Before I leave, I'd like to give a public "Thank You" to William and Scotty from PokerStars.
The Stars Concierge has taken care of this entire wedding for me, and every single step has gone smoothly on their end. William and Scotty have made the SNE challenge much more enjoyable - it really is a VIP service.
Thanks again!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Married!
VPP COUNT: 679833
There has been a big lack of updates lately...mostly because I have been busy getting married. I've also been using every hour of free time to get back into reasonable condition to achieve SNE. The blog hasn't exactly been a priority :)
After today, I should be around 682-685k VPPs, and will be returning from the honeymoon on October 1st. This means I'll have to average a bit more than 100k points per month. It won't be easy, but I'm extremely confident.
As of 9/12/08, I am a married man!
We will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning for our honeymoon in Ecuador, and the Galapagos. We are both extremely excited
Yes, that is a pineapple-upside-down-wedding-cake in the picture above. We are that awesome.
I don't have time to write much more... ~6h of play and lots of packing/preparation before I can sleep tonight.
I'll be back in October to rock the tables on my way to SNE!
There has been a big lack of updates lately...mostly because I have been busy getting married. I've also been using every hour of free time to get back into reasonable condition to achieve SNE. The blog hasn't exactly been a priority :)
After today, I should be around 682-685k VPPs, and will be returning from the honeymoon on October 1st. This means I'll have to average a bit more than 100k points per month. It won't be easy, but I'm extremely confident.
As of 9/12/08, I am a married man!
We will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning for our honeymoon in Ecuador, and the Galapagos. We are both extremely excited
Yes, that is a pineapple-upside-down-wedding-cake in the picture above. We are that awesome.I don't have time to write much more... ~6h of play and lots of packing/preparation before I can sleep tonight.
I'll be back in October to rock the tables on my way to SNE!
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Another Funk, Another Recovery
VPP COUNT: 576968
I basically burned myself out in the beginning of July with the 2xVPP promotion. After that, pretty much every (rare) session I played was a minor loss, and it became harder and harder to sit down and work. By the time July was over, I was about 20k points BEHIND pace, after having built a 30k cushion after the 2x promotion. Pretty bad.
August became yet another "do or die" month, as September will be mostly devoted to the wedding and honeymoon. I've gotten back in gear once again, and the last 3 days have been very solid. I'm still trying to stick more to the 400+ tables, but the game quality is still rough.
Our trip to the Galapagos is booked and paid for by Stars Concierge :) The wedding is a bit more than 1 month away. Not enough time in the days.
I basically burned myself out in the beginning of July with the 2xVPP promotion. After that, pretty much every (rare) session I played was a minor loss, and it became harder and harder to sit down and work. By the time July was over, I was about 20k points BEHIND pace, after having built a 30k cushion after the 2x promotion. Pretty bad.
August became yet another "do or die" month, as September will be mostly devoted to the wedding and honeymoon. I've gotten back in gear once again, and the last 3 days have been very solid. I'm still trying to stick more to the 400+ tables, but the game quality is still rough.
Our trip to the Galapagos is booked and paid for by Stars Concierge :) The wedding is a bit more than 1 month away. Not enough time in the days.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
SNE QUEST - July 15: Sporadic Sessions
VPP COUNT: 550815
I've only put in a few sessions this week. They have been damn successful, but I haven't put in enough time. Mary's classes are ending tomorrow, so that will free up my Wed-Thurs work days.
The wedding is less than 2 months away, and I need to have quite a bit of cushion before then. I currently have a 10k point lead, and should probably have about 40-50k lead by the 10th of Sept. That gives me a max of 56 days to do it, requiring an average of 5 hours per day. That should not be difficult at all. If I can get in another big couple of months, I'll be at 750k+ points and 3 full months to finish.
Sophy is almost 8 months old... I guess time seems to fly by so much because our days are just jammed full of things to do.
Life will calm down much more after Friday.
I've only put in a few sessions this week. They have been damn successful, but I haven't put in enough time. Mary's classes are ending tomorrow, so that will free up my Wed-Thurs work days.
The wedding is less than 2 months away, and I need to have quite a bit of cushion before then. I currently have a 10k point lead, and should probably have about 40-50k lead by the 10th of Sept. That gives me a max of 56 days to do it, requiring an average of 5 hours per day. That should not be difficult at all. If I can get in another big couple of months, I'll be at 750k+ points and 3 full months to finish.
Sophy is almost 8 months old... I guess time seems to fly by so much because our days are just jammed full of things to do.
Life will calm down much more after Friday.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
SNE QUEST - July 13: That break went a bit long...
