Sweeeet September

So, as all you grinders know, poker is a very real emotional roller coaster.  There are days, weeks and months where you just grind along, just treading water and not really getting anywhere.  Or worse, losing large chunks of bankroll.  You get deep in many tournaments, just to get bad beat late and feel like it was a waste of time.  You know you have the capability, but somehow get unlucky way too often.  If only you could pop a few, run good and watch that bankroll grow.  I popped in September.  I have always made money on Cake Poker, building bankroll, cashing checks, having a good time, and I have had moderate success at UB and AP, having won and travelled to Aruba with them twice (cashing both times, see posts) but I could never really get over on Full Tilt or Poker Stars.  Level of players abilities, run bad, tournament selection ???   don't know but scoreboard shows me never building a bankroll there.  So September rolls up and I grind along, treading water as previously mentioned on tilt for about 80 sessions and then I jump into a $30 rebuy with 3000 players and I get deep and I have a couple suckouts and I finish 5th for almost 14K.  Now I have a bankroll and can get busy.  3 days later, I pick up a 2 / 183 for 3K and 3 days later another 2/ 374 for almost 12K more.  Now THAT is what I am talking about.  Don't know why, didn't play any different than is my usual style but all the stars aligned for those 10 days and September became a sweet month, the best I have had in a long time.  I mostly stayed with multi's but did get involved in some sit n go's as well. 

Here are the numbers

Sessions Played 192
Hours played 160
ROI %    + 95.49%
Win Rate  $139 hour
Rakeback  694

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July / August

As I had mentioned in my last posting, I have moved over from the sit n go crowd to the multi table tournament crowd for the most part and continued to do so the last two months.   Even when I went back to the sit n go tables, wasn't really able to get any games going.  The reg crowd that I played with every day for months is gone and the tables aren't going.  I just saw an article that the Tribal gaming commission has signed an agreement with Cake Poker so now the Indian groups can open online poker rooms and play on the Cake network.  Will this get us to 10,000 average players ?  No, but a step in the right direction, we'll see.  They also brought over Victory Poker to the Cake network, keep grinding boys.   Anyway, back to my game.   The reason I mention these additions is that my favorite daily tournament, the 12k at Cake each night keeps getting cancelled for lack of min players ( 40 )  ..are u kidding ?   I wrote to a couple of the boys and said that is embarrassing,  what about running some super turbo satties the 4 hours before it starts to get us over the edge each night.  Low and behold, I am not kidding you, the next day I see a 5 seat guarantee for the 12k and some $16 kamikaze games ( didn't ask for that :) , and the next two nights we had 71 and 65 players signed up prior to it starting.  Way to go Cake.........

Here are the stats for July and August

Sessions played   514
Earnings     +4655
Win Rate   $11.94 per hour
ROI             10.26%
Multi tournaments  + 6002
All other games      < 1367 >
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WSOP 2010

So, as previously mentioned, I had won two separate packages from Cake Poker, one for $2500 to use in any tourney you choose, and a main event seat, worth $12,500.  This one also had the option to break into other events and not obligated to play the main, which worked out for me as the July 4th holiday is always a very busy time of year for me and hard to get away for that time period.  I worked out the calendar to get to Vegas for event 30, 31 and 34 in late  June.    Other venues are competing for the WSOP business with Caesars hosting a series of great events and the Venetian hosting big tourneys all month long  as well.  Casey, donkeyherder, and I set our sites on these events and headed off, staying on the strip, within walking distance all of these events.  As always when we make these trips, we "crew" , meaning we split all winnings of tournaments we both play.  We arrived at Harrahs and jumped into a small event in the first 10 minutes of being there.  It was a little 60 dollar buy in, but Casey won it and we split 1000.  The next day we played the Venetian, a great card room and this 330 buy in event got over 700 players.  Neither of us cashed that one. We got back to Harrahs and played a 150 buy in evening tourney and I chopped for a 900 profit, so 2 for 3 so far.  We also messed around and "crewed" up some craps and some blackjack to break up the time and we won every time we played, 300 here and 500 there, so good times so far. 

