Mistakes, We All Make Them

Minimizing the results of those mistakes is the key; hence my next move in life. Two years ago (Jesus Christ, really? Two years?) I started university. It wasn't for me at the time; I made the mistake of not withdrawing and working. Instead I decided that a freeroll at any university of my choice wasn't good enough; so I basically lost most of my student loan playing "poker" (trust me, I wasn't playing anything other than craps back then). Now I'm at a point where I'm out of that initial hole I dug, steadily in the black, a very much improved player. All good, now it's time to become a great player.

I'm not ready to play $25NL, it's just not time. I don't need to, either. This job seems like a place I'm not going to mind settling into for a year, so I don't have to try and sustain myself playing poker. The wages aren't that great, but we're guaranteed a raise every 910 hours, the benefits are good, overtime is encouraged, overtime and holiday pay is payed if you're working a holiday that Americans don't have (we take inbound calls from Americans, obviously), the opportunity for advancement seems ample, and it's not far from home.

Beating $10NL is something I've proved I can do. Over 45k hands I beat it; I didn't slaughter it, but I beat it. I'm not impressed with my winrate whatsoever. I beat $10NL for 2.34 PTBB/100 over 44,457 hands. That's way too low for that level. It proves what I'd assumed in the back of my mind all along, that I'm a much improved player, but definitely not where I can be. Tournaments, too, I've proven I can beat longterm; again, I didn't slaughter anything over a large sample, but I know with some work I could hang with the rest of them. But that's not my interest, I want to play cash games exclusively. It's where all the perks of poker that I aspire for really come from; the "fame" and ego trip that comes with tournament poker isn't something that appeals to my tastes.

So, what now? I've withdrawn some cash from Stars and left myself with 30 buyins for $10NL, which is more than enough to be playing that level. I'm not going to be playing yet though. I spent money on CardRunners for a reason and there was a reason I played better initially after purchasing the subscription; I was using it. Now, I watch maybe 1-2 videos a week. It's just pointless, there's so much information for me to devour there and instead I'm trying to play and finding myself asking questions I can't answer, and I can't answer them because I haven't learned enough about the game. So now, now I have to crush, slaughter, demolish $10NL over a steady sample.

I'm stockpiling information sources other than CardRunners and books as well; valuable little articles/posts I'm coming across on 2+2. Rather than posting hands for discussion, I'm going to reply more. I won't be posting as I won't be playing any hands to post. This will continue at least until the end of the month. I've made Silverstar for the month, so I'm sustained through until the end of September for that which is satisfying. That leaves 10 days of pure study. Not only will that add to my game play it will also give me a break from the tables. I'm just not feeling it lately so there's no point being at the tables bleeding money.

From what I've thrown together so far for reading materials it looks as though I'll be fairly busy with that alone. At some point in the midst of this study time I'll begin taking my new found knowledge and begin reviewing hands histories from all of my old sessions, seeing what I would change where.

With all of that, I don't know if I'll be updating here much. If I do it will most likely be oriented towards work and/or other daily occurrences outside of poker. One thing that I may do that would most likely be quite beneficial to myself in the long run is pick various topics to create articles on and post those here as I'm studying. I'm also trying to throw an idea around of starting a very small business, mostly as a time sink and to prove to myself that I can do it. I've got a few ideas floating around in my head... actually there's probably too much floating around up there, that's probably a part of the problem.

Uhm, Nah

65 SNGs a day is just too much working 40 hours a week, I can't sustain it so there's no point trying any further. If I had the roll to play the $16 turbos then it may be possible, but it's just not happening at the $6.50s, I can't play over 800 SNGs in 12 days. Too tough mentally and time constraints won't assist in that.

So that basically leaves me goalless for the end of the month. I really want Goldstar, but unfortunately it just doesn't seem attainable this month. I'm about 1000 FPP away from being able to play a sat to the Sunday Mill; it'd be great if I were to win that, I'd sell the $T and pad my roll more for $25NL. Right now I'm barely in my comfort zone for it. I'm not dangerously low, but I'm a huge nit with my roll.

