Merry Christmas!

     Ok, so I know Christmas s still 2 days away, but since I'm going to be busy for the next few days, I thought I'd say it now.

     I've managed to staunch the bleeding so to speak, and have gotten back to breakeven over my last couple of sessions. I realized I was getting a bit complacent and relying more on my hand itself, and not paying enough attention to situations and spots where I could take down pots. Upon review of the hands and sessions I've played during my downswing, I found I was being too risk-adverse and cautious, which was leaving me too short by the time I was reaching the middle stages of the SNG. Always something to work on, isn't there?

     As far as my goal of 100 games over the past few days, I have only managed to reach 42. Shit keeps coming up, and since my wife is on her Christmas holidays, I have been distracted. I have only put in about three solid sessions, which is way short of my goal, and way short of the volume I need to be putting in to make this whole thing work. No problems, in a few days, things will calm down and I will be able to get myself back on track.

     So, again, I'd like to wish everyone happy holidays! Hope you all get something you want out of this occasion. Be it that new electronic device or just being able to spend some time with your loved ones. I'm still going to put in a few games if I have some time, but for the most part I am just going to relax and enjoy the weekend. Talk to you all soon.

Variance is one thing, but this is just sick...

The following are the final hands of 5 of my last 7 games. I know if I keep getting it in good blah, blah, blah, but this is not even funny anymore.

Full Tilt - $2+$0.25|120/240 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com/
Hero (MP+1): 4,690.00
CO: 3,095.00
BTN: 2,785.00
SB: 2,350.00
BB: 7,945.00
UTG: 2,200.00
UTG+1: 12,920.00
MP: 4,515.00
SB posts SB 120.00, BB posts BB 240.00
Pre Flop: (360.00) Hero has Tc Td
fold, UTG+1 calls 240.00, MP calls 240.00, Hero calls 240.00, fold, fold, fold, BB checks
Flop: (1080.00, 4 players) 8d 5s 7h
BB bets 240.00, UTG+1 calls 240.00, MP calls 240.00, Hero raises to 4,450.00 and is all-in, BB calls 4,210.00, fold, fold
Turn: (10460.00, 2 players) Ac
River: (10460.00, 2 players) 8h
Hero shows Tc Td (Two Pair, Tens and Eights) (PreFlop 84%, Flop 56%, Turn 70%)
BB shows 8c 6h (Three of a Kind, Eights) (PreFlop 16%, Flop 44%, Turn 30%)
BB wins 10,460.00
And then:

Full Tilt - $2 + $0.20|25/50 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com/
SB: 2,640.00
Hero (BB): 1,185.00
UTG: 3,470.00
MP: 3,380.00
CO: 6,525.00
BTN: 7,700.00
SB posts SB 25.00, Hero posts BB 50.00
Pre Flop: (75.00) Hero has Qd Ah
UTG calls 50.00, fold, CO raises to 225.00, fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,185.00 and is all-in, fold, CO calls 960.00
Flop: (2445.00, 2 players) 7d 8d 5s
Turn: (2445.00, 2 players) 6c
River: (2445.00, 2 players) Th
Hero shows Qd Ah (High Card, Ace) (PreFlop 64%, Flop 60%, Turn 3%)
CO shows 9h Kd (Straight, Ten High) (PreFlop 36%, Flop 40%, Turn 97%)
CO wins 2,445.00

And then...

Full Tilt - $2+$0.25|25/50 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com/
Hero (BTN): 1,365.00
SB: 625.00
BB: 1,930.00
UTG: 1,910.00
UTG+1: 1,420.00
MP: 2,040.00
CO: 2,735.00
SB posts SB 25.00, BB posts BB 50.00
Pre Flop: (75.00) Hero has Jd Jc
fold, fold, MP calls 50.00, fold, Hero raises to 200.00, fold, BB calls 150.00, MP calls 150.00
Flop: (625.00, 3 players) 9c 6c 8d
BB checks, MP bets 625.00, Hero raises to 1,165.00 and is all-in, fold, MP calls 540.00
Turn: (2955.00, 2 players) Tc
River: (2955.00, 2 players) 9d
Hero shows Jd Jc (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines) (PreFlop 71%, Flop 76%, Turn 73%)
MP shows Qc 9h (Three of a Kind, Nines) (PreFlop 29%, Flop 24%, Turn 27%)
MP wins 2,955.00

Oh, and this too...

