame? It's been sooo long. Could I possibly be feeling pride in the Cincinnati Bengals? Marvin Lewis is doing the unthinkable here - beating the best team in the NFL and placing the Bengals in first place for the first time since 1990. I can't wait to hit MikeBrownSucks.com and read the message boards.

In Marvin we trust.

Poker blog content:

I'm still bouncing around on Party, up about $100 since I came back from UB two weeks ago, playing 2.4. I've really gotten sloppy about paying attention and tracking players so I suppose I've gotten lucky. I'm just playing uber-tight and making sure I have pot odds before playing any drawing hands. I'm sure I've cost myself plenty of money by my lackadaisical effort, however.

I've written several rants on how losing in poker can make you a better player, should you decide to take the necessary steps to improve. In that vein, I came across this quote by WSOP champ, Bobby Baldwin, that echoes my previous posts.

"Playing poker for a living gives you backbone. You cannot survive without that intangible quality we call heart. I don't care how bad you are going or how good, you have to stand solid. Poker is a character builder - especially the bad times. The mark of a top player is not how much he wins when he is winning, but how he handles his losses. If you win for thirty days in a row, that makes no difference if on the thirty-first you have a bad night, go crazy, and throw it all away."

I also found this engaging quote by Jack Strauss:

"If money is your god, you can forget no-limit poker, because it's going to hurt you too much to turn loose of it. The way I feel about those little pieces of green paper is, you can't take them with you and they may not have much value in five years time, but right now I can trade them in for pleasure, or to bring pleasure to other people. If they had wanted you to hold on to money, they'd have made it with handles on."

Of course, you and I are not Bobby Baldwin nor Jack Strauss so we'll have to take our poker pleasure where we can. It's pretty cool to be able to grind out money month after month, even at small limits. It's so much damn fun to "beat" the game - it's a veritable ATM machine. It's an affirmation that there really is a right and wrong way to play poker.

That all being said, I heard from Fuzz today (my good buddy and poker student) that he hit $900 today on Party Poker, from a meager $100 initial depost, all on 50.1 tables. I wrote and asked him to explain how he did it so I could share it with all you 50.1 monster playing wanna-be's. Here are words of wisdom from the master - heed them wisely.

The VP$iP stat is: (voluntarily put money in to see the flop)

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In 3,596 hands, I'm up $315 in $.5/$1 only. That works out to be $8.75/100
hands. I'm VP$iP 18.88%. I'm at 60% winning money when I go to showdown. I
started tracking back in middle of Sept. By then I was around $500.

I have actually lost money with only one pair. Down $6.25. Two pair, sets
and Full houses are my biggest winners. Each with over + $250. I don't play
the straights or flushes unless they fall in my lap.

I would have to say I don't play many draws. Do I raise my draws, absolutely
not. Could my winnings be higher, sure. I don't play that many suited
connectors under 9T. I guess I'm playing like its $5/$10. I NEVER bluff.

*if there is only 1 or 2 other people and they are checking/weak players,
I'll take a stab at it.

I fear the paired board like the plague. LL players will play anything and
with 5-6 seeing the flop, chances are good someone has it. All the time, no.
But I'm not going to play some 3-out draw with the board paired. I see guys
calling pots down to the river with 55 when the board has akT. Fit or fold.
Always look to improve. Top pair rarely holds up - with a scary board. I
check-check call down a lot, if I raise and get 3 bet. If I don't improve,
and I think I have a legit chance at the pot, I check-call it down. More
often than not, they were on a busted draw.

Do I play to maximize my winnings, HELL NO. Am I trying to get every last
bet out, no. I just want to win the hand. I have seen some of the craziest
shit ever on those tables and after many hard lessons, my mantra is: "If it
is possible they have it, THEY DO." They do not raise on the river with
shit. I have folded top pair countless times to a raise on the river. They
always have it. LL are not capable of deception. And if they are, they don't
get enough chances to make it profitable, because these players WILL call a raise on the river, where I rarely do.

Enough ramblings. Nothing we haven't talked about a thousand times.
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There it is folks. How to make $800 in a few months playing 50.1. I'm off to play 2.4 and will hopefully play as well as Fuzz has.

Nope, lost $49.

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