Anyways I think I'm just gonna peck away at some cash games for a bit, watch Big Brother and probably sleep. I have to work 6-2am Wed. through Friday this week, so that's unfortunate. That will also be my full time shift once we get out of training... very, very disappointing, but we'll have another shift bid in November so hopefully I can pump out high performance and keep my attendance perfect and get a decent bid ranking.

Unrelenting Hunger

So I played a bit tonight, but I also did other stuff, which is good. I only played 4 tables and I finally started to dig out of my previously created hole; better a hole than a crater, regardless. I noticed I'm just about 1000 SNGs away ($6.50 of course) away from Goldstar status. That's 63 SNGs a day from tomorrow until the end of the month. With the fact that I don't do much else at home every night other than play poker, I can't think of a reason -not- to go for it, especially considering SNGs are pretty second nature to me, and although I may miss a spot here and there I think I'm longterm profitable.

However. I've got just over 100BI and if I were to lose a major portion of that roll then I'd be unable to continue with my $25N adventure. That would be upsetting because I don't want to bring in external funds to continue this endeavor at this point, considering everything I'm working with (including my training site subscriptions) are all payed for by Poker. I wouldn't be completely torn if I lost it, it IS replaceable. I guess the weighing factor would be if I think Goldstar is worth the slight risk that I could lose a large portion of my roll.

Then again, on the other spectrum, do I think that I could go broke playing 1000 SNGs? I don't think I could run and play that bad that long without smartening out of it. So in that regard, yeah, I think I could definitely get 1000 SNGs by the end of the month.... having Goldstar would work wonders on next month's FPP collection. I'm really itching to get involved in the 5400 FPP sats to the Sunday Mill.

This will give me something to crunch over work tomorrow. For some reason my day goes by so much faster when I'm crunching numbers about poker, it's weird. Fortunately (I think), classroom training will be coming to an end at the end of next week, then we have our OJT week, then I'm on to a regular schedule situation. In fact we do our shift bids tomorrow... man I really hope I don't get stuck with a really shitty shift and have to miss the trip to Halifax.

Blur

Okay, I lost my mindset with this new job and things aren't feeling like they're clicking; thus I'm deciding to do two things. A break is in order; I'll allow myself to watch videos and critique on 2+2, but I won't be playing much/any (haven't decided, depends I guess). I've played My first couple thousand hands at $25NL and I'm down a bit over 3 buyins, not a big deal at all but I'm findings spots where I'm just uncomfortable with my thought process. I want to become more comfortable with that.

The other thing is, I think the $10NL 100k hands goal has met its demise. It's just not lucrative for me to do while working 40 hours a week; I could muster more barely beating $25NL. Plus with a steady income I'll be able to afford myself to play at a limit that can actually offer a side income; when I become good enough. I'm definitely not in a comfort zone bankroll wise, personally, but by recommended standards I'm very safe. With more work I hope to be killing the game.

I may also decide to play some PLO in this time frame. Basically what I want to do is tinker with my game, but not to the point that it feels like work. I have a job right now, poker can't feel that way too. Watching videos and logging short sessions doesn't feel like work, so that's what I'll concentrate on. I'm still just getting into this routine, I've been out of the "have to do this and this and this" loop for 5 months! The funny part is that all I can focus on is "I can't wait until I can be on another hiatus". That point will come when my game hits a new level.

Think I have to start blogging more frequently too. It's taking a lot out of me, in a sense, not having hardly any human contact after work every night. It's awkward, and I'd enjoy it more if I could focus on things at hand that I wish to get at. Meh... things will swing around just yet and I'll find my comfort zone with this new endeavor while still feeding my true cause.

I know where I want to be this time next year. I think I'm going to do an entry of nothing but goals soon. I think that would be an appropriate place for me to begin processing my thoughts.

I'm Not Paralyzed But I Seem To Be Struck By You

I didn't get to play any hands yesterday because I ended up doing stuff pretty much all day, then it was New Brunswick day so we went to the parade and fireworks and that killed the day. I'll probably get some in later tonight but I think I'm gonna play some live heads up with a buddy of mine for a bit of fun.

