Hours: 178.92 - record month
Hands: 199,318 - record month
VPPS: 100,126 - ahead of schedule
Earnings: Satisfactory :)
Biggest 1-day upswing
Biggest 1-day downswing
followed by an 80k breakeven (from previous peak)
This is probably the most satisfying month of poker I have ever had. I kept myself more focused and disciplined than ever before in my life. I think that becoming a father has really inspired me to get serious about my profession.
If I could repeat this month 12 more times, I would be ecstatic. Quite frankly, I think I will only get better, and my $/hr will increase. This past week of shortstacking the 6max tables has really opened my eyes to the opportunity there. Shortstacking the bad tables, and fullstacking the good ones is probably going to end up being my most profitable game plan. With the right conditions, I'm completely comfortable multitabling fullstack NL400 and 600. The $/hr should be much nicer once I've got my strategy down.
Very happy with the way the month went. It was just a bit difficult to get in all of the hands, and I think it will get slightly easier as the year continues. It really was not that difficult to get in as much time as I did, and I am fairly sure I'll be able to keep it up. As far as burnout, I really don't know if I have experienced it yet and fought through, or if the worst is yet to come. There is a very busy year ahead of me.
Sophy is 9 weeks old today. Time is flying.
This will be a big year.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 30-31: Finishing Strong
VPP COUNT: 100126
I put in a total of 10 hours between yesterday and today, and the results were extremely great. Depending on how you calculate the value of the VPPs I accumulated, this could be a record month for me. In terms of pure cash, though, it is just my 2nd best month.
I spent the last hour of my session tonight with a full stack at 8 of the 12 shorthanded 400NL tables I was playing. There were just so many poor players sitting that I could not help myself. 6max is not even my regular game, and I was confident enough to put a full stack in 75% of my tables. I ran pretty well, and it really boosted my 6max stats for this past week.
So my shortstacking experiment ended with 45k hands. I ended up with 1.4bb/100, which is higher than I expected to be able to earn. According to PokerEV, I also ran above expectation (especially during this past day) and if my all-in luck had run even, I'd be at about 1ptbb/100, which is still quite solid.
Not counting this last day (because about 60% of the profits were from fullstacking) I figured that while shortstacking I earn about 75% of my normal hourly rate. This is not bad at all, considering I could practically play this style in my sleep. I never really even optimized my game either, just pounded in as many hands as I could.
I may write some kind of reflection on this first month, with updated goals and ideas. I think I will be playing more 6max regularly, as the fishy tables are WAY more profitable than a fishy full ring table.
10% of the way to my goal! Yeah!
I put in a total of 10 hours between yesterday and today, and the results were extremely great. Depending on how you calculate the value of the VPPs I accumulated, this could be a record month for me. In terms of pure cash, though, it is just my 2nd best month.
I spent the last hour of my session tonight with a full stack at 8 of the 12 shorthanded 400NL tables I was playing. There were just so many poor players sitting that I could not help myself. 6max is not even my regular game, and I was confident enough to put a full stack in 75% of my tables. I ran pretty well, and it really boosted my 6max stats for this past week.
So my shortstacking experiment ended with 45k hands. I ended up with 1.4bb/100, which is higher than I expected to be able to earn. According to PokerEV, I also ran above expectation (especially during this past day) and if my all-in luck had run even, I'd be at about 1ptbb/100, which is still quite solid.
Not counting this last day (because about 60% of the profits were from fullstacking) I figured that while shortstacking I earn about 75% of my normal hourly rate. This is not bad at all, considering I could practically play this style in my sleep. I never really even optimized my game either, just pounded in as many hands as I could.
I may write some kind of reflection on this first month, with updated goals and ideas. I think I will be playing more 6max regularly, as the fishy tables are WAY more profitable than a fishy full ring table.
10% of the way to my goal! Yeah!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 29: Getting old...
VPP COUNT: 94193
Well, I knew it wouldn't be long before I was just plain tired of shortstacking. This time is quickly approaching. I've put in about 35k hands at various levels of 6max, and while my results are positive, I was much more satisfied when I was playing full-ring.
My graph in PokerEV makes it pretty clear that I can gradually win playing this cheap strategy. Not bad for only taking it half-way seriously and playing an average of 10+ tables at a time.
I plan on continuing my shortstack play tomorrow and Thursday, and going back to my normal game in Febuary.
Well, I knew it wouldn't be long before I was just plain tired of shortstacking. This time is quickly approaching. I've put in about 35k hands at various levels of 6max, and while my results are positive, I was much more satisfied when I was playing full-ring.
My graph in PokerEV makes it pretty clear that I can gradually win playing this cheap strategy. Not bad for only taking it half-way seriously and playing an average of 10+ tables at a time.
I plan on continuing my shortstack play tomorrow and Thursday, and going back to my normal game in Febuary.
Monday, January 28, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 27-28: A Fumble, and a Recovery
VPP COUNT: 90027
Yesterday was my first full day off of poker this year, and it was probably not all that helpful. It was nice having a break, but I eventually just felt sluggish and lazy.
I started today off just terribly. I had a bit of a headache, and did not have a great feeling about the day, but I forced through it and decided to put in some time. I made a big dumbass move after about 30 minutes of starting. Check out this brilliant hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2013974
My play on the turn was just awful.
1) Even though it was a blind battle, even AA doesn't fight this hard for this kind of board.
2) The only way he calls my push on the turn is if I'm beat, so I'm just burning money
3) Even a call would be incorrect, as I've still got 1 card to fall, and I don't like most of them.
Though I do support my flop bet/call. That was fine. The turn should have been a clear fold.
Ah well, 400$ torched.
Despite the awful first session, I followed it up with 6 solid hours of cheapass shortstacking. I ended the day in the positive, and passed the 90k vpp mark that I had set for myself. Things are going pretty well.
