Week 11


Well I never could rebound totally from my losses at the $1/$2 tables but I did come rather close so all in all it was a good week. After losing the $70 the first day playing $1/$2 and I dropped to .50/$1 and I am happy and proud to say I stayed put at the level and never went back to $1/$2. There was 1 point this week I almost did, but circumstances kept me out and in .50/$1.

On the .50/$1 tables I played a total of 23 sessions during this past 6 days for a total of 22.73 hours and showed a profit of $44 or 44 big bets. 1.94 bb/hr and 3.25bb/100 hands. Not as good as I would like, but we will accept it and try to improve on it during week 12. I had 13 winning sessions, 9 losing ones and 1 I broke exactly even. The last few days I have been tightening up my play even more than before and the results have been overall positive.

With over 1300 hands played I am seeing some definite trends in thecards that I need to take steps on. Granted 1300 hands is not much to make decisions about but there are certain things that I don't have any reason to believe they will change much as I play more and more hands. QJo is one. QJs is another and KQo. Not much winning with these hands and KQo is a bit surprising. I think that is just bad luck as KJo and K10o are showing a profit. QJo I have been mucking more and more even in late position.

I did a filter on Poker Tracker and found that suited connectors are also losing me money to the tune on just over 10 big bets. I am making sure I only play them in LP with at least 3 callers or in the blinds. Right now they are proving to be -EV.

I also played a few buy-in MTT's this week with nothing really good to report. I am going to continue to play the $1 MTT's but I think I will wait for a larger bankroll before playing any more of the $3 ones.

Total bankroll $483.76 A loss of nearly $43 this week. It's my biggest weeklyloss thus far and all the blame is on me for playing above my bankroll thus not giving me a chance to recoup at the same $1/$2 level. Hopefully I will not make that error again. I am trying to wait until I hit $800 before I move up to $1/$2. I am setting a goal date for this for October 1st. Hopefully I can make it before then.

Total bankroll $483.76

Fighting Temptation


And it's not easy. Anyone who reads my journal does not even have to ask what the temptation I am fighting off is. $1/$2. Argghhhhh.

I really want to play it very badly. Even though my last trek in there was not great I feel that with my new even tighter style of play I can make a good run. Currently bankroll is just over $480 and I said previously that I was going to wait til bankroll was $800, but I don't think I'll make it.

I decided to make a deal with myself. I decided that as long as I keep a 500 big bet bankroll for my current level it would not hurt to step into the higher limit past that, but now the dilemma. How much do I risk?

The beginning of last week I lost 35bb playing $1/$2 and spent the whole week trying to recoup that loss after dropping back down a level back to .50/$1. While dropping the limit was the correct thing to do it makes it twice as hard to recoup the loss. I could risk on 5 big bets at $1/$2 but is that giving myself a fair chance at the $1/$2 tables? Hell one BB one SB and seeing the flop with both of them and you have spent 2bb. For now I stay put. Just writing this entry has helped me overcome a little of the urge. Waiting for $800 is the sound and logical thing to do. That way even if I went on a 150bb downswing I would still have 500 big bets for .50/$1. I keep telling myself that, but sometimes I don't like to listen. But for now anyway, I will. Discipline is key to success, but does it have to be so damn hard? LOL

Hi Starlight,

Good journal! Are you multi tabling the .50/1.00 tables. I recommend working your way up to 4 tables and using PT and GT+ to track your opponents tendencies if your not already doing that. This will keep you busy and when you are consistently winning your bankroll will grow quickly, even at .50/1.00. I don't know if this will help you resist the urge to move up too quickly or not. I think the desire to move up to bigger games is very common, and has consumed many aspiring bankrolls.

I recommend you read through the jornal of Piers for a look at what kind of stats a winning limit player should have. His VP$IP is around 11%, many will say that is too tight but my limit numbers are very close to his and I was at or above 1.5 BB/100 up to 2/4. I never played enough 3/6 to get a reliable number before I switched to NL. I think your win rate goals are achievable at .50/1 and at 1/2 but above that it will start getting harder to hit.

Tightwad is another full time pro that plays limit so his journal has some great insight as well.


Good Luck

Week 12 / End Of Month Report July 2005


As it happens my poker week and the end of the month coincide on the same day so i can cover both in a single entry.

