The Belated UpdateIt's been way too long. And I'm sorry.
Excuse the ego here, but I feel like I owed something to all of the people who've read this blog an/or followed my 'career' in the poker-world. Instead, I just disappeared.
As some of you know, I started law school in June, and have seen my volume decrease significantly. I tried to do both at first, but after a while, I realized it simply couldn't be done. I know a few guys who've been able to do it, but I can't. I can't sit down for 15 minutes and rely on one huge pot, or chase a random donk to higher stakes. No, my entire profit is based on putting in the hours, the games, and riding out the variance train. While I'm not sure about the exact number, I figure I played somewhere between 50-75 SNGs/day in 2008, up until the Summer session began.
I won't lie. I miss it. I miss the extra money, the 'thrill of victory,' waking up late, going to bed later, and even telling people that I play for a living. While some scoffed or turned up their noses, many people were friendly and inqusitive. Sure, most were ignorant, but it didn't matter. I lapped it all up.
And now things are different. I have to wake up early, work harder and longer, with no immediate rewards to reap. No $1k+ days. Only the speculative promise that if I do well, I have the potential of possibly securing a good job in the future. Maybe. But I survive by looking at it a different way: It's +EV in the long run. I'm not saying that some people can't play poker forever, nor that I couldn't have made a successful living by doing so. But I'm not sure it's what I would have wanted, for my life. I miss the game a lot, but I don't miss being anti-social. I don't miss being a hermit. I don't miss the variance affecting my mood.
This blog entry isn't titled 'Goodbye,' because I'm not leaving. I'll still play here and there. I love the game too much to quit altogether. But the dream of grinding has faded a bit, at least for now. I suppose I held off writing this entry because I didn't want to admit that. I wanted to be able to do both, to make my five figure months and ultimately grind enough FPPs for the Porsche. But I've got to give law school a fair shake. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to come back to poker by helping rescind all that anti-gambling legislation.
Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the blog by leaving comments, sending me encouraging emails/instant messages, and taking the time out of your life to read about mine. It meant a lot.
Sincerely,
Aaron 'abarone68' Barone The PorscheI alluded to this a bit in my last entry and with the $38s slow to load I thought I'd take the time and expand on it.
Over the course of the 2008, I've played more than 12,000 SNGs. The number might seem staggering to some, but to be honest, I'm disapointed I haven't been able to crank out more of them. Besides being able to sustain my way of live thoruhg just the profits yielded at the table, there's a side benefit to playing at PokerStars that I have yet to reap: FPPs/VPPs.
A brief introduction for those unaware of the terminology/system. PokerStars, in an effort to reward (i.e. keep) players at their site, have implemented a player points system that awards V.I.P Player points (FPPs) and Frequent Player Points (FPPs). VPPs are given in accordance of how much rake a player has paid, and a multiplier based on your level (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Supernova, Supernova Elite) determines the amount of FPPs.
Many use these points in the PokerStars "store," and purchase items such as hats, shirts, playing cards, or books. I never wanted any of that. I wanted the Porsche. Listed at 3,000,000 FPPs, the Porsche Cayman S Series is a stunning vehicle and a pipe dream to most people. But after a few short months, I've been able to earn 575,000 FPPs and would likely be able to get the car by January, 2010.
My parents absolutely hated the idea, which probably made it more appealing to me. I've been driving around a 2001 Mercury Sable since high school and while it's in fine condition and seats four comfortably, it's frequently a source of ridicule for reasons unknown to me. Maybe it's because most of my friends are driving around in sporty two-seaters or SUVs. Anyways, I had long been considering the possibility of driving this car into the ground until I had accrued enough points to buy the Porsche. At least, until recently.
I always knew the idea was impractical. I'm a 22 year old male who will be (in all likelihood) attending law school for the next three years. I'll probably still make time to grind, but I won't have much of a steady income so extra money would definitely help me be more comfortable. And if I pass on the Porsche, that's exactly what PokerStars will give me. Instead of using the 3,000,000 points on a sportscar, I could purchase 30 of the $1500 Supernova Reward Bonuses at 100,000 FPPs a peice, totalling $45,000.