Event 30

Starting chips was surprisingly low at 4000, and starting field of 2394 players.  It was to be a 3 day event and hour blinds.  Within the first 30 min there were thousand chip hands frequently so I knew this would be almost turbo like and 243 players would get paid.  The first hand I chipped up with was A Q and a raise before me to 200.  I called and the flop came A A Q (holla) .  The raiser bet 400,, I called and player behind me calls.  The turn is a 3rd heart, the 10.  First guy checks, I bet 1000 and get two calls.   The flop is another heart, first guy pushes, I call and third guy calls too, with me tripling up.  The next big hand was me on the button with 10 10,  with a raise and 3 callers.  I call also, having position and wanting to see a flop.   The flop comes K 10 10, how sweet is that.  You know one of them has a K .  First player bets and one other caller and me.    The turn is a blank and the first guy pushes all in and I call, he turns over A 2, lol and I stack em up.  By the end of the day, we have lost over 2000 players and are down to 261, just 18 from the money.  It was like 2 in the morning and it's such a long day but a good feeling to be around to bag your chips.   I have 47k so I am feeling pretty good about getting to the money.  The one good thing is that the next day starts at 2:30, not noon like before, so a couple extra hours to rest up.  We get a redraw to a new table the next day and I have 2nd largest stack, two players are under 10k and therefore are trying to hang on to the money.  One of those short stacks, Christopher Gonzalez is sitting two seats to my right with about 9 k in chips.  He finishes 2nd in the tournament for a 360k cash .........anything is possible.  As far as my play goes, I hang around, not getting many playing hands, the few I get, I have players coming over the top all in and I end up laying down my A Q or my 6 6, etc.   I hang around for a few more hours and all of a sudden I have a short stack and end up pushing my A J in a 3 way pot against 9 9 and A 9.  The 9 9 holds up and I finish in 115th place for a $3800 cash.  I am now 2 for 3 in WSOP cashes.   I wanted to play those other events but it didn't work out, so will get over there next year to take some more cash..:) 

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May / June

May and June were really two different stories as I began a metamorphisis transitioning from sit n go's and heads up matches to almost exclusively multi table tournaments.  So, there is the question, what's the harder grind, playing mid size sit n go's and grinding up slowly or going for the home run but having to commit 4 to 6 hours for each tournament, many times to come up empty, but always the possibility of a big score ?  I dedicated the last month to the later and did have some success.  It started out as trying to get into that multi "frame" of mind as I was gearing up for the WSOP tournaments in Vegas.  That will be a separate post, but that is how it started.  I also spent more time at Full Tilt as my favorite site, Cake, has slowed down and there aren't as many opportunities at the right times of day for me to get enough action.  Don't get me wrong, I will continue to support Cake as they have been very very good to me and I like the softness of the 12k and $30 rebuy each night.   I had won both the 2500 and the main (12,500) package from cake for the WSOP, but due to job and family related issues, was only able to get to one event, event 30, a no limit $1500 event, which I did cash in, but was  overall unhappy with my late tournament play.   Here are the numbers for May / June

ROI  + 16.98%
Time played 285 hours
Total Win Rate  $32.20 per hour 
Live tournament play + $84.71 per hour

Cake win rate per hour $31.48
Full Tilt win rate (reg tourneys)  $19.95 per hour
Full Tilt 300 chip Super Turbo win rate per hour $121.45 per hour

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April 2010

April was a fun month for a few reasons. It started off with the Ireland trip (see post) and ended up being a 5 figure profitable month. Although I made exactly NO money in Ireland, we got home on a Saturday night (after 14 hours flying), rested up and I was jonesing to get back and play online. On our last stay on the beautiful southwest side of Ireland, I lost connection and was not able to grind the last 4 days of the trip. It turns out, although we took an adapter for charging, the battery went dead and thankfully nothing more than that. On Sunday morning, I had one last day of freedom (vacation) before getting back to the real job and I wasn't going to waste it. I should say that it is not very often I get to play the 'big' tournaments on Sunday as work/ family obligations take precedence, so it's just the way it is. Not this Sunday, it was all to do what I wanted. So I jumped in and played the WSOP main event on cake. There were 97 players and 2 tickets were to be given away (worth $12,500). I was grinding along, staying about chip average and I was feeling good, relaxed and time went by without me being too impatient. When it got down to 10, I was bottom stack. 5 places were to be paid (2 tickets) and I started thinking about winning this thing. I got much more aggressive as I am watching most players not wanting to get involved and when we got down to 3, I was chip leader. The short stack I knew would have to push, he was on my right and I catch A 5, he pushes, I call and he shows J 9 off. My A high holds up and I take down a ticket. I also won a step 4 sit n go, which puts you into a step 5 for a $2500 ticket and I ended up winning that too. The nice thing about what cake did this year, is that they pay you cash and you decide if you want to play the main, or you have the option to go play as many other events as you like. I am thinking about renting a house for 10 days and playing 5 or 6 $1500 events. It's a great option to have. Although I have had some nice paydays in tournament play, I still maintain, I am mostly a grinder with super turbo 6 man sit n go's as my main game. As I mentioned last month, I am getting much more involved in heads up matches as well. I reported being +32 in heads up ytd last month and I have now increased that with a good April to +52 ytd currently. I also started playing Poker Stars in the last week of the month. I wasn't going to, but found out I had a small bankroll there from a few years ago so started using it.






