Life after the win

For a few days after the big MTT, poker was the last thing on my mind. Since I’ve started playing full time, each day I’ve woken up pressured to make at least some money so I have something to show for at the end of the month. But since all that financial pressure is off, I slept in far later than a human being should and basically played video games and watched movies all day. I’m probably in the top 10 of most productive people on the planet.

But I have gotten back into a somewhat groove. In fact 2 days after the win I booked a big loss, was beyond pissed off about it, and started the requisite insecurity about my game and skill that goes along with every loss I endure. Even though going 5/30 in SNG’s is pretty annoying, the loss is still pretty trivial compared to the amount I’m already up.

But I can’t help but think that I’m wasting a golden opportunity to really step up my game and really up my bankroll. On one hand all I should be concerned with is paying bills and living comfortably, but on the other I know that in order to succeed in the long run I need to continuously increase my skill, play higher stakes and take risks. But due to my safe nature, booking a big MTT win like that will only produce less incentive to play.

So I think about these things a lot each day. And even though I moved up to the $55+5 games, I often wonder what I would be doing if I didn’t win that MTT. I know I would still be grinding it out at the $25 games, playing 50 a day to try to maintain a steady income. But now I’m hard pressed to play more than 2-3 sets, for a total of less than 20 games. And I tell myself every minute of every day that I should be playing right now, since that is what I would be doing if I didn’t win, but of course, incentives are a bitch.

I then start to ask myself what I want to achieve in the long run. Of course, everyone wants more - more money, more skill, more freedom. I realized that as long as I have a sufficient bankroll to support me if things ever go really bad, and that I can play each day knowing that every booked win is icing on the cake, then I shouldn’t worry. And I’m not even close to that yet, but it is definitely a possibility on the horizon. I just need to stay motivated and essentially force myself to play 50 games a day, because I know it is very profitable to do so.

The move up to the $55 game has been truly uneventful. Uneventful in the fact that everything has pretty much remained the same as far as my game and return goes. I’ve maintained a positive ROI so far over about 100 games and havn’t really needed to adjust anything about my game. I was pretty sure this was going to be the case since I had played quite a few games at the $50 level before and was doing fine. I just needed to be sufficiently bankrolled to get through some of the dry patches that come along. I think I’ll be staying at the $55 games for a few months, unless I book another serious win, which is pretty doubtful of course. Jumping up to the $100’s isn’t something I see myself doing any time soon. But you never know in poker. 5 months ago I wouldn’t have ever thought I could play at the $55 level, and here I am.

Un-fucking-believable

After a week of mediocre performance and increased insecurity about my game, I decided last night that I would play some MTT’s in hopes (ya right) for a big score to counteract my downswing.

So I started up 7 MTT’s of varied buy-ins and games. 2 FPP, 1-$10 rebuy, 2-$20 MTT’s, a $10 H/L stud and a $50 double shootout game.

I ended up busting out of the FPP, the stud and the shootout games pretty early and was feeling pretty regretful about my decision to play. Shortly thereafter I busted out of one of the $20 games and was down to two remaining games.

The rebuy tournament was going well, but with 1500 entrants I didn’t love my chances. In the remaining $20 game I found myself shortstacked with 1400 chips with blinds at 100/200.

To save you the drama of another bland MTT post, I’ll just post the screenshot of the results of the $20 tournament.



BOOYAKASHA.

Additionally I ended up cashing in the rebuy tournament, finishing 22nd out of 1582, for an additional win of $320.23 – not bad.

Poker Stars was nice enough to send me an email letting me know in writing what I just accomplished.



Just a rediculous amount of money for me.

It was pretty amzing playing both of these tournaments simultaneously, surviving each money level as players continued to drop out and I kept hanging on. The funny thing is I didn’t play particularly well, taking a lot of stupid risks and getting lucky to bail me out.

The first place finish in the $20 tournament is by far my biggest win of all time. It’s just a surreal and ridiculous feeling winning one of these. Even making it to the final table was strange enough. But what was interesting, is that I felt perfectly comfortable playing in the final table setting. I wasn’t concerned with busting out whatsoever. In fact, that attitude is what I attribute to my final table appearance in the first place. I put my chips on the line many times for resteals and flop pushes without stellar hands. After watching that ZeeJustin tournament I realized that there is no way you can win one of these without pushing your stack around and getting lucky. So that’s what I did. And it got me to the final table. Thanks ZJ.

Now I’ll detail some of the key hands that got me to the winners circle.

First, back to the time when I was down to 1400 chips with blinds at 100/200.

That’s what is amazing about tournaments, you never know when the one you are playing will turn into something really special. Then you look back on how it started and progressed and you can’t believe you made it. It’s like when you end up having a wicked time going out with your friends. Sure, almost every other time you have an average time doing average things, but there are those rare occurrences that make a really memorable time. You can’t pinpoint why it happened, and when you look back on the night you realize that you never knew what you were about to experience. It happens without any premeditated thought.

And that’s what winning one of these is like. You can’t go in to every tournament expecting to win, just like you can’t go out every night expecting to have an amazing time. But if you put yourself in the position to have a good time enough, good things happen. And I guess that’s all that really happened last night for me. Something good happened.

Ok, enough diversion. This hand is about 50 hands into the tournament, and at one point I was up to 4500, but somehow I managed to donk my way back to 1350. Here it is, the first turning point. Warning, from here on in it gets very long and very detailed. So sit back and enjoy if you like reading tournament history, but if not, well you got the gist. I won.