Yesterday was my first full day off of poker this year, and it was probably not all that helpful. It was nice having a break, but I eventually just felt sluggish and lazy.
I started today off just terribly. I had a bit of a headache, and did not have a great feeling about the day, but I forced through it and decided to put in some time. I made a big dumbass move after about 30 minutes of starting. Check out this brilliant hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2013974
1) Even though it was a blind battle, even AA doesn't fight this hard for this kind of board.
2) The only way he calls my push on the turn is if I'm beat, so I'm just burning money
3) Even a call would be incorrect, as I've still got 1 card to fall, and I don't like most of them.
Though I do support my flop bet/call. That was fine. The turn should have been a clear fold.
Ah well, 400$ torched.
Despite the awful first session, I followed it up with 6 solid hours of cheapass shortstacking. I ended the day in the positive, and passed the 90k vpp mark that I had set for myself. Things are going pretty well.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 26: At least I have VPPs
VPP COUNT: 86803
This day was extremely boring. I'm sure shortstacking will make the swings much less swingy.
I just finished my 9th hour of play today, and I still have 1 400NL 6max table open, so I can hopefully stack one of the 2 massive fish who are sitting there. So far it has lost me a bit though.
The shortstacking is still going well. I'm probably around 18k hands logged, and doing pretty well. I had a bit of a downswing today, and pokerEV confirmed for me that my all-ins ran well below expectation. My "Sklansky Bucks" have just been a nice steady upwards line.
I am still a bit concerned that I am 1) Not stealing enough, and 2)not fighting hard enough for small pots.
Another issue is that I am getting close to my limit in terms of decisions/minute. I still average about 1200 hands per hour, and it is pretty clear that my play will decrease quite a bit if I try to push that any harder.
Ah well, I'll continue to piss away my money at this 400NL table until the fish either bust, or I decide to sleep.
Oh, and in other news, I placed for 70$ in the 50k VIP tourney on Stars. I shared action with a friend, so it turned out to be 35$...goodie
This day was extremely boring. I'm sure shortstacking will make the swings much less swingy.
I just finished my 9th hour of play today, and I still have 1 400NL 6max table open, so I can hopefully stack one of the 2 massive fish who are sitting there. So far it has lost me a bit though.
The shortstacking is still going well. I'm probably around 18k hands logged, and doing pretty well. I had a bit of a downswing today, and pokerEV confirmed for me that my all-ins ran well below expectation. My "Sklansky Bucks" have just been a nice steady upwards line.
I am still a bit concerned that I am 1) Not stealing enough, and 2)not fighting hard enough for small pots.
Another issue is that I am getting close to my limit in terms of decisions/minute. I still average about 1200 hands per hour, and it is pretty clear that my play will decrease quite a bit if I try to push that any harder.
Ah well, I'll continue to piss away my money at this 400NL table until the fish either bust, or I decide to sleep.
Oh, and in other news, I placed for 70$ in the 50k VIP tourney on Stars. I shared action with a friend, so it turned out to be 35$...goodie
Friday, January 25, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 25: Damn Short-Stacker
VPP COUNT: 81548
So this morning, after studying up on the bit of shortstacking information, I decided I wanted to get a decent sample of SS poker. This will ultimately serve a few good purposes.
1) I'll learn the shortstacking strategy myself, giving me another (easier) option to pull in a decent income.
2) I will know how to better defend against shortstacks, even though most of them have their heads up their asses anyway.
3) I'll have a means of earning more VPPs/hr than I currently am, which will be great for a double vpp promo, or if I happen to fall behind at some point.
I also add my own little spin to the shortstacking strategy. If one of my tables happens to be extremely soft, I just buy in for the full stack and play it accordingly. My results today were amazing, and much of it was due to the fact that I was willing to full-stack against the weaker players.
I'll be putting in pretty long hours tomorrow and Sunday, so I should hopefully be over 90k vpps by Monday.
Later, when I'm back at my computer, I'll post up some of the ridiculous hands I participated in.
So this morning, after studying up on the bit of shortstacking information, I decided I wanted to get a decent sample of SS poker. This will ultimately serve a few good purposes.
1) I'll learn the shortstacking strategy myself, giving me another (easier) option to pull in a decent income.
2) I will know how to better defend against shortstacks, even though most of them have their heads up their asses anyway.
3) I'll have a means of earning more VPPs/hr than I currently am, which will be great for a double vpp promo, or if I happen to fall behind at some point.
I also add my own little spin to the shortstacking strategy. If one of my tables happens to be extremely soft, I just buy in for the full stack and play it accordingly. My results today were amazing, and much of it was due to the fact that I was willing to full-stack against the weaker players.
I'll be putting in pretty long hours tomorrow and Sunday, so I should hopefully be over 90k vpps by Monday.
Later, when I'm back at my computer, I'll post up some of the ridiculous hands I participated in.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 24: Shortstacking like a chump
VPP COUNT: 77708
The first 6 hours I played today were just normal full-ring, full-stack poker. It all went pretty well, and I ended with a solid profit. I decided to shortstack 6max tables for the last 2 hours today, just to see what it's like and start to develop a strategy. I definitely ran bad, but also need to learn to play better shortstack.
I only ran at about 14/13, which probably isn't too bad, but could definitely do to improve. I am not used to being a shortstack postflop AT ALL. This is a major drawback right now, considering the shortstack is nearly unbluffable.
So I'll occasionally put in a session or two of shortstacking, and just keep working on my game there. It will be more of an extra-curricular activity than anything.
The first 6 hours I played today were just normal full-ring, full-stack poker. It all went pretty well, and I ended with a solid profit. I decided to shortstack 6max tables for the last 2 hours today, just to see what it's like and start to develop a strategy. I definitely ran bad, but also need to learn to play better shortstack.
