Tuesday, May 14, 2013

April 2013 -- What a month of poker for yours truly

Variance.

Sometimes it's a beeatch.

Other times...

The fourth month of 2013 proved to me how fluky poker can be.

Longtime blog readers (all two of you) will recall that between the summers of 2005 and 2006 I set out on an adventure to travel the country and subsist on my poker winnings, with an eye on a book deal.

The success was modest -- in 12 months I made about what I would have in salary at my former newspaper job (minus any benefits), with highs (the WSOP main event cash) and lows (the standard variance of a few losing months). No book was forthcoming, but I made contacts that would prove fruitful down the road as a freelance writer.

Now, in April 2013, with a full-time job and a 3-year-old to wrangle, I managed to win nearly $6,500, which I believe bests every month I've played poker except for the WSOP cash in August 2006.

In addition to the Hollywood Poker open chop highlighted two posts ago, I returned to the tables the next week to play a $100 second-chance event on the first day at the Heartland Poker Tour at River City Casino. I chopped this one four ways, too, again as the chip leader, scoring a $2,400 profit.

I've also begun playing online again at Bovada (shhhh), which has pretty darn soft games, and I cashed out a $1,500 profit there in April.

In 2005-06 I played hours upon hours of online games, underground games in Tuscaloosa and made several trips to casinos from Atlantic City to Vegas, but in only one of those months did I fare better than I did last month.

Did I mention that poker has a lot of variance?

SITE OF THE WEEK:  I may start highlighting some newer poker-themed websites that I've discovered and enjoyed reading. AintLuck.com, which features a variety of news articles and strategy tips, is one of those. It's got some pretty good stuff on the WSOP and the various bonuses you can get on a number of online poker sites.