Page 26 - October 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Wired Aces (Cont) Bus Schedules (Continued)
Page 26
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE October 2007
Poker: Jim Mercurio (Continued)
...Continued from page 13
game who learned to beat or crush the game you are whining about and they are waiting for you to show up.
I have seen friends of friends kill the 20–40, then the 100–200, then the 300–600 limit games until they are playing in the 800–1,600 game with the best players in the world. ey started with a bankroll in the thousands, IQs in the 150s, and hours of study in the several hundreds, and now the have a bankroll in the millions. And they are only in their 20s.
But my dad, who complains about the suckouts in the $3 Pokerstars Sit-n-goes, still gripes that it’s all luck. I’ve learned that I’m not going to convince my dad of the truth. And if, the worst-case scenario is that he has a hobby that costs him twenty bucks a month for the rest of his life, I can live with that lie.
However, here’s the truth for most of us. It ain’t pretty and it ain’t going to make me seem cool. But if you want to build a big bankroll, here’s how you do it...
You beat the game you’re playing. When you have 50 buy-ins for the next level up, move up if you want. If you lose 20 buy-ins, go back down and start again. If you are a player who is supposed to be playing 100–200 no-limit on High Stakes Poker based on your skill alone, you will get there.
You know the secret to why Daniel, Antonio, Phil, Phil and Phil are on High Stakes Poker...
ey are good.
Jim is a lmmaker, writer and poker player. He is working on a humorous poker book called Screw Your Neighbor.