APRIL RESULTS
Games played 501
Time played 122 hours
Hourly Win Rate  $145.56
April ROI +27.13%
Super Turbo sit n go's ROI 6.08% + $3685
Multi Table tournaments 35 Tournaments ROI 295% + $12485


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Ireland

This is the actual view from the driveway of the home we rented in the Ring of Kerry the last few days of our trip to Ireland......................

We traveled to Ireland March 31st from LAX to Dublin via Atlanta and arrived pretty weary to The Burlington Hotel which is where Cake put us up and where the 2010 Irish Open was to be held this year.  Although this place was closer to town centre than was the Citywest hotel, where we stayed and played last year, I much preferred Citywest.   After resting up a bit, we had planned to meet in the hotel pub the first evening.  I always enjoy these meetings as you get to meet players you have played with online and others you have not.  I like hearing the different perspectives and experiences each brings.   I met Jasper from Holland, Yann from Quebec and Josh Prager from the Sacramento area.  I had sharkscoped each of the players prior to going to see what kind of players each were and was surprised to see how many players going had excellent ability numbers according to the sharkscope formula.  There were several 94's and very few under 80.  I was also surprised to see how few games at Cake many of them had and how they were able to come in and win major trips in so few tries.  It always amazes me while talking to players (and some could be bs) but for a 20 year old to talk about playing $8000 buy in cash games just makes me wonder how they get these kind of bankrolls to jump into big games as these.  While talking to Josh, I learned he was a professional poker player and was travelling around playing big tournaments.  He had just come from the WSOP series in San Diego and finished 6th in the main and when I looked him up, he had scored a 3rd in a huge tourney for over 500k.  What am I doing wrong ? ????????  :)   WE got to hang out with Chris, and Ian showed up and got to spend a couple hours with my old friend from Dublin, so that was cool.   We also got to meet Doug from Cake, who is one of the original Cake founders and the 'brains' behind the software.  Got some really good insight as to how the operation works and was very interesting.     So what about the Irish Open.................................................................................

DAY 1

We start off with 10,000 chips and a 25/50 blind with 1 hour levels.  We were to play 8 levels on day 1 with the last two levels being 75 minutes each.  Good format to get some play in.  Level one was fairly uneventful, but in level 2, I pick up A A from mid position and a dude from France on my right raises to 300.  I decide to slow play it and call and the button, a young Irish local reraised to 850.  The frenchman calls, I call and we see a flop of A K 10 rainbow.  There is over 2600 in the pot and it is checked around, with me sitting on a set of Aces.  The turn is a 4, and again checked around.  I was obviously waiting for some added value, taking a bit of a risk.  The turn is an 8, no flushes possible.  The frenchman checks, I bet 1600 and the Irishman repops me for 3500.  I put him on maybe slow playing AK or A 10, I'm not going away with my set, so think about it and shove all in.  He looks confused and goes into the tank for about 5 minutes and asks " will you show if I lay it down " and I shake my head  NO.  He laughs and says fold and turns over pocket 8's for a set of 8's.  Good laydown, he would have been on the rail (this player did eventually cash). 

A few hands later, I get 5 5 from the button and there is a raise in front of me to 300, which I call and the big blind calls as well. The flop is 3 4 6, two clubs. The raiser checks, I bet 675, the BB mucks and the raiser calls. The turn is a K, not a club, and he fires 1800 and I think about it with my 10 outs (from what I estimate) and make a scared call. The river is an A, no help to me, he checks and I bet 4100 and he thinks about it and lays it down, and I turn over the 5 5 and he is pissed....stack the chips

I didn't know it until about this time, but the player two seats to my left is Jude Ainsworth, a team Poker Stars pro with over a million in cashes lifetime. He seemed like a decent player but I certainly wasn't afraid of him before or after I knew who he was.



Card dead for a while after and I get to dinner break with about 19k in chips and after dinner I steal a few small pots and chip up to about 24k. We get to the last level of the night, 300/600 with a 50 ante and I had been raising quite a bit as the table was tight and picking up some extra bullets. Ainsworth has also been raising quite a bit and he does again and gets pushed all in from the button, a pretty tight Irish guy. Ainsworth calls, turns over K K, and the raiser meekly shows his 2 2, with the Poker Pro star about to pick up another 12k. Unfortunately for him, the river shows a 2 and he loses 12k instead, leaving him with about 18k. When it comes to my big blind, I pick up A A and raise Ainsworth the standard raise. I should mention, he has come over the top of my raises 3 times and I have laid down each time.  He instantly calls all in and I call and hold on against his A K, building my stack and taking the Poker Stars Team Pro out of the tournament.

