As a result of moving into the new house and spending far more than we had budgeted for, my bankroll had to take a step backwardsin August. I haven't even been able to sort the study out, so I've no idea when that will be set up for poker. Managed to spend £2k on blinds though - what is that all about.
I've pretty much wiped out my Laddies and FT balance and therefore my cash game and SNG challenge will be on hold for a while. I've left $100 in Laddies to grind through the levels again, starting at the $20 buy-in. Can't see me dabbling with the SNGs again this year unless I get a good score and bankroll ny FT account to start on the $30 buy-ins. Have enough in FT to see me through the Hendon Mob league.
So August included quite a few MTTs, primarily added value freerolls. Strange thing is that I've enjoyed the MTTs again and hopefully it will manifest itself as a decentsized win.
Still loads to buy for the house though so it is likely that any monthly profits will be withdrawn for house shit.
FBF
02 September, 2007
06 August, 2007
Virgin Festival
Only a small win, but nice to get it so soon after starting with the MTTs again. Decided to put in a concerted effort to win a seat at this festival after seeing the PL lads chasing the seats. Leg 1 won, final leg at the weekend.
Got lucky early on, but once I accumulated chips I was pretty confident I'd grab one of the seats.
http://www.virgingames.com/poker/Festival.aspx
Hendon Mon league starts tomorrow. Never played in it before and I'm expecting tough competition.
FBF
Got lucky early on, but once I accumulated chips I was pretty confident I'd grab one of the seats.
http://www.virgingames.com/poker/Festival.aspx
Hendon Mon league starts tomorrow. Never played in it before and I'm expecting tough competition.
FBF
02 August, 2007
July
A bit of a rambling post as it must have been well over a month now since I seriously dabbled with the poker. Whilst I haven't missed it, as between the holiday and house move my mind and time has been elsewhere, I am really looking forward to getting immersed in the game again. This is unlikely to happen for a couple of months yet, as my poker play usually goes quiet during the summer, but come Sep/Oct I'll be back pursuing my 2007 goals, and maybe some others.
The only problem is that 7 months into the year and it looks like I am unlikely to deliver on all of my goals. Primarily this is because I just don't have as much time as I would like to spend on the game so it was inevitable that these would slip. In all honesty I am lucky to be where I am on each of the goals given how little I have played.
I still want to hit my goal of building the laddies $10 to $2k and think this is still on track for later this year. If I remember rightly I have got about $500 to go on that goal. On the SNG front then I still need to start on the $30 buy-ins so getting up to the $50 buy-ins is more of a realistic goal for the end of the year.
The other problem I am going to face is taking money out of my bankroll. I've blew the budget on the house move and won't dip into my equities for the other stuff we still need to buy. I'm probably going to need to take some money out and I'm unlikely to deposit a big sum; I'm too tight and would probably go back to building up the bankroll from a low level again.
What I'm tempted to do is leave $500 in laddies and then 4/6 table the $50 buy-ins which I was hammering before I stepped up to the $100s. Any profits from the cash games would then be ploughed into MTTs and satellites to bigger buy-in events to try and make a relatively big score. Regular grinding profits from the cash games aren't going to make much of a difference for me but a big score in an MTT could be put to good use and should certainly improve my MTT play. Still not sure what to do but I do like the idea of trying the higher buy-in events.
The only poker I have been dabbling with since I got back on broadband about a week ago is $5 HU SNGs. Now these are something I have never really bothered with before but I have really got into them. I think this is largely a facet of them being quick, I single table so I am more focussed, and [most importantly] I have been running good. Played about 20 so far and currently gone 8 wins in a row. Nice bit of variance but even so a great result. Will go through 100 of these before deciding on whether to step up levels. Definitely another aspect of my game to focus on.
I did play an MTT last night and didn't fair too well. Only managed to get to 15th from 36 runners when my AT all-in PF lucked out on the river against TT.
Glad to be [almost] back.
FBF
The only problem is that 7 months into the year and it looks like I am unlikely to deliver on all of my goals. Primarily this is because I just don't have as much time as I would like to spend on the game so it was inevitable that these would slip. In all honesty I am lucky to be where I am on each of the goals given how little I have played.
