Saturday, May 31, 2008

Revision of May goals.

So, how did I do?

Goal #1 - Don't abuse any player under any circumstances.

DONE. As tempting as it was, or as frustrated as I got against people calling with K high or hitting their 2 outer on the river, I didn't abuse a single player or hand. Looking back, I'm still convinced when I did it, it only made matters worse for my own state of mind. So someone makes an unbelievably shocking call and wins, how does me abusing them help me achieve what I'm after? It doesn't! Last month I just bit my tongue, and stayed focused on what I had to do.


Goal #2 - Play with discipline - walk away when going down NOT going broke.

DONE. (but can always get a little better at it). My personal biggest challenge by far. That undesirable need to 'make it back' after a losing session can send even the best in the world broke. So many times I would lose 50% or 70% and refuse to leave the table or call it quits, I had to get it back before I called it a day. More often than not, I would not only lose, I would re-buy and lose again. Anyone that plays enough poker can relate to this. Without discipline, I can forget taking this game seriously. I am happy with results for this goal, but I can always get better.


Goal #3 - Start to Multi-Table cash games - starting with 4 tables - aim for $5/hour on .01-.02.

FAIL. Failure for what I feel is a good reason. May 11th, I transferred to Noble poker to exclusively play SnG's. After such success in SnG's, and the odd MTT, I re-evaluated my options and decided that I am more profitable on SnG's. I failed in this goal because I didn't feel I would gain much. At this stage I still have a lot to learn with ring games, especially multi tabling ring games. I feel I will re-visit this goal, or one very similar, in the next coming months.


Goal #4 - Bankroll at month end to equal - $159.20.

DONE. My proudest achievement. I can't explain how happy I am with my financial month end results. Even though I ended far beyond what I'd hope for, even if I had ended with $159.20, I'd still be ecstatic, the fact that I ended with $217.57, makes that so much better. I hit this part on May 15, re-set the goal to achieve $200, and hit that May 24, went on a little tilt playing ring games which put mt under, then got it back over on May 28 and didn't look back.

Overall? I couldn't be happier with a better month. I still find it hard to be playing such small stakes, but I just remind myself of the following which helps me keep focused. "The journey of 1000 miles begins with 1 step".

May 1st 2008 - Bankroll = $106.13
May 31st 2008 - Bankroll = $217.57

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Going back to Poker Stars.

With the current bankroll just over $200, following my rules, I am now positioned to move up a level. When I first started SnG’s on Poker Stars, I was grinding away on the 9 players, $1.20. These games completely did my head in! It wasn’t really the stakes that upset me; it was the fact that these games are non-turbo. With blinds being increased every 10 minutes I was frustrated with the pace of play. Online SnG’s typically are finished with 45 minutes, with non-turbo games going for up to 1 hour & 20 minutes it was doing my head in.

Once I’d moved over to Noble and was properly cashed up, I was playing 12 players, $2.40 buy-ins. After 71 games in 16 days I had a ‘in the money’ rate of 49.3% and ‘return on investment’ of 46.5% I was missing Poker Stars, primarily because the interface and variety of games, in my opinion, is the greatest offered in the online poker world.

So tonight, transferred some funds into Poker stars and played 2 games. First game finished 7th and, yes, 1st in the second game. My bankroll as of tonight supports 61 buy-ins. should I have a bad run and drop to <51 buy-ins, I have no problem going back to Noble to grind back up.

To end, I wanted to show the final hand that won me the tourney, I couldn’t really have asked for a better outcome.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A couple big announcements

1. Ring games have put me on tilt.

The realty is my ring games just aren’t as strong as my SnG’s. After playing a patient session on 4 ring games I lost a substantial amount of my bankroll the other night. Am extremely disappointed with this and will be stepping away from them for a little while.

After much analysis of all me ring sessions, when I win, I win small and when I lose, I lose big. I think I’m approaching ring games with not enough patience, which is detrimental. I’ve proven to myself that I am steadily increasing my bankroll via SnG’s and the odd MTT so that’s what I’ll be focusing on for the next couple of months.