A few things happened this week, some good, some bad. I lost my main .50/$1 database on Poker Tracker. I am very displeased by this because it had over 3000 hands. I have no one to blame but myself. I have been tinkering with it this week, deleting old databases, combining others to get a more accurate picture of things, but somehow in the process I deleted the wrong one. Damn it all anyway. Ordinarily I could get it back because even if you remove it, the database is still kept in the PT file but I was cleaning out the old ones there as well. Oh well, in the future I will have to be more careful.

Played a Limit SNG this week and finished 2nd and 2 NL SNG's where I finished 2nd in one and went out on the bubble in fourth on the other. These were $5 SNG's.

When I can't find a suitable tight/passive table at .50/$1 I decided I would drop a level and multitable. I did that only once this week recording only 137 hands but a profit of nearly 14 big bets at .25/.50 so I was pleased with the single, albeit short multitable session.

Learned a lesson this week about when you need money or feel you do. Car crapped out on me and right now a new car payment would really hurt finacially. Told my wife I can earn it at $1/$2. Immediately lkost $25 once on a 9Js which my 2 pair got beat by a higher one, My A2s got beat by a higher kicker and AA got cracked. My wife Becci told me to get out of there because she knew i was pushing too hard. She was right. A2s and 9Js is something I do not see a flop with unless in the blinds. If you need the money badly or think you do, poker is not the place to get it. I left the game and went back to my .50/$1 game. The most embarassing part of the whole thing is it turned out it was a broken radiator hose. Certainly not enuf to warrant another car purchase. Shows you how much I know about cars, LOL

Now it could be said when i turn pro I may run into the same thing. Afterall, I will need the money to make a weeks pay, but when that happens I will also have 5 months of weekly pay in the bank to draw on and 5 months of monthly living expenses along with a $20K bankroll. So I can see that even when I play full time, psychologically I will be ok because of the money that will be there as a backup. It has made me realize that without money behind you, its a no win situation. That comfort zone that will be in place is oh so important as it wil;l give me the knowledge that I can play my game and not push so hard. Others may not need it, but I know i will. That's why the plan is to have $40K total before I turn pro. I rea;lized this week more than ever, that at least for me, it's a must have.

Since I lost my main PT database i can't be specific about some of the numbers for this week. I do know I played over 1500 hands and hours played were somewhere between 25-30. The total profit for the week was + and this included the $25 lost at $1/$2 and a -25 big bet session i had at .50/$1. On july 28th I started the new database because i tightened up even more after looking at my PT stats I saw i was losing money on certain hands and certain positions. I called it an even tighter approach and have won over $75 at .50/$1 in the 4 days. AXs, suited connectors and one gap connectors are no longer a part of my aresenal. I am now playing the tightest game of my career and the results have been excellent.

Total profit this week was $64.05

Current Bankroll- $547.81


End of Month Report

At the end of June the bankroll sat at $349.33. The current bankroll is $547.81 so a profit of $198.48 for the month of July. Not bad but could have been better. Staying out of the $1/$2 games would be most helpful. It is more than I made in the month of May and June, but playing .50/$1 as I am it should be better. If I assume I plaed 6000 hands and 120 hours it's a profit of 1.65 big bets/hour but slightly over 3bb/100 hands. I will not be tinkering with PT so at the end of August I should have nealy 7000 hands played and recorded for the .50/$1 level and will have a better representation of my earn rate.

Total Bankroll: $547.81

Week 13


One of my worst weeks ever. Poker was not great, but my personal life was worse. two words...............head gasket.

For those of you that understand cars you know what that means and if you don't understand much about cars bottom line.........about $1000 in repairs.

While writing this entry I just had the best session yet earning 37.75 big bets in just 54 hands. Damn its weird how this game goes sometimes.

I have been playing a lot of $1/$2 this week with less than ideal results. I am back at .50/$1 but not because IO was losing or even that the bankroll for $1/$2 is stretching it, but because HOWI play whenI do a little more aggressive with my bankroll. Bottom line, I play scared even if I don't think I am I am doing it nonetheless. Numbers don't lie. Checking Poker Tracker it turned out my Post Flop Aggression Factor was below 1.20!!! PFR was way off as well and the reason was I was gunshy about my aggression. At .50/$1 I am so much more comfortable. I play my regular tight/aggressive game where the pst flop AF is slightly over 2 in slightly over 1200 hands. Point made.

