SNE Prep: 10 hours before the end of 2007!

I was only able to put in 5 hours yesterday, and the session went extremely well.

Despite the 2 biggest hands of the day being bad beats or coolers, I ended the day with a very nice profit.

I had Q9s vs ATs on a Q9x board. ATs was played by a reg, who absolutely butchered the hand. It was 3-way on the flop. Random donk lead out about 25 into a 40$ pot. Reg calls, I raise it to about 125 with my top 2. Donk folds, and Reg just pushes his bare A high flush draw. I was about 66% to win when the money went in, but he caught his flush and won the 850$ pot. If anything, this hand gives me more confidence that the 400$ games are more beatable than I originally thought.

I played EXCELLENT poker yesterday. If I could keep playing that well for all of 2008, I will be a very rich man by the end of the year. I didn't skip a beat. Layed down my overpairs at the perfect times. Took down many more uncontested small pots than usual. My attempt to steal was about 42% by the end of the day, which is great for FR tables. What a great day.

I will be playing about 10 more hours of poker before the new year, and I am already significantly ahead of my year-end goal. Barring a massive downswing over the next day, I would say that this year has been a great success.

SNE Prep: Still doing great

I'm maintaining a great income with my SNE training. Today, I reached my secondary goal for the year, and hopefully will be able to pass it even further by the end of the year.

I've put in 8 hours per day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Today, bringing me to 24 for the week, despite the 3-day Christmas break. I plan on doing a session tomorrow and Sunday, and taking New Years Eve off.

I've got about 70k hands of 18-tabling now, and if my results continue like this, I could make upwards of 200k next year. For now, I am going to set this as my goal, but I may modify it at the end of January.

Adjusting to the schedule is getting easier every day. It really isn't very difficult to put in 8 hours worth of poker if you divide it into 4 2-hour sessions. I've also been maintaining a decent little floor exercise routine that I do after each session, so I'm getting healthier as well.


Sophy is getting noticeably bigger and more aware of her surroundings every day. We've really started to connect this week, and I am getting much better at keeping her calm and occupied when Mary is busy or tired.

Life is going pretty well :)

SNE Prep: Running Well

Had a very solid day today. A total of 8.5 hours and 9.2k hands. Nearly 5000 vpps for the day.

I played much more 200NL tables instead of 100s, in an attempt to up my VPP rate. After an hour of my last session, I didn't have a single 100 table up. If the current results continue, I will probably make the move to 200NL+ by Jan 1.

Still extremely excited about SNE. I have to keep myself in check, because generally when I get a surge of motivation like this, it only lasts a month before some serious burnout. Not allowing myself to exceed 9 hours in a day.

Looking over my 2007 results, I've fallen about 15% short of my goal for this year. Considering the ridiculous number of life-changing events that have occurred in my life this year, I don't feel very bad about missing my target. I've probably matured more in this past year than any other. It's amazing how suddenly your adult instincts kick in after having a baby.

Gonna be trying for a few more of these days before the end of the year :)

Bah, Humbug

Christmas is absolutely insane.

I am about to go to my 5th (of 6) Christmas gatherings. I'm more enthusiastic about getting back to my SNE training schedule than I am about presents.

I've been reading up on the forums occasionally the past few days, and it looks like there may be some good changes to the SNE program in 2008. Looking forward to any news on the updates.

In my preparation for SNE, I didn't take the (rare) double VPP days into account. Just estimating here, but if there are 2 double VPP days in 2008, I should be able to get in ~15-20 hours within the 24h period. That would amount to ~4% of the yearly goal taken care of in 2 exhausting days.

Back to training tomorrow - and starting the real thing in less than a week!

Let us gogogogogo!

SNE Prep: Stars is one rough game.

I put in 8 hours on Thursday, and another 9 hours on Friday. Bringing my week total to 36hrs. I'll probably have a bit more time tomorrow to keep up the routine and bring myself above 40h for the week. A total of 41k hands. I started the challenge off very strong, but the deck has been against me the past couple days. Currently at 1.68bb/100. I'd really like to be around 3-4, and probably will be when the deck starts working a little better in my favor. After the FPPs and the bonus I cashed in, it will be a pretty solid week.