Full Tilt - $5+$0.50|100/200 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com/
MP: 3,510.00
CO: 2,280.00
BTN: 800.00
SB: 1,440.00
Hero (BB): 1,420.00
UTG: 2,470.00
UTG+1: 1,580.00
SB posts SB 100.00, Hero posts BB 200.00
Pre Flop: (300.00) Hero has 9d 9s
fold, fold, fold, CO calls 200.00, fold, SB raises to 1,440.00 and is all-in, Hero calls 1,220.00 and is all-in, fold
Flop: (3040.00, 2 players) 7h Td Ah
Turn: (3040.00, 2 players) Kd
River: (3040.00, 2 players) 8h
SB shows Qh Jc (Straight, Ace High) (PreFlop 45%, Flop 42%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows 9d 9s (One Pair, Nines) (PreFlop 55%, Flop 58%, Turn 0%)
SB wins 3,040.00
Now I'm gettin a little peeved...

Full Tilt - $5+$0.50|60/120 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com/
UTG+1: 3,960.00
MP: 5,275.00
Hero (CO): 1,495.00
BTN: 5,300.00
SB: 1,425.00
BB: 7,525.00
UTG: 2,020.00
SB posts SB 60.00, BB posts BB 120.00
Pre Flop: (180.00) Hero has Ac As
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 360.00, BTN raises to 1,260.00, fold, BB calls 1,140.00, Hero raises to 1,495.00 and is all-in, BTN calls 235.00, BB calls 235.00
Flop: (4545.00, 3 players) 3h 8s Qd
BB checks, BTN bets 1,080.00, fold
Turn: (4545.00, 2 players) 6s
River: (4545.00, 2 players) Kd
Hero shows Ac As (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 81%, Flop 9%, Turn 5%)
BTN shows Qh Qc (Three of a Kind, Queens) (PreFlop 19%, Flop 91%, Turn 95%)
BTN wins 4,545.00

These were just some of the final hands. I did not bother to go through all the mid-game hands that kicked my ass on luck.

In the SNG that invloved the last hand I posted, the best hand AIPF did not win one single time. I counted (not enough room to post them all) 11 AIPF hands nearing the bubble, and each time the worst hand (sometimes by far such as AK vs KJ, 1010 vs 79) won. Sickening.

Well, after losing $44 tonight, most of it on the bubble with better hands, I think I might take tomorrow for some thorough review. Mayhaps I am missing something in my mid-game play....

Weak Week

     Hey everyone! I know it's been  few days, and last time I left you all with some sour news. I wish I could say that everything is all back to hunky-dory, but that just is not the case. Not to say that I'm losing my ass. I was able to recoup some of my losses from Sunday, maybe a few bucks, but for the morst part I'm back on the breakeven train.

     Most of the reason I believe I am not doing any better is because I havn't been putting in nearly enough volume as I'd like to be putting in to overcome the varialnce I've been facing. I have only been able to play less than 20 SNG's over the past 4 days. This is not to due to a lack of dediaction or frustration. My wife and I enjoyed a few days out of town. Hard to play any meaningful sessions in a hotel room. Just the atmosphere was distracting, internet cutting in-and-out, shopping, and dinners and travel on my mind. Couple that with an influx of "gotta make some Christmas money playing pokerz" one hit wonders in the SNG's (17 of my last 20 bust outs here at the hands of suckouts from players who have played 100 games or less) and things are kinda rough.

     So, this weekend, I am planning to go at it like a mad fiend. I plan to play no less than 100 SNG's over 4 sessions between tonight and the wee hours of Monday morning. This is my goal, but since it is nearing the holidays, I may not meet it. My wife and I have family and friends coming into town over this wekend, and I have to make to sure to make enough time for what's important. So I will be trying to put in the volume I need, but at the same time not neglecting my family and friends. This is very important people. Balance. My wife is always talking about it, now I gotta do it. Have a great weekend folks, I'll talk to you again on Monday.

Well fuck

     I busted out of both tourneys within 3 hands. In the 2K I flopped the K high club flush in a raised pot. Soem dumbshit called himself all in with nothing but the Ac. Hit it.
    
     Then in the miniFTOPS, I got in on a riased pot with 88. Flop came 8 Q 6. Opponent bet hard, I shoved, he called and showed QQ for the bigger set.

