Sippin and I mutually agreed to cancel the prop bet. We were both over 1200 games away from our respective goals, so it was a fairly fine note to agree to end on.
With that ended I've been taking some time off DoNs and SNGs in general. I've decided to get very serious about cash games. The money I put on FTP was for that purpose and I've been logging hands there lately. I've logged about 8500 hands so far and have been having nice results, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm a cash crusher. I'm barely a student of the game at this point.
I'm seeking out every source of free learning information I can. This includes 2+2, blogs of successful players, reading material I have on hand, etc. Training videos are also an option. I'll consider coaching once I get to a certain level most likely.
For now I'm going to be trying to get in a better sleep schedule, a more consistent eating schedule, use my free time more productively towards learning things -- poker or otherwise. Poker will be key for a large part of the next two months.
I'm going to look at some sites and consider moving to a location with higher rakeback. A lot of the Euro sites have 40-60% rakeback, which would essentially double my rakeback earn that I'd be getting at FTP. Assuming I can still maintain my volume of play at another site and can play well there, it just makes good sense to try and increase my earn in every regard possible.
Goals for the day are to watch a video or two, start reading one of my cash game books, find a site with a 55%+ rakeback, decent traffic, playable software, and at least weekly rakeback payments. I'd also like to book a solid 2500 hands today or so.
I'm locked in with Platinum for the month at Stars, barely. Next month the goal will be to ship Nova finally. I'm less than securing Platinum away from securing Nova, and to lose Plat and get Nova in December would sort of suck 'cause I'd be getting fewer FPPs while doing it, so November seems the answer.
How I'll be finishing off Nova is yet another mystery. I don't have a large roll online anymore and would rather not having to spend a ton of hours at $5 DoNs to rebuild and go from there. I may work on building my cash roll and get it to a point where I could maybe move enough of it over for a bit to lock in Nova at Stars via cash. Nothing is decided, though.
So with the day's goals in mind I'm going to set out and do some site selecting and watch a video or two.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Mindset
Slacking pretty hard as far as volume goes for this prop bet. My plan at this point is to book 300 games per day for the next week and just finish it off and get it over with. I just wrapped up a 141 game session and booked a solid enough win to be able to play 10s my next session. Assuming I crush the prop volume than I should be rolled for the 20s again by the end of the month.
Logged some cash hands earlier as well. Won about 3 buy-ins. As far as gameplay goes, I'm enjoying the intricacies of cash a bit more than the DoN grind right now. The DoN grind took a massive head-start with the last session, but I'm excited to get myself rolled for 25NL and start trying to crush that.
I'm not aiming for any particular sample size at any cash level. I'm aiming to build the bankroll to the point at which it as well as I are solid cash game earners. I've never really worked on building two separate rolls at once, let alone at two disciplines and I'm more than satisfied with the fact I chose to build from scratch.
It's interesting now, as I reflect back on what must now be three summers ago. I was splashing at 10NL and beating the game, but barely. I'm not even sure what my PTBB/100 was, but was it probably 2 or lower. I have no clue what it would be now, but I have a much deeper understanding of the game, even on a basic level. I've impressed myself with how far I've become, and I'm impressed not with the results but moreso with my comfort in decision making and my ability to learn.
Sometimes finding the correct material to learn from and deciding what to incorporate into your own game can be an oversight by many players. They take some niche of information as gospel but fail to realize alternate profitable lines. That's the beauty of poker, nothing is ever solidified as fact, at least permanently.
Aside from reading a lot about poker and playing, and wasting too many hours doing useless internet things, not much happening. I ordered Borderlands through seller online and hope to get it within a week at the latest. I checked around my city the day of release, and it was on for a bargain price of $40 and of course low shipment and sold out everywhere. Genius promoting by these guys, hats off. You created a buzz last minute surrounding a game that had little. I'm terribly amped myself.
I had to pay full retail $70 but got it free shipping, so it's even cheaper than getting it at the store once their restocked.
