Sunday, July 20, 2008

Week 14: Tournaments are my new savior

I am still having a lot of problems in the cash games. I have been very inconsistent now for a very long time. Fortunately, I have found that there are other avenues of making money. Avenues that aren't as much of a grind. Tournaments. Ah yes, tournaments. For some reason I am running like god in tournaments right now and it is growing my bankroll. I am playing everything from satellites to tournies to sit n go's. In the last week alone I made 3 final tables in MTT's with finishes of 2nd, 5th, and 5th. Those cashes were for around $2200. I have also proved profitable early on in $20 sit n go's because the fields are so soft.

After my second place finish the other day for $1375, I decided to reward myself with some shots in bigger cash games. I opened two tables of $2/$4 and two tables of $1/$2. I was introduced to $2/$4 very rudely. All I can say is that game is fucking hard. Every hand I played I was put to the test. Almost every time I raised I was 3 bet. I was definitely outclassed and that is somewhere I will not venture back in a really long time. Overall I ended up losing $500 during that shot taking endeavor.

Today I had my Sunday tournaments and it was very disappointing. I got knocked out during the first round of the 75K when my top pair top kicker A K ran into a set of 8's. I went a lot deeper in the WPT qualifier but was short-stacked from the very beginning and outlasted about half the field. I had no other cashes in MTT's but have cashed in all but one sit n go today.

Things have gotten so crazy in my account. $1000 swings occur daily and I can make or drop that much any day now. I have reached the highest I have ever played before and am entering uncharted territories in terms of the swings.

Although things are starting to look up, I am still way behind my projections although things are moving along nicely.

Currently I have $8894 + $1043 in rakeback + $218 in tournament tickets.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Weeks 12/13 I think I am going to make a shitload of money

Although the title says what it says I have not been very profitable for the month of July. I'm actually running a lot like I did last month but not nearly as bad. I have made quite a few adjustments in my game and they have really started paying off. I have made quite a bit of money over the last couple weeks 3 and 4 betting with much lighter hands. I only make these plays against solid regulars because they aren't going to call me with anything less then AK or a good pocket pair trying to set mine.

I really feel that I am playing out of my mind right now and I have never been more motivated in my life to do succeed and do well. About 10 days ago I had the most money I have ever had in my life. It was short-lived because I then went on a standard downswing and paid about $1200 worth of bills. Fortunately, I am right back to that point and I am ready to start making some serious money.

To start the month I went on a $900 upswing and my account was at $8700. I then went on another one of those 20 buyin downswings and before I knew it I was all the way to down to $6700 and I was hating life. I kept struggling and then on the 11th I was paid my $450 bonus from last month and went on a big upswing. I got it all the way back to $8050 but I have since fallen off a little due to a couple of small losing days and tournaments that I have just started playing.

Although I haven't done it in the last few days I have also been taking shots at NL200. Unlike the other jumps there is not really much difference between NL100 and NL200 with the exception to bigger betting. Overall I would say that I am probably a small winner playing NL200. Maybe about 1-1.5 buyins overall.

I have also started playing tournaments again which I am really happy about. The tournaments on Cake are ridiculously soft. The satellites are a total joke and may as well be free money.

So far I have cashed in 5 tournaments with one final table and one near miss. On the final table I took 5th which was good for about $360 which occurred during my downswing so that was a nice little boost.

I have also won 5 satellite tournaments. 3 of the 4 wins were using only FPP points so I'm in free. (Not entirely free because they deduct those wins from my rakeback.)

The other two wins were cash satellites. 4 of the 5 satellites are for the $109 buyin Sunday tournament. I have played in it once and didn't do to well but I have several more shots.

I also won a $215 seat into a WPT qualifier. The winners of that get to play in the WPT North American Championship @ Niagara Falls. Several seats will be awarded and I expect to make some serious noise in that tournament. I am so confident going in to this that I actually expect to win the seat.

Overall this is where I stand. $7705+ $650 rakeback + $542 in tournament tickets.

My sunday is already planeed as I have the qualifier plus the $109 buyin.

I need to keep doing well in cash games because I am barely up money on the month and its time to start making some money!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

June: It was rigged

June has come and gone and all I can say is thank god! Seriously, this was the wosrt month of poker ever. To make things worse, I seem to keep saying that as the months pass. That cannot be possibly normal.

I ended up playing around 78K hands of break-even poker. For the entire month I only lost $210. Due to rakeback and bonuses alone, I have acheived something that I have never acheived before. I find it quite sad actually that I have never done what I did last month. For the first time ever I have had back to back $2K+ months. I guess that means I can never run well for two months in a row.

Overall, this is the way it breaks downs. At my highest point, I was up $1000 and at my lowest point I was down $1100. On the one hand, I was never really on the brink of losing everything but at the same time the swings in between those numbers almost killed me. Since I don't have a graph, I have to bo back and remember how it happened but I don't think I could forget.

I started at $5500 and these were my swings.