I still want to hit my goal of building the laddies $10 to $2k and think this is still on track for later this year. If I remember rightly I have got about $500 to go on that goal. On the SNG front then I still need to start on the $30 buy-ins so getting up to the $50 buy-ins is more of a realistic goal for the end of the year.
The other problem I am going to face is taking money out of my bankroll. I've blew the budget on the house move and won't dip into my equities for the other stuff we still need to buy. I'm probably going to need to take some money out and I'm unlikely to deposit a big sum; I'm too tight and would probably go back to building up the bankroll from a low level again.
What I'm tempted to do is leave $500 in laddies and then 4/6 table the $50 buy-ins which I was hammering before I stepped up to the $100s. Any profits from the cash games would then be ploughed into MTTs and satellites to bigger buy-in events to try and make a relatively big score. Regular grinding profits from the cash games aren't going to make much of a difference for me but a big score in an MTT could be put to good use and should certainly improve my MTT play. Still not sure what to do but I do like the idea of trying the higher buy-in events.
The only poker I have been dabbling with since I got back on broadband about a week ago is $5 HU SNGs. Now these are something I have never really bothered with before but I have really got into them. I think this is largely a facet of them being quick, I single table so I am more focussed, and [most importantly] I have been running good. Played about 20 so far and currently gone 8 wins in a row. Nice bit of variance but even so a great result. Will go through 100 of these before deciding on whether to step up levels. Definitely another aspect of my game to focus on.
I did play an MTT last night and didn't fair too well. Only managed to get to 15th from 36 runners when my AT all-in PF lucked out on the river against TT.
Glad to be [almost] back.
FBF
10 July, 2007
Poker break
Had a couple of weeks of the poker due to a family holiday and as I'm moving house on Thursday, and losing broadband for a while, it looks like I might be having a month or so off the poker.
Can' say I'm missing it and usually play better when I come back to the game after a break. My intention is to beat the $100NL level before moving back to MTTs for a while.
Tempted to splash out on a bespoke fitted study from one of those companies like Neville Johnson when I am in the new house. Not sure if I can justify the expense though, but it would be nice to have a poker den again.
Right, time to cancel broadband, Sky and sort out the utilities.
Too 'kin stessful moving, won't be doing it again fr a while.
FBF
Can' say I'm missing it and usually play better when I come back to the game after a break. My intention is to beat the $100NL level before moving back to MTTs for a while.
Tempted to splash out on a bespoke fitted study from one of those companies like Neville Johnson when I am in the new house. Not sure if I can justify the expense though, but it would be nice to have a poker den again.
Right, time to cancel broadband, Sky and sort out the utilities.
Too 'kin stessful moving, won't be doing it again fr a while.
FBF
19 June, 2007
June - Time for a break from poker
During June I’ve focussed on the cash games at the $100 buy-in level. I started 6 tabling a bit which is a step up from the usual 4 tabling, and it felt a bit weird having $600+ in front of me on the cash tables, especially after starting this challenge with $10. Hopefully I'll be saying the same about $6k in a few years.
Despite the number of tables I felt in control and could probably handle 6 tabling in the long-term. The reason I stepped up to 6 in the first place is that I went card-dead (even 4 tabling) and was playing some marginal cards as I was starting to get a bored. 6 tabling tightened me up a bit and I started to like it.
After about 6k hands I looked in good shape, was sat on about $700 profit, and was looking to crack the $1k profit within 10k hands. A poor run of cards, including poor play by myself has wiped out about half of that profit, so I’m now sat on about $350. Through 8k hands I’m beating the level for about 4BB, my hourly earn over those hands has been about $10, way below what I achieved at the $50 buy-in level but I proabably ran good at teh $50 level (even though it didn't seem that way).
From my 8k hand experiece there is a marked improvement in quality at the $100 buy-in level with not as many muppets donking their cash off. It also seems to be more swingy and most of the regulars are winning players. Mid-week I can sit down at a table and everyone is a winner in my PT database; I need to either avoid these tables or adapt my game to drive out extra profitability.
