I have just completed week 2 in my quest to get ridiculously rich playing online poker. Like the last week, I would say that I learned a lot. The week was actually very steady and I won just about every day this week. I wasn't able to get as much time in as I would like but I still averaged anywhere from 800-1200 hands per day and was winning about $60-$80 each day which isn't too shabby since I am playing happy meal stakes right now. Fortunately, the site that I play on made a huge change that will be for the better. They made resizable tables. I can now make the tables smaller which makes multi-tabling significantly easier. Not only that but playing 4 tables is now easier then playing 3 tables ever was. Not only that, but I have played as many as 6 tables at once.
Thursday was the first day where things started to get interesting. I started off up about $60 and before I knew it I was down $80. Variance came and it came hard. I finished the day down about $50 and it was my first losing day in about 7-8 days that I can remember.
Friday was just as tough as Thursday but more frustrating because I spent the whole day going back and forth to being up a little, down a little, and even which is where I finished. I realized that I was going through one of those nasty break-even stretches that everyone talks about and I could only hope that it wouldn't last as long. Unfortunately, this one lasted about 8000 hands or so which is by far my longest such streak.
Saturday was awful. I was already trying to make up losses and just went straight into the crapper. Throughout this whole time my account reached $1420 on two different occasions but I could never keep it there. At my worst point I was all the way down to $1220 and had completed a $200 downswing. During this time I opened up some $50NL tables. It wasn't because I was trying to chase losses but because the game-selection on the NL$20 has gotten really bad over the last week. I was playing $50NL on the way to falling all the way to $1220 and dropped about $80 doing so due to running bad and making bad calls. I took one last shot at NL$50 and ran really well. I built a stack up to $180 and left the table at $140. I finished the day at $1340 which felt pretty good. I forgot to mention that I spent most the day 6 tabling and put in over 4K hands which is the most hands I've played in one day up to this point.
Sunday: Another nuts day. As I mentioned earlier the NL$20 game selection is getting really poor. Today there were only about 7-8 tables running most the day and each table had the same 4 players and some random players. These guys are all decent players but they are all idiots. They're basically trading each others money and have to give each other coolers to win because they all play really tight. These guys are all on to me and I generally try not to play with them. As a result, I was disciplined and refused to play in those games until they were gone.
It was at this time that I realized how good the game selection for NL$50 is. There were about 20 tables going and its really easy to play in the game and avoid certain people. I obviously don't know who the good players/regulars are yet but when table-selecting I look for tables with the most short-stacks. 2 reasons.
1. Short-stackers are fish so they are not good regulars.
2. Since I am not too comfortable with the limits yet I am minimizing the amount that I can lose on any given hand, and still get to bully people around like I do on NL$20.
I opened up 3 tables of NL$50 and started off terribly.
I started off by losing a $112 pot with AA against KK all in pre-flop where I flopped the Ace and still lost. Gut shot on river obviously. Standard.
I didn't panic and told myself that if I dipped below 20 buy-ins that I would stop altogether and not take a $50NL shot for a while. I could lose 6 buy-ins before this could happen. At my lowest, my account dropped all the way to $1200 which obviously scared me. Thats also when things started to turn around.
For the rest of the day, my sets got paid off and I hit a lot of flushes. Probably the most I have ever hit.
I ended the evening playing 4 tables of NL$20 after the good regulars were gone and tore the fish that remained a new one. At my high my account was up to $1520 but I finished exactly at $1500. This was by far the biggest one day swing in the right direction that I have had since playing online. Hopefully this little shot of variance has passed me by and I continue my winning ways into next week.
I have cleared $280 of my bonus and hope to finish it out tomorrow because I will then be getting my full rake-back.
My rake-back sits at $180 and doesn't include the last half of Sunday so it's probably at $190 which would put my account too almost $1700 if it were added on today.
I played a lot of $50NL this weekend and have gotten much more comfortable in the game. I am still not comfortable enough to play it full time because my bankroll isn't big enough. I really want to be able to handle the big swings when I do get there and I don't think I could handle those at this point.
In some ways I think the $50NL might be easier because there are a lot more fish and there is much better game-selection. It is also easier to pick the fish out in the $50 game as compared to the $20 game.
I still can't get over how the bad the players are.
Here's one hand that I played toward the end of Sunday that left me pissed, shocked, and happy all at the same time.
I get dealt 3 3. Stack $45
UTG raises to $.80 and I call on the button. This idiot who 3-bet me earlier 3 bets again. Last time he had 8 9 and I had 10 10. I flopped my set and he doubled me up. In the earlier hand he min 3 bet me but this time he made it $2 to go.
We both call and the flop comes.
A 2 8
It checks around and I am fairly certain that no one has an A at this point.
Turn 4
Our 3 bettor leads out for $4 and the initial raiser calls. I told myself that if the initial raiser called that I would call as well. At this point, I have the 3 bettor on a pocket pair like 10 10 or J J. I call and the pot is around $18.
River 8
It checks to me and I know that nobody has that Ace and it is time to represent. I bet $11.
The only guy I was afraid of was the 3 bettor and he folded so I knew I was going to take it down.
The initial raiser thinks about it for a long time and then calls so I know that I have lost.
