Online Poker... Lessons learned (3 of 4)

Continued from previous posts...

Awesome… or not. I tried to time his nap for noon but of course that day was the one day he wanted to go to sleep at his regularly scheduled time of 10 AM. This was going to make online Texas Hold'em poker a little difficult. Most days, he fights it, and if I let him, as I have once or twice in the past he can just skip the nap and be alright. Some days, he’s winding down and dive-bombing into pillows, rubbing his eyes, and getting cranky tired.

Normally, I enjoy that as it means he’ll go down quickly and sleep soundly for at least an hour. Then he’ll be in better spirits the rest of the day. On this day, I wanted him to barrel right through 10 am and maybe put him down at about 11:50. I also planned to set up snacks and activities that could be done when he woke up round about 12:55 (right when the break in the tournament starts) to keep him going for another hour or so. Then I’d have to do my best to play and entertain him til about 3:30 when the wife got home. Maybe it would be his unlikely first session of how to play poker 101.

You know what they say about the best laid plans. Even before 10 the kid was
walking around like a plastered college freshman returning from their first frat party. Gracious. I put him down. He sprung back to full energy level in a hour, and I knew this was going to be a bad day for poker.

Speaking of college, I had a friend who lived his late teens and early 20s like a baby. He’d go 100 miles an hour and then just abruptly stop and sleep. When he’d wake up, it would be at 100 miles an hour. There was no groggy clearing of the head to wake up, or gradual easing up at night, needless to say, trying to keep pace with that guy, who also needed about 4 hours of sleep a night, and never got a hangover EVER could kill most normal people.

Somehow, I survived him and it prepared me for a baby that wakes up happy and ready to run like Usain Bolt. With the kid at 100 mph I barely got set up to play. The snacks and activities I preplanned to keep him busy for an hour at my feet, got me about 10 minutes of distraction. Then it was a constant climbing of daddy’s knee to bang on the laptop, and a constant demand to be put down.

On top of that, I could tell he could tell I wasn’t paying him enough attention, and that just pulls at your heartstrings and one of the reasons I don’t play much poker during the day.

I play the freerolls online and just try to chip up and blind out until the money and I’ve had a fair amount of success doing that. Why not gamble like a rich fool in a $300 MTT. Maybe I could do that, then play with the kid until Mom got home and play some poker. Great idea in theory.

I quickly discovered raw aggression at this buy-in level wasn’t enough. These weren’t the same idiots in the low-buy levels I usually slummed around in. No, three bets were met with four bets, and very few if any pots were given up to single or double barrel bets. I was frustrated with good starting hands that would demand my attention and then miss the flop.

Then, I ran into a steady stream of open ended straight flush and gut-shot straight flush draws. Usually with overcards. Didn’t matter how I played them, I missed and lost. I’d bet them and get called down until I’d miss the river. I’d check them and wouldn’t hit. I’d check raise and meet the stubborn guy that couldn’t get off top pair ace kicker.

To be continued...