VPP COUNT: 544824
So I took a total of 5 days off, from Mon-Fri. My breaks always tend to go longer than I plan, but at least I still have a significant cushion on SNE pace.
Table winnings have been pretty boring and small this month, but July is looking to be my biggest bonus month.
Sophy has figured out crawling, and has been crawling to, and propping herself up against pretty much anything she can get near. The more she can move on her own, the more difficult taking care of her is going to get. She also figured out how to chuck her toys out of her crib...oh boy.
The wedding is less than 2 months away!
So I took a total of 5 days off, from Mon-Fri. My breaks always tend to go longer than I plan, but at least I still have a significant cushion on SNE pace.
Table winnings have been pretty boring and small this month, but July is looking to be my biggest bonus month.
Sophy has figured out crawling, and has been crawling to, and propping herself up against pretty much anything she can get near. The more she can move on her own, the more difficult taking care of her is going to get. She also figured out how to chuck her toys out of her crib...oh boy.
The wedding is less than 2 months away!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
SNE Quest - July 8: Taking a little break
VPP COUNT: 538016
Just a short update today.
I took Monday off, and will be taking today off as well. The first week of July was way too freaking stressful, and the break has been amazing.
I earned a total of 51,523VPPs for the 6 day 2X event. Not bad at all. I went from 10k points behind pace to 25k points ahead. It was a very significant boost.
I'll be back at the tables tomorrow, possibly this evening.
Just a short update today.
I took Monday off, and will be taking today off as well. The first week of July was way too freaking stressful, and the break has been amazing.
I earned a total of 51,523VPPs for the 6 day 2X event. Not bad at all. I went from 10k points behind pace to 25k points ahead. It was a very significant boost.
I'll be back at the tables tomorrow, possibly this evening.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
2X VPP WEEK - HELLLL YEAH!
VPP COUNT: 525847
So the week actually did fall on a pretty bad time for me. Mary is still in her summer classes, 4th of July, other random time-consuming things that could have been rescheduled if I had more warning. It really would be nice if Stars would just give me...say 24h notice before an event like this so that I could prepare accordingly.
I've put in about 30.5h in the past 5 days, and will be putting in another 2 or 3 tonight. This brings me to just above 6h/day avg, and is pretty pathetic considering how rare these events are. Oh well, by the end of the night, i'll be near 20k points ahead of pace and will have 1 2x-day left before the next part of the promotion starts.
I get the strong feeling that the next 3 weeks of 2X promotions wont be near as profitable as the first 6 days. If they were, I'm pretty sure stars would be losing $$ to me in rake... In fact, I think they already are.
So I'm psyching myself up for my last 2-3h session tonight. Including the 5k milestone bonus I cleared this morning, I am very close to having the biggest cash gain day of all time. I'll be playing 90%+ of my hands at 400NL+ and will be table selecting at 1000NL. With some luck, I'll break my record :) If I do, I'll come back and give an update tonight or tomorrow with my good hands.
Cross your fingers for me. If you happen to sit with me in the next few hours, just dump a few stacks my way, it's for a good cause.
So the week actually did fall on a pretty bad time for me. Mary is still in her summer classes, 4th of July, other random time-consuming things that could have been rescheduled if I had more warning. It really would be nice if Stars would just give me...say 24h notice before an event like this so that I could prepare accordingly.
I've put in about 30.5h in the past 5 days, and will be putting in another 2 or 3 tonight. This brings me to just above 6h/day avg, and is pretty pathetic considering how rare these events are. Oh well, by the end of the night, i'll be near 20k points ahead of pace and will have 1 2x-day left before the next part of the promotion starts.
I get the strong feeling that the next 3 weeks of 2X promotions wont be near as profitable as the first 6 days. If they were, I'm pretty sure stars would be losing $$ to me in rake... In fact, I think they already are.
So I'm psyching myself up for my last 2-3h session tonight. Including the 5k milestone bonus I cleared this morning, I am very close to having the biggest cash gain day of all time. I'll be playing 90%+ of my hands at 400NL+ and will be table selecting at 1000NL. With some luck, I'll break my record :) If I do, I'll come back and give an update tonight or tomorrow with my good hands.
Cross your fingers for me. If you happen to sit with me in the next few hours, just dump a few stacks my way, it's for a good cause.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
SNE QUEST - July 2: Halfway there
VPP COUNT: 500067
Well, July 1 marks the half-way point in the year (less days in Feb), and it is also the first day since late March that I am ahead of pace! Pretty nice to know that I can hit the halfway point after taking a vacation, taking care of a baby, and all of the other random distractions of new-family-hood.
