StarlightCoast --- The Road To Pro

[StarlightCoast]

Day 127


SNG's are a suckers game to play. Well, let me say that for me I'd be one if I EVER played one again. My SNG experiment failed and I lost the small bankroll i had set aside for it, but that did not bother me as much as the final SNG I played. I played a NL $5/$0.50 and as we were on the bubble the short stack goes all-in I figured I had him beat with my KJs and I was right. He was trying to steal with 56o and sure enough he gets a 5 on the flop. Such bullshit it's sickening. SNG's are nothing more than a "Let's see who gets lucky game" There seems to be so little skill involved in it it's laughable, but yet there are many players on the forums I belong to who do so well at them. I don't know how they do it and obvious those guys with the long term success in SNG's have a considerable amount of skill to be sucessful, but I'll be damned if I know how they put up with the idiots and assholes who get lucky time and time again. It's really disgusting.

I have to say I do not like playing .25/.50. It's so hard playing at this l;evel when you have tasted the action of levels as high as $2/$4, but it's here I need to stay until the bankroll hits $400 and it is here I will stay, but God it seems like such a long way off. Once again multitabling was a non profitable experience winning $8 playing 5 tables and the very next session losing about $16. Oh well, I tried and I failed. Back to the single table games for me. Going into the current session I was down $12 so far overall on .25/.50 which is minus 24 big bets. At this rate I'll be stuck in .25/.50 until I'm nearing retirement, but I remind myself I need to grind it out. Not fun, but necessary.

Current bankroll as of this post is $192.55. The current session I am playing I am up about 10 big bets or so. God I hope I can find some money to add to the bankroll after the move. The faster I am out of this suckout level the better I'll like it, however I must admit I am liking the table selection I see at .25/.50. $1 average potsand players per flop less than 20%!!! These are dream tables for someone like me who realized long ago that the tightest tables are the best ones. It does shock me how often my early position raises are going unchallenged. True i am only winning the blinds in these cases, but I'll take these small ones and as many as i can.

I have been stepping up my aggression and even though I am down money so far this week, it does seem to be working. I have been raising first in with a variety of hands such as Axs, KJs and even A10o. In a loose table this would never work, but in a tight passive table many times all will fold to a raise and a small pot is better than a losing one. Am down to a 6 big bet profit so I think I'll end the session here and hit the tables tomorrow morning after work. One table at a timemay be a grind, but in the long run it will be the most successful for me.

[StarlightCoast]

Do One Thing And Do It Well.........Maybe Two Things


My bankroll, small it may be has been taking hits, but not at the limit tables. I am up for the week so far albeit a small amount, but I have been hurting myself playing other things that quite frankly I am not very good at. SNG's for one. Since my temper tantrum post about SNG's I calmed down and did try just one more. Lost badly and stopped at one. I also was involved in a $10/$1 Bounty tournament. Finished out of the money.

In life we all have our strengths and weaknesses and my main strength is as a limit Holdem player. Cash games are where I make my money and it is here I need to stay. With a bankroll just under $180 I have plenty of bankroll for .25/.50 and if I stick with that alone I will watch my bankroll grow once again, but playing these other things and I am doomed.

The only exception I will allow myself is one or two $1 MTT tourney(s) per day. MTT's are where the money is especially when a large field of players are involved. Even a $1 MTT with a win could add $100 or even $200 to my bankroll so these are well worth the effort I feel.

So for the time being I will be sticking to these two poker ventures. .25/.50 Limit ring games and $1 MTT tiurnaments. The ring games I am now only playing in the mornings. This is the time of day I find the most profitable. My ring game sessions will end at Noon for the time being. I will play a $1 MTT in the morning and in the evening if available to me. I think this kind of structure will bring the most profit.

[StarlightCoast]

Bankroll Depleted The Rebuilding Begins


Well, my bankroll is down to about $102 left and so now the rebuild time has officially begun. For months all my wife and I have been doing is concentrating for the move to get out of my in-laws house which we have been staying with them since the move from Oregon back to California. Well the move is in early October, and I had the day off today, so I used most of what was in my poker checking account combined with some from household and took my wife to Sea World down in San Diego.

It was my first time there and I have to admit I enjoyed myself especially when I was able to end the day by touching and petting a dolphin. That was the best for me. I love dolphins. I want to swim with them in the open ocean. I want to be the one that cracks the code of their language. For me, this was a bigger thrill than you can imagine.