Seat 1: ^CRK^ (12416 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (13220 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (8380 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (23940 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (3225 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (1350 in chips)
Seat 7: ChrisX (15266 in chips)
Seat 8: runudown (15508 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (7210 in chips)
RikkiDee: posts small blind 100
ChrisX: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [7c Ah]
runudown: folds
Boxerman127: folds
^CRK^: folds
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: folds
anichols: folds
mayland: raises 400 to 600
RikkiDee: raises 725 to 1325 and is all-in
ChrisX: folds
mayland: calls 725
*** FLOP *** [Kh 7h Qd]
*** TURN *** [Kh 7h Qd] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 7h Qd 2h] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [7c Ah] (a flush, Ace high)
mayland: shows [Ac Qh] (a flush, King high)
RikkiDee collected 3075 from pot

Alright, so I’m on the short stack, and only reraised all in here because I figured there was a decent enough chance that I have the best hand, as the initial raise came from the button, prime stealing grounds. I knew to get anything in this tournament I had to make some marginal moves and I guess I figured this was a good time. Looking back, it’s a pretty stupid move really, but I was kind of ready to end this tournament since I had been playing really badly in all of the others. No excuse but I do that sometimes. But thankfully, I got bailed out. The very next hand…

Seat 1: ^CRK^ (12391 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (13195 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (8355 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (23915 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (1875 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (3075 in chips)
Seat 7: ChrisX (15041 in chips)
Seat 8: runudown (15483 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (7185 in chips)
ChrisX: posts small blind 100
runudown: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Kc Jd]
Boxerman127: folds
^CRK^: folds
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: calls 200
anichols: calls 200
mayland: folds
RikkiDee: raises 2850 to 3050 and is all-in
ChrisX: folds
runudown: folds
dakota7: folds
anichols: calls 2850
*** FLOP *** [7s 7d Jh]
*** TURN *** [7s 7d Jh] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [7s 7d Jh 6s] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
anichols: shows [8c 8d] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
RikkiDee: shows [Kc Jd] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
RikkiDee collected 6825 from pot

With 2 limpers before me that makes 800 or so in the pot, more than enough to make this play profitable. However, I had just moved in with A7o the last hand so I should have considered that before I did this. Someone calls with 88 and I again get lucky and double up winning a coinflip. Now I’m back in this.

I’m particularly proud of this hand coming up. This happens about 6 hands later.

Seat 1: ^CRK^ (10416 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (12420 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (9030 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (23140 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (1300 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (6675 in chips)
Seat 7: imdavev (6921 in chips)
Seat 8: runudown (17758 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (6610 in chips)
mayland: posts small blind 200
RikkiDee: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ac 4h]
imdavev: folds
runudown: folds
Boxerman127: folds
^CRK^: calls 400
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: folds
anichols: folds
mayland: folds
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ad Jc 4s]
RikkiDee: bets 500
^CRK^: raises 500 to 1000
RikkiDee: calls 500
*** TURN *** [Ad Jc 4s] [3d]
RikkiDee: checks
^CRK^: bets 800
RikkiDee: raises 2000 to 2800
^CRK^: raises 6191 to 8991 and is all-in
RikkiDee: calls 2450 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Ad Jc 4s 3d] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Ac 4h] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
^CRK^: shows [8d Ah] (a pair of Aces)
RikkiDee collected 13725 from pot

So I’m in the BB with A4, whatever, I’m not too excited. But when I hit 2 pair on the flop, I send out a little probe bet to see if he has an ace. A reraise? Excellent. And since there is no draw out there to speak of, I’m ready to go broke on this hand if he has a set/AJ. Check raise all in on the turn, and he of course calls with A8 because he is a 40%VPP fish and I double up, again.

Seat 1: ^CRK^ (3216 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (12445 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (7230 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (25190 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (3125 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (13350 in chips)
Seat 7: imdavev (6121 in chips)
Seat 8: runudown (17783 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (5810 in chips)
anichols: posts small blind 200
mayland: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ac As]
RikkiDee: raises 800 to 1200
imdavev: folds
runudown: folds
Boxerman127: folds
^CRK^: raises 1991 to 3191 and is all-in
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: folds
anichols: folds
mayland: folds
RikkiDee: calls 1991
*** FLOP *** [6d 3h 8h]
*** TURN *** [6d 3h 8h] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [6d 3h 8h Ah] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Ac As] (three of a kind, Aces)
^CRK^: shows [Qh Jc] (high card Ace)
RikkiDee collected 7207 from pot

Thanks for the donation. Not a bad comeback eh? Granted there was a ton of luck involved, but as I stated earlier, I was ready to play some lucky poker here, playing to double up or bust out early. 2 hands later…

Table '19613575 29' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Pidasso (22915 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (11870 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (8705 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (24815 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (2350 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (16591 in chips)
Seat 7: imdavev (4171 in chips)
Seat 8: runudown (19808 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (8185 in chips)
_*Stu$$y*_69: posts small blind 200
dakota7: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ah Ad]
anichols: folds
mayland: folds
RikkiDee: calls 400
imdavev: calls 400
runudown: folds
Boxerman127: folds
Pidasso: folds
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: checks
*** FLOP *** [3h Ts Td]
dakota7: checks
RikkiDee: checks
imdavev: bets 1200
dakota7: folds
RikkiDee: raises 3200 to 4400
imdavev: calls 2546 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [3h Ts Td] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [3h Ts Td 4h] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Ah Ad] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
imdavev: shows [6c 6h] (two pair, Tens and Sixes)
RikkiDee collected 9117 from pot

Aces again, crazy eh? I was pretty sure if it was checked to him and he bet he wouldn’t have a ten in hand, so I was pretty sure I had the best hand, but didn’t know how I was going to get a call out of him unless he has decent pair. Turns out that 66 was good enough for him and another 9k goes to me. Next hand is a pretty bad play by me though, and I end up losing half my stack.

