As in a lot of other areas in life, this false first impression may last for weeks, months. Even if I do not keep it up anymore and play like a real pro, their opinion of me might still stay unchanged, at least for a significant amount of time.

This first evening, I lost maybe some 5 dollars, and gave it a twist that I was really lucky and next time I would bring more money to lose, ‘since I had to learn so much more from them’. I was an instant hit and they quickly invited me for more, lets see what that will bring.

Why, do you ask, are you leaving online poker? Well, it has been too swingy for me, and although it has been a positive thing overall, since I won more than I lost, emotionally it was just too hard for me to lose more than 1000$ in one evening. Though I always got it back by the end of the week, winning 1000$ isn’t worth as much joy as losing 1000$, or even 500$, an emotional money-related deficit quickly builds itself when the swings are as high as they are in Omaha Poker.

So this is the new deal, making a small profit that I can live off, and enjoy life to the fullest, and what do we, poker players, enjoy more than 10 straight hours of poker in a smoky room full of the smell of sweaty poker corpses? At least it is much more enjoyable than playing 8 tables at once on a tiny computer screen.
I’m also looking forward to the new Wednesday game around the block, seems full of total newbies and ripe for Adam’s picking. Haven’t you already had that feeling, the feeling that you almost feel guilty playing the poor bastards and go home with huge profits, but not extremely satisfied? Almost as if it was too easy, almost as if you rather had lost? Well, try to overcome it, because otherwise you will be staring at an empty bankroll soon enough.

See you soon,
Adam

I pondered a bit after that, and came to the conclusion that it would be very difficult to earn any money on the tables, even if you were in fact, better than the rest. Since 5% of your profit gets “stolen” by the house, you will need to be at least 5% better than the rest to be able to play without losing money. In the early days of on line poker, this was quite easy. There were a lot of times where you had a 20% edge on your opponent or even more. You had crazy donks that played 95% of their hands and always drawed to their gut shot straights or runner runner flushes while at the same time they held on to their underpair 22 hand while you had a royal flush. Well, I got bad news for all you new poker players out there, those times are over.

Best of luck,
Adam Breit

Teaching Mr. V How To Play Poker

So, Mr. Big Pickle took out his deck of cards. With Leonard Cohen, an artist I didn’t even know about, in the CD player, he started to explain Mr. V how the game was played. At first I could chip in a little, just a few things that Mr. V didn’t comprehend. But after a while I grew silent, listening to his words of wisdom regarding poker.

Our First Official Underground Poker Game In Antwerp

It became quite a night to remember, after some real Belgian mussels, bought from the nearby German shop “Lidl”, talk about “real”. We played our first game of poker, 3 handed, 0.10$ blinds and 5$ buy in. We were awfully short stacked, but we didn’t know better. I remember one hand where I had Q5 on a Q52 board, went all-in against Mr. Big Pickle and got busted by his QQ hand! I thought Q5 was a good hand to play, especially short-handed, but I was proven wrong, time and time again! Mr. V often lucked out with K2o kind of hands against Mr. Big Pickle’s nice plays and/or good hands. Often, Mr. Big Pickle, who always played in much bigger staked games, would get really steamy because of such suckouts and played as a total mega-aggressive maniac, which would usually net me a big profit or get me busted for a lot of buy in’s.

Looking back at that second phase of my poker career, I was a total donk. I couldn’t play at all. I was way too passive most of the time, and when I bluffed or had a good hand, it was way too obvious. My game lacked a big amount of “je ne sais quoi” and was totally devoid of any improvisation or even any system.

My Own Humble Beginnings In The Wonderful Game Of Poker

I was a big donk. There, I said it again. I sucked at poker. So don’t feel bad if you start out and you feel that you can’t win. Everything needs time and experience, together with a good amount of well-reasoned thinking and listening to more experienced people, like reading books.

I’ll end with those obvious words of wisdom, but that’s what words of wisdom are, obvious, but only after you heard them. Like almost all of Leonard Cohen’s words; “Suzanne takes you down, to her place, near the river …”

Trying My Luck At Texas Hold ‘em, Less Mathmatically Charged Then Omaha Poker

Today, just for fun, I tried to play some good old Texas Hold ‘em online. I usually never play this game on the computer, only live, since in my opinion the game is only really viable on real tables, where you can feel your opponent. And Omaha, being a lot more mathematically charged, is a lot more fun, without having to know which part of your body your opponent is looking at.