I only ran at about 14/13, which probably isn't too bad, but could definitely do to improve. I am not used to being a shortstack postflop AT ALL. This is a major drawback right now, considering the shortstack is nearly unbluffable.
So I'll occasionally put in a session or two of shortstacking, and just keep working on my game there. It will be more of an extra-curricular activity than anything.
SNE Quest - Day 23: A New High
VPP COUNT: 73256
Finally back up into "uncharted territory" as my overall winnings are above any point they've been before. As exciting as this is, I'm still a little disappointed with the hours (or lack thereof) that I've put in lately. Only 2 hours yesterday, and 7 the day before. Sure, life has been busy. Life will always be busy. I've got to start doing a better job of working around it.
I'll be going out to dinner tonight (24th), so ideally I will have in 6 hours before dinner, and another 2 hours after. Today will be a little bit of a catch-up day.
Finally back up into "uncharted territory" as my overall winnings are above any point they've been before. As exciting as this is, I'm still a little disappointed with the hours (or lack thereof) that I've put in lately. Only 2 hours yesterday, and 7 the day before. Sure, life has been busy. Life will always be busy. I've got to start doing a better job of working around it.
I'll be going out to dinner tonight (24th), so ideally I will have in 6 hours before dinner, and another 2 hours after. Today will be a little bit of a catch-up day.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 20-22: Breaking through the break-even
VPP COUNT: 72022
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all pretty rough. According to PokerEV, I'm quite a few buyins below expectation. This is obviously giving me a big hit to my overall winnings. Fortunately, I am gradually working my way back up, and above that stupid break-even line that I've been below for the past couple weeks. It sure is a good thing my first week of SNE pursuit went so incredibly well.
I am now above 130 hours for the month, which is nearly a (monthly) record by itself. There are 9 days left in the month, and I should be well over my goal of 160. I expect to hit about 180 by the time all is said and done.
At the very minimum, I will need about 15k more VPPs to stay on pace for Supernova. My goal is to reach 100k by the end of Jan, and give myself a decent little cushion. 100k VPPs per month would be a perfect pace. This would leave me enough padding for my upcoming vacation/honeymoon, and give me the option of reaching 1.25m vpps by the end of the year for an extra bonus.
Mary has been back in school for a week now, and we've been adjusting decently. It is pretty much impossible for me to play poker while I'm babysitting though, because Sophy's naps are rarely more than 2 hours. Mary is also in need of some kind of job, which would cause even more disruption in my SNE schedule. So many adjustments to be made... Ah well, we'll work through it.
This hand is actually from this mornings session (Wednesday, 23rd) but I wanted to post it now, because it was pretty cool.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1983347
The other player in this hand lost a 1200+ pot during the previous hand, and I decided he was tilt-pushing. This is a very tricky situation, though. If I am in his situation, I like to fake a tilt-push if I happen to get a monster after losing a big pot. So it is difficult to tell if his play is real tilt, or faked tilt. Fortunately, my read was correct and I took down a major pot.
Rahr!
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all pretty rough. According to PokerEV, I'm quite a few buyins below expectation. This is obviously giving me a big hit to my overall winnings. Fortunately, I am gradually working my way back up, and above that stupid break-even line that I've been below for the past couple weeks. It sure is a good thing my first week of SNE pursuit went so incredibly well.
I am now above 130 hours for the month, which is nearly a (monthly) record by itself. There are 9 days left in the month, and I should be well over my goal of 160. I expect to hit about 180 by the time all is said and done.
At the very minimum, I will need about 15k more VPPs to stay on pace for Supernova. My goal is to reach 100k by the end of Jan, and give myself a decent little cushion. 100k VPPs per month would be a perfect pace. This would leave me enough padding for my upcoming vacation/honeymoon, and give me the option of reaching 1.25m vpps by the end of the year for an extra bonus.
Mary has been back in school for a week now, and we've been adjusting decently. It is pretty much impossible for me to play poker while I'm babysitting though, because Sophy's naps are rarely more than 2 hours. Mary is also in need of some kind of job, which would cause even more disruption in my SNE schedule. So many adjustments to be made... Ah well, we'll work through it.
This hand is actually from this mornings session (Wednesday, 23rd) but I wanted to post it now, because it was pretty cool.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1983347
The other player in this hand lost a 1200+ pot during the previous hand, and I decided he was tilt-pushing. This is a very tricky situation, though. If I am in his situation, I like to fake a tilt-push if I happen to get a monster after losing a big pot. So it is difficult to tell if his play is real tilt, or faked tilt. Fortunately, my read was correct and I took down a major pot.
Rahr!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 18-19: Fighting through
VPP COUNT: 67946
I didn't update yesterday because I only put in 3 hours, and they weren't all that exciting. I ended the day down a bit.
Today started absolutely horribly. I dropped quite a bit of money within a short period of time when I began my session. The rest of the day was just grinding it back. Still ended the day down, but in much better shape than I was before. The VPPs toward elite are nice too.
So far this year, I've averaged about 3.4k vpps per day including weekends. If I continue at this rate, I'll be around 105k by the end of January. 100k/month was my target rate, and I'm happy with the way things have been going so far.
I have been putting in a very solid amount of time, balancing the household/family, and really not stressing out too much about getting in the hours. I started my SNE training on Dec. 19th, so I've been keeping up this lifestyle for a full month now - even through the holidays - I'm feeling pretty good!
In other news, I checked my year-long graph, and it looks like I'm in about a 80k hand breakeven streak. Oddly enough, I haven't really been too effected by it. I had 2 massive downswing days last week, resulting in my biggest extended downswing ever. That downswing lasted until the 10th or so, and it has just been a gradual increase since then.