The 2xVPP promotion has been kind of a mixed experience. During the early hours, the tables are absolutely awful. The average stats at almost all of my tables just hovered around 15/10 and the fish were scarce. I really think that my win rate suffered more than the 2xVPPs helped. The tables were so significantly tighter, the VPP rate actually decreased drastically. I generally average about 750-800vpps/hr when 24tabling, so I assumed I'd be getting about 1500/hr today. It was more like 1200 though, because so few hands even went to the flop.
Oh well, I'm just a little bitter that I ran badly. It is very good that I am back ahead of pace, and the remainder of this promotion will help me get a nice lead. Ideally, I'd like to get about 40 hours in the next 5 days.
It's hitting me how easy this challenge really is, if poker is your full time job. The # of elites will probably grow significantly in the next few years as everybody starts to find out how easy it is to make a huge amount of $ and travel the world.
I'm predicting July to be my best month ever. Between the 2xVPP promotion, the fact that i'll hit the 5k and 6k milestones within this month, and just the sheer volume of hands I plan on putting in, it would take a hell of a dry run to have a bad July.
Well, July 1 marks the half-way point in the year (less days in Feb), and it is also the first day since late March that I am ahead of pace! Pretty nice to know that I can hit the halfway point after taking a vacation, taking care of a baby, and all of the other random distractions of new-family-hood.
The 2xVPP promotion has been kind of a mixed experience. During the early hours, the tables are absolutely awful. The average stats at almost all of my tables just hovered around 15/10 and the fish were scarce. I really think that my win rate suffered more than the 2xVPPs helped. The tables were so significantly tighter, the VPP rate actually decreased drastically. I generally average about 750-800vpps/hr when 24tabling, so I assumed I'd be getting about 1500/hr today. It was more like 1200 though, because so few hands even went to the flop.
Oh well, I'm just a little bitter that I ran badly. It is very good that I am back ahead of pace, and the remainder of this promotion will help me get a nice lead. Ideally, I'd like to get about 40 hours in the next 5 days.
It's hitting me how easy this challenge really is, if poker is your full time job. The # of elites will probably grow significantly in the next few years as everybody starts to find out how easy it is to make a huge amount of $ and travel the world.
I'm predicting July to be my best month ever. Between the 2xVPP promotion, the fact that i'll hit the 5k and 6k milestones within this month, and just the sheer volume of hands I plan on putting in, it would take a hell of a dry run to have a bad July.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
SNE JUNE: Tilt Control
VPPS EARNED: 95022
VPPS TOTAL: 486493
HOURS: 122
This month, I even surprised myself. The first half of June, I was in a downswing that was about 30% bigger than I've ever had. I kept putting in the hours, and finally, during the last week of the month, it paid off big. I ended the month with a MAJOR upswing, which left me completely satisfied with the month as a whole.
I have stopped with my .xx bets for a short period of time, just to see what kind of difference it makes. I think I will randomly switch back at some point in the future as well...just gotta keep everybody on their toes.
I also stopped the preflop minraise. I'm starting to believe that as long as your bets aren't overly large and exploitable, it really doesn't matter what amount between 2-4xBB. This is actually a very interesting piece of information, which I may be able to use to my advantage in the future.
Great month.
In the May recap post, I mentioned the 2x promo, and how it would probably come at around 20billion hands. Well, apparently it is the first week of July instead.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO
I'll be out of my cave in a week.
VPPS TOTAL: 486493
HOURS: 122
This month, I even surprised myself. The first half of June, I was in a downswing that was about 30% bigger than I've ever had. I kept putting in the hours, and finally, during the last week of the month, it paid off big. I ended the month with a MAJOR upswing, which left me completely satisfied with the month as a whole.
I have stopped with my .xx bets for a short period of time, just to see what kind of difference it makes. I think I will randomly switch back at some point in the future as well...just gotta keep everybody on their toes.
I also stopped the preflop minraise. I'm starting to believe that as long as your bets aren't overly large and exploitable, it really doesn't matter what amount between 2-4xBB. This is actually a very interesting piece of information, which I may be able to use to my advantage in the future.
Great month.
In the May recap post, I mentioned the 2x promo, and how it would probably come at around 20billion hands. Well, apparently it is the first week of July instead.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO
I'll be out of my cave in a week.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
SNE Quest - June 23: Fighting Downswings
VPP COUNT: 459815
A while ago, someone wrote, "Eventually, everyone runs worse than they ever expected." This is incredibly true. After playing professionally for years at a time, you are bound to have that one month where things just never work out.
