The Start

A trek is defined as a long arduous journey. That is why this blog is named as such. Its my journey through a game that has many pitfalls. I'm hoping writing down some of these stories will give me a better retrospective and also give other people some insight into the variance and nature of poker.

I've heard its a really tough way to make a living. I don't really see how you can pay your bills unless you win a big tournament or two. You would also have to win big in big cash games where you end up playing with people who could be better then you.

A bit of background: I was introduced to poker at work in the early 2000's (when online poker was still legal in the US). We played 20 person tournaments in the break room after work on Fridays. I think the buy-in was pretty small and then that progressed to small tournaments at co-workers houses. In my second trip to Vegas, I stayed at the Luxor and luckily there was a poker room. I played cash games for the first time and actually won a few bucks. The Luxor doesn't have a poker room anymore, but it was a place I would see many times in the near future.

I managed to read a few books, mostly from 2+2 Publishing. I tried to understand the Theory of Poker and also tournament poker books from Dan Harrington. I played a lot more, but it was online. I would play at work. I would play in the evenings. I would play small tournaments and large ones. I don't recall spending too much time playing cash games. Looking back, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was just playing a tight-passive style. I looked for ways to fold my hand and I did. If I got enough good hands, then I would make it far in the tournament.

I then had an opportunity to move to Las Vegas. I played poker just about every night. Mostly played at the Luxor. It was cheap. $50 buy-in for 1-2 NL Holdem. If you got under $50 then you can buyin for another $50. It was low-stakes and lots of tourists would come in and just play for fun. It wasn't really a place to learn anything more then the basics of poker, but I stayed around for a couple months. I broke even in cash games and I did play a few tournaments which because of the variance of tournaments that endevour was a loss.

After I left Vegas, I played small-stakes frequently online and live, but my game did not progress. I still played the tight-passive style and on occasion I would switch to tight-aggressive. I was basically at the mercy of the cards and didn't read hands or players correctly. I was basically donating my money.

Now, I've a slight ephiany about my approach playing poker. I'm correctly understanding expectation of my bets and understanding poker odds and also putting players not on a hand but a range of hands. This is my chance to get better and to post a more consistent profit.