I'm going to my Dad's for dinner tomorrow, so I'll probably only be able to get about 6 hours in.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1970783
This is my biggest losing hand of the night. RobHunt1 was the table mark, running at about 60/20 over a short period of time. We both built up a decent stack, and this hand was the result.
The only really debatable move is the river. His play pretty much indicated that he had spades, or QT, or some other hand that got there. I could not make myself fold though. I figure he shows up with A7/AJ/A9, maybe even KJ/K9 a decent % of the time, and I'm getting 5:1 on my call. Just unfortunate that he hit his backdoor.
Ah well, that's it for tonight.
I didn't update yesterday because I only put in 3 hours, and they weren't all that exciting. I ended the day down a bit.
Today started absolutely horribly. I dropped quite a bit of money within a short period of time when I began my session. The rest of the day was just grinding it back. Still ended the day down, but in much better shape than I was before. The VPPs toward elite are nice too.
So far this year, I've averaged about 3.4k vpps per day including weekends. If I continue at this rate, I'll be around 105k by the end of January. 100k/month was my target rate, and I'm happy with the way things have been going so far.
I have been putting in a very solid amount of time, balancing the household/family, and really not stressing out too much about getting in the hours. I started my SNE training on Dec. 19th, so I've been keeping up this lifestyle for a full month now - even through the holidays - I'm feeling pretty good!
In other news, I checked my year-long graph, and it looks like I'm in about a 80k hand breakeven streak. Oddly enough, I haven't really been too effected by it. I had 2 massive downswing days last week, resulting in my biggest extended downswing ever. That downswing lasted until the 10th or so, and it has just been a gradual increase since then.
I'm going to my Dad's for dinner tomorrow, so I'll probably only be able to get about 6 hours in.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1970783
This is my biggest losing hand of the night. RobHunt1 was the table mark, running at about 60/20 over a short period of time. We both built up a decent stack, and this hand was the result.
The only really debatable move is the river. His play pretty much indicated that he had spades, or QT, or some other hand that got there. I could not make myself fold though. I figure he shows up with A7/AJ/A9, maybe even KJ/K9 a decent % of the time, and I'm getting 5:1 on my call. Just unfortunate that he hit his backdoor.
Ah well, that's it for tonight.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 17-18: Getting back on pace
VPP COUNT: 63039
Well, I didn't do an update for Thursdays' play... mostly because I only put in 2 hours and it was not a great experience. I dropped a coke on my surge protector in the afternoon, and had to shut everything down for a couple hours while I figured out what to do. I eventually bought a new one and put in one session late at night. It did not go well.
Friday, however, was a great day. I put in all 8 hours and had some very nice results. I am still only at 29 hours for the week, which should hopefully be 36-38 by the end of today (Saturday). At my current VPP rate, I'll probably need to put in a full workday today, Sunday, and Monday to keep up with my 25kVPP/week pace. At that rate, I should have over 75k vpps by Monday, the 21st. 100k vpps per month would be a great rate, and would keep me on pace for 1 milestone bonus per month starting February. Not bad at all.
I watched a full-ring 18-tabling video by "loosefer" yesterday, and was fairly surprised at his play. For the most part I agree with his overall strategy and betting style, but in general I found nothing spectacular. There were quite a few situations where I would have tried to steal with any 2 cards (tight players to the left) and he passed on the opportunity. He did take advantage of limpers better than I generally do though, and I'll be taking that as a lesson and trying to apply it to my game.
That's about it for me today.
Well, I didn't do an update for Thursdays' play... mostly because I only put in 2 hours and it was not a great experience. I dropped a coke on my surge protector in the afternoon, and had to shut everything down for a couple hours while I figured out what to do. I eventually bought a new one and put in one session late at night. It did not go well.
Friday, however, was a great day. I put in all 8 hours and had some very nice results. I am still only at 29 hours for the week, which should hopefully be 36-38 by the end of today (Saturday). At my current VPP rate, I'll probably need to put in a full workday today, Sunday, and Monday to keep up with my 25kVPP/week pace. At that rate, I should have over 75k vpps by Monday, the 21st. 100k vpps per month would be a great rate, and would keep me on pace for 1 milestone bonus per month starting February. Not bad at all.
I watched a full-ring 18-tabling video by "loosefer" yesterday, and was fairly surprised at his play. For the most part I agree with his overall strategy and betting style, but in general I found nothing spectacular. There were quite a few situations where I would have tried to steal with any 2 cards (tight players to the left) and he passed on the opportunity. He did take advantage of limpers better than I generally do though, and I'll be taking that as a lesson and trying to apply it to my game.
That's about it for me today.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 16: Finding Time
VPP COUNT: 57141
It is starting to become much more difficult to find enough free hours in the day to keep up this challenge. I only put in 3.5h yesterday (the 16th). Mary is going to class now, and there are still the many obligations of having a baby. I've still only cleared about 20 hours this week, and need to really pick it up if I want to be at 40+ by the end of Saturday.
Overall for the year, I have a total of 113k hands played. This is a pretty damn solid sample size, and also a pretty accurate indicator of what my hourly rate will be (assuming my play does not improve).
Fortunately, even over these 113k hands, I have already noticed a big improvement in my game. At first, I wasn't nearly as comfortable 18-tabling, and was much more tight than I needed to be. I ran at about 13/10-14/10 for the first week while I was getting situated. This past week, I've been running at about 16/12 with much more aggression and much more steal attempts. The more aggression, the better.
Mary is busy again today (the 17th), and once again it will be a challenge to get in a full 8 hours. By Saturday night, I would like to break 70k total vpps, but I expect to be closer to around 68k. At this pace, I will be well over 100k by the end of January - which is an amazing start.
It is starting to become much more difficult to find enough free hours in the day to keep up this challenge. I only put in 3.5h yesterday (the 16th). Mary is going to class now, and there are still the many obligations of having a baby. I've still only cleared about 20 hours this week, and need to really pick it up if I want to be at 40+ by the end of Saturday.