Seat 1: Pidasso (22640 in chips)
Seat 2: _*Stu$$y*_69 (11545 in chips)
Seat 3: dakota7 (9630 in chips)
Seat 4: anichols (22290 in chips)
Seat 5: mayland (3775 in chips)
Seat 6: RikkiDee (20387 in chips)
Seat 7: Laanakita (11660 in chips)
Seat 9: Boxerman127 (7310 in chips)
Boxerman127: posts small blind 300
Pidasso: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [7s 7c]
_*Stu$$y*_69: folds
dakota7: folds
anichols: folds
mayland: folds
RikkiDee: raises 1200 to 1800
Laanakita: folds
Boxerman127: folds
Pidasso: raises 3000 to 4800
RikkiDee: calls 3000
*** FLOP *** [Js Th 3c]
Pidasso: bets 1800
RikkiDee: raises 3800 to 5600
Pidasso: raises 12190 to 17790 and is all-in
GoPhish is connected
RikkiDee: folds
Pidasso collected 21500 from pot
Pidasso: shows [Jh Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)

I probably shouldn’t have even called the reraise, actually I clearly shouldn’t have. But I had the gambling mantra on and didn’t want to be seen as a guy who would fold to reraises. Now when he weak bets this flop I decide that he has nothing or something really strong, so I pop it up, maybe he’ll fold AK/99 here. And when he comes over the top I know I’m done and fold of course, and he shows trip jacks. Dumb play by me, but again, I was in a strange loose aggressive mode. But I still have 10k, still alive.

Many hands pass with a lot of stealing and restealing, but no real progress is made. I’m down to 8k with blinds at 800/1600 and about 50 people left, so a move is obviously coming.

Table '19613575 74' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Chomper4 (12259 in chips)
Seat 2: rudy92 (91214 in chips)
Seat 3: RikkiDee (8244 in chips)
Seat 4: masterblast (42580 in chips)
Seat 5: AAAplease (24330 in chips)
Seat 6: aldurcs (16187 in chips)
Seat 8: jobscj (20061 in chips)
Seat 9: mtl2d (10818 in chips)
RikkiDee: posts small blind 800
masterblast: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [7c 7d]
AAAplease: folds
aldurcs: folds
jobscj: folds
mtl2d: folds
Chomper4: raises 3200 to 4800
rudy92: folds
RikkiDee: raises 3369 to 8169 and is all-in
masterblast: folds
Chomper4: calls 3369
*** FLOP *** [Jc 9c 8h]
*** TURN *** [Jc 9c 8h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 9c 8h Ks] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [7c 7d] (three of a kind, Sevens)
Chomper4: shows [As 2s] (high card Ace)
RikkiDee collected 18538 from pot

Again, this is one of those, “I know he won’t fold to this reraise but I figure I have a good enough chance that I have a slightly better hand, and am willing to take a coinflip when called in order to double up”. And it worked out well again. 3 hands and a new table later…

Seat 2: Xander309 (13022 in chips)
Seat 3: Pidasso (37596 in chips)
Seat 4: iwinuluz (26213 in chips)
Seat 5: roumanshow (31742 in chips)
Seat 6: AmJo56 (40405 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: BuckMarlEY88 (98619 in chips)
Seat 8: RikkiDee (18463 in chips)
Seat 9: diggdodger (22605 in chips)
Xander309: posts small blind 800
Pidasso: posts big blind 1600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ad Kc]
iwinuluz: folds
roumanshow: folds
AmJo56: folds
BuckMarlEY88: calls 1600
RikkiDee: raises 16788 to 18388 and is all-in
diggdodger: folds
Xander309: folds
Pidasso: folds
BuckMarlEY88: calls 16788
*** FLOP *** [8h 2h Kh]
*** TURN *** [8h 2h Kh] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [8h 2h Kh Jc] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BuckMarlEY88: shows [Ts Js] (a pair of Jacks)
RikkiDee: shows [Ad Kc] (a pair of Kings)
RikkiDee collected 39776 from pot

Wasn’t crazy about his call since I can lose this easily but hey, I’ll take it. Now I’m back around 20BB’s and can start playing some normalish poker again. At this point there are I figure about 25 people left. Going over the hand history, nothing really interesting happens for me for about 100 straight hands. I steal some blinds, my blinds get stolen, but I avoid all post flop confrontations. Eventually it gets down to 12 players and the table is noticeably tight. Everyone wants to make it to the final table. I decide that I’m going to push the issue and be much more aggressive than usual in hopes that players will lay down the best hand to avoid going broke so they can get to the final table. Now usually I would be the type to avoid confrontations but for some reason I just didn’t care today. So I’m restealing from the blinds like crazy and raising with a lot of trash that I wouldn’t usually. Again, no confrontations but I work my stack up to 100k. At this point with 12 left 100k was pretty much the average stack but considering I started 12 handed play with about 35k I was doing pretty well, especially with no showdowns. Those blinds really add up late game.

So after about an hour on the final table bubble, it finally bursts. When it starts, the chip count looks like this:

Seat 1: ChrisX (110634 in chips)
Seat 2: iwinuluz (81056 in chips)
Seat 3: BuckMarlEY88 (128296 in chips)
Seat 4: juventus777 (180877 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (95071 in chips)
Seat 6: DCal Zone (104244 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (144386 in chips)
Seat 8: masterblast (83110 in chips)
Seat 9: desmond9 (222826 in chips)

I’m right there in the middle. Now I didn’t really have much of a read on any of the players, but that wouldn’t stop me from sticking with my aggressive game plan. I knew that since each increased place was a pretty significant increase in payout, people would be increasingly likely to fold. Three hands in, I do this.

Dealt to RikkiDee [Ac Tc]
DCal Zone: folds
aldurcs: folds
masterblast: calls 6000
desmond9: folds
ChrisX: folds
iwinuluz: folds
BuckMarlEY88: calls 6000
juventus777: calls 3000
RikkiDee: raises 88171 to 94171 and is all-in
masterblast: folds
BuckMarlEY88: folds
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee collected 26700 from pot

I was in the BB there. In this situation I’m really only worried about the initial limper, as that is generally the only threat to have aces or kings. But with a stack of 94k and 26k in the pot, it is definitely worth it for me to do this. As well, it sends a message, don’t mess with my blinds. Usually when I play my blinds are up for auction to the highest bidder, but today I was a defender. 9 or so hands later, this happens.

