Saturday, December 27, 2008

Ouch

Played the most ever in one day on Christmas day. Took a pretty big hit...about $600 or so. Lost 3 Step 3 tickets too. Played a ton of $55 + $5, $35 +$3 and $25 + $2 9 mans. Results were poor, but I can't say I played all that bad....(except for the last 10 games or so, when I was so tired I might have played bad then.) Did earn over 1000 FPP's in one day, and might even make Gold Star this month...I really want to and I need just under 1000 more in the last 5 days. One other bright spot...My HU reulsts have been really good the last few days.

I'm gonna grind some $15 and some $6 9-mans to rebuild my confidence and bankroll, and then take some more shots at $27.

Total profit for 2008 $3009.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

2009

Gotta figure out a way to make more money at poker. I feel like I may be ready to play for higher stakes, and I have nearly $4 grand of bankroll that I won, but nevertheless I feel hesitant to play even the $27 - 9 mans. I hate those swings that caused me to lose something like 16 straight $15 9 man STT's. Ouch.... But, I need to get over it...I want to make at least $3,000 per month by the end of the year, but I dont think thats realistic right away. So, maybe $1K per month is a good goal, but even that is tough to arrive at when I crunch numbers....unless I really move up my average stake. At 5% ROI you would need to play like $700 worth of tourneys a day to make $35/day on average. This would get you over $1000 a month. $700 would require approx 47 $15's, 26 $27's, 20 $35's, 14 $50's....Just writing this makes me realize that I need more discipline when I play. Playing the $6 HU games because they are comfortable, slowing up when I'm ahead for the day, getting sucked into playing low limit games to "get even" or whatever. I need to be more business like in my approach.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Just been churning...

Up $3608 for the year as of this writing. Have 3 Step 3's and 1 Step 4 in the bank. Been playing well I think, but have experienced an inordinate amount of suckouts this month, particularly in HU. My sharkscope is up like $125 or something for December. Gonna try to finish the month strong with some 3 tabling $15 and $27 9 mans. Would love to end the year up over $4,000...its definitely doable.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Not much to report

I haven't posted in a few days because a) my pc died and I had to buy a new one and b) the results have been just churning alot...a little bit down from last post.

I feel like I'm playing well...trying to decide if maybe I'm being a tad too aggressive on and around the bubble. Made a really dumb play today with 66 otb. Shoved it not realizing another player had $230 and was in sb. He folded it leaving himself $80, but the bb chip leader called with AQ and hit. bye bye wingpin...4th place pays crap in a Step 1. Gotta improve my ability to multi-table late in these things.

Current equity is $3748

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Good results last night!!

Was on a heater last night. Was up about $200 or so in SNG's and then I decided to play an MTT which I rarely ever do. The reason I decided to play the $55 Nightly 70 Grand (as its called) is because I played four 9-man $15+$1.50 buy in SNG satellites into the event and I won 3 of them!!! So...I figured it was kinda like a freeroll. The one I busted out of was my AK vs his QQ. I flopped an A, but he turned a set and I was left with $5. Oh well...3 outta 4 aint bad!!

Anyway, I played the $55 buy in MTT and since they are boring I entered a $15 Buy in MTT as well. I got reasonably deep in both, but alas busted out of the money in both. Played some more SNG's after that, and won a little bit more. Final tally $3895...I guess I made $173. Not bad, but I played for like 16 hours! Earned an ass of FPP's too...probably about 200 or so...Quite alot for me for one day. Gonna play some later, but have to take care of some restaurant business first.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Good News, Bad News

The good....Last nite I got my Step 4 ticket! Used up 3 Step 3's to get it, but I would consider that a success. Lost a tad bit playing some Step 1's and a little bit of equity on the Step 3's, but overall mission accomplished.

The bad...donked off $80 in 4 SNG's right after the Steps. Lost 2 $15's and 2 $23's in a row. At least I called it quits and went to bed before I got too tilted.

Final tally $3722 -$90 or so., but looking forward to another big MTT soon!
Just getting started for today. Plan on playing Steps tonight. The habit I've been getting in lately is to play a bunch of Step 1's on the same day. Then play all the Step 2's I earned on the same day too. Right now I have 5 Step 3's in the bank, so I am going to play at least 1 or 2 of those tonight. If I get Step 4's I use them for Sunday MTT's. Hopefully I will get at least one tonight. I will update later tonight.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Monday December 8

Welcome to my blog!! Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to pursue becoming a "pro" poker player. Honestly, I have yet to figure out what actually determines when
you have become a "pro" poker player other than just declaring oneself to be one. So, given the nebulous nature of this subject, I am hereby declaring myself to be a professional poker player.

The reason I believe this is justified is because:

A) I'm making money at it...albeit a small amount relative to the time invested
B) I'm better at it than most people who play.

I think my poker career is analagous to that of a minor league baseball player.

Financially speaking, a minor leaguer is making a paltry sum compared to his major league counterparts, but he is being paid to play.
Just as a minor league baseball player at Single A level has become very proficient at baseball, he still has a long way to go before he reaches the pinnacle of his profession, I too have a long way to go in developing my poker game.

The first time I ever played poker was in November of 2005, but I didn't start playing hardcore until about 1 year ago. I started at the absolute bottom in the .01/.02 ring games. I was horrible at the beginning. Now, I play mostly SNG's. I play anywhere from $6 to about $35 buy ins. I'm trying to ween myself away from the comfortable womb-like confines of the <$10 SNG arena. It's hard to pull yourself away from a level once you start beating it because it feels good to win $$. But, for me to achieve my goals, I must continue to move up once I'm beating the game at a given level. I've been down this road before with the <$5 SNG's and I can honestly say I never play those anymore, so I know that soon I will be eschewing the <$10 games entirely and for good. I've been having good success at the $15-$35 9-mans and the $10-$20 double or nothings, but occasionally play the $6's if I get tilted or lose confidence. I also play the $6 HU's quite a bit because I can win and because HU satisifes my urge to "gamble" more than any other form of poker. However, the competition gets really stiff really quick as you move up the HU foodchain, so the $6-$11 with the occasional $22-$33 suit me fine for now.
Also, I have been playing alot of "Steps" lately. I play the Step 1's, then 2's then 3's. I haven't played many of my Step 3's, so I've only gotten 2 Step 4 tickets. Once I get a Step 4 Ticket, my plan is to play a $215 buy in MTT on Sunday. I've done this twice and cashed both times!! The very first time was 3 weeks ago I played the Sunday warmup and got 70th out of 3897 players good for $1246. The following week I played the Sunday Million and got the lowest cash amount of $310. I was very excited to have accomplished this!! I currently have 5 Step 3's in the bank, so I will be playing those this week probably.

Just to give everyone an idea of where I'm at right now, my bankroll is $3365 in cash and $464 in Step Equity. From now on, I'm going to only report the total of the two combined which is currently $3829. Every penny of this is money I've won. I do not plan on ever depositing my own money again unless I can get some kind of bonus in which case I will remove my deposit as soon as the bonus rules allow.