Beginning Bankroll: $14.28
Actually, today's report covers my pokering for 2 days, yesterday and today. But I only played 3 NLHE SNGs, so I don't have lots to report. However, I do have a lot of success to report for those 3 tourneys: 2 second places and a win! The win and a second yesterday, another second tonight. I think I've finally found the strategy that works for me. (Now if I could just find the secret to getting dealt great hole cards all the time, I'd really have something! In my 3 SNGs these past 2 days, I didn't get pocket aces even once!)
In my last 8 SNGs, all this month, I've won 3, come in second 3 more times, and taken fourth and fifth the other 2. And in my fourth place finish, I was firmly in second place but made the mistake of taking on the big stack (who only had me covered by 200 or so chips, while the other 2 players were extremely short-stacked), going all-in with pocket kings pre-flop. He, of course, had pocket aces. I hate when that happens! But overall, things are going well; over these past 2 days I've grown my bankroll by 44%. True pro's would scoff at that result, but hey, I'm still learning the skills, have little time for the pursuit, and am playing carefully to grow my bankroll instead of letting it backslide.
Thanks for checking on my results today. Please keep checking back, and drop me some comments. And good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $20.58, up $6.30
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Day Off Doin's
Beginning Bankroll: $11.88
Wow! I had an actual day off at home, and the weather was too cool and damp to work in the yard, so what else is a guy to do but play some po-kah? (Well, after taking care of some other necessary errands, anyway.) I scratched out time to play 4 single-table, 9-handed NLHE SNGs. If it weren't for the vicissitudes of that old poker bugaboo, luck, I'm sure I woulda' cashed in all of 'em. (Note, each SNG cost $1.20 to enter and paid the top 3 places.) Here's how they went.
The first one I entered I took 2nd place after a long battle. It took a LONG time before I got much of anything to get things started, so I had to battle back from the short stack (a common theme throughout the day). But by the time we got down to heads-up, I was the big stack and held about a 2-to-1 chip advantage. Then we had the traditional coin-flip all-in showdown of my pocket sevens vs. my opponent's 2 overcards. Naturally, he hit his pair on the river to go up 2-to-1 on me, after which I just could not get any cards to work my way back to the lead, and I eventually bowed out as runner-up. But that was worth a $2.70 payout, or a bankroll increase of $1.50 after accounting for the buy-in.
Next up was another long wait for decent cards in profitable situations. (By the way, I do generally play pretty darn tight in the early stages of SNGs, letting the other players take themselves out by battling with the marginal hands they seem to like.) Things were going pretty well and we got down to the final four. I worked my way into a very comfortable 2nd place, with over 4000 chips, vs. the big stack's 8000+, with the other two players under 1000 each (13,500 total in play at the table). The big stack, to my immediate left, had been raising and re-raising me throughout the tournament, so I was ready to battle back when I found pocket kings in front of me. I made a standard raise, he re-raised, and I went all-in. Now, I shoulda' just folded right there to stick around and wait for the short stacks to bust out, but I was getting tired of folding to that guy. So, as proof that the poker gods do enjoy torture at my expense, Big Stack made the call and turned up pocket aces. So much for cashing that time.
More of same in my third SNG of the day. My flame-out came in 5th place this time, again with the poker gods turning ugly. This time I started with pocket sevens and hit my set on the flop. My all-in got one caller, and I was thrilled, ready to double up or more. That was before the caller hit runner-runner to make a straight and crack my set. Grrrrr!
SNG number 4 followed the familiar pattern: wait, wait, wait for something good and let the field thin itself (occasionally with my help when I did catch a good hand). I made it to heads-up, but this time with a large chip discrepancy. I was down almost 10-to-1. So, of course, I overcame that and won. I forget the specific hand details, but obviously I hit the right hands at the right times. And the win netted my bankroll another $3.30.
So overall I grew my bankroll by 20.2 percent today. Not bad for a daily increase if I can maintain that pace. I know I have a winning strategy to follow in SNGs; it's just a matter of staying on the poker gods' good side to avoid more than my share of bad beats. Thanks for looking in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $14.28, up $2.40
Wow! I had an actual day off at home, and the weather was too cool and damp to work in the yard, so what else is a guy to do but play some po-kah? (Well, after taking care of some other necessary errands, anyway.) I scratched out time to play 4 single-table, 9-handed NLHE SNGs. If it weren't for the vicissitudes of that old poker bugaboo, luck, I'm sure I woulda' cashed in all of 'em. (Note, each SNG cost $1.20 to enter and paid the top 3 places.) Here's how they went.
The first one I entered I took 2nd place after a long battle. It took a LONG time before I got much of anything to get things started, so I had to battle back from the short stack (a common theme throughout the day). But by the time we got down to heads-up, I was the big stack and held about a 2-to-1 chip advantage. Then we had the traditional coin-flip all-in showdown of my pocket sevens vs. my opponent's 2 overcards. Naturally, he hit his pair on the river to go up 2-to-1 on me, after which I just could not get any cards to work my way back to the lead, and I eventually bowed out as runner-up. But that was worth a $2.70 payout, or a bankroll increase of $1.50 after accounting for the buy-in.
Next up was another long wait for decent cards in profitable situations. (By the way, I do generally play pretty darn tight in the early stages of SNGs, letting the other players take themselves out by battling with the marginal hands they seem to like.) Things were going pretty well and we got down to the final four. I worked my way into a very comfortable 2nd place, with over 4000 chips, vs. the big stack's 8000+, with the other two players under 1000 each (13,500 total in play at the table). The big stack, to my immediate left, had been raising and re-raising me throughout the tournament, so I was ready to battle back when I found pocket kings in front of me. I made a standard raise, he re-raised, and I went all-in. Now, I shoulda' just folded right there to stick around and wait for the short stacks to bust out, but I was getting tired of folding to that guy. So, as proof that the poker gods do enjoy torture at my expense, Big Stack made the call and turned up pocket aces. So much for cashing that time.
More of same in my third SNG of the day. My flame-out came in 5th place this time, again with the poker gods turning ugly. This time I started with pocket sevens and hit my set on the flop. My all-in got one caller, and I was thrilled, ready to double up or more. That was before the caller hit runner-runner to make a straight and crack my set. Grrrrr!
SNG number 4 followed the familiar pattern: wait, wait, wait for something good and let the field thin itself (occasionally with my help when I did catch a good hand). I made it to heads-up, but this time with a large chip discrepancy. I was down almost 10-to-1. So, of course, I overcame that and won. I forget the specific hand details, but obviously I hit the right hands at the right times. And the win netted my bankroll another $3.30.
So overall I grew my bankroll by 20.2 percent today. Not bad for a daily increase if I can maintain that pace. I know I have a winning strategy to follow in SNGs; it's just a matter of staying on the poker gods' good side to avoid more than my share of bad beats. Thanks for looking in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $14.28, up $2.40
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Back on the Upswing
Beginning Bankroll: $8.58
Finally:
A. Some time to get back to the tables and this grand experiment, and
B. Some success.
I've been having some laptop problems lately, so I haven't been able to play during my downtime in the back of my truck. Tonight I'm sitting inside a truck stop so I can plug the laptop into a real power outlet and play without draining the battery. Anyway, on to the success part.
