A Warm Welcome From Mountain Man !

Right, time for someone else to be in the spotlight before Dominic takes over this blog full time. (That’s not a slur on Dom, more an emphasis on how lazy the rest of us are). As you have probably gathered by now, I’m Tim (which isn’t short for Timothy, by the way) but am likely to be referred to on here by a whole host of names, such as “Mountain Man” or “Basil Francis” to mention just two. You will probably notice that I have a somewhat unique writing style, which could take a little bit of getting used to, but stick with it and we will be just fine. I have a background in writing, having edited three regular publications, including the University of Dundee newspaper “The Student Times”.

Although poker (both online and live) is my primary interest these days, it wasn’t until January 2005 when I first learnt the basics of Texas Hold ‘Em with the guys at Dundee University Poker Society (DUPS); whom had been playing in a city centre snooker hall, at which I was the manager. From then on, I have learnt much more about a number of other forms of poker, and enjoy playing most of them on a regular basis, albeit at very low stakes. DUPS became much more of an institution to some of us than others, and it has certainly moulded much of my recent social and private life; this is likely to reflect in a number of my entries to this blog. For more information on DUPS, see the link on the front page.

My first task within the confines of “The Scoop Troop” will be to look at trying to build a bankroll at an online poker site from only a small initial deposit, or in the case of a scenario where a small amount of funds are found in an account which has not been visited for a while. You know the score, you stop playing at a particular site as you fall out of favour with playing or simply forget about it, then revisit it a year later to find $13 or some other minimal amount sitting there. I will endeavour to show that it is possible to turn a random small sum into a respectable online roll once more, instead of just wading into the first NL cash table and banging it all in with any ace or pair. And if I don’t succeed in this task, I will certainly have good fun trying.

Following the conclusion of this initial investigation, I will be looking in more depth at one of the largest online poker sites “PokerStars”, particularly at what they offer for the lower stakes players in terms of “Sit and Go” Tournaments (both S.T.T. and M.T.T.); Official Tournaments; and Cash Games. I may also take a brief look at the world of freerolls too (as this can be classed within the confines of small stakes), but will leave most of the reporting on this subject to our resident freeroll king, 3foot2 (Adnan).

Final word from me for now. Small stakes doesn’t have to mean playing with a lack of sense and skill. Some of my most memorable tournaments and games of poker have been in low buy in events. I hope, from my ramblings on here I am able to demonstrate a perfect balance of fun and profit from online poker without having to risk significant sums of money to do so.

Until next time, be lucky ! Thanks for reading.
Mountain Man