I had a good day yesterday at Hold’em Poker.  In fact, it was the best day I had ever had online in non-tournament play.  I won about $55.

I’ve been playing primarily at Hold’em Poker.  My old haunt, JonWoodGaming, the only other poker room in which I have money, has a number of virtues that I’ve discussed in prior posts, but hands take so damm long there.  So I have only been back once in the last month or two.

Most of the time at Hold’em Poker, I play at the $.05/.1 no-limit tables, almost always in the same position at the table.  Occassionally, I move up to higher stake tables, no higher than a $.25/.50 no limit table.  I still have had no success at these higher stake tables, but I haven’t given them much of a chance or much of my money.  Eventually, I plan on moving up to these tables if my account grows large enough.  Not sure when that will be.

Presently, my account at Hold’em Poker is at $175, the highest it’s ever been at Hold’em Poker.  I still have a little money at JonWoodGaming, about $20.  I’m not sure if I will be allowed to cash this out.  If you’re interested in understanding why, you should read this post.

I had played at Hold’em Poker in September and had won $50, but by the end of September I didn’t have any money left in my account, and consequently I didn’t think that I would be playing again at Hold’em, because I don’t like depositing my own money into any poker room.  On Sept. 29th, one day before George Bush signed the infamous anti-gambling bill, I won $80 in a tournament at Hold’em Poker when I had placed 7th in a no-limit tournament.

A few weeks ago at Hold’em Poker, I was up to about $175, where I am today, but then I had a good number of bad days, which were interspersed with some ok days, and had been fluctuating between about $140 and $110.  On one of these days I got my first Royal Straight Flush, and won a whopping $1.60.  And on one night I also played two tables simultaneously and won about ten dollars.

In the past, when I had a bad day or two in a row, the next days would continue to be bad, and not before long, I would be cleaned out.  But I think I’ve improved in this regard.  I now have some confidence that I can recover from a downward roll.  I think I am actually learning a little about the game.

One thing that I believe I have learned is that if you are playing at the stakes that I play at, where the most you can start with is $10, you are at a big disadvantage if you have less than about $5 at the table.  I find it very difficult to come back when I’m this low, and I often lose it all.  A lot of players come to the table with only a few dollars, and I am always amazed by this, because if you only have a few dollars at the table, you have no leverage.

You can’t win much in a given hand.  You can’t push others around with the threat of going all-in.  You can easily be pushed around by others who have much more money at the table.  I always look for tables that have these kinds of players, and almost always when I drop below $3, I reload to $10.  When I don’t, I tend to go all-in with hands that I would normally not go all-in with, and eventually I lose it all.