First I entered one of PokerStars' freeroll satellites for a shot at a seat at this year's WSOP. I did manage one or two lucky suckouts, but they weren't enough as I went card-dead and crashed and burned long before prize territory. At least I didn't sacrifice any of my bankroll for it.
Next I went ahead and threw caution to the wind and entered a $1.00 + $.20 nine-player NLHE sit-n-go. That move was a risk in that I really don't want to put more than 10% of my bankroll on the line in any one session, but I felt I could do it this one time to see if I could jump-start things, seeing how it's been over a month since I've had a winning session. Lo and behold, I finally caught my share of good cards, opponents actually folded to some of my well-timed bluffs (or didn't believe me and paid me off when I had the goods), and I won the thing! $1.20 in, $4.50 out; I'll make that trade anytime.
It feels good finally to increase my bankroll again, and to raise it to a new high to boot! Hopefully this is the start of a positive trend. And hopefully I'll be able to work on this project much more regularly, too. Thanks for looking in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $11.88
Finally:
A. Some time to get back to the tables and this grand experiment, and
B. Some success.
I've been having some laptop problems lately, so I haven't been able to play during my downtime in the back of my truck. Tonight I'm sitting inside a truck stop so I can plug the laptop into a real power outlet and play without draining the battery. Anyway, on to the success part.
First I entered one of PokerStars' freeroll satellites for a shot at a seat at this year's WSOP. I did manage one or two lucky suckouts, but they weren't enough as I went card-dead and crashed and burned long before prize territory. At least I didn't sacrifice any of my bankroll for it.
Next I went ahead and threw caution to the wind and entered a $1.00 + $.20 nine-player NLHE sit-n-go. That move was a risk in that I really don't want to put more than 10% of my bankroll on the line in any one session, but I felt I could do it this one time to see if I could jump-start things, seeing how it's been over a month since I've had a winning session. Lo and behold, I finally caught my share of good cards, opponents actually folded to some of my well-timed bluffs (or didn't believe me and paid me off when I had the goods), and I won the thing! $1.20 in, $4.50 out; I'll make that trade anytime.
It feels good finally to increase my bankroll again, and to raise it to a new high to boot! Hopefully this is the start of a positive trend. And hopefully I'll be able to work on this project much more regularly, too. Thanks for looking in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $11.88
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday Thrashing
Beginning Bankroll: $9.35
Another session in which the poker gods were having fun at my expense. I actually played yesterday morning, but was too busy (then too tired) to report on it here afterwards.
I bought in on a 6-handed LHE speed game--$.02 and $.04 limit--for 80 cents. Like the night before, I just was not getting any cards unless someone else got something just a bit better. And on the few occasions when I actually did catch something really good, the rest of the table had nothing and therefore didn't pay me off.
Yeah, we all go through that. Even the top pro players only win about 60% of the sessions they play, from what I've read. But it does get irritating when you're at a table and the same guy always has you beat. There's always one player who has the goods every time and his chip stack just grows and grows and grows. Why am I never that guy? I have to grind and grind and grind, lucky to hit anything better than 1 pair for hours at a time. I know, I have had some nice winning sessions, so I shouldn't complain, but it is always a grind. Being patient does test your patience in this game.
One thing I've learned at these micro limits online is that it usually isn't worth it to raise pre-flop. When I do, I just start a call-fest, and my stack shrinks that much faster when I whiff on the flop. Part of being a winning player overall is limiting your losses on your bad hands, so I like Ted Forrest's advice (see his chapter, "(Don't) Play Like Ted Forrest" in The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition) that it's OK to limp and see flops cheaply, to see more cards and get a better idea of where you stand before committing chips (or money) to the pot.
Thanks for reading today's report (on yesterday's action), and good luck at the tables (unless you're at mine)!
Ending Bankroll: $8.58, down $0.77
Another session in which the poker gods were having fun at my expense. I actually played yesterday morning, but was too busy (then too tired) to report on it here afterwards.
I bought in on a 6-handed LHE speed game--$.02 and $.04 limit--for 80 cents. Like the night before, I just was not getting any cards unless someone else got something just a bit better. And on the few occasions when I actually did catch something really good, the rest of the table had nothing and therefore didn't pay me off.
Yeah, we all go through that. Even the top pro players only win about 60% of the sessions they play, from what I've read. But it does get irritating when you're at a table and the same guy always has you beat. There's always one player who has the goods every time and his chip stack just grows and grows and grows. Why am I never that guy? I have to grind and grind and grind, lucky to hit anything better than 1 pair for hours at a time. I know, I have had some nice winning sessions, so I shouldn't complain, but it is always a grind. Being patient does test your patience in this game.
One thing I've learned at these micro limits online is that it usually isn't worth it to raise pre-flop. When I do, I just start a call-fest, and my stack shrinks that much faster when I whiff on the flop. Part of being a winning player overall is limiting your losses on your bad hands, so I like Ted Forrest's advice (see his chapter, "(Don't) Play Like Ted Forrest" in The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition) that it's OK to limp and see flops cheaply, to see more cards and get a better idea of where you stand before committing chips (or money) to the pot.
Thanks for reading today's report (on yesterday's action), and good luck at the tables (unless you're at mine)!
Ending Bankroll: $8.58, down $0.77
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Wednesday Woes
Beginning Bankroll: $10.15
I finally had a short work day, so I had some time this afternoon and evening to fire up the laptop and head to PokerStars to work on my bankroll experiment. Shoulda' kept the laptop closed.
This was one of those days when, when I wasn't completely card dead, my good hands got beat, anyway. I played at a 10-handed $.02/$.04 Limit Hold 'Em table, buying in for 80 cents. At that stakes level, you pretty much have to play straightforward, 'cuz the donkeys there will call any raise pre-flop with absolute junk, hoping to get lucky. And today they were, and I wasn't. Every time I raised pre-flop, the table turned into a call-fest. I don't remember a single instance when I raised and had fewer than 3 callers, and the norm was more like 4 or 5.
I tried to play aggressively, betting strongly when I had hands. Then I'd get rivered. Or my pocket kings ran into pocket aces. I rarely hit anything better than one pair when I was in a hand, though I would have made all sorts of good things on trash hands that I folded pre-flop. My chip stack would dwindle, then I'd win one pot and move back upwards, dwindle some more, go back up, and so on, and so on. After hitting a low of 27 cents early, I eventually grew my stack back to 79 cents, or only down 1 cent from my buy-in. But, naturally, being a grinder, I stuck around. Then got more good 2nd-best hands and dwindled back down.
Down to about 23 cents, I finally caught pocket aces. And I looked up just then and saw "Empty Seat" popping up all around the table. Everybody somehow picked that time to abandon the game. All that were left were me and one other player, and he had a stack of $50+. Sheesh! So those rockets didn't net me very much. Needless to say, heads-up I still couldn't catch anything, and my opponent cleaned me out pretty quick (I may have been tilting a little by that point).
