This is something similar to what Taylor Caby wrote recently on his blog at www.cardrunners.com, but it's true for me as well.
Nothing makes me happier than winning money before I go to work...but nothing pisses me off more than losing money before I go to work.
I should probably just stop playing then...the risk/reward isn't really there.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Overwhelmed with life
I've been a busy guy lately.
It's hard to go to school, work, play poker, and find time to blog about poker. One of them fell behind. It's not hard to see which is which from the timing of my posts.
The other thing that falls behind is my poker playing itself. I'm not even sure if I'm going to make goldstar this month on pokerstars, something that I've had since either October or November. So again that explains a lot with how often I've been posting here.
I'm not trying to make any excuses but I feel my 3 faithful readers deserved some little bit of explanation for my absence.
I've done very well this month even without being able to have much playing time. Playing mostly $13 6-man SNGs on stars along with some multi-table SNGs and limit hold 'em mixed in from time to time. I'm up a little over $1k I believe but I'm not entirely sure, I'll get some proper accounting done at the end of the month when I review my numbers.
I do feel that I'm playing very well and am getting into a very nice groove with my playing. So I expect a lot of success to continue over the coming weeks. Hopefully resulting with a brag post from me hitting sharkscope's leaderboards. I was close for a while but a minor downswing got in the way. I'll be up there next month definitely...it's just about getting the volume in for me at this point.
I plan to get back onto posting about once a week like I was good about doing before over the next bit of time. I don't really have much else to say. For now I'm playing in the 'skill series' with my limited funds on full tilt...so if you see Big_Bobo playing say hello =)
It's hard to go to school, work, play poker, and find time to blog about poker. One of them fell behind. It's not hard to see which is which from the timing of my posts.
The other thing that falls behind is my poker playing itself. I'm not even sure if I'm going to make goldstar this month on pokerstars, something that I've had since either October or November. So again that explains a lot with how often I've been posting here.
I'm not trying to make any excuses but I feel my 3 faithful readers deserved some little bit of explanation for my absence.
I've done very well this month even without being able to have much playing time. Playing mostly $13 6-man SNGs on stars along with some multi-table SNGs and limit hold 'em mixed in from time to time. I'm up a little over $1k I believe but I'm not entirely sure, I'll get some proper accounting done at the end of the month when I review my numbers.
I do feel that I'm playing very well and am getting into a very nice groove with my playing. So I expect a lot of success to continue over the coming weeks. Hopefully resulting with a brag post from me hitting sharkscope's leaderboards. I was close for a while but a minor downswing got in the way. I'll be up there next month definitely...it's just about getting the volume in for me at this point.
I plan to get back onto posting about once a week like I was good about doing before over the next bit of time. I don't really have much else to say. For now I'm playing in the 'skill series' with my limited funds on full tilt...so if you see Big_Bobo playing say hello =)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Still around...
I post in this more when I play poker.
So since I haven't been playing any poker at all over the last week the obvious side effect is that I don't post in my blog.
Starting tonight I make a run at my goals in February. My only real goal is to play 1k SNGs. That's it. There is no monetary goal at this point. My goal is to be able to put in that amount of volume. I will be playing at the $13 6-max level as well as the $16 9-man levels on pokerstars.
If the stars align I'll be back up to higher stakes soon, but we'll see about that. Right now I just want to get myself back on track and nothing but being disciplined about playing matters to me right now. I will play long committed sessions at least 3 times a week so this should be something I can accomplish.
I hope to update this again next week and tell you all how well I'm doing.
Good luck at the tables this month.
So since I haven't been playing any poker at all over the last week the obvious side effect is that I don't post in my blog.
Starting tonight I make a run at my goals in February. My only real goal is to play 1k SNGs. That's it. There is no monetary goal at this point. My goal is to be able to put in that amount of volume. I will be playing at the $13 6-max level as well as the $16 9-man levels on pokerstars.
If the stars align I'll be back up to higher stakes soon, but we'll see about that. Right now I just want to get myself back on track and nothing but being disciplined about playing matters to me right now. I will play long committed sessions at least 3 times a week so this should be something I can accomplish.
I hope to update this again next week and tell you all how well I'm doing.
Good luck at the tables this month.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
SNGs might be the death of me
I think I'm finally realizing what smokkee used to talk about when he said that SNGs were just stealing his soul and that he didn't want to play them anymore. I haven't been able to get myself to grind SNGs in the last couple of days. I've only done about 180 total single-table SNGs since my last entry.