I am pretty sure I will need to take Sunday -> Tuesday off as well. Christmas is on its way...

I am currently at a measly 163k VPPs for the year. This leaves me 37k VPPs away from the milestone bonus. Including Saturday, I have 6 more working days before the end of the year. At 500vpps/hr, it would take 74 hours worth of work to finish. About 13 hours per day average... No.

Something along the lines of 40 more hours by the end of the year sounds more reasonable. It wont be enough for a milestone, but it will be enough to get me another big bonus.

So this week is not over yet, and I have accumulated 20k VPPs. If I repeat this week all next year, I would reach my goal. This week really wasn't hard either. I am more confident that I'll be able to pull it off.

Now, a moment of silence as we all pray for my doomswitch to be lifted.

Later.

Pretty sick hand from tonight

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1835498

Either the guy with 22 read my soul, or he played it real bad.

Oh well, all 20 outs whiffed.

SNE Prep: Lost a little momentum, still diong well

I was only able to get 5 hours in yesterday. It still added up to about 6k hands, but I was intending on putting in 10 hours to make up for the 2 I missed on Tuesday. So far, my preparation for the SNE challenge has consisted of:

Monday: 8 hrs
Tuesday: 6 hrs
Wednesday: 5 hrs

...for a total of just over 21K hands.

I'm probably going to have to figure out a more efficient system. I should be pulling in hands at a rate of 40k/week every week if I want to reach SNE next year. Ideally, I would like to put in 50k/week to give myself some room for emergencies, vacation, etc. To reach this, I'd need to put in something like 45 hours, which should be very doable. If all goes according to plan, I could have Sat/Sun free, which should hopefully be enough.

I'm still anticipating some major burnout, loss of motivation, maybe even depression before this thing is over. When it comes down to it, I put in about 1200 hours in 2007, and I didn't even push myself very hard. I fully think I'm capable of pulling this off.

When this crazy Christmas season is over, it will be much easier to find time to put in those hours. Christmas has become a ridiculous monstrosity, and having a baby makes everything 10x more hectic.

We are having 4 Christmases this year. 4. We might as well convert to Judaism with my sister and do the Hanukkah thing.

Sophy is doing better about falling asleep for longer periods of time at night. We had to start doing it the hard way and letting her cry it out (when there was nothing actually wrong).

That's it for me today. Will probably be able to sneak ~4-6 hours in after Christmas shopping.

BODOG: Letting the cat out of the bag.

Well, I kept this secret mostly to myself throughout the year. Now that Bodog has decided to willingly screw up their software, lose their PT support, and randomly crash while I'm in a hand - I have decided to leave the site.

The information included in this post could be used by many of you new grinders to increase your $/hr in a very big way. Of my close friends who I let in on this little secret, ALL of them saw an extreme increase in their earn over a large sample.

For those of you who play 8+ tables and are reliant on HUDs, this probably won't effect you very much.

**Bodog has the absolute best table selection at mid-high stakes that I have ever seen.**


Over a sample of ~400k hands on PokerStars 100NL(mostly) and 200NL, my earn was about 3.2ptbb/100. Pretty decent considering the toughness of the tables.

My 109k hand sample at Bodog showed returns of a whopping 7.1ptbb/100. This win-rate is pretty much unheard of for long term FR players. About 60% of my play was at 200NL and the rest was played higher. I even played a few thousand hands at 1000NL, which went very well. The 200NL game on Bodog plays like the 50NL tables on PokerStars. That is how extreme the difference is.





For most of you multi-tabling grinders, this wont make a difference. If you can 12+ table for 2+ptbbs, you're better off staying where you are.

For the mid-level players who aren't pulling a great win rate, or don't play very many tables (or for all of the tuff_fish's out there) There is absolutely no reason for you to stay with Stars/FTP. Non-Americans would probably have the same result with iPoker, Boss, etc. Even if you can't get rakeback on the smaller sites, in the long run it will probably be worth it for you to make the move.

I wish someone had given me this advice around the time of the UIGEA. My bankroll would be much bigger right now.

