Enjoyed the break from poker in December. Had a bit of a dabble on SNG's on Pokerroom but that has been about it really.
As we approach the end of 2006 I thought I'd get out there with one of the first of probably many, goals/targets for 2007 posts.
Huge post. Apologies.
2006 Achievements
This year was a good year financially, $12k cash profit from poker, sports whoring and casino whoring, in addition to a $7k Mansion PokerDome package and a $3k Mansion trip to watch England v Paraguay in the World Cup.
I achieved my goals of making $1k/month and winning entry to a live major tournament. Unfortunately I was never able to take up the opportunity to participate in the Mansion Pokerdome as my Daughter was born on the day I was due to fly to Las Vegas. Oops.
I also had intentions of learning other games such as PLO/8 and did have a dabble at the beginning of the year. Mixed results but generally down overall and I really couldn’t be that arsed or get myself motivated to pick up other poker variants.
With hindsight it was a Foolish really as I don’t even know HE well enough, let alone NLHE. I’ve plenty of time to spread out into other games but for the time being I should focus upon HE/NLHE
2007 Goals/Targets
Whilst I am not entirely sure that setting goals/targets is a good thing I certainly think that going through the process and putting this blog entry together has made me do some thinking in relation to poker that otherwise would not have taken place. Okay, this is another goals for the year post but it has its benefits for me and at least I have the public failure (even though there are probably no readers of this blog) if I do not deliver on them.
It is now clear to me that my previous poker play over the past 2 years has been entirely profit focussed and I believe this has been to the detriment of my abilities as a poker player. There is no doubt about it that I am an out and out poker bonus whore and whilst this has served me well financially over the past 2 years it is no longer fun 4 tabling with other bonus whores. I've been playing ABC poker and as I've not stepped up in levels I have never really stopped to assess my game and plug leaks.
I also acknowledge that I am risk averse and this is why I was initially attracted to Limit games rather than no-limit. Never really liked the thouight of putting everything in front of me on the line. I am not sure if I have been kidding myself that the variance in HE is less than NLHE but from what I can see at the low level NLHE cash games I have been playing there is probably less variance.
I truly think I am going to be playing poker for life and I don’t want to be whoring the $1/$2 limit games to grind out bonus money forever. I appreciate that it will take time to become a good player who can consistently win at the higher levels but I have the rest of my life to achieve this and 2007 is going to be the start of that journey. All of my poker play to date doesn’t count for shit.
So 2007 is not going to be about the money at all and whilst I was hesitant to add a goals in terms of profit from poker I decided it was still worthwhile (although I would not be pissed off if I achieved the other goals and not the profit).
What 2007 is going to be about is NLHE Tournaments, NLHE Cash Games & NLHE SNG’s. Moving up in levels as my bankroll permits, and moving back down as required. This moving up and down should force me to assess my game so that I can win at the next level when I step up again.
1. NLHE Tournaments – Punters Lounge Best Poker Player (BPP)
I was going to take it easy here and suggest a top 5/10 position on the Punters Lounge Best Poker Player (BPP) table. However I am going to stretch myself and go for the top spot.
There are some very good players on PL and a number of them have progressed from low limit tournaments to higher buy-ins. Achieving BPP would be a significant achievement for me and would require a considerable amount of time and effort.
I would imagine I would need to play the BPP tourney every night for at least 30 days to have any chance. Top 5 spot would be acceptable, anything less wouldn’t.
2. NLHE Tournaments – 20% ROI from all tournaments
Having done a quick google search on reasonable ROI’s from MTT’s it would appear (from 2+2) that 15% is a good return. Therefore to make this a tougher target I am going to aim for a 20% return.
What I hope will give me a chance of achieving this is that I intend to focus my tournament play on the added value tournaments. The Sporting Odds champions league being an obvious example as well as the Punters Lounge added value tournaments. There are also going to be a number of freerolls included, such as Virgin V points, and whilst variance will be high, the ROI will be stonking ;)
This goal will also obviously include the tournaments from 1 above and I expect to be playing between 15 and 30 tournaments a month.
3. NLHE Cash Games – Turn $10 into $2,000
Ladbrokes kindly gave me $10 for free earlier this year and from dabbling at the $0.1/$0.2 NLHE tables over a few thousand hands I have got that up to $190.