So it's at .50/$1 until I have enuf of a bankroll to play $1/$2 comfortably and not like some scared little mouse afraid to fire out a raise. I'm actually a bit disgusted with my obvious weak play, but at least I was able to learn from this. I will go back to the original plan of $800 in the bankroll, or even $1000 before heading to $1/$2 but it seems so far away.

With the car repair upcoming for the next 2 months I am going to use poker as a part time income. A weekly nut of $50 will be sent to the household checking account. Right now Becci and I are staying with her sister and husband. We are saving the money to move back to the California coast, but this car repair will severely cut into that, but if i can provide $50 a week that will be an extra $400 towards the move in expenses. Consequently the bankroll will probably not be making leaps and bounds over the next 2 months. Anything over the $50/wk will be added to the bankroll, but with 500 big bets as my bankroll, I feel it will all go quite well. As of this post the total bankroll is slightly over $562 which is a profit of only $15 but the way I took a hit at $1/$2 this week I will gladly accept it. I will edit the final bankroll total at the end of my session tonite. Right now I am up 44 big bets today at the .50/$1 tables. Not too bad.

Total Bankroll $573.38

You might want to try Instant Bankroll from Poker Source Online if you and/or your wife do not have Party accounts -- it's an easy $100.

Also, you might want to try Party and skins in general. The bonuses are really easy to clear and the games are soft.

Week 14


My first loss in a long time. At one point I was down about $130 this week. The last 2 days I was able to make a small recovery. With $573 in the bankroll I threw all bankroll plans out the window and hit the $1/$2 tables. Whatever I did was wrong. Whatever I flopped got beat it seemed. I really started to doubt my ability, but my wife would hear nothing of that and a pep talk by her sent me back to the tables to try again.

In the grand scheme of things the loss I suffered this week was not all that bad as far as downswings go. Only about 60 big bets at $1/$2, but it seemed large to me because I don't have a large bankroll for $1/$2 yet and utilized an aggressive bankroll approach of 250 big bets and would drop if i fell to 200 big bets at $1/$2, but only giving myself 70 or 80 big bets to play with was not profitable. I guess there is a reason for the 300 bankroll recommendation afterall.

I want to take it a step further if I can. When I play $1/$2 I want to have 300 big bets to work with and if I lose that still have 500 big bets for the lower level of .50/$1, but in order to do that I would not be able to move up to $1/$2 until I had $1100!!!!. That is unacceptable to me. Honestly, I don't believe I could ever have the patience to do that. A guy on the forums, though I haven't seen him for awhile, by the screenname of Doc Winston used to tell me that he used a 250 big bet bankroll dropping limits if he hit 200 big bets. I tried that this week. It went poorly.

I actually like the concept and it always seemed to work well for Doc, so why not for me as well? This week was a loss of $82.64, but the real question is why did it happen. Was I feeling overwhelmed? Did I play poorly? I could check my Poker Tracker if I would stop deleting the databases every time I get angry after a losing session. I know this is not the proper way to deal with losses and I know I seriously need to control my temper when it comes to this. If Poker Tracker is to help me, then I need to simply leave the databases alone, anger not withstanding.

Now a decision needs to be made. The bankroll is $490.74. I can add another 410 on payday to make it $500. Should I go with the concept of 250 big bets at 41/$2 dropping limits if I drop to 200 big bets? This would still give me $400 for .50/$1, but the major problem is if I drop 50 big bets at $1/$2 it willbe almost impossible to recoup that at .50/$1. Playing limit games as i do those kinds of winning sessions are hard to come by. But the lure of $1/$2 is almost overwhelming.

I played .50/$1 for 13 hours 45 minutes and 776 hands for a loss of $14.
or 14 big bets. When cash games were hurting me I tried some SNG's. 12 $5/.50 NL which I had an ITM percentage of a dismal 25% with 1 win one 2nd and one third. I finished 4th 6 times. I just don't understand why *I don't do better at these things. I played 2 $10/$1 SNG's winning one and finishing out of the money in the other and I played one $5/.50 Limit SNG which I won. The total SNG profit for the week was $19 but at the $5/.50 NL SNG's I was minus $21.

The only $1/$2 database that survived my temper tantrums was the latest one for 3 hours 42 minutes and 262 hands with a profit of $19.75.