18-tabling aint so hard...

Well, I was planning on doing 18 tables, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week until the end of the year (excluding chrismas/eve).

The way that has worked best for me has been to limit every session to 2 hours, and give myself a mandatory 1-hour break in between each one. With this system, each session pretty much flies by. I was only able to put in 3 sessions yesterday though, as Sophy was especially needy and by the time all of my other obligations were taken care of, it was 11pm. I still got about 6.5k hands in, but I plan on making up for the lost session today, by extending each session to 2.5hours.

Not sure if I will be releasing graphs or results in actual $ amounts yet. If I continue with the SNE challenge I will definitely be updating VPPs and hands though. I may even write a little graphical web page script to make my progress easier to follow.

Goals for the day:
1) 4 separate 2.5hour sessions of 18-tabling. Estimated 11k hands (new personal record)
2) Generate lifetime Bodog graph and do a spoiler/writeup on the site. Those of you who have been milking that site will hate me.
3) Continue healthy living schedule in between sessions/obligations.


I am currently just under 150k total VPPs for the year. I may not be able to reach the 200k milestone by Jan 1, but I'm sure as hell going to try.

Supernova Elite - Considering taking the challenge

After Bodog got rid of PT support and screwed their software up something awful, I have made PokerStars my primary site.

I've been 18-tabling NL100-NL400, and it really hasn't been very difficult. The swings are a bit more crazy due to my lower win-rate, but the mass amount of FPPs accumulated helps to keep the edge off.

I accumulate ~500VPPs and >1000 hands per hour at my current rate. To reach SNE, I will need to put in a full 2000hr work year.

Considering my newborn baby girl is still extremely demanding, this will be a very challenging feat.

The end of December will be my testing period for whether or not I want to seriously pursue the SNE status. Will continue updating as my progress continues.

Bodog updates, dogwatcher worthless, exploring options

Well, Bodog is officially forcing everyone to update to their new crappy software. Unfortunately, the only handgrabber available has basically been discontinued for the last 1/2 year, and it seems unlikely that they will have an update in the near future.

So without hand histories, HUDs, rakeback, or tolerable software, it is time for me to say goodbye to Bodog. Since I wont be playing there any longer, I think I might include my lifetime Bodog graph in another post, just to show how profitable it was in its prime.



As usual, I'll have PokerStars to fall back on. They are easily the most reputable, have the highest traffic, and a very solid VPP program. The games are really rough, but I have ~1/2mil hands there as a solid winner, so I'm not concerned. Plus the recent ability to 18-table has been pretty sweet.

Sophy is nearly 2 weeks old now... This parenting thing is much easier than I expected... Nothing exciting aside from an endless wave of soiled diapers and the occasional diaper-change-while-multi-tabling.


I have also applied to prop at a couple of smaller poker sites. They don't support HUDs or PT either, but if I'm being paid 100%+ rakeback, I don't really care.

Lifetime Bodog graph, and propping updates to follow!

Picked up a decent domain...

I was just fooling around with my web hosting service the other day, trying to think of a good .com to put this blog on. After randomly typing in a handful of names that had already been taken, I stumbled upon www.pokertechie.com, which I now own :)

My first child, Sophy Jade Wallace, was born on Nov. 29th, and I'm still adapting to a regular poker schedule as a parent. I just recently learned that it IS possible to 12-table and change a diaper simultaneously. I wouldn't suggest trying unless you have to...but it can be done.

Yesterday, I also 18-tabled for the first time ever. It was surprisingly easy, and the results were definitely worth the effort. I had been keeping away from PokerStars for the most part lately, mostly because the tables are not nearly as exploitable as many other sites out there... Fortunately, I can still beat the stars 100 and 200NL for 2+ptbb/100 very reliably. I haven't checked my overall stats on stars for the year, but if my memory serves me correctly, I should be at either 2.7 or 3.7ptbb/100 over about 300k+ hands.

That's about it for today.

Taking Shots and Moving Up...

My mindset about bankroll management, game level difficulty, etc. has changed dramatically since I started this blog. I was much more rigid about my game level, which really does not make much sense. The way I see it, there are 3 types of people when it comes to bankroll management.