I had an anonymous request in the previous post to give more detail about my recent downswing. Since he called the blog "inspirational", my ego urged me to fulfill his request.
The downswing from this month lasted 65k hands and totaled 22 buyins (from highest point to lowest point), evenly spread through the 600-200NL level. This is probably about 50% more than any previous downswing, as I have a pretty low-variance style. Eventually you just have a month where nothing works out, and much of June was like that for me. I still technically haven't fully recovered. I'm up a bit for the month, but am still about 5-10 buyins away from my previous peak.
SNE has really made it easier to get through downswings. Even when I get repeatedly cold-decked, at least I'm accumulating VPPs and getting closer to my goal. If it weren't for that alternative encouragement, those big downswings would be much more devastating, and would kill my drive to play.
The best advice I can give someone who is currently getting cold-decked: Just step back and look at it from a long-term perspective. If you have lost enough that it has significantly damaged your bankroll(I'd call 50% significant, if you are properly rolled), it may be time to move down or completely re-assess your game, because something is not working. In my case, though the amount of money lost was extremely significant, it worked out to less than 10% of what I've made this year.
So I ended yesterday at about 15k points behind schedule. I'm still on a solid pace to hit 500k by June 30. Unfortunately, this is not going to leave much room for a day off, as my Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays are all pretty much limited to a 3hr session each day. Life is busy.
Hopefully I'll be able to end this month the way I ended May.
A while ago, someone wrote, "Eventually, everyone runs worse than they ever expected." This is incredibly true. After playing professionally for years at a time, you are bound to have that one month where things just never work out.
I had an anonymous request in the previous post to give more detail about my recent downswing. Since he called the blog "inspirational", my ego urged me to fulfill his request.
The downswing from this month lasted 65k hands and totaled 22 buyins (from highest point to lowest point), evenly spread through the 600-200NL level. This is probably about 50% more than any previous downswing, as I have a pretty low-variance style. Eventually you just have a month where nothing works out, and much of June was like that for me. I still technically haven't fully recovered. I'm up a bit for the month, but am still about 5-10 buyins away from my previous peak.
SNE has really made it easier to get through downswings. Even when I get repeatedly cold-decked, at least I'm accumulating VPPs and getting closer to my goal. If it weren't for that alternative encouragement, those big downswings would be much more devastating, and would kill my drive to play.
The best advice I can give someone who is currently getting cold-decked: Just step back and look at it from a long-term perspective. If you have lost enough that it has significantly damaged your bankroll(I'd call 50% significant, if you are properly rolled), it may be time to move down or completely re-assess your game, because something is not working. In my case, though the amount of money lost was extremely significant, it worked out to less than 10% of what I've made this year.
So I ended yesterday at about 15k points behind schedule. I'm still on a solid pace to hit 500k by June 30. Unfortunately, this is not going to leave much room for a day off, as my Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays are all pretty much limited to a 3hr session each day. Life is busy.
Hopefully I'll be able to end this month the way I ended May.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
SNE Quest - June 17: Almost in the black.
VPP COUNT: 441374
I put in about 15k hands yesterday, and had the kind of day I've been waiting for all month. It is in my top 3 all time cash days easily. Even after the huge upswing, I'm still slightly down for the month. I am in fine shape after VPPs and bonuses though. It is nice to know that I can have the biggest downswing of my life and still have my monthly nut more than covered after 16 days. Poker is awesome.
Sophy is learning to crawl. It is fun watching her figure it out.
I put in about 15k hands yesterday, and had the kind of day I've been waiting for all month. It is in my top 3 all time cash days easily. Even after the huge upswing, I'm still slightly down for the month. I am in fine shape after VPPs and bonuses though. It is nice to know that I can have the biggest downswing of my life and still have my monthly nut more than covered after 16 days. Poker is awesome.
Sophy is learning to crawl. It is fun watching her figure it out.
Monday, June 16, 2008
SNE Quest June 16: Took a well-deserved break.
VPP COUNT: 435347
I have taken the last 4 days completely off of poker. I think the last day off I took before that was in mid-May. I had a vacation coming to me.
I bought myself a new 20" HP laptop, and will be concierging that ASAP. This giant beast isn't exactly the most mobile computer, but it will be perfect for my media/poker uses with 1-2 trips a week to my dads house.
Speaking of Concierge and Vacation, we are getting to the time where we need to book our honeymoon, and it ain't gonna be cheap. I would have already booked the damn thing if June hadn't been such a crappy month in terms of winnings. Fortunately, I have about 850k fpps to spend, and it will cover the trip completely. In the next couple weeks I will be putting that all together and getting it booked. Maybe if the rest of June goes better, we'll do the combination Galapagos/Machu Pichu trip. I'd have to run pretty damn good though. The next couple weeks will tell if that kind of upgrade is possible.