So that was that, a downturn day for my bankroll balance. I'm a little roo steamed with the poker gods right now to go back and try some more, so that 80-cent loss is going to have to stand for today. Besides, it's been a long day and week on my real job, and tomorrow's going to be another long one. Thanks for dropping in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $9.35, down $.80
I finally had a short work day, so I had some time this afternoon and evening to fire up the laptop and head to PokerStars to work on my bankroll experiment. Shoulda' kept the laptop closed.
This was one of those days when, when I wasn't completely card dead, my good hands got beat, anyway. I played at a 10-handed $.02/$.04 Limit Hold 'Em table, buying in for 80 cents. At that stakes level, you pretty much have to play straightforward, 'cuz the donkeys there will call any raise pre-flop with absolute junk, hoping to get lucky. And today they were, and I wasn't. Every time I raised pre-flop, the table turned into a call-fest. I don't remember a single instance when I raised and had fewer than 3 callers, and the norm was more like 4 or 5.
I tried to play aggressively, betting strongly when I had hands. Then I'd get rivered. Or my pocket kings ran into pocket aces. I rarely hit anything better than one pair when I was in a hand, though I would have made all sorts of good things on trash hands that I folded pre-flop. My chip stack would dwindle, then I'd win one pot and move back upwards, dwindle some more, go back up, and so on, and so on. After hitting a low of 27 cents early, I eventually grew my stack back to 79 cents, or only down 1 cent from my buy-in. But, naturally, being a grinder, I stuck around. Then got more good 2nd-best hands and dwindled back down.
Down to about 23 cents, I finally caught pocket aces. And I looked up just then and saw "Empty Seat" popping up all around the table. Everybody somehow picked that time to abandon the game. All that were left were me and one other player, and he had a stack of $50+. Sheesh! So those rockets didn't net me very much. Needless to say, heads-up I still couldn't catch anything, and my opponent cleaned me out pretty quick (I may have been tilting a little by that point).
So that was that, a downturn day for my bankroll balance. I'm a little roo steamed with the poker gods right now to go back and try some more, so that 80-cent loss is going to have to stand for today. Besides, it's been a long day and week on my real job, and tomorrow's going to be another long one. Thanks for dropping in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $9.35, down $.80
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Good Morning Indeed
Beginning Bankroll: $8.32
Holy Moley! I think I'm getting to like this Limit Hold 'Em! As long as I keep playing tight-aggressive and only going to war with good hands, I think I'm gonna do pretty well. It helps to have donkeys at the table who play every hand and don't know when they're beat, but they seem to be a dime a dozen at the micro limits.
I wound up with some unexpected free time this morning, so I signed on to my PokerStars account to work on my bankroll experiment. I joined a 10-handed 2-cent/4-cent LHE table, buying in for 80 cents, and it was a struggle. I didn't get many good starting hands and when I did, I usually whiffed at the flop. Or played it out and got rivered by one of the aforementioned donkeys who got lucky.
My stack was down below 50 cents when I finally caught a hand and won a pot that nearly put me back to even. Then my stack shrank again to around 63 cents before another big pot put me up.
And that's how it went: Wait forever for anything good while my stack slowly shrivelled, then catch a big hand that gets paid off well (one was trip kings over pocket aces when I started with AKo). Eventually I had more than tripled up, and the table seemed to be breaking up, so I called it quits. In the end my stack was up to $2.63, and I had increased my overall bankroll by 22% in that session. I'll take that any day of the week.
That's my report for my session this morning. I don't know yet if I'll play tonight when I finish my work day, but if I do, I'll duly report on it. Thanks for following along, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $10.15, up $1.83
Holy Moley! I think I'm getting to like this Limit Hold 'Em! As long as I keep playing tight-aggressive and only going to war with good hands, I think I'm gonna do pretty well. It helps to have donkeys at the table who play every hand and don't know when they're beat, but they seem to be a dime a dozen at the micro limits.
I wound up with some unexpected free time this morning, so I signed on to my PokerStars account to work on my bankroll experiment. I joined a 10-handed 2-cent/4-cent LHE table, buying in for 80 cents, and it was a struggle. I didn't get many good starting hands and when I did, I usually whiffed at the flop. Or played it out and got rivered by one of the aforementioned donkeys who got lucky.
My stack was down below 50 cents when I finally caught a hand and won a pot that nearly put me back to even. Then my stack shrank again to around 63 cents before another big pot put me up.
And that's how it went: Wait forever for anything good while my stack slowly shrivelled, then catch a big hand that gets paid off well (one was trip kings over pocket aces when I started with AKo). Eventually I had more than tripled up, and the table seemed to be breaking up, so I called it quits. In the end my stack was up to $2.63, and I had increased my overall bankroll by 22% in that session. I'll take that any day of the week.
That's my report for my session this morning. I don't know yet if I'll play tonight when I finish my work day, but if I do, I'll duly report on it. Thanks for following along, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $10.15, up $1.83
Monday, March 31, 2008
Back on Track
Beginning Bankroll: $7.46
First of all, my sincere apologies for the L-O-O-O-N-G delay before this update. My laptop was down for about a month, then I've been very busy since getting the replacement part I needed for the laptop and returning to the road in my truck. Today was my first chance to get back to working my Zip to Chips bankroll which, as you may know, I'm working on growing from nothing to something substantial, a la Chris Ferguson's bankroll experiment. But I did get back to it today, and here's my report.
I've been reading Howard Lederer's chapter on Limit Hold 'Em (LHE) in the book, "The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition", and decided I'd try my hand at LHE for a while. So I played a couple of play money sessions on PokerStars to get some practice. I was doing OK in the first session, but was down a bit when I quit to concentrate on a freeroll NLHE (No-Limit Hold 'Em) tourney on Full Tilt. After bowing out of that tourney (mostly card-dead, bad beats, etc.), I returned to another practice LHE session on PokerStars. (PokerStars is where I'm building my experimental bankroll for the time being.) This time I more than doubled up my "buy-in", so I figured I was ready to try the real money tables.
Of course, the 2-cent/4-cent limit isn't what most people would call "real money", but it's all I can afford with my bankroll at its current level. I can't be risking the entire balance on one session, so I bought into a 10-handed table for 80 cents.
The real-money table was nowhere near as loose as the play money tables (go figure!), where some players were calling just about everything. And getting lucky. So it was easier to get a hand through when I caught something. People actually FOLDED some times when I bet with actual coinage on the line! I managed to catch a full house, a set of kings, and had pocket aces hold up among a couple other smaller winning hands, so I called it quits when I was up 86 cents and before the inevitable backslide kicked in.
Yes, I know the conventional wisdom is to keep playing when you're winning, but doubling up my buy-in (or more) and increasing my bankroll's balance by ten percent (or more) in a session is, at this point, quite an acceptable result. As I've noted before, when I get up early in a session, I always seem to hit a rough patch and give back a large chunk--if not all--of my gains. So I'm sticking to a conservative game plan for now and quitting when I'm ahead.