Gonna zone out right now, try to be up at a half decent hour in the afternoon to start the day. The goal... be on the felt by 9pm and log around 300 games by 8am. The felt do. Volume, money, whatever. Glad to get October finished just for the sake of needed volume, but it's a good motivator, I'll have a nice month to show for it overall.
It's been tough, though, some days. To get the mindset to load the games. That's usually all it takes, is getting the first several tables open, having your tools loaded correctly, shit working well. Get a vibe going. Jam some tunes, get into a show while things pick up. Things are usually fairly basic in the first levels so I like to relax early, your decisions come in middle and late game. By that time the music or show is background to poker, or at least if you're in the zone it should be.
It's tough to keep that focus though. It's an inane thing how it comes and goes. Learning new things is helping, and growing my game. All fun and games. I gotta sleep so I'll be up at a decent hour.
Logged some cash hands earlier as well. Won about 3 buy-ins. As far as gameplay goes, I'm enjoying the intricacies of cash a bit more than the DoN grind right now. The DoN grind took a massive head-start with the last session, but I'm excited to get myself rolled for 25NL and start trying to crush that.
I'm not aiming for any particular sample size at any cash level. I'm aiming to build the bankroll to the point at which it as well as I are solid cash game earners. I've never really worked on building two separate rolls at once, let alone at two disciplines and I'm more than satisfied with the fact I chose to build from scratch.
It's interesting now, as I reflect back on what must now be three summers ago. I was splashing at 10NL and beating the game, but barely. I'm not even sure what my PTBB/100 was, but was it probably 2 or lower. I have no clue what it would be now, but I have a much deeper understanding of the game, even on a basic level. I've impressed myself with how far I've become, and I'm impressed not with the results but moreso with my comfort in decision making and my ability to learn.
Sometimes finding the correct material to learn from and deciding what to incorporate into your own game can be an oversight by many players. They take some niche of information as gospel but fail to realize alternate profitable lines. That's the beauty of poker, nothing is ever solidified as fact, at least permanently.
Aside from reading a lot about poker and playing, and wasting too many hours doing useless internet things, not much happening. I ordered Borderlands through seller online and hope to get it within a week at the latest. I checked around my city the day of release, and it was on for a bargain price of $40 and of course low shipment and sold out everywhere. Genius promoting by these guys, hats off. You created a buzz last minute surrounding a game that had little. I'm terribly amped myself.
I had to pay full retail $70 but got it free shipping, so it's even cheaper than getting it at the store once their restocked.
Gonna zone out right now, try to be up at a half decent hour in the afternoon to start the day. The goal... be on the felt by 9pm and log around 300 games by 8am. The felt do. Volume, money, whatever. Glad to get October finished just for the sake of needed volume, but it's a good motivator, I'll have a nice month to show for it overall.
It's been tough, though, some days. To get the mindset to load the games. That's usually all it takes, is getting the first several tables open, having your tools loaded correctly, shit working well. Get a vibe going. Jam some tunes, get into a show while things pick up. Things are usually fairly basic in the first levels so I like to relax early, your decisions come in middle and late game. By that time the music or show is background to poker, or at least if you're in the zone it should be.
It's tough to keep that focus though. It's an inane thing how it comes and goes. Learning new things is helping, and growing my game. All fun and games. I gotta sleep so I'll be up at a decent hour.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Downtime
I'm updating my database on my desktop, it has all of the games I've played this year. Switching between laptop and desktop and trying to maintain the master here is a bit annoying, but worth it. I just have to remember the latest day I'm up to date with so I don't have to go back and check. Stoner mentality.
I haven't done a ton of volume since the rebuild attempt, but things are bound to pick up by the weekend at the latest. It's only Tuesday and Monday we went out and shopped a bit. I need to crush Christmas shopping soon so it doesn't sneak up on me like it always does.
I've probably logged close to the same amount of hours at both cash and DoNs. I'm up at both already, about 5 buy-ins at cash and 6 at DoNs I think. The hourly is pretty much the same right now, but I'm only 6-tabling cash while I figure some things out. I don't see me mega tabling cash, at least 6-max, any time soon. I'm excited to battle my way through the stakes though.
