For the last week or so, I've been trying to shift my focus from cash game play to tournament play (primarily online), and the transition so far has been a little rough. I've been going deep in MTTs with fields of anywhere from 180 to over 2000 players and buy-ins from $1 to $10, but I haven't had any notable finishes. I play a tight game for the most part, and I think one of the biggest problems is that I'm failing to loosen up at extremely tight tables, which I seem to inevitably find in every tournament about halfway through. These are golden opportunities to stay ahead of the pack, and I need to start taking advantage of them.
To help keep my head above water until my next big (hopefully) score, I've decided to turn to single-table Sit n' Gos. I've had a lot of success with SnGs in the past, and I personally don't know of a safer, more consistent way to build a bankroll from scratch. My approach will differ somewhat from the strategies I've read about at 2+2; rather than playing mass amounts of Turbo SnGs, I will be playing regular SnGs and no more than 2 at a time. My last experiment with the "2+2" Turbo strategy was a complete failure, so until I have a large enough bankroll to go back and figure out what I did wrong, I'm going to stick with what's worked for me.
In order to keep a more tangible record of my progress, I'll update my total online bankroll at the end of each post from here on out (yeah, I think I was supposed to be doing it from day 1, but better late than never):
Total online bankroll = $92.76 (down from my original $200 deposit)
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Time management issues
So much for buckling down. I recently caved in to pressure from a buddy of mine and bought an Xbox 360 Elite. As a result, my poker hours are way down. Granted, I'm still waiting on a deposit to hit my ePassporte account so that I can play online, but I've certainly had plenty of chances to play poker regardless. It's a simple matter of discipline; I just need to get off my lazy ass.
Here are the few results from last week:
Monday - Dropped $198 in 7 hours of play at a $.50/$1 table. I played a fairly tight game at a loose table, but my big hands kept running into bigger hands. By the same token, I definitely could have limited my losses by getting away sooner when I knew I was beaten. I'm pretty good about trusting my instincts/reads when I feel that I'm ahead, but it's a different matter altogether when I think I'm behind (I'm about as bad as it gets when it comes to paying "just to see it").
Wednesday - The Liz and Brandon $20 Freezeout was called off because Liz had her baby the previous morning (no word yet on whether it looks more like me or like Brandon). I decided to host a freezeout of my own but only managed to get 5 players. I made it to heads-up where I chopped the pot yet again for a net profit of $30.
Krumbine Thursday - Dropped another $183 on Thursday, all of it on an early hand where I couldn't get away from AK on a board of AJ9. I was playing lazy, distracted poker and didn't even bother to put the other player on a hand. I got what I deserved.
It was a pretty rough week, but at least I recognize that behind everything was a total lack of discipline and focus on my part. My ePassporte deposit is scheduled to hit tomorrow, so there will definitely be no more excuses.
Here are the few results from last week:
Monday - Dropped $198 in 7 hours of play at a $.50/$1 table. I played a fairly tight game at a loose table, but my big hands kept running into bigger hands. By the same token, I definitely could have limited my losses by getting away sooner when I knew I was beaten. I'm pretty good about trusting my instincts/reads when I feel that I'm ahead, but it's a different matter altogether when I think I'm behind (I'm about as bad as it gets when it comes to paying "just to see it").
Wednesday - The Liz and Brandon $20 Freezeout was called off because Liz had her baby the previous morning (no word yet on whether it looks more like me or like Brandon). I decided to host a freezeout of my own but only managed to get 5 players. I made it to heads-up where I chopped the pot yet again for a net profit of $30.
Krumbine Thursday - Dropped another $183 on Thursday, all of it on an early hand where I couldn't get away from AK on a board of AJ9. I was playing lazy, distracted poker and didn't even bother to put the other player on a hand. I got what I deserved.