I probably won't play another session tonight, although it's only 6:00 p.m. where I am now--the Dallas, TX area, as it's been a busy day already. I'll need to get up early in the morning to resume my "real" job of over-the-road truck driving, so rest will have to take precedence over rounding. Thanks for checking on my bankroll's progress, and be sure to check back regularly. And use the blog's "Comment" feature to wish me luck or share a bad beat or once-in-a-lifetime-hand story.
Good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $8.32, up 86 cents.
First of all, my sincere apologies for the L-O-O-O-N-G delay before this update. My laptop was down for about a month, then I've been very busy since getting the replacement part I needed for the laptop and returning to the road in my truck. Today was my first chance to get back to working my Zip to Chips bankroll which, as you may know, I'm working on growing from nothing to something substantial, a la Chris Ferguson's bankroll experiment. But I did get back to it today, and here's my report.
I've been reading Howard Lederer's chapter on Limit Hold 'Em (LHE) in the book, "The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition", and decided I'd try my hand at LHE for a while. So I played a couple of play money sessions on PokerStars to get some practice. I was doing OK in the first session, but was down a bit when I quit to concentrate on a freeroll NLHE (No-Limit Hold 'Em) tourney on Full Tilt. After bowing out of that tourney (mostly card-dead, bad beats, etc.), I returned to another practice LHE session on PokerStars. (PokerStars is where I'm building my experimental bankroll for the time being.) This time I more than doubled up my "buy-in", so I figured I was ready to try the real money tables.
Of course, the 2-cent/4-cent limit isn't what most people would call "real money", but it's all I can afford with my bankroll at its current level. I can't be risking the entire balance on one session, so I bought into a 10-handed table for 80 cents.
The real-money table was nowhere near as loose as the play money tables (go figure!), where some players were calling just about everything. And getting lucky. So it was easier to get a hand through when I caught something. People actually FOLDED some times when I bet with actual coinage on the line! I managed to catch a full house, a set of kings, and had pocket aces hold up among a couple other smaller winning hands, so I called it quits when I was up 86 cents and before the inevitable backslide kicked in.
Yes, I know the conventional wisdom is to keep playing when you're winning, but doubling up my buy-in (or more) and increasing my bankroll's balance by ten percent (or more) in a session is, at this point, quite an acceptable result. As I've noted before, when I get up early in a session, I always seem to hit a rough patch and give back a large chunk--if not all--of my gains. So I'm sticking to a conservative game plan for now and quitting when I'm ahead.
I probably won't play another session tonight, although it's only 6:00 p.m. where I am now--the Dallas, TX area, as it's been a busy day already. I'll need to get up early in the morning to resume my "real" job of over-the-road truck driving, so rest will have to take precedence over rounding. Thanks for checking on my bankroll's progress, and be sure to check back regularly. And use the blog's "Comment" feature to wish me luck or share a bad beat or once-in-a-lifetime-hand story.
Good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $8.32, up 86 cents.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
First Setback
Beginning Bankroll: $8.22
I know I've promised to record my results on this site each day that I play on PokerStars using my Zip to Chips bankroll. Alas, I did play the last couple of days (Sunday and Monday), but circumstances kept me from having adequate time to blog when I completed play. But here's a quick update of each day's play.
On Sunday I entered one NLHE sit-n-go (SNG) tournament--$1.10 entry fee--and played for a while in a cash game. In the SNG I finished 17th out of 45 entrants, short of the money. (It paid 7 places.) In the cash game ($.01 and $.02 blinds) I turned my $1.00 buy-in into a whopping $1.04! I can tell you're impressed. (With my sarcasm if not my results.) So Sunday was my first negative day in this bankroll-growing experiment. 'Twas bound to happen, and no doubt will happen again. Even the top players don't win every session they play.
By the way, I crashed and burned in the SNG when, in the small blind, the action was folded around to me and I had pocket kings. So I shoved all-in. Imagine my dismay (and pure, animal hatred for the poker gods) when the big blind called and turned over American Airlines. Since I had him (or her--hard to tell by screen names) covered, that didn't knock me out, but it did cripple me pretty good.
On Monday I returned to the plus side of the ledger after playing two single-table (9-handed) NLHE SNGs. These had $1.20 entry fees each. I bombed out in 7th in the first one, then redeemed myself in the second by taking second place. So for the day I wound up ahead by another whopping 30 cents.
All in all, I think I played pretty well, making the right decisions for the most part. Maybe sometimes I did (and still do) play a bit too tight, and too passively at others, but survival is job one in this grand experiment. I do hate bankroll "variance", so I'm sure that leads to my tight and occasionally passive play. But as long as the bankroll continues to grow more often than it slips back, I'll be happy. Especially in its current micro state.
I do have some free time this afternoon, but I'm going to pass on playing today because my work schedule has been a little wacky lately and I've had a couple of short nights of sleep. Today, for instance, I worked from 12:30 a.m. 'til noon, CST, after getting only about 4 hours of sleep last night. So I'm just too tired to expect to play optimally. (Remember, I'm an over-the-road truck driver--for now, anyway, 'til this bankroll grows enough that I can live on the profits I will be making at the higher stakes games. ;-) How's that for confidence?)
Hopefully I'll have more time in the coming days to devote to the care and feeding of my bankroll so you'll have plenty of exciting results to read about here. Feel free to write in (via the site's comments feature). Tell me some of your "favorite" bad beat stories, suffered and inflicted.
Thanks for checking up on me today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $7.46
I know I've promised to record my results on this site each day that I play on PokerStars using my Zip to Chips bankroll. Alas, I did play the last couple of days (Sunday and Monday), but circumstances kept me from having adequate time to blog when I completed play. But here's a quick update of each day's play.
On Sunday I entered one NLHE sit-n-go (SNG) tournament--$1.10 entry fee--and played for a while in a cash game. In the SNG I finished 17th out of 45 entrants, short of the money. (It paid 7 places.) In the cash game ($.01 and $.02 blinds) I turned my $1.00 buy-in into a whopping $1.04! I can tell you're impressed. (With my sarcasm if not my results.) So Sunday was my first negative day in this bankroll-growing experiment. 'Twas bound to happen, and no doubt will happen again. Even the top players don't win every session they play.
By the way, I crashed and burned in the SNG when, in the small blind, the action was folded around to me and I had pocket kings. So I shoved all-in. Imagine my dismay (and pure, animal hatred for the poker gods) when the big blind called and turned over American Airlines. Since I had him (or her--hard to tell by screen names) covered, that didn't knock me out, but it did cripple me pretty good.
On Monday I returned to the plus side of the ledger after playing two single-table (9-handed) NLHE SNGs. These had $1.20 entry fees each. I bombed out in 7th in the first one, then redeemed myself in the second by taking second place. So for the day I wound up ahead by another whopping 30 cents.
All in all, I think I played pretty well, making the right decisions for the most part. Maybe sometimes I did (and still do) play a bit too tight, and too passively at others, but survival is job one in this grand experiment. I do hate bankroll "variance", so I'm sure that leads to my tight and occasionally passive play. But as long as the bankroll continues to grow more often than it slips back, I'll be happy. Especially in its current micro state.