I did lose and he showed 4 5o. As you can imagine, the chat that followed was quite interesting.
His play was bad on so many levels.
1. He raised 4 5o UTG. Dumbass.
2. He called a 3 bet with 4 5o. Moron.
3. He called a good sized bet on the turn with a small pair and a gutshot when he was clearly behind.
4. He called a bet on the river that put him all-in when he was clearly behind.
I called the turn as a float as much as I was trying to hit my draw. I knew that if I missed and they both checked to me that I could win the hand with a big bet on the river.
The 3-bettor told me he had J J.
I also would like to mention that there won't be any graphs tracking my play because poker-tracker is not compatible with the cake network. It makes me sad because I love graphs and it would give me an even more accurate representation of how I am doing.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Another good day
I started my session today hoping that it wouldn't be like the way yesterday ended. Fortunately, I got all the bad cards out of the way last night and ran exceptionally well.
People did some really retarded shit tonight and I held up just about every time. I think out of all the all-ins that I was involved in where I was the favorite, I held all but 2 times maybe 3 times max. Several times I got all-in with top pair top kicker and got called by a guy who had bottom pair and no other draws. It's almost like free money when you actually hold up.
I spent about half as much time playing since I was pretty tired and wasn't in any mood to be giving back half my winnings like I did the night before.
I made $147 playing poker and cleared another $10 of my bonus which has hit my account. My account is now sitting at a healthy $1134 and that is before the $120 in rake-back that I will be getting paid in the middle of the next month. I feel really good about the way things are going and hope that things continued onward.
I would also like to say that today was probably the best that I played overall. I played a lot more controlled then I normally do and didn't play as maniacally. I made a few good lay-downs even though there will still a few bad calls. Even with that, I probably made more good lay-downs in the 1200 or so hands I played then in the 6000 hands I played over the weekend.
I also made the best I read I have made the entire time as well.
Check this hand out. I was pretty proud of myself.
I get dealt K K.
There is a raise to $.80 and I re-raise to $2.30. Another guy just calls and the initial raiser throws it away.
A x x w/ 2 clubs.
Over the last few minutes my opponent has done some really retarded things. He bought in about 20 minutes earlier and his stack had depleted and he got all-in for his last $3 on the turn with top 2 and got called by an open ender and the guy caught his straight. He re-loaded and on the very next hand shoved all-in UTG and nobody called. I was in the BB and wanted to call so badly with 5 5 but knew a better spot would await me. He ended up making another dumb play that worked when he bluffed a guy out of a pot.
Anyway, I always say you should always lead out when 3 betting even on a scary flop. So I bet $4 in a $5 pot.
This guy has position on me and insta-reraises. I think he had the "raise any" button checked before I even bet because this was a snap raise. I called without even thinking about it and checked the blank turn. He goes all-in on the turn for another $12 and I snap called. He shows K 3 for the nut-flush draw. Fortunately, I wasn't at Commerce and actually dodged the river and the guy berated me in the chat for making the worst call ever. What he didn't know was that I already have notes on him saying that he's a fish and whatever else.
That's my story for today. Hopefully I cross the $1200 threshold tomorrow.
People did some really retarded shit tonight and I held up just about every time. I think out of all the all-ins that I was involved in where I was the favorite, I held all but 2 times maybe 3 times max. Several times I got all-in with top pair top kicker and got called by a guy who had bottom pair and no other draws. It's almost like free money when you actually hold up.
I spent about half as much time playing since I was pretty tired and wasn't in any mood to be giving back half my winnings like I did the night before.
I made $147 playing poker and cleared another $10 of my bonus which has hit my account. My account is now sitting at a healthy $1134 and that is before the $120 in rake-back that I will be getting paid in the middle of the next month. I feel really good about the way things are going and hope that things continued onward.
I would also like to say that today was probably the best that I played overall. I played a lot more controlled then I normally do and didn't play as maniacally. I made a few good lay-downs even though there will still a few bad calls. Even with that, I probably made more good lay-downs in the 1200 or so hands I played then in the 6000 hands I played over the weekend.
I also made the best I read I have made the entire time as well.
Check this hand out. I was pretty proud of myself.
I get dealt K K.
There is a raise to $.80 and I re-raise to $2.30. Another guy just calls and the initial raiser throws it away.
A x x w/ 2 clubs.
Over the last few minutes my opponent has done some really retarded things. He bought in about 20 minutes earlier and his stack had depleted and he got all-in for his last $3 on the turn with top 2 and got called by an open ender and the guy caught his straight. He re-loaded and on the very next hand shoved all-in UTG and nobody called. I was in the BB and wanted to call so badly with 5 5 but knew a better spot would await me. He ended up making another dumb play that worked when he bluffed a guy out of a pot.
Anyway, I always say you should always lead out when 3 betting even on a scary flop. So I bet $4 in a $5 pot.
This guy has position on me and insta-reraises. I think he had the "raise any" button checked before I even bet because this was a snap raise. I called without even thinking about it and checked the blank turn. He goes all-in on the turn for another $12 and I snap called. He shows K 3 for the nut-flush draw. Fortunately, I wasn't at Commerce and actually dodged the river and the guy berated me in the chat for making the worst call ever. What he didn't know was that I already have notes on him saying that he's a fish and whatever else.