The weirdest thing is that I did pretty well. I averaged over a 10% ROI during that time and I still can't make myself play them. I think I'm going to move back to grinding cash games like I used to. Just playing 9-12 tables of full ring, the decisions were just much more interesting and I didn't have to deal with the runs (both up and down) that I hit playing SNGs.
The swings are just sick, something cashing in 2 of 12 and sometimes cashing in 8 of 12. It's something that drives me nuts as someone that only plays pretty short sessions.
So I'm going back to cash, I destroyed the 25NL level when that was what I was exclusively playing. I beat it for something like 21BB/100 over 15k+ hands. Then I moved up to 50NL and tweaked my game when I didn't need to and that destroyed my results and made me give up cash for a while.
So my goal is to play 20k hands by the end of the month because that should give me a good sample size to see how I'm doing and it should just get me over the mark to hit platinum star for the month, which would keep me on pace to hit supernova at some point this year.
So basically about 1.5-2 hours of play per day average for the rest of the month. That shouldn't be too hard, hopefully I actually end up making money by the end.
The weirdest thing is that I did pretty well. I averaged over a 10% ROI during that time and I still can't make myself play them. I think I'm going to move back to grinding cash games like I used to. Just playing 9-12 tables of full ring, the decisions were just much more interesting and I didn't have to deal with the runs (both up and down) that I hit playing SNGs.
The swings are just sick, something cashing in 2 of 12 and sometimes cashing in 8 of 12. It's something that drives me nuts as someone that only plays pretty short sessions.
So I'm going back to cash, I destroyed the 25NL level when that was what I was exclusively playing. I beat it for something like 21BB/100 over 15k+ hands. Then I moved up to 50NL and tweaked my game when I didn't need to and that destroyed my results and made me give up cash for a while.
So my goal is to play 20k hands by the end of the month because that should give me a good sample size to see how I'm doing and it should just get me over the mark to hit platinum star for the month, which would keep me on pace to hit supernova at some point this year.
So basically about 1.5-2 hours of play per day average for the rest of the month. That shouldn't be too hard, hopefully I actually end up making money by the end.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Short Term Goal
Yesterday I had one of my worst SNG days in the last few months dropping about $400 at the 25/2 games and the 30/3 games. After that bad run I'm actually running at only a 3% ROI over my last 170 25/2 games. That's discouraging to me. I feel like I need to tweak a few things in my game, specifically the fact that I love to shove over limpers way too much. So I'm dropping back to the 15/1 games for the rest of the month until I feel I'm ready to move up again.
The problem with this is that I'm a points junkie and was on pace to hit Platinum Star this month. So I've decided that I'm still going to make it just playing the 15/1 games. I'll be 16 tabling for the rest of the month and hope to maintain at least a 10% ROI over the 1200-1400 tournaments I think I'll be playing. I'll probably be able to play about 50 a day during the week and more on the weekends. I already have 66 done for today so I'm right on schedule.
Hopefully I'll be able to find and plug some leaks in my game as well as getting some nice money from being in super-grinder mode. I plan to be back at the 25/2 games next month and crushing them.
The problem with this is that I'm a points junkie and was on pace to hit Platinum Star this month. So I've decided that I'm still going to make it just playing the 15/1 games. I'll be 16 tabling for the rest of the month and hope to maintain at least a 10% ROI over the 1200-1400 tournaments I think I'll be playing. I'll probably be able to play about 50 a day during the week and more on the weekends. I already have 66 done for today so I'm right on schedule.
Hopefully I'll be able to find and plug some leaks in my game as well as getting some nice money from being in super-grinder mode. I plan to be back at the 25/2 games next month and crushing them.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Journey
I hate the title of this. I unfortunately have to have a title before I can begin writing anything. It's something that basically crushed me in high school because all of my English teachers wanted good titles for our papers. That was something I was never good at, so I would struggle with the title for hours and never have any work done on my paper. The due date would arrive and I would have nothing to turn in because I was never able to get past the fact that I'm really bad at coming up with titles. As one might assume I did not get the best grades in high school, but it's getting better.
That's all really irrelevant, but I am unhappy with my title.
I have a friend who occasionally gets philosophical and talks about life being about the journey as opposed to the destination. So that's where I got my lame title.