As I have nothing to lose I want to build this $10 up into a $2k balance whilst at the same time moving up in stakes. I have decided to move up each time I have 10 buy-ins for the next level and step back down upon losing 5 buy-ins at that level. I would have preferred to be bankrolled to 20 buy-ins but given the number of hands I expect to play it would take too much time to move up. I would expect to have to yo-yo between the levels and plug leaks in my game before giving the next level a shot.
It is also unlikely I will continue with the challenge solely at Laddies. Once I am up to $250 I amy move over to Party as there are more games on offer. I'll datamine a few nights first to see what the quality of play is like.
I estimate that it will take approx 50,000 hands to get to the $2k figure (assuming BB/100 of 10, 7 & 5 for $0.1/$0.2, $0.2/$0.4 and $0.5/$1 respectively). Therefore by the end of the year I hope to be sitting down at 4 $1/$2 tables with $200 at each in front of me.
I’ll need to put in 5,000 hands per month to have any chance of achieving this. At 200 hands/hour 4 tabling about 25 hours/month.
4. NLHE SNG’s – Turn $0 into $1,000
Pokerroom is a site I haven’t used for a while but having built up a few player points there when I was bonus whoring I had enough ‘player points’ to get a free buy-in to 3 $10+$1 SNGs.
Obviously a good prompt for another challenge to see what I can turn this free money into and as I have managed to build this up to $102 already through play in December (38 SNGs for a 20% ROI) I am going to see where I can get to in 2007.
The first problem is I only have 9 buy-ins so this could all be over in a couple of nights anyway as I will always 4 table. I think that I need to continue 4 tabling as I move up the levels so that my true hourly rate is comparable. No point having a 10% ROI 1 tabling 50's if I can make a 20% ROI 4-tabling 10s.
I am also concerned that there may not be enough volume of tournies going on at the higher buy-ins at Pokerroom so again I may move the bankroll over to Party.
I am going to step up once I have 20 buy-ins for the next level and step back down again after losing 10 buy-ins. I certainly don’t think this is good bankroll management and I could easily go busto before I step up to the $20s.
Based on my estimates for ROI at $10s, $20s & 30s (25%, 17.5%, 12.5%) I reckon it is going to take about 600 SNG’s to get to the $50s (assuming I never have to step down).
Intention here is to go for 100 SNGs/month and see where that gets me. 25 Sets of 4 is going to take about 25 hours play a month.
5. Entry into major buy-in live poker tournament (and participate)
Ok, so I kind of achieved this in 2006 but never managed to play becuase my beautiful baby daughter, Maggie, decided to come along. This is a nice to have rather than a must. It's unlikley that I will actively pursue this and it is more likely to come along through winning an Inside Edge or Poker Player tourny again.
Tempted to go for the WSOP $1,500 NLHE this summer but it would mean using a week of holiday away from the family and I am not sure I want to do that yet.
6. Make $6,000 from the above – poker alone
I'm really not arsed about the money this year but I can't have a goals post without putting some monetary measure on it. This could come from one good cash on an MTT or from a consistent monthly return. I think I am unlikely to hit this target unless I get a good 'cash' in an MTT.
The poker alone comment relates to the fact that a lot of my profits over the past couple of years have come from bonuses and sports and casino whoring. The $6k target is from the poker play alone.
So I'll be keeping the blog updated with my progress against each of these targets and expect I'll start off with lots of determination, which will diminish as we move into the summer, before coming back again in the Autumn. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have made some progress against these goals.
What concerns me most is that this is a lot of poker, 50 hours/month for SNG and Cash Game target, and once I add on MTTs I do not know if I will have the time to put 70/80 hours a month.
Wish me luck.
FBF
28 December, 2006
09 December, 2006
Abstinence
Well I haven't managed to completely stay away from poker in December but I have had a good break from the game.
I had a few points stacked at PokerRoom that entitled me to free entry into 3 $10+$1 SNG's. Anyway I've played 6 so far and have $37 in my account so I'll continue until I'm busted.
I'll probably do a brideshead on the MTT front later this month on a couple of special tournies behing held at Punters Lounge.
See you at the tables.