That's my story for today. Hopefully I cross the $1200 threshold tomorrow.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The first full week.
I am only getting worse. I spent most of my free time over the last week grinding on cake poker. Too make matters worse, I spent that time grinding micro limits. I would like to think that all this "time" potentially wasted will pay off one day. As I said, I started off with my original deposit of $300. So far I am way ahead of schedule.
Although, I have been winning, the week has been wholly frustrating. Pretty much everyday that I played this week was the same. I would open up my tables and within 20 minutes I would be down $40-$60 or 2-3 buyins. And just like all those times at Commerce I was having to play from behind to just break even for the day.
From around Tuesday-Wednesday I had a 5000 hand break-even stretch. I have read numerous accounts online of players talking about their 20K-30K hand break-even streaks and 5K was pretty brutal. After that, things started to pick up and toward the end of the week I went on a 3K hand break-even streak.
Several things have come up during my time playing on the cake network. Like I have already known from before, I have a really hard time making a lay down online. Live, lay-downs are so easy to make but online I am such a calling station. I have cost myself a ton of money just in the last week with hands where I made a call on the river when I would have normally just laid it down. I have started getting a little bit better but I still have a ton of room for improvement. Today, I laid down a set of Kings when the flush card came on the turn and the river brought a 4 card straight. I have been calling that river bet a lot lately but today I found a way throw my hand away. What I have to remember is that the players that I am playing with are quite terrible and really bad players aren't capable of making good bluffs so I have to remember that from now on when I play.
Another problem that I have encountered is that some of the regulars are getting to know me and some have figured me out. As a result I have become real nitty about my table selection as there are a few players on the site who I really would rather not play with. So whenever I log in and am choosing my tables, I try to go for a table that has no names that I recognize or in some cases has the fewest that I recognize. There really aren't any good players but a few average players. That makes the games pretty easy pickings which works for me.
I once again experimented with adding on a 4th table and this time I was finally able to make it work. So I am now 4 tabling which means I am getting in about 400 hands per hour and adding a whole lot more rake and hopefully winnings.
At my highest which was earlier today my account was all the way up to $1070 but I ended the session at $1055. I took a break for a while and was going to put in one last effort to see if I could get my account to over $1100 to start the week. Instead what greeted me was a brutal shot of variance. I played about 60 hands and didn't win a single pot. Instead everyone hit everything against me and I couldn't win a hand to save my life. I was quite disgusted and quit my session after losing 3.5 buy-ins. Right now my account is sitting at $981 and thats where it will end for the week.
As of right now I have cleared $170 of my original deposit bonus and have another $130 left to clear. I cannot wait to finish clearing the bonus because it is affecting the amount of rake-back that I am taking in. If the period ended right now I would have an extra $105.12 in my account which is my rake-back. If there was no bonus involved, my rake-back would be $166.23 which makes a big difference in how much money I am taking in.
At this point, I have put in 19470 hands which is an astounding amount. The number is actually higher because the site hasn't updated my last two sit downs which should add another 1000 hands which should add another $8-$10 to my rake-back total.
The swings alone from playing online are way crazier then playing live which is something I thought I would never say after playing at Commerce. I have never had major upswings and downswings then the way I do online. Earlier today when I was playing I think I ran the best I have ever run while playing cards. Everything was hitting like I couldn't believe and getting paid off simultaneous. When I didn't hit, they missed as well and I would take it down on the bet with my standard continuation bet.
With that said I think it is mandatory to have at least 40 buy-ins per your level of play. I think if you are multi-tabling online then the standard 20 buy-ins is obsolete as a result of the swings. Not only, that but the money doesn't mean a damn thing to me when I have a ton of buy-ins and I play a lot better when the money doesn't mean much to me.
So my new number that I am shooting for is $2000 for my bankroll. I have no expectation as to when that number will be reached but I hope that by the time the rake-back hits my account which I estimate to be around $500 that my account will be at $2000. Only then will I start to play $50NL regularly. I may even wait until I get to $2500 if I reach $2000 quicker then expected. It's only been a week and I have already made it to $1100 including rake-back so hopefully I will reach $2000 in another 10 days or so.
Although, I have been winning, the week has been wholly frustrating. Pretty much everyday that I played this week was the same. I would open up my tables and within 20 minutes I would be down $40-$60 or 2-3 buyins. And just like all those times at Commerce I was having to play from behind to just break even for the day.
From around Tuesday-Wednesday I had a 5000 hand break-even stretch. I have read numerous accounts online of players talking about their 20K-30K hand break-even streaks and 5K was pretty brutal. After that, things started to pick up and toward the end of the week I went on a 3K hand break-even streak.
Several things have come up during my time playing on the cake network. Like I have already known from before, I have a really hard time making a lay down online. Live, lay-downs are so easy to make but online I am such a calling station. I have cost myself a ton of money just in the last week with hands where I made a call on the river when I would have normally just laid it down. I have started getting a little bit better but I still have a ton of room for improvement. Today, I laid down a set of Kings when the flush card came on the turn and the river brought a 4 card straight. I have been calling that river bet a lot lately but today I found a way throw my hand away. What I have to remember is that the players that I am playing with are quite terrible and really bad players aren't capable of making good bluffs so I have to remember that from now on when I play.
