It Has Been A While!

Hello!

I have not blogged here in a pretty long while. That is because I have not been playing online poker much at all.

However, there are a couple cool developments.

1. Poker Stars now has a new tournament called The Sunday Storm. It is a $300K guarantee deep stack tournament that so far blows away its minimum. Last Sunday it hit about $450K.

Cost for the Sunday Storm is only $11. Crazy! So I have played that twice. First time I got ITM - moved up one money spot and then got taken out. Second time I got taken out about 20 minutes before ITM.

I really like this tournament and for $11 I can afford to play every Sunday.

2. Poker Stars now has created the ability to create private poker clubs. Real Money or Play Money - Cash Tables or Tournaments. There really are a lot of options. The only option I did not see is the ability to create a heads up tournament or a STT.

I created my own club. It is called Seven Duece Offsuit.

I misspelled it, but it is okay. I am thinking Deuce may have already been taken anyways.

I created what I think is a pretty cool logo. I will post it here later.

SO I am gather private club members and will be hosting some tournaments in the near future.

Plan For Taking Shots @ NL50

I have a plan for when I will take shots at NL50.

I currently play at NL25. I am a bit of a NIT on BR management. I need the emotional support of a larger BR for when downswings hit. It just helps me not TILT.

So my comfort zone for grinding any particular limit is 40 BI's (Buy Ins).

I will take a shot at the next limit when I have 50 BI's at the current limit - which is 25 BI's for the next limit.

If I lose 5 BI's taking a shot, then I move back down and rinse and repeat.

SO for NL50 - I need 50 buy-ins @ NL25. Currently I have 38.

Now if I get to 30 BI's at the new limit - I keep playing unless I drop to 20 BI's - then I move down - rinse and repeat.

I think this is a very comfortable BR management for taking shots for me. I won't tilt knowing I can move down with 40 BI's at the lower limit level.

I want to be taking shots until I can grind the higher limit - at least until NL200.

When taking shots - I may start with 4-6 tables. Believe it or not, I prefer to play at least 4 tables because it helps with variance and tilt. If all I had was 2 tables - I would see less good hands and might play differently. But at 4-6 tables - you see a good variety of hands and are getting action on at least one or two tables at all times.

So that is the plan.

Bankroll is back on track after Variance/Tilt Smackdown

I lost 13 buy-ins in one day due to my variance and tilt.

I've won back 7 of those buy-ins in the past couple days.

I have definitely been seeing a lot more coolers lately. That is where I have the best hand and get all the money it only to see the villian outdraw me. Happened literally 3 times this morning in under 20 minutes. I laughed. No tilt. I think that is drastic improvement. I ended that 20 minutes session ahead .61 buy-ins nonetheless.

I am only $122 away from being back where I started when Tilt/Variance kicked in.

My Bankroll sits at $700 today. I was at $822 when Tilt/Variance smacked me down. If I have a decent weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) - I can make that $122 and be a happy camper come Monday.

My PT3 stacks are still looking good. Obviously my BB/100 went waaaay down for NL25 after the 13 BI downswing. But the other stats are good. I increased my Blind Steals % to 22%. My goal is 30+.

My BB/100 at NL25 is about 0.95BB/100. For all limits it is 1.5BB/100.

I look forward to the day when I can lose 10 buy-ins and not have my BB/100 go down below 3BB/100. Currently I have about 22K hands logged. So by the time that hits 100K - 10 buy-ins downswing shouldn't effect my BB/100 much.

That is the goal - 100K hands.

Variance Smacked Me and Tilt Wasn't Far Behind

Yup...it was inevitable. Tilt.

I was running good for a month or so. Past few days I have been having losing sessions. Last night I fired up 9 tables of NL25 and within an hour donated over 4 Buy-Ins. At least 1 of those buy-ins was tilt. Perhaps the other 3 were just variance. But something tells me maybe not.

Variance can hide tilt. The only way to find out for sure is to have review sessions of losing hands.

The real Tilt though was when I decided to go try 4 tables at NL50 right after losing 4 buy-ins at 25NL. I did ok for a while, then I donated $40+. I had A8o and the board was ugly. There was 3 to a flush, two tens, and one Ace. Anyway you looked at it I was beat. So why did I call the River All-In for another $27 - because I was on Tilt - that is why!

LOL.

But to be honest, I was more disappointed than angry. My tilt is under control mostly. I did not yell, scream, or destroy my mouse or keyboard. I just sort of laughed it off.

I knew I tilted - knew I donked a buy-in.

Such is poker.

So tonight I regroup back to my ABC game and try to recoup my winning strategy. I can make up the past few days losings - roughly 9 buy-ins - in a matter of two weeks.

My bankroll for NL25 still sits at a healthy 33 Buy-ins. Mostly I donked away my winnings for the past few weeks.

Funny how winnings are never as big as tilt sessions or variance.