From a poker standpoint using the money was not a good idea, but from a husband standpoint is was well worth it. If you could have seen the smiles it brought to my wife throughout the day then you would understand. She loves that place and I would do it again a hundred times over to see that smile. It was more than worth it.

Not exactly sure how much is in the poker checking account. I think combining it with the few cents I have in Neteller it's $24 but I won't know exactly until all the transactions are completed in a few days. If I am correct and it is $24 plus the $84 I have on Poker Stars that's a total bankroll of $108. I am currently playing in 2 $1 MTT's so make that $106. It is over 200 big bets for my current level of .25/.50 so I think all will be fine. I was thinking of dropping down to .05/.10, but the tables are just too loose and at .25/.50 I can find players/flop in the low 20's which is where I make my money. I have been told on cwertain forums to play loose tables, but Poker Tracker showed me my theory between the loose and tight tables was correct. At the .50/$1 level I have a database that covers 81 sessions played. My total earnings are $100.50 at the level. 41 sessions were played where 30% or more of the players were seeing the flop and my earnings were $5.50 in 41 sessions of play. Yet the other 40 sessions were tables where less than 30% of the players were seeing the flop and my earnings were $95. Enough said. For me a tight table is where the money is. Numbers don't lie. Other players are different. They do very well on loose tables, but damn if I know how. I will stick with my tight tables because obviously this is where I will make the most money and that's the final goal after all.

[StarlightCoast]

Week 19 The Lesson of Arrogance


Arrogance can be hurtful, I learned this week. This week I entered maybe half a dozen $1MTT's and an $11 Bounty tournment. At the time I did not care about the cost because I knew even if I lost these things my wins at the .25/.50 cash games would more than make up for it. Well the total profit for the week on the cash games was all of $1.25. Not exactly making up for those losses. My arrogant attitude notwithstanding, I must remember I am a falible human being and while confidence is good, arrogance could lean to ruin.

My week was good on a discipline standpoint for the cash games as I stayed at my .25/.50 tables as i said I would. I think it's the first time I went a solid week staying within my limits. A small victory perhaps, but one I am proud of nonetheless.

Only winning $1.25 at the tables was not a pleasant experience and I checked poker tracker to find out why this happened. I played slightly over 1800 hands this week covering 31.03 hours, but overall in .25/.50 I am down $1.45. Yuk, but let's stick to this past week. Where are the leaks that I would make so little?

The first stat that jumps out is that I only folded the big blind to a steal 44.44% of the time. That is way too much blind defending and something I must work on in week 20. SB was good folding to a steal 75%. I really stepped up my aggression this week, as I attempted to steal blinds 46.56% of the time and my PFR% was 12.32. I also was raising first in on a variety of hands including Q10s, KJs, Axs and the like. When I ran a filter on Poker Tracker to see if perhaps this may not be the best course of action I find that I made a good deal of money doing this. I made $37.15 when I raised first in and my blind steals netted $13 in profit by itself, so where did I go wrong? The blinds. I lost a total of $31.85 in the blinds. This is something I will be working on improving this week.

During the week i tapped the bankroll to take me and the Mrs. to Seaworld so my bankroll amount must be adjusted to take this into consideration to determine my + or _ for the week. The bottom line is I dropped about $40. Guess I played in more MTT's than I realized. I still have 200 big bets for .25/.50 however. I think I will lay off the MTT's untilmy bankroll increases. Perhaps once I have over 300 big bets for the current level I will allow myself one or two $1 MTT's, but for now I will stick with the .25/.50 limit cash games and concentrate on increasing the roll. Do one thing and do it well.

Bankroll $100.85

[StarlightCoast]

Week 20


Well the rebuild back to better levels went very well this week. For the second week in a row I stayed at the appropriate level for my bankroll and not once did I jump levels. For me this is a great accomplishment. Not that I was not tempted mind you, but my discipline is holding.

I did not get as much time at the tables as I would have liked only logging 17.10 hours and 961 hands at the .25/.50 cash games this week, but even with the limited play I showed a profit of $28.50 or 57 big bets. This was a rate of 5.93bb/100 hands and that's a result I will gladly take any time I can get it.

I also played in 7 MTT's this week. 6 $1 MTT's and one $3. I ended up cashing in 3 of them but never made a final table, however the profit was three dollars and change so I am not complaining considering I play in very small buy-in tournaments.