I’m not going to back of ring games all together, I’ll never grow and develop if I do, but whilst I grind my way up to a decent bankroll that will allow me to play games a little higher than .01./.02 I’m focusing on tourneys. I’ve previously found that I am slightly more successful at higher cash games than I am at the lower ones. Maybe because at this level, people will play and chase ANYTHING, and when that happens and people suck-out on me, it’s easy to go on tilt thus destroying the entire session.


2. Re-evaluation of bankroll rules

I’ve been following basic bankroll management rules of the following:
•Ring games -never buy-in for more than 5% of total bankroll
•SnG’s -have a minimum of 50 buy-ins for that game
•MTT - have a minimum of 50 buy-ins for that game

I’m changing my ring game to 2% of my total bankroll starting immediately. Better to be the side of caution. If I plan to take this seriously I need to be more patient. It will come, it’s just the early days that will be a grind. If I can make it through the early stages, I’m ready to run.

I’m also changing the MTT buy-in to a minimum of 100. MTT’s can be very hard to ‘cash’ on a regular basis. Even if you do cash but not that high up, the return on investment generally is nothing exceptional and hardly worth the time out in to get that return.

These rules are in place to protect my finances now, and for the future. Yes it does mean that growing and developing will take a little longer, but when I look back in 12-18 months, I’m sure I’ll have made the correct decision.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

OMG - What are the odds of this happening?

Prior to reading this, please make sure you've read the previous post.

OK.

So, after success yesterday in a MTT, decided to give it another go. Can you guess what happened?



2 3rd's, back to back. Could be worse, could have not cashed in either. All I can do is laugh. As I was yesterday, am over the moon with the result, just can't believe I came 3rd again.

Aside from that, had an absolute deplorable day on the SnG's. 9 games with only 1 cash (2nd). I do know where I went wrong. Normally I play 2 tables at a time. This morning decided to play all 4 at once. Played far too loose too early and didn't even make one final table. It's all good, will be sticking to my 2 tables on SnG's from now on. After all the losses on the SnG's and the 3rd in the MTT, ended up $0.56. Not the greatest hourly profit, considering I played around 6 hours. But a profit is better than a loss.

Will be slowing down for tomorrow, always play less during the week due to time constraints, but that won't be forever.

Bankroll at start of day - $204.62
Bankroll at end of day - $205.18

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Don't usually get upset when making money - but it does happen.


It's relatively straight forward. 2 hours and 44 minutes and I missed 1st place by 2 spots. Whilst I'm over the moon with a ROI of 797.73%, it is so hard to swallow the fact that I was so close to winning, and just missed. Felt I played very well, super tight for the first hour, as you must play in a micro MTT. 1 or 2 bad calls in the late stages which put me on the short stack, hence, not allowing the win. Still, not a bad day at the office. I'll take the 797.73% return everyday of the week if possible.

Furthermore, the $19.75 win, plus another $4.80 on SnG's has boosted my bankroll over $200. Not only have I achieved my bankroll goal for May, I have achieved my revised bankroll goal, and it's only the 24th.

Happy with the money but, damn, first would have been nice.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Back on track.

After a disappointing result a couple days ago am happy to report that's been recovered plus some. Playing such small stakes, at the most time is quite frustrating as the only thing stopping me from player higher limits is cash (bankroll management). Did manage to get through a fair amount of games. 11 SnG's with 6 cashes, 2 of which were wins.

When you're a competitive person, there's nothing worse than losing.
When you're trying to fulfill a dream, there's nothing better than having the discipline to sit down, know what you must do and do it, regardless of previous results.

Bankroll at last post = $171.47
Bankroll at this post = $182.27

PS. Am revising Part 4 of my May goal, bankroll now aimed to be $200.
PPS. Am also proud to say, all other parts or May goal haven't been broken.
PPPS. I'm not a fan of posts without either a picture or graph. Below you will see the graph of all SnG's played at Noble Poker, lets keep it climbing.