Buying In For A Very Low Amount

Since I am not used to this game on the computer, and I also do not have any programs to keep statistics for Texas Hold ‘em, I bought in for the lowest stake possible, on Sit and Go tables. $1 tables, 7 tables at a time. Boring, you think? Yes, very boring, but in another way, I was more vexed by this game then my usual 8 tables of $50 Pot Limit Omaha. My blood was boiling; my veins were popping, tragic and invigorating at the same time.

Turbo Tables, Pushing And Short Stacking

Since all of the tables were turbo, pushes were popping up all over the place, everyone was short stacked. It felt like a war where the only weapons anyone had were very short knives, if you wanted to win, you had to act fast, come close and push the knife deep, all-in. There was no other way to convince anyone to fold, and even then folding doesn’t happen more than 30% of the time.

“Mixing It Up” On The Texas Hold ‘em Tables

A goldmine, if it wasn’t just for $1 at a time. And since the stakes were so low, after my first hours, where I netted an average $0,37 per hour, my blood started to freeze, cool down and even stop flowing. So my reaction to this near death experience was ‘mixing it up’ where the mix meant go all in with near every hand. Exactly 23 min later I was virtually broke, since I burned up my entire $30 budget for this encounter and my $1,48 profit.

After some tears and a tragic marriage with a bottle of wine, I got over it and decided I wanted to try this again, one day, at slightly higher stakes.

Mister V’s Poker Quotes

I will end this tragic experience with a quote from one of the brightest minds of this time, were it not for his odd interpretation of poker;

After beating AKs by hitting a deuce with K2o at one of the first poker evenings ever;

Why isn’t it a good idea to go with K2o? I could hit a king! Thats quite good right?

Mr. V

Introducing The Big Pickle, Master Of The Antwerp Underground Poker Scene

So there we were, in the kitchen, dying to know what this massive guy from a faraway place had to say. I think his eyes spewed “I’m good” and we became so intimidated by his awesome presence that we had to tone him down a little. So we started calling him ‘Boris’ instead of his real name, which was a really American kind of “I have 5 girls on each finger, each night” kind of name. With his T-shirt that said “I have a big pickle”, the picture became apparent for us. But all that was just an introduction, for we didn’t know that on top of that, he was very adept at poker. Furthermore, Mr. V didn’t even know what poker was, as I was losing interest, and he, well, he led a secluded life of computer programming and sushi. No cards involved.

Playing Poker And Other Games, “Male Bonding”

We quickly became friends through the medium of ‘kitchen’ and even started to play 3D shoot ’em up games on the pc and Tekken on the Ps2. What awesome nights we had, at least, we thought we had, since after a while, every Friday night, Mr. BP went missing. So, after a few weeks, we inquired as to why he would always leave early on Fridays, so early even he didn’t have time for dinner.

Mr. Big Pickle’s Awnser, Playing In A High Stakes Game

He quickly replied with the words that would haunt and pleasure our nights and dreams from that day on, or at least most. “I play in a regular poker game”. So I, being very green at poker at large, asked him, “Cool, what is the blind?” “Oh, about $1/$1 blinds”, he said. “Ah, 0.10$ you mean?” He laughed. And sat us at the kitchen table, pulling out a deck of old cards, put on a Leonard Cohen CD in our trashy CD-player and said, “how would you like to learn real poker?”

Texas Hold ‘em vs Omaha Poker, The Difference

I was at a home game today, nothing special, out on the countryside of Antwerp, where the cows reside. It was just $20 cash buy in Texas Hold ‘em game, felt like the good old days, when I played Texas Hold ’em more than I did Omaha. These days it seems like the only thing I do is play Omaha, four cards, lots of mathematics, less real sweating on reads. Well, I’m exaggerating, especially 6 handed Omaha is a very mental game! Anyway, Texas Hold ’em will always be slightly more mental, the bluffing opportunities are far greater than in Omaha, you can represent any hand, but your opponent will always err on the side of “bullshit, I don’t believe a word you say”, and when he raises, you will think exactly the same thing. Bluffing and especially re-bluffing or even re-re-bluffing is commonplace in this sick game.

