Already another month has pretty much gone by and I didn't even realise. So much for my goals, I probably will never crack this volume thing and I wonder if I should not bother, just do this as a hobby instead, and get a proper job. That would suck.
So far this month I'm a shade under 500 games at the nonturbos, which is still enough to retain my Silver Star status but not a lot more. A long way of Gold that's for certain. I cleared a few dollars bonus, and am in profit for the games, but nowhere near as much as would have been ideal. Total profit including "rakeback" is only around $300. Still staying about the same distance behind the 20th spot on the SS leaderboard for $5 DoNs, which is frustrating because it means only volume is stopping me from being up near the top of it.
Gonna grind this evening and see where I end up.
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
The missing blog entries?
So, it's nearly two weeks since I added anything to this; how have things been going?
Well, my only poker goal for the month was a volume goal of games for the month. I started a bit slowly, Monday 1st was another visit to Liz and baby Joshua, followed by a spot of bowling, managed my best set of the year, a rather respectable 575(ish). Didn't play on Tuesday 2nd either, managed a smattering of games on 3rd and 4th for a few dollars profit, before deciding to get my grinding hat on for Friday, which went a bit pear shaped. I ground my way through 62 games for what I intended to be my just the first of two sessions, but when I checked my balance as that session came to a close for a break and some food, I had somehow managed to drop $45. This was despite thinking I'd played pretty decent and expecting to actually be up by around the same amount. Somewhere along the line I was $90 shy of where I felt I ought to be; after reviewing some of the games I decided to not bother with a second session that day.
This was before any of the events of the weekend was actually planned, which was all done a bit last minute.
So, I've had a better time generally over the beginning of March when away from the virtual felt, enjoying myself a bit more than last month. The weekend started with a great Saturday afternoon out at the Tower of London with Christina, where we did a tour with a Yeoman Warder, saw the Crown Jewels, and visited the Regimental Museum of the Fusiliers, particularly marvelling at the dozen VCs on display there; that was followed by a drink at the Dickens Inn and a fantastic curry in St Katherine Docks and then a few more drinks in the Coal Hole on the Strand, where we were joined by Helen T and other friends; that was Saturday night, and we finished it sharing takeaway chicken at Helen's flat at about 4am, where we talked about all sorts of things from bowling to troublesome colleagues to errant partners. Somehow she then got up in the morning and bowled another 299..... I hate her for being able to do that. But not really!
That was followed up by a rather tired and early start for me on Sunday and a visit to my sister's new base, near which we had a drink in a 900 year old pub, and had a great meal in another pub (pork and apple stew with a lovely mash, mmmmmmmm). Then on Monday I took Tina for a birthday lunch, up at the Daylight, then in the evening Mum arrived back over here from Denmark for a fortnight, the first time I'd seen here in about two and a half months. So that was a pretty good three days.
And then yesterday and today I finally managed to fit in a bit more poker. Both were short but productive sessions, yielding a combined profit of $77. This gets me back in profit for the month so far, at +$67 for the games.
Year to date for non-turbos only
Games 375
Wins 200
ITM 58.7%
Profit $175
ROI 8.6%
Once again I'm behind schedule on my volume goal for the month though. I've only played 158 of my target of 1,600 games; that's 1/10 of the target in 1/3 of the available time. That 1,600 gets me past the Gold Star requirement and up to 3,500VPP for the month, which will clear a fair amount of reload bonus, plus Stellar rewards and a decent value of FPP. I really, REALLY have to start doing this properly now.
Well, my only poker goal for the month was a volume goal of games for the month. I started a bit slowly, Monday 1st was another visit to Liz and baby Joshua, followed by a spot of bowling, managed my best set of the year, a rather respectable 575(ish). Didn't play on Tuesday 2nd either, managed a smattering of games on 3rd and 4th for a few dollars profit, before deciding to get my grinding hat on for Friday, which went a bit pear shaped. I ground my way through 62 games for what I intended to be my just the first of two sessions, but when I checked my balance as that session came to a close for a break and some food, I had somehow managed to drop $45. This was despite thinking I'd played pretty decent and expecting to actually be up by around the same amount. Somewhere along the line I was $90 shy of where I felt I ought to be; after reviewing some of the games I decided to not bother with a second session that day.
This was before any of the events of the weekend was actually planned, which was all done a bit last minute.