Looking at the stats for this weeks play. There was major improvement in the blinds this week as I showed a small profit in the SB and my losses out of the BB were cut in half. The tight tables continue to prove to be where I am making my money. Very few drawouts and very few bad beats and/or river losses. I attempted to steal blinds even more this week, 57.83% of the time, but my VPIP was slightly over 23% whis is too high. I attribute this to all the blind steals and raising first in with a variety of hands and while I do not like my VPIP that high, the raising 1st in has proven profitable. When I raised first in the pot this week the net profit was $29.85. Blind steals only netted $2.90 so the tight tables are folding more to the raises in the earlier positions. I'll accept the higher VPIP as long as the raises first in prove successful. I still need work in not protecting the blinds so much and I will continue to work on that in the upcoming week.

Week 20 +$32.03

Total Bankroll $132.88

[StarlightCoast]

Day 143 Keep Climbing


Since i started the rebuild of the bankroll things have gone well. Starting with about 200 big bets on 9/15/05 I was a bit concerned that a bad downswing would prove 200 big bets not enough of a cushion, but thankfully that was not the case and I have now passed 300 big bets for my current level.

The week started off well. Sunday showed a loss at the cash games of .35 but I took 6th in a $1 Limit Holdem tournament which was a payoff of $21. Monday showed a profit of 35 big bets at the .25/.50 tables. Today I have struggled posting a loss of $2.70, but in the first 3 days of this week I am up still 30 big bets for the week.

Working full time and having to take time out for household chores, eating dinner and whatnot, along with my wife and I going out for the day usually once a week, I have realized that 1500 hands a week is not a realistic goal. If I can hit 1000 hands a week I will be satisfied and anything over that is even better. So as og this entry I am up $36 this week so far and so far so good. I am off the regular job after tonite so i will try some more $1 tournaments and may mix in a $2 or $3 one as well.

Bankroll: $168.56

[StarlightCoast]

A Relatively New World


With my recent, albeit, low dollar amount successes in the tournament world, and the fact that my cash game wiinings seemed to go down the sewer, i decided to try a SNG.

I am still up 30 big bets at the .25/.50 tables although I did play a few hands of .50/$1 and lost a total of $4.50. No I am not veering away from my bankroll management discipline, but I was on early morning on Stars and all the .25/.50 games were ones I would not even consider playing, 40-50% players/flop is not even worth considering, the only game available to me was a nice little 22% players/flop game at .50/$1, and needing to play as many hands as possible each week, I played a few only until a reasonable .25/.50 game became available. However, I digress, back to the SNG.

With my recent success at the MTT's I decided to play a $5/.50 SNG. I was not sure if the two would be mutually connected, but the cash games were going poorly and I was hoping to spin the week back in the right direction. I won. A nice little $17 profit. Decided to try another one. I won. Decided on a third. I won. Kept going. Tried a fourth. Bam out of the money finished 6th.

A total profit of $45.50 or a little more than $9/hr. Well more than I could ever hope to make playing .25/.50 ring games. Now 4 tournies means very little, but it did show me how quick the money can build with these things IF one can be consistantly successful. I have long held I am the worst tournament player in the world, but with my new style of playing these things lately I am getting better and better. All I have been doing is staying patient. Stealing more in the latter blind levels, stealing pots postflop, thingslike that. I am usually the short stack going into these later rounds, but I seem to quickly make up for it.

Now the dillemma. Do I play SNG's, stick with the cash games or play both? Just in the last 3 alone I have 2 out of the money finishes and 1 3rd, only 33% in the money so already I can see the varience in these things, but at the same time the major potential. Obviously I do not want to waste away the $45 I already won as it helped put the bankroll just over $200. Perhaps a couple more to see how I do. If I have no batural talent for these things, no sence in bothering with it, but either way, I'll keep you all updated.

[StarlightCoast]

End Of Month Report September 2005


At the end of August the bankroll was $494.15. The month of September saw some needed spending of the bankroll, so I need to deduct these expenses to figure the profit or loss. September saw a lot of different things in my poker. lkessons learned, a new pledge of discipline, A bankroll that needed to be rebuilt and whatnot. September also so an improvement in my tournament skills and a new even more aggressive approach in my cash games, both of these things have been working quite nicely. End of the month bankroll was at $204.80 add the money spent which was about $350 minus the bankroll I had at the end of last month and we come up with a profit for the month of $60. Could have been better, but then again with some of the downright foolish things I did this past month, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. I will simply say, lessons learned, and move on.

