Starting Over - a hopefully long journal of starting with $4

[starstealer]

[emmasdad]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

Played solidly tonight - but just didn't catch the luck I needed.

In my first tournament - I played fine for most of the first hour. 36 minutes in, with about 2k in chips, I pushed on the flop with 2 pair against a guy with an overpair. The turn paired the board on the other card to counterfeit me and I was out.

In my second tournament, I played fine for most of the first hour, but was card dead. I finished the first hour with only 1k in chips. Just after the break, I picked up AKs in the SB. There was a raise from MP, and it folded to me. I pushed - he called with sevens, but I tagged a king on the flop to double up. I soon doubled up again with pocket fours pushed preflop up against an AQ that missed.

By the time my last hand came up, I was an average stack with 7k and pick up aces in MP. Two limpers to me - I make a raise and only one of them calls. Flop is KTx and he checks. I push the last of my stack in - he calls with pocket tens. I don't catch and get knocked out in 393rd. Luckily for me - it paid out to 396th - so at least I didn't lose money there. Too bad on the tens though.

In ring games - I played solidly on 2 tables of Omaha Hi/Lo, though netted only $6.25 over 200 hands or so. I did identify a few leaks - so as long as I plug them up, I should be able to show a better profit soon - hopefully sooner than later.

All told - I was up about $10 - which pales to the $100 last night - but it happens. Time to refocus and rebuild - not dwell.

[starstealer]

Just started playing for the night. When I registered at 8:05pm for the $2+.20 NL HE tournament, I was a little surprised it was already over 2k people - though it happens from time to time. What I was very surprised about was finding out that a total of 4604 registered this week... Last week (super bowl) - it had 1504 registered...

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

Had a lackluster return to the tables the other night - earning a few bucks on Saturday and losing them back on Sunday. Tonight started off much the same - getting knocked out of the $2 in 66 minutes and the $5 in 21 minutes - finishing about a minute apart with hands that I don't think I should have played.

I decided to go on and fire up my ring games anyway for a bit and then, on a whim - to play the $15+1.50 tournament. Apparently that has been a solid idea, since we just hit the first break and I'm in 7th chip position with 384 left and 912 to start off. Still early obviously - but a nice beginning with a couple of coinflips that went my way.

[stickdude]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

So last night was both good and bad. Good because I had a solid night in the tournament and a mediocre night at ring game play; bad because I didn't make the final table. It happens - I can't be too upset.

The final hand of the tournament, here's the scenario (trying to remember all of the details accurately without the hand history in front of me):

Folds to me in MP with KQo. I have ~70k in chips with blinds at 2k/4k I believe. We just hit 18 players recently, so there is a full table. I raise to 11k (about my standard when I lead in). Folds to the button (chip leader of the table - and of the tournament), who flat calls. SB folds and the BB calls as well (he's about my size give or take a few k).

Flop is Qxx with 2 spades (I have the Qs) and BB checks. At this point there's about 40k in the pot and I've got ~60k in front of me - what to do?

For a range, I doubt the big stack has AA, KK or QQ - I would expect a 3-bet from him pre-flop with any of those. AK is a possibility (he might 3-bet - but he might not), AQ, AJ, JJ, TT, 99 and KQ are all possibles for his range. Out of all of those - AQ is the only one I've got problems against, unless he's got the spade suit. Likewise, the guy in the big blind could have a relatively wide range (he was very loose and spewy - but lucky) - but I wasn't as worried about him since he had checked.

I decided in the end that my best move here is to simply push. I like my hand enough to felt it - and in the one case where I think I am beat (AQ), I have the backdoor redraw if needed. Anyway - he ended up calling - had AQ and while I hit a 3rd spade on the turn, I missed the 4th on the river.

Was I being too generous with his range? Too ambitious with my push?

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

[starstealer]

SNGs

I only played a few SNGs over the course of February - all satellites. I didn't finish in the money in any of them - but they were all winner-take-all format - so there's no big loss here. They were all also FPP tournaments - so nothing lost overall either.