Another problem that I have encountered is that some of the regulars are getting to know me and some have figured me out. As a result I have become real nitty about my table selection as there are a few players on the site who I really would rather not play with. So whenever I log in and am choosing my tables, I try to go for a table that has no names that I recognize or in some cases has the fewest that I recognize. There really aren't any good players but a few average players. That makes the games pretty easy pickings which works for me.
I once again experimented with adding on a 4th table and this time I was finally able to make it work. So I am now 4 tabling which means I am getting in about 400 hands per hour and adding a whole lot more rake and hopefully winnings.
At my highest which was earlier today my account was all the way up to $1070 but I ended the session at $1055. I took a break for a while and was going to put in one last effort to see if I could get my account to over $1100 to start the week. Instead what greeted me was a brutal shot of variance. I played about 60 hands and didn't win a single pot. Instead everyone hit everything against me and I couldn't win a hand to save my life. I was quite disgusted and quit my session after losing 3.5 buy-ins. Right now my account is sitting at $981 and thats where it will end for the week.
As of right now I have cleared $170 of my original deposit bonus and have another $130 left to clear. I cannot wait to finish clearing the bonus because it is affecting the amount of rake-back that I am taking in. If the period ended right now I would have an extra $105.12 in my account which is my rake-back. If there was no bonus involved, my rake-back would be $166.23 which makes a big difference in how much money I am taking in.
At this point, I have put in 19470 hands which is an astounding amount. The number is actually higher because the site hasn't updated my last two sit downs which should add another 1000 hands which should add another $8-$10 to my rake-back total.
The swings alone from playing online are way crazier then playing live which is something I thought I would never say after playing at Commerce. I have never had major upswings and downswings then the way I do online. Earlier today when I was playing I think I ran the best I have ever run while playing cards. Everything was hitting like I couldn't believe and getting paid off simultaneous. When I didn't hit, they missed as well and I would take it down on the bet with my standard continuation bet.
With that said I think it is mandatory to have at least 40 buy-ins per your level of play. I think if you are multi-tabling online then the standard 20 buy-ins is obsolete as a result of the swings. Not only, that but the money doesn't mean a damn thing to me when I have a ton of buy-ins and I play a lot better when the money doesn't mean much to me.
So my new number that I am shooting for is $2000 for my bankroll. I have no expectation as to when that number will be reached but I hope that by the time the rake-back hits my account which I estimate to be around $500 that my account will be at $2000. Only then will I start to play $50NL regularly. I may even wait until I get to $2500 if I reach $2000 quicker then expected. It's only been a week and I have already made it to $1100 including rake-back so hopefully I will reach $2000 in another 10 days or so.
Monday, April 14, 2008
My online poker experiment aka my new obsession.
For a couple years now, I have browsed and occasionally posted on 2+2 and I have watched kids who are my age making tens of thousands of dollars per month. I have read their takes on certain hands and I know that I am as good as most of these players. So why in the hell have I toiled away for so long?
One of the reasons why I haven't played online is that none of the main sites that cater to US customers will let me play with rake-back. The reason for this is that I joined all the sites during their inception when there was no rake-back. All poker sites have a rule that you cannot receive rake-back unless you joined the site through a rake-backing site. Like I said, I joined Full-Tilt, Poker Stars, and Absolute when they were in their infant stages. I joined Ultimate Bet a couple years ago and was able to sign up through a rake-back site but the rake-back never kicked in and I didn't like UB anyway.
As I have browsed through the various 2+2 posts I have noticed that new poker sites that cater to US customers have sprung up. I decided to do a little research and too my delight I found that a new up and coming site known as cake poker is accepting US players and will allow rakeback. I signed up through a rakeback site and followed all the directions. It was now a matter of getting money onto the site that was going to be my problem. Neteller is still no longer allowed and Epassporte takes 2 weeks to process a transaction and I don't want to have to wait that long. I looked around for a good while and tried 3 different credit cards that I have and all 3 were rejected.
I found my bank debit card which was yet to be activated and decided to take one last shot before having to settle with Epassporte. Alas, I got lucky and my deposit went right through after activating my credit card. I had just gotten paid that day from work and took $300 and put it on cake poker. I was so amped to play.
I was browsing through the NL ring games that they spread and I wanted to practice good bankroll management along with playing a game that I would have the patience to beat since I have never played micro-stakes before. I also forgot to mention that along with my rake-back I also get a $300 bonus that takes a bajillion hands to clear so I now have incentive to play a lot.
I found a game that looked suitable and it was a full ring 10 handed .10/.20 $20 max buy-in. I opened up two tables and too my displeasure the tables were not re-sizable like they are on stars and full-tilt so if I wanted to multi-table I would have to deal with an overlapping table situation.
Immediately I hated playing the full ring game as the action sucked. Not only that but I read that the bonus takes longer to clear at full ring and you receive less rake-back.