[StarlightCoast]

Week 21 Complete


And what a nice week it was. Just a little while back I stated in an entry that for me SNG's were a suckers game. I have been terrible at them, but with my MTT skills obviously improving I decided to try a SNG or 2 to see how I fared. Still not sure of the profitability of them for me personally. I only played 10 this week and hit the money in five of them. Now I know you can't tell much from only 10 played but it's enough to show me that while I had 50% in the money and a return on investment (ROI) of 80% and made $44 in profit, that I have finished out of the money in 4 of the last 5 I played and out of the money in 5 of the last 7. These kinds of streaks do not inspire a great deal of confidence in my SNG skills to say the least. However, for now it was a profit of $44 for the week and I will see how I do in the next 4 and then decide whether or not to continue with them or not.

As I stated in my last entry I also logged a very limited time at the .50/$1 limit tables, only playing 29 hands and losing $4.50.

The .25/.50 limit tables were treating me very well at the start of the week, then things went twerribly wrong. I still ended up winning 33 big bets for the week at the .25/.50 level, but at one point I was up 60 big bets so that is a bit disappointing.

The highlight of the week was my final table appearence and 6th place finish in a $1 Limit tournament for a prize of $21. I was not pleased with my performance at the final table as I felt I should have done better since I was chip leader for quite some time, but practise makes perfect as they say and I will continue to hone my tournament skills again this week.

I have tried multitabling cash games in the past and not much success. I have tried playing multiple SNG's again, results not good. The last 4 out of 5 out of the money finishes I was playing the SNG and another MTT or cash game. I am beginning to realize that I am geared to do one thing at a time. This bothers me somewhat because in a way I feel like a lack of intelligence is being portrayed. My last IQ test results classified me as highly gifted so I know it's not that. Then I thought a lack of concentration was in play. I have never been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder as a child or adult, but my results when playing more than one cash game or tournament is obvious. I do not do well at all. The funny thing is I can do other things, like read a forum while my game is being played, or do a journal entry with no significant loss of profit or performance, so why do I experience these things when playing more than 1 poker endeavour? I do not have the answer, but I have to go with it as it is dealt to me I suppose. Do one thing and do it well. Perhaps for me anyway, this old saying applies. I will not fight it. I will simply try my best to do one thing at a time and do it the best I can. This week was nicely done even if it was taking things one at a time. The total profit was a little over $71

Bankroll: $201.30

[Kuso]

[StarlightCoast]

Week 22


Nothing great to report from the MTT side of things this week. I have made the step up to .50/$1 with less than the standard 300 big bet bankroll or even the 400 big bets I was planning on instead deciding on playing with a 200-250 big bet bankroll. This may seem a risky, however it really is not because of my willingness to drop levels whenever needed. Even if .50/$1 went sour, I will drop back to .25/.50 if the bankroll drops to $200 still giving me a 400 big bet roll for that level. So far all is progressing quite well.

My limit SNG experiment is over and the results were positive, but I ended it anyway. After 24 of them and a 50% in the money showing and a return on investment of over 25% I realized even with that the amount won for the time utilized made my cash games more profitable. It was not that I did not do well, it's just that they did not pay me as much or as high as I would have liked.

The week overall was a fine one as I pulled down a profit of $54.96. The profit at the .50/$1 tables was slightly over 40 big bets this week, but I am concerned that my VPIP this week was a bit high at just under 25%. I could have just had a nice run and will have to watch to make sure I am not playing hands I should be mucking preflop. However only playing 564 hands at this level this week, it could easily be a good run of cards that I was able to play. My aggression numbers continue to be satisfying as I raised preflop 12.23%.

Raising first in and blind stealing continue to be profitable even at the lower levels. I attempted to blind steal 46.15% of the time in those 564 hands and that alone showed a profit of over 5 big bets. Not a lot, but profit is the key. Raising first in showed a profit of 13.5 big bets this week.

I showed a loss out of the small blind but showed a profit out of the big blind. I was leaking away a lot of money from the big blind in past weeks so I am happy to see I turned that around. I will continue to try to improve my blind play, as that is where my major leak comes from.

Bankroll:$256.26

[The A Train]

Good to see that you are using Poker Tracker to analyse your play. An invaluable tool. Regarding multitabling - how many tables are you trying. Two or more? If you have gone from one table to four overnight you would be having problems. Get comfortable playing two before progressing. Being able to multitable brings a lot of bonuses into play which could double your bankroll in two weeks playing at your current level. It might help to drop down a level when you start two tabling to get some confidence and then go back to your current level.
For what it is worth.....

