Cake Update

Well the Cake software is definitely different than FT/PS, but I'm getting used to it just fine.  Though I must say the traffic is pretty darn low, I think there were 2500 people online today at prime tourney time.  I'm starting to think I may have to throw some money on Carbon poker and grind there as well, though I don't know that their limits/structures are quite as nice as Cake, I'll have to look into it.

In any case, I haven't played that many games (only 8).  I lost 2 of them as I was multitabling unexpectedly and was trying arrange and setup my tables while playing 2 unknowns.  I've since updated my PlaceMint to handle the Cake tables I play so everything should be gravy going forward.  I may end up multitabling on Cake a bit more than I did on tilt/stars primarily due to the fact that there is such low volume anyways, so open sitting while grinding one game seems to make more sense.  My main issue so far with multitabling is that I like to take a lot of notes about players, and it's hard to do that while playing 2 or more tables.  I think I may grind some play money games on Stars to get more practice at it cheaply.

In any case, I think my BR is $62.40 in 8 games, think I'm like 5-3 (stupid rake).  Here's an updated graph of my month so far (all sites):

Black Friday

Well yesterday will always be known as "Black Friday" in the poker community.  Basically the DOJ has, for all intents and purposes, shut down Full Tilt and PokerStars to U.S. players for the time being.

Not one to be deterred by such things, I've created an account on Cake Poker and deposited $60 to see where I can go with it.  I'll be grinding the HUSNGs still so wish me luck!  I've also started a 2p2 thread to follow progress, it can be found here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/bankroll-building-husng-cake-poker-1021517/#post26077494

BR: $60

Cheers

Another Quick Update

Well the run-good (and low volume) continue for another day.  I'm considering making a last half April challenge to try and grind out my first stellar $10 bonus by starting at the $2.20 HUSNGs on Stars.  However, this would take 589 games played and it's already halfway through the month.  If these were turbos I might stand more of a chance, but being that they're reg speed games it becomes much more difficult.

I've toyed around with the idea of multi-tabling to get the volume in, but being that I'm not familiar with multi-tabling HUSNGs I'm not sure how wise that would be.

In any case, I'm going to think it over for a bit today and come to a decision, maybe try to get a solid session in tonight/tomorrow morning and see where I stand.  With a 10 BI roll for the $2.20's currently I stand a decent chance of going busto still, but then I could always redeposit (but who wants to do that?!).

Updated monthly graph overall (Tilt & Stars):

Consolidated Database

I finally got to consolidate my desktop & laptop databases so I can provide a graph of my overall year thus far.  Going forward I'm probably going to largely just be playing on my laptop so hopefully everything will remain consolidated.

You'll notice the big downswing in the middle, this was my shot attempt at the $6.25 turbo which I definitely ran bad at (about 5BI's under EV in ~30 games).  It's not that ridiculous under EV, however when you're shot taking with only roughly 20 BI's (probably a little less at the time) then it's pretty disastrous to the BR.  That's OK though, that's how I gotta roll to grow the roll quickly.

Hoping to get a solid session in tonight and update afterwards.

Quick Update

Solid day today...  Not much else to say other than I hope to get a lot more volume in tomorrow.  Here's an updated overall graph:

Evolution of a HU Grinder

I definitely feel confident that Heads Up Poker is my game.  I played another (short) session of 45 mans last night and was bored out of my mind.  Push botting 12 tables at a time is not mentally stimulating in the slightest so I'm pretty confident that I am done with it (though I will state that the micro MTTs on pokerstars are a great way to deposit practically no money and run it up to a roll sizeable enough to at least be grinding something reasonable).

Going forward I will be playing HUSNGs almost exclusively until I have a sufficient roll to start experimenting with some cash games.  My initial thoughts is something along the lines of grinding a $5K roll and start playing around with some $100HUNL games, but we'll see what happens.

This entry has been short, but below is a graph for my current month's HUSNG results.  I've been breakeven on Pokerstars $2.20s (50% win - so down in rake) but I have been doing well in FT's turbos.  For now I'll keep grinding both (pokerstars when I have a bit more time as the games are considerably longer, and Full Tilt when I'm a bit more time crunched and just want to get some games in).  If I go bust on Stars (which is certainly a possibility) I will likely not re-deposit and just focus on Full Tilt.

In any case.... graph:

April 2011 - HUSNG

Early April Update

It's been a while since my last post, primarily due to the fact that I haven't been putting in any volume.  There are a number of reasons for this, primarily it's due to the fact that I went on a downswing and just didn't feel motivated to grind at all.

In any case, my brother has now moved in with me here in Phoenix and is picking up his grinding again (hopefully he'll stick with it!).  I'm going to be getting started back up again as well and I'm a bit torn on what to be grinding.  I really enjoy the HUSNGs I've been grinding lately, but I don't have the roll on Pokerstars for them (and I won't deposit).  I'm inclined to go back to the 45s and grind it up to $100+ so that I can begin shot taking the HUSNGs, I just don't really look forward to the idea of grinding the 45s up to that point.

I suppose there's no time like the present and I may as well get into it.  Once at $100+ I hopefully can stick just to the HUSNGs and won't have to go back to 45s, but maybe I'll find they're not for me and want to go back anyways.  We'll see, and I look forward to the journey!

BR:

Pokerstars: $19.16  (still from the initial $10 deposit on 1/1/11)
VPP: 76 (lol)