Lately I've been thinking about that in poker. Am I playing for the journey (the actual time I spend playing) or for money I can make in the end (the destination). I think I really play for the destination 95% of the time. I have a goal for what I can acheive in the end. I want x amount of money or I want to reach a certain milestone or I need to win a tournament.
It's not that I just want to sit around and have fun playing a game of cards. I feel lazy when I play less than 6 tables most of the time. I still have fun playing the game. I don't just sit down start clicking and become miserable, but I don't know if I play in a healthy way. I want to get back to the feeling I got when I was learning poker, the joy and excitement that brought to me.
...but it sure will be hard to hit Supernova with that attitude.
That's all really irrelevant, but I am unhappy with my title.
I have a friend who occasionally gets philosophical and talks about life being about the journey as opposed to the destination. So that's where I got my lame title.
Lately I've been thinking about that in poker. Am I playing for the journey (the actual time I spend playing) or for money I can make in the end (the destination). I think I really play for the destination 95% of the time. I have a goal for what I can acheive in the end. I want x amount of money or I want to reach a certain milestone or I need to win a tournament.
It's not that I just want to sit around and have fun playing a game of cards. I feel lazy when I play less than 6 tables most of the time. I still have fun playing the game. I don't just sit down start clicking and become miserable, but I don't know if I play in a healthy way. I want to get back to the feeling I got when I was learning poker, the joy and excitement that brought to me.
...but it sure will be hard to hit Supernova with that attitude.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Goals reached and the new year
I hope everyone had a nice time over the holidays and that everyone is safe tonight. I myself pulled the short straw tonight so I'm the one who has to drive on "amateur night," but it's probably good anyway. At least tomorrow I won't be piecing together my night during the bowl games.
This year I didn't get into a college bowl game pool, that sucks. Thank god it's almost time for March Madness, but I am dreading the 2 worst months in sports which are approaching ever so quickly. I'll just have to learn to avoid ESPN again. :sigh: I guess it won't be that bad.
On the poker front I had a great December making almost $1200 if I recall correctly. I'll probably get some more exact numbers up once I'm able to review my records, but that's pretty accurate. I was also able to acheive my goal of getting my bankroll up to $3k by the end of the month. I rewarded myself for that with a small cashout that will hopefully be the first of many throughout the new year.
My game really took off this year compared to the last few years that I've been playing. I've made more money and taken more positive steps than ever before. The idea of having a constant supplemental income from poker has now become a possibility that I hope to make a reality throughout 2008. So with that in mind here are my goals for 2008:
- Getting a minimum of $500 into my bank account every month
- Becoming a consistent winner at the $60 SNGs on Stars
- Playing and beating $5/10 Limit Hold 'Em for over 1BB/100 hands
- Reaching 'Supernova' status on Poker Stars
Those are in order of importance to me over the year. I will need to work up to many of these and I will be making more short term goals from month to month to help me attain these. I believe that all of them can be done as long as I continue to learn and focus on the game. I have never been more focused than I am now with regard to becoming a better player and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.
2008 is going to be my best year playing poker ever.
This year I didn't get into a college bowl game pool, that sucks. Thank god it's almost time for March Madness, but I am dreading the 2 worst months in sports which are approaching ever so quickly. I'll just have to learn to avoid ESPN again. :sigh: I guess it won't be that bad.
On the poker front I had a great December making almost $1200 if I recall correctly. I'll probably get some more exact numbers up once I'm able to review my records, but that's pretty accurate. I was also able to acheive my goal of getting my bankroll up to $3k by the end of the month. I rewarded myself for that with a small cashout that will hopefully be the first of many throughout the new year.
My game really took off this year compared to the last few years that I've been playing. I've made more money and taken more positive steps than ever before. The idea of having a constant supplemental income from poker has now become a possibility that I hope to make a reality throughout 2008. So with that in mind here are my goals for 2008:
- Getting a minimum of $500 into my bank account every month
- Becoming a consistent winner at the $60 SNGs on Stars
- Playing and beating $5/10 Limit Hold 'Em for over 1BB/100 hands
- Reaching 'Supernova' status on Poker Stars
Those are in order of importance to me over the year. I will need to work up to many of these and I will be making more short term goals from month to month to help me attain these. I believe that all of them can be done as long as I continue to learn and focus on the game. I have never been more focused than I am now with regard to becoming a better player and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.
2008 is going to be my best year playing poker ever.
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