Blog of the Shrog

Lots of New Stuff

2009-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

So it's been a little over two months since I've blogged, mainly because I had been out of poker for a little bit. Even last month when I was back to 10nl, for some reason I decided not to, but I'd like to get it back up again. I'm hoping some of you who read before will come back and continue to read here. I'm going to have tons of stuff about poker, obviously, as well as my new career and some personal life stuff.

Here are my goals for August:
1. 8 tables max, preferably 6 during sessions. Although it takes much longer, I'd really like to hit my hand goal without playing like a robot. I've found that my play is drastically better with the tables cut. I've learned from others that improving your play is much more important than "x" number of hands/month. I also don't think there's anyway I'll become a better player and be able to move up from 10nl without really concentrating on less tables.
2. Clear the bonus. This should take a little less than 24k hands.
3. May be affected by #2, move to 25nl by the end of the month. By clearing the bonus, I wouldn't need a huge month to move up.

Many of you know I am starting a new job in the fall. I took the final certification exam last week, so pending I get a passing result from that, I am officially hired, as per my final interview from a few weeks ago. I will be teaching high school and middle school choral, as well as a Music in our Lives class. I am meeting with some people this month to start getting introduced to the school, paperwork, and all that good stuff. Not only is this an awesome job, but I am going to making a paycheck that should get me out and own my own within a year!

Lastly, I'm also going to talk about some other goals in here. For those of you that don't know, I was an athlete in high school, and during my junior year of college got serious about weight lifting. During that time, I made some huge changes to my lifestyle and made awesome gains, which have stuck with me. Unfortunately, for about the last 6 months or so, I've been hitting the gym regularly, but am not satisfied with the way things are going. I'm attempting a body transformation that is based around a whole new diet, and a little different of a workout. I'm trying a bulking phase for the nexct 5-6 months, followed by a cutting phase after. The main thing here is: Protein, protein, protein. I have always been a huge lover of chicken, steaks, pork, ect., but trying to get this 1/2 cup of cottage cheese down is very difficult. Many of the foods I am supposed to be eating aren't responding well, so I'm going to use this first week to try to get my body used to them, a little at a time.

That's all for now. Hope many of you old friends and some of my new ones will check in here to see my life progress. Now to the grind!

First Session

2009-05-28T20:50:00.001-07:00

Played a mini-sesh tonight to get back into the swing of things. I 8 tabled for about 40 minutes and played well. I'm debating what sorts of goals to make for June. By the end of July, hopefully I will be rolled back for 25nl after clearing a bonus that started way long ago. I'm going to be pretty much nitting it up at 10nl, since that seems to be a very profitable way to play it. I'm also trying to do a lot more thinking for myself before asking others. Don't get me wrong, I've made some great friends who are great players, but a lot of times I don't even give an ounce of thought to a question I have before I ask it. Goals and shtuff coming in a few days.

Back?

2009-05-26T20:42:00.001-07:00

Not sure if anyone really reads here anymore...I haven't played poker at all really for a couple of months; the occasional MTT, SnG's here and there, but nothing major. I am actually considering getting back into some grinding. I don't have a 9-5 summer 'job', but I am making money playing a lot of concerts, and hopefully we'll have a few weddings coming up soon.
Anyway, it seems every time I think about just not playing poker at all, I realize how much I like poker and what a waste it would be not to play. With that said, I am waiting on trying to get funds back onto Stars. I know it's not much, but I am going to start grinding 10nl with ~20 BI's. Considering I was working on a reload bonus before and had like $500 to start, this is kinda nuts. At the same time, if I really need to, I can load on another $100 so I think I'll be fine. If any of you are reading this, I've missed talking poker and spending a lot of time on the forums, so hopefully I'll be back soon.

Life Update

2009-05-09T13:33:00.001-07:00

For those of you that might be interested, things are going well. Within the last few weeks, while not having a large BR to work with, I've really been focusing on school. My graduation is a week away and it feels awesome. I am lining up summer work as well...while it might not be as fun as grinding all week long, at least I'll finally have some steady money coming in. Also, I've been offered a job for the fall! I'm really stoked about it and it's going to take something really incredible to come along for me not to take it.