1) Fish - Despite the fact that they only have a few 100$s in their account, they're willing to put it all on the line if they're running hot, or if the planets have aligned that day, or whatever. This is obviously the least effective and will always result in a big fat BUSTO.

2) Grinders (Nits) - This is where most of the longer-term winning players online would fall into. The players who set very rigid (and pretty much counter-effective) rules for themselves, such as - "I must have at least 25 buyins for my current level before I will move up in stakes." As if moving up in stakes was some huge feat that requires a magical bankroll number to accomplish. It really isn't, and this kind of mindset really holds back players who are otherwise strategically sound. For mediocre players (1-2ptbb/100 winners) this is a good mindset, as their downswings are generally worse. For a player who is winning 3ptbb+, this will only hold you back. I fell under this category for a long time.

3) Assertive Risk-Takers - I see this type of player as the type who has some bankroll guidelines, much like category 2. The difference is that this player knows when and how to make an exception. What is the difference between NL200 and NL400? Or NL400 and NL1000? Theoretically, there should be a higher concentration of better players at the higher stakes tables. Unfortunately, most players tend to build themselves a glass-ceiling and think that they cannot beat the games above xxx$. This type of player can identify a profitable table regardless of the stakes, and take an educated risk depending on their current bankroll and the quality of the table. I would classify myself under this category now.


For example - Say you have a regular NL200 player with a bankroll of just over 10,000$. This is quite common among the better regulars at this level. Such a player will rarely look too far above the NL200 level, maybe sitting at NL400 occasionally when the table is good. This player will rarely even look at the tables above this level, because the risk is too high.

If this NL200 regular were to keep an eye on the 1000$ buyin tables, however, he would eventually see a table that is just so juicy that the risk is worth the expected value of sitting. Believe it or not, there are some mega-fish who play at the higher stakes too, and by not even considering the higher stakes as an option, the winning player is limiting his own growth. Of course, putting more than 10% of your bankroll at risk at any one time is probably out of the question, aside from extreme circumstances. Strong winning players usually have much more than 20x the bankroll of the current stakes they are playing, allowing them to fairly safely take shots at at least 2x their regular stakes.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is - winning players should always keep an eye on the tables that they generally wouldn't consider playing. You never know when that 80/20 mega-fish is going to sit at 4x your normal stakes and donate to everybody at the table.

Screw Adsense

After my last post, all of my Adsense ads turned into "predicting pregnancy" and "Lose Weight Quick!"...

Well screw that. Adsense is a nice little tool for people looking for a quick buck. But a quick buck is not nearly enough to entice a long-term winning poker player into fouling up their blog.

Goodbye Adsense. Your BS is not worth a few cents per click.

It is already October...

After 2 record months in a row, I'm finally beginning to slow down and focus on things of higher importance (namely, the fiance, baby, and everything else involved)

I know I'm terrible at updating my blog, I've come to terms with this.

I attribute at least 50% of my winnings from the past 2 months to the fact that I've finally grown some real cajones and started taking some shots. I've been playing 1kNL basically every time I know I'm far ahead of the field. I devote every Sunday to major MTTs, which I give a very concentrated effort to. And I've finally started expanding my game beyond the ridiculous 9+ table grind that I've become so accustomed to.

To all of you low limit grinders out there - take more shots. Keep an eye on those higher level tables and sit down whenever you know you are ahead of the other players. You are robbing yourself if you let fear keep you away.

Sure I may have run like God the last couple months, but if I hadn't taken shots, my incredible run would have resulted in 1/5th the winnings I experienced.

I'll start including more in-depth strategy and more thoughts on individual hands once I make blogging a regular part of my life again. Quite frankly, I make no promises on that.

Sophy Jade Wallace is due to be born within 2 months now, and there are many more things that demand my attention. I regularly notice my barren blog, and wish I kept up with it...one of these days it will become a more prominent part of my life.


Until then - This 6-figure poker pro will keep his insights and strategies to himself!

Peace out bitches ;)

Update - I Win a Donkament!