So far in my complete database I have 37k hands logged. That means if I hit 3k today, I still made my goal for the week. I wanted to double my database which will be complete in 3k hands. I may/may not post a graph and talk about my stats at 50k hands, I haven't decided. The goal after this one is 2k a day, 5k on the weekends I'm in the city, and probably 2k or none when I go to visit Tiff back home. So from now until the end of August I hope to be at 88k hands minimum. I really, really want to be at 100k by the end of the month but if it takes me another part of a week that's fine.

If my stats look nice after that and I feel comfortable moving up I may take a few days off before doing so; really reviewing somebody else's hands and post heavily in the forums, so not so much as a break as a long learning session. Can't wait to get at that either.

Not much else to say other than that really. I start training for work tomorrow, 11-7 I think, so that leaves plenty of time to log lots of hands, which I why I think I can do more than 2k a day even during the week, thus making me think I'll hit my 100k goal by the end of August. Here's hoping!

It's Just A Matter Of Time Before The Steady Hate Starts To Overflow

I only logged 2k hands yesterday because we went to some dance last night that sucked and then just chilled at my parents place with a couple friends from high school. It was alright and I'm still on track with 3k hands a day as I've logged an extra 1k hand this week so far, so it should all even out; 6k hands more to go.

I'm really excited to see how I'm looking overall after adding all of these hands to one database and really getting a feel for where I'm at this far. I basically broke even yesterday over those 2k hands so nothing special there really.

As I mentioned I've been posting a lot more on 2+2 and some on the CR forums and I'm finding that's another enjoyable aspect of improving my cash game. I'm just feeling like I really enjoy cash games far more than tournament poker right now; which is really a positive thing because cash games are far more lucrative in the long run. Even if I were to stop advancing levels and began playing exclusively at one level, the ceiling that you run into with tournaments still isn't as brutal by staying at one level. With tournaments you can only crush the biggest levels (basically the $100-$200 range) and then that's mostly it. There's not far left to go online with tournaments after that, other than the various $1k buyin events that come up at times, or the $10k HU tournament that Stars now run (and you can imagine how much dead money is in that tournament).

I woke up early so I could get into a session but I've been crawling the forums and looking over some hands of my own so far, and now writing this. I think I better get a session in soon though 'cause the weather is looking good and today is my last day with the pool for a while probably; job starts Tuesday and I'll be in the city a lot more on the weekends now.

The Calm Before The Storm

So I ran ridiculously hot yesterday and wish I could say the same for today, but I can't. My play, although far from perfect, seems fine. I'm really falling into a few cooler situations; flopping trips and being out kicked, etc. Not a big deal, I feel I'm playing well and that this is just the other side of the game kicking in a bit. Not too worried, still got too many hands left to log to worry about where I stand.

I think I'm done playing for the night, logged over 3700 hands today. Three days left of my 3k a day goal but if I start feeling burnt out at all I'm gonna cut back. So far I'm not feeling tiresome with the play at all and every decision seems to be being made on various levels which I feel is key. I noticed I made a couple good calls in some spots in my last session. Maybe I'll start posting some hands here that I feel are worthy of some discussion. I've been posting a lot more on the 2+2 micro NL forum also.

At 50k hands I may post a graph of my progress so far. That would be some time next weekend I'd imagine. I initially set my goal at having 100k hands by the end of September but in all honesty I'd really like to have them by the end of August, but that's pushing it to the limit for real, especially with me starting a job Tuesday. Assuming I played it light this week and hit, say, 55k by next Sunday. That's 45k hands to log in three weeks, or roughly 2200 hands a day. That's tough jam. Although it may be easier than it sounds because on weekends I can see myself logging 5k hands in a day if I stay in the city, simply because there won't be much else for me to do unless I'm going out or something.

So if I could do 10k a weekend for those 3 weeks, that's only 10k that I actually need to get in the weeks. I think 100k hands is quite attainable by the end of August... that would be so clutch. I'm just so ecstatic to get to that point, I don't know why. I feel like I have something to prove to myself more than anything. Every time I type about getting the 100k hands I feel motivated to play another session. So strange.

Unrelenting Mannerisms

I've decided that the 100 HU SNG goal isn't for me; at least not right now. I've played 50 at the $5 regular level and although I'm slightly in the black, I'm not enjoying it at all. This is coming from that fact I know my game is very leaky and it's only a matter of time before that catches up to me, so before it does, I admit defeat. I'm gonna dig into as much HU SNG information that I can around CR and PXF, along with the 2+2 forums.