So, I've had a better time generally over the beginning of March when away from the virtual felt, enjoying myself a bit more than last month. The weekend started with a great Saturday afternoon out at the Tower of London with Christina, where we did a tour with a Yeoman Warder, saw the Crown Jewels, and visited the Regimental Museum of the Fusiliers, particularly marvelling at the dozen VCs on display there; that was followed by a drink at the Dickens Inn and a fantastic curry in St Katherine Docks and then a few more drinks in the Coal Hole on the Strand, where we were joined by Helen T and other friends; that was Saturday night, and we finished it sharing takeaway chicken at Helen's flat at about 4am, where we talked about all sorts of things from bowling to troublesome colleagues to errant partners. Somehow she then got up in the morning and bowled another 299..... I hate her for being able to do that. But not really!
That was followed up by a rather tired and early start for me on Sunday and a visit to my sister's new base, near which we had a drink in a 900 year old pub, and had a great meal in another pub (pork and apple stew with a lovely mash, mmmmmmmm). Then on Monday I took Tina for a birthday lunch, up at the Daylight, then in the evening Mum arrived back over here from Denmark for a fortnight, the first time I'd seen here in about two and a half months. So that was a pretty good three days.
And then yesterday and today I finally managed to fit in a bit more poker. Both were short but productive sessions, yielding a combined profit of $77. This gets me back in profit for the month so far, at +$67 for the games.
Year to date for non-turbos only
Games 375
Wins 200
ITM 58.7%
Profit $175
ROI 8.6%
Once again I'm behind schedule on my volume goal for the month though. I've only played 158 of my target of 1,600 games; that's 1/10 of the target in 1/3 of the available time. That 1,600 gets me past the Gold Star requirement and up to 3,500VPP for the month, which will clear a fair amount of reload bonus, plus Stellar rewards and a decent value of FPP. I really, REALLY have to start doing this properly now.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
New month, new discipline
Well, having failed rather badly on my goals for the month, I decided to ease myself through the end of February with a bit of fun poker rather than grinding DoNs, so I had a play with a few microstakes MTTs; some scheduled, some SNG. The scheduled ones were a bit more of a grind, but I managed a couple of cashes. The sheer hard work of surviving the huge field made it a bit less enjoyable. But I had really forgotten how much fun the turbo 180mans are on Stars, and I managed to FT a $2 one of those, which was quite satisfying considering it was only a tiny sample. I'll keep those in mind whenever I need a change of scenery. Other than that I didn't really play much poker for the last few days; I requested a self ban from the 2+2 forums until 1st March to stop myself trolling crap threads, and basically got my diet and sleeping habits back in order.
So, my result for February was as follows
$175 profit from playing
$100 from bonuses earned
$ 25 worth of FPP earned
Total $300 profit
Next month I'm going to be a bit more realistic about goals, so here they are.........
1) Play enough to make 3500 VPP. In non-turbo DoNs that's basically around 50/day, or about 2½ hours work. Basically should be easy to make this if I apply myself. That would get me comfortably past enough VPP to make Gold Star.
That's really about it, my only goal, other than not becoming a spewy tilt-monkey. I think I finally figured it out: if I put in the volume then the money will look after itself. Make the goal something which I can control absolutely: that's volume, it's not profit. Previously I tried to tie goals too much into the financial results, and then got disheartened when they didn't pay off. Now I just want to put in volume at a game I know I'm beating. That volume on its own would release nearly $200 of reload bonuses, and also earn $80 worth of Stellar rewards plus around $75 worth of FPP, so that's $350+ right there. Then on top of that I'm looking for profit from the games I play, maybe including a lucky break in one of the VIP tourneys they run on Saturdays.
Bring on March!
So, my result for February was as follows
$175 profit from playing
$100 from bonuses earned
$ 25 worth of FPP earned
Total $300 profit
Next month I'm going to be a bit more realistic about goals, so here they are.........
1) Play enough to make 3500 VPP. In non-turbo DoNs that's basically around 50/day, or about 2½ hours work. Basically should be easy to make this if I apply myself. That would get me comfortably past enough VPP to make Gold Star.
That's really about it, my only goal, other than not becoming a spewy tilt-monkey. I think I finally figured it out: if I put in the volume then the money will look after itself. Make the goal something which I can control absolutely: that's volume, it's not profit. Previously I tried to tie goals too much into the financial results, and then got disheartened when they didn't pay off. Now I just want to put in volume at a game I know I'm beating. That volume on its own would release nearly $200 of reload bonuses, and also earn $80 worth of Stellar rewards plus around $75 worth of FPP, so that's $350+ right there. Then on top of that I'm looking for profit from the games I play, maybe including a lucky break in one of the VIP tourneys they run on Saturdays.
Bring on March!