Playing 87 on The Button

Oh well, I guess it’s not that sick since the stakes are quite low, but still, it’s about the game and not about the dollars inside, in essence at least. One memorable moment was when I got 8c7h on the button, and I felt like a little bluff, especially on the button, this is not such a bad move, especially on a table with lots of predictable players. The cutoff had just raised, while the whole field before him had folded. He was a very aggressive player, who didn’t really know me very well, so I thought I’d go for a re-raise and take a nice pot, the blinds both folded and the aggressive player instantly called, out of position. I had no clue. The flop came KhJh7c and the cutoff with too much money in the bank put in another $10, I quickly called, doing some pot control, with both our stacks still being quite deep. The Tc kind of took my optimism away, I was hoping for something small or something 7′y or 8′y. A ten was one of the worst cards to come off, together with a Q, since I didn’t put him on an Ace or a King, and while a Jack was a possibility, it was a small enough possibility to make my call worthwhile.

The Turn, a Tc, The worst card to come off

The Ten made the odds of him having a hand quite a bit larger, with a pair of tens or even a straight. He instantly checked, which only fueled my fear. So I checked behind, thinking a reraise would shut me out of the hand. The river was a Qh, and the $32+ dollar pot didn’t really feel like it had my name on it anymore, even when I had position and a pair to boot. The maniac quickly bet $34 and instantly my thought patterns turned from near depression to excitement. He couldn’t have the straight here, and I could so easily represent it. So I saw an opportunity to grab the pot then and there, even when I didn’t have the best of it. I thought for some 2 minutes and (min) reraised him to $68, a sick value bet, but I felt it had some merit. Mister maniac waited for almost 5 minutes with the table in heavy discussion on what our hands were, and I smiled when I heard the word “must – be – a – straight” walking by on many edges of the table. Maniac eventually folded and I mucked, leaving everyone in a thirst for more Adam action.

Enjoying My Victory In Antwerp’s Fresh Air

I, however, was in need of some fresh air and a beer after 5 minutes of poker facing my face off. I enjoyed the cold breeze that flourishes in Antwerp these days, colder days are coming for sure, but that only means more and more long and warm nights of poker.

And while I was standing outside, I saw my shadow on the ground, thinking I had never seen a more beautiful shadow of myself, I quickly made a picture, instantly capturing the quite successful evening, even though I lost some $12 of my profit in the hours after that glorious 8c7h.

Working In A Restaurant After The Underground Poker Game Died

So, the game died, Frots moved out of our “krot” and I was left with an unsedated hunger for more, but this hunger for more poker quickly became a hunger for more money. And with my extra 70$ per month (on top of my 300$) gone, I had to look for new ways to make money. Having lost my connections in the poker scene, I quickly resorted to a most humiliating and socially stressful job; I became a waiter in a breakfast and lunch restaurant. Which did earn me a lot more than a casual 4 hour evening’s wage of 7$ at poker! With a safe 12$/hour wage and a 12 hour/week job, I quickly forgot my dreams of making poker my main source of income. I was going to become a cook! Which would earn me an extra dollar per hour, can you imagine how glorious my life would be with all this money! I could. But let’s keep that in a past tense, shall we? As the days became weeks, and the weeks became months, boredom didn’t overtake me. Instead an incredible feeling of belonging and happiness overtook me as I gave all these people their well-earned drinks and meals. Yes, I had found my place in society, a glorious waiter, ready to please all!

Meeting New Poker Opportunities in the Form Of Mr. Big Pickle

Of course something had to change, and this change came along in the shape of a guy that doesn’t want to be named here, but let’s just call him Mr. “Big Pickle” or “BP” for short. It was the 2nd year at my “krot” and there was a new resident there, I’ll call him Mr. “V”, he later turned out to be an incredibly gifted software engineer, and I’m sure he will get very far in his quest to program the shit out of things. But at that time, he was just a mere student, just as I was. And we had gotten to know each other, there was peace in the “krot”, at least, until Mr. BP showed up, he made our lives the way they are, at least, for a big part. But we didn’t know that, that day when I and Mr. V were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea and discussing whether God existed or not. We didn’t know that a total lunatic would show up, with a sick poker mindset.

Pink Floyd; Money

Money was on my mind, that’s for sure, but how can you play poker when money isn’t important to you? Just make sure you listen to the word enough, after a while it will be important to you, I’m sure.