As far as poker goes...I kept ~$100 online because I knew eventually I'd want to play. I played a bunch of small MTT's, with nothing major happening except for a double cash in the Early Doubles a few weeks ago. Probably been around break even in them, but I have come back to the infamoussssssss....SNGS!! I know they are death, but I used to have a really solid game in them and am working on getting it back. I'll probably just be 2-tabling the $5's for a bit, until my roll grows. I also sattied into the mini FTOPS deepstack $33 event which is tomorrow night. Normally, me and my nitty self would just take it and add to my BR, but I'm deciding to play this one. Believe it or not, this is almost like a "major" Sunday MTT for me, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Things are going really well, and I'm happy to be enjoying my life and still playing some poker here and there :D

Real Life

2009-04-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

Got some money moved over to FTP. Withdrew the rest for personal reasons. Going to enjoy life, spend some time on the forums, and slowly build up on the side of the rest of my life.

Thinking...

2009-04-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

I love poker. I just don't know where to go with it. Maybe I need to stop setting all these limits for myself and enjoy it. Maybe I should continue to grind 25nl and play the occasional MTT or session of SNGs. Might need a few days to figure this one out..

March Results/April Goals

2009-04-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, my March results are going to be summed up very quickly. I was incredibly busy with student teaching and things changed poker wise for me. I played only 12k hands, while retaining Silver status on Stars. I played break-even poker for ~10k hands and lost about a buy-in at the very end. I also had decent live results, totaling $175 in profit. For the second half of the month, I started getting into HU SNG's and had the following results at two levels:

$6.25
47 wins in 69 games
#132.25 in profit
30.78 ROI

$11.50
21 wins in 35 games
$59.5 in profit
14.78 ROI

I'm not even going to re-post the goals I set for last month, because I failed miserably. The good news is, I found another form of poker which I have skill in and is becoming very profitable for me. I've decided to continue playing HU SNGS for the entire month of April. My goal is 100 games/week, for a total of 400 games, with maybe a few extra in the last couple days of the month. I was shooting for a 70% winrate last month, but am settling on 65% for April. This would mean a weekly profit of ~$280, which would make for a +$1K month.
I've been using recording software and making videos of multiple HU sessions. I always make them with the idea that I may show them to others, talking myself through every hand and decision. Now, I am completely over-rolled for the $11.50's but I am going to try playing a large volume of these while I continue to get comfortable. I was very settled at the $6.25's and felt nervous starting the $11.50's but now they're simple. I'm not going to post huge plans for the months to come, but I think I may have found a form of poker that suits me and is very profitable.

Soooooooooooooooo, as far as April goes:

1. 100 HU SNGs/week, and 400 for the month. These will most likely be at the $11.50 level, unless I decide to give the $23's a shot.
2. 65% Winrate, 24.35 ROI.
3. Post more on CC. This month I strayed away from the forum and was just reading tons on CC and 2p2 for entertainment purposes. I really want to get back into the poker mindset that I was in when 2009 started.
4. Update your damn blog more. I want to make this more interesting with pictures, HH's, ect. to make some of the guys from the forum actually hold some interest in seeing what I'm up to.

I'm working on getting tracking software atm. I also have Spring break in a couple of weeks, so I should be able to reach my goals for the month. I'm also trying to turn the phrase "Let me run good" into "Let me play solid poker". So, let's do it.

HU

2009-03-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Out of the blue yesterday I started playing a few $6.25 HU Turbo SNG's. I used to play the $5.25 non-turbos a while back and was trying to see if I could make a steady profit in them. I found very soon that it wasn't very profitable..I was barely breaking even and....I was a TERRIBLE heads up player. Since playing ring, my post-flop game has improved tons, so I decided to give these a shot. Now, I didn't want to put false ideas in my head, but so far, so good. I only have a 42 game sample, but they're extremely soft. I've found it very easy to just grind your opponent to the ground by playing very aggressively in position and less pots OOP. I've profited $97 in just the last two days and am considering playing these a lot more often. I'm going to try getting around a 100 game sample or so after the weekend.

Also, note: I am by no means declaring myself to be a fantastic HU player, but I think I understand the basics. I watched an interview over the summer of Kenny Tran after the won the WSOP HU event, as he talked about rarely ever having a hand in heads up play. Like I said, these low limits are sooooo soft and easy to beat. Will update after 100.