It was a pretty rough week, but at least I recognize that behind everything was a total lack of discipline and focus on my part. My ePassporte deposit is scheduled to hit tomorrow, so there will definitely be no more excuses.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Results Update - May 5, 2007
Wednesday - I made it to heads-up again in Liz and Brandon's $20 Freezeout, this time against Brandon. Same results, however, as I again agreed to a 50/50 chop for a net profit of $80.
Krumbine Thursday - We introduced a round of Seven-card Stud to the mixed-game table, which brought the rotation to 2 rounds of Pot-limit Omaha, 2 rounds of No-limit Texas Hold'em, and 1 round of Seven-card Stud. I finished with $147 net profit over 6 hours of play.
At the stakes that I currently play, ABC Hold'em definitely seems to be the most efficient approach. My style had taken an unmistakable step towards loose-aggressive in recent months (probably because of too much TV), but my rededication to tight-aggressive poker has paid dividends in both tournament and cash game play. I know there are games where a loose-aggressive style wins money, but they don't include the loose-passive games I've typically found at these lower stakes.
Along those same lines, the PLO games that I play in are virtually ante games since NO ONE seems to raise pre-flop, and EVERYONE calls in the rare instance that someone raises. I'm trying to develop better habits by folding more pre-flop and raising more often when I decide to play. At worst, I'll be building bigger pots with my better hands.
As for 7-stud, the thing that I'm focusing on the most is remembering everyone's door cards, even after their hands have been folded. Again, due to the loose nature of the games I play, right now I'm just sitting back and waiting for strong hands/draws. Bluffing with high frequency in these games is definitely a losing proposition.
Krumbine Thursday - We introduced a round of Seven-card Stud to the mixed-game table, which brought the rotation to 2 rounds of Pot-limit Omaha, 2 rounds of No-limit Texas Hold'em, and 1 round of Seven-card Stud. I finished with $147 net profit over 6 hours of play.
At the stakes that I currently play, ABC Hold'em definitely seems to be the most efficient approach. My style had taken an unmistakable step towards loose-aggressive in recent months (probably because of too much TV), but my rededication to tight-aggressive poker has paid dividends in both tournament and cash game play. I know there are games where a loose-aggressive style wins money, but they don't include the loose-passive games I've typically found at these lower stakes.
Along those same lines, the PLO games that I play in are virtually ante games since NO ONE seems to raise pre-flop, and EVERYONE calls in the rare instance that someone raises. I'm trying to develop better habits by folding more pre-flop and raising more often when I decide to play. At worst, I'll be building bigger pots with my better hands.
As for 7-stud, the thing that I'm focusing on the most is remembering everyone's door cards, even after their hands have been folded. Again, due to the loose nature of the games I play, right now I'm just sitting back and waiting for strong hands/draws. Bluffing with high frequency in these games is definitely a losing proposition.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
April 2007 Recap
April 2007 was my best month ever, but only because of my Borgata final table in Atlantic City. My cash game hourly rate ended up at a pitiful $4.50, well short of my $20+ goal. But since nearly a grand of my gross losses came while playing Omaha (which I'm studying intently), I'm confident that I'll turn that ship around in May. Here's the overall breakdown:
Cash game net profit = $396.83 (88.10 hours of play)
Tournament net profit = $6112.00
Total net profit = $6508.03
My goal again for May is to get my cash game hourly rate up over $20, but I'd like to cut down on my total cash game hours in order to play more online tournaments. Aside from the Liz and Brandon $20 Freezeout tonight and Krumbine Thursday tomorrow, I won't have much time for poker of any kind this first week of the month due to various commitments, but I plan to really buckle down beginning next week.
Cash game net profit = $396.83 (88.10 hours of play)
Tournament net profit = $6112.00
Total net profit = $6508.03
My goal again for May is to get my cash game hourly rate up over $20, but I'd like to cut down on my total cash game hours in order to play more online tournaments. Aside from the Liz and Brandon $20 Freezeout tonight and Krumbine Thursday tomorrow, I won't have much time for poker of any kind this first week of the month due to various commitments, but I plan to really buckle down beginning next week.
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