Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Jack Denfeld's quest to become a professional poker player!

11:40 / 23.09.04

I have decided to become a professional poker player. What that means is I don't want to go to my other job, and I plan to pay all my bills with money I earn from playing poker. Rent is due on the third of October. Rent and some minor losses from dipping my toe in the poker world, have me looking for roughly 800 dollars by the first. That's about 100 dollars a day for the next 8 days.

I go into this with the desire not to work a real job, and a quote from Matt Damon's groundbreaking movie "Rounders".

"You play for a living. It's like any toher job. You don't gamble, you grind it out. Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away."

I will keep you guys updated on my quest for the Infinity Gauntlet!

11:46 / 23.09.04

Practise with your friends using prescription drugs as chips. I'm not sure it will help you achieve your goal, but it may well spice up your Friday evening card schools.

11:55 / 23.09.04

Let's see your poker face, Denfelt.

12:42 / 23.09.04

"Let's see your poker face Denfelt."

13:12 / 23.09.04

I see you're going for the "DT" look - good strategy. Nobody can tell what your hand is like if you always seem to be desperate for meths.

Tryphena Absent

13:30 / 23.09.04

Go Denfield go!!!!!!

13:35 / 23.09.04

Look for the tells, man. Like if some dude really likes Pringles, maybe he'll eat a lot of them when he gets a good hand, or maybe stop eating them, or eat a specific number depending on what cards he has, like, he might eat 3 if he gets a Jack. Or maybe specific flavours. Like paprika for a flush.

03:38 / 24.09.04

Day 1 made around $69. I plan to pop ephedrine tablets, drink red bull, and get the most out of today. Back to work!

20:11 / 27.09.04

At one point I was up $400. And then I lost everything. I called work and sheepishly asked if I was still on the schedule. They put me back on. I failed. Back to the grind.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

20:20 / 27.09.04

Tells are for people who know the game very well. I have played (and won) a few tournements and used to play in a weekly game, so here's the quick advice. If you want more, PM me, because I LOVE talking poker.

-Unless you KNOW everyone else at the table has bad hands, only play the top ten hands in hold 'em: AA, KK, AK, QQ, JJ, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, A10. If you just stick to that, you can grind it out slowly over time.

-The easiest tell is watching how people sit: Leaning forward, bad hands: Leaning back, good hands

-In tournement with experienced players weak is strong and strong is weak.

-Get the GOOD poker books and read them. Hellmouth's, Doyle Brunson's and "The Tao Of Poker". Read them as if your job depends on them.

-Play a LOT of computer simulations (there are quite a few now) and try different strategies. Learn how to shift gears (when to play loose, when to play tight).

-Watch the World Poker Tour and pay attention to how and when players bet, not their cards. In the last three tournements I was in, I won two of them by simply knowing how to bet...the cards were secondary

-Play with friends as practice...small $ games. The more you play, the better you will get.

If you come to Minneapolis, I'll get a game going and teach you a LOT. Bring money.

22:19 / 27.09.04

I'm disappointed, Denfield. You've still got a couple of days until the 1st, but you've bottled it already.

You've just taught me never to believe in anybody else, never to chase a dream and that the Man always wins. I hope you're happy.

00:28 / 28.09.04

I've bottled it because I'm completely out of money. I will return.

02:01 / 28.09.04

May I just say that the river is both an invention and the residence of Satan Himself?

02:14 / 28.09.04

Slowplaying AA is not a good idea.

02:52 / 28.09.04

Please explain 'slowplayng'.

Is that just because AA is the best hand pre-flop and can only get worse?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

09:10 / 28.09.04

Slowplaying is not betting when you have a great hand in hopes of drawing more money from other players.

I tend to limp in with AA, and then looking at the flop, seeing how people bet...if someone is betting on a possible, it's time to go all-in and make them decide if they want to bet it all on a possible...and when you limp in and then come over the top, it makes you look strong.

But, it all depends on your chip position, how the other people have been playing, how many people have stayed in before the flop and such.

I would actually rather have AK suited than AA because you have a LOT more outs, and ALWAYS go all in on the re-raise with that hand.

16:16 / 28.09.04

I'm actually still confidant that I can grind out a living playing poker. I was up a lot. The problem was that I had a certain money goal that I was trying to make in a certain amount of time. This made me a little impatient, and made me play a lot of garbage starting hands. I just need to build up my bankroll again, and then start grindin it out.

16:27 / 28.09.04

Solitaire Rose, I'm going to the library to look up the books you mentioned. My landlord does well enough playing poker that he doesn't bother to pick up my rent $$ until the 15th or 20th of the month. He asked what I want for Christmas and I told him poker lessons. He has suggested previously that I could do well enough to quit my job, which I thought was a pretty odd thing for a landlord to say to a tenant. This assessment based on his teaching sills, not my poker skills.