I do have some free time this afternoon, but I'm going to pass on playing today because my work schedule has been a little wacky lately and I've had a couple of short nights of sleep. Today, for instance, I worked from 12:30 a.m. 'til noon, CST, after getting only about 4 hours of sleep last night. So I'm just too tired to expect to play optimally. (Remember, I'm an over-the-road truck driver--for now, anyway, 'til this bankroll grows enough that I can live on the profits I will be making at the higher stakes games. ;-) How's that for confidence?)
Hopefully I'll have more time in the coming days to devote to the care and feeding of my bankroll so you'll have plenty of exciting results to read about here. Feel free to write in (via the site's comments feature). Tell me some of your "favorite" bad beat stories, suffered and inflicted.
Thanks for checking up on me today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $7.46
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Turbo Success
Beginning Bankroll: $7.26
Finally, some more free time to devote to this project. And well worth it, too! This time in a NLHE turbo tourney. Here's what happened.
I entered the tournament on PokerStars (the exclusive site for this project), which had a 10-cent buy-in. Just the right price for the bankroll I'm currently dealing with. I'll cut right to the chase here: out of the 6120 entrants, I came in 39th, turning my dime into $1.06. That 96-cent profit increased my (still meager) bankroll by 13-point-something percent. Since at this point I'm happy with a ten-percent increase per day I play, I didn't need to play any more today. I know, I should keep playing when I'm winning, but I'm a bit short on sleep because of my job and too fatigued to concentrate on poker for extended periods. Besides, after I finished the tourney I took an hour-long walk to get some exercise and increase my fitness level so I can play better longer. (That's the idea, anyway.)
As for my result in this tournament, I can't say I ran over the tables at which I was seated. I still didn't get the cards for that, but with judicious play at the right times, and avoiding getting unlucky at the wrong times, I kept myself afloat well into the really-really-really high blinds. The times I went all-in, either I didn't get a call, or my hand--always the best when I did get called--held up.
I had a scare at one point when I went all-in with pocket jacks and was called by one other player with a lower pocket pair. (I forget what they were exactly, but they were something like sixes or sevens.) The flop made a set for my opponent, but the river gave me another jack to complete my set and keep me alive.
Later, when short-stacked, I went all-in with pocket fives and got called by two others, one with A-10, the other with J-6. The board stayed low and didn't pair any of my opponents' cards, 'til the river brought a six. However, that also made a straight for me, so I more than tripled up on that hand.
One of my favorite hands was the one immediately after the bubble had burst and the remaining players were guaranteed at least a 9-cent profit. I was somewhat short-stacked and was dealt American Airlines. This was the third time in the event that I had gotten the aces, and they held up each time. This time I tripled up again.
And so it went. I would get a hand just often enough to steal the blinds or double (or triple) up and stay ahead of the rapidly increasing blinds (remember, this was a turbo tourney). Eventually, though, my luck ran out.
In my final hand, I had a suited A-K (of clubs) and went all-in. I was under the gun, if I recall correctly, but was too short-stacked to worry about my position. (It's hard to say "short-stacked" when I had 109,000+ in chips, but the blinds were 30,000 and 15,000, with 3,000 antes at that point, so I had just over three big blinds left.) Only the big blind called me, and he turned over Q-J. It didn't take long to see the writing on the wall when the flop came Q-J-J. And the river was another Q, improving his full house. Oh well, that certainly is poker. (Ever notice how when you get beat when you're all-in, you get beat by overkill? I mean, the opponent who knocks you out doesn't just hit a pair, but usually gets at least 2 pair, if not a set or straight or flush--or boat. Am I right?)
That's today's story. I expect to have some more time tomorrow to compete at the virtual tables again, so check back for those results. Thanks for reading today. Drop me a line to give me some encouragement or berate me for my lousy play, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll, $8.22
Finally, some more free time to devote to this project. And well worth it, too! This time in a NLHE turbo tourney. Here's what happened.
I entered the tournament on PokerStars (the exclusive site for this project), which had a 10-cent buy-in. Just the right price for the bankroll I'm currently dealing with. I'll cut right to the chase here: out of the 6120 entrants, I came in 39th, turning my dime into $1.06. That 96-cent profit increased my (still meager) bankroll by 13-point-something percent. Since at this point I'm happy with a ten-percent increase per day I play, I didn't need to play any more today. I know, I should keep playing when I'm winning, but I'm a bit short on sleep because of my job and too fatigued to concentrate on poker for extended periods. Besides, after I finished the tourney I took an hour-long walk to get some exercise and increase my fitness level so I can play better longer. (That's the idea, anyway.)
As for my result in this tournament, I can't say I ran over the tables at which I was seated. I still didn't get the cards for that, but with judicious play at the right times, and avoiding getting unlucky at the wrong times, I kept myself afloat well into the really-really-really high blinds. The times I went all-in, either I didn't get a call, or my hand--always the best when I did get called--held up.
I had a scare at one point when I went all-in with pocket jacks and was called by one other player with a lower pocket pair. (I forget what they were exactly, but they were something like sixes or sevens.) The flop made a set for my opponent, but the river gave me another jack to complete my set and keep me alive.
Later, when short-stacked, I went all-in with pocket fives and got called by two others, one with A-10, the other with J-6. The board stayed low and didn't pair any of my opponents' cards, 'til the river brought a six. However, that also made a straight for me, so I more than tripled up on that hand.
One of my favorite hands was the one immediately after the bubble had burst and the remaining players were guaranteed at least a 9-cent profit. I was somewhat short-stacked and was dealt American Airlines. This was the third time in the event that I had gotten the aces, and they held up each time. This time I tripled up again.
And so it went. I would get a hand just often enough to steal the blinds or double (or triple) up and stay ahead of the rapidly increasing blinds (remember, this was a turbo tourney). Eventually, though, my luck ran out.
In my final hand, I had a suited A-K (of clubs) and went all-in. I was under the gun, if I recall correctly, but was too short-stacked to worry about my position. (It's hard to say "short-stacked" when I had 109,000+ in chips, but the blinds were 30,000 and 15,000, with 3,000 antes at that point, so I had just over three big blinds left.) Only the big blind called me, and he turned over Q-J. It didn't take long to see the writing on the wall when the flop came Q-J-J. And the river was another Q, improving his full house. Oh well, that certainly is poker. (Ever notice how when you get beat when you're all-in, you get beat by overkill? I mean, the opponent who knocks you out doesn't just hit a pair, but usually gets at least 2 pair, if not a set or straight or flush--or boat. Am I right?)
That's today's story. I expect to have some more time tomorrow to compete at the virtual tables again, so check back for those results. Thanks for reading today. Drop me a line to give me some encouragement or berate me for my lousy play, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll, $8.22
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Down, Then Up
Beginning Bankroll: $6.59
I finally had an entire day free to devote to growing my bankroll in this experiment. I didn't spend the whole day on it, but I worked at it for several hours. Here's how it went.