Half Way

2009-03-15T10:33:00.001-07:00

This is the halfway point of both the poker month, and my student teaching. I just finished 8 weeks at the high and middle school level and will now be teaching general music, grades 1-5. I had a blast these last two months and really am finding that this is for sure what I want to do. We'll see how I do with the little ones.
As for poker...I just haven't been playing much this month, and when I did, I was playing pretty poorly. I was 16 tabling a lot, because I thought I could do it, and wanted to rack up the hands. As it turns out, I've only played like 9k so far, and am not on pace to reach 30k. I'm going to forget about GoldStar for the month and concentrate on getting my A game back on a smaller amount of tables. I'll probably be around 8-10 for a bit, maybe 12 by the end of the month, but I was just playing too robot-like at 16. I also canceled my bet for 25nl, as I found that this wasn't ideal for myself either. Instead of limiting myself to only one form of poker, I'm finding that sometimes I need a break and could use a SnG or MTT here and there. Of course, ring is going to be 99% of my focus, but I need to be able to play some other games from time to time. Let's make a profit in the 2nd half!

Still Human

2009-03-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

After one of the worst nights poker-wise in a very long time, I decided to make a change today. Since recently moving up in limits and obtaining SilverStar, I figured Gold would be fairly easy to do. As it turns out, it's going to be a stretch this month, as I'm a little over 2k hands behind pace. Trouble is, I've been so caught up in playing a massive amount of hands, that I've lost a lot of the fundamentals that were built in the last two months.
I just finished a sweat session with icemonkey9, who is just an awesome influence, as well as a great player. As I've written before, he is one of the few that approached me and before I knew it, I found my self wandering into ring. The session was great. I only played 6 tables and just played a solid, TAG game. I had been comfortable up to 10 and even 12 tables, but lately the 16 or so has just been too much. Maybe sometime I'll be ready for it, but not just yet.
I am still going to try to reach my hand goal (along with my 'Exclusive Ring' goal which I am still on pace for :D ), but it's going to be a little different. I'm going to slowly work myself back up to more tables through the end of the month. I would much rather have a good winrate over 20k hands then play awfully trying to get to 30k. Not that I'm giving up, I just think I need a different approach to it. Ice, if you read this, appreciate everything, and may you run goot for the rest of the month! Mojo shipped!

Rough Patch

2009-03-10T18:21:00.001-07:00

I know I'm not the only one. It seems like a lot players from the forum are having a difficult time with poker as of recent. I just finished my worst session I've ever had. Instead of complaining about the terrible beats ranting, I'm going to work on an article instead. Be on the lookout for it, possibly here, but most likely on CardsChat.

Poker Prahfitz

2009-03-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post...I decided to do something for myself with a bit of profit from the grind. I have one bonus that I've almost cleared, with another one coming up that I'll finish next month. I'm going to cash these two amounts off once I get them and buy something with them. It'll be $400 total, so I'm going to put some thought into it...possibly a new jersey and tickets for a Philly game. I'm also still toying around with what to do with FPP's, and I may just grind the 210's a little at a time (after this month of course, due to my goal of playing only 25nl). I think this will be a great balance for now of building up my roll while still getting something tangible for the time I put in.

Feb. Results/ March Goals

2009-02-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

What a month. I don't even know what to say before I post my results. Here they are:

20,471 hands- 7.5k at 10nl and the other ~13k at 25nl
Beat 10nl @ 8.03BB/100
Beat 25nl @ 4.03BB/100

Complete Month Graph:

Here's a look at what goals I set for the month and if they were reached...

1. 20k hands. [Goal met]
2. Play exclusively ring. [Goal NOT met]
3. Positive form of rakeback, mostly likely the 210FPP's again. [Goal not met. Played a couple of the 210's, without a cash]
4. Continue to post hands in the HA section, along with sending more hands to a handful of CCers. [Goal met]
5. Take shots at 25nl once I've spoken with a few others throughout the month and come up with a solid BRM plan for it. [GOAL MET!]
6. Do more sweats with some of the regs, along with sweating some of the new 10nl players. [Goal met]

I only played two 210fpp satty's this month and didn't run so well in them. I've decided now that I'm going to be moving up through the limits to save up my FPPs for something worthwhile. At the moment, I'm not sure exactly what...I still have to look into the Stars Store.
The other goal I failed was playing ONLY ring. I dabbled in the Step SNGs, which for some reason I could not beat at all, even though I grinded up through the $22 and $33 SNGs only a year ago. I also played a few MTT's here and there as well. I have put some major thought into a way to achieve this goal and came up with an idea I will include in next month's preview.
Also, I JUST reached SilverStar, with about 45 minutes in the month left to spare! I hadn't planned on doing this at all, as I didn't think I'd be playing above 10nl yet, but when I saw it would be reasonably manageable, I decided to give it a shot. Weeeeeeee for 1.5x FPP's!