     I think I remember saying something about playing on the weekend..... Ah well, time to get back to what I'm good at; $5 SNG.

Update

     Ok, in the 2K guarantee at PS, I'm doin real well @ second break w/ 19.7K. Blinds are 100/200 with a 25 ante.

     In the miniFTOPS I'm not doing quite as good. 1st break, 5.6K  (started w/ 5K). Blinda about to go up to 40/80. Not sweatin' it. Lots of time and stack to play with..

Buckster's Tourney

     Started rough, got my stack knocked down early w/ 10 10. Flop came down 8 high rainbow. Made a c-bet that in hndsight was way too small. Got called, K on the turn, led out again, got rasied, and had to let it go. Sat tight for a bit w/ 550 or so. Finally picked up 55 in the BB. Co raised, BTN called, and with 600 or so in the pot, I shoved. Flop was AJ9. Thought i was dead and gone. CO bet, BTN raised, CO folded and I was left facing AK. The turn didn't help, but a beautiful 5 on the river saved my ass. Remember a few posts back when I told you all how the 55 fucked me? This time it was my savior,

     After that, I played ok, building my stack nicely. When we were down to 12, the shorty at the table shoved from the BTN. I looked down @ A9os, after figuring my opponents range to be pretty wide, and figuring my hand was good, i made the call. I was right, he had A5. Unfortunatly, he went running for a flush and tool half my stack. Blinds were now 200/400 with antes and going up in a minute, so I shoved from the SB with JQ. BB had AK and it was all over.

     I had fun though, and I'm not dissapointed as all the money won in that tourney is going to charity anyways.

     I, for some dumb reason, regged for a 5K guarantee tourney on Stars which I am in right now. The Mini FTOPS starts in 40 mins or so, and I kinda hope to either have a massive stack in the 5K or be busted by then, so I can focus on the big one.

Mini FTOPS Event #13

     Today, I am going to do something I would not normally do. I am going to play a large MTT on Sunday, and it's going to be a $33 buy in.

     I couldn't pass up this tourney. Deep stack, 12 minute levels, $450K guaranteed prize pool. Plus my dad talked me into it. With the success I have been having in my game, I feel I can afford to buy into this game and not hurt my roll too much. If I am unsuccessful, I can easily make my buy in back in SNG.

     I am also going to be playing a special tournament on Poker Stars today. One of our most loved members of Cards Chat passed away not too long ago of cancer, and we members are playing a special tournament to benefit Toys for Tots, the charity of his choice. Though I never had the chance to personally get to know this member, I have enjoyed his well thought out and informative posts, and seeing he had such an impact on the forum, I feel it is the least I can do. RIP Buckster.

     I will update throughout the day to let you all know how things are going.

BTW, for those of you who don't know: My player name on FTP and PS is theKAAHK. 

If you see me at the table, say hi!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

               Well, I am now a little over two weeks into this whole shebang, and I’ve learned a lot so far about what it’s like to play poker for a living. So I’ve broken it down into three areas:

The Good

                I guess I should start by stating the most obvious good thing. I am making money. True, I’m starting small, and thus have not made quite enough to withdraw yet, but if I keep going at the rate I have been, it’s going to be a merry Christmas. I’ve been playing so much that my game has been seeing constant improvement every day. I’m playing better now than I ever thought possible, and I have nowhere to go but up. Two months ago, I thought I was pretty good. Looking back, I wasn’t. I think I’m pretty good now. Two months from now I hope to look back and say the same thing I said about two months ago.

The Bad

                Yes, there are downsides. My favorite Lay-z Boy is getting worn out from hours and hours of use. General chores, such as laundry, dishes, shoveling the driveway and splitting firewood are starting to get in the way of my sessions. The general community in my town looks at me as some sort of gambling freak. That is not to say that I do not have support. My friends and family are very supportive, but there is a large elderly population here that still thinks of poker as gambling and anyone who plays it for any amount of time a degenerate gambler. Normally I wouldn’t be too concerned, but as a member of the Royal Canadian Legion and a member of other community boards, I see this is becoming a social issue among them. I am taking my time to educate them about the subject, so I guess eventually this will work out for the better.

                I have also noticed I am missing out on some quality time spent with my friends. While they are working, I’m sleeping, and when they’re off for the day, I’m on the tables. I have to be sure to make an effort on the weekends to get out more and see them.