This is going to sound somewhat ironic but I decided to take the big step and try my hand at 6-max. I have never played 6 max ring before and was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle it. I would also like to mention that it is the game of choice for most of these 2+2ers that I was referring too. The irony lies in that if you asked me what my best poker form is I would tell you the following. Short-handed deep-stacked tournaments with 5 players or less. This is from playing over 2000 sit n goes.
I had recently watched a training video from a top online player who was showing how to beat the game I was about to play in. Aside from playing maniacally aggressive which I love doing I noticed something that needed to be changed in my game if I ever wanted to be a winning player. I watched him play about 500 hands or so and he never limped in a single pot once. Since I have started playing I have raised every pot I have entered and it has worked extremely well. The game is so passive that they fold probably 8 times out of 10.
Day 1:
My first day of play was on Friday and I had no desire to go out as I wanted to play all night and see what I could do with my new bankroll.
I ran decently well and played about 9 hours of poker playing 3 tables at once. At my high point I was up to $350 on my account and as low as $180. I got down to $180 because in the middle of my session I decided to open up a $50 NL table and ran really bad and dropped $100. I finished the night with $250 in my bankroll and had played about 2500 hands or so.
What I learned.
1. 6 max $.10/$.20 is a super easy game.
2. Rake-back is the greatest thing ever.
3. Bonuses are the greatest thing ever.
4. I love cake poker.
5. I learned more about variance in those 2500 hands then I have during the last 6 months of Commerce. It was one of the most surreal things ever. I basically sped up something dramatically that I have been watching move so slowly for such a long time.
I would randomly run hot and then randomly take bad beats and coolers. A few hundred hands would pass and before I knew it I was hitting every flush and straight and having my big hands hold up.
Day 2: Starting bankroll: $250
What a great day this was. This day proved what an animal I can be when it comes to grinding. I played all day and put in a session that lasted 14 hours. I ran exceptionally well for the most part and came up 13 buy-ins for the day. Two of the tables that I played on lasted over 9 hours a piece. On both tables I was dealt over 700 hands and on BOTH tables my initial $20 stack eclipsed $200.
It was awesome. I absolutely dominated and could tell that everyone was terrified of me. I ended up cashing out one stack at $130 after taking two bad beats and cashed the other out at about $180.
Day 3: Sunday Starting bankroll $514.
I played all day again but probably only put in about 10 hours or so. Unfortunately Sunday didn't go so well and in a 30 minute period I had A A cracked twice, K K cracked once, and had Q Q cracked simultaneously on two different tables. The thing that saved my session was that I had built a stack of $170 on one of my tables.
My high for the session was $550 and my low was $420 which is where I cashed out.
Before my session today I had played about 7800 hands and had cleared about $41 in rake-back which has yet to hit my account. I have also cleared $60 of my bonus which has hit my account already.
Day 4: I put in about 1200 hands or so and ran exceptionally well. I had a big stack of $120 on one of my tables and have made back yesterdays losses and a little bit more.
I am currently sitting on about $530 and am about to start up another 2 hour session before I call it a night.
I have come up with a couple of goals for the next month.
By the middle of next month I want to achieve the following:
1. Have a bankroll of $1500 including rake-back and including my bonus which should be fully cleared by the middle of May. This is a very modest number which should be attained very easily however I would like to complete this first goal so I have set the standard rather low.
2. By the time my roll hits $750-$850 I want to take another shot at $50NL
3. I want to clear 30K hands
4. I want to clear $700 in rake-back.
Hopefully I continue to run well at the tables.
Edit: Just finished second session and came up 2.5 buy-ins. Ran considerably well but took a couple of horrendous beats. The one thing that I have been real lucky about is the fact that a lot of my bad beats have come at the hands of short-stacks and I am generally holding up in my bigger pots.
One of the reasons why I haven't played online is that none of the main sites that cater to US customers will let me play with rake-back. The reason for this is that I joined all the sites during their inception when there was no rake-back. All poker sites have a rule that you cannot receive rake-back unless you joined the site through a rake-backing site. Like I said, I joined Full-Tilt, Poker Stars, and Absolute when they were in their infant stages. I joined Ultimate Bet a couple years ago and was able to sign up through a rake-back site but the rake-back never kicked in and I didn't like UB anyway.
As I have browsed through the various 2+2 posts I have noticed that new poker sites that cater to US customers have sprung up. I decided to do a little research and too my delight I found that a new up and coming site known as cake poker is accepting US players and will allow rakeback. I signed up through a rakeback site and followed all the directions. It was now a matter of getting money onto the site that was going to be my problem. Neteller is still no longer allowed and Epassporte takes 2 weeks to process a transaction and I don't want to have to wait that long. I looked around for a good while and tried 3 different credit cards that I have and all 3 were rejected.
I found my bank debit card which was yet to be activated and decided to take one last shot before having to settle with Epassporte. Alas, I got lucky and my deposit went right through after activating my credit card. I had just gotten paid that day from work and took $300 and put it on cake poker. I was so amped to play.
I was browsing through the NL ring games that they spread and I wanted to practice good bankroll management along with playing a game that I would have the patience to beat since I have never played micro-stakes before. I also forgot to mention that along with my rake-back I also get a $300 bonus that takes a bajillion hands to clear so I now have incentive to play a lot.