$5500-$6500
$6500-$6000
$6000-$5700
$5700-$6500
$6500-$6000
$6000-even for about 10K hands
$6000-$5400
$5400-$4400 in one day (Stopped playing 100NL)
$4400-$6000 in about 5-6 days playing 50NL mixed with 100NL toward the end.
$6000-$5700
$5700-even for about 10K hands
$5700-$5200
$5200 even for about 10K hands
$5200-$4850
$4850-$5290
End

In other words, the month sucked ass. Never in my life, have I gotten all-in, in so many huge pots where I only had to dogde one 3 and I could pick up $200 only for them to hit over and over and over again. I don't expect to ever see a run like that ever again.

After the rake and the bonuses all get added to my account (rakeback paid yesterday in full) I end the month at $7670 which is a profit of $2170. That was way below my expectation but considering the cards and frustrations I think I can honestly feel pretty good about way things turned out. These are the types of months where I use to spend a bunch of money and then get myself in trouble because my bankroll gets decimated. Long gone are the days of the cash bankroll.

For the first time in a long time I played 6 tables of NL100 since there were about 20 games and a lot more fish going around.

I did really well on my all-ins. I think I won almost every one but I got killed in my pots won without showdown. I got raised and 3-bet much more often than I normally do which resulted in me folding a lot which cost me a lot of money.

I started the day on a downswing (standard). Made it back, swung back down and was actually up for a little bit before taking one bad-beat from this one idiot who kept hitting against me and then paying everyone else off. I finished the day down $50 but made $60 in rakeback so I am still essentially even for the month.

Come on... upswing! I would really like to be at $10K in a couple weeks.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Weeks 10/11 The end may be near.

I try to keep my updates to at least once a week but I have not been able to bring myself to write. There are a few reasons for my laziness with the main one being my obsession to get back to even. I have been spending a lot more time playing because I am trying to get through this current patch and no matter how many hands I play, things never seem to get better and when they do its only temporary.

I titled this the way I did, because I am really fearful of the current landscape of online poker. There isn't as much easy money floating around as there was 2 months ago. Almost everyone I play against is a regular of some sort and there are very few fish left.

I have several options.

Keep playing, but only play when times are optimal which is what I have been doing. All last week I was only playing 3-5 tables whereas I am normally playing 6.

Find another site. I am looking into this but there is nothing promising.

Find something better to do with my time. I actually like this option but nothing else I can do at this point will yield me the returns that poker does.


After my $1000 hit in one day last week, I proceeded to go on a really good run. I completely stopped playing 100NL and moved back to down to 50NL. Fortunately I ran like a god at 50NL and won almost 5-6 days in a row. I got my account from $4400 all the way back up to $6050. Of course, as soon as I started adding on 100NL tables things would go to crap. One thing I really noticed this last week were the big differences between 100NL and 50NL. The two games play very differently. I also learned during this time how much easier 50NL really is. I can pretty much play with my eyes closed whereas at 100NL I need to pay a lot more attention.

After my nice little win streak, I then lost several days in a row. I think in the last 7-8 days I have only won twice. In that time my account has gone from $6050 to as low as $4850.

I was losing again yesterday taking more then my fair share of suckouts when in my 3rd sit-down of the day I finally got things to turn around a little. I was down $200 on the day and came back on a $320 upswing. That doesn't include two big suckouts at NL100 where I was a huge favorite and of course lost. Those two pots were about $150 each. I'm obviously not allowed to ever have a big day because I can't go a day without having some crap like that happening. At the same time, whenever I put the money in behind in a really big pot, I never come back. Ever.

Here are my two favorite hands over the last couple days.

Hand 1: Preflop raiser is a fish and very volatile. He raises UTG to $4.50 in a $100NL game. There is a reraise by UTG+1 to $8.50. I had 8 8 and usually like to call here but I don't want to throw away $8 when our LAGfish 4bets preflop so I just fold.

Flop 8 8 x

Long story short, about $300 goes in the middle. I would have won my biggest pot ever on cake and I would have gone from being down $200 to up over $100.

Hand 2: Theres this one guy who's a huge fish that I always follow around. I found him last night at 100NL and took a good amount from him.

He raises, theres a reraise and I have 5 5.

I decide to just let it go and the following happens.

Final board.

8 2 6 5 x

Fish had 2 2
I had 5 5
Original raiser had 8 8.

I would really love to be on the good end of one of those just once.

I also realize that I am talking about 100NL considering the amount of complaining I have done over the last week. Over the weekend, the games were a lot better which was why I was able to sit down in some of the games. I do not expect the games to be good this week since they were so bad last week. What that means is that I will have to keep grinding NL50 for a while until there are some changes.

I have also started taking some bigger shots.

Over the weekend I found an NL600 table with four players on it.

These were the stacks.

$1500
$200
$180
$130

Those 3 small stacks meant only one thing for me. Free money. I waited until the seat to the left of the $1500 stack opened up and as soon as it did I snatched it right up.

No more then two minutes later the big stack got up and I was alone on a big table with 3 fish. Can I run good one time?

There was only 1 real interesting hand and the rest of the hands involved me picking up pots on the flop and preflop which was surprisingly easy. But heres the interesting hand.

Fish raises to $21.

I 3 bet to $75 with A J and he calls.