FBF
I had a few points stacked at PokerRoom that entitled me to free entry into 3 $10+$1 SNG's. Anyway I've played 6 so far and have $37 in my account so I'll continue until I'm busted.
I'll probably do a brideshead on the MTT front later this month on a couple of special tournies behing held at Punters Lounge.
See you at the tables.
FBF
30 November, 2006
November Poker Results
Bonus Whoring
After the poor start to this months bonus whoring, as highlighted in the previous post, I managed to turn it round slightly with a big push in the last week.
I cleared the Will Hill, Interpoker and Laddies bonus over a total of 5k hands; the Laddies bonus being cleared solely at NL (2,500 hands of 0.1/0.2NL for a $100 bonus).
So bonus money for the month is about $250 and I made $120 from my play ($197 at NL and a $77 loss (short-term -ve variance) at $1/$2 Limit). In terms of BB/100 I ran at 14BB/100 for NL and (2)BB/100 for Limit.
Obviously extremely pleased with the results at NL and in $ terms this is better than my return at $1/$2 Limit when I am running at 1BB/100. I also think the risk is lower at NL as I tend to lose lots of small pots and win large ones. Each time I sit down I feel like I am going to come away a winner [although only 60% are winning sessions] whereas at $1/$2 Limit I am never that confident - I am much more at the disposal of variance. There are a number of truly awful players on Laddies (and quite a few good ones picking them off).
So NL was a pleasant change and has helped me increase the free $10 that Laddies gave me up to $226 (excluding the $100 bonus I made). I can see a little challenge for 2007 coming up in relation to that free $10.
What is most striking about my stats vs. Limit is that I have a really low WTSD% (approx. 20%) but I win approx. 60%-65% at showdown. I guess this says that I am a bit risk averse at getting my chips in and therefore I could probably increase my win rate but at the expense of higher variance.
I should read the Sklansky/Miller NL book that I recently got for free after finding some points I'd forgotten about at Poker Source Online. Problem is, I usually lose money after reading a book as I try and incorporate too many changes into my game at once.
My win rate is pretty good anyway but not as good as it could be; there are a number of players on Laddies with 20BB/100 win rates over 5k hands.
Stats below.
Will I step up at Laddies? Well I am not too sure. If I get the $10 up to $500 then maybe I will move up to $0.2/$0.4 but if my win rate is going to at least half that I’m making at the moment then (obviously) I am much better staying at $0.1/$0.2.
Not too much to say about Limit but see stats and chart below :-
Limit Chart since October :-
Tournaments
November was the first month in which I made a concerted effort to participate in a number of MTTs. I focussed on the PL Mansion added series ($1k added - $500 to the winner) and the Sporting Odds Champions League series ($1.5k first prize) as these appeared to have the best added value and a low buy-in.
In total there were 19 tournaments (13 SO & 6 Mansion – although 1 Mansion tourney was in Oct). I was very pleased with my results in that I managed to win one tourny at both Mansion and SO and in total (including the wins) I had 7 final table finishes and 4 ITM top 3 finishes. In both the heads up matches I managed to overcome a significant chip deficit, and had about equal luck as my opponents (maybe I got a bit lucky in the SO heads up).
From MTTs I was up approx $70 on entries (from $56 of entry fees) but more importantly however I managed to place 1st at Mansion (good for $500) and in the top 10 at SO (good for $50) for the overall series of MTT’s.
So in total I am up $620 from tournies for the month, making an overall total of about $1k when added to the cash games and bonus money.
Thankfully I have now reached the target I set at the beginning of the year of making $12k in 2006 and therefore no pressure in December to get lots of hands in. The profit for the year excludes the Mansion $7k package (to which I had more important things to see too - she is worth it) and the $3k Mansion World Cup trip. So it has been a pretty good year for me and it looks like Mansion are definitely my lucky charm :)
December
No short-term goals for December, just take it as it comes and maybe do something different like reading the mountain of books I have stacked, playing some PSP games, catching up on movies and TV series and putting a 250mg HD in my Sky+.
I still have the Sporting Index bonus to clear, Interpoker and Will Hill Monthlies, and Party have just offered me a $75 bonus. I could be good for $375 of bonus money in December. Its tempting but I may not bother.