17:16 / 28.09.04

I won some sit n gos online. Nasically it's a ten man tournament, payouts going to the top 3 finishers. The problem was after winning a couple of $5 and $25, i didn't place in a $300. I should have stuck to the ring games, which is a table of ten players who can come and go as they please. You can easily be quiet, sit in the corner, win a few hands, and leave without causing much ruckus. Eek out so much a day, and there ya go. Rose, are there many cash tournaments where you live?

16:35 / 12.11.04

You still trying, Jack?

I'm still (barely) up, but I got sidetracked by bridge for a couple of months, so my hopes of buying a new amplifier with my poker winnings have been delayed.

Matthew Fluxington

18:19 / 12.11.04

They make paprika Pringles?

Just paprika?

20:07 / 12.11.04

Let's see your poker face, Denfelt.

20:28 / 12.11.04

DeSade, it's a question of quitting while you're ahead. I don't know what circles you move in, poker-wise, but unless you're in danger of getting your fireman cut off if you leave the table too early, three or four hundred bucks up isn't a bad night's work. Let's face it, you're not going to get that yacht in Miami in an evening, Dangerfield, it takes at least, y'know, a couple of months.

But what about your lady ? What happened to her ? Are you totally sure that you're not getting into this whole professional gambler schtick so she sees you as more of a radical man ?

( I don't think it's a bad idea, necessarily, but if that's what you're up to, I think it needs to be approached with a certain amount of caution, Jon De'ath. )

But good luck anyway !

20:28 / 12.11.04

DeSade, it's a question of quitting while you're ahead. I don't know what circles you move in, poker-wise, but unless you're in danger of getting your fireman cut off if you leave the table too early, three or four hundred bucks up isn't a bad night's work. Let's face it, you're not going to get that yacht in Miami in an evening, Dangerfield, it takes at least, y'know, a couple of months.

But what about your lady ? What happened to her ? Are you totally sure that you're not getting into this whole professional gambler schtick so she sees you as more of a radical man ?

( I don't think it's a bad idea, necessarily, but if that's what you're up to, I think it needs to be approached with a certain amount of caution, Jon De'ath. )

But good luck anyway !

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

04:07 / 14.11.04

There are daily cash tournements at the race track near where I live, but I prefer home games for the most part. The people at "card clubs" are on a bit of a higher level than I am...or a level MUCH lower than me, which is just as bad, if you want the truth.

I'm just starting in on-line play, but I have to start getting a LOT better at limit hold 'em, which is the main on-line game.

16:53 / 10.04.05

I don't know, I'm having ups and downs. My proudest moment was winning a tournament and paying my rent for the month with the winnings.

Bankroll management is my downfall so far. I play way above my limts sometimes. For example, in a $10 tournament yesterday, I won about $70 and then today decided to enter a $50 one, and busted out. I need to play at a consistant limit, and then move up in limits as my bankroll allows me.

I am trying.
(ps, hey Dwight how much is rent in your building?)

17:26 / 10.04.05

Jack Denfeld, why do you rock SO much?

09:16 / 03.07.05

I tend to limp in with AA, and then looking at the flop, seeing how people bet...if someone is betting on a possible, it's time to go all-in and make them decide if they want to bet it all on a possible...and when you limp in and then come over the top, it makes you look strong.
I'm not playing a lot of tournament poker lately, but I've learned a technique if you're low stacked in a tournament called the "stop and go" which is kind of like how you're playing AA. The idea is that if you go all in with your short stack, there's a good chance that a larger stack will call if he has a semi decent hand. So instead of going all in, you raise preflop and no matter what hits the board your intention is to go all in on the flop. While the big stack would have had no problem calling your all in preflop, there's a chance he missed the flop entirely and he may decide to go ahead and just fold. That way there's a chance you win a little even without making your hand.

09:22 / 03.07.05

I'm just starting in on-line play, but I have to start getting a LOT better at limit hold 'em, which is the main on-line game.
If you're going to play a lot of small stakes limit hold em, may I suggest "Small Stakes Hold Em" by Ed Miller? It's geared towards those no fold em hold em games, and advocates a lot of limping with suited connectors and things when the almost the entire table's in the pot.

I've also found the low limit Omaha hi lo games are profitable for trying to build up your roll. Been playing that game for a few weeks now. At the low limits it's all about folding and knowing when you have the nuts, and scooping the pot, winning both the high and the low and quartering your opponets. WHere are you playing online? I've recently signed up with Party Poker, and so far they have the weakest opponets.

09:45 / 03.07.05

Jack, that bounty hunter business is weird as fuck. I worry that Pumpy Tudor might be a little damaged.

09:47 / 03.07.05

He's ok. The bounty hunter profession is a lonely one, and he's doing the best he can to survive.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

16:39 / 03.07.05

I'm on Party Poker as well, but haven't had time to play for a month or two. I've done pretty well at low stakes Hold 'em, and want to build up my account in order to go for some of their smaller tournements.