Page 10 - June 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Jim Mercurio: Poker
MIovin’ On Up to the Sky
n my last column, I mentioned the .01–.02 blind no-limit game at Pokerstars as an example of deep stack poker. While I was writing the column, I was also in the process of getting my Luddite dad online for his rst foray into online poker. I was scoping out the micro limit
games for him where the buy-in is 1–5 dollars, and noticed that the play wasn’t much di erent
from the 2–3 blind or 3–5 blind game at Hollywood Park. And without any hyperbole, the .02–.05 game is tougher than the easiest LA 200- and 300-buy-in games.
I decided to do an experiment. I started playing the .01–.02 game to see if I could have the discipline to
play well when the stakes were practically meaningless. I red up six windows and worked my $30 in six 5-dollar buy-ins up to a hundred dollars. I was pretty con dent I was beating that game and decided to try moving up one step at a time. I cheated a bit and added 50 bucks to my bankroll for the experiment, so I would be able to survive those life-altering swings in the .02–.05 game. (I lost a $20 pot to a two-outer, damn the poker gods!)
is exercise is a crash-course reminder on all of the mistakes that I used to make. Starting at the bottom again was a helpful regression. I am able to see how I used to think about the game and how to exploit the mistakes of the other players. e scary thing is that I know where I play, there are people who have the same lucid insight into the mistakes that I, and other players at my level, have made.
e players at .02–.05 are much better than the players at the lower level. I think the world-wide scope of the competition and the proliferation of poker knowledge is making the online games even harder. At this level, the players had corrected many of the mistakes that made the lower game easy to beat. ese players make substantial raises pre- op. ey value position. ey don’t overvalue overpairs. At the lower level, most players would volunteer their $4 stack into a 30-cent pot when they missed the op if they had aces or kings.
At the .02–.05 level, when you op a set against a player with an overpair, you have to massage the betting to extract the pro t.
If my ADHD doesn’t get the best of me, I am going to continue to work this $150 bankroll I put aside up to about $300 and then take my shot at the big leagues: the .05–.10 game. I will try to move up one level at a time and try to quantify the skills that are necessary at each level. If I am in or going to be passing
through your online neighborhood, stay tuned for my trip update. Who knows? I may even be able to help you take my money. But don’t you dare take my dad’s.
Buy Jim’s lm Hard Scrambled at www.hardscrambled.com or if you like his column, contact him at jim@jamespmercurio.com.
Page 10
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
June 2007
Poker: Wired Aces and River Rats