Thank the lord August is over! I do feel better now.

Start of August 2008 BR = $475.69
End of August 2008 BR = $472.97

Absolute nightmare month! I have a fair idea what happened as well. I consciously and intentionally broke my one primary rule early in the month, I reconciled before the end of the August. This begs the question, why did I do it? I'll have to back track a little to answer this.

After such a good performance in July, I was bankrolled to move up a level in SnG's. I stopped playing the $3 games and moved to $6 games. Expecting the game play to be exactly the same was a big mistake. I played 122 games with a 35% ITM rate but -10% ROI. Looking back, I should have treated these games with a little more caution when I first started them. Also, a suggestion from a CC member asked, am I playing a little scared to which the answer was yes.

Back to the main point I reconciled early because of a few very bad days early in the month.

August 11 - lost $57.20
August 13 - lost $42.33
August 14 - lost $56.40

Losing over $150 in 3 days, I knew my BR was damaged and I also knew I'd have to step back down in games I played. The main reason I reconciled was I wanted to see the percentage of BR lost in 1 day.

See, I've had bad days and losing streaks before this year, but I've bounced back from it. As upset as I was to have lost so much money in such a short period of time I had to see if it had ever been worse than this. Fortunately for me the answer was yes.

February 28 2008, I lost 19.31% of my total poker BR. If my daily losses on August 11, 13 or 14 were lower than this day, I knew, with discipline and solid play, I could make it back.

My losses were on these 3 days were
-10.1%
-8%
-11.58%

Once I saw these figures I was not happy but not as upset as I'd expect myself to be.

You see, if I lost $10,000 tomorrow, I'd probably jump off my balcony (not really but I'd be very upset!) But if I lost $10,000 when my poker BR is $1,000,000 that's only a 1% deficit which I can come back from. So in a way it was good to reconcile, but it ruined my plan for the month. I looked at my losses as big drops in cash, yet these days did not damage my BR as bad as I thought at the time. I must re-iterate the primary rule of not focusing on money and only playing my A grade game.

I also feel very bad as I've not blogged nearly enough as I wanted too. To be honest, with such a bad financial outcome I was spending too much time playing. Over-playing can lead to big losses some days, which is what happened to me this month. Aside from playing as well as I can, I intend on being a lot more active on my blog next month as I enjoy all feedback I get from other players.

Well, it's over with now. Looking back, I've bounced back from what I felt was the worst case of tilt I'd encounter.

Poker is not a way to make easy money. It never has been and never will be. But with discipline, study, practice and focus there's no reason why September cant show another 100% increase to my BR.

Can I do it?
Will I do it?
Wait 30 more days and we'll all find out.

Change of scenery.

Every now and then I enjoy changing poker locations. As good as poker stars is, playing it every day can soon become quite dull. I had quite a good run on Noble at my last time there so I'm heading back over for a while. Last time I played Noble I was on the 12 people SnG's with a $2.40 buyin. Due to a larger BR I'll now be playing the 10 people $5.50 buyins.

The other main reason for the move, over the past couple of days I've had a very very bad run. I don't know the exact but I know I've cashed in 10 games out of 41. There are only 2 wins out of those 10 cashes so I know I'm down, quite dramatically aswell. I think I've been 'playing the numbers' too much the past few days. Playing with the attitude, if I play enough games, I'm bound to make money, which is the wrong strategy, in fact it's a losing strategy and it has lost me money. So off to Noble for a while, hopefully I can post some winning screenshots in the next couple days.

This is definitely worth reading!

I stumbled across this article today and MY GOD is it good. Makes a lot of sense for anyone taking poker seriously, like me. If you've never seen this and do have respect for your own game I highly recommend reading this.

Your Psychological Bankroll.

Thanks for sharing Evelyn.

Just > 50% ROI per hour.

Once again, Saturday morning had arrived and I'd decided on playing my usual 11:00am $5.50 tournament. These suit me rather well, as I've generally been awake for at least an hour, maybe sometimes less. With the primary focus on cashing, I'm proud, yet upset to have a place of 41st out of 1,386 entrants. Given an ROI of over 250%, I know I'm bound to crack this tournament soon. The cashes are a good sign, constantly growing the bankroll, but I cant wait for the first place on one of these games.

My past 3 attempts at this one game were:
41st out of 1,386
112th out of 1,297
9th out of 1,464

It must be coming!

Anyways, this tournament provided more nail-biting, seat clenching hands I'd been involved in for quite some time. As much as I'd like to post them all, you'll probably never have time to finish this post. So, to tell the perfect story I'm posting the most interesting hands encountered throughout today's tournament.

Enjoy.

First big hand of the game.


Background. This table was full of loose aggressive players. I knew with 5 to the flop, hitting top set, others would lead out for me. Once there was an all-in on the turn, flat calling was the perfect move. Generally I'd come over the top and commit then and there, but given the history of how the table was playing any cards could have come on the turn and river and I still knew I would win.

The very next hand.


Another massive pot early on.


Break for a while. For about the next 90mins, NOTHING. I made it to the money, but slowly dwindled away, until this.

We all have to get lucky sometimes.


Thank god for bad bluffers.


Nice big pot to get me back.


QQ really loved me today.


What was he thinking?


Nail in the coffin.


That's all she wrote folks. Once again a positive return which is the main focus at the moment. Lets keep on trying.

How's my BR for this month? I have no idea (but I suspect it's going up). 22 more days to go and we'll all find out.

The luckiest occurrence I've seen

Ok, the other day I was playing a $5.50 MTT. I was just in the money but dangerously short stacked. A friend from CardsChat was also in the tournament but knocked out a little earlier and railing for me. Before this hand got dealt, well you will see the conversation shortly. I almost fell off my chair when this happened.

I'd said to him that I really need a hand. Jokingly he said "let me talk to the dealer, ok your set" and then I got dealt my hand. Have a look below.



Thank god for me my rockets held up and I was able to climb about antoher 3 spots in the money. Thansks un-diluted for "talking to the dealer"
Who said online poker is rigged! :)

Now we can see how much I made in July.

First off, what I did last month was by far the best decision I feel I've made this year. To see my theory click here - forget the money! Not reconciling daily meant I focused on games individually rather than worrying about making x per day. I am proud to say that I made the most money last month out of the year so far.

Bankroll @ July 1st = $229.40
Bankroll @ July 31st = $475.69

Admittedly I did have a substantial boost from a $95 cash when I placed 9th in a $5.50 MTT. I also was able to make over $150 playing $3 SnG's. I attribute my financial success to the fact that money was not my concern. Of course I was thinking about it, and even at times could guess where I was at, but becasue I focused more on playing I did better.

Sufficed to say, I decided today to do exactly the same again. I was telling DR.G that waiting 1 month killed me, I was so curious about where my bankroll was at I couldn't wait, but if I'm going to get results like that by not paying attention, I'm more than happy to wait another month to reconcile.

On a really positive note, with my new bankroll I am now cashed up to move up a level in my SnG's. Started playing the $6.50's. Will keep posting throughout the month, but if you want to know how much I'm making, you'll have to wait until August 31st, just like me.