The Ugly

                There is not really anything ugly about my chosen path, except one glaring exception; I haven’t seen more than an hour or two of sunlight in the past two weeks. Part of this is because in the winter here, the sun goes down around 4-4:30. But the biggest factor is I have been playing well into 3-5am every day. I wake up around 2, shower, eat breakfast, do my daily chores, play a session or two, take a few hours of break until 10, and then play until the wee hours of the morning.

                Now, I’m sure some of you are wondering if playing such late hours is necessary. I think it is. Let me put it this way; I avoid the recreational players during the post-dinner hour who just want to “play” poker. I catch a lot of players who have just busted out of the larger MTT’s and are steaming/tilting/just want to “play one more game”. These players are tired, while I’m just hitting my mid-day.

                So I guess not seeing the sun is not really an ugly thing. Sure I’m starting to look like a vampire J, but I’m doing it for legit reasons. Ok, enough for today. Time to play some XBOX, eat lunch and then get back to work.

How to win a $5 18player SNG in 99 hands or less

     First you need to get dealt AA on your first hand, raise, get called by 4 players, see a flop of 779. Bet 2/3 pot on the flop, get called by one player out of position, turn an A, then have said player shove with 22. Next, three hands later, get dealt AdKd in the BB, Face 6 limpers, raise 6x BB, get 3 callers, flop 10d Jd Qh, check it, have two players get it all in (with A6 and JQ lol), and call both their asses. One full orbit later, wake up with Qs10s, flop Ks 9s 7s, lead out, get raised, call and let the player with K10os hang themselves.

     After that it gets easy, fold anything but premium hands unless you're in the blinds. When you do raise, have everybodt inexplicably think you're just bluffing with the big stack and just hand you their chips with KJ when you hold AK on an A high board. Repeat until you reach heads up.

     When you get heads up with a 4-1 lead, just raise every button, and any paint x hand. Wait until opponent playes back at you, showing you they have a hand, fold, frustrate the hell out of them, then flop a straingt and have them shit it with bottom pair. Easy peasy!

    
    

Another Day, Another Dollar (I'm liking this semi-pro stuff)

              It is now 4:00am, and, whew! What a day! Lots of ups and downs. This morning started shaky, with a $5, 25K guarantee on Poker Stars. Horrible beat right on the bubble hand. I opened with KK from the highjack, got called by the BB. Flop came 8 4 10. Checked to me, I led out with a ½ pot bet. BB snap shoved. He’d been playing spewey and already made this move three times in the past three orbits, sucking out twice to amass a large stack. I thought for about .062 seconds, called and fist-pumped when I seen he was holding 55 (figured him for something low and crappy :) ). Unfortunately the river was unkind to me and brought out another 5 to end my tourney. It was at that point I remembered that I had not made my $100 monthly deposit @ Full TIlt, so I shut down PS, opened FUll TIlt, did that, and waited for my lovely wife to return home.

                I took a break, greeted my wife, made dinner and fired up Full Tilt. First game in was a $2, 27 player SNG. I’ve been playing a lot of these lately, mostly because the $2 MTT are such a long grind and the selection among them is slim midday. Having some decent results in the SNG’s, but I was getting tired of monkey’s re-popping me with any suited or any Ax hand, just bloating the pot and practically making it a BINGO game.  I played 4 before I had enough of that shit.

              Now that I have a large enough 'roll to comfortably mave up, I am. Good-bye $2 donkeys! I played the $5 games a year or two ago before I busted my ‘roll on MTT, so I was familiar with the type of play there. First game in I cashed for 4^th making up the losses I incurred in the $2 games.  I was then fired up enough to play 8 more, ending the night with a little over $40 profit. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Would have been more, but myself and my opponent decided to chop the last one. We were heads up for a few hands, just trading blinds. We were both only 20BB deep at that point, it just turned 4am, and the 4 way battle lasted nearly an hour. We were both tired so we just chopped it up. I don’t mind chopping every now and then. Of course, I felt I was the better player, but at that point it was just a matter of who caught the cards and hit the flop.

                Remember how I said I was opening up my 3 and 4 bet ranges? Working like a charm. I have also been working on my blind defense skills, and have been paying a lot more attention to board conditions when faced with a blind on blind situation, and adjusting to a LP raiser’s range in correlation with my own hand when I am raised on in my BB. I was able to take down a few tasty pots early in my last game by doing so, and I like the feeling of not just folding my blinds if I don’t have a top 10% or mid suited connector hand. Like I said in an earlier post, my range was becoming to polarized in certain positions and I was hurting because of it. I’m not saying everything’s changed in just a few short days, but it is getting better.