Funny how over confident we get in our ability to constantly beat the game until variance kicks in. Then we start questioning our abilities.

But I will not be dismayed from my Poker dream. Just a small setback in the middle of the month. Plenty of time to recover.

100th Post!

Today is my 100th blog post....I think that is pretty cool.

Well I am doing great at NL25. Yesterday I 9-Tabled for one hour and won 3+ buy-ins.

Then this morning I woke up early and played another hour and won another 2.5 buy-ins.

So now I have 12,500 hands in NL25 and my BB/100 is 2.99

That is grreeeaaaat!

Additionally, FTP sent me $20 cash - just out of the blue. Not bonus, straight up cash. I have no idea why, but I am not one to complain about getting free $.

Today is Friday and you know what that means!? - It is RakeBack payday! Today I got $15 - my largest RakeBack payday so far. It will only getting bigger.

I also have cleared $80 out of $100 of my current FTP bonus. I have never fully cleared ANY bonus before - so I am quite happy!

My NL25 game seems to be solid. I have logged about 20 hours. I tweaked my game a little about a week or so ago and the results have been great.

Basically I was limping in with pocket pairs (22-99) and Axs flush draws. I changed that to raising from any position. The exception is if someone limps in or raises - then I just normally call. I rarely chase sets - but I will chase if in late position against 1-2 players and they limp raise. I may also chase flopped flush draws very cheap.

I also changed my standard raise from 4bb to 3bb - that saves me money and doesn't seem to effect how the other players play.

I also started stealing blinds from the cutoff and button with any A or K. That has worked out very well. My PokerTracker stats for blind stealing at NL25 was at 14% - which is way too low. It needs to be around 30%. So after about 3000 hands of blind stealing is has crept up to 17%.

Also - because I am raising my pocket pairs and A high flush draws - I end up stealing the pots 50% of the time. All this adds nicely to my bottom line.

Pocket 10's, JJ's, an QQ's I raise and re-raise. I try to CCBet 2/3 of the time. At NL25 I discovered a LOT of players are also set trapping or flush trapping and will fold to a missed flop - but they will raise the turn if it gets checked to them regardless of the fact that they missed.

Since I made those changes my NL25 has drastically improved.

Looking forward to playing 10+ hours of poker this weekend. The next 2-3 sessions will really solidify my confidence in my strategy and eliminate the luck and variance factor. I have already increased my starting BR 40% in only 30 hours. Once my BR hits $1000 (only $225 to go) - I will have double my BR.

I plan to grind out NL25 for 100K hands. I need to know I am beating this level before I start grinding NL50.

My game won't change much until I hit $200NL. Each level requires tweaking - mainly adjusting to players playing more Tight, less bluffing - but more raises and 3 & 4 betting Pre-flop and flop.

Looking forward to it!

9-Tabling 25NL at FTP Going Good

I don't post as often as I should. I'll try to post more often in the future.

Well for those of you who read my blog you know that I used to play on Poker Stars. But recently I made the move to Full Tilt Poker (FTP). I still have about $70 at Poker Stars, but my focus currently is at FTP.

I like FTP a LOT better than PS.

First, I get a 27% Rakeback from RakeMeBack.com. That easily adds about 25% more money to my bottom line.

Secondly, FTP offers bonuses way more often than PS. Plus I like FTP's Iron Man VIP program where I can earn up to 900 medals a month and trade in 3000 medals for a $600 bonus. Another great option is I can trade in either 140 medals or 400 medals for either a $26 Tournament Ticket or $75 Tournament Ticket, respectively.

Thirdly, EVERY year in December FTP gives everyone that qualified for Iron Man a bonus. The amount depends on what level of Iron Man you got between July - December. If you get the top Iron Man for all 6 months then your Year End bonus is $600 (The Max). They also have a mid-year bonus!

The list goes on and on. FTP has a better Steps tournament system - allowing you to exchange Step 3 tickets and up for equal value Cash tournament tickets (Awesome!). FTP software is lightning fast! FTP software remembers your where your tables were at on the screen - so when I Multi-Table - the new window correctly re-sizes and goes exactly where the old table was - saves me a LOT of time.

So I am very sold on FTP.

But back to my grind update!

So it has been a little bit of a roller coaster. A few days I lost about 3 Buy-Ins and then a few days I won a few Buy-Ins. So those days all equaled out. But I am still winning in NL25 after passing the 10,000 hand mark yesterday. I think my BB/100 for 25NL is about .5

That is very short of my 3BB/100 goal - but I experienced major turbulence in my first 10,000 hands. Dollar wise I am up $60 in 25NL after 10,000 hands.

My goal is to play 100,000 hands at NL25 and have a 3BB/100. That would mean I have a solid NL25 game and I can then move up to NL50.

If I do hit my 3BB/100 hands while 9-Tabling NL25 - I would be earning about $11.5 per hour.