MARCH GOALS:

1. 30k hands.
2. Make GoldStar (will come along with completing Goal #1).
3. Play ONLY ring. I need some sort of motivation to do this, and a prop bet seems silly because 30k hands will definitely be manageable, and really shouldn't be that hard for me to do. I'm going to post on CC about this particular goal and the way I will achieve it--if any member of the forum catches me playing anything other than 25nl, I will send them $25. The person would have to show a screen shot of the 'Find a Player' option on Stars and prove that I was playing something else (No photoshopping allowed!) I think me essentially giving $25 away will work as an aid in me sticking to what I want to do this month.
4. Sweat players at the micro limits from CC, preferably 10nl. I really feel like I learned what it takes to beat this limit in a fairly short amount of time and would really like to give back to CardsChat.

After slowwwwly beginning ring in January, and having way to many days I couldn't play in February, I'm really looking forward to increasing my volume in March. I am also working on my own article for CardsChat, so be on the lookout for that.

Beat, Brag

2009-02-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a longer post, but well worth it for me...

We usually see the "Brag: Look at this sweet hand!" Followed by, "Beat: I later got sucked out on and broke even for the session." The last two days for me have been the other way around.
To make a very long day short, I just had a bad day student teaching. Maybe it was because the kids were on break last week and still getting back into the swing of things, but there was just no energy, a lack of motivation..no one wanted to do anything. To make it worse, I played a session last night only to have this hand occur:

Alright, I'm still not sure if I like my shove here. I had only been at the table for 6 hands, and this limp, 3bet min-raise has usually been some silly A-rag, or a small to medium pocket pair trying to take pot control. I didn't want to 4bet and have this guy cold call and play the hand with half my stack already in the pot, OOP, so I just shipped it in. This is where the guy hits the time bank. So, now I'm thinking he's going to make some call with 55 or something and show the table how good he is. He eventually calls, and as you can see, hit the Q. He then started to go off in the chat box about how it was a coin-flip along with all this other stuff that....yes...tilted me.
I can honestly say in two months of playing ring, I have gone on tilt twice now. Controlling my emotions is one of my strengths as a poker player, but after my worst day this semester of student teaching, and then to have this happen, it got under my skin. So...who's fault is that? Mine. It's not the kids' fault for not being full of energy, and it's not my opponent's fault for me losing control of my emotions.
I went to bed last night in the worst mood since I can remember. When I woke up this morning, I didn't hit my snooze button like I usually do. Instead, I got ready, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to the school. I was determined to make things change today.
In my six weeks of teaching high school, I have never had a day like today. I changed around my lesson plans so we were constantly at a fast pace. The 7th graders were doing the wave. The high schoolers were in their sections, singing. The 8th grade men accomplished things in their repertoire in fifteen minutes today that we spent forty minutes on the day before, getting nowhere. I was on an all-time high and legitimately proud of myself for being lively and energetic myself, in order for the students to feed off of me.
I decided things would be different during my session tonight as well. I looked at my EV for yesterday, and the entire month, which I know is something a lot of poker players frown upon. Well, I'm taking a stand for myself and explaining why I did this. I needed to know that I played well last night. I needed to reassure myself that I am a solid player, and by making the right plays, I will be dominating this limit over a long stretch of time. Without going into too much detail, I put it in only a one hour session tonight, and it was one of my best ever.
I know days like yesterday happen, but to be honest, they used to happen with me very frequently. My second year in college was a tough one, and I was constantly in the mental state I was yesterday. I hate when those days come out, but I suppose it's what we do to make a change when the next day rolls along.
With three days left in February, I have about 3.2k hands left to make SilverStar. I am also looking at beating 25nl for the month at 4BB/100. This is my first ever really in depth blog post, but I think I needed it. Yesterday is gone. Today is almost over. Bring on tomorrow.

Going for the Gold. Oops, I mean Silver.

