This is going to be short and sweet, not had time at all to post a new blog here. Schedule has been hectic.

This week I haven’t been playing much poker but I’m still learning a ton of new stuff. People on Two plus Two have actually started to listen to me now and I have been talking to a lot of players on IM discussing different theories and styles of play. This has been helping my game a lot, have not really had time to think about much else. Maybe I will play some in the next few weeks and see if I am still a steaming donk at the table or if I can actually win monies while I play. Probably not…

On a side not off poker, I have been working on a lot of content for radio and been trying to find ways to explain things that listeners previously haven’t known about I plan to educate a lot of people this way even though I have a cheek to educate anyone on anything. Woke up this morning itching like hell and realised I had a huge, very attractive large full body rash. The women have been falling at my feet all day…Sarcasm is always good! Been to the doctors about it and apparently it is an allergy.

Anyway, I have just finished work and am going to go home for a nice sleep and go to college tomorrow. Fun Times.

D

Chip Reese’s only son, Casey, died Monday from what is reported to be an accidental prescription-medication overdose. This is just over 16 months after Chip’s passing.

I can’t imagine the grief the Reese family is feeling. I had to deal with the death of my father in November after his 16-month battle with brain cancer came to an end. His death was something my family and I knew was very likely to happen. Despite knowing it was coming, it still was very and at times still is very hard to deal with the lose of my father when he was only 60-years old. The fact that this family has had two sudden and unexpected deaths has to be extremely difficult.

This is just a reminder that things can change instantly in life and you have to take advantage of the time you have. I hope all of you are able to do that. – Schmelzer

Today’s blog wont be anything spectacular, nor will it be up until the end of next month when I have time to get back into the live poker circuit here in Glasgow. A few interesting things have happened to me in the past few weeks, I feel I have benefited from it and my game is now coming on leaps and bounds.

Earlier on in the week, I by chance came across a live pro (of online origins) on Skype. I had only found him because I was looking to track him down to question him on a bio for Wise Hand Poker. We had a chat for a while after coming across each other on various forums but never actually speaking. After that, something I never really expected (though awesome) happened. We started to talk about poker and he seemed to enjoy educating me on the game and padding my little knowledge of what I was doing. This was amazing! I had learned more in the past 10 minutes than what I have learned my whole 4 years of playing poker. Since then we have chatted regularly, going over hands that he had played and me asking many questions along the way. I started to post more on two plus to thanks to him and have started to think of the game in much greater depth (Compared to what I used to) whatever I say though, he always makes me look like I know nothing but that will soon change! Maybe soon I can start discussing hands in blogs and making this more of a strategy blog than what I first intended. Don’t worry, if I make It big everyone here will be the first to know!

I’m always up for discussing strategy so if you are interested in such a thing than talking poker when you are not playing (who would do such a thing) I will leave my email at the bottom of this blog and we shall discuss until the wee hours. Maybe I will let you hear my Scottish accent if you are lucky!

Nothing else has really happened to me apart from that and it has been a pretty boring week. I’m still broke, still a student, I have been working most nights, been to two football (soccer) games this week which is an unusual occurrence considering I haven’t even watched the game in months, Still looking for a backer to take a huge chance on me so I can actually become a winning player oh and did I mention I was broke? J

Anyway, not going to advertise myself over a blog like that, I am not that shameless!

Maybe next week I can come back to you with some actual examples of play. Probably not though, let’s hope something else interesting happens to me in the next week. If you are really interested in following what I do every second of every day then follow me on Twitter. My username over there is “DanielReilly” Make sure you make yourself known to me…I love to know who is actually reading these and enjoying them. Makes them worth writing!

Anyway, I better head off and try do some work on another project. Not sure what one it is yet, have loads to choose from!

Daniel
danielreilly0@googlemail.com

I consider myself to be a good poker player. We all do, though, don’t we? While the stakes I play are modest, I am usually able to pay my rent and buy some groceries with poker winnings. For someone who only plays on a recreational level (home games), and often for only $10 - $30 at a time, that’s not bad.

But lately, I’ve been wondering how to effectively translate modest earnings into higher ones. The most obvious answer would be to make more final tables. Over the last few months, I spent a good chunk of time trying to build up a serious roll up while playing MTTs online. I turned my $100 into just over $1,000 after a month of playing 3-4 tournaments a day. With an ROI of about 27% over that time, I was making a decent return. However, I was still without a final table other than at a few 90 person sit-n-go’s that I could win with some frequency. It was in the large field tournaments on Poker Stars that I was having trouble running deep, often finishing just a few levels into the money. Someone starting out in tournaments might be happy with steady cashing, but anyone with any experience knows that tournaments are hardly worth cashing in unless you can make some final tables.

The second option would be to stop spending what I win live and online and invest it in my bankroll. In live tournaments, I have been able to win quite often. At various home games and charity tournaments in my town, I’ve been able to chalk up a number of wins and even more cashes. Again, though, I don’t reinvest my money in building a live bankroll or deposit it online.

So it’s decision-making time. If I want to take a serious shot at MTTs and have a chance of moving up past the $5-10 games, I’m going to have to start committing winnings building a larger bankroll. A 27% ROI is fine and dandy, but when you’ve only invested $1200 or so, it isn’t anything to write home about. Maybe I won’t be able turn the same ROI with higher buy-ins, the competition isn’t going to get any easier. I guess it’s time to find out.
Is anyone else thinking about making a more serious commitment to the game? Have you recently taken the plunge? I’d love to hear about it. Email me at clickraise@gmail.com

-Ben