Overall for the year, I have a total of 113k hands played. This is a pretty damn solid sample size, and also a pretty accurate indicator of what my hourly rate will be (assuming my play does not improve).
Fortunately, even over these 113k hands, I have already noticed a big improvement in my game. At first, I wasn't nearly as comfortable 18-tabling, and was much more tight than I needed to be. I ran at about 13/10-14/10 for the first week while I was getting situated. This past week, I've been running at about 16/12 with much more aggression and much more steal attempts. The more aggression, the better.
Mary is busy again today (the 17th), and once again it will be a challenge to get in a full 8 hours. By Saturday night, I would like to break 70k total vpps, but I expect to be closer to around 68k. At this pace, I will be well over 100k by the end of January - which is an amazing start.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 15: I bet 7.95
VPP COUNT: 55593
So my little script is a big hit. I'm surprised nobody has done this before, because it is definitely effective at tilting the people who are paying attention. At the very least, it makes everyone look twice at my bet size before calculating odds, evaluating my hand, etc. Though I can't exactly prove any difference in win rate because of this change, I am fairly confident that this quirk is helpful.
My game has been doing better and better lately. Yesterday, for about 9.5k hands I ran at 17/13 with 45% to steal! At the nitty stars tables, this is a great way to maximize your value from the CO and Button. I would still like to continue improving my post-flop game. I especially need to start upping my river bluff %. Until lately I pretty much never bluffed a river. I've been doing it more frequently, and it works much more than I expected.
I now have enough FPPs to fully fund my trip to Vancouver, and will be booking that soon.
945k vpps to go! This will be cake :)
So my little script is a big hit. I'm surprised nobody has done this before, because it is definitely effective at tilting the people who are paying attention. At the very least, it makes everyone look twice at my bet size before calculating odds, evaluating my hand, etc. Though I can't exactly prove any difference in win rate because of this change, I am fairly confident that this quirk is helpful.
My game has been doing better and better lately. Yesterday, for about 9.5k hands I ran at 17/13 with 45% to steal! At the nitty stars tables, this is a great way to maximize your value from the CO and Button. I would still like to continue improving my post-flop game. I especially need to start upping my river bluff %. Until lately I pretty much never bluffed a river. I've been doing it more frequently, and it works much more than I expected.
I now have enough FPPs to fully fund my trip to Vancouver, and will be booking that soon.
945k vpps to go! This will be cake :)
Monday, January 14, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 13-14: Short and Sweet
VPP COUNT: 51054
Yesterday and today were shortened days for me. I put in a total of 7.5h over the past couple days, leaving me at 87 hours for the year. Very solid, IMO. My results have been very solid, and I'd love nothing more than to repeat these past 2 weeks 20 more times throughout the year.
So, I'm officially 5% through with the challenge. Instead of cashing in bonuses every time I have 100k fpps, I decided plan on paying for my wedding on Sept. 12th completely with FPPs. Over the year, I'll be finding the best ways to spend my fpps, so this is a great start.
Nothing else major to update. I changed my BetPot.ahk script to make all of my bets have .95 after them, making it look like more chips, and annoying the crap out of regulars. I think its a pretty sweet change, and I plan on keeping it :)
That's about it for now.
Yesterday and today were shortened days for me. I put in a total of 7.5h over the past couple days, leaving me at 87 hours for the year. Very solid, IMO. My results have been very solid, and I'd love nothing more than to repeat these past 2 weeks 20 more times throughout the year.
So, I'm officially 5% through with the challenge. Instead of cashing in bonuses every time I have 100k fpps, I decided plan on paying for my wedding on Sept. 12th completely with FPPs. Over the year, I'll be finding the best ways to spend my fpps, so this is a great start.
Nothing else major to update. I changed my BetPot.ahk script to make all of my bets have .95 after them, making it look like more chips, and annoying the crap out of regulars. I think its a pretty sweet change, and I plan on keeping it :)
That's about it for now.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 12: Eighteen Dollhairs
For now, I have decided not to take weekends completely off, and to just put in a session or two to keep myself sane/sharp. When you make each day revolve around putting in 8+ hours of poker, it can leave you pretty antsy when you take a day completely off. So on Saturday, I put in about 4-5 hours. The first 3 hour session went amazingly well, and the second small session went amazingly crappy - leaving me with 18$ after all was said and done. This isn't counting vpps/fpps and whatnot, so it was definitely still worth the work. It is always just a little discouraging to go from a big winning day to pretty much even.
On a related note, I've been thinking about more ways to maximize my earn from the SNE challenge, and stumbled across a pretty good opportunity on the 2+2 forums. Apparently, when you buy the Porsche from the PokerStars FPP store, you get a MUCH better $/fpp rate than any other option. This difference could be worth 5-10k$ in bonus money over a years time. My idea is essentially to save up the FPPs over the whole year, buy the Porsche, and sell it right back to the dealership. I'm not sure what kind of discount I'd have to give, but it could very well be a big bonus.
In addition to the $ is the recognition from the poker community, and bragging rights to friends and family. Once I do a bit more research about reselling new cars to dealers, I can make a decision about whether or not to save up that many FPPs.
If it does turn out to be a good deal, I may try to recruit some other SNE hopefuls and make it somewhat of an event. 5-10 players all buying a Porsche with FPPs on the same day would definitely make the news in this little poker world.
I plan on putting in a few hours today (Sunday) and getting back to the full-blown grind tomorrow. I'm nearing 5% done with the challenge! Makin' progress!