2009-02-17T20:02:00.001-08:00

Since I took my first shot at 25nl two days ago, I have become pretty comfortable with it, and now am properly rolled. I actually think in a few ways, it might be a little easier than 10nl. For example, there were a lot of times when playing 10nl I couldn't decide if the Beluga theorem was in full swing, or if some players just had no idea and were confusing the daylights out of me. Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow to head up north to hang out with my friends from college until the weekend, so I'll have a few days off. This leaves me with ten days left in the month. I decided yesterday that I would make the push for SilverStar, but tonight realized that it's not much of a push at all. I only have about 8.5k hands left, so it should be relatively easy.

Annnnnnnnnd, my new biggest pot ever:

Mid-Month Update

2009-02-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

Last month, I played just over 20k hands at 10nl, and beat it at 2.57BB/100. This month, through only 7.5k hands so far, I can honestly say that I feel like I'm crushing it. My winrate has sky-rocketed to 8.04BB/100, and I credit that to playing more pots in position, and changing the way I steal and isolate. I am extremely happy with the way I've been playing, and in a way, was afraid to move up.
I was planning on waiting til I reached 30BI's for 25nl, but I am very close and have been advised by a few players at CardsChat to start taking shots. I'm going to be on a 28/23 sort of rule while 4-tabling to get comfortable. I think the biggest thing I need to do is not over-adjust. I really want to just play a solid game, without thinking about the money being more than I've played in the past.
I'll update as needed for the next couple weeks through February and my 25nl beginnings. I'm on break from school for a week, so I was planning on logging tons of hands at 10nl, but will instead use this time to get used to 25nl. I'm also taking a trip up north to visit some college friends, so looking forward to that as well. Here's to solid play at 25nl.

Change of Plans

2009-02-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

There's something very important that I gave a lot of thought about today. For those of you that don't know, outside of CC and the poker world, I am in my last semester of undergrad, as a piano major in Music Education. I am currently student teaching, working with high school students and will be moving on the the elementary level in mid-March. I have been thinking a lot about my future in music, and decided a while ago that I would audition at Westminster Choir College to pursue a Master's degree in Sacred Music. After receiving some information today over the phone, I have found that my audition requirements for February 27th are a bit more than I had previously seen online. Due to this, I will be changing my goals for the month.
Now, last month was a fantastic start to 10nl and I don't want to go anywhere but up from where I left off in January. As it is, I am looking at 2 days away for the audition, and possibly another 2-3 for a visit to my college friends in a couple of weeks. With this in mind, I could potentially be having a 23-day month. I'm going to set my monthly goal at 20k hands once again and to be honest, if I didn't make it and nailed this audition, it wouldn't bother me a bit. Poker is very important to me, but at the same time, I need a balance for the other important things in my life. So, 20k hands, let's show a profit, do some sweats, and all that other good stuff I took the time to write up two days ago.

Jan. Results/Feb. Goals

2009-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here it is...the brutal truth about my first month as a cash game player and 10nl. I feel like I have a decent grasp on the basics of the game, which has been enough for me to show a profit over 21k hands. I am just now starting to experiment with 3-betting, isolating, and squeezing. In some areas, I didn't find 10nl quite as fishy as I had expected, but then there were times where absolute maniacs proved me wrong. Anyway, here's the Month One Wrap-Up, based on the goals I set in December.

Hands played: 20,159 [Goal met]
1. 20K hands at 10NL in January. [20,159 hands]
5. Save and do something +$ with FPP's. [2/3 in 210FPP satties, worth $10.94 each]
6. Spend way more time in the HA section of CC than the others. [Not met. I found myself browsing a lot more threads and hanging out in the Jan. Thread quite a bit. However, I did sent a few installments of hands to IceMonkey9 for his thoughts, which I value very much.]
7. Only dip into my BR when I absolutely need to. [Goal met. Have not touched the roll.]

10nl Profit: $114.55
FPP Rakeback: $21.88
SNG Profit: -$34.5

I played a few SNG sessions, where I think I played extremely well and got very unlucky right around the bubble. I'd post the hands, but let's not whine about the past :). I also played a few Step 1's and a Triple Shootout just to mix it up, but failed. I didn't mind playing a few of these just for a change of pace, just wish the results were a little better.
As for the ring profit, without whining, I was around $224 EV for the month, so I clearly didn't run the best. To be honest, I wasn't sure why sort of winrate to expect in my first month, so anything in the green was fine by me.