Sir Frots saw my potential in poker as he did in chess, and quickly introduced me to a few friends who had an underground game going. The stakes were low, but that was good since playing with money felt very strange to me, and the rules were totally screwed up, but what did I know?

A Loose Interpretation Of The Texas Hold ‘em Poker Rules

They had a thing called a “short straight” and a “long straight”, basically a “long straight” was what in real poker is known as the straight (5 in a row; for example 5d6d7c8h9c) and a “short straight” was just 4 in a row (for example TcJhQcKc). A “long street” was higher than a full house, safe to say, the straight ruled supreme. On top of it all, we also had a top hand called “poker” this was a 5 of a kind. What? I hear you moaning. Yes, we had a 5 of a kind, because we used 2 decks. The shuffling was an extreme sport, and it’s there that I learned to shuffle well and fast. Once I came to realize poker was only played with one deck; I became the master of shuffling, heck, it was only one deck! Pussies.

Making A Good Profit In a Casually Planned Underground Game

I quickly turned a profit in this casually planned underground game, and on average I netted 7$ each evening. If you are a seasoned poker veteran, I hear you saying that that is your small blind. Well try to consider the fact that I survived with only 300$ a month. And also, we played very few hands each evening, with alcohol and other drugs compelling us to suck at shuffling a 108 piece strong deck. Also, the rules were very unclear, so usually every 10 hands there was a spontaneous 20 min break where 2 players would discuss who actually won the pot (We both have a full house but I have a better kicker! Yes, those types of interesting discussions). Oh and I even forgot something, there were no blinds, and we showed the flop right after the cards were dealt.

Looking Outside For More Opportunities In Poker

Safe to say, it would be interesting to go back in time and play in that game, I would make millions! Of course only until a 7 of a kind would show up and people would begin to understand poker just did not work like that. Anyway, in the end the game died, and I had to look for other opportunities to quench my newly wedded thirst for more poker.

Information About Poker, Searching Antwerp

There were some people in fair Antwerp that knew about the game, but not that many, not in that day anyway. Good information was quite hard to come by, especially if you had absolutely no clue whatsoever about poker. Jack from the dambruggestraat could tell you that poker was all about giving money to Jack and you’d almost believe it, I’m sure someone in the universe has once or twice fallen for such a ploy, but I thankfully made a narrow escape and I didn’t meet c’ptn Jack, but I met sir Frots.

Reading Books & Blogs About Poker

The name itself should be reason enough to be intrigued, so naturally, I was. This guy lived in my building, which was quite a “krot” as we call it here; let’s just say it was dirt cheap, which was perfect for an artist such as me. Anyway, this guy Frots, at first we played quite a lot of chess together, another awesome, tough less socially complex game. And there was a very interesting thing about it, and a lesson on why one should always read poker books and poker blogs. At first he would win 75% of the time. So I got frustrated and bought myself a book about chess, and you know what? I got his win percentage down to less than 10%, imagine what effect this might have on your actual cash flow in poker?

My Morning Jacket

And while you are reading those long and sometimes tedious books that you need to improve your profit, a song or 2 from this band can really soften your mood.

Poker and Cigarette smoking men

You know, my enlightened life also has a beginning, somewhere after my dark ages. The ages where I didn’t even know about poker, when I heard the word, I naturally assumed that it was the name people gave to a dark room filled with cigarette smoking men boasting about stuff. I must have seen some weird movie when I was a toddler and couldn’t wait to do it myself!

Stress Involved In Being A Professional Poker Player

While this was one part of poker, naturally there is also a lot of money involved and some cards. It’s a real men’s game after all. Or maybe I should say, sport, since I’ve transpirated more on poker then on any other thing in my life, and believe me when I say I’ve done quite a bit of sports in my day. It’s such an invigorating sport, but let me warn you, money is addictive, and the stress involved is a lot steeper than with a run of the mill desk job.

Moving From The Countryside To The City

Who would want a desk job anyway? You? Then please stop reading! I’m looking for aligned souls! Anyway? Where was I? Oh yes, Stress. You know what else brings a lot of stress? Living on the countryside, it’s just not for me, the cows staring at you give me the feeling they will moo at me in my sleep, I just can’t stomach it. So I made my first life-altering decision. I moved to the closest big city, a most amazing city. Here I finally came in touch with a master of the game, or so I thought…