I found a game that looked suitable and it was a full ring 10 handed .10/.20 $20 max buy-in. I opened up two tables and too my displeasure the tables were not re-sizable like they are on stars and full-tilt so if I wanted to multi-table I would have to deal with an overlapping table situation.
Immediately I hated playing the full ring game as the action sucked. Not only that but I read that the bonus takes longer to clear at full ring and you receive less rake-back.
This is going to sound somewhat ironic but I decided to take the big step and try my hand at 6-max. I have never played 6 max ring before and was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle it. I would also like to mention that it is the game of choice for most of these 2+2ers that I was referring too. The irony lies in that if you asked me what my best poker form is I would tell you the following. Short-handed deep-stacked tournaments with 5 players or less. This is from playing over 2000 sit n goes.
I had recently watched a training video from a top online player who was showing how to beat the game I was about to play in. Aside from playing maniacally aggressive which I love doing I noticed something that needed to be changed in my game if I ever wanted to be a winning player. I watched him play about 500 hands or so and he never limped in a single pot once. Since I have started playing I have raised every pot I have entered and it has worked extremely well. The game is so passive that they fold probably 8 times out of 10.
Day 1:
My first day of play was on Friday and I had no desire to go out as I wanted to play all night and see what I could do with my new bankroll.
I ran decently well and played about 9 hours of poker playing 3 tables at once. At my high point I was up to $350 on my account and as low as $180. I got down to $180 because in the middle of my session I decided to open up a $50 NL table and ran really bad and dropped $100. I finished the night with $250 in my bankroll and had played about 2500 hands or so.
What I learned.
1. 6 max $.10/$.20 is a super easy game.
2. Rake-back is the greatest thing ever.
3. Bonuses are the greatest thing ever.
4. I love cake poker.
5. I learned more about variance in those 2500 hands then I have during the last 6 months of Commerce. It was one of the most surreal things ever. I basically sped up something dramatically that I have been watching move so slowly for such a long time.
I would randomly run hot and then randomly take bad beats and coolers. A few hundred hands would pass and before I knew it I was hitting every flush and straight and having my big hands hold up.
Day 2: Starting bankroll: $250
What a great day this was. This day proved what an animal I can be when it comes to grinding. I played all day and put in a session that lasted 14 hours. I ran exceptionally well for the most part and came up 13 buy-ins for the day. Two of the tables that I played on lasted over 9 hours a piece. On both tables I was dealt over 700 hands and on BOTH tables my initial $20 stack eclipsed $200.
It was awesome. I absolutely dominated and could tell that everyone was terrified of me. I ended up cashing out one stack at $130 after taking two bad beats and cashed the other out at about $180.
Day 3: Sunday Starting bankroll $514.
I played all day again but probably only put in about 10 hours or so. Unfortunately Sunday didn't go so well and in a 30 minute period I had A A cracked twice, K K cracked once, and had Q Q cracked simultaneously on two different tables. The thing that saved my session was that I had built a stack of $170 on one of my tables.
My high for the session was $550 and my low was $420 which is where I cashed out.
Before my session today I had played about 7800 hands and had cleared about $41 in rake-back which has yet to hit my account. I have also cleared $60 of my bonus which has hit my account already.
Day 4: I put in about 1200 hands or so and ran exceptionally well. I had a big stack of $120 on one of my tables and have made back yesterdays losses and a little bit more.
I am currently sitting on about $530 and am about to start up another 2 hour session before I call it a night.
I have come up with a couple of goals for the next month.
By the middle of next month I want to achieve the following:
1. Have a bankroll of $1500 including rake-back and including my bonus which should be fully cleared by the middle of May. This is a very modest number which should be attained very easily however I would like to complete this first goal so I have set the standard rather low.
2. By the time my roll hits $750-$850 I want to take another shot at $50NL
3. I want to clear 30K hands
4. I want to clear $700 in rake-back.
Hopefully I continue to run well at the tables.
Edit: Just finished second session and came up 2.5 buy-ins. Ran considerably well but took a couple of horrendous beats. The one thing that I have been real lucky about is the fact that a lot of my bad beats have come at the hands of short-stacks and I am generally holding up in my bigger pots.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Busto
I have been meaning to write for the last week or so but I just haven't been able to bring myself to do so.
I don't know how many times I have been at this exact point but I think this is either the 5th or 6th time that I have been completely busto. Although I am sure that I have felt this way numerous times but hear me now. "This is the last time I will ever be busto!" I am saying it right now. I don't care how bad I may run in the future, I will never be busto again.
I had my 5th (what the hell?) interview with the pizza kitchen and it went very well. The guy said, "we'll call you" at the end of the interview and my friend on the inside told me that I should hear back the next day. It's been 8 days now and their has been no word. I sent him a text asking what was going on and he has not responded which is unusual for him. I honestly don't know what to think. I don't know why these people dragged me around like this and I have no hopes or expectations of ever receiving that phone call.
My mom decided that I was clinically depressed and suicidal and decided to take her own action. I wasn't really upset about it and I guess it was good that she did. I have kept my other side of the family in the dark about everything that has gone on. I made this choice because it's a lot easier on me. Everyone else has given me a lot of shit for things that have happened over the last 6 months and the last thing I needed was another set of people giving me shit as well. My mom called my dad and informed him of my situation. I really don't know what she told him but she told me to get a hold of him and that he could possibly offer me a job.
