Saddling up

Wow it's been more than 2 months since I last played a cash hand online. After that hand I kinda forgot about poker for a while, didn't really have an urge to play or really miss it all that much. Then slowly played a couple of home cash games with the usual, got back into playing some of the cardschat freerolls until I'm at the point now where all I can really think about is poker again. Oy...

I've decided this time that if I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it right. I have applied for a credit card which hopefully gets approved (since I am considered by them to be a full time student (heh, heh) and thus have no income) so I can make my first ever deposit. Probably gonna deposit $60 so I get my full 30 buy-in bankroll thing. Doing the sums in my head it is fully possible to more than double that in a month and a half if I play 4-tables @ 60 hands/hour for 5 hours a day with a winrate of about 4ptbb/100. Here's the shit thing though - with going to Beijing on the 22nd(?) of June I probably will miss at least a week of poker time, so if I'm up to it, I really need to grind more during my time I have here now.

What did I say about doing it right again? Oh yea, I've downloaded some deucescracked vids and have been going through their Real Life Micro No-Limit Grinder series and there's just so much good stuff to be learnt there. I can't say enough about it just watching and listening to the discussion and coaching is really helpful and made me realise just how much I really don't know about playing cash at the micro levels. I never really understood what value-betting was until I saw these vids and just the way that the coach WiltOnTilt teaches you how to think and put opponents on hands is really eye-opening. I can really see how membership to such training sites are a great investment for people and I imagine that if I manage to grind up to let's say 10c/25c I would be willing to pay for membership and that's a big compliment coming from me.

So while waiting for credit card approval I've decided to finish watching that season 1 of that series then *maybe* if I'm not feeling too lazy go over the whole season again and make notes because as much as I've learnt and remembered I'm sure there's tons more stuff which I didn't catch or forgot. Of course, I may be super lazy (which is a very distinct possibility) and just move on to season 2.

Oh yea, also downloaded Hold'em Manager yesterday. I think I'm 95% sure I'm gonna make the switch over from PokerTracker. HEM just seems to run much smoother and I like the look of their HUD more. Of course it also helps that the deucescracked vids all use HEM and I wanna be able to follow them more closely. Awesome marketing strategy I have to say. Also started datamining the 6-max tables (which are the ones I'm pretty sure I'm gonna play again due to the DC vids instead of full ring) with SpadeEye. Just hoping to be able to log as many hands on as many players as possible so I don't just jump right in blind. Already come across a few regulars and some people I may want to target. Have to say there is distinct lack of preflop raising at these levels though which is surprising, I've rarely seen a player with a PFR of more than 9.

So that's my preparation for getting back into the game. Pretty intense I have to say for 1c/2c limits but hey, if it's all free and I got time to kill then why not. Of course this could all come to nought and I'll just piss away $60. Guess I won't know till I start playing. Still need to check up about bonuses and stuff I'm eligible for with my deposit at FT and also get in touch with my rakeback affiliate to reactivate my account. Hopefully all this stuff pays off. I reckon I'm more prepared now than I ever have been for poker.

See how it goes man...