I played five "sessions" on PokerStars today, all no-limit Texas Hold 'Em (NLHE):
- Two multi-table tournaments (with entry fees of $1.10 and $2.20),
- Two NLHE sit-n-go tournaments ($1.20 to enter each), and
- One NLHE cash game, with $.01 and $.02 blinds. I bought into that game for $1.00
Things went very badly during my first 3 sessions, which were the two multi-table tourneys and one sit-n-go. When I wasn't card-dead, I would get a moderately big hand only when someone else had a monster. Or else they would suck out on me when I'd go all-in with the best hand. You know, the usual. So I didn't make the money in any of those.
Then I took a break from this project and played a tournament on FullTilt with my other bankroll. My luck hadn't changed yet and I crashed and burned out of the money again. Man, I haven't been able to get anything going in any multi-table tourneys lately. Anyway, after that fiasco I took a break for lunch.
Newly nourished, I sat down at a 6-player "Fast" cash game on PokerStars. (In a fast game, they give you less time to make your decisions when it's your turn to act.) Things definitely went a whole lot better there, as I was able to turn my $1 buy-in into $2.87 fairly quickly (somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes--I didn't keep track of the time). It's awfully nice when you get pocket aces twice in a row. That certainly helped. I know a player is supposed to keep playing when s/he's winning, but that hasn't ever worked for me. When I'm up big in cash games and stick around, my luck always changes and my chip stack withers. So I took my haul and left while I still had it.
Following that success, I took another break to check my e-mail and do some other web surfing before I returned to PokerStars to try my hand at one more sit-n-go. It was a struggle as I started out well, then languished through more dead cards. I spent most of the time watching my stack shrink as the blinds increased. I did manage to keep afloat long enough to reach the top 3 and the money. Then things go interesting.
One of the final three had taken a lead early in the tourney, then apparently got up and left, his avatar at the table labelled, "Sitting Out". So it was a matter of waiting for his stack to get blinded off before I could make much of a move (because I was not the big stack, who had me covered by about 2-to-1). I did play my normal game during that period, betting strong hands, calling decent ones in the small blind, and folding losers on the button. But I didn't push any by going all-in or making big bets. Fortunately, the big stack played straight, too, not pushing every hand. Finally, the absent one's stack went dry, and we were down to heads-up, with me trailing by a good margin.
My opponent turned out to be the type to push all-in with just about any hand, though not every time. As soon as I caught on to that, I started looking for good hands with which to call him. One was a suited ace-rag (diamonds), and he turned over Q-10. The flop didn't help either of us, except one was a diamond. The turn and river came Q and 10, and I was sure I was a goner to my opponent's 2-pair. Then I looked again; the last two cards were diamonds, so my nut flush doubled me up. But I was still trailing.
Not very long after that hand, I called his all-in with another suited hand (I forget which cards I had, but they were clubs, and I think he had something like Q-8 offsuit), and I hit my flush to take the lead. Then I went on to win the whole thing and the $4.50 first prize. (I don't remember what cards were in the final hand--it all happened too fast.) So that triumph, along with my cash game success, turned the day into a slightly profitable one, and my bankroll grew by a whopping 67 cents. Well, that is slightly better than a 10% increase for the day, so that's not all bad.
It was a challenging day at the virtual felt, but still wound up a positive for this experiment. Thanks for checking in, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $7.26
I finally had an entire day free to devote to growing my bankroll in this experiment. I didn't spend the whole day on it, but I worked at it for several hours. Here's how it went.
I played five "sessions" on PokerStars today, all no-limit Texas Hold 'Em (NLHE):
- Two multi-table tournaments (with entry fees of $1.10 and $2.20),
- Two NLHE sit-n-go tournaments ($1.20 to enter each), and
- One NLHE cash game, with $.01 and $.02 blinds. I bought into that game for $1.00
Things went very badly during my first 3 sessions, which were the two multi-table tourneys and one sit-n-go. When I wasn't card-dead, I would get a moderately big hand only when someone else had a monster. Or else they would suck out on me when I'd go all-in with the best hand. You know, the usual. So I didn't make the money in any of those.
Then I took a break from this project and played a tournament on FullTilt with my other bankroll. My luck hadn't changed yet and I crashed and burned out of the money again. Man, I haven't been able to get anything going in any multi-table tourneys lately. Anyway, after that fiasco I took a break for lunch.
Newly nourished, I sat down at a 6-player "Fast" cash game on PokerStars. (In a fast game, they give you less time to make your decisions when it's your turn to act.) Things definitely went a whole lot better there, as I was able to turn my $1 buy-in into $2.87 fairly quickly (somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes--I didn't keep track of the time). It's awfully nice when you get pocket aces twice in a row. That certainly helped. I know a player is supposed to keep playing when s/he's winning, but that hasn't ever worked for me. When I'm up big in cash games and stick around, my luck always changes and my chip stack withers. So I took my haul and left while I still had it.
Following that success, I took another break to check my e-mail and do some other web surfing before I returned to PokerStars to try my hand at one more sit-n-go. It was a struggle as I started out well, then languished through more dead cards. I spent most of the time watching my stack shrink as the blinds increased. I did manage to keep afloat long enough to reach the top 3 and the money. Then things go interesting.
One of the final three had taken a lead early in the tourney, then apparently got up and left, his avatar at the table labelled, "Sitting Out". So it was a matter of waiting for his stack to get blinded off before I could make much of a move (because I was not the big stack, who had me covered by about 2-to-1). I did play my normal game during that period, betting strong hands, calling decent ones in the small blind, and folding losers on the button. But I didn't push any by going all-in or making big bets. Fortunately, the big stack played straight, too, not pushing every hand. Finally, the absent one's stack went dry, and we were down to heads-up, with me trailing by a good margin.
My opponent turned out to be the type to push all-in with just about any hand, though not every time. As soon as I caught on to that, I started looking for good hands with which to call him. One was a suited ace-rag (diamonds), and he turned over Q-10. The flop didn't help either of us, except one was a diamond. The turn and river came Q and 10, and I was sure I was a goner to my opponent's 2-pair. Then I looked again; the last two cards were diamonds, so my nut flush doubled me up. But I was still trailing.
Not very long after that hand, I called his all-in with another suited hand (I forget which cards I had, but they were clubs, and I think he had something like Q-8 offsuit), and I hit my flush to take the lead. Then I went on to win the whole thing and the $4.50 first prize. (I don't remember what cards were in the final hand--it all happened too fast.) So that triumph, along with my cash game success, turned the day into a slightly profitable one, and my bankroll grew by a whopping 67 cents. Well, that is slightly better than a 10% increase for the day, so that's not all bad.
It was a challenging day at the virtual felt, but still wound up a positive for this experiment. Thanks for checking in, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $7.26
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Back At It
Beginning Bankroll: $1.51
I finally found some time to get back to working on this project. I've been busy on the road and, frankly, when I've had time for poker, I've been playing on Full Tilt instead of PokerStars. But I gotta start making myself work on this. So I did today.
First, let me point out that PokerStars added $5 to my account as a promotion on the 23rd, giving me 14 days to play with that bonus. (They haven't made it clear what happens after 14 days; will they remove the $5 from my account? We'll see in another 11 days.) So my bankroll may be artificially inflated for a few days. Anyway, back to my results today.