                So, after a total of 14 hours of play in the last 24, I’m dog tired. Get my 8 hours sleep and it’s back at it again tomorrow. I'm only 6 playing days into the month (didn't play on the weekend) and I'm already up $71 this month.  Tomorrow is going to be a good day, I can feel it!

Breakeven, and Loving it.

Well, it’s the end of the week, and while I’d love to regale you all with stories of how I’m just raking in the cash, truth be told, I’m not. That is not to say I’m losing my ass, but I have played the last few days at just over breakeven.

                Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not disappointed at all. In fact, I’m quite happy with myself. Why would I be happy with breakeven you ask? It’s like this my friends; I have played in 22 tourneys in the past three days without a loss. In fact, I’m actually up around $12 and change (I consider that break-even due to the fact a lot of that is rakeback). The real reason I’m happy with my play is because after 22 games, I have had small downswings, but have made that back and overall have not lost one dollar.

                I have read that some of the best players see swings of 20, 30+ tourneys where they see no profit. Now, I am by no means comparing myself to the best. I am not near that level at all. I am just putting this into perspective. 22 tourneys without a loss. I assure you, I have gone 50+ without making a dime and losing every one of my buy-ins, so I am very pleased with my play for the week.

                After a losing session on Wednesday, I took most of Thursday off for more study and reflection on my game. Looking through the details of my stats (thank you PT3) I found that over a 11K+ sample of saved hands, my 3-bet % was a lowly 1.3%. Pitiful. I have since opened up my 3 and 4-bet range slightly and have seen better results. I have also been tinkering with my pre flop raise ranges, as I have also been opening too tight and thus polarizing my range.  Change is scary, but I have been seeing better results when used properly, so I know this is a change for the better.

                Now, at the limits I play, most of my opponents aren’t really paying attention to opening/3-bet, 4-bet ranges, but those who are were exploiting the shit out of me.

                I have also been re-defining my flatting vs. folding vs. 3/4-bet ranges and when I do each, and while I don’t have any concrete results as of yet, I feel with some ironing out this change is also helping my overall game strategy. For example, here’s a hand I played today where I opened up my 4-bet range and won the hand instead of calling/checking/folding to the board and my two opponents.

Full Tilt - $2 + $0.20|15/30 NL - Holdem - 7 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: 2,955.00

UTG: 2,085.00

UTG+1: 3,082.00

Hero (MP): 2,925.00

CO: 3,000.00

BTN: 2,955.00

SB: 3,023.00

SB posts SB 15.00, BB posts BB 30.00

Pre Flop: (45.00) Hero has

    9h 9c

UTG calls 30.00, fold, Hero raises to 120.00, fold, BTN raises to 450.00, fold, fold, UTG calls 420.00, Hero raises to 930.00, BTN calls 480.00, UTG calls 480.00

Flop: (2835.00, 3 players)

      4h Kc 5c

UTG checks, Hero bets 1,995.00 and is all-in, fold, fold

Hero wins 2,835.00

                In this example, if I were to just flat call my opponents c-bet, I would be either forced to check/fold the flop, or lead out and have to deal with a raise against me. I say deal with a raise against me, because in most situations, the aggressor (BTN) has control of the hand, and since he placed the 3-bet, he can bet this flop and have everyone involved in the hand believe he has AK or better. By 4-betting, I took control of the hand back from the BTN, showing massive strength, and was thus able to win the hand on the flop against two opponents.

                 Keep in mind that this example was not taken in a vacuum. I had been showing down solid hands, if any went to showdown and had been playing tight up until that point. I feel this was key to the success of my play on this hand. Had I been splashing around a lot of pots and 3 or 4-betting everything, I would have had a lot less credibility and thus probably been called (or 5-bet shoved on) light. Also, by contrast, BTN had been splashing around, 3-betting very wide, and I really had no reads on UTG since he was new to the table, though I assumed by limping then calling this large raise he was just on a fishing expedition and would probably play fit/fold (make a hand or fold) on the flop.

Once I can comfortably work this into my game, I feel the next move is to work on my squeeze play. Honestly, I have never been adept at the squeeze play. I always seem to pull it at the wrong time and bust from the tourney. But that will come later. Still need to work out other details first.