Flop J x x. I put him all-in which is only about $70 more for him. He immediately folds. Easy money. I only played about 15 minutes but I made a quick $250 which is really nice when you are struggling.

I expect to be taking more shots like that in the future when table dynamics allow it. After that one time, I couldn't ever find another table like that. Instead all the big tables had players who were all playing really deep.

Lastly, the only other good thing I have going right now is the contest at raketracker.com

I am currently sitting in 3rd with today being the last day before the contest is over. On a more positive note I am comfortably in 3rd and with a little bit of play tonight I should be able to lock that up.

3rd will add an extra $450 onto my account which is ballin.

Overall this is where I stand.

Hands played: 77,480
Account: $5146.44
Rakeback: $1931.78
Contest: $450.00?

If I take 3rd in the contest this is where I stand.

$7528.22

I plan on putting in a bunch of hands tonight and want to acheive the following.

1. Get to at least $5500 because then I will finish even.
2. Play 80k hands. (I will probably never play this many hands again in a month.)
3. Soldify my positioning in the conest. The next place down pays $150 less and the next spot up is unattainable.

I should be updating again tomorrow with my month in review post.

I cannot wait for this dreadful month to end. Never have I had so much variance and swings in one month. I fully expect July to be a huge heater. It would only make sense.

I would also like to congratulate two of my favorite degens. Congrats go out to Mike Matusow and Scotty Nguyen for winning braceletts at this years WSOP.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Weeks 8/9 40K hands breakeven

I have gotten to this exact point for the fourth time in the last two years. I always start from scratch and end up with the kind of money I have right now. That's somewhere in the 7K-9K range. That also includes money that is used for life expenses and whatnot. And just like those other 3 times I have completely stopped making money. The only difference between this time and the other times is rakeback and the fact that I am not living off the money that I am using to gamble.

I have not written lately because I have been so disgusted with everything lately.

I started the month off at $5499 in my account.

I have gotten up to $6550 on two separate occassions. I have fallen all the way to even on two separate occassions and have fallen as low as $5220. I have crossed 6K about 6 different times and still can't keep a winning pace.

Right now I am at $5494 which puts me even. Fortunately, I have rakeback and I have made $1100 from the rakeback which is my savior. In total I have $6600 and at my highest I was at a combined $7100 even though I have dealt with a 13 buy-in downswing over the week or so.

The hands that people have been showing down against me has been absolutely laughable.

In the last two days, people have shown up with these hands and have beaten me in very large pots.

K 2, 2 6, 10 4, 9 5, K 5, K 3 and a few others that I would like to forget. It's is very obvious as to why my continuation bets works so well.

I had a hand yesterday where I had a pair and a chance at a runner runner flush draw. We get all-in and all the other guy has is a bigger flush draw. A flush draw that isn't even there yet. Over the last week, I have not hit one runner runner. Of course the runner runner comes and I am also holding two of the suit so I also hit the flush but of course its flush over flush and I lose.

I have had set over set 3 times over the last couple days and lost 2 of those.

I very rarely take coolers but take them all the time. When I get a big hand, I only win a $25 pot. And anytime a pot reaches $200+ I lose almost every time.

As a result of all this I have become apathetic, all I want to do is play poker and smoke weed which is why I am playing a record breaking number of hands.

I'm going to stop complaining now and get back to the tables.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Week 7: Best week yet.

I just finished play for Sunday. Once again I had 3 tables each of 50NL and 100NL. I played pretty well for the most part during a swingy day. I started the day down $200, then was up $200. Took a break, came up another $300 before dropping about $170 and calling it quits. I came up around $1300 this week which spans Tuesday-Sunday.

Right now I am sitting on $5817. I have also accumulated another $120 already in rake-back. I also have $50 from a contest but I have still have not received it.

Hopefully I keep doing well as I have won several days in a row and hope to pass 6K tomorrow.

First full month (May)

The month of May has finally come to a close and what a month it was! I spent most of the last week going back and forth between winning days and losing days.

The weekend served me well as I started adding NL100 tables to the mix. Over the last 2 days I have had the biggest pot ever about 4 times. I won a $253 pot at NL50. We got all in pre-flop. I had AA and he had 33. I flopped my Ace and it was over.

I also had a couple $300-$350's on NL100 and lost a $374 pot which was largest pot played.

When I played today, I started with 3 tables of NL100 and 3 tables of NL50. I have already become very comfortable with the NL100 game and am adjusting better then I did at NL50.

I ran bad on my NL50 tables but ran really well on the NL100 tables. On one my NL100 tables I had a stack of $500 and cashed it out.

On the day I made about $450 and was up as much as $600.

For the month my totals are the following:

Bankroll: $4397.64
Rakeback: $1101.41
Total $5499.05

I ended up playing 64,126 hands for the month.

Here's how I did throughout the month.

I started with $1971
Week 1: $2054
Week 2: $2702
Week 3: $3655
Week 4: $4627
End of month: $5499.05

This is a pretty nice trend. I hope to keep this up.

For the month I ended with a profit of $3528.

My goal for next month is to win $6000.

I expect to play more hands and to play NL100 full-time.