Graph for the month:

February Goals:
1. 30k hands. Between the 28 days and a few trips I am taking this month, along with my audition for graduate school, I may be looking at a lot shorter of a month than is on paper.
2. Play exclusively ring. If I need a break, study my HEM stats, read some of the articles I have yet to get to.
3. Positive form of rakeback, mostly likely the 210FPP's again.
4. Continue to post hands in the HA section, along with sending more hands to a handful of CCers.
5. Take shots at 25nl once I've spoken with a few others throughout the month and come up with a solid BRM plan for it.
6. Do more sweats with some of the regs, along with sweating some of the new 10nl players.

I also had my 1K post on CardsChat this month, which I was very pleased with. I definitely wouldn't be here without a lot of these guys. To close, I want to thank once again IceMonkey9 and Jurns8 for all the work they've done with me this month. Here's to a great February.

Best Day of the Month

2009-01-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

The title is not in terms of profit, as I only played about 500 hands today after a very long day at school. I just wanted to give a few quick updates on why this day has just been so great.

1.) I recorded myself for the first time during student teaching today. I'm having a great time teaching, and am actually starting to think I might not be so quick to run away from Music Education and into the Sacred Music field. I'm actually debating now whether or not to go right to grad school in the fall, or if I want to apply for a job. So, yay for teaching.
2. My dad just informed me that I'm getting some money back from school, half of which is his, and half that is mine. I owe him a good chunk of change, and tbh..I'm not really sure how it added up over the last year. I rarely ask my parents to borrow money, mainly because I did alllll the time when I was younger, and I'm trying my BEST to start becoming an adult (while of course, living under their roof during this semester and eating my mom's cooking). Also, I think the trip a few friends and I took to Florida last winter may have had an impact :). Anyway, the money that is getting returned to me is about the same that I owe my dad, so...there goes my debt. This is going to be awesome for my bankroll, as I hopefully won't need to make any cashouts!
3. I had my biggest pot ever at 10NL tonight. On a side note, I debated 3-betting, thought more, didn't, maybe was the wrong play, ect, ect. But here's the hand:

Belated Mid-Month Update

2009-01-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

So here's my graph for a little past halfway for the month, calendar-wise. We'll call it half way since I'm in the 10K range and my goal for January is 20k. As you can see, I was on a -3BI swing, only playing 6 tables at most. Since the 8.3k mark, I've started to play 8-10 tables and ran pretty well. If I continue to play the way I've been playing, I am seeing some good things to come next month.

Internet Back Up

2009-01-17T13:24:00.001-08:00

Well, I haven't had internet all week, so no hands. I just put in a session where I was pretty much break-even, minus a KK losing to AA AIPF. I need some coaching. I dunno, maybe 8k hands is way to small of a sample, but I'm finding myself not really knowing what to do in a lot of spots. I'm also set-mining a shitload, and not even getting paid off when I finally do hit one. Just seems like I'm playing 'standard' 10NL poker but nothing's really happening. Again, this was my first time back after about a week off, and I haven't even played that many hands.
On a good note, my first week of student teaching went very well. I'm just been helping out and observing mostly, but I'm supposed to jump into things with the middle schoolers this week. I think I'm going to begin warming up the high school classes, but not doing any major lessons for a bit. In honor of MLK, we have Monday off, which is pretty sweet.

I'm just going to post this for the heck of it..although this fishy min-3-bet by the LAG player followed by the re-raise of my 4-bet just screams AA...is there anyways I'm folding this hand?

Last Semester

2009-01-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

I don't have much poker-related to talk about. I haven't been playing much poker the last few days due to a couple different reasons. Tomorrow beings my semester of student teaching, and I've been doing a lot of things to get ready for that. I'm actually very excited to be doing this finally, despite the early awakening hours. I'm still going to try to reach my 20k hand mark by the end of the month, but that's going to include some serious grinding on the weekends. I haven't caught up on sleep this weekend as I should have, but had some fun times with friends of mine that I haven't seen in a while. More to come this week sometime, just want the world to know that I'm here.