                Anyways, enough about that as I can’t give away everything I’m doing. I’m going to take the weekend off, maaaybe dabble in a few SNG’s if I have some spare time. Then it’s back to work on Monday.

                Enjoy the weekend folks!

Day one.

Yesterday was my first day playing fulltime. I played a total of 13 tournaments between 2:30pm and 1am. Not non-stop, of course. I took breaks for dinner and time spent with my wife.

Of those 13 games, I won one and cashed in 2 more for a total of $44.48 profit on the day. Now, I know this doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but it is upward progress, and it is $44.48 more than I would have had if I had not played. Each day is a grind and I am not expecting to make hundreds of dollars a day, especially at $2 and $3 stakes. Like I said before, I am building this up slowly but surely until I have enough in my BR to comfortably move up in stakes.

I have had a few friends say to me over the past few days; “You’re good enough to play bigger games, why are you wasting your time playing for a few dollars when you could play bigger and win a lot more.” While I am flattered, and agree that I could play higher stakes and do well, I do not want to make the mistake of playing above my monetary limit and risk going broke quickly. Most of these friends do not understand that MTT’s are high variance and just because you play well does not mean you will cash every time. I realize this, and will continue grinding slowly until I feel I can play higher without risking too much of my roll at any one time. It won’t take too long, perhaps only a month or two, before I do start playing higher. But until then, I’m going to keep doing what I do well, and that is $2-$3 MTT.

BTW, I didn’t final table that $2 1r-1a last night; I just missed the money bubble. My AK shove w/ 13BB’s was cracked by pocket 9’s.

So, today is a new day, and after my daily chore routine, a good lunch and a workout, I’ll be back at it. IF you see me at the tables on Full Tilt (I’m theKAAHK for those of you who do not know) say hi. Rail support is always welcome!

Sunday just ain't my day...

Ugh, there is  a reason I don’t play on the weekends. Call it a jinx, call it bad luck, I don’t know what it is. I have never had a cash on the weekend. Never.

The day started off with the BLT ($2, turbo, 60000+ players). Got off to a decent start, the beginning of this tournament is very similar to the Turbo SNG’s I play, so I was able to build my 1500 starting chips to around 6K. Then it all fell apart. Every raise I made was called by 3 or more players, practically making it a BINGO game postflop. Nobody let go of anything, no pair, no draw, nothing. After winding back down to 3500 I ran my KK into AA in an all in preflop confrontation and just like that it was over. Not that I was too disappointed, I satellited into this game a month ago for .75c, so I don’t consider it a loss.

Then at 3:20 I started the 22K Double Deuce. This is another tourney I won my way into by winning a satellite tourney for $2.25. I played what I felt was a solid game, but in the end I made one move too many, one bad call, and it was over. Out of 10,876 players, I ended up in 6934^th.

 I was sitting in the BB, with one limper on the button, the flop came Ac 7d Jc. I was holding Jh7s. I led out,  and was min-raised by the limper. I figured him for a weak Ace, since he didn’t raise preflop. I 4-bet him to 1200, he min-raised me again, and I shoved my remaining 5.5K. He called and showed me A7. So I was right about the weak Ace, Just wrong about the kicker not matching the board. Sigh.

I played a couple of tilt games (bad idea) to work out some aggression. All I ended up doing was working out $10 from my bankroll.

After a hearty dinner, I entered the 14K Guarantee Superstack tourney. I have had some success in the tourney in the past, and with a 5K starting stack, 12 minute blind levels and slow blind increments, I felt it would be a good way to slow down and play some solid poker. I ran well for a bit, making my way up to over 9K in the first hour. During the second hour I lost half my stack with 10 10 vs. AJ to aplayer who would not let go of his hand. A Jack on the river shipped it his way. I wasn’t too worried as he busted out three hands later chasing a flush draw against the table chip leader J. Unfortunately, I went fairly card-dead, only making the occasional steal to keep my stack healthy. Eventually the blinds got to 170/340 with a 25 ante and I was sitting on a hair over 2.5K. I woke up with AQ UTG, shipped it, got called by JJ and I was done. Out of 3321 players, I missed the money by 299 spots.

So what did I learn from today’s session? Two things. First, stop playing on the weekends. Too many weekend warriors making the fields huge, and too many weekend tourney reg’s playing out of my league (for now).  Second thing I learned is to stop playing ‘cool off tilt games’. I burnt 5 buy-ins over bullshit.