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
[ ] Sustainable
So, another couple of sessions of these slow go DoNs, 19 games late on yesterday before I stopped regging as the games totally dried up, and then another 27 in my first session today, for +$37 and +$14 respectively and a total of +$51 profit. Over a ridiculously small sample of 113 games I am ITM >65% and my ROI is at 21.3%, which seems like a massive heater to me. The VPPs are gonna accumulate pretty swiftly if I can get some solid volumes in. Can't wait to see where this takes me after a thousand games or so, when I'll have a decent sample size. Profit for the year from games only, has now crept over $500 from games, so this is not including bonuses etc.
I've got a sportsman's bet on with Chris from the DoN discussion group about racing to see who can be first to get on the the SS leaderboard, but I have a massive lead and should be able to do it easy. 20th spot is now at $698, so I'm back to within $200 and putting some effort in should get me there within not much time.
Turbos
Games 1387
Wins 759
ITM 54.7 %
Profit $377.60
ROI 5.23 %
Non turbos
Games 113
Wins 74
ITM 65.5%
Profit $ 129.80
ROI 21.27%
Combined
Profit $507.40
ROI 6.48%
I've got a sportsman's bet on with Chris from the DoN discussion group about racing to see who can be first to get on the the SS leaderboard, but I have a massive lead and should be able to do it easy. 20th spot is now at $698, so I'm back to within $200 and putting some effort in should get me there within not much time.
Turbos
Games 1387
Wins 759
ITM 54.7 %
Profit $377.60
ROI 5.23 %
Non turbos
Games 113
Wins 74
ITM 65.5%
Profit $ 129.80
ROI 21.27%
Combined
Profit $507.40
ROI 6.48%
Monday, 22 February 2010
Considering whether to make a change
So I played another couple of sets of the $5.40 non-turbo DoNs and, apart from turning a profit, which makes you feel good anyway, I also find them more playable at the moment. There's less of a rush, because there's more time allowed per action, and less pressure from the increasing blinds. Even when they get to the later stages of the game there's still enough time to make a considered decision on whether to push or fold, even if there are 25 tables open. Only time will tell if his is merely because they're a bit new or whether I genuinely feel this way, but I'm enjoying the format much more than the turbos.
Today so far – 47 games, 31 cashes, $56 profit. Along with the $39 from yesterday it pretty much wipes out the deficit from that horrible three hours on Friday night. Profit for the year is back up to $456 and yet again I'm on the tail of a Sharkscope leaderboard spot.
Today so far – 47 games, 31 cashes, $56 profit. Along with the $39 from yesterday it pretty much wipes out the deficit from that horrible three hours on Friday night. Profit for the year is back up to $456 and yet again I'm on the tail of a Sharkscope leaderboard spot.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Changing games
Well after yesterday's spewathon I was a little more cautious today, for less than obvious reasons. If I think I'm +EV in the game then I should be going for it irrespective of short term results. But anyway, I was cautious, and after working up about $16 profit in a set of turbos I spontaneously decided to reg to a set of non turbos, figuring that 20 of them would earn me exactly enough VPP to maintain my Silver Star status this month. You get twice as many VPP, albeit for paying twice the fee, but because of the slower format a higher ROI is achievable than in the turbos.
It was a lot less stressful; players were just as likely to stack off at low blind levels, but there was twice as long for them to do so, which meant twice as long for me to find a hand to get all their chips. Also, the pace of the game was slower generally, including a couple of extra seconds to decide each time the action is on you, and also a time bank of 60 seconds instead just 15 seconds in the turbos. It's basically impossible to time out, but there is also less pressure to act hastily just because a dozen or fifteen tables are demanding action at the same time. I feel that it would still be comfortable to multitable these 25 at a time, so I've decided to give that a shot this week and see if I can make a push at getting Gold after all, which was one of my goals for the month, and was something I basically gave up on a few days ago. Now it's still achieveable with about 150 games per day, which is six sessions at 25 tabling.
My mini session of non-turbos finished 13/20 for a nice little profit of $22, which means that over the day I recovered about three-quarters of the amount I lost yesterday.
Let's see what the week brings us as I grind out something ever so slightly different.
It was a lot less stressful; players were just as likely to stack off at low blind levels, but there was twice as long for them to do so, which meant twice as long for me to find a hand to get all their chips. Also, the pace of the game was slower generally, including a couple of extra seconds to decide each time the action is on you, and also a time bank of 60 seconds instead just 15 seconds in the turbos. It's basically impossible to time out, but there is also less pressure to act hastily just because a dozen or fifteen tables are demanding action at the same time. I feel that it would still be comfortable to multitable these 25 at a time, so I've decided to give that a shot this week and see if I can make a push at getting Gold after all, which was one of my goals for the month, and was something I basically gave up on a few days ago. Now it's still achieveable with about 150 games per day, which is six sessions at 25 tabling.