On a related note, I've been thinking about more ways to maximize my earn from the SNE challenge, and stumbled across a pretty good opportunity on the 2+2 forums. Apparently, when you buy the Porsche from the PokerStars FPP store, you get a MUCH better $/fpp rate than any other option. This difference could be worth 5-10k$ in bonus money over a years time. My idea is essentially to save up the FPPs over the whole year, buy the Porsche, and sell it right back to the dealership. I'm not sure what kind of discount I'd have to give, but it could very well be a big bonus.
In addition to the $ is the recognition from the poker community, and bragging rights to friends and family. Once I do a bit more research about reselling new cars to dealers, I can make a decision about whether or not to save up that many FPPs.
If it does turn out to be a good deal, I may try to recruit some other SNE hopefuls and make it somewhat of an event. 5-10 players all buying a Porsche with FPPs on the same day would definitely make the news in this little poker world.
I plan on putting in a few hours today (Sunday) and getting back to the full-blown grind tomorrow. I'm nearing 5% done with the challenge! Makin' progress!
Friday, January 11, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 11: The Low-Hanging Fruit
VPP COUNT: 43623
Yesterday pretty much woke me up to the fact that I moved up much faster than I probably should have, and really was not table-selecting enough to compensate for it. I am still game for a 3/6 table, but unless it is especially juicy, I wont be sitting.
I decided to somewhat-copy another regular, studboy1. Studboy table selects games between 100 and 600 buyin, and is constantly looking for a better seat. I've got a lot of respect for that guy, and he is definitely someone worth imitating. So, today about 3k of my 9.5k hands were 100NL, and those tables basically made up for the losses at NL200+.
At the end of this massive cooler of a day (I ran real bad) I was still up just a bit. My Won$SD was 46% overall, which is ridiculously low. Even more than that, most of that low W$SD came from my 400$ tables, where I pretty much experienced nothing but coolers.
The only hand that I probably should have laid down was...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1927941
Opponent was running at something like 25/3/1, and he called PFRs about 13% of the time. I had pegged him as a passive donk. When he pushed the turn, I talked myself into a call by saying "K9s-KJs are in his range". I neglected the fact that he is extremely passive, and probably would have just called my turn bet with those hands. AK, 55, and 44 are the only hands that make much sense for him - and I didn't beat any of those. Ah well - I *definitely* had to bet the turn, so the remaining 250 was all I could have saved.
Aside from the coolers and lack of solid hands, I thought I played amazingly well. I ran at 16/12 with 38% steal and aggression of 4.7/3.3/1.6. River aggression always goes up when I get better cards as well. If I keep playing the way I did today, I will do extremely well over the long haul.
I also gave someone the nickel of shame today. I posted it in BBV on 2+2, but didn't get much love - My sense of humor is probably a bit off for the general public :)
P.S. 100NL is cake compared to 200
Yesterday pretty much woke me up to the fact that I moved up much faster than I probably should have, and really was not table-selecting enough to compensate for it. I am still game for a 3/6 table, but unless it is especially juicy, I wont be sitting.
I decided to somewhat-copy another regular, studboy1. Studboy table selects games between 100 and 600 buyin, and is constantly looking for a better seat. I've got a lot of respect for that guy, and he is definitely someone worth imitating. So, today about 3k of my 9.5k hands were 100NL, and those tables basically made up for the losses at NL200+.
At the end of this massive cooler of a day (I ran real bad) I was still up just a bit. My Won$SD was 46% overall, which is ridiculously low. Even more than that, most of that low W$SD came from my 400$ tables, where I pretty much experienced nothing but coolers.
The only hand that I probably should have laid down was...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1927941
Opponent was running at something like 25/3/1, and he called PFRs about 13% of the time. I had pegged him as a passive donk. When he pushed the turn, I talked myself into a call by saying "K9s-KJs are in his range". I neglected the fact that he is extremely passive, and probably would have just called my turn bet with those hands. AK, 55, and 44 are the only hands that make much sense for him - and I didn't beat any of those. Ah well - I *definitely* had to bet the turn, so the remaining 250 was all I could have saved.
Aside from the coolers and lack of solid hands, I thought I played amazingly well. I ran at 16/12 with 38% steal and aggression of 4.7/3.3/1.6. River aggression always goes up when I get better cards as well. If I keep playing the way I did today, I will do extremely well over the long haul.
I also gave someone the nickel of shame today. I posted it in BBV on 2+2, but didn't get much love - My sense of humor is probably a bit off for the general public :)
P.S. 100NL is cake compared to 200
Thursday, January 10, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 10: Why God. Why.
VPP COUNT: 38908
Today is the biggest losing day of my poker career.
My first 2hr session left me just slightly down. I played well, and the cards just didn't come my way.
The second session went MUCH worse. My play decreased slightly, but I think I was still playing a decent game. Nevertheless, by the end of the session, I was down quite a bit and not feeling so hot.
I only got about 20 minutes into my third session. Check out my first playable hand after sitting down: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1922710 Basically one of the most miserably played QQ's I've ever seen. I would almost prefer an open push preflop to the way he played it. Either way, he lucked out and I tilted for about 10 minutes before deciding to call it quits for the day.
So I learned my lesson - fold all pairs preflop. We'll see how that works out tomorrow.
Today is the biggest losing day of my poker career.
My first 2hr session left me just slightly down. I played well, and the cards just didn't come my way.
The second session went MUCH worse. My play decreased slightly, but I think I was still playing a decent game. Nevertheless, by the end of the session, I was down quite a bit and not feeling so hot.
I only got about 20 minutes into my third session. Check out my first playable hand after sitting down: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1922710 Basically one of the most miserably played QQ's I've ever seen. I would almost prefer an open push preflop to the way he played it. Either way, he lucked out and I tilted for about 10 minutes before deciding to call it quits for the day.
