Poker has always been a profitable hobby of mine.

I started playing poker online using my cousin's account on partypoker playing low stakes cash games, building his bankroll from $500 to $10,000 in the space of a few months. From then on, I played almost every night as I was trading US derivatives at the time, and had plenty of time to kill being the office all night by myself.

I was happily playing in mid level stakes, content to win or lose $1000 on a 2/4 or 3/6 table when i discovered tournament poker about 2 years ago. This became kind of a revelation for me, as i realised it was a completely different game to what I had been used to playing, and that I was very bad at it!

Not content to accept my shortcomings, I decided that if I could win at cash games, then tournament play could be something I could win at too. So, i registered accounts at a few sites, this time in my own name, and proceeded to blow around half of the $10k roll i deposited into my neteller account.

My biggest strength in cash game poker has always been my ability to read people, and zero in on their tendencies. A skill that was born out of experience from my real life job. I always had a confidence in my read bordering on being over zealous, which meant I did make some horrible mistakes on a cash game table, but there i was able to reload and write a note. In my tournament play, I was out and looking to buy into another.

I managed to learn my way into a break even game, profiting a small amount from time to time with rakeback, but I had also managed to get involved with a good group of poker mates, one of whom was Stewart Scott, who was to become the 2009 Aussie Millions champion. I learnt alot from him, and my game started to improve. I won my first decent tournament on Pokerstars not long after I started to chat with these guys, which was an 30k Guaranteed 11r for about 6k, which was followed not long after that with another win in the same tournament, and a win in the 70k 11r as well.

Poker was fun, and I was finally a profitable player, but then came what was probably the worst poker experience in my life. I am thankful that I did not rely on poker for a living, as I probably would never have played to this day after going through six months of constant bad beats and the donkey plays that accompany them.

My faith in my game plummeted, and I was thankful for a 6 month stint in France for work, where I did not play any poker apart from a few profitable visits to the Aviation Club where the cash tables are very soft.

Upon returning home, I started my own company so poker sessions were few and far between, but now that things have calmed down somewhat, and things are settled, that nagging feeling in the back of my mind was calling. Why cant you beat the tournament game?

So, after watching my good friend Stewart take down the Aussie Millions in style, getting AA in against AJ, I decided that I would give the game another go. I still had my original $10k roll sitting in my neteller account, so I started where i left off playing 11r, 33 and 55 buy in tournaments. I initially had some success, getting deep in several 11r tournaments, but it seemed no matter what I did, I would end up running into a vicious beat. I remember 4 handed in the 11r bank in March on the final table, where i was chip leader and had 2nd stack shove into me with TT when i held AA...naturally, T hit the turn, and I was suddenly short. I managed to claw my way back to 2nd in chips, when I got all in AK vs AQ only to see the chip leader felt me hitting runner runner straight.

Of course, all these things are normal to any poker player, but I just felt that I was playing good poker and not being rewarded. The eternal lament of the poker player!

I just plodded along, playing when I could, getting good stacks, but always finding a way to blow them either by losing big races or getting sucked out on. There had to be something I was doing wrong. So, I started chatting to a mate of mine, and he suggested my biggest leak was gambling with a big stack when I didnt need to. He had watched alot of my play, and noticed that whenever i got deep in a tournament, with a large stack, I was doubling up the short stacks making loose calls far too much.

I took that advice on board, and decided perhaps I needed to learn more as well. I came across this site after reading a post by Gank on P5s, and signed up. I also subscribed to PXF and watched some of their videos.

One thing I took from that, is that poker is largely by the numbers. Sure, there are alot of moves that can be made, especially in the higher stakes against thinking players, but the reality is, when you are playing low to medium stakes, solid ABC poker is the way to go, and if your hands hold you have a chance.

The defining moment for me, came just recently. As I said before, I have always been very aggressive with a stack late in a tournament, often resulting in bad reads and an eventual donkeying off into the sunset. I decided to make a conscious decision to continue playing good solid small ball poker which I always did in the mid stages of a tournament to build a good stack, and not get involved in too many sticky pots.

I was playing in my normal 8am 11r on stars, had amassed a 250k stack with 20 left when i picked up KhQh on the button. The chip leader was at my table 3 seats to my right with 300k, and I was 2nd. The blinds were 3k/6k and the chippie brought it in for a 15k preflop raise. I flat called in pos, and the blind folded. The flop came a very juicy ThJh2c which made me the fav against almost any 2 cards. He led out for a strong bet of 32k and I stopped for a moment to decide what to do. In the past, I would reraise without hesitation and call off my whole stack in that spot. Obviously, this can be hugely beneficial, but at the same time, I could be out when I know that I am a better player than that. So, i decided just to flat call. The turn came a blank, and the chippie leads out with a 90k bet and I am left with a dilemma. I only have 32k invested in the pot, and I can fold...if I call and miss, then i have punted half my stack for nothing, shoving is out, as I am sure he will call, and I am at best with one card to come, a 40% dog, but in reality I put him on a set, so it was more like 30%.

I tanked for awhile, and folded. He showed me TT, and i was glad I folded. My friend who was watching me at the time, commented that he was expecting me to shove the flop or the turn, and normally I would have. Sure if the draw hits I am a monster chip leader, if it misses, im out.

As it turns out, it was a good fold because 5 hands later, he shoved my 4 bet with KK into my AA and it held, and suddenly i had a monster stack and never looked back. I had finally won another tournament for $5900 after more than a year in the wilderness.

All of a sudden, my game just clicked. I followed that up with wins in a 15k 109 for $4200 and a 109 turbo for 2900, as well as a couple of final tables for 4 figure scores. Incidently, I busted out of both tournaments with AA to an under pair, which made it particularly painful since those suckouts cost you so much more.

I guess, apart from being a bit of a brag post, my thoughts are that we play a game of skill, and in the long run, if you play within your means, and against players of comparable or lesser skill, eventually you will win.

knightman7