So I would really like to be at 500k points by the end of June. I would have to average something like 4.3-4.5k points per day, which is fairly hard to maintain. I may come up slightly short, but I will be very close to SNE pace by the half-way mark.
I've put in 3 hours so far today, and have set aside time for another 7. Hopefully a big day.
I have taken the last 4 days completely off of poker. I think the last day off I took before that was in mid-May. I had a vacation coming to me.
I bought myself a new 20" HP laptop, and will be concierging that ASAP. This giant beast isn't exactly the most mobile computer, but it will be perfect for my media/poker uses with 1-2 trips a week to my dads house.
Speaking of Concierge and Vacation, we are getting to the time where we need to book our honeymoon, and it ain't gonna be cheap. I would have already booked the damn thing if June hadn't been such a crappy month in terms of winnings. Fortunately, I have about 850k fpps to spend, and it will cover the trip completely. In the next couple weeks I will be putting that all together and getting it booked. Maybe if the rest of June goes better, we'll do the combination Galapagos/Machu Pichu trip. I'd have to run pretty damn good though. The next couple weeks will tell if that kind of upgrade is possible.
So I would really like to be at 500k points by the end of June. I would have to average something like 4.3-4.5k points per day, which is fairly hard to maintain. I may come up slightly short, but I will be very close to SNE pace by the half-way mark.
I've put in 3 hours so far today, and have set aside time for another 7. Hopefully a big day.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
SNE Quest - June 8: The day after
VPP COUNT: 420092
I put in a solid 9 hours yesterday, and had a decent profit. Nothing astronomical like I was shooting for, but still a solid day. I cleared the 400k milestone bonus like I had planned, and am now within 14k points of being on pace for SNE.
I'll only be putting 3 hours in today, which will keep me at ~14500 from pace. In 1 or 2 more weeks, I should be back ahead of schedule! Nearly half-way through the challenge and I'm going strong.
This was my favorite hand from yesterday.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2725936
He must have been wasted.
I put in a solid 9 hours yesterday, and had a decent profit. Nothing astronomical like I was shooting for, but still a solid day. I cleared the 400k milestone bonus like I had planned, and am now within 14k points of being on pace for SNE.
I'll only be putting 3 hours in today, which will keep me at ~14500 from pace. In 1 or 2 more weeks, I should be back ahead of schedule! Nearly half-way through the challenge and I'm going strong.
This was my favorite hand from yesterday.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2725936
He must have been wasted.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
SNE Quest - June 7: Gonna be a big day
VPP COUNT: 412563
I ended yesterday at about 19k points away from being on pace. I only put in a 2 hour session, because I ended up having the worst 1-day downswing of my career. This is only 2 days after having the previous "worst 1-day downswing" which was just a few hundred dollars shorter. So I am down overall for June, and more than a bit frustrated with the way the cards have been falling.
So this morning I was up at about 5am, which has become usual for me lately. I took Nala for a walk, had my coffee, and decided that I'm going to put in a ton of time today and take advantage of the weekend fish. I'd like to clear my 400kVPP milestone bonus by tonight - should take about 9-10 hours. This would give me a big bankroll boost to make up for the downswing. With a little luck, and including the milestone bonus, today could very well be my biggest earning day of all time.
If I am not a zombie by the end of the day, I may come back and update.
I ended yesterday at about 19k points away from being on pace. I only put in a 2 hour session, because I ended up having the worst 1-day downswing of my career. This is only 2 days after having the previous "worst 1-day downswing" which was just a few hundred dollars shorter. So I am down overall for June, and more than a bit frustrated with the way the cards have been falling.
So this morning I was up at about 5am, which has become usual for me lately. I took Nala for a walk, had my coffee, and decided that I'm going to put in a ton of time today and take advantage of the weekend fish. I'd like to clear my 400kVPP milestone bonus by tonight - should take about 9-10 hours. This would give me a big bankroll boost to make up for the downswing. With a little luck, and including the milestone bonus, today could very well be my biggest earning day of all time.
If I am not a zombie by the end of the day, I may come back and update.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
SNE MAY - Smashing the records
VPPS EARNED: 115932 *record month*
VPPS TOTAL: 391515
HOURS: 152
$$$ EARNED: *record month*
I ended the month only about 25k VPPs behind pace, and slowly but surely closing the gap. I wont have much time to play today (6/1) because we are having Sophy's half-birthday party for most of the afternoon and evening.