So I learned my lesson - fold all pairs preflop. We'll see how that works out tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 9: Decent results for a bad day
VPP COUNT: 36101
Well, I was in a pretty crappy mood today, and did not play as well as I usually do - though I held my game down pretty decently. Ended the day at about 14/10 with solid river aggression to compensate for yesterdays weak play.
I may be coming down with a cold or something, because I just haven't been focusing as well the past couple days. Maybe I'm just spoiled by godly cards and haven't been used to running below average. I think my play could stand to improve a bit though, and as usual, that means working on more steals/aggression.
In other news, Mary and I are planning a week-long trip to Vancouver during her spring break. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to convince Stars Concierge to let me "order" the trip through them, and then just reimburse me for the purchases. Unfortunately, I expect them to refer me to the travel vouchers...
Well, I was in a pretty crappy mood today, and did not play as well as I usually do - though I held my game down pretty decently. Ended the day at about 14/10 with solid river aggression to compensate for yesterdays weak play.
I may be coming down with a cold or something, because I just haven't been focusing as well the past couple days. Maybe I'm just spoiled by godly cards and haven't been used to running below average. I think my play could stand to improve a bit though, and as usual, that means working on more steals/aggression.
In other news, Mary and I are planning a week-long trip to Vancouver during her spring break. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to convince Stars Concierge to let me "order" the trip through them, and then just reimburse me for the purchases. Unfortunately, I expect them to refer me to the travel vouchers...
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 8: Tilt
VPP COUNT: 32118
I was running pretty badly all day today, and playing fairly badly because of it. At the end of the night, I ran about 13/10 over 7685 hands. My attempt to steal was only 27. I wasn't being nearly aggressive enough, and probably could have picked up a lot more small pots as well.
My river aggression is fairly low, which is often indicative of my hands not making it there on the river. Won $ SD is also almost 48%, which is low for me.
Generally when I go on downswings like this, I search frantically for the reason. I played my last hand like a complete idiot and ended my session promptly after.
Check out this brilliant move.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1914313
In my defense, I put the guy on a JJ-55 type hand, and assumed he'd insta-fold. Of course I was wrong, and I never make this stupid play on most days.
Ah well, worst day of the year so far - but there are many many more days to come.
I was running pretty badly all day today, and playing fairly badly because of it. At the end of the night, I ran about 13/10 over 7685 hands. My attempt to steal was only 27. I wasn't being nearly aggressive enough, and probably could have picked up a lot more small pots as well.
My river aggression is fairly low, which is often indicative of my hands not making it there on the river. Won $ SD is also almost 48%, which is low for me.
Generally when I go on downswings like this, I search frantically for the reason. I played my last hand like a complete idiot and ended my session promptly after.
Check out this brilliant move.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1914313
In my defense, I put the guy on a JJ-55 type hand, and assumed he'd insta-fold. Of course I was wrong, and I never make this stupid play on most days.
Ah well, worst day of the year so far - but there are many many more days to come.
SNE Quest - Day 7: Boomswitch
VPP COUNT: 27982
Once again, I find myself running way above expectation at the NL400 and 600 games. It seems like every time I decide to load a table above NL200, there is always some megadonk who feels obligated to hand me a full stack. A few examples...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911040
AA v J9o... Who says NL600 is hard?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911044
After he got to the turn, he's gotta push. Calling that flop raise was just suicide though.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911052
AQo is good for teh 3bets.
I keep expecting a massive downswing, but if people keep making plays like these against me, I'll have trouble losing money. I'm not sure what it is that inspires all of these suicidal plays from the donks at the table. Maybe it's my "f u idiot" jerk attitude. Maybe its my stupid avatar. Maybe variance has been smiling at me. Whatever it is, I've been getting more than my fair share of donkey stacks, and I'd like to keep it that way :)
Yesterday was the end of the first full week of my SNE quest, and I am advancing rapidly. With nearly 28k VPPs, I am FAR ahead of schedule, and am still extremely confident that I will accomplish my goals.
Mojito anyone? (I was planning on using this picture for my Jan 1 post, but was too excited/hungover to really remember. No need to let it go to waste. Mojitos are good.)
Once again, I find myself running way above expectation at the NL400 and 600 games. It seems like every time I decide to load a table above NL200, there is always some megadonk who feels obligated to hand me a full stack. A few examples...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911040
AA v J9o... Who says NL600 is hard?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911044
After he got to the turn, he's gotta push. Calling that flop raise was just suicide though.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1911052
AQo is good for teh 3bets.
I keep expecting a massive downswing, but if people keep making plays like these against me, I'll have trouble losing money. I'm not sure what it is that inspires all of these suicidal plays from the donks at the table. Maybe it's my "f u idiot" jerk attitude. Maybe its my stupid avatar. Maybe variance has been smiling at me. Whatever it is, I've been getting more than my fair share of donkey stacks, and I'd like to keep it that way :)
Yesterday was the end of the first full week of my SNE quest, and I am advancing rapidly. With nearly 28k VPPs, I am FAR ahead of schedule, and am still extremely confident that I will accomplish my goals.
Mojito anyone? (I was planning on using this picture for my Jan 1 post, but was too excited/hungover to really remember. No need to let it go to waste. Mojitos are good.)
Sunday, January 06, 2008
A picture of Sophy
I haven't posted a pic of my daughter yet, so now that I'm putting more pictures in my blogs, I figure now would be a good time to put one up.
Here's my favorite so far...
Here's my favorite so far...
SNE Quest - Day 6: A resting day
VPP COUNT: 23321
Instead of taking weekends completely off (because I just wouldn't know what to do with myself for 16 hours) I plan on playing limited amounts. After putting in 8h/day, it is pretty much cake to put in 2-4.
So I played for about 2 hours today, and had an insane 900$ pot where I won with A high. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1903200
Despite the big win, I ended the day slightly down. I planned on putting in a couple more hours, but decided to relax and spend time with the family before returning to the grind tomorrow.