The only way I can see me clearing the bonuses is if it happens early on in the month. If I can keep up the momentum from this past week I may try and clear the interpoker and WIll Hill bonus over the weekend. SI is going to be more painful and I would definitely like to play a bit more NL at Laddies.
I will also spend the time to think of some new challenges, and not just poker related ones, for 2007.
GL at the tables.
FBF
After the poor start to this months bonus whoring, as highlighted in the previous post, I managed to turn it round slightly with a big push in the last week.
I cleared the Will Hill, Interpoker and Laddies bonus over a total of 5k hands; the Laddies bonus being cleared solely at NL (2,500 hands of 0.1/0.2NL for a $100 bonus).
So bonus money for the month is about $250 and I made $120 from my play ($197 at NL and a $77 loss (short-term -ve variance) at $1/$2 Limit). In terms of BB/100 I ran at 14BB/100 for NL and (2)BB/100 for Limit.
Obviously extremely pleased with the results at NL and in $ terms this is better than my return at $1/$2 Limit when I am running at 1BB/100. I also think the risk is lower at NL as I tend to lose lots of small pots and win large ones. Each time I sit down I feel like I am going to come away a winner [although only 60% are winning sessions] whereas at $1/$2 Limit I am never that confident - I am much more at the disposal of variance. There are a number of truly awful players on Laddies (and quite a few good ones picking them off).
So NL was a pleasant change and has helped me increase the free $10 that Laddies gave me up to $226 (excluding the $100 bonus I made). I can see a little challenge for 2007 coming up in relation to that free $10.
What is most striking about my stats vs. Limit is that I have a really low WTSD% (approx. 20%) but I win approx. 60%-65% at showdown. I guess this says that I am a bit risk averse at getting my chips in and therefore I could probably increase my win rate but at the expense of higher variance.
I should read the Sklansky/Miller NL book that I recently got for free after finding some points I'd forgotten about at Poker Source Online. Problem is, I usually lose money after reading a book as I try and incorporate too many changes into my game at once.
My win rate is pretty good anyway but not as good as it could be; there are a number of players on Laddies with 20BB/100 win rates over 5k hands.
Stats below.
Will I step up at Laddies? Well I am not too sure. If I get the $10 up to $500 then maybe I will move up to $0.2/$0.4 but if my win rate is going to at least half that I’m making at the moment then (obviously) I am much better staying at $0.1/$0.2.
Not too much to say about Limit but see stats and chart below :-
Limit Chart since October :-
Tournaments
November was the first month in which I made a concerted effort to participate in a number of MTTs. I focussed on the PL Mansion added series ($1k added - $500 to the winner) and the Sporting Odds Champions League series ($1.5k first prize) as these appeared to have the best added value and a low buy-in.
In total there were 19 tournaments (13 SO & 6 Mansion – although 1 Mansion tourney was in Oct). I was very pleased with my results in that I managed to win one tourny at both Mansion and SO and in total (including the wins) I had 7 final table finishes and 4 ITM top 3 finishes. In both the heads up matches I managed to overcome a significant chip deficit, and had about equal luck as my opponents (maybe I got a bit lucky in the SO heads up).
From MTTs I was up approx $70 on entries (from $56 of entry fees) but more importantly however I managed to place 1st at Mansion (good for $500) and in the top 10 at SO (good for $50) for the overall series of MTT’s.
So in total I am up $620 from tournies for the month, making an overall total of about $1k when added to the cash games and bonus money.
Thankfully I have now reached the target I set at the beginning of the year of making $12k in 2006 and therefore no pressure in December to get lots of hands in. The profit for the year excludes the Mansion $7k package (to which I had more important things to see too - she is worth it) and the $3k Mansion World Cup trip. So it has been a pretty good year for me and it looks like Mansion are definitely my lucky charm :)
December
No short-term goals for December, just take it as it comes and maybe do something different like reading the mountain of books I have stacked, playing some PSP games, catching up on movies and TV series and putting a 250mg HD in my Sky+.
I still have the Sporting Index bonus to clear, Interpoker and Will Hill Monthlies, and Party have just offered me a $75 bonus. I could be good for $375 of bonus money in December. Its tempting but I may not bother.
