Mid Feb Update

Greetings again.  Wanted to give a quick update on the month so far.

Basically I've been doing pretty well at the $2.15 games, that or variance has just been on my side.  At the $5s and $6s however variance has punched me in the face.  Albeit a very small sample, I know that it will turn around soon (hopefully the next shot I take!)

$5.25 & $6.25s

$2.15 HUSNG Turbos

I've attached a few graphs for reference purposes (all are full year 2011, not just Feb).  I should be meeting with my coach for the Coaching Tree soon, and after that I may attempt to get some simple HH review coaching from some high stakes players to begin to gradually improve my game.  I have admittedly not done any HUSNG reviewing of my game, or leakfinding.  So I'm sure there are many ways I can improve.

2011 Overall HUSNG

Until then, BR: $94.09

PS - I apologize for how ugly this blog entry is, the editor just wasn't cooperating.

Short Update

So I ended up going to Vegas this past weekend for a spontaneous / impromptu bachelor party for one of my best friends.  It was a great time!  I was hoping to get a few hands in at a $1/2 table but given the nature of the trip along with how short it had to be there just wasn't any time to hit the tables, which is fine.

I got notification last week that I was accepting in the HUSNG "Coaching Tree" this month.  Basically it is a community-organized event that allows for free coaching from micro stakes to high stakes players.  I've already spoke on Skype with my coach a bit and I will be recording some of my sessions and picking out some spots for him to watch and review and then for us to discuss together.  I have high hopes that it will go well.

Additionally, I will be taking shots at the $6.25 games.  If I drop to $100 I will drop back down to the $2 games but other than that I will stay at the $6 games while I can.  Hopefully with taking these shots variance will be on my side.  Upon hitting $225-250 I will take shots at the $11 games which will be quite exciting.  And then again at the $450-500 range I will begin shot taking the $22 games.

As mentioned, just a short update.  Very busy couple days at work as I am taking Thursday and Friday off.  Hopefully I will be able to get some solid volume in on those two days and hopefully variance is on my side. Would love to be in the $11 games by the end of the month.

Feb 9th Update

I didn't quite get the volume in over the weekend that I had wanted and have felt like crap this week so my volume has been pretty low.  That said it should be picking up again here shortly and I have already planned out some vacation days from work next week where I will be making up a lot of volume as well.

Another key factor with my volume is that on Friday of last week I started mixing in some reg speed games, including some of the $2.20s on Pokerstars.  Pokerstars reg speed games feel like they take a year and a half, and they severely cripple the volume goal I set out for myself.  That said, I'm staying focused while playing and play when I'm in the right frame of mind.

Here is my graph overall from this month (including Pokerstars games played).  I'm still shot taking at the $5 reg speed games and will be moving up to the $6 turbos at $150 BR.

BR:
FT: 136.52
PS: 17.36

February 2nd Update

Still on pace for games this month, which is good since it's only the 2nd.  I'm actually slightly ahead of pace for the 600 games, but this is what I wanted since it will afford me some rest days or review days or whatever.

Also, I finally made my first wheel flush, well, I would have, but I actually have a 6 high flush.


Full Tilt Poker No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25.00/t50.00 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 1154073

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter



Hero (BTN/SB): t2015.00 40.30 BBs

BB: t985.00 19.70 BBs



Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is BTN/SB with 4 3

Hero raises to t100, BB raises to t150, Hero calls t50



Flop: (t300) 6 5 8 (2 players)

BB bets t150.00, Hero calls t150



Turn: (t600) A (2 players)

BB bets t600.00, Hero calls t600



River: (t1800) 2 (2 players)

BB bets t85.00, Hero calls t85



Final Pot: t1970

Hero shows 4 3

BB shows 9 9

Hero wins t1970.00


And last but not least... graph of the month so far...

BR: $133.41

February Goals

Just a quick goals post:

[ ] 600 HUSNGs (or there abouts, may shoot for a bit more like 630 if possible).  I'll be using fairly aggressive BRM and will be moving up with 25-30 BI's, so hope to find myself at the $5 games before the weekend if I can hold up and run a bit better than today.

Graph so far:

Quick Update

I wanted to give a quick update as the end of January is quickly drawing near.  I haven't put in a solid session at Pokerstars in the last 2 weeks due to a few reasons.  The week following my last big session I had family come in town which left little time to put in a solid session, the following week after that I got really busy with work (which will likely continue this next week) which prevented me from getting any solid sessions in.

One thing I have been doing lately is playing HUSNGs as they are much more convenient for my semi-chaotic schedule.  It's easy to get a few games in here and there between doing things around my apartment; basically makes the grind a bit more manageable instead of having to set aside larger blocks of time to multitable.

I had originally started the year with only about $3 or so in my FT account, I ran this up pretty quickly but then hit a downswing that kind of wiped it out.  Well, I hit a downswing and then decided to redeposit a much larger amount if I actually bottomed out, so I moved up to the $2.15 games to reduce the rake %; naturally downswing continued and I ended up with $0.25 in the account.

I deposited $100, originally with the intent of using $50 of it on a volume prop bet but now I'm thinking that I will not do that as I don't want to set myself up for failure immediately.  Instead I will use this and keep grinding the $2.15 games up to around $150 where I will move up to the $5 games.

The overall game plan will be to build my roll up on full tilt until I'm comfortably rolled for the $11 pokerstars games, at which point I will transfer part of my roll over and begin grinding the $6-$11 turbos.  I have been playing a few of the $2.20s but would rather stick to the turbo format for now, and I've been running bad on PS so that motivation helps me :).

As an update on the challenge with my brother, we've had some set backs as he had to move and no longer has internet access.  He's anticipating a move out to Phoenix with me in a few months at which point he will resume the grind.  This will make the $50K challenge quite difficult, but if I can get myself in gear with these HUSNGs we might be in decent shape for a late year push.

To end, here's a graph of my Full Tilt HUSNGs for 2011 thus far, hoping to get in way more volume this week :)

45 Turbos

Volume this week has blown to be frank.  I desperately need to change that as I'd like to be in the $1 games this weekend at some point.  That said, I said screw the BRM tonight and loaded only the $0.55 45 turbos.  I only played 21 as I didn't want to do my usual 30+ tabling on a new and relatively unfamiliar format.

45 Turbos

Thoughts? I love the turbos.  Mainly due to the length of time they take (essentially half that of the reg speeds obviously).  I don't like to discuss strat too much for a few different reasons, but I will say that players are definitely too tight given that it's a turbo.  I remember looking at one of my last tables thinking to myself "I'm 6/16 and I have 7 BBs... wtf?"

Results were encouraging.  I know that upon hitting my target 80 BIs I will be doing nothing but mass tabling these bad boys, until then I may continue to do a 50/50 split between these and the reg speed games, I hope this isn't -EV but I think I can handle the diff structure types simultaneously.

OK, enough talking time for the results.

Overall

BR: 32.45