The bottom line is I lost $82.64 this week. I found out i am as fallible as any other poker player out there as much as i hate to admit this. Once again this week I am going to stay with the 250/200 big bet bankroll strategy. I know all I have to do is put a few winning sessions together at $1/$2 and i will be just fine. No chasing with middle or bottom pair when i'm losing. No calling raises with Axs trying to make something happen. Just solid disciplined poker like i know i am capeable of playing. But the nagging question in the back of my mind is am I making a mistake with this 250/200 big bet plan. I have no answers for myself, only questions that seem to bring up more questions about what ifs.

Bankroll $490.74

I was just wondering if you have ever tried the low stakes NL games. IMO they are way more profitable than limit games. You can pretty much wait for the nuts and double up on Party Poker 25nl.

I got killed playing low stakes limit. It seemed like every time I was in a hand I would get drawn out on and it almost crippled my bankroll. You can push people off of draws in NL which you can't do in limit.

I know how hard it can be after losing a bunch of money in a session, but if you keep deleting your PT data base you will have a very hard time fixing your leaks. And, if you don't use GT+ you should start.

Good luck in your quest to become a pro.

Stealth

Day 100


After day 99 everything felt like it was slipping away from me. I tried one last session at $1/$2 and after losing yet another $30 I knew I had to drop back to .50/$1 where I lost $20 and also proceeded to lose 2 SNG's. Starting the week off $60 in the hole and a bankroll down to about $425 my poker world was crumbling and i could do nothing about it it seems. Then I made a decision.

I left Poker Stars for good this time. I just can no longer take the beats and drawouts that seem to be the norm over there. It was becoming very demoralizing and even though it may not really have anything to do with it, moving sites was a psychological help if nothing else. I have gone back to Pokerroom and will stay there permanently unless something drastic were to happen.

I still lost on day 99, but I still needed to move away from Poker Stars. All last night at work I was running everything over in my head trying to figure what I could do to stop the bleeding and I realized not much. I have been playing solid poker, raising when I should and whatnot and still losing. I guess it happens. But with over 20% of my bankroll gone my confidence was shaken. I think because this was my first real bad swing, and compared to some other people they may look at my losses as nothing, but since it was my first, it affected me. I believe I will be able to handle the next one better. Of course nothing says this one is over yet, but the morning session of day 100 was a real confidence booster.

Playing .50/$1 at Pokerroom I was able to turn a profit of over 43 big bets. Add to that I finished 26th in a $1/0 MTT for a payoff of $7 so it made for a nice morning session. I hope my swing is over, but I won't really know for a few more days. I am still down $14 for this week so far, but I am so ecstatic about this session it has me riding high. I kid you not when I thought I was losing my talent for the game.

The current bankroll after 100 days is $476.53 The fact that most of my losses came at $1/$2 will hopefully help me stay put at my current level as i know i need to. The next time I feel like "checking out" $1/$2 I am going to remember this disaster. Once the bankroll hits $800 I will try $1/$2 and risk 150 big bets, but until that time I need to take control of the frustration that grabs me. I realized I keep trying the higher limits when i start losing a little at the limit below. Well duhhhh, that's no way to stop a small losing streak. Time for some sleep now and i will hit the tables early this evening. Hopefully it will be another profitable session.

Bankroll: $476.53

Week 15 Complete


I have decided to run my poker week as the calander does for no other reason than it is easier for me to remember what day to post my entry. besides I like things orderly, the drawback of an anal retentive personality. The down swing I was on seems to have passed, but I did take a hit the first day of week 15 dropping nearly $60. This makes it quite hard to turn a week into a winning one, when you start out like that, but I am happy to say I did do just that. The profit for the week was small mind you, but any profit is good. Let's see how the numbers stacked up.

Monday was the final day on Poker Stars and I ended my play there by losing $30 playing $1/$2 and another $20 at .50/$1 playing 3 hours and 6 minutes and a total of 196 hands. It was not pretty. That same day I cashed out at Stars and returned to Pokerroom. Things went a little better, but not much. That same day I ended up losing 2 SNG's and $4.50 in .50/$1 ring games soon Monday the total losses were closer to $65.