Actually, I got 3rd... But it still feels like a win to me.

August was going to be the best month of poker I ever had, and then it got better!

With the advice of my friend Bojazi, I decided to turn last Sunday into a tournament day. I entered a few 180man tourneys on Stars, the 11+1R on Stars, and the 100$ 100k guaranteed on Bodog.

After busting out early in all of the Stars tournaments, I was pretty POed. But I still had a decent stack in the 100k, so I kept with it and kept focusing. I got close, and had a few lucky hands along the way, but I finally hit the final table.

I played amazingly on that final table. Stole and re-stole blinds at the perfect times. The cards didn't even really matter (I think the best hand I had during the whole final table was AQs).
By the time it got down to 3 players, I was 2nd in chips. I believe the chipcount was about 1mil/700k/350k. I still support every move I made during the final 3.
I got it all in with 99 vs the shortstacks' JTo, and he doubled up, leaving me with only 300k chips. I then went all in with 99 vs the chip leaders 79s. A 9 flopped, but after the turn and river, there was a 5flush on the board - leaving us with a split. One final all in with my A9o vs A7o chipleader. There was a 7 on the flop, and that was the game.

I still wonder what it would have been like if I came out ahead in any of those 3 dominating situations, but I am still very happy with the 9000$ prize for 3rd I received. By far my biggest score.

I ended August as a record month, with nearly 23k in total winnings. It came in perfect time too - as the baby is due in less than 3 months. A friend of the family is selling us his used 2002 Highlander, and this easily covers it.



As for today - September started with a huge BANG. Despite losing the 2nd biggest hand of my life with KK vs AA, double stacked at the NL400 table - I still ended the day at +500, and +94 from both of the stars weekly freerolls.

Also today, I hit my 2nd 1-outer ever.
55 vs KK - Board - AK557

So I am extremely excited about August, and this upcoming September. If I continue to reach my goals, I will have a record breaking year. Updates to follow!

I once had a blog...

Every now and then over the past half-year, I would come back to check on my blog. I still cringe every time I look at it. I really was proud of this blog when I was keeping up with it and posting on a regular basis. Even 15 minutes per day would have been enough to maintain it... I certainly had other priorities, but I could have found 15 minutes in a day to check my blog occasionally.

Long story short... In the past half-year, I've:

1) Lost my best friend, Patrick Blandford (21 years old), in a car accident.
2) Dealt with numerous serious family issues
3) Got my girlfriend pregnant - there is a long back story to this, which I think I'll write about and possibly post.
4) Been convicted of a Class-A misdemeanor and had a warrant out for my arrest because I got the ticket in December of '05 and nobody ever bothered to send me a letter with my court date. My first court date was apparently supposed to be about 7 months after I received the ticket.
5) Paid a lawyer WAY too much money to reduce my charges from 6-months suspended license to a 1 year probation period with random drug tests.
6) "Manned up" and eventually became OK with the fact that I am going to be a father.
7) Have been preparing for the baby, which is due November 21st.

All of these serious issues have been resolved or dealt-with at this point, and I finally have the time to expand a bit, and continue the blog that I let be forgotten.

If I keep blogging consistently for a month or so, I think I'll continue working with my other blogs about Internet Marketing, and raising a Chocolate Lab. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it though.

So if you happen to come across this blog and used to be a reader - check back in a day or two. You should see some bomb-ass poker tips from a long-term grinder.

Returned from Vacation

Back from my vacation, and jumping right back into the Poker treadmill.

I am a little frustrated with my game at the moment. I feel like I am making mostly correct decisions, but I'm in general playing very tight and predictable. I'll be sticking with 6max instead of full ring, since full ring just pushes me further into the systematic ABC approach to the game.

Planning on playing 50NL during the day (8-10 tables just because it is very exploitable and I need to build my roll), and 100NL at night. Table selection at 100NL is always significantly better for me at night.

I've put in 2 hours (about 1.3k hands) at 50NL so far today, and there really not many hands that are noteworthy. 50NL is very simple and easy to play...

Will be putting in at least 2 hour hours tonight at 100NL, and probably just 4-5 tables.

Updates to follow.