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Don't get greedy.

Unfortunately, here comes the first post with a loss. 4 Sng's last night, 3 busts and 1 win. Even with that 1 win, it showed me a profit which was good but wanted to have that little bit more so decided to have a quick session on cash tables.

Went back to 4 tables but all the 10 people were full, and very rushed I tried something I've not played before, probably why I lost. Started on 4, 6 player tables. Haven't really played many short-handed sessions, and after last night, think I'll stick to my full tables. Played far too loose which proved my detriment. Started with $12 ended with $2.61, DAMN.

Well am only human, have to show a loss every now and then. Actually, NO. Last night was completely my fault. I didn't get sucked out on, I didn't take any bad beats, I played like a complete donkey.

Time to regain composure and look at the bigger picture. I am still up overall for my monthly goal. I think it's time to get some rest, relax, and try again tomorrow.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

A few days later.

It's been a up & down weekend to say the least.

Friday night - dropped $4.82 on ring games.
Saturday - made $10.80 only on SnG's.
Sunday - this may take a while.......

Sunday bloody Sunday. Figured I might have a quick game after midnight as the family had fallen asleep. Jumped on .01/.02, just to try and make a few bucks to go bed knowing I'm getting that little bit closer. Since the start of the month have been playing 4 tables at a time, nothing uncommon with online poker. I always had the intention on test more than this and thought this morning would be a good time to start.

Loaded up 6 tables around 12:30, same approach, $3 per table. Below are the ending results for each table.
Table 1 - $0
Table 2 - $0.85
Table 3 - $3.39
Table 4 - $0.93
Table 5 - $5.00
Table 6 - $5.60

Started with $18 @ 12:38am - Ended with $15.77 @ 3:03am. Wasn't really thinking straight at 3am and am glad I finished the way I did. Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means happy I spent almost 3 hours to show a loss, I'm happy with the fact that 6 months ago, I would have just started shoving hands blind to make it back to my original start bank.

Thinking back, wasn't super impressed with more than 4 tables. 4 tables fit perfectly on the monitor. I think I'll be sticking to that for a while.

After a nice rest (being woken up by kids) I resumed my play after midday. Once again I found solace in my SnG's.
8 games - 5 cashes including 2 wins.

Overall it's been a up & down weekend but the main thing is as i'm writing this, once again, I'm up.

Bankroll at last post = $163.83
Bankroll at this post = $178.68

Thursday, May 15, 2008

May goal hit (bankroll part anyway)

WOW! May 15th and Bankroll is currently at $163.83. Round of applause please peoples. OK thanks. As you can probably tell I'm quite happy. Once again my SnG's have proved profitable. I know my previous post contradicts what I'm about to do, but just 1 more cant hurt



Played 3 games tonight, all the 12 man $2.40. First game, 5 minutes in, player on my right min raised me & I Called with AJ. Flop came J 7 2 rainbow, pot size was around 120 for memory, he bet 300, I raise all in, he calls and shows KK. Didn't expect someone to min-raise pre-flop with Kings but that the game we play, anything can happen. Anyway his Kings held and knocked me out 12th.

Little upset but then thought, hang on, I've lost 1 hand. If 1 hand is going to get to me I shouldn't be playing. Re-gathered me composure, opened another table and stuck to my guns.
2nd game came 2nd
3rd game (see above)

$10.80 profit tonight and hit 25% of my May goal half way through the month. Very happy with progress so far. Haven't abused anyone this month & haven't lost emotional control at the table. Only part of my goal not being attended to is the multi-table cash games. That's fine for now I feel, as I'm enjoying and succeeding so strongly at SnG's.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Think the change was a good idea.

So a couple days ago I tried a change of scenery by going to Noble Poker. After last night results have done a little better again. Once again 2 x 12 people SnG's. First game came 3rd and then


Need I say more. Starting to like these $2.40 buyin games. If I can keep this up I may have to adjust the financial aspect of the May goal, which definitely isn't a bad thing. I do think I'll stop the 1st place picture postings after this one. But seeing "YOU'VE WON THE TOURNAMENT!" does look pretty damn good!