I started out by playing in a $.02/$.04 limit hold 'em cash game, bringing 80 cents to the table. I've been reading up on limit hold 'em strategy lately and thought I'd give it a try (as opposed to my usual game, no-limit hold 'em). I played for a while--at least an hour--but just could not get cards. Oh, I did win some hands, but very few. Most of the time when I bet aggressively pre-flop, I got 3 or 4 calls, then completely whiffed on the flop. By the time I left the table, my buy-in was down to 58 cents. So I dropped 22 cents on that experiment.
Next I played in two no-limit hold 'em Sit 'n Go tourneys with $1.20 buy-ins. I busted out of the first one in 7th place (out of 9). I guess I shouldn't have pushed my hand when I flopped top pair and a flush draw, only to get called by a guy who flopped a straight. Man, I hate when that happens.
In the second SNG things turned out a bit better, but it looked pretty bleak for a while there. I started out fine, won the first hand, won some more, and had the early lead. I was playing well, making correct decisions and betting aggressively. Then I caught an A-Q (I forget if they were suited or not--doesn't matter anyway) and made the standard 3x BB bet. I got one or two callers. Then I caught an A on the flop. I bet the pot (I was in early position), another player raised, and I bet all-in. My opponent called (I had him covered) and turned over A-10. Hallelujah!
Guess what the turn card was. That's right, a 10. So that dropped me from around 2500 chips to 1000. After that I could hardly catch any good hands at all, and my chip stack shrank to less than 600. Finally I managed to double up, then again, and was right back in it. (Not contending for the lead yet, but at least I had some breathing room.)
Eventually I made it into the final four, as the short stack, naturally. Through pure grit and determination (and a couple of lucky hands) I avoided elimination and finally made it into the top three and the money. We had played four-handed for what seemed like forever. Anyway, it's late and I need to wrap this up. I finished in second place in that SNG, bowing out at the end when my pocket aces PLUS another ace on the flop (whaddaya do with pocket rockets, then a set heads up? Slow play, of course) got cracked by a straight. Isn't that always the way?
So, with the $2.70 for second place, my overall result from today's play was a gain of eight whole cents. Woo-hoo! (Don't tell the IRS, OK?) Add in the $5 bonus cash, and it looks like a good day, anyway.
Thanks for checking in today. I promise to work on growing this PokerStars bankroll instead of falling to the temptation of the better choice of games on FullTilt. I am as curious as you about what I can do with it. Good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $6.59
I finally found some time to get back to working on this project. I've been busy on the road and, frankly, when I've had time for poker, I've been playing on Full Tilt instead of PokerStars. But I gotta start making myself work on this. So I did today.
First, let me point out that PokerStars added $5 to my account as a promotion on the 23rd, giving me 14 days to play with that bonus. (They haven't made it clear what happens after 14 days; will they remove the $5 from my account? We'll see in another 11 days.) So my bankroll may be artificially inflated for a few days. Anyway, back to my results today.
I started out by playing in a $.02/$.04 limit hold 'em cash game, bringing 80 cents to the table. I've been reading up on limit hold 'em strategy lately and thought I'd give it a try (as opposed to my usual game, no-limit hold 'em). I played for a while--at least an hour--but just could not get cards. Oh, I did win some hands, but very few. Most of the time when I bet aggressively pre-flop, I got 3 or 4 calls, then completely whiffed on the flop. By the time I left the table, my buy-in was down to 58 cents. So I dropped 22 cents on that experiment.
Next I played in two no-limit hold 'em Sit 'n Go tourneys with $1.20 buy-ins. I busted out of the first one in 7th place (out of 9). I guess I shouldn't have pushed my hand when I flopped top pair and a flush draw, only to get called by a guy who flopped a straight. Man, I hate when that happens.
In the second SNG things turned out a bit better, but it looked pretty bleak for a while there. I started out fine, won the first hand, won some more, and had the early lead. I was playing well, making correct decisions and betting aggressively. Then I caught an A-Q (I forget if they were suited or not--doesn't matter anyway) and made the standard 3x BB bet. I got one or two callers. Then I caught an A on the flop. I bet the pot (I was in early position), another player raised, and I bet all-in. My opponent called (I had him covered) and turned over A-10. Hallelujah!
Guess what the turn card was. That's right, a 10. So that dropped me from around 2500 chips to 1000. After that I could hardly catch any good hands at all, and my chip stack shrank to less than 600. Finally I managed to double up, then again, and was right back in it. (Not contending for the lead yet, but at least I had some breathing room.)
Eventually I made it into the final four, as the short stack, naturally. Through pure grit and determination (and a couple of lucky hands) I avoided elimination and finally made it into the top three and the money. We had played four-handed for what seemed like forever. Anyway, it's late and I need to wrap this up. I finished in second place in that SNG, bowing out at the end when my pocket aces PLUS another ace on the flop (whaddaya do with pocket rockets, then a set heads up? Slow play, of course) got cracked by a straight. Isn't that always the way?
So, with the $2.70 for second place, my overall result from today's play was a gain of eight whole cents. Woo-hoo! (Don't tell the IRS, OK?) Add in the $5 bonus cash, and it looks like a good day, anyway.
Thanks for checking in today. I promise to work on growing this PokerStars bankroll instead of falling to the temptation of the better choice of games on FullTilt. I am as curious as you about what I can do with it. Good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $6.59
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Freeroll Flameout 2
Beginning Bankroll: $1.51
Another day, another shot at the Ceres Invitational Freeroll Tourney on PokerStars. Today's edition pulled in 1648 entrants and paid 180 places. This time I wasn't completely card-dead, as I caught a couple of nice hands and nearly doubled my starting chip stack at one point. Then I lost a couple more hands and was down to around 2300 chips. Then it happened.
I caught an unsuited AK in my hand and a flop with a king and two rags. Since all 3 cards in the flop were spades, and neither in my hand was, I decided just to go all-in to protect my top pair, top kicker. Naturally I got a call--the player to my right had pocket aces (including the ace of spades, of course) which he was slow playing. It's amazing how bloody often those rockets pop up when I go all-in. In the end he hit the flush, which was overkill anyway.
Ah well, since it was a freeroll I'm not too broken up about the result. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to stick around and join a cash game to work on increasing my tiny bankroll that way. (But I did play a 6-handed sit 'n go on FullTilt with my other meager bankroll, and won that one. But that result doesn't count towards this experiment.)
Thanks for following my saga on this site, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
Another day, another shot at the Ceres Invitational Freeroll Tourney on PokerStars. Today's edition pulled in 1648 entrants and paid 180 places. This time I wasn't completely card-dead, as I caught a couple of nice hands and nearly doubled my starting chip stack at one point. Then I lost a couple more hands and was down to around 2300 chips. Then it happened.
I caught an unsuited AK in my hand and a flop with a king and two rags. Since all 3 cards in the flop were spades, and neither in my hand was, I decided just to go all-in to protect my top pair, top kicker. Naturally I got a call--the player to my right had pocket aces (including the ace of spades, of course) which he was slow playing. It's amazing how bloody often those rockets pop up when I go all-in. In the end he hit the flush, which was overkill anyway.