As for DoNs I will certainly be glad to hit my buy-in goals for moving up. I initially said 70, but I'm doing it with 60. The variance just isn't such that I should suffer my hourly that significantly. I'm playing life-nit right now since I'm going to be semi-busto after scratching off student loans, but in reality I'm still fine. I don't mind be a little nitty right now and do things right so I can reestablish myself well; debt free.
With 60 buy-ins I'll have a little less than half the roll in play at one time, but the variance for DoNs is such that the possibility of having a 35 buy-in downswing (the "reserve" buy-ins I have while having 25 in play, but one, open another). So the likelihood of dropping 35 buy-ins consecutively without winning any, or having a run such that you lose that much more than you win, is pretty thin. And the possibility of having it in one session is basically impossible unless you tilt like a monkey, which I'm proud to say I don't do so much anymore.
Cash rules are staying very strict, as I'm still learning the game at a very basic level, but I'm still very excited to be progressing the ranks there as well. Progressing DoNs is more about securing a more certain hourly level that makes things comfortable. Progressing cash is more about learning to make money, consistently, first -- at any stake. I think climbing the ranks is just a necessity for me to achieve the skill level I desire at cash.
Despite my desire to rise the ranks in DoNs quickly, I am still feeling terribly burnt out on the entire thing. I'll be glad to get done with the prop bet volume. I'm not sure what the exact plans are for November now, but I think it involves a decent amount of cash and likely a sizable amount of DoNs. Burnout or not, I'm doing this for these next months for a reason.
What may be the best idea is to play more tables than I generally have been. I can play from my desktop and do 35 tables pretty well, which is about 10 more than I'm comfortable doing on my laptop for an extended period (I do 25 and in the last 10-15minutes I load up to 32, and maintain that number until I've loaded for 2 solid hours). I'm a volume whore when I play a session.
So if I 32-35 table from my desktop for several hours the next several days I could wipe this prop bet out and make more decisions about where I'm headed. Even with 300 games per day I'm looking at the next 7 straight days. Not terribly excited about that at all. It might be more bearable if I just do it while doing a movie marathons or something. 25-table drone it for 7 movies a day or something.
It would be a sweet note to finish on if I make my number and sippin doesn't. Gonna grab some sleep and hopefully be up in time to get a session in early afternoon. I'm excited about this game I stumbled on yesterday, Borderlands. It drops tomorrow and I've been looking for an RPG but have been loving FPS lately. I'm looking forward to playing it, hopefully this weekend if I can go out and get it tomorrow.
I haven't done a ton of volume since the rebuild attempt, but things are bound to pick up by the weekend at the latest. It's only Tuesday and Monday we went out and shopped a bit. I need to crush Christmas shopping soon so it doesn't sneak up on me like it always does.
I've probably logged close to the same amount of hours at both cash and DoNs. I'm up at both already, about 5 buy-ins at cash and 6 at DoNs I think. The hourly is pretty much the same right now, but I'm only 6-tabling cash while I figure some things out. I don't see me mega tabling cash, at least 6-max, any time soon. I'm excited to battle my way through the stakes though.
As for DoNs I will certainly be glad to hit my buy-in goals for moving up. I initially said 70, but I'm doing it with 60. The variance just isn't such that I should suffer my hourly that significantly. I'm playing life-nit right now since I'm going to be semi-busto after scratching off student loans, but in reality I'm still fine. I don't mind be a little nitty right now and do things right so I can reestablish myself well; debt free.
With 60 buy-ins I'll have a little less than half the roll in play at one time, but the variance for DoNs is such that the possibility of having a 35 buy-in downswing (the "reserve" buy-ins I have while having 25 in play, but one, open another). So the likelihood of dropping 35 buy-ins consecutively without winning any, or having a run such that you lose that much more than you win, is pretty thin. And the possibility of having it in one session is basically impossible unless you tilt like a monkey, which I'm proud to say I don't do so much anymore.