Week One Recap

2009-01-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

Here it is, my first week at 10nl. I've already played just over 5k hands and am on pace to reach 20k for the month. I begin student teaching next week, so the time I'm going to have during the week is going to be much less. I'm also deciding if this is reach-able only 4-tabling. I've been throwing in 5 and 6 tables, but am not sure I'm quite comfortable there yet. Alright enough, already...what about the first week's profitz?!
I wish I could say there were any. I've found myself in some tough spots and find myself down about 2 buy-ins after seven days of play. I know we're not supposed to look at EV graphs to avoid tilting hardcore, but I've been using it occasionally to actually boost my confidence. It looks like I'm getting the money in good the few times I have put my full stack in. I'm hoping that 5k hands is also a small sample and this could just be variance. I'm also seeing that my Showdown Winnings are decent, but my Non-Showdown Winnings are complete trash. I'm going to try to talk to some friends and see where my major leaks are here.
I've been looking at the goals I set for the month and one of them deals with FPP's and making a profit from them. At 10nl, it's tough to accumulate FPP's quickly, so I've decided to play the 210 20-players each time I reach that number for the time being. A cash in these (6/20) is just more than a BI and could help pad my bankroll.
I suppose that's it for now. I'll have another weekly update on the 14th, and most likely a post or two in between if anything exciting happens. Here's just a couple hands to see if I can get the replayer to work..I think the first two play themselves, but I wouldn't mind comments on the 1010 hand.

2009 Goals

2008-12-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

I was glad to get my deposit on Stars and get HEM up and running before 2009. I played just under 1K hands and am learning the basics of 10NL (with help from a few good ol' CCer's). I've just found out that I may be doing a lot of after-school stuff in my student teaching this semester, so I'm going to get a better gage of how many hands I'll be able to put in later in January. As for now, my 2009 goals are:

1. 20K hands at 10NL in January.
2. Move to 25NL only when I begin to crush 10NL and have a minimum of 30 BI's.
3. Become rolled for 50NL by the end of the year.
4. Gain SilverStar once I've moved up, even if it doesn't come until the summer or fall months.
5. Save and do something +$ with FPP's.
6. Spend way more time in the HA section of CC than the others.
7. Only dip into my BR when I absolutely need to.

These are goals I feel like I can accomplish within a year. Once I really start grinding, I'll be able to tell better what is doable, and I'll be updating with monthly goals here as well. Bring on '09!

Bring on 2009..and the Playoffs!

2008-12-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the poker stuff, I have to write a little about yesterday. My big Christmas present was a 3rd row seat at the Linc for the Eagles-Dallas game. It was my dad, 2 brothers, uncle, grandfather, and two friends from where we grew up in NJ. For any of you that follow football, last week my dad wasn't too happy he got these tickets for us, after watching the Eagles put up 3 points against Washington. There was so much that needed to happen in order for yesterday's game to mean anything--and it did. Somehow, Oakland pulled one out against Tampa..the place erupted, and the Eagles were pumped. Without going into too much detail, the game was incredible. A complete blowout..and the best part of all was that I got to watch it with my dad from the 3rd row.
Annnnnnd now, poker. I made my deposit today and am qualified for the 25% bonus. I purchased HEM and just need to get it up and running. I still have two days before 2009 is here and my ring game officially begins. Hopefully, Icemonkey will be sweating me in the beginning to get me on the right track. I'm so psyched that I'm doing this.
This weekend was great. I got to see some family that I really don't see that often. Yesterday's game was truly an awesome Christmas gift. Now let's see how much I can learn about this ring business. Can't be that hard, right? :D Heh, and so it begins...

Ready to Go

2008-12-23T16:52:00.001-08:00

I cannot wait to start learning ring. I've only started to learn about all of the mathematical stuff that gets accounted for when figuring out the details of cash games. I'm trying my best to keep logging my thoughts in the HA section on CC, as well as continuing to talk to some of the ring players.
On a good note, I happened to play the Full Tilt CC Freeroll today and came in 5th for $15. As much as I've been whining about the variance in MTT's today, I think I played very well and the cash felt good.
Well, I'm still deciding how to approach my deposit to start ring games. I think I've worked out a plan to get myself started by February at the latest, although I'd really like to start before then. On a final note, I'm making another goal of mine to read the HOH Cash Game Books before starting to play.