During this week I played mostly .50/$1 ring games with very limited time at the $1/$2 tables. I have learned my lesson in that regard, but as was suggested to me on ITH, if I see a very tight/passive $1/$2 game I will play a few hands. Totals Below:

$1/$2 2.15 hrs. 143 hands +$27.50

.50/$1 10.07 hrs. 601 hands +61.75

Overall this week the amount of time at the tables was less than usual. I have been playing the $1 MTT at Pokerroom each morning. 26th was my best finish, but it was enough to at least break me even in MTT's for the week. Overall the total profit for this week was $11.74. Pretty pathetic, but with how it started and the bad swing of last week, I will be satisfied with it.

I have started doing a few things differently this week and they seem to be working so far. I am sitting in with no more than 20 big bets at my ring games and refuse to lose any more than that. I allow myself this twice a day and if I lose both sessions I am done for the day. This goes along with the Howard Lederer 30 big bet rule, but I have extended it to 40 big bets.

I also am leaving tables much quicker if things are going poorly. I catch myself making just a single mistake in a hand I am out and wait a bit before going back to a different table. If I take one bad beat and I am talking something like my KK getting beat by JJ because they hit a river card I am out of there.

I have been doing this because the more I play the more I realize that when things start to go wrong, at least for me, they don't improve. I think much of my downswing was due to me staying in games that were not going well. I was playing my A game but getting bad luck, but staying because i knew I was playing well. I realized this may not be the best idea because with so many choices available on the internet why stay at a table that is simply going against you. Part of this game is luck as we all know although I believe the majority is skill, but if part of it is luck, then sometimes that part just does not go your way. I believe you should find a table where the luck and your skill can coincide and work together. As I said, this week, it seemed to help a great deal doing this and I will therefor continue doing it until it proves itself unworthy.

The sitting in with 20 big bets could be easily debated as to whether that is a good idea or not. Personally when I am down 20 big bets I know damn well I will start chasing things I shouldn't, a fom of tilt I suppose. I am taking the risk if I am down of hitting a monster and not having enuf at the table to get in as many bets as I can, but it's a risk worth taking. If I sit in with 40 big bets say, and lost 20, I would and will continue to play trying to hit that one hand that will get me back. If I sit in with the 20 big bets and tap out I will not reload. I have the discipline to walk away but not if I have chips on the table. Strange why there would be a difference, but for me there is. Another aspect of discipline that needs worked on.

I start this week with a bankroll of slightly over $500, still down from my high of $573, but I am working on it. I have been thinking about all the free money available to me via bonuses and I know have a sufficient bankroll to bonus chase, but the times I have tried it in the past have gone poorly. Everytime i try it I end up losing at the new site. Paradise has a 20 or 25% bonus and Party Poker has a 20% signup bonus. Noble Poker has a nice one also and I really would like to make the bonus run, but I am so gunshy about my results if I try it, it keeps me back, keeps me from even trying. I still have bonus pending on UB some 40 or 50 dollars worth so if I get the urge to bonus chase again I will deposit there and see if I can clear what I have there without losing in the process. If I can perhaps I will try the bonus at another site and so on. But for now, I think I will stay at Pokerroom and simply try to get the bankroll back to my high point it was a couple of weeks back.

Total Bankroll: $502.48

Week 16


$1/$2 killed me this week and .50/$1 was not too much better. The week was going decent before yesterday, but in the end it was a loss for the week. I am pretty disgusted with myself and the weekly results. After a run at Pokerroom I decided to try Poker Stars once again. I'll play there until my next temper tantrum where I cashout and try a different site. LOL

I ended up about $40 down. This was pretty bad considering i was uo about $60 or $70. No one to blame but myself. I keep playing in the next higher limit and due to most likely timid play or just bad luck I take a beating. Once again I am forced to drop down to .50/$1.

My bankroll discipline continues to be non existent. I have all these grandiose plans about what I'll do and when I'll do it and every week it's the same. i disregard it all and do what I should not be doing. Why continue on with this facade of turning pro? It's not going to happen when I can't even show the discipline of bankroll management. I will never make it without it, so why even bother to try anymore. I am really disgusted with myself. I want to wait until I have a bankroll of $1000 before going to $1/42 and in my heart I mean it, but as soon as I get $500 or so there I am in $1/$2. I am so pathetic sometimes it sickens me.

Once again i will try to remain focused and within my limits and once again i will probably fail. I always do. Maybne one day something will snap in me and i will realize I have no choice, but to do things the correct way and the disciplined way. I'd like to think that day starts today, but you cvan't lie to yourself. I will try, but I'm not holding my breath over it.

Bankroll: $462.65