The only way I can see me clearing the bonuses is if it happens early on in the month. If I can keep up the momentum from this past week I may try and clear the interpoker and WIll Hill bonus over the weekend. SI is going to be more painful and I would definitely like to play a bit more NL at Laddies.
I will also spend the time to think of some new challenges, and not just poker related ones, for 2007.
GL at the tables.
FBF
12 November, 2006
Lazy Fuckin Whore
Well after playing a reasonable number of hands during October I have not been able to get myself motivated to grind out the bonus whore hands this month. Same old story with me; I hammer it for one month, think I can hammer it more the following month, then end up doing (relatively) fuck all.
One of the main problems is that I don't like Tribeca and I have a Sporting Index bonus to clear. There are only ever 2 $1/$2 tables going, and i think, although I am not sure, that you can only play 2 tables at once anyway. Paradise also pissed me off with the shite change they made to the bonus.
So I've got about 500 hands in during this month and I am a small loser. I Need to crank it up in the second half of the month but should clear about 2,000 hands for the Crypto bonuses. I Can't let those Willy Hill and Interpoker bonuses get away.
However, I have not been completely lazy. Instead of grinding through the $1/$2 limit cash games I have been dabbling in a couple of other areas.
MTT's
Firstly, I've been playing a lot more tournaments than usual (that equates to between 5 & 10 a week for me), spurred on by some excellent added value through the Punters Lounge poker forum. In addition to the added value the quality of play against other PL'ers is very high and I am sure that going up against opponents of that calibre will only improve my game. I reckon that those tourneys must be some of the toughest low stake MTTs on the net.
I'm therefore focussing my play on the Mansion added tourneys and the November Sporting Odds Champions League. I am running ok in both of them and took a lot of pleasure from winning the first Mansion added tourny against the talent of Punters Lounge.
I took a podium finish in the first SO CL game (3rd for 60 points) and then had a some bad beats, and found myself in a few bad spots, before finally getting in the points again tonight (13th for 34 points). Hopefully 94 points will have me standing in the money at the moment.
As a result of this I have started to move up the ranks in the PL "Best Poker Player" challenge here. Given that I don't enter too many of the daily focus games I am pleased with this.
As long as I don't get bored then one month I'll take a crack at a top 10 or podium finish in the BPP challenge. Top 5 would be very difficult and I think I will need to be playing the majority of the focus games to have any chance. Currently I do not have the time.
Ladbrokes NL Games
Spurred on by the efforts of GaF at his Blog I have been messing about at the beginners NL tables at Ladbrokes. Laddies gave me a free $10 so I thought I would see what I can pony it up to. After a run of good fortune over 800 hands I am up approx. $90 (good for 28BB/100). If only that win rate was sustainable in the long run. Anyway, its good to see a bit of positive variance for a change and I am intrigued to see what I can run at over 10,000 hands.
More importantly I have been enjoying the game much more than grinding the limit tables and aim to get my balance up to $300 before stepping up to the 0.15/0.30 games with 10 buy-ins. I am such a risk averse little fuck.
Anyway I'll also probably be bored of it by next month and be back to something else like the 6 max games again.
Anyway, great to have a passion that actually pays you money and here's hoping for greater efforts in the second half of the month.
One of the main problems is that I don't like Tribeca and I have a Sporting Index bonus to clear. There are only ever 2 $1/$2 tables going, and i think, although I am not sure, that you can only play 2 tables at once anyway. Paradise also pissed me off with the shite change they made to the bonus.
So I've got about 500 hands in during this month and I am a small loser. I Need to crank it up in the second half of the month but should clear about 2,000 hands for the Crypto bonuses. I Can't let those Willy Hill and Interpoker bonuses get away.
However, I have not been completely lazy. Instead of grinding through the $1/$2 limit cash games I have been dabbling in a couple of other areas.
MTT's
Firstly, I've been playing a lot more tournaments than usual (that equates to between 5 & 10 a week for me), spurred on by some excellent added value through the Punters Lounge poker forum. In addition to the added value the quality of play against other PL'ers is very high and I am sure that going up against opponents of that calibre will only improve my game. I reckon that those tourneys must be some of the toughest low stake MTTs on the net.
I'm therefore focussing my play on the Mansion added tourneys and the November Sporting Odds Champions League. I am running ok in both of them and took a lot of pleasure from winning the first Mansion added tourny against the talent of Punters Lounge.