So now I’m back in my niche playing the $2 1r-1a (one rebuy, one add-on). Sitting 136 out of 226 remaining. I smell another final table. Oh, did I mention I won this tourney last Monday and final tabled it on Friday? Yeah, I like this one.

After this I am done for the night, tomorrow is going to be a long day. I have a good schedule of tourneys lined up. GL out there.

It has begun!

Last night was a great night for me in my endeavor to become a semi-professional poker player. First off, during a dinner out with my wife, we both discussed the finer points of the pro’s and con’s of me taking this seriously as a way to generate feasible, off-season income for myself.  After getting her blessing I laid out my plan to her.

I broke it down into three key areas:

1-      Time usage: Since I am a seasonal worker (April-September) I have a substantial amount of time to put towards this goal. As I play a few times a week anyways, we have decided that if I am to pursue this seriously, it is best that I take this time to put in more volume of play. This week I have played approx 21 hours worth of MTT at $2 stakes. This brings me to a total of $387.86 (cashes) – $115.20 (buy-ins)  = $271.80 profit. This works out to $12.94/hour.

So in essence, if I were to keep up my current win rate and play a minimum of 40 hours a week at my current stakes I would see a hypothetical profit margin of roughly $540 per week. Now, I know this is hypothetical, and MTT is a high variance game, but over a sample of 109 sessions logged in the past 32 days I am sustaining a 77.84% ROI. These figures were not pulled out of my ass, I use Poker Tracker 3 to log and review every session I play.

On top of adding volume, I am also devoting at least 2 hours a day studying, learning and reviewing my previous sessions. I feel this is key. I will not only be reviewing hands where I lost, but also winning hands to see if there were ways I could have played them better, and the session as a whole to establish where I had leaks and how to fix them. I am also a member of Cards Chat. This forum is has an incredible wealth on knowledge and being a member and an avid poster, my game had, and will continue to improve immensely.

2-      Money management: For the past three years I have been playing a regular weekly tourney at my local Legion. The buy-in is $25. I have realized that this weekly game is hurting my overall play as I am always playing the same players and nobody is getting any better. I feel that this $100 per month (plus drinks/snacks) would be better used for my online bankroll.  So on the 1^st of every month, from now on, I will deposit that money into my online account.

Though I am making profit as of late, I am adamant about sticking to a very strict bankroll management strategy. I am currently most profitable in $2 MTT, with the occasional $2 Turbo SNG thrown in if I have time constraints. I will NOT play anything higher unless I have 50 buy-ins minimum, or I satellite into them for the same stakes I am playing, or less. When my bankroll climbs to  suitable amount, I will move up accordingly. I will not spend any more time at low levels than necessary. If my BR drops below a minimum of 50 buy-ins, I will move down again.

I will not, for the first three months, make ANY withdrawls from my online account. I will keep a minimum of $500 in my account for play, and withdraw anything over that amount at the end of each month.

3-      The pursuit of my dream: I am not going to get all long winded about how much I love NLHE. Making a blog about it and stating my intentions should be enough to show it already.  I have never wanted a conventional job. This is not a matter of laziness; my seasonal job is very labor intensive and requires a lot of on the go thinking. This is a matter of spending my life doing what I feel passionately about doing. By no means am I fooling myself into thinking that this is going to be a walk in the park. It will take a lot of hard work, dedication and patience. But if I keep myself dedicated to improving myself as a player, I feel I can do it.

And if I can’t, at least I will never regret not trying. Wish me luck. (Not that luck has anything to do with it J )

World, meet theRooster!

Hello everybody! Welcome to my foray into the world of blogging. Since I we are both new to this, I'm going to start things off slow and easy.

For those of you who are wondering what you are going to find enclosed within this space, I will mostly focus on three main things:

-My love of no-limit Texas-holdem, which will include my views on the mental approach to the game as well as my adventures at the tables. This will be updated daily, and I hope to soon add a forum where we can discuss more specific topics in the future.

-My passion for golf. I have to admit, I am not very good at this sport (12 handicap) but during the short summer months, if I am not working, I'm golfing.

-My views on society in general. I must warn you all, this area may get a fair bit controvercial and is not for the weak of stomach or mind.

I will start filling in more soon, so keep tuned. Things are going to get very interesting!