Seat 1: ChrisX (143334 in chips)
Seat 2: iwinuluz (70456 in chips)
Seat 3: BuckMarlEY88 (146696 in chips)
Seat 4: juventus777 (129577 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (151771 in chips)
Seat 6: DCal Zone (91944 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (130686 in chips)
Seat 8: masterblast (80510 in chips)
Seat 9: desmond9 (205526 in chips)
BuckMarlEY88: posts small blind 4000
juventus777: posts big blind 8000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Kh Kc]
RikkiDee: raises 22000 to 30000
DCal Zone: folds
aldurcs: folds
masterblast: folds
desmond9: folds
ChrisX: folds
iwinuluz: folds
BuckMarlEY88: calls 26000
juventus777: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah Qh Ad]
BuckMarlEY88: checks
RikkiDee: checks
*** TURN *** [Ah Qh Ad] [Ts]
BuckMarlEY88: bets 24000
RikkiDee: calls 24000
*** RIVER *** [Ah Qh Ad Ts] [Js]
BuckMarlEY88: bets 24000
RikkiDee: calls 24000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BuckMarlEY88: shows [5h 6h] (a pair of Aces)
RikkiDee: shows [Kh Kc] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
RikkiDee collected 167600 from pot

This flop scared me. I knew my opponent was pretty loose and could very well call my raise with any ace from the blinds. I decided to check the flop figuring that if he has an ace I may have to face a raise and I’ll have to fold, as well I’ll add in some deception that he may put me on an ace if I check. He bets into me small on the turn, and since now I have a little straight draw I’ll call. Again he bets small into me on the turn, and I am legitimately concerned that he has a full house. It is very likely actually since all he needs is AQ, AJ or AT, which are all very likely hands. So I just call the river with the straight. And he has nothing. This hand puts me at chip leader.

Next hand I once again assert my BB authoritah by restealing

juventus777: posts small blind 4000
RikkiDee: posts big blind 8000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Th Js]
DCal Zone: folds
aldurcs: folds
masterblast: folds
desmond9: folds
ChrisX: folds
iwinuluz: folds
BuckMarlEY88: folds
juventus777: raises 8000 to 16000
RikkiDee: raises 224571 to 240571 and is all-in
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee collected 35600 from pot

Looking back I notice that players were pretty reluctant to raise my blind, which is obviously a good thing. I ended up taking down a lot of free BB when I was in there.

Seat 1: ChrisX (387268 in chips)
Seat 4: juventus777 (201887 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (363171 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (144782 in chips)
Seat 9: desmond9 (53392 in chips)
aldurcs: posts small blind 6000
desmond9: posts big blind 12000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [8c As]
ChrisX: folds
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee: raises 24000 to 36000
aldurcs: folds
desmond9: raises 16792 to 52792 and is all-in
RikkiDee: calls 16792
*** FLOP *** [5s 8d 5c]
*** TURN *** [5s 8d 5c] [6h]
thedonator42 [observer] said, "ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt"
*** RIVER *** [5s 8d 5c 6h] [2s]
thedonator42 [observer] said, "a;sldkfjasdf"
RikkiDee said, "gg"
thedonator42 [observer] said, "omfg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
desmond9: shows [Ac Th] (a pair of Fives)
RikkiDee: shows [8c As] (two pair, Eights and Fives)
thedonator42 [observer] said, "you ****ing nigge"
RikkiDee collected 114584 from pot
thedonator42 [observer] said, "biggest garbage ever"
thedonator42 [observer] said, "how many blow jobs do you give for suckouts like that?"

Standard play here - raise from the button with A8 with a big stack. And I’m pretty much pot committed to any raise anyways. He made a good play figuring he had the best hand with AT but I got lucky and knocked him out. Good to see his observer friends took it well. Funny thing is the last 2 hands I had raised this players blind I had AK and AQ, so what can you do.

This next hand I still can’t figure out if I made a donk play or a good one, but I’ll try and justify it after you read it.

Seat 1: ChrisX (193686 in chips)
Seat 4: juventus777 (206487 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (460363 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (289964 in chips)
aldurcs: posts small blind 8000
ChrisX: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [6h Ac]
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee: raises 16000 to 32000
aldurcs: folds
ChrisX: calls 16000
*** FLOP *** [Qh Td Ah]
ChrisX: checks
RikkiDee: bets 32000
ChrisX: raises 128886 to 160886 and is all-in
RikkiDee: calls 128886
*** TURN *** [Qh Td Ah] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Td Ah 9h] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ChrisX: shows [Ks Qs] (a pair of Queens)
RikkiDee: shows [6h Ac] (a pair of Aces)
RikkiDee said, "gg"
RikkiDee collected 396972 from pot

First, I have a big stack, so I can afford to make this call. Now, this particular player had made exactly two reraises from his blind all game that I had seen. Both times he had a big ace, once AQ and once AK. I knew that if he had a good ace he would reraise my minimum raise for sure. So I figured that he either has a small ace like A8 or some kind of draw. And since the size of his reraise was too large to be a big hand like TT, I figured I may be good here and had a good chance to at least split the pot if he had A7-9. Of course it could have gone either way, and is a pretty marginal decision. But again, I was gambling today, and in the past I may have layed this down. But there were a lot of signs pointing to “call”. It Worked out well for me. This next hand is one of my favorites.