Ring Games

Over the course of the month, I finally spent a good amount of time playing ring games and getting to work on my game overall. I have to say I am not all that impressed with my current abilities and need to work on it a lot. I'm hoping March will show a marked improvement here. Of course, I'm writing this after March is already half over and I know that I haven't had a good March so far...

Anyway - I only played one limit and one game at cash this month:

Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (1/2), 39 sessions, 83.733 hours, 4287 hands, $130.25 net, $3.03/100 hands

Tournaments

I have played a lot of tournaments over the course of the month. Mostly 10FPP, 0.25 and 0.50 tournaments - but every little bit counts. Of course, my one big win overshadows the month as a whole - but I'll take what I can get!

FPP tournaments: 5 tournaments, $11.00 net (one entry into an $11 tournament)
0.50 tournaments: 2 tournaments, $2.49 net
1+.10 tournaments: 1 tournament, ($1.10) net
2+.20 tournaments: 14 tournaments, ($25.43) net
3+.30r tournaments: 1 tournament, ($9.30) net
5+.50 tournaments: 15 tournament, ($19.37) net
10+1 tournaments: 1 tournament, ($11.00) net
15+1.50 tournaments: 3 tournaments, $32.58 net

Overall: 42 tournaments, ($20.13) net

Recent History, Overall

2007 November: 53.683 real-hours, 81.967 table-hours, $10.50 net, $0.196/hour
2007 December: 82.683 real-hours, 132.500 table-hours, ($13.48) net, ($0.163/hour)
2008 January: 82.167 real-hours, 167.500 table-hours, $701.10 net, $8.533/hour
2008 February: 60.817 real-hours, 143.833 table-hours, $160.12 net, $2.633/hour ($50 bonus included here)

Overall: 279.350 real-hours, 525.800 table-hours, $858.24 net, $3.072/hour

Next Month, Poker Goals

Pretty much the same as last month. I want to hit $1k before trying to move back up to $2/$4. Before I do that though - I want to prove to myself that I can win at $1/$2 (even though - historically, my performance is much better at $2/$4 than at $1/$2).

I need to keep a lid on those $15 tournaments. Sure the final table has some nice rewards - but it starts too late in the evening to play and is most likely a net loser for me in the short term. Since my bankroll needs the cushion for ring games - I can't be taking too many chances with larger tournaments right now.

That said - I want to play a few satellites with FPP in order to earn some T$ - possibly to occasionally play a larger tournament as well.

I'll also want to keep silver star status - just for the extra FPP it gives. Given my current workload though - this won't be difficult. I've done the math though - at my current rate of playing and limits - gold star will not be happening yet.

Next Month, Non-poker Goals

Writing - I need to give myself time to write and actually use that time to write. I have neglected my writing for years now and that is simply unacceptable. I have a family, I have a full-time job, but that doesn't mean I should put one of my passions on the backburner. I desire to be a published author - if I am going to make that happen - I need to be writing.

RPGs - I've come to the realization that I don't have time for my offline game at the moment. For now then - this is on hold so that I can try to meet my other goals.

Professional - Almost finished with reading through the 2005 Admin guide for SQL. A couple of useful tidbits have already been put to good use - but for now I am moslty still working with SQL2000.

Debt - Well - this situation hasn't gotten any better in a month (and has actually gotten worse). I would like to set the goal to get my mortgage current this month. Not sure if I'll even manage that - but working hard to try at the least.

Cleaning - of all my goals - I think I did my best here. Still plenty to be done but the most important thing to note is that I finally fixed the window in my bathroom that was stuck open by about 2 inches. Now it actually works - so hopefully the bathroom won't be unbearable during the summer and winter...

In other news

My wife had an appendectomy a few weeks ago. She was in a bad state from it but is recovered enough from it to at least work.

My eldest son just turned 5, my youngest turned 1, my father turned 58 and I just turned 29. That's about it for March birthdays in my immediate family - now to start figuring out what to do for my wife's birthday...