Ecuador Poker Player

A little about me? Well, I started playing poker back in 2000, before it was “cool.” I had my ups and downs - my best month I made $18,000 in tournaments and cash games in Southern California, my worst month I lost $5,000. I was consistently profitable at lower-limit games but never successfully graduated past the 8-16 LHE games of Southern California and Las Vegas. Then a divorce and personal problems (not poker/gambling related, thank God) kept me away from the tables. So for the last 18 months I’ve watched Poker explode into the phenomenon it is now. I live in Ecuador now, with occasional trips to the States.

So finally the poker bug gets to me. I’ve read that the game has changed with the massive numbers of “Chris Moneymaker” Internet players swamping things to make some juicy games. So my quest is to take a $100 bankroll on line and see where it takes me.

I’ve been playing on several Internet sites, mostly Party Poker, Doyle’s Room and a few other places. The first two months playing at bottom-feederville has taught me a few things.

:: The games are good. There are lots of people playing. Most have only the vaguest idea of how to play. It is much easier to find a soft game to take down.

:: The players are much more aggressive. Play two years ago was more likely to get checked around, giving you the chance to dominate the table being aggressive, or taking a free card when you want. Now, people are much more likely to bet aggressively with flat out garbage.

:: Tournaments are much tougher. It used to be you played against a couple hundred people. Talent and skill would get you through. Now the tournaments are high hundreds, and often reach into the thousands. Luck is much more critical, especially in the NLHE games.