Cash rules are staying very strict, as I'm still learning the game at a very basic level, but I'm still very excited to be progressing the ranks there as well. Progressing DoNs is more about securing a more certain hourly level that makes things comfortable. Progressing cash is more about learning to make money, consistently, first -- at any stake. I think climbing the ranks is just a necessity for me to achieve the skill level I desire at cash.
Despite my desire to rise the ranks in DoNs quickly, I am still feeling terribly burnt out on the entire thing. I'll be glad to get done with the prop bet volume. I'm not sure what the exact plans are for November now, but I think it involves a decent amount of cash and likely a sizable amount of DoNs. Burnout or not, I'm doing this for these next months for a reason.
What may be the best idea is to play more tables than I generally have been. I can play from my desktop and do 35 tables pretty well, which is about 10 more than I'm comfortable doing on my laptop for an extended period (I do 25 and in the last 10-15minutes I load up to 32, and maintain that number until I've loaded for 2 solid hours). I'm a volume whore when I play a session.
So if I 32-35 table from my desktop for several hours the next several days I could wipe this prop bet out and make more decisions about where I'm headed. Even with 300 games per day I'm looking at the next 7 straight days. Not terribly excited about that at all. It might be more bearable if I just do it while doing a movie marathons or something. 25-table drone it for 7 movies a day or something.
It would be a sweet note to finish on if I make my number and sippin doesn't. Gonna grab some sleep and hopefully be up in time to get a session in early afternoon. I'm excited about this game I stumbled on yesterday, Borderlands. It drops tomorrow and I've been looking for an RPG but have been loving FPS lately. I'm looking forward to playing it, hopefully this weekend if I can go out and get it tomorrow.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Challenge On
I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile. I've got some time to do it, the urge to do it, and sort of a reason to do it. I'm at a point where I want to wipe out my student loans and become debt free, and I feel like it would be a great time to rebuild in a very literal sense.
Without getting into numbers, I'm at a point where I could pay off my student loan and still be sitting with enough money that I'm comfortable with, both on hand and bankroll. So although I could just leave my roll as is, do what I'm doing, I feel like now is a great time to do a rebuilding challenge.
It gives me a chance to limit my exposure while going through a massive real life financial swing, gives me a chance to work hard on my cash game as well as my SNG game. It puts the two on an even platform, though there is much more for me to learn at cash than SNGs.
I'm leaving exactly 1k on as my online roll. It's split on to one site for cash (480) and Stars for DoNs (520). I have exactly 100 buy-ins overkill for the 5.20 DoNs and plan to move up with 70 buy-ins for each next level. For cash I'll be playing anything I have 40 buy-ins for, and be moving up with 25 for the next level, and down when I hit 20 or lower for the current level.
This puts Supernova off for a bit, but it's not a huge deal. I could still end up getting it this month if things go well. Either way I'm not concerned. I'll still lock it in for the year and I'll satisfy this month's prop bet by getting the volume I need. I'm excited to finish that up so I can focus more readily on cash.
Without getting into numbers, I'm at a point where I could pay off my student loan and still be sitting with enough money that I'm comfortable with, both on hand and bankroll. So although I could just leave my roll as is, do what I'm doing, I feel like now is a great time to do a rebuilding challenge.
It gives me a chance to limit my exposure while going through a massive real life financial swing, gives me a chance to work hard on my cash game as well as my SNG game. It puts the two on an even platform, though there is much more for me to learn at cash than SNGs.
I'm leaving exactly 1k on as my online roll. It's split on to one site for cash (480) and Stars for DoNs (520). I have exactly 100 buy-ins overkill for the 5.20 DoNs and plan to move up with 70 buy-ins for each next level. For cash I'll be playing anything I have 40 buy-ins for, and be moving up with 25 for the next level, and down when I hit 20 or lower for the current level.