If you include RakeBack, that number jumps to about $13.50.

If I am also working on a FTP bonus at the same time, the number jumps to $16.80
(Complicated formula because Bonuses take away from your gross Rakeback.)

So the ideal goal on FTP would be to play at least 25 days a month and earn 5000 FTP points. Doing those two things gets me the highest Iron Man level. If I earn the highest Iron Man level for 5 months, then when I earn it in Month 6 - I start accruing 1000 medals a month (choosing to opt in for the extra Iron Man Medals gives me the extra 100 a month).

Then every 3 months I can trade in 3000 medals for a $600 bonus. At NL25 9-Tabling, I figure I release about $6 per hour. That means I release the whole bonus in 6.5 weeks or 100 hours of 9-Tabling.

Unfortunately, that means going 6 weeks without a bonus.

I'll look into if I can use my FTP points to buy more bonuses.

But keep in mind I also get mid-year and end of year bonuses. So I would say at least 9 out of 12 months a year I could be working on a bonus. If I can trade in FTP points for Bonuses, then most of the year I'll be working off bonuses.

It is always better to have RakeBack and a Bonus going at the same time!

By the way - RakeMeBack.com pays rakeback every Friday. Man I love that!

So I can make $800+ per month 9-Tabling NL25 fifteen hours a week. That would be awesome! We'll see what the reality actually turns out to be.

Till next time!

Grinding Cash Games On FTP

I am back in the saddle again. It has been a pretty long time since I was grinding cash games.

So my bankroll is currently $190 - which is under-bankrolled. However, I plan on depositing $310 to bring it up to my 50 Buy-In standard.

I am grinding $10 NL - 4 tabling.

So far so good. It has been about 4 days. I am using Poker Tracker to track my progress. After about 2200 hands I am averaging 8BB/100 hands. My goal is 3BB/100. 2200 hands is nothing. The first real test level is around 10,000 hands. Then 20,000 hands. And if I am averaging at least 3BB/100 hands at 30,000 hands I will be satisfied that I am beating that level.

By the way let me define what I mean by 3BB/100. BB means Big Bet. In cash games you have two blinds - the little blind and the big blind. The big blind is referred to as bb. Once you get to the Turn card the minimum bet is twice the big blind and it is referred to as BB for Big Blind. So you have bb and BB.

So a winning player should be winning on average 3X BB. So in a $10NL cash game, the Blinds are $0.05 for the small blind and $0.10 for the big blind. The reason it is called $10NL is because the maximum buy-in is 100 big blinds. So $0.10 X 100 = $10.00.

So in $10NL the big blind is $0.10 and the Big Bet is $0.20.

Hopefully that makes sense, if not re-read until it does.

So, a winning player at $10NL should be making 3 X BB which equals 3 X $0.20 = $0.60 per 100 hands.

So in my Poker Tracker it specifically shows what my 3BB is. I keep an eye on that number - to me it is one of the most important statistics over the long haul.

3BB per 100 hands is a realistic goal for a winning player. You will have swings where that number goes way higher and way lower, but over 100,000 hands you should be at least at 3BB.

For $10NL I think I can make at least 3BB/100. My strategy has been tight-aggressive. I don't invest heavily in blind stealing or set trapping. I try not to CB (Continuation Bet) to much on the flop with more than 2 other players. My starting hand range is top 15-20% and very position specific.

So far this strategy has worked very well for FR (full ring). I started by playing 6Max and that did not go very well. Too bad - I really like 6 max. 6Max is my ultimate goal. I will need to determine the best strategy for tight aggressive winning play.

My goals are to definitively beat $10NL before moving up to the next level. 50,000 hands is probably the minimum. Of course I will play past 50,000 hands if I am not winning at that time.

My long term goals is play at the $200NL Full Ring level.

My bankroll management requirements are the following:

1. I call it quits if I lose 5 buy-ins in a day. I chose 5 buy-ins because I know I can lose 3 buy-ins and win back 4-5 buy-ins. At some time in the past I realized my average buy-in swing is 3 back or 3 ahead. So if I lose 5 buy-ins then I am on a losing streak and need to call it a day, but if I only lose 3 buy-ins then I can still win them back.

2. I never risk more than 10% of my bankroll in any one day. That number is twice as high as I would prefer, but at these micro levels it is acceptable risk. So my bankroll is determined by 5 buy-ins divided by 10%. Since I am willing to lose 5 buy-ins in one day and that cannot be greater than 10% of my bankroll - it determines my minimum bankroll of 50 buy-ins.

3. I move up when I have 100 buy-ins. I will take a shot at the next buy-in level with 10 buy-ins. If I lose those 10 buy-ins, I move back down. When I hit 100 buy-ins again, I take another shot. Rinse and repeat. The only exception to the 100 buy-in rule is I prefer to have a 3BB/100 minimum win rate. But that is flexible.

That is about it.