[StarlightCoast]

Week 23


This entry will be short. Suffice it to say I had a temper tantrum this week and cashed out of Poker Stars and played a couple of days at Pokerroom. As usual I calmed down and am back at Poker Stars again.

I made a very small profit this week even though I lost money at the ring games. A 3rd place finish in a private $10/$1 22 person tournament helped me log a profit for the week of $15.

My increased aggressiveness has also increased my preflop VPIP as it was running nearly 25% this week. That is way too high and i think I may be taking the aggressiveness a step too far. This is something I will be working on this week as well as the losses I am taking in the blinds. I need to stop protecting so much as it is obviously - EV.

On a personal note, the wife and I are back in our own place finally. After our return to California from oregon we stayed with her sister and husband for 6 months whuile we awaited an availability at out old apartment complex. It was ok, but after so many years lliving by ourselves it can be hard living in someone else's house again. We could have perhaps lessened the time by taking a different place but the location was everything to us as it is a block away from Channell Islands Harbor and only blocks away from 2 beaches. It is so nice to be back at the ocean and away from the desert. Way too hot for me. Back to cloudy skies, foggy nites and cool ocean breezes. Ahhh life is good.

Total Bankroll: $271.72

[StarlightCoast]

Day 165 Major Upswing


Had to tap the bankroll for nearly $75. Hated to do it, but it was necessary. Having just moved into our new place finally, there are so many expenses that pop up. My wife and I had plenty of money for the move, but then the car went down and nearly $1200 later, well I think you get the idea. Money is so very tight right now, and add to the fact that my new job started me with less hours than they said they would only added to the headaches. Suffice it to say, that I may have to tap the bankroll again for household needs. I hope it does not prove necessary, but if it does, well we do what we have to.

I started this week with a bankroll of $271 and unfortunately the first day proved a 440 loss. ouch and double ouch when we add the $75 I needed to use from the bankroll for household. Down to a bankroll of $160 or $170 a drop in limits was needed and down to .25/.50 I went. Since I have started seeing very good results with the continued increased aggression I have been showing at the tables I decided to give multitabling another try. Last week or the week before I proved to myself I could be a winner when I monied in 4 SNG's I was playing, but cash games had not been tested, so i decided it was a good a time as any. Man o man what a run I am on this week at the .25/.50 Limit tables. Here are a few stats.

1118 Hnads played.

PFR% 9.84

Post Flop AF 2.78

Amount Won $69.10

12.36 big bets/100 hands

6.92 big bets/hr.

The one stat that is down is my attempt to steal blinds which is less than 27%, but at these levels I don't let it convern me too much. Poker Stars is letting players play 8 tables now and I have been taking advantage of this. I am using a stop loss. 10 big bets down on any table and that table is eliminated. I have neither the time nor the desire to fight an uphill battle at a trouble table.

My table selection continues to be based on small average pot amount as that is the only indication of passive tables I can go by. So far so good as i continue to play looser tables than ever before. My VPIP over these 1000 plus hands is just a shade over 22%. A bit too high I believe, but with the amount of big bets/100 hands I am pulling in, I figure I must be on a good run and getting playable hands.

This multitabling is really ABC type poker and I will certainly not try it at higher levels when i reach them. But for now, it helps build the ole bankroll back up. let's hope this run can continue.

Bankroll is currently at $224.94 but I may have to use the final $17 I have in the checking account. Hope not, but we will see what happens.

[StarlightCoast]

Week 24


More money needed to be withdrawn from the bankroll which is now at $179. The 8 table multitable magic disappeared but I did not expect it to continue on the pace it was going tho it would have been nice.

With the money I have had to withdraw which included another 440 or so, it feels like I am simply banging my head against a wall. The bankroll cannot grow this way and I am ready to take the rest of it and sit in a $2/$4 or $3/$6 game and hope for the best. The way things have been happening, It would not be the worst thing I could do. Fortunately I get paid this friday and then again on the 1st from my other job, so I am hoping that the bankroll can go untouched for awhile, but the way things and expences keep coming up, I'm not holding onto much hope.

I guess I'm feeling pretty down about the whole thing. Fortunately I am a winning player. I shudder to think how it would be if I was not. Still, for .25/.50 I am sitting on about 360 big bets. With luck, there should be no need for future withdrawels this week. So for the upcoming week, let's see how much I can add to this roll.

Bankroll $179.89