I have worked for him before and he is quite easy and fair however I have already been there and done that and have no desire to retrace my old footsteps. Not only that, but I don't like the possibility of waking up at 6:30 every morning to drive 45 miles to his office. With gas at $4 a gallon that is -EV for many reasons. One of which being that I am trying to keep the miles down on my car. So much for that I guess.
I gave him a call and he told me that I could come down and take a job as a helper in the warehouse. Once again, I am not thrilled about that opportunity and know that I am much smarter then some warehouse helper. On the other hand, finding a job is impossible right now and it is a really nice luxury to be able to just pick up a phone and have someone offer you $13 per hour during such tough times. This was on Monday and on Tuesday I went in for me first day of work.
My dad's business is the slowest I have ever seen it and there has been absolutely nothing for me to do. I have been waking up everyday and it has been killing me. No matter how hard I try I can't get to bed early. I should be in bed right now because I have to be up in 6.5 hours but I know if I lay down to sleep right now that it will be another hour before I actually fall asleep.
So basically I have been showing up everyday and there is really nothing for me to do. I more or less kick back which is pretty nice but I would like to be busy because then at least the days would be going by faster. I've run a couple errands here and there and have helped a little in the office but other than that I am definitely not carrying my weight. Like I said, my dad is pretty easy. He also gave me a gas card which is fucking clutch because thats $13 per hour plus an extra $100 a week since thats about what it costs each week to fill up my car.
My current plan as of right now is too keep working for my dad and hopefully find another job. I would like to work at my dads part-time and find something that I actually want to do on the side. After all that, hopefully I will somehow be able to fit poker in there. Even if I don't, it's okay for now because this will be the first time that I start a bankroll and already have money behind. Every time I have started a poker bankroll I have had no money and have just had to build from scratch. It will be nice if I build some money before I start playing real regularly. On the other hand, I haven't played since March and I really don't like that I am not able to put in the hours that I would like. I spoke to a friend about a week ago and asked him for a 20 buy-in minimum stake for the $200 NL and he said he would think about it. That was probably 5-6 days ago and he hasn't gotten back to me which tells me that he is probably going to turn me down. This is really starting to become a recurring theme in my life.
A couple other things I want to talk about.
My dad wants me to drive a local bobtail when things start to pick up and I have to pass a drug test to be able to do that. Something I thought I would never have to do, but I had to fess up and tell him about my pot smoking. He asked if I could pass a drug test and I told him I couldn't. He had no reaction and didn't really seem surprised. He would be a huge hypocrite if he got on me which is why he didn't. My drug use is one of my deepest darkest secrets and something that I will never reveal to my parents but telling him about the pot has been one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever told him.
Lately, I have been reading up a lot on the current status of the economy. I feel really stupid right now because I am usually well read and informed about current events and usually know whats going on in the world. However, I really just haven't cared lately. I was in for a surprise when I started reading about how bad things have gotten. It now explains my inability to find a job. I really just thought it was me. I can't wait for things to turn around because then maybe I will actually be able to find a job that I actually want to do and not something that I have to do.
I might make it to the tables this weekend and I am actually planning on it although I have no idea on when that might happen to be exact. I have a couple ways that I can go about it. I can take one buy in and take a shot at the $200 and hope for the best. Or I can play it safe and take a few buy-ins for the $40. Here's my feelings on the lower stakes games in brick and mortar casinos. I really have no problem with taking a step back and playing smaller limits. However, the $40 is second worst game ever behind the $100 NL at Commerce. I have played out several scenarios in my head where I have died and gone to hell. One of those scenarios is griding out the $40 NL for all of eternity. I have that much hatred for that game but it's much more likely that I play that then I play the $200 but no decision has been made as of yet.
Although, I haven't made any decision and its probably a little ways down the road, but I have recently been toying with the idea of taking a shot online again. I think I am good enough to multi-table the cash games online and am going to try the whole rakeback thing. Like I said, I don't know if this is going to happen yet however I like my chances. I have been watching training videos online and I see lots of areas where the players online can be exploited. I also think it will be a good supplement for when I can't make it to Commerce. Part of working these jobs is that I am going to be constantly tired so making it to Commerce will be much more difficult than it has been in the past.
Lastly, one thing that has really been bugging me lately has been my isolation. It was initially my own doing but working for my dad has only made it worse. I really haven't been seeing any of my friends lately even though a lot of them live right down the street. I am always so tired now and the last thing I want to do after work right now is leave the house or deal with anybody. Hopefully this is just an adjustment period and in another week or so I will get over being so damn tired all the time.
I don't know how many times I have been at this exact point but I think this is either the 5th or 6th time that I have been completely busto. Although I am sure that I have felt this way numerous times but hear me now. "This is the last time I will ever be busto!" I am saying it right now. I don't care how bad I may run in the future, I will never be busto again.
I had my 5th (what the hell?) interview with the pizza kitchen and it went very well. The guy said, "we'll call you" at the end of the interview and my friend on the inside told me that I should hear back the next day. It's been 8 days now and their has been no word. I sent him a text asking what was going on and he has not responded which is unusual for him. I honestly don't know what to think. I don't know why these people dragged me around like this and I have no hopes or expectations of ever receiving that phone call.