Monday, May 12, 2008

Happy with tonight

If only all results could be like this! Didn't play much tonight. 2 x 12 players SnG - pays 4 up (but 4th is money back). Bit upset because aside from this win, i bubbled the other one (AK vs. TT) Tens held. Oh well, can't win all coin flips.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Was site swapping the right thing to do?

Well tonight, after around 4 straight months on stars, I ventured back to a site I enjoyed playing in the past, Noble Poker. Had forgotten a few things to look out for though. Approached the game the same as i would on stars, 4 tables at .01/.02 blinds with $3 start bank.

The first thing I forget to look out for was "turbo tables". On stars I have this option filtered so it's all I ever play. I forgot to look out for it tonight and, Oh My God, some non-turbo tables are so slow.

The second thing I'd forgotten is it's not uncommon on this site for it to be 7 people playing after the flop. Now I know that it is only micro stakes, but 7 to the flop - really changes your post flop play.

So how did i do?
Running Time = 2 hours
Hands = 356
Start Bank = $12
End Bank = $19.32

For the first session at a site I'm not playing all the time, not the worst effort I've ever had. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

Current Bankroll = $135.05
Month end goal = $159.20
Need for goal = $24.15
Need per day = $1.20

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Goals for May 2008

The Sunday million on poker stars is on 4 times this month so I figure, why not win them all!
So there's my goal for this month, 4 wins @ approx $250,000 per win. Yes I will be a millionaire by June.

NOT!

My goals for May 2008 are as follows:

1. Don't abuse any player under any circumstances.

I've previously had a tendency to hurl abuse at people for making the most shocking plays and still winning. Then I asked myself the question, 'What am I achieving from this'? Think about it, you can lose your hard earned winnings from a solid session on top of your original buy-in with 1 bad hand. After losing that money and typing in the chat box "HOW CAN YOU CALL THAT YOU F***ING DONK", where did that get me. I'm still broke and they will possibly come back with some witty retort forcing me to either buy back in with the wrong frame of mind or change tables without thinking and continue my down streak.

Overall I no longer see the value in abusing someone due to being unlucky.


2. Play with discipline - walk away when going down NOT going broke

Relatively straight forward here, yet quite hard to do. So many past instances have had sessions that go the wrong way and playing with the mentality, "Ill play until I double up or go broke". Why do this? If a session is going bad - stop playing.

Lets look at an example:
If playing a full ring NLHE, blinds 01/02, buying in for $3, and after 45 minutes I've dwindled down to $1.20 why do I feel the urge to make that back to $3? It becomes my only focus which dramatically changes my style of play. When trying to make money back, people tend to play with a scent of desperation, this at the poker table is what professionals prey on.

Overall - if things aren't working out, get over it. Will be better to walk with a -66% profit from original buy-in opposed to -100% buy-in.


3. Start to Multi-Table cash games - starting with 4 tables - aim for $5/hour on .01-.02

As I write this it is Saturday the 10thof May. I drafted this goals on April 30. After several sessions I've become extremely comfortable with multi-tabling cash games, but feel $5/hour may be unachievable. Even though that is disappointing, it is also fantastic, and I'll explain why....

I believe anyone can write & set goals for the future, being short-term & long-term. By acknowledging early in this month that i am profitable in my game play but not reaching my expected hourly rate, I can focus on re-adjusting my strategy and ask the question, "How do I achieve my earnings expectation"? - This question will not get answered until the end of the month. For the time being, I will continue to play how I play, then analyze it all at the end of the month.


4. Bankroll at month end to equal - $159.20

May 1 2008, Bankroll was $106.13. My goal is to increase my current bankroll by 50%. Whilst a $53 monthly profit won't allow me to jet off to Vegas next month, its a positive and its an achievement of a goal set 31 days back. Lets see what happens.