Seat 4: juventus777 (455287 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (485249 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (209964 in chips)
juventus777: posts small blind 8000
RikkiDee: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [8s Ts]
aldurcs: folds
juventus777: calls 8000
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [2c 3d 4s]
juventus777: checks
RikkiDee: bets 19000
juventus777: calls 19000
*** TURN *** [2c 3d 4s] [6s]
juventus777: bets 48000
RikkiDee: raises 112000 to 160000
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee collected 168400 from pot

The first bet is just a bet I usually make if someone limps in to me and then checks the flop. So he calls. Now when he bets into me on the turn, I know something is up. I know he doesn’t have a five, even though that’s what he is trying to represent. He has check raised almost every good hand he has had, even top pair, and he knows I am going to bet this turn. My guess is honestly that he has a good ace, like AQ and limped in hoping I would raise from the BB, like I had been doing every time he limped in. So he has his little straight draw and two overs, as well as that nagging feeling when your trap doesn’t work so you feel you have to see the hand through. So I reraise his bet, as I do still have 2 overs and a flush draw now - and he insta folds. 2 hands later…

Seat 4: juventus777 (338687 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (688249 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (123564 in chips)
aldurcs: posts small blind 8000
juventus777: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [9s Kd]
RikkiDee: calls 16000
aldurcs: calls 8000
juventus777: checks
*** FLOP *** [6s Qs Ks]
aldurcs: checks
juventus777: bets 48000
RikkiDee: raises 80000 to 128000
aldurcs: folds
juventus777: calls 80000
*** TURN *** [6s Qs Ks] [4h]
juventus777: checks
RikkiDee: bets 208000
juventus777: folds
RikkiDee collected 306400 from pot
RikkiDee: doesn't show hand

I started to limp from the button in order to set up a future limp with AA or KK, since if I am raising every single time then all of a sudden I limp it is too obvious for even the biggest of fish. K9 seemed to be a good enough hand for a limp. One thing to note here is that my opponent had bet EVERY single flop when the three of us just limped in - without fail. It was very strange but I never had a hand to see what he had. So here he does it again, and I do have top pair so my raise is warranted. But he calls, so he must have something. Maybe even a king. So I push the turn when he checks to me. I know he can’t be that strong since he called my flop bet, and if he is just sitting there with the Ace of spades, he can’t call this bet. If he has KT, KJ or something, he may fold, as well if he calls I have that 9 of spades for backup. Pretty easy play for me and I took a pretty big lead after this hand.

Seat 4: juventus777 (193887 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee (849849 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (106764 in chips)

I think that this next move is just frustration on my opponents part because I reraised him so often.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [As Qs]
juventus777: raises 40000 to 60000
RikkiDee: raises 812349 to 872349 and is all-in
aldurcs: folds
juventus777: calls 111887 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [3d Kd 2d]
*** TURN *** [3d Kd 2d] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [3d Kd 2d 9s] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [As Qs] (a pair of Threes)
juventus777: shows [Ad 8h] (a pair of Threes - lower kicker)
RikkiDee collected 366774 from pot

Down to heads up. And with blinds 10k/20k and my opponent with 80k and me at 1.06m its pretty much just mop up time.

2nd hand in to heads up…

Seat 5: RikkiDee (1088236 in chips)
Seat 7: aldurcs (62264 in chips)
RikkiDee: posts the ante 1000
aldurcs: posts the ante 1000
aldurcs: posts small blind 10000
RikkiDee: posts big blind 20000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Tc 4d]
aldurcs: raises 41264 to 61264 and is all-in
RikkiDee: calls 41264
*** FLOP *** [Td 8h Ts]
*** TURN *** [Td 8h Ts] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Td 8h Ts Th] [Qc]
aldurcs said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RikkiDee: shows [Tc 4d] (four of a kind, Tens)
aldurcs: shows [6c 8d] (a full house, Tens full of Eights)
RikkiDee said, "gg"
RikkiDee collected 124528 from pot


THEMS QUADS BITCHESSSSSS.

Fitting way to end the tourney. I still can’t believe I won. And congratulations if you made it this far throughout the post.

So maybe my game isn’t that off. I hope to use this new improved bankroll to good use by moving my turbo game up to the $55 games, as I said I would do when I got to 5k. Lets see how that works out.

Duh..

Well that was fun.

As predicted, 2 days after I posted my winning streak the poker gods slapped me in the face with a ridiculous day of losses. Can’t say I blame them, it’s not nice to inflate a man’s sense of poker self worth.

In the midst of a losing session, I decided to play cash games. Loaded up just 1 1/2 NL 6 max table, and dropped a buy-in within about an hour. Good times. So rather than the month of February being one of my all time best, it looks like it may be one of my all time worst if I just play somewhat average the rest of the month.

I’m really at a loss for my cash game performance. I didn’t lose my buy-in in one fell swoop, it was a gradual loss over about 5 biggish hands – all of them loosing of course. Looking back on each hand I don’t see how I could have played it any better, just got unlucky. It’s good to know that I can put my opponents on mid pair when they are calling my pot size bets to the river, but when said mid pair trips up on the river, there is nothing you can do.

I think one of the biggest problems I have in cash games is I don’t make enough off my big hands to counteract the inevitable losing hands that come about. For example, I had QJo and I limped in from first position (6-max). SB completed and the BB checked. Now just to get some info out, the SB was a giant fish with a VPP over 60% and was calling me down often with any pair, any draw. The BB was a multitabling tight aggressive player who up to this point I hadn’t seen play a meaningful pot. Ok so the flop comes 9T2 rainbow, giving me the straight draw and 2 overs. The SB bets out a minimum bet, which he pretty much always did, then the BB raises him 3x his bet. At this point, I really don’t know what to make of the BB’s raise, but I decide to call and the SB surprisingly folds. Turn brings another 2 and the BB checks, I check behind. River brings a K making the board read 9T22K giving me the “nut” straight. Of course the board is paired so a full house is possible. At this point the BB bets big into me. Now I know he is tight, solid and playing multiple tables. It is quite possible he has a full house here if he re-raised with 2 pair on the flop (92, T2 or maybe a set of nines or tens). Additionally if he is good, he may be able to put me on exactly QJ since that is how QJ may play that hand, and knows that I just hit my straight and will reraise the river. Just so you know, this is how a paranoid, risk averse, player who is running bad thinks – always imagining the worst case scenario. Anyways, because I can’t put him on a hand that would call a reraise that I have beat, I decide to just call his big bet. He of course flips over KT for top 2 pair and I take the pot. A much smaller pot than it may have been.