My mini session of non-turbos finished 13/20 for a nice little profit of $22, which means that over the day I recovered about three-quarters of the amount I lost yesterday.
Let's see what the week brings us as I grind out something ever so slightly different.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Am I cut out to cope with the variance in this game?
Well, it's already been a recurring theme in what is still a short blog, but today was more excruciating than anything I can remember. I started off with a nice little set of 14/23 for +$20, following it up with 16/23 for +$40, to make it +$60 for the day. All was going well, I was pretty happy and the games were looking good to play. Then suddenly it all went totally pear-shaped, and in my next three sets I went 8/20, 7/22 and 8/24 for -$24, -$44 and -$45 respectively. That's -$113 in just 66 games, and about three hours. So my total for the day was a confidence crushing -$52; not a lot to show for my five hours work.
The only positive is that I cleared another level in Stars' Stellar Rewards scheme, but as it's only $10, it doesn't even cover my losses for the day.
I genuinely feel I played OK today. I've already been back for a review and don't see many spots where I could do anything different, so I can't believe I've been so badly savaged when it comes to payout time. It was just short stack after short stack surviving until it came to me being the shorty, at which point I either shoved BvB into AA or had a strong hand cracked by some retarded call. And in the early part of the games it seemed that flops and action always developed unfavourably, such as raising QQ, getting called in four spots and flop coming a monochrome AKx, meaning I can't continue the hand. Or flopping something really strong, betting it, and getting called all the way by villain until they miracle something on the river.
OK, I accept that some of them have to lose, but I'm incredulous at losing so many in such a short space of time; in just three short hours I'd had my greatest peak-to-trough downswing at the $5.20s, more than 30% worse than anything which has gone before it, and my cumulative ROI had crashed by more than 1%.
If I had run at my long term average then my 112 games should have yielded a daily profit of just under $42, but the actual result of -$52.40 leaves me nearly $100 short of where I could have been predicted to finish the day. My cumulative profit for February is now a measly $48 over more than 600 games, at the rather pathetic ROI of 1.5%.
Halfway through the day I was really happy with the progress I'd made towards my goal of getting on the Sharkscope leaderboard, but now I'm over $300 behind 20th spot, when barely a few hours ago I was within $200 of getting there.
But I'm not going to give up; I know that I am so much better than the average moron who plays these games. But the difference between me and them is that they expect to lose, it's basically normal for them, so variant results are actually happy events. I just need to find a way to cope with the emotional rollercoaster that seems to closely follow my bankroll. I guess a bit more reading on the subject of tilt management is needed.
Let's hope the Saturday donks are more accommodating than the Friday donks were.
The only positive is that I cleared another level in Stars' Stellar Rewards scheme, but as it's only $10, it doesn't even cover my losses for the day.
I genuinely feel I played OK today. I've already been back for a review and don't see many spots where I could do anything different, so I can't believe I've been so badly savaged when it comes to payout time. It was just short stack after short stack surviving until it came to me being the shorty, at which point I either shoved BvB into AA or had a strong hand cracked by some retarded call. And in the early part of the games it seemed that flops and action always developed unfavourably, such as raising QQ, getting called in four spots and flop coming a monochrome AKx, meaning I can't continue the hand. Or flopping something really strong, betting it, and getting called all the way by villain until they miracle something on the river.
OK, I accept that some of them have to lose, but I'm incredulous at losing so many in such a short space of time; in just three short hours I'd had my greatest peak-to-trough downswing at the $5.20s, more than 30% worse than anything which has gone before it, and my cumulative ROI had crashed by more than 1%.
If I had run at my long term average then my 112 games should have yielded a daily profit of just under $42, but the actual result of -$52.40 leaves me nearly $100 short of where I could have been predicted to finish the day. My cumulative profit for February is now a measly $48 over more than 600 games, at the rather pathetic ROI of 1.5%.
Halfway through the day I was really happy with the progress I'd made towards my goal of getting on the Sharkscope leaderboard, but now I'm over $300 behind 20th spot, when barely a few hours ago I was within $200 of getting there.
But I'm not going to give up; I know that I am so much better than the average moron who plays these games. But the difference between me and them is that they expect to lose, it's basically normal for them, so variant results are actually happy events. I just need to find a way to cope with the emotional rollercoaster that seems to closely follow my bankroll. I guess a bit more reading on the subject of tilt management is needed.
Let's hope the Saturday donks are more accommodating than the Friday donks were.
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