Ah well, since it was a freeroll I'm not too broken up about the result. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to stick around and join a cash game to work on increasing my tiny bankroll that way. (But I did play a 6-handed sit 'n go on FullTilt with my other meager bankroll, and won that one. But that result doesn't count towards this experiment.)
Thanks for following my saga on this site, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Freeroll Flameout
Beginning Bankroll: $1.51
I finally had some time to return to PokerStars and work on my bankroll project. I had received an e-mail from PokerStars inviting me to play in a freeroll tournament this evening at 6:00 EST, so since I did have the time, I did play.
The tournament attracted 1495 entrants, and paid the top 135 places. It turned out not to have been worth my time. I was completely card-dead the whole time (well, I did get a couple of fairly nice hands, no monsters, but only when I was under the gun, so the positional disadvantage led me to muck those hands.) I did win one hand with a pre-flop raise, but otherwise nothing went my way. By the time the blinds reached $50-$100, I had fewer than $1000 in chips in front of me (we started with $1500 each). Finally, with less than $700 remaining, I got an unsuited A-Q, so I pushed all-in. I got one call and, of course, he turned up pocket kings which held up. So I washed out in 1200-somethingth place.
Because of the way the cards were falling against me tonight, I opted not to pull up a seat at a cash game and risk any of my still-minuscule bankroll. So my balance remains unchanged for the day. PokerStars is running the same tournament tomorrow night, so if I can swing the time I may just enter that one to see if the cards will run any better for me. If I play, I'll blog about it when I'm done, so check back for a report. And good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
I finally had some time to return to PokerStars and work on my bankroll project. I had received an e-mail from PokerStars inviting me to play in a freeroll tournament this evening at 6:00 EST, so since I did have the time, I did play.
The tournament attracted 1495 entrants, and paid the top 135 places. It turned out not to have been worth my time. I was completely card-dead the whole time (well, I did get a couple of fairly nice hands, no monsters, but only when I was under the gun, so the positional disadvantage led me to muck those hands.) I did win one hand with a pre-flop raise, but otherwise nothing went my way. By the time the blinds reached $50-$100, I had fewer than $1000 in chips in front of me (we started with $1500 each). Finally, with less than $700 remaining, I got an unsuited A-Q, so I pushed all-in. I got one call and, of course, he turned up pocket kings which held up. So I washed out in 1200-somethingth place.
Because of the way the cards were falling against me tonight, I opted not to pull up a seat at a cash game and risk any of my still-minuscule bankroll. So my balance remains unchanged for the day. PokerStars is running the same tournament tomorrow night, so if I can swing the time I may just enter that one to see if the cards will run any better for me. If I play, I'll blog about it when I'm done, so check back for a report. And good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Into the Fray
Beginning Bankroll: $1.20
Well I finally got around to working on my PokerStars bankroll. I confess that I've been unfaithful and playing on Full Tilt a few times this week, and my cosmic punishment has been pretty much nothing but being card-dead most of the time. So it's time to give Full Tilt a rest and see what I can do about making something from nothing.
This evening I sat down to a 6-handed No-Limit Texas Hold-Em table to see what the cards would give me. It was the smallest stakes available, with blinds of one and two cents. I admittedly did a no-no: I brought my entire $1.20 bankroll to the table. But with so little to work with, I pretty much had to.
I did another no-no, too: I quit while I was winning. I only sat in for a few hands--less than 20 for sure--but got amazingly good results. I haven't seen such a run of good hands in quite a while. In that short span I won 31 cents, increasing my bankroll by 25 percent! It has been my experience that when I start out hot like that, if I don't leave the table I'll either go card dead or keep running up against the nuts, and my buy-in shrivels away. So with that in mind, along with my recent unpleasant experiences on Full Tilt, I decided to walk away while I was ahead. Besides, I'll be happy with any session in which I increase my bankroll by ten percent or more. As this was just the beginning of this challenge, a 25 percent increase was just fine.
Now on to replies to comments from readers of this blog.
"mrmiggle" asked what my screen name is. I think for now I'll not reveal that to the general public; I don't need everyone out there gunning for me, making this quest even harder than it's going to be. I'm pretty sure I know who mrmiggle is, anyway, so I'll just send him an e-mail with that info. But mrmiggle, please tell us how your session against one of the FT name pros went. Who was it? Did you clean his/her clock? (Or vice versa?) Was it a tourney or ring game?
And to reader "sitngotraining.com": Thanks for your well-wishes. I'll take a good long look at your blogs when I have some free time, but I took a quick glance today. I, too, like to focus on sit-n-gos, and have been playing them almost exclusively (and mostly 6-handed ones) on Full Tilt lately, but with disappointing results, mainly from bad beats and long stretches of being card-dead. I'll avail myself of your training to see if I can improve those results.
That's today's report. I promise it won't be a week before I get back to this mission and report on it for you. Thanks for keeping track, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
Well I finally got around to working on my PokerStars bankroll. I confess that I've been unfaithful and playing on Full Tilt a few times this week, and my cosmic punishment has been pretty much nothing but being card-dead most of the time. So it's time to give Full Tilt a rest and see what I can do about making something from nothing.
This evening I sat down to a 6-handed No-Limit Texas Hold-Em table to see what the cards would give me. It was the smallest stakes available, with blinds of one and two cents. I admittedly did a no-no: I brought my entire $1.20 bankroll to the table. But with so little to work with, I pretty much had to.
I did another no-no, too: I quit while I was winning. I only sat in for a few hands--less than 20 for sure--but got amazingly good results. I haven't seen such a run of good hands in quite a while. In that short span I won 31 cents, increasing my bankroll by 25 percent! It has been my experience that when I start out hot like that, if I don't leave the table I'll either go card dead or keep running up against the nuts, and my buy-in shrivels away. So with that in mind, along with my recent unpleasant experiences on Full Tilt, I decided to walk away while I was ahead. Besides, I'll be happy with any session in which I increase my bankroll by ten percent or more. As this was just the beginning of this challenge, a 25 percent increase was just fine.
Now on to replies to comments from readers of this blog.
"mrmiggle" asked what my screen name is. I think for now I'll not reveal that to the general public; I don't need everyone out there gunning for me, making this quest even harder than it's going to be. I'm pretty sure I know who mrmiggle is, anyway, so I'll just send him an e-mail with that info. But mrmiggle, please tell us how your session against one of the FT name pros went. Who was it? Did you clean his/her clock? (Or vice versa?) Was it a tourney or ring game?
And to reader "sitngotraining.com": Thanks for your well-wishes. I'll take a good long look at your blogs when I have some free time, but I took a quick glance today. I, too, like to focus on sit-n-gos, and have been playing them almost exclusively (and mostly 6-handed ones) on Full Tilt lately, but with disappointing results, mainly from bad beats and long stretches of being card-dead. I'll avail myself of your training to see if I can improve those results.
That's today's report. I promise it won't be a week before I get back to this mission and report on it for you. Thanks for keeping track, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $1.51
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)