This type of hand comes up all the time. And I often fail to extract the maximum value from the hand, fearing that I’m beat. I have an inherent fear of raising the river without the nuts against strong players. Sure, it saves me money when I am actually beat, but thinking back to many hands where I declined to reraise, and ended up showing down a much stronger hand than them, I think that I’m missing out. All these missed out reraises and value bets add up of course. And in a session where you just can’t seem to make a really strong hand, or get action when you do make a strong hand, these value bets are your key to a winning session.

Thinking back on that last hand, I think a min raise was in order on the river. If he then comes over the top I can fold knowing that he must have a boat. But many players will make a call of a min raise with the worst hand just out of curiosity. I know I do.

That's hot

I just want to get this down in writing before it dissipates into the poker universe:

I havn’t had a losing day in February.

In fact, I havn’t had a losing day since January 25th.

Now, this may sound like a lackluster achievement, but to me, it’s fucking huge. And not only for my bankroll, but also for my pride. It’s amazing how something as intangible and useless as pride can get in the way of playing good poker. But it does. Being on a winning streak allows you to do the things that you’ve told yourself are the correct +EV plays (ie. risky plays). Being on a losing streak shrinks my balls to the size of my mom’s and I turn into a stupid weak player that just perpetuates the streak.

But of course, I can’t let it get in the way of playing solid poker. There are either two cycles at work here. One being the, “I’m doing well because I’m playing well because I’m doing well” cycle. That’s the one I hope I have right now. But in all likelihood I’m on the, “I’m doing well because I’m getting lucky” cycle. Actually it’s probably a nice combination of the two, since I know I am actually playing a much better turbo SNG game than I was in January. And luck, variance, all that jazz, sure, it’s in there somewhere messing up what should be a perfect poker player, with standard results. So who really knows?

All that can be said is that I’m playing at a 21.3% ROI level, averaging $177/day, haven’t lost since January 25th and my boner has never been more throbbing.

Watch for tommorow’s report:

Winning Streak Snapped by Bad Play

Turns out it was all Luck

Things better than this site

So while I'm not playing I often spend time just ramblin' around the 'net reading various poker sites and strategies. So if you have time, which you obvioulsy do if you are reading this site, check out some of these others.

The Ultimate Bad Beat Story - not what you think, this story will truly blow your mind.

Video of ZeeJustin winning Sunday 500k Guaranteed - this is worth a download and viewing. It is a video screen capture of the last 50 or so places in the stars 500k tourney, following ZeeJustin, the eventual winner through it. He made some rediculously risky moves to get to the final. Once, he had 77 in the SB, its folded to him and he pops it up to about 5bb's. The BB then moves all in for a huge raise and he pretty much insta calls for all his chips. He wasn't pot committed or anything, he just felt like 77 was good enough to call. BB ends up having AQ and spikes a Q on the flop, but the turn brought a fucking 7 and made him the chip leader. I can't imagine making that call ever, since of course the best case is that they have 2 overcards, in which you are coinflipping for your whole stack. Another strange play by him is when a 10bb stack moves all in before him, he is on the button with about 20bb and reraises all in with KQ. He gets a king and takes out the others 33. Why would you bother with KQ there? Any ace or pair has you beat. Anyways, it is clear that if you want to win a big tourney like this you absolutley have to get lucky. Not only get lucky, but be very willing to put yourself in coinflip situations many times. His aggression and willingness to gamble can only be respected. Surely he busts out of a ton of tournaments playing this style but if it takes down the 500k, hey.

10 Notes to Myself About Poker - written by my favorite blogger, Scurvy over at Sound of a Suckout. Even though this list is about limit poker it is clearly translatable to all forms of poker.

Sit&Go Strategy - written by my new favorite SNG mentor, Poker Nerd. A real solid guide for maximum return on SNG's.

PPT Finds A Home - This is an article detailing the creation of the "Professional Poker Tour", which is something like the PGA for golfers. An invite only tour where events are sponsored, no one pays an entry fee and you have to qualify to get on the tour list. Pretty interesting indeeed. However, the list that they have right now for the tour is much too large. If they are trying to create a PGA for poker they need to limit the entries to the actual stars of poker, not just any joe who won an odd tournament.

ugh..

Bustout report from the mighty $3 rebuy on Stars tonight.

Played my standard game but was picking up a lot of premium hands and had my stack up to the top 20% after about 3 hours of play.

Anyways heres the hand.

Table '19224856 72' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: RikkiDee (41370 in chips)
Seat 2: yarster1 (6739 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: IO_anto (40388 in chips)
Seat 4: thoroughnut (1225 in chips)
Seat 5: ghear (21320 in chips)
Seat 6: crunch55 (13967 in chips)
Seat 7: MarylandMike (35087 in chips)
Seat 8: GCards1 (20050 in chips)
Seat 9: pfurious (55068 in chips)
pfurious: posts small blind 600
RikkiDee: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [5s 9h]
yarster1: folds
IO_anto: calls 1200
thoroughnut: folds
ghear: folds
crunch55: folds
MarylandMike: folds
GCards1: folds
pfurious: calls 600
RikkiDee: checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 5d 6d]

Ok try not to scroll down to the results before you read my thoughts here. I hit trip 5s, and am involved with the other 2 massive stacks at the table with +40k in chips each. I'm pretty happy as I can see someone making a move for this pot and I'll at least get a nice big bet from someone.

pfurious: checks
RikkiDee: checks
IO_anto: bets 3600
pfurious: raises 50193 to 53793 and is all-in
RikkiDee: calls 40095 and is all-in
IO_anto: calls 35513 and is all-in

So I check, and predictably the guy in position makes a big bet, probabbly a bluff or maybe a draw, he clearly wouldn't bet that much with 66 or A5 or something. Now before I can make my move, the SB guy pushes for a massive overbet. I have a tough decision now since my kicker is only a 9 and he could easily have me beat. I sat here thinking about this call for the full 60 seconds. I eventually concluded that I probabbly wouldn't get an opportunity this good the rest of the tournament to double up to a big leader. That coupled with the fact that his reraise was just a tad too big to be trips/full house, and a flush draw seemed more than likely. So I call. And to my suprise, the other guy *INSTA* calls. Now I am pretty sure I have the 2nd best hand.