March and April really threatened to knock me out of the SNE race. I only played a total of 121 hours for both of those months combined, and really did not put in enough effort. I knew I needed to make May a killer month or my chances of finishing would drop dramatically.
My earnings for May beat my previous record by about 30%. I attribute this to finally moving up to 400 and 600 buyin games as my regular level. I really only fully made the move up on the 22nd, and almost half of my earnings from the month came in the last 10 days. If I can maintain my play at this level for all of June, I expect another record month on the way.
So with only 25k points behind, I will be back ahead of pace before the end of June.
PokerStars is about at 17.8 billion hands. I still highly suspect that the double points promotion will be at 20bil. As long as that doesn't happen around Sept 12th, I'll be happy.
AMAZING month. Lets keep it rolling!
VPPS TOTAL: 391515
HOURS: 152
$$$ EARNED: *record month*
I ended the month only about 25k VPPs behind pace, and slowly but surely closing the gap. I wont have much time to play today (6/1) because we are having Sophy's half-birthday party for most of the afternoon and evening.
March and April really threatened to knock me out of the SNE race. I only played a total of 121 hours for both of those months combined, and really did not put in enough effort. I knew I needed to make May a killer month or my chances of finishing would drop dramatically.
My earnings for May beat my previous record by about 30%. I attribute this to finally moving up to 400 and 600 buyin games as my regular level. I really only fully made the move up on the 22nd, and almost half of my earnings from the month came in the last 10 days. If I can maintain my play at this level for all of June, I expect another record month on the way.
So with only 25k points behind, I will be back ahead of pace before the end of June.
PokerStars is about at 17.8 billion hands. I still highly suspect that the double points promotion will be at 20bil. As long as that doesn't happen around Sept 12th, I'll be happy.
AMAZING month. Lets keep it rolling!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
SNE Quest - May 28: More Upswongs
VPP COUNT: 377152
As long as I don't go on a massive downswing during my last session, today will be my 6th winning day in a row! This brings my total profits for the month way beyond my previous record, and there are still 3 days left.
My hourly rate just continues to go up, and I'm very confident I'll hit my target profit for the year.
Mary and I decided that instead of going to Maui for our honeymoon, we want to go to Ecuador + The Galapagos. We had just assumed we were going to Maui this whole time, but since we had already been there, felt like we should explore our options more. Last night, somehow The Galapagos came up in a conversation, and both of us instantly came to the same conclusion at the same time before a word was spoken. It was definitely a great choice. To prepare, we downloaded the HD Discovery Galapagos series, and will be watching those sporadically over the next months.
Sophys half-birthday is tomorrow. The past 6 months have just flown by.
May, especially, has been an amazing month.
As long as I don't go on a massive downswing during my last session, today will be my 6th winning day in a row! This brings my total profits for the month way beyond my previous record, and there are still 3 days left.
My hourly rate just continues to go up, and I'm very confident I'll hit my target profit for the year.
Mary and I decided that instead of going to Maui for our honeymoon, we want to go to Ecuador + The Galapagos. We had just assumed we were going to Maui this whole time, but since we had already been there, felt like we should explore our options more. Last night, somehow The Galapagos came up in a conversation, and both of us instantly came to the same conclusion at the same time before a word was spoken. It was definitely a great choice. To prepare, we downloaded the HD Discovery Galapagos series, and will be watching those sporadically over the next months.Sophys half-birthday is tomorrow. The past 6 months have just flown by.
May, especially, has been an amazing month.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
SNE Quest - May 24: Best month ever.
VPP COUNT: 365106
I've been doing extremely well this past week, and even with 1 week left in the month, May '08 is already the best month I've ever had.
On Thursday, I decided to look over my stats for the year at 400$ buyin and above. I had ~115k hands worth of data, and it was very clear that I am ahead of those games. For whatever reason, I've been playing primarily $200 buyin for the majority of the year. I guess it is just easy to get comfortable when you are at a level you are 100% sure you can beat, and moving up can be a bit more intimidating. Not any more.
So, from Thursday until today, more than 80% of my played hands were at NL400 or above. I still had 20% NL200 because in the mornings you cant always get 24 tables at higher stakes.
I've been on a very nice upswing since I moved up as well, with about 30k hands logged in the past 3 days. Despite quite a few large+disappointing hands, I've just been blowing these tables away. This means more VPPs and more $ per hour of work.
Lately, I've been making more "outside the box" plays as well, and fighting harder in more marginal situations. I've actually been caught bluffing a few times, which rarely used to happen before. This has been helping my image, and helping me get looser calls.