As for $10NL things are going very, very well right now. I'm overachieving on my 3k hands a day so far, with four days left to go. I ran so incredibly hot today it's unreal. I can't wait to see where I'm at with 50k hands; I think I'm at about 30k considering what I've got here and what's in my master database on my PC. I'll combine the two when I get back. The thing that is making me the most excited is that I think I'll be well over-rolled for $25NL before I break my 100k hands goal, which means I'll be ready to move up as soon as I finish this goal, which basically in and of itself creates another goal.

From watching where my VPPs are at so far this month, this being only the second day of play into the month, I think I'll be sustaining Silverstar just with my goal at $10NL, which means I shouldn't have to play any SNGs this month. However, if I come within even 2k VPPs of Goldstar by the 20th of August, it would only be 56 $6.50 SNGs a day for twelve days to get Goldstar. That's quite tempting also, considering I'll hopefully be progressing to $25NL soon thereafter which would in turn mean more FPPs and more shots at the $5400 Sunday Mill SNG Sats. Those babys are a pretty huge boost for a low bankroll.

I've started posting hands for discussion at 2+2 and CR forums; I don't feel P5s is worth posting shit on because it's infested beyond repair at this point.

I sort of feel like playing more but I know I'm way too tired so I'm not gonna bother. I'd watch some videos if I had some headphones... maybe I'll look around for some good HU SNG articles or threads somewhere.

Goals Almighty

I've decided I want to start another set of goals, that being logging 100 of each $5 regular and $6 turbo HU SNGs. I've got a start on the $5s already so I'll do those first. This will be a good thing I can shoot around with when I don't have time to do table selection, etc. and get into a cash game session. I've always wanted to get good at HU SNGs because I feel they're a potentially easy way to show profit.

I don't think 100 is much of a sample size at all but it will give me a general idea of whether I like the turbos or regulars more. Anyways thought I'd throw that out there.

Thoroughly Evaluated Flop Textures

Played a couple good sessions so far today. Weather is nice but not great so I didn't bother taking time out to swim. I've played 2700 hands so far today, so I'll definitely hit 3k today and make up for what I didn't play yesterday. I'm not even feeling tired of it, which is something I could never say about SNGs after playing so many in one day. I really enjoy the various differences that come with cash games. I haven't experienced any real downswings yet I don't think, but I can't say for sure because my experience with cash games is still very limited, so I don't even know what a bad downswing may resemble yet with my playing style at these levels.

I'm thinking that if tonight is as dead as last night was then I'll probably end up logging over 5k hands today just out of sheer lack of something else to do; which isn't bad because I feel I'm playing fairly well and the games are very soft so far today.

I do somewhat wish I had brought my PS2 with me though... I didn't realize I'd be logging this many hands so fast, another time filler may have been a good plan for the evenings when there's not much to do and I don't feel much like playing. Ooh, maybe I'll pick up some game to play for a bit on here, some RPG or something maybe. Meh, we'll see.

Getting really hungry so I'm gonna go forage now. Oh neat, just broke 15k hands on this database alone; That means my entire DB when compiled together will probably be over 25k at this point, or 1/4 of my goal. Nice! Can't wait to see what my stats are as a whole after this week when I move back to the apartment. Really excited to see what sort of stats I'll have over 50k hands.

Limber Ways Of Remaining Obvious

These titles are just so fucking dumb now.

So I ended up decided I'd like to try to get 20k hands this week. That would work out to 3k hands per day from today up to and including Monday. I was 50 hands shy tonight, but I also played 60 SNGs, so I'm pretty sure I can manage 3k a day as long as I feel like playing poker. The 3k hands went really well also. I won't be updating my overall stats until either 40 or 50k hands. I'm leaning towards 50k release here because that way I'm halfway to the goal and at what I'd consider a minimum of assessing my actual results.

Tomorrow I'll definitely get 3k hands, and I feel that Thursday I may be able to get in up to 5k possibly, depending. I'd somewhat like to get up early and see how the European players are at that hour during the week. I played some around that time Saturday morning, so still Friday evening their time, and the play was absolutely atrocious. Definitely a profitable time of the week to play.