It is still easily beatable, but it is probably a level where I will need to look at my game, make a few tweaks to drive out those extra BB/100, rely more on table selection, position versus the maniacs, and player notes. I’ve a few ideas on some obvious short-term wins, more aggression and a greater willingness to gamble, but as I’m not in the zone with poker at the moment I am going to take a break and come back to it in July. I'm sure both of those changes will also lead to greater swings in my bankroll and with only 10 buy-ins at this level I may end up having to drop down.
I've already started to think that even when I beat this level I may step down to the $50s. Really want to avoid this as I don't care about the money, it is all about getting my game up to being able to beat the higher levels; it does feel better though when you are beating the level at a good rate.
Profit wise I'm a bit behind schedule on my monthly profit target of $500/month but I should be able to get back on track through the rest of the year.
FBF
My $100 buy-in Manhatten :-
$100 stats through first 8k hands :-
Despite the number of tables I felt in control and could probably handle 6 tabling in the long-term. The reason I stepped up to 6 in the first place is that I went card-dead (even 4 tabling) and was playing some marginal cards as I was starting to get a bored. 6 tabling tightened me up a bit and I started to like it.
After about 6k hands I looked in good shape, was sat on about $700 profit, and was looking to crack the $1k profit within 10k hands. A poor run of cards, including poor play by myself has wiped out about half of that profit, so I’m now sat on about $350. Through 8k hands I’m beating the level for about 4BB, my hourly earn over those hands has been about $10, way below what I achieved at the $50 buy-in level but I proabably ran good at teh $50 level (even though it didn't seem that way).
From my 8k hand experiece there is a marked improvement in quality at the $100 buy-in level with not as many muppets donking their cash off. It also seems to be more swingy and most of the regulars are winning players. Mid-week I can sit down at a table and everyone is a winner in my PT database; I need to either avoid these tables or adapt my game to drive out extra profitability.
It is still easily beatable, but it is probably a level where I will need to look at my game, make a few tweaks to drive out those extra BB/100, rely more on table selection, position versus the maniacs, and player notes. I’ve a few ideas on some obvious short-term wins, more aggression and a greater willingness to gamble, but as I’m not in the zone with poker at the moment I am going to take a break and come back to it in July. I'm sure both of those changes will also lead to greater swings in my bankroll and with only 10 buy-ins at this level I may end up having to drop down.
I've already started to think that even when I beat this level I may step down to the $50s. Really want to avoid this as I don't care about the money, it is all about getting my game up to being able to beat the higher levels; it does feel better though when you are beating the level at a good rate.
Profit wise I'm a bit behind schedule on my monthly profit target of $500/month but I should be able to get back on track through the rest of the year.
FBF
My $100 buy-in Manhatten :-
$100 stats through first 8k hands :-
20 May, 2007
Laddies $50NL Games
Last night took the Laddies cash game bankroll to up over $1,000 and now I'm ready to step up to 4 tabling the $100NL games.
From the charts below you can see I went on a few extended periods of relatively flat profitability but the general trend is upwards and I had a mega heater over 1k hands at the $50 buy-ins.
The games are still relatively soft although not as much action on overbets compared to what you see on the $20 buy-in games. Although the 8/2 players I see on there can still be profitable. Still a large volume of players (and the gamblers appear after a win on the sportsbook on a Saturday night).
So I was beating the game for about 24BB/100 over a very small sample of hands (nearly 5k) and this translated into an hourly rate of ~ $22. Of the 16 players I have in my PT DB with 2.5k hands or more there are 6 beating this level, the next best return after mine is 21BB/100. So whilst these are really small volume of hands I am confident I am beating it enought to step up.
I also don't think I ran particularly well at the $50 buy-in. Got stacked a few times and overplayed big pairs a number of times as well. However, I'm not prepared to analyse my game at the moment in any level of detail even though I know I can make many improvements. If it's not brokes then don't fix it and I've had problems in the past after trying to apply 'moves' that I've read about, or remove leaks from my game. I'll only start to analyse my game and look to make improvements once I can't beat a level.