I was reading over some of my previous blog posts, and noticed how I used many more pictures back then. I'd like to keep my blogs very visual and entertaining, so I'll start adding more pictures.
So here is Nala in a hat while I 18-table in the background.
Instead of taking weekends completely off (because I just wouldn't know what to do with myself for 16 hours) I plan on playing limited amounts. After putting in 8h/day, it is pretty much cake to put in 2-4.
So I played for about 2 hours today, and had an insane 900$ pot where I won with A high. http://www.pokerhand.org/?1903200
Despite the big win, I ended the day slightly down. I planned on putting in a couple more hours, but decided to relax and spend time with the family before returning to the grind tomorrow.
I was reading over some of my previous blog posts, and noticed how I used many more pictures back then. I'd like to keep my blogs very visual and entertaining, so I'll start adding more pictures.
So here is Nala in a hat while I 18-table in the background.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 5: The first half-day
VPP COUNT: 21818
I only put in 4 hours today, which was about 5.3k hands. I'm going to my Dads house this evening, so I won't be putting in a full work day.
This is the end of the first week of my challenge! I've done quite well, considering it was only a 5-day week.
Hands Played: 44,312
Hours Played: 37.12
VPPs Accumulated: 21,818
I have decided not to post the $ amounts of my results on this blog. This week went extremely well, and I would love nothing more than to brag about how much money I have made. Unfortunately, I don't think its a great idea to broadcast my bankroll to the world.
I'd absolutely love to repeat this week for the rest of the year. I think my win rate will drop down a little bit, but I really haven't been running incredibly well this week.
Looking forward to next week!
I only put in 4 hours today, which was about 5.3k hands. I'm going to my Dads house this evening, so I won't be putting in a full work day.
This is the end of the first week of my challenge! I've done quite well, considering it was only a 5-day week.
Hands Played: 44,312
Hours Played: 37.12
VPPs Accumulated: 21,818
I have decided not to post the $ amounts of my results on this blog. This week went extremely well, and I would love nothing more than to brag about how much money I have made. Unfortunately, I don't think its a great idea to broadcast my bankroll to the world.
I'd absolutely love to repeat this week for the rest of the year. I think my win rate will drop down a little bit, but I really haven't been running incredibly well this week.
Looking forward to next week!
SNE Quest - Day 4: I didn't know I was this good.
VPP COUNT: 19140
For the past 4 days, I've been running hot as fire at NL400. However, I've been running extremely mediocre at NL200. This makes my overall stats look like I've been running bad, despite my results.
To be quite honest, before I started training, I didn't even know if I'd be much better than breakeven at stars 200NL+. I made most of my winnings at Bodog before I moved to Stars, where the competition is so weak that it would be difficult to lose. I'm extremely confident now.
I've been getting the beginnings of a cold lately, so hopefully that doesn't turn out to be anything. I'm feeling good enough today to put in my 8 hours, finishing off my first full work week. I should have something close to 24k VPPs at the end of the day, which will keep me on schedule to clear SNE in about 42 weeks.
Yayayaya!
For the past 4 days, I've been running hot as fire at NL400. However, I've been running extremely mediocre at NL200. This makes my overall stats look like I've been running bad, despite my results.
To be quite honest, before I started training, I didn't even know if I'd be much better than breakeven at stars 200NL+. I made most of my winnings at Bodog before I moved to Stars, where the competition is so weak that it would be difficult to lose. I'm extremely confident now.
I've been getting the beginnings of a cold lately, so hopefully that doesn't turn out to be anything. I'm feeling good enough today to put in my 8 hours, finishing off my first full work week. I should have something close to 24k VPPs at the end of the day, which will keep me on schedule to clear SNE in about 42 weeks.
Yayayaya!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 2-3: Doing pretty good
VPP COUNT: 14352
I have a total of 24.5 hours, and about 14.3k vpps earned so far this year. Looking forward to getting the first full week under my belt.
Yesterday was a pretty ugly downswing, but I learned a lesson from it. Fighting for those small uninteresting pots can effect your win rate drastically, and I practiced quite a bit today. My Won$WSF% usually hovers around 34, because I am lazy and just check/fold in small pots where I missed the flop. Well today I went after those pots very aggressively and definitely found huge value in stabbing at these pots. My W$WSF% today is just above 40 for nearly 10k hands.
The challenge has encouraged me to learn and get much better than I was before. I guess without a big goal, it is easy to lose your drive to get better, but I am gradually finding it back.
That's it for tonight.
I have a total of 24.5 hours, and about 14.3k vpps earned so far this year. Looking forward to getting the first full week under my belt.
Yesterday was a pretty ugly downswing, but I learned a lesson from it. Fighting for those small uninteresting pots can effect your win rate drastically, and I practiced quite a bit today. My Won$WSF% usually hovers around 34, because I am lazy and just check/fold in small pots where I missed the flop. Well today I went after those pots very aggressively and definitely found huge value in stabbing at these pots. My W$WSF% today is just above 40 for nearly 10k hands.
The challenge has encouraged me to learn and get much better than I was before. I guess without a big goal, it is easy to lose your drive to get better, but I am gradually finding it back.
That's it for tonight.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
SNE Quest - Day 1: Insane Heater
This was by far my best cash-game day I've ever played. I think I had 4 AA v KK where I stacked the KK.
Unfortunately, I expect this to cause me to be a bit more vulnerable to burnout. I plan on experiencing a big downswing over the next week. The only important thing is that I keep up the pace for SNE. With 5.5k vpps today, I should be pulling about 27500 per week, but I'll expect that to be closer to 25000. At that pace, I should have SNE after 40 weeks, and possibly have a shot for the first 10k milestone bonus.
Very optimistic for the year. Glad it started out so well.
Let us gogogogogo
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