*** TURN *** [5c 5d 6d] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 5d 6d 7s] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pfurious: shows [Ts Th] (two pair, Tens and Fives)
RikkiDee: shows [5s 9h] (three of a kind, Fives)
RikkiDee collected 1964 from side pot
IO_anto: shows [Kc Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Fives)
IO_anto collected 121614 from main pot

Now that is painfull. Now when I thought of posting this I didn't mean it to be a bad beat tale, honestly. What I wanted to discuss was the legitimacy of my call. In this situation I figure I'm beat probabbly 30% of the time, and against a flush draw the other 70%. Only true fish will make this move with an overpair. Ahem. So basically 30% of the time I lose outright and out of the 70% remaining I will end up losing to a sucked out flush 35% of the time, which brings that to about 25% loss. Add that to the 30% of the time that they have me beat already and thats 55% total - a losing call. So maybe I should fold here. I don't know, I just hate putting my huge stack up to bat even though I have a strong hand just to call a massive overbet. The fact that a flush draw is so likely here makes me think that its just not worth it to gamble here. I guess I need some more experience playing a biggish stack in a deep stack rebuy tournament, since I'm sure most good players would have a pretty standard play here - call or fold.

Oh one more thing. How can KK possibly be good here? I realize it's a rebuy tournament and people are pretty loose, but to have someone reraise their whole stack and then another person call that big overbet... I mean, KK may as well be 27o at this point. Well I guess he does have 2 outs, which seems to be more than enough for a lot of players. Sometimes I just want to ask my opponents to think before they call.

me - Ok buddy, before you call, think, what can you beat?

fish - I have teh bestests hand. I limpded in wiht teh kowboys so no one will ever put me on it. I am a genius. Look they must both have a 6 and think that I am bluffing!! Hilarious. Ship those chips to me.

me - you know you are probabbly drawing to 2 outs?

fish - I have KK. What are outs?

Enlightenment on a Greyhound Bus

I spend a lot of time when I’m not playing thinking about playing. I concentrate on certain situations that I find myself in often and wonder what other plays may be made rather than the ones I usually make.

For instance, I had to take a 2 hour bus ride yesterday, and despite being the only one forced to sit directly beside someone else – I hate that – I think it was a positive experience as I got a lot of thinking done. I pondered the situation of being in the BB and having called a raise from an aggressive player who may or may not be stealing. I imagined having a hand like KJ or 99 or something that is vulnerable and can get you in trouble. When the flop hits you hard, it’s usually pretty clear what the right move is, but obviously, the flop misses you a lot. So if you have 99 and the flop brings J85, there are basically two moves you can do here. You can lead out a probe bet, about 1/2 the pot and if he raises you, you can assume you are beat by an overpair or a jack and throw the hand away. You can also just assume you have the best hand and check raise him, knowing that he will bet everytime you check to him and will throw his hand away if you do have him. Both of these moves have their individual strengths, but I’ve always used the first approach here. I always figured that you can’t assume you have him beat, since he can easily have you as well – and by probe betting him you can find out for sure. As well it’s a cheaper alternative than check raising for information. So I generally probe bet there. But, on the bus home last night, I started thinking a little abstractly. I know that against a special type of aggressive player, that my probe bet into him after he raised preflop will be interpreted as exactly what it is, an information bet, basically asking him if he has an overpair/jack. He knows that if I really did have a strong hand, a check raise would be coming his way. So he can easily reraise my probe bet with basically any 2 cards here, and I will generally lay the hand down. Even I have made this reraise before when I am pretty sure my opponent is probing with a weak holding after I took the lead preflop, with much success, so I know that really aggressive players will make this play as well, probably every time.

So now what? I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. But really, if I wanted easy decisions, I wouldn’t be calling raises out of position with 99. But I know 99 is way ahead of his range here, so folding is out of the question. So I came up with this conclusion. Against that type of aggressive player, where they will reraise any probe bet I make with any 2 cards, I will check raise them. This way, I gain control of the hand by gaining the betting lead, as well I give him the opportunity to bet with nothing and take the pot down when he can’t call my raise. Additionally, if he indeed does call my check raise or raises me further, I can be very confident I am beat. It takes a very special aggressive player to triple raise the flop with nothing, so if he can make that play good luck to him, but most of the time this will work.

Ultimately, while I learn the most about the true strength of my opponent’s hand, it costs me more than a simple probe bet would. To illustrate the difference I’ll make up an example real quick.

I have KJ in the BB and am faced with a button raise late in a tournament from a very aggressive opponent. Blinds are 1000/2000 and he makes it 6000 to go. Let’s just say we both have over 20bb at this point. I call and the flop comes QJ5 rainbow, and I’m first to act. The pot is 13,000. Ok, now let’s examine the possibilities.

a) Bet 6000, opponent raises to 18,000. Total invested in the hand 12,000.

b) Check to your opponent who bets 10,000, you raise to 25,000. Total invested in the hand 31,000.

Ok, so on the surface option A seems best. And I realize I’m being a little repetitive here in my analysis, but I feel it is necessary for even my own understanding of this concept. Now, lets go over that scenario again while being able to see my opponents possible hands.