I took a podium finish in the first SO CL game (3rd for 60 points) and then had a some bad beats, and found myself in a few bad spots, before finally getting in the points again tonight (13th for 34 points). Hopefully 94 points will have me standing in the money at the moment.
As a result of this I have started to move up the ranks in the PL "Best Poker Player" challenge here. Given that I don't enter too many of the daily focus games I am pleased with this.
As long as I don't get bored then one month I'll take a crack at a top 10 or podium finish in the BPP challenge. Top 5 would be very difficult and I think I will need to be playing the majority of the focus games to have any chance. Currently I do not have the time.
Ladbrokes NL Games
Spurred on by the efforts of GaF at his Blog I have been messing about at the beginners NL tables at Ladbrokes. Laddies gave me a free $10 so I thought I would see what I can pony it up to. After a run of good fortune over 800 hands I am up approx. $90 (good for 28BB/100). If only that win rate was sustainable in the long run. Anyway, its good to see a bit of positive variance for a change and I am intrigued to see what I can run at over 10,000 hands.
More importantly I have been enjoying the game much more than grinding the limit tables and aim to get my balance up to $300 before stepping up to the 0.15/0.30 games with 10 buy-ins. I am such a risk averse little fuck.
Anyway I'll also probably be bored of it by next month and be back to something else like the 6 max games again.
Anyway, great to have a passion that actually pays you money and here's hoping for greater efforts in the second half of the month.
03 November, 2006
Parashite Poker
Just logged onto to Paradise Poker to try and clear the $120 bonus I had stacked. I was hoping that on a Friday night there would at least be at couple of $1/$2 full ring games going.
First off, no full ring games going. Bastards. Even worse, 9 $5/$10 players (2x 5max), 10 $3/$6 (2x5max) players and 10 $2/$4 (10max) players. Thats your lot on limit games above $1/$2.
Secondly, they have a new promotion called 'Paradise Pay Day' that appears to be shit beyond belief. Upon first checking the cashier I was like a dog with two dicks when I saw that $5,000 had been added to my bonus account but upon reading the T&Cs it was clear that Paradise are screwing the customer.
The clearing rates appear to have been doubled such that every 100 points earned now releases 5 measly dollars of bonus. It was pretty poor before, now it is absolutely terrible. Not only does this shit rate apply to the $5k it applies to the $120 I had stacked there.
Anyway, the cash has been withdrawn from there quicker than you can say 'call in the administrators'.
So it really looks like the arse has fell out of Paradise Poker and I am not sure if SportingBet PLC are going to turn it around. I wouldn't be surprised to see an acquisition of SB or a divestment of Paradise poker in the first rounds of consolidation in the gambling sector.
Off to Sporting Index.
First off, no full ring games going. Bastards. Even worse, 9 $5/$10 players (2x 5max), 10 $3/$6 (2x5max) players and 10 $2/$4 (10max) players. Thats your lot on limit games above $1/$2.
Secondly, they have a new promotion called 'Paradise Pay Day' that appears to be shit beyond belief. Upon first checking the cashier I was like a dog with two dicks when I saw that $5,000 had been added to my bonus account but upon reading the T&Cs it was clear that Paradise are screwing the customer.
The clearing rates appear to have been doubled such that every 100 points earned now releases 5 measly dollars of bonus. It was pretty poor before, now it is absolutely terrible. Not only does this shit rate apply to the $5k it applies to the $120 I had stacked there.
Anyway, the cash has been withdrawn from there quicker than you can say 'call in the administrators'.
So it really looks like the arse has fell out of Paradise Poker and I am not sure if SportingBet PLC are going to turn it around. I wouldn't be surprised to see an acquisition of SB or a divestment of Paradise poker in the first rounds of consolidation in the gambling sector.
Off to Sporting Index.
31 October, 2006
October Results
October was a good month for me. Total profit from the $1/$2 cash games was $697; made up of $210 from poker play and $487 from bonuses. I think I played reasonable well and the return of 1.4BB/100 is probably above my long-term average. I reckon I'm a 1BB/100 kind of weak-tight player; especially when 4/6 tabling.
