Gambling for real money is wrong! I hated it!
Entry posted by AKQ
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Thanks for reading AKQ's poker blog!
As you may have guessed, I'm a poker fanatic. But I don't like playing for real money. Some might say that without the excitement of playing for real money, you can't really enjoy poker to the full. That is true to a certain extent, however, I don't like the extra pressure put on me when it get serious, I'd much rather play knowing I can't really lose anything.
The main focus for todays blog entry is about real money, the first time I ever deposited money into my Absolute Poker account.
Mainly I was curious, and I thought I'd see what it felt like to play for real money (just so you know the deposit was only $50). I entered into a sit and go tournament, with 8 other players, for a buy-in of $11. I am experienced at playing in the SnG's at play money level, and I regularly finish in the top 3 out of the 9 entrants.
I immediately regretted my decision of depositing real money into my account after the SnG. I finished 5th out of 9. That isnt too bad reall, but you don't win anything, and I had lost $11. thats not too bad either, it's only about £6. The bigger problem was that I hated the idea of gambling with 'real money' so I went to the cashier page to withdraw the $39 I had left. The minimum withdrawal was....$50!!!, and I only had $39!!!. Oh S**t! The only way I could get my money back safely into my account was by winning it back.
So in the following few days (ie yesterday and today) I entered in the odd SnG, for much lower stakes this time (buy-in $1.10). I had entered in three by the end of the day yesterday, finishing 2nd in two, and 6th in the other. That worked out as a profit of 30 cents!
Things weren't working out well so I entered into a ring game this morning. These are different because the blind structures stay the same (they rise slowly in SnG's) and you can leave whenever u like. So I bided my time until the right moments and soon I'm up from $39 to $45, success!
$45 meant I could enter in a slightly higher stakes ring game. I entered in one where the average pot size was around $17. At first things went badly, nothing good came my way and i went down to $35. I thought basically I had to gamble.
About 10 mins later I got a good hand, Ace-Queen unsuited. I have $27.50 left, and I go all-in. Other players fold to my biiig raise excelt for 1 player who had a fair amount of money supporting him. So he calls and our cards are revealed, he had Queen-8 suited which is good for me. Then the board cards come out: 3s, Qh, 7c, 10c and 2s. I win! We both paired with the Queen, but my Ace card acts as a higher kicker compared to his 8, so I double up to $54! Enough to withdraw from the poker site and transfer it safely into my account again, never to be touched again.
So basically, I love playing poker, and I know that I'm a decent player too, but the idea of my own money being at stake scared me, even if it wasn't that much (for a student it is!!).
I still play in the play money SnG because the y are immensly enjoyable, and I do well in them. I'll be updating the blog with any interesting stories, and also my SnG results every week.
Ta! AKQ
If you like poker too, come find me at the play money tables (Sit and Goes) or in the Play Money 500/Freeroll tournaments. I'm known as _AKQ_
I apologise if this entry was all waffly, but thats my style!
This weeks Sit and Go stats:
Note: A Sit and Go is a tournament for 6 or 9 players (I prefer 9). Players pay a fixed buy-in, in this case $3300. Players are given $1500 in starting chips, with no rebuys or addons, so once you're out you're out! There are no prizes for finishing outside the top 3 (when there are only 6 players its the top 2). £rd gets $5400, 2nd gets $8100 and 1st gets $13300.
Balance: $21000 (all play money figures)
2nd, 7th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd 5th 1st
Total spent: $23100
Total won: $40300
New balance: $38200
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