I'm only ~30k VPPs away from being on pace now. Really making progress. By the end of June, I should easily be back ahead of schedule, barring any burnout episodes.
On top of being extra-productive at the tables, Mary and I have fixed up our yard big-time. Thanks to Stars' concierge service for "paying" for the supplies. It has also been much easier for me to balance family with work lately. It is probably easy because I don't have many other distractions at the moment.
I'd like to end this blog post with some words of praise for the PokerStars Concierge Service. They have been extremely flexible and prompt with all of my requests. Having intelligent and helpful customer service has been such a breath of fresh air (compared to -many- other sites), and has made the SNE challenge more enjoyable. Kudos.
I've been doing extremely well this past week, and even with 1 week left in the month, May '08 is already the best month I've ever had.
On Thursday, I decided to look over my stats for the year at 400$ buyin and above. I had ~115k hands worth of data, and it was very clear that I am ahead of those games. For whatever reason, I've been playing primarily $200 buyin for the majority of the year. I guess it is just easy to get comfortable when you are at a level you are 100% sure you can beat, and moving up can be a bit more intimidating. Not any more.
So, from Thursday until today, more than 80% of my played hands were at NL400 or above. I still had 20% NL200 because in the mornings you cant always get 24 tables at higher stakes.
I've been on a very nice upswing since I moved up as well, with about 30k hands logged in the past 3 days. Despite quite a few large+disappointing hands, I've just been blowing these tables away. This means more VPPs and more $ per hour of work.
Lately, I've been making more "outside the box" plays as well, and fighting harder in more marginal situations. I've actually been caught bluffing a few times, which rarely used to happen before. This has been helping my image, and helping me get looser calls.
I'm only ~30k VPPs away from being on pace now. Really making progress. By the end of June, I should easily be back ahead of schedule, barring any burnout episodes.
On top of being extra-productive at the tables, Mary and I have fixed up our yard big-time. Thanks to Stars' concierge service for "paying" for the supplies. It has also been much easier for me to balance family with work lately. It is probably easy because I don't have many other distractions at the moment.
I'd like to end this blog post with some words of praise for the PokerStars Concierge Service. They have been extremely flexible and prompt with all of my requests. Having intelligent and helpful customer service has been such a breath of fresh air (compared to -many- other sites), and has made the SNE challenge more enjoyable. Kudos.
Friday, May 23, 2008
24-Tabling Like a Pro: Part III
Autohotkey is a free program that helps you automate tasks on your computer. You can get it at http://www.autohotkey.com/. There is plenty of reference material on the website if you want to tinker around with the programming language. It is pretty simple and easy to learn the basics, and I would suggest any serious online poker player (or anybody who uses their computer for a large portion of their day) to become acquainted with it. A little AHK knowledge can go a long long way.
I'll be discussing some of the pre-made scripts that you can use to speed up your actions. I did not have anything to do with the creation of these scripts, I just mooch them :) The talented guys at overcards.com are the ones who put these together.
BetPot
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=379
This is a script that you can use to automate all of your table actions - including your bet sizing. There is plenty of how-to explanation in the thread, but the important thing to remember is that you can customize all of your actions to basically anything you want. I've heard of people even using video game controllers. Being the computer nerd that I am, I was most efficient with all of my table actions programmed to my mouse.
MY SETUP
Logitech G9 Mouse
I chose this mouse because it was quick, efficient, customizable (2 "body" choices, and the option to add/remove weight). Betpot works with the mouse very well.
Left Click: Standard
Right Click: Fold
Side Button1: Call
Side Button2: Raise
Scroll Wheel Up/Down: Increase/Decrease bet size
Scroll Wheel Press: Pot size raise
With this configuration, I really only ever need to use my right hand to play all 24 tables. I don't even need to aim. I just need to have my mouse over the table. This leaves your left hand free to take care of other things.
Stars Planner
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=398
This is a great script that helps you save LOTS of clicks while playing. You can set it to automatically buy in for you, to keep the Stars lobby activated at all times (most multitablers know how much of a pain it is to have to reactivate stars every time you join a table), and quite a few other options. It increases multitabling efficiency dramatically, and I'd suggest giving it a try. I use version 0.4d, which has always been extremely stable for me.
I personally do not like the autoreloader scripts, as they interfere with a stacked table layout. With Stars Planner, all you need to do is click Options...>Add more chips, and the script takes care of the rest. Very easy.
*LEARN AHK*
The possibilities are endless for making poker and other computer related tasks more efficient. A very basic understanding of the language will be all you need to be able to customize other scripts, or make your own.
Here's just a small example of a simple one I use, which has helped very much.