My mom decided that I was clinically depressed and suicidal and decided to take her own action. I wasn't really upset about it and I guess it was good that she did. I have kept my other side of the family in the dark about everything that has gone on. I made this choice because it's a lot easier on me. Everyone else has given me a lot of shit for things that have happened over the last 6 months and the last thing I needed was another set of people giving me shit as well. My mom called my dad and informed him of my situation. I really don't know what she told him but she told me to get a hold of him and that he could possibly offer me a job.
I have worked for him before and he is quite easy and fair however I have already been there and done that and have no desire to retrace my old footsteps. Not only that, but I don't like the possibility of waking up at 6:30 every morning to drive 45 miles to his office. With gas at $4 a gallon that is -EV for many reasons. One of which being that I am trying to keep the miles down on my car. So much for that I guess.
I gave him a call and he told me that I could come down and take a job as a helper in the warehouse. Once again, I am not thrilled about that opportunity and know that I am much smarter then some warehouse helper. On the other hand, finding a job is impossible right now and it is a really nice luxury to be able to just pick up a phone and have someone offer you $13 per hour during such tough times. This was on Monday and on Tuesday I went in for me first day of work.
My dad's business is the slowest I have ever seen it and there has been absolutely nothing for me to do. I have been waking up everyday and it has been killing me. No matter how hard I try I can't get to bed early. I should be in bed right now because I have to be up in 6.5 hours but I know if I lay down to sleep right now that it will be another hour before I actually fall asleep.
So basically I have been showing up everyday and there is really nothing for me to do. I more or less kick back which is pretty nice but I would like to be busy because then at least the days would be going by faster. I've run a couple errands here and there and have helped a little in the office but other than that I am definitely not carrying my weight. Like I said, my dad is pretty easy. He also gave me a gas card which is fucking clutch because thats $13 per hour plus an extra $100 a week since thats about what it costs each week to fill up my car.
My current plan as of right now is too keep working for my dad and hopefully find another job. I would like to work at my dads part-time and find something that I actually want to do on the side. After all that, hopefully I will somehow be able to fit poker in there. Even if I don't, it's okay for now because this will be the first time that I start a bankroll and already have money behind. Every time I have started a poker bankroll I have had no money and have just had to build from scratch. It will be nice if I build some money before I start playing real regularly. On the other hand, I haven't played since March and I really don't like that I am not able to put in the hours that I would like. I spoke to a friend about a week ago and asked him for a 20 buy-in minimum stake for the $200 NL and he said he would think about it. That was probably 5-6 days ago and he hasn't gotten back to me which tells me that he is probably going to turn me down. This is really starting to become a recurring theme in my life.
A couple other things I want to talk about.
My dad wants me to drive a local bobtail when things start to pick up and I have to pass a drug test to be able to do that. Something I thought I would never have to do, but I had to fess up and tell him about my pot smoking. He asked if I could pass a drug test and I told him I couldn't. He had no reaction and didn't really seem surprised. He would be a huge hypocrite if he got on me which is why he didn't. My drug use is one of my deepest darkest secrets and something that I will never reveal to my parents but telling him about the pot has been one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever told him.
Lately, I have been reading up a lot on the current status of the economy. I feel really stupid right now because I am usually well read and informed about current events and usually know whats going on in the world. However, I really just haven't cared lately. I was in for a surprise when I started reading about how bad things have gotten. It now explains my inability to find a job. I really just thought it was me. I can't wait for things to turn around because then maybe I will actually be able to find a job that I actually want to do and not something that I have to do.
I might make it to the tables this weekend and I am actually planning on it although I have no idea on when that might happen to be exact. I have a couple ways that I can go about it. I can take one buy in and take a shot at the $200 and hope for the best. Or I can play it safe and take a few buy-ins for the $40. Here's my feelings on the lower stakes games in brick and mortar casinos. I really have no problem with taking a step back and playing smaller limits. However, the $40 is second worst game ever behind the $100 NL at Commerce. I have played out several scenarios in my head where I have died and gone to hell. One of those scenarios is griding out the $40 NL for all of eternity. I have that much hatred for that game but it's much more likely that I play that then I play the $200 but no decision has been made as of yet.
Although, I haven't made any decision and its probably a little ways down the road, but I have recently been toying with the idea of taking a shot online again. I think I am good enough to multi-table the cash games online and am going to try the whole rakeback thing. Like I said, I don't know if this is going to happen yet however I like my chances. I have been watching training videos online and I see lots of areas where the players online can be exploited. I also think it will be a good supplement for when I can't make it to Commerce. Part of working these jobs is that I am going to be constantly tired so making it to Commerce will be much more difficult than it has been in the past.
Lastly, one thing that has really been bugging me lately has been my isolation. It was initially my own doing but working for my dad has only made it worse. I really haven't been seeing any of my friends lately even though a lot of them live right down the street. I am always so tired now and the last thing I want to do after work right now is leave the house or deal with anybody. Hopefully this is just an adjustment period and in another week or so I will get over being so damn tired all the time.
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