WE are in the last level, it's about 1:30 am and I am sitting on 43k in chips. This is a great position to be in going in to day 2, so I don't want to get crazy. With 45 minutes left in the night, I pick up 9 9 on the button and it is mucked around to me and you remember that guy earlier who laid down the set of 8's, he is now in the big blind. I have determined after 10 hours of playing with him, he is a bit of a fish. I raise and he reraises to 4400. He has about 20k in chips. I think about it and am pretty sure he thinks I am trying to steal so I push all in and he calls with K K and it holds up...damn it. Half my stack that I have worked all day to build. 10 minutes later from an early position, I get K K and the gentleman to my right raises to 1900, I raise to 5100 and a player near the button pushes all in with about 19k. The raiser mucks, I think about it and wanting to get back to where I was, call and he shows A A.   Are you kidding me ?  But then the flop comes K 9 9...oh my god, I have sucked out and will finish day one, right ????????????    Not so fast fool, the turn comes an A and my tournament is over......sigh



Amanda as usual is here to support and is always great. I am putting her in the ladies event on Sunday and then we are off cross country to Killarney and the Ring of Kerry
 
The next day, we take the train across country about 3 hours to Kerry County.  The trains are clean, comfortable and on time.  The countryside was a nice change from big city Dublin.  Lot of small towns, farms, green pastures, very pretty.  We get to Killarney and easily find the rental car company in town centre and my Euro driving experience is about to begin.  I had made sure to get an automatic as of course we are driving on the opposite side of the road, not to mention the opposite side of the car.  I grew up driving a stick, but not left handed, lol, so f...that, get the automatic,even though it is much pricier.    I also make sure to get a GPS system and this turns out to be a smart move as roads in Ireland are not clearly marked in some of the places we ended up.  The drive to Waterville, where we stayed, was about 90 minutes and the drive is actually part of the Ring of Kerry.  It was a very pretty drive along the Atlantic coastline, through some small towns and then a little country road to the house.  A few days of relaxation and then back home.....Another great trip that I would recommend to any of you.
 

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February / March

This is why I don't quit the day job. I started off in February on FIRE, up over 4k in the first 180 games and then the variance came.  Over the course of 894 games played over these 59 days, I had 7 distinct and drastic downswings.  Looking more closely at it, I played many more heads up games these months and although I am +ROI over the long run, had some losing streaks in this period that cost me overall profit.   I did well with the super tubo's with a win rate over $100 per hour, but going forward I will continue to work on my heads up game.


Results

Games played   894
Hours played   206 hours
ROI                  .92 %
Win rate            $5.27 per hour

Heads UP matches    495  ( -$4329)
Super Turbo 6max    351 matches  ( +$7821)
Mulit's                        37 matches   (-$2425)
Rakeback                      1280

So, why play heads up with these results ?  Good question, well, the most profitable players on most sites are very good heads up players, and looking at my overall lifetime heads up results, I have won 477 matches compared to losing 445 for a +32 to the good.  I do need to get much better at opponent selection, as many times I am the first one in and giving the other regs the choice to jump in as opposed to me sitting back and choosing more wisely.  I will work on this going forward.......I might also note these results are for Feb/March and as of this writing, April is shaping up much better (will report on these soon).


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Miss February

oh dawg...that's just wrong


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January 2010

January has come and gone and now 2010 has started off very well.  Although I have been experiencing more drastic 'swings' lately and not quite as consistent, the end result was good.  I started venturing into more heads up matches and had a ROI of + 9.84% over 120 matches.  I will say that as jhub has consitently preached in sng's, table selection (or in this case) opponent selection,  is very important.  There are some heads up "specialists" that are really good at what they do and although I have sat down with them for some fun, why play players, when there are so many wannabees out there to take advantage of.   Choose your opponents carefully, look at their average buy in and see if they are in over their head.  I have matched up many times this month in a $150 buy in against players with 400 game averages of $30, who may be hot and trying for a quick score, that you can usually take control of the game.   My 6 man super turbo number for the month was ROI + 5.46% over 341 matches.

The real nugget of the month came on the last day of the month, winning an entry package to the Irish Open in Dublin, Ireland in April.   15 have qualified from Cake and I was lucky enough to make this trip last year (see post) and it is a blast.  Chris from Cake hosts and what a great time.  I have stayed in touch with Ian from Ireland over the last year and looking forward to seeing him again as well.  I am way looking forward to it.  We are taking a couple extra days off to stay in Ireland and I am hoping to score a house in Wexford or Wicklow to enjoy the Irish countryside.

Overall results for January

sessions  493
hours played  126
overall ROI  + 20.93%
Win rate  $ 88.35 per hour


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Miss January

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