Needless to say, that's a lot of money. Another benefit of chosing the money is that I wouldn't have to wait until I reached 3,000,000 FPPs; I could start buying the bonuses right now at 100,000 each. After clearing them (5-7 days), the money would be transfered into one of my bank accounts and I could start earning interest.
It's a clear choice, really. I shouldn't even be having this much debate. The Porsche represents a vain side of myself that thinks I'd be happier with the lifestyle that would accompany such a car. The car itself means nothing to me. In fact, I don't even know how to drive a stick.
Nothing is set in stone, but I think that once I hit the first VPP Bonus and get a taste of the cash, I'll feel much better about passing on the Porsche. Especially if I can use that extra money towards a down payment on a house. The Month IIThe phrase "April showers bring May flowers" rang true for me this year. After toiling through a variance-filled April, my May comes to an end as the single greatest month in my brief history as a professional poker player.
+$7000 in SNGs
+ $1300 in various games, bonuses, etc
+ $1890 via coaching
While I didn't exactly crush the previous record (only surpassing it by $22), set in Februrary, I'm happy nonetheless. Especially when I consider the fact that I failed to my my volume related goals. It's become a theme, I guess. I keep holding out hope that I'll be able to put in more hours and more SNGs each time a new month rolls around, but I keep letting life get in the way. And it won't get any easier, as I plan to make a trip back to Vegas this month and ease myself into California Western Law School with a rigorous program that starts around the 23rd of June.
I've started out the month rather well, at least from a volume standpoint. At the conclusion of Day 1, I've played 159 SNGs, all of which are $38s except for 35 $60s. That's right: $60s. While the level has been somewhat of a hiccup for me so far, I'm not about to give up on them completely. My sample size of 700 ish games is too small to determine anything, and even if the results are somewhat indicative of my play, I'm a slight winner. I did most of the $60s earlier tonight/this morning and found the play to be much softer than during peak hours. Or maybe I actually (gasp) ran decently well. The worst part about playing poker is that your confidence tends to be on an extreme, and it's all due to how the cards are falling. Sick, huh?
Because the $38s load somewhat slowly between 11 PM and 2 AM PST, I've decided to mix in $60s during that time. So far, so good.
Games played: 35
ITM: 42.9%
ROI: 24.9%
Profit: $523.50
Do I expect to sustian a 24.9% ROI? Of course not. But I probably won't sustain this month's ROI in the $38s either, currently at -15.1% through 124 games. Last month's 9.8% in the $38s was wonderful, and it's one of my goals to reach 9% for June.
Goals:
2000 $38s, 9% ROI
500 $60s, 5% ROI
If I can play that many of each, I'll have earned 42,500 VPPs which will bring me over 200,000 VPPs for the year. At that point, I''ll purchase the first 'Milestone Reward Bonus' and recieve a free $2,000. I can't wait. On top of that, I'll add 148,750 FPPs to my current total (560,000). I'm still somewhat on the fence of what to do with those points (Cash vs. Porsche), but I'm leaning in a certain direction and I'll save it for my next entry. The CoachAbout a month ago, I recieved a private message on one of the poker forums I frequent. As someone who yearns for the exciting moment of opening his mail, I logged on immediately to read it.
"hey ac,
know your busy man but nevertheless I wanted to ask if you ever thougt about giving someone a private coaching??
I have the roll and the confidence now to take my game to another level and finally beat the 27's but I'm sure I would need some help for that. Ok, would be great if we could get something up'n running! In case you are interested, plz. send me your price list.
BTW. I'm not so experienced when it comes to coaching so I would trust in you here.Looking forward to your feedback and GL at the tables."
At first, I didn't know what to think. Coaching? Me? I guess my results speak for themselves, but I had never even considered the possibility of coaching other players, and definitely not getting paid for it. But after giving it some thought, I realized I'd been doing it for a long time: posting on strategy forums, talking with fellow SNG players over AIM, etc. Why not get paid for it?
Less than a month later, I have already coached ten clients and three more are scheduled for next week.
************************************************************************************
I am currently offering my services in a three-hour format, which is broken up into the following components:
1. Consultation
2. Observation
3. Review/Discussion
Consultation
There are two goals in the introductory period:