My total hands of almost 7,500 was more than I usually put in but since I changed my game in September, when returning to full ring from 6-max, I did put in a big effort to clear some longstanding bonuses I had stacked. However, my target is still to push through 10K hands a month in order to try and step up through the limits whilst clearing some bonuses to add to my bankroll.
The bonuses cleared this month were, Party (2x$100 bonuses), Pokerstars ($120 longstanding bonus), Interpoker ($100 monthly reload), Will Hill ($47 monthly) & Paradise ($20 of stacked bonus).
Sites for next month will include Sporting Index ($150 sign up for 50,000 action points), Paradise ($120 stacked bonus - although the arse looks to have dropped out of this site), Interpoker ($100 monthly - still at 5x raked hands), Will Hill ($47 monthly) and as a last resort I have got nearly $400 stacked at UB that I may make a start on. Hopefully Party will also offer a November reload as well so I should probably aim for $500 of bonus money in November.
As I am doing ok at the moment I don't have the impetus to analyse my game, plug the leaks and move from being a weak-tight player to a TAG. As long as I continue to be a winning player at these stakes I will continue with $1/$2 until I have reached 300BB profit and then consider stepping up if I feel my game is up to it. I think stepping up will force me to plug the leaks as I certainly won't remain a winning player as I come up against better opposition.
I'm also very tight at 13 VPIP (I used to be about a 20VPIP when I previously played full ring) but this helps when multi tabling and I'm sure a lot of the opportunities I am passing up are marginal in terms of the BB/100 they would add to my win rate. Obviously they will all add up though.
Positional stats are below :-
Not really sure what this is telling me other than I only win 8% of hands I am dealt when I expect that I should be winning closer to 10%. I also probably cold call more than I should; maybe I'll take a look at those hands.
Finally, graph of the 7,500 hands played this month :-
FBF
October was a good month for me. Total profit from the $1/$2 cash games was $697; made up of $210 from poker play and $487 from bonuses. I think I played reasonable well and the return of 1.4BB/100 is probably above my long-term average. I reckon I'm a 1BB/100 kind of weak-tight player; especially when 4/6 tabling.
My total hands of almost 7,500 was more than I usually put in but since I changed my game in September, when returning to full ring from 6-max, I did put in a big effort to clear some longstanding bonuses I had stacked. However, my target is still to push through 10K hands a month in order to try and step up through the limits whilst clearing some bonuses to add to my bankroll.
The bonuses cleared this month were, Party (2x$100 bonuses), Pokerstars ($120 longstanding bonus), Interpoker ($100 monthly reload), Will Hill ($47 monthly) & Paradise ($20 of stacked bonus).
Sites for next month will include Sporting Index ($150 sign up for 50,000 action points), Paradise ($120 stacked bonus - although the arse looks to have dropped out of this site), Interpoker ($100 monthly - still at 5x raked hands), Will Hill ($47 monthly) and as a last resort I have got nearly $400 stacked at UB that I may make a start on. Hopefully Party will also offer a November reload as well so I should probably aim for $500 of bonus money in November.
As I am doing ok at the moment I don't have the impetus to analyse my game, plug the leaks and move from being a weak-tight player to a TAG. As long as I continue to be a winning player at these stakes I will continue with $1/$2 until I have reached 300BB profit and then consider stepping up if I feel my game is up to it. I think stepping up will force me to plug the leaks as I certainly won't remain a winning player as I come up against better opposition.
I am happy to keep stepping up and down until my game can support the level I'm playing it.
I'm also sure to hit some negative variance along the way but I also feel that the tighter game I'm playing at the moment is having a beneficial impact on the amount of variance I am experiencing. See stats for the month below :-
I'm also very tight at 13 VPIP (I used to be about a 20VPIP when I previously played full ring) but this helps when multi tabling and I'm sure a lot of the opportunities I am passing up are marginal in terms of the BB/100 they would add to my win rate. Obviously they will all add up though.
Positional stats are below :-
Not really sure what this is telling me other than I only win 8% of hands I am dealt when I expect that I should be winning closer to 10%. I also probably cold call more than I should; maybe I'll take a look at those hands.
Finally, graph of the 7,500 hands played this month :-
FBF
30 October, 2006
The Beautiful Game
Whether he likes it or not, a man’s character is stripped at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life.
Anthony Holden
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
