Number 1 - 25/2/06

Well this will be my first post.

I play a regular game of poker every Sat night amongst a group that can vary from 12 - 50 people, and much like Phil Helmuth often feel like the only reason I don't win is luck, or a lack there-of.

In actual fact, I know that there are times when I should have pushed, or times I shouldn't have chased and these early mistakes are what leave me short stacked and at the mercy of so-called "bad beats".

The fact is, the best you can do is go heads up with the best starting hand, and I feel I generally do - BUT - as any regular poker players know, this is far from a guarantee of success.

So what can one do??? The answer is have enough chips to cover your bad beats.

All too often (for me anyway ;), AQ suited gets cracked by KJ after I hit an Ace and Queen only to lose to a 4 card flush with their King (11/2/06) or my QQ gets cracked by 88 AND 99 (8 X X on flop, then 9 on turn - X on river.... 18/2/06).

This is generally how I get knocked out of these tournaments week in week out.

I am acutely aware that at these points I am being forced all in at the first available chance because I am short stacked and have gotten tight waiting for a decent hand. I am sure there are statistics that show in the longrun the way I have played the hand is correct but "all in" is not a long run kind of thing - it is NOW - and a pair of twos beats Ace high any day of the week.

What I am trying to say, is that I have decided to attempt to build my chip stack early and not be content with reaching the late end of tournaments only, because doing so generally means going out on the bubble or just before, because the others left can bully me with their big chip leads.

I plan on doing a couple of things.

I am going to track the hands I do /don't play, the cards on the board and the hands of those that reach the showdown.

I may even post a pic or two of the person and hand that knocks me out (if they agree).

I do this mainly for myself as a future reference point and to see if over time, by analysing the way I play as well as others I can show an improvement and dispel the myth of luck once and for all....