Next decision for me is whether to move straight into the $100NL or play the $30SNGs. Party are offering me a $100 bonus that I think would take 50 $30 SNGs to clear. That would force me into playing 50 SNGs over the next week. Tempted to go straight into the $100NL though.
Decisions, decisions.
PT stats for my NL challenge :-
Chart at $50NL :-
Chart for Laddies cash game challenge :-
From the charts below you can see I went on a few extended periods of relatively flat profitability but the general trend is upwards and I had a mega heater over 1k hands at the $50 buy-ins.
The games are still relatively soft although not as much action on overbets compared to what you see on the $20 buy-in games. Although the 8/2 players I see on there can still be profitable. Still a large volume of players (and the gamblers appear after a win on the sportsbook on a Saturday night).
So I was beating the game for about 24BB/100 over a very small sample of hands (nearly 5k) and this translated into an hourly rate of ~ $22. Of the 16 players I have in my PT DB with 2.5k hands or more there are 6 beating this level, the next best return after mine is 21BB/100. So whilst these are really small volume of hands I am confident I am beating it enought to step up.
I also don't think I ran particularly well at the $50 buy-in. Got stacked a few times and overplayed big pairs a number of times as well. However, I'm not prepared to analyse my game at the moment in any level of detail even though I know I can make many improvements. If it's not brokes then don't fix it and I've had problems in the past after trying to apply 'moves' that I've read about, or remove leaks from my game. I'll only start to analyse my game and look to make improvements once I can't beat a level.
Next decision for me is whether to move straight into the $100NL or play the $30SNGs. Party are offering me a $100 bonus that I think would take 50 $30 SNGs to clear. That would force me into playing 50 SNGs over the next week. Tempted to go straight into the $100NL though.
Decisions, decisions.
PT stats for my NL challenge :-
Chart at $50NL :-
Chart for Laddies cash game challenge :-
17 May, 2007
$20 STT HEATER
At the end of March I built up my SNG cash flow (from zero) to $440 giving me the bankroll to step up to the $20 SNGs.
I expected my ROI to drop from the 30% I had on the 10s and after my first few SNGs at the $20s I was worried it was going to take a lot of SNGs before I could step up to the $30s.
Anyway, I went on a massive heater and after 24 SNGs my bankroll is above the $770 I need to step up to the $30 SNGs; It's currently at $775. The $770 gives me enough to drop 10 buy-ins before I need to step down to the $20s and start to rebuild. Hopefully, I will not be stepping down from the $30s.
My ROI and ITM are not really valid after only 24 SNGs but at 59% and 58% respectively they are clearly solid results; even if I am getting the best side of variance. As I was 4 tabling the $20s my hourly rate over those 24 SNGs was $36; now that is getting about halfway towards what I would like to see as a long-term sustainable rate.
Nice structure on iPoker which suited my game but as there is a distinct lack of liquidity at the $30s I may move over to FT. I wish I had a rakeback account with FT and may look into changing my account with them.
I need $1,320 in my SNG bankroll to step up to the $50s. At a 10% ROI that is going to take 167 entries.
I expected my ROI to drop from the 30% I had on the 10s and after my first few SNGs at the $20s I was worried it was going to take a lot of SNGs before I could step up to the $30s.
Anyway, I went on a massive heater and after 24 SNGs my bankroll is above the $770 I need to step up to the $30 SNGs; It's currently at $775. The $770 gives me enough to drop 10 buy-ins before I need to step down to the $20s and start to rebuild. Hopefully, I will not be stepping down from the $30s.
My ROI and ITM are not really valid after only 24 SNGs but at 59% and 58% respectively they are clearly solid results; even if I am getting the best side of variance. As I was 4 tabling the $20s my hourly rate over those 24 SNGs was $36; now that is getting about halfway towards what I would like to see as a long-term sustainable rate.
Nice structure on iPoker which suited my game but as there is a distinct lack of liquidity at the $30s I may move over to FT. I wish I had a rakeback account with FT and may look into changing my account with them.
I need $1,320 in my SNG bankroll to step up to the $50s. At a 10% ROI that is going to take 167 entries.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