This puts Supernova off for a bit, but it's not a huge deal. I could still end up getting it this month if things go well. Either way I'm not concerned. I'll still lock it in for the year and I'll satisfy this month's prop bet by getting the volume I need. I'm excited to finish that up so I can focus more readily on cash.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
To Satisfy The Cliché
I am so close, yet so far. I'm less than 1/10th remaining to achieve Supernova but it still feels so far away. I'm partly considering playing 52s again soon, I'm rolled for them as long as I'm playing superb and paying attention. I think I'm at a point where I either have to take money off and focus on rebuilding or start mastering the 50s again.
I think the key is table selection, but it hurts my games per hour significantly. But I feel the 50s generally load such that table selecting them during the week and ignoring it for the most part on the weekend may be fitting.
Played some 100NL tonight and was doing okay, but the requisite HU tilt crept up fast and I ended the session down about half a buy-in. I'm not skilled at cash by any means, and it's always a sign I'm floundering when I'm at a cash table.
Just blew another bunch in a high buy-in HU SNG. The guy was a huge fish so I sat in impulsively.
I'm gonna withdraw a bunch I guess and just get back to the basics with grinding so I can ship Nova, this prop bet, more profit. I'm going to will myself back into grind mentality later today with some review, maybe crunch some numbers and set some short term goals for the month and plan for moving up at the first of November.
Assuming I can perform well over the next 2400 games then I'll be comfortably rolled to play the 52s at the start of the November, with Nova intact. Right now I just want to get through this month on a satisfied note.
I think the key is table selection, but it hurts my games per hour significantly. But I feel the 50s generally load such that table selecting them during the week and ignoring it for the most part on the weekend may be fitting.
Played some 100NL tonight and was doing okay, but the requisite HU tilt crept up fast and I ended the session down about half a buy-in. I'm not skilled at cash by any means, and it's always a sign I'm floundering when I'm at a cash table.
Just blew another bunch in a high buy-in HU SNG. The guy was a huge fish so I sat in impulsively.
I'm gonna withdraw a bunch I guess and just get back to the basics with grinding so I can ship Nova, this prop bet, more profit. I'm going to will myself back into grind mentality later today with some review, maybe crunch some numbers and set some short term goals for the month and plan for moving up at the first of November.
Assuming I can perform well over the next 2400 games then I'll be comfortably rolled to play the 52s at the start of the November, with Nova intact. Right now I just want to get through this month on a satisfied note.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Not Playing Well
Experiencing a little bit of burnout and not playing that great the last couple sessions. Down a quarter stack of buy-ins for the $20 DoNs. Wasn't focusing a lot while playing, especially my last set last night. I felt like I was just rushing things and mostly wanting to get through the set. I should have just got some rest and played hard the next day, but I always push myself.
It wasn't a rough set emotionally really, I just wasn't focused on playing at all. I had the TV going, which has been fine most times lately, but last night I think it distracted me in a bad way.
I've been up about an hour and accomplished nothing really. Burned some minutes browsing random shit on reddit and some forums. Gonna grab some breakfast, shower, maybe review some, I dunno. I might even discuss rearranging my ongoing volume prop to a hands played prop and switch to cash. I'm feeling really burnt out with what I'm doing all of the sudden. Not poker so much, just the specific format I'm grinding. It's very monotonous.
Learning a new game would be fun, but I think it's boring without a network of players better and worse than me to communicate with to assist in growing as a player myself.
I think I'll just take a couple days and feel it out. It wouldn't be disastrous if I lost the prop bet by any means, and it may lead to bigger things for the month overall. I need some motivation, that's for sure. Right now I'm fumbling a bit, definitely lost the pace I would liked to have been on. It happens I guess.
The USD is falling before the snow. I really would prefer not being at par with them, or seeing them be much worse off. I'd like to see Stars open the floodgates for Euro accounts and establish a base in the UK. I'd strongly consider moving there.
It wasn't a rough set emotionally really, I just wasn't focused on playing at all. I had the TV going, which has been fine most times lately, but last night I think it distracted me in a bad way.