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
Home::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 0, 0
return
End::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 0, 600
return
PgUp::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 800, 0
return
PgDn::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 800, 600
return
You can change the X and Y coordinates to whatever works for you. This is a script that simply moves the active window to 1 of 4 spots on your screen, using the Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys.
I use this script constantly. When I have my stack of 24 tables going, and I get a hand where I need to pay more attention, or want to see the results of, I can just hit 1 key and move it to an open area of the screen. 23 tables stay in the normal spot, and the 1 important table is visible without being interrupted. Once the hand is over, 1 keystroke brings it back.
There are tons of other various pre-made scripts in the 2+2 software forums. The ability to customize them, or to use bits and pieces of them with other scripts is a great asset.
Some other suggestions of poker-related scripts one might write:
-A "Startup" script that runs PT and starts an auto-import, PAHud, Poker Lobby, 2+2, etc
-A script to block you from looking at your cashier or PT stats, which is a nasty counter-productive habit we tend to develop.
The specifics of AHK really can't be covered in this article, though. There are hundreds of pages of documentation on autohotkey.com, which are what I used to learn the language. The purpose of this part of the article is more to stress the importance of learning AHK, and show what is possible when it is used correctly. You don't need to be good enough to write all of the scripts yourself - you just need to be good enough to mooch other peoples work and adapt it to fit your own style.
I'll be discussing some of the pre-made scripts that you can use to speed up your actions. I did not have anything to do with the creation of these scripts, I just mooch them :) The talented guys at overcards.com are the ones who put these together.
BetPot
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=379
This is a script that you can use to automate all of your table actions - including your bet sizing. There is plenty of how-to explanation in the thread, but the important thing to remember is that you can customize all of your actions to basically anything you want. I've heard of people even using video game controllers. Being the computer nerd that I am, I was most efficient with all of my table actions programmed to my mouse.
MY SETUP
Logitech G9 Mouse
I chose this mouse because it was quick, efficient, customizable (2 "body" choices, and the option to add/remove weight). Betpot works with the mouse very well.
Left Click: Standard
Right Click: Fold
Side Button1: Call
Side Button2: Raise
Scroll Wheel Up/Down: Increase/Decrease bet size
Scroll Wheel Press: Pot size raise
With this configuration, I really only ever need to use my right hand to play all 24 tables. I don't even need to aim. I just need to have my mouse over the table. This leaves your left hand free to take care of other things.
Stars Planner
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=398
This is a great script that helps you save LOTS of clicks while playing. You can set it to automatically buy in for you, to keep the Stars lobby activated at all times (most multitablers know how much of a pain it is to have to reactivate stars every time you join a table), and quite a few other options. It increases multitabling efficiency dramatically, and I'd suggest giving it a try. I use version 0.4d, which has always been extremely stable for me.
I personally do not like the autoreloader scripts, as they interfere with a stacked table layout. With Stars Planner, all you need to do is click Options...>Add more chips, and the script takes care of the rest. Very easy.
*LEARN AHK*
The possibilities are endless for making poker and other computer related tasks more efficient. A very basic understanding of the language will be all you need to be able to customize other scripts, or make your own.
Here's just a small example of a simple one I use, which has helped very much.
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
Home::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 0, 0
return
End::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 0, 600
return
PgUp::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 800, 0
return
PgDn::
WinGetActiveTitle, Title1
WinMove, %Title1%,, 800, 600
return
You can change the X and Y coordinates to whatever works for you. This is a script that simply moves the active window to 1 of 4 spots on your screen, using the Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys.
I use this script constantly. When I have my stack of 24 tables going, and I get a hand where I need to pay more attention, or want to see the results of, I can just hit 1 key and move it to an open area of the screen. 23 tables stay in the normal spot, and the 1 important table is visible without being interrupted. Once the hand is over, 1 keystroke brings it back.
There are tons of other various pre-made scripts in the 2+2 software forums. The ability to customize them, or to use bits and pieces of them with other scripts is a great asset.
Some other suggestions of poker-related scripts one might write:
-A "Startup" script that runs PT and starts an auto-import, PAHud, Poker Lobby, 2+2, etc
-A script to block you from looking at your cashier or PT stats, which is a nasty counter-productive habit we tend to develop.
The specifics of AHK really can't be covered in this article, though. There are hundreds of pages of documentation on autohotkey.com, which are what I used to learn the language. The purpose of this part of the article is more to stress the importance of learning AHK, and show what is possible when it is used correctly. You don't need to be good enough to write all of the scripts yourself - you just need to be good enough to mooch other peoples work and adapt it to fit your own style.
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