2008-12-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Well, my poker life has taken quite the turn as of late. I withdrew the rest of my BR for a number of reasons and have given a lot of thought about what exactly I want to do with the poker part of my life. After talking to a few people from CC, I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not happy grinding the SNG's and playing the occasional MTT. I feel like the time I've spent analyzing NLHE should start amounting to more than what I've shown. With this said, I will soon be starting ring games.
I've decided to take some time over the holiday doing some sweat sessions with others, doing some reading, and posting on the forum. I'm looking forward to using the money I withdrew, along with getting paid on Sundays (props to whoever can guess what I do), to buy some Christmas gifts for my family. As soon as I have enough buy-ins saved up after the New Year, I plan to start the grind on 10NL FR. I'll also be purchasing HEM. I can't remember the last time I was this excited for something poker-wise.

Good Session

2008-12-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

I got home today at about 1 o clock to have lunch with my family. I didn't get much sleep last night, but feel pretty good. I decided to get a quick shower, unpack some stuff I brought home early from school and play poker. I played two 2-table sessions, and was ITM 3/4 with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In the forth game, I flopped a set very early for a quick double, and played for a stack with AK on a AJ3 board against the aggro guy to my right, holding A9. Not long after, I managed to lose AdKd on the As7d4d flop against A2o. The 2 hit the river, unluckily, not the 2d. This player continued to play every pot with me, and somehow he kept out-flopping. I'm very pleased with the way I played, so I can't complain too much about one table.
I have to say, I am also very happy with my 4-handed play right before we were in the money on the table I ended up winning. We were all around even, and I eventually became the short stack. I had reads on all three players from earlier in the game and ended up taking it down.
While I was playing the SNG sessions this afternoon, I also cashed in a $2.20 6max tournament. It was barely any money at all, but I've been feeling so good about my play lately, that I figured I'd take a shot. Now that it's evening time, I'm considering taking a break for dinner with my parents and coming back to do a session tonight, possibly even playing the $5 6max tournament.

Weekend

2008-12-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

Well, due the school giving us off for Labor Day, we have to make up for it with the last day of classes being Monday. Then there's two days off for "academic prep days" before finals, followed by Final Exams, Thursday & Friday, then resuming Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Since I already have a lot of things out of the way, hopefully this means I'll be able to grind pretty hard some of those days.
I'm headed home tonight, missing out on one of the last weekends with my friends up at school. Good news is, I'm leaving to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Sunday. I've heard the shows are really awesome, so I'm looking forward to it. Gonna be a late night drive back to campus when it's over, but a friend of mine is riding along too, so hopefully I won't fall asleep while driving. Also, I found the Christmas radio station--I'm a sucker for this time of year.
I've started talking with a few people from CC, and it's already been great. This is one of my goals for the month. I've continued to do sweats with Inscore, and hopefully a few more soon. I'm feeling so good about the way I'm playing...if only I could be in this mindset every day. Maybe with some more practice, it'll happen.

More to come...when something exciting happens.

New Beginning

2008-12-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I wanted to start a blog over the summer but never really got around to doing it. Anyway, I'm starting with a fresh BR after making a withdrawl to pay for some holiday stuff. I'm going to stick to all 9-man SNG's. This used to be my most profitable game, but I started to bring back old habits and really just wasn't playing my best. Last night I did a sweat session with Inscore, and went 3/3 ITM with two 1sts and a 2nd. I think the two of us both think very similar about this game (when I have my head on straight), and it was just what I needed. I'm hoping to do some more sessions as well. I've chose to stick with the SNG's for a few reasons. First of all, I've spent a lot of time over the past year learning how to beat them, and they have been my most profitable game. Also, with starting a small BR again, I don't have the money to invest in PT or some sort of HUD, so ring is pretty much out of the question.

So, with December beginning, and my final semester coming to an end, I'm going to set a few goals:

1. Post more on CC. This means not only a post here or there in a thread that grabs my interest, but keeping up with them and coming back to the threads more often. Sometimes, I find myself writing something and then leaving it all together and not coming back to see what other's input was.
2. Meet some more CCer's. With my school schedule, I don't always have time to play the CC buy-in events. Hopefully, once winter break starts, this will change. I'd like to talk to some more players and get to know more people from the forum.
3. Show a profit at the $5 SNG limit.

These are some starters, and hopefully December brings a good month. I'm not going to set time limits for when I'll be updating here, but instead, I'll post whenever I feel like I have something important to say.