I've been up about an hour and accomplished nothing really. Burned some minutes browsing random shit on reddit and some forums. Gonna grab some breakfast, shower, maybe review some, I dunno. I might even discuss rearranging my ongoing volume prop to a hands played prop and switch to cash. I'm feeling really burnt out with what I'm doing all of the sudden. Not poker so much, just the specific format I'm grinding. It's very monotonous.
Learning a new game would be fun, but I think it's boring without a network of players better and worse than me to communicate with to assist in growing as a player myself.
I think I'll just take a couple days and feel it out. It wouldn't be disastrous if I lost the prop bet by any means, and it may lead to bigger things for the month overall. I need some motivation, that's for sure. Right now I'm fumbling a bit, definitely lost the pace I would liked to have been on. It happens I guess.
The USD is falling before the snow. I really would prefer not being at par with them, or seeing them be much worse off. I'd like to see Stars open the floodgates for Euro accounts and establish a base in the UK. I'd strongly consider moving there.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Gobble
With turkey days overtaking me, I fell a bit behind on volume but I'm still fine to finish the month well for the prop. Things continue to go well on the felt, results are there right now for sure, feeling good about my game, generally playing well when I play, of course some times I play a bit better than others.
I just finished a session and things went really well, but then a bit crappy at the end. I still had a great session overall but it could have (and was, at a point) twice as good. I'm just happy to have got at least one solid session in today. I had intended to play the entire time I was home but I found myself doing more things than I expected, which was fine.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to do 300 games just to pick up some speed. I may try to do that tomorrow as well as on Friday and Saturday. That would put me around 2800 games for the month going into the third week of October, so almost leaving two full weeks to do 1200 games. No problem. I might as well just aim for 5k.
Doing 5k games this month would really set a precedent for doing at least that next month and doing a minimum of 4k in December, which would be great as far as volume is concerned. I'm not sure where that puts me with regards to overall VPPs for the year. I'm going to be figuring shit out more at the end of this month, deciding if I want to take another shot at the 50s again or what's going to happen there.
So the goal is 5k. I'd be so pleased with 5k for this month, because at this point I don't feel overwhelmed. We'll see how things go.
I got my first star on Sharkscope a few days ago. I'm starting to climb the ladder of the total profit leaderboard for the $20 DoNs. I may end up blocking off my Sharkscope if I feel it draws negative attention, but at this point I haven't noticed anything. If I decide to leave it unblocked I'd like to get a gold star by the end of the year, then aim for a diamond/crystal/whatever next year in something.
Still just enjoying the time I'm having right now doing this.
I just finished a session and things went really well, but then a bit crappy at the end. I still had a great session overall but it could have (and was, at a point) twice as good. I'm just happy to have got at least one solid session in today. I had intended to play the entire time I was home but I found myself doing more things than I expected, which was fine.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to do 300 games just to pick up some speed. I may try to do that tomorrow as well as on Friday and Saturday. That would put me around 2800 games for the month going into the third week of October, so almost leaving two full weeks to do 1200 games. No problem. I might as well just aim for 5k.
Doing 5k games this month would really set a precedent for doing at least that next month and doing a minimum of 4k in December, which would be great as far as volume is concerned. I'm not sure where that puts me with regards to overall VPPs for the year. I'm going to be figuring shit out more at the end of this month, deciding if I want to take another shot at the 50s again or what's going to happen there.
So the goal is 5k. I'd be so pleased with 5k for this month, because at this point I don't feel overwhelmed. We'll see how things go.
I got my first star on Sharkscope a few days ago. I'm starting to climb the ladder of the total profit leaderboard for the $20 DoNs. I may end up blocking off my Sharkscope if I feel it draws negative attention, but at this point I haven't noticed anything. If I decide to leave it unblocked I'd like to get a gold star by the end of the year, then aim for a diamond/crystal/whatever next year in something.
Still just enjoying the time I'm having right now doing this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