1. He has A5. By doing option A, we will probably end up folding the best hand. Total lost 12,000. By choosing option B we will most likely take this pot down and winning 23,000.

2. He has QT. By doing option A, we will end up folding the worse hand and losing only 12,000. By choosing option B we will most likely end up having to either fold to another reraise or fold when he calls our check raise. Either way we know we aren’t putting any more money in this pot and we will lose 31,000.

I’m using “A5” and “QT” as general examples as hands that we have beat, and hands that beat us. Substitute any hand like 77 or KK in there, you’ll get the same result. Now, since we know this opponent is aggressive, and can raise with pretty much any 2 cards on the button here, we know that scenario one – having “A5” – is more than likely to occur. Let’s put a number on it; assume that we have him beat 3 out of 4 times. This is actually probably a conservative estimate, but it will still illustrate my point.

If we choose option A every time out of 4 we will end up losing 48,000. If we choose option B every time out of 4 we will end up winning 38,000 (3 wins of 23,000 and 1 loss of 31,000). Now this is also assuming that a probe bet is a guaranteed loss, which probably isn’t true since some times your opponent may fold to it, but it is quite unlikely due to the nature of this specific opponent.

Also there are some additional advantages of the check raise compared to the probe bet. Since your aggressive opponent is more likely to read a check raise as strength than a probe bet, he is more likely to fold, and may even fold the winning hand. If he did have a hand like top pair with a weak kicker, it’s a possibility. You also gain the advantage of seeing one more card if your check raise is merely called. That card may make you 2 pair or trips (10% chance) and create the winning hand. So even though you will be done with the hand usually if your check raise is called, you will still usually have outs.

Overall, I think that the check raise in this situation is the strongest play. And as shown, given my assumptions, it is the mathematically correct play. As is the norm in poker, usually the best play is the scariest and riskiest, and I think this move speaks that truth well, and explains why that is true.

I’ll have to take the bus more often.

Monthly report

Well the month of January was a month filled with ups and downs. But as a poker player, that is pretty much expected so let’s get some more detail on that statement.

First, let’s discuss my day to day life, as the main idea behind this whole playing poker professionally experiment was to improve it. So how am I? Well, I’m actually pretty good. Early in the month I was a bit worried about finances due to an overly expensive Christmas as well as lack of play in December which led to low income, but I rebounded fairly quickly, paid off my credit card and managed to increase my overall bankroll. Obviously I am enjoying the absence of organized employment, but I have actually started to get my play down to a routine as far as when I play and for how long. What I need to continue to work on is to not be afraid to continue playing after winning a bunch one day. I mean, when I take a big hit, I generally can crawl my way back up to even, or at least continue playing good poker, which signals to me that I can maintain my decent game in the face of negative results, so why not positive results? It has to do with my natural risk aversion, and a strong desire to book a win. What I really need to realize is that no matter how many winning or losing days I have throughout the month, all that matters in the end is the bottom line income. And that number doesn’t care how it got there, just so long as it got there. But there is something to be said for keeping your focus and playing with a positive mindset, both which are easier to maintain when you have visible evidence that you are playing good – so booking short wins has an effect on that aspect of your psyche. Even still, as with any form of poker, it is generally correct to forget what just happened – good or bad – and continue playing as if this is your first hand.

Ok, now to the results:

Cash Game Total - $561.82
Tournaments - $2173.30
Monthly Net Total - $2735.12

So I could put a positive or a negative spin on those numbers.

Positive – $2.7k/month is a little more than I made at my last crappy job. So for more money and whole lot less bullshit, I’m pretty much in a win-win situation. Additionally, this is the first month I truly took playing SNG’s seriously and made some significant improvements along the way. I can only expect better results in the future.

Negative – While I made that much at my last job, it was a shitty job. I could easily get a better paying job with room for advancement which would be more secure and stable, especially in the long run. How long can I truthfully grind out a living playing poker? I mean, bad players can’t exist forever, they have to go broke eventually right? What is the online poker scene going to be like in 5 years when the game itself is most likely not going to be as popular? And while these results are paying the bills now, it could always just be that I’m on the good side of variance.

But at this point, I’ll take the good over the bad and worry about the future later.

Halfway through the month I made the move from regular SNG’s to turbo SNG’s, in hopes to double my hourly rate while sacrificing some ROI%. Now while life at the turbos hasn’t been all peaches and cream, I think I am adjusting well. The problem is of course the high luck factor due to so many all in preflop confrontations. But once you accept these as part of the game and just make sure to continue trying to get your money in with the best of it, there is no need to get upset about the loss that inevitably ensues. My ROI at this point for turbo games is 13.42% after 421 games at the $25+2 buy-in. My original game was at the $33 buy-in and I maintained a 20%+ ROI at first, but over 221 games there it dropped off to 18.34%. Of course, neither of these sample sizes are large enough to determine my true ROI, but I think they are fairly close. Actually I think my turbo results are lower than they will be eventually due to two things. One - I’ve improved my turbo game significantly throughout the month, and two – there was a brief few days where I honestly experienced more than my share of bad beats, which I think skewed the results a bit. I definitely think I’m at least a 15% ROI player on these turbos.

Eventually I want to work my way up to the $55+5 games. But I won’t do it until I have the bankroll to sustain myself. My bankroll goal for the $55+5 games is $5k. After a withdrawal this month my online BR is sitting around $2k, so I have some work to do. Last month, I tested the $55 waters a bit, but found them a bit cold as after 23 games I had a ROI of -17.50%, which is truly ugly. I don’t think I’m that bad really, but I do think it is a combination of playing a bit scared when there, as well as some bad luck.

So all in all January wasn’t the worst month in the world. If you had told me on Jan 1 that I would be here, I would take it and sleep the rest of the way. There were some heartbreaking losses, but nothing I didn’t live through. As well I think I am becoming consciously aware that I’m taking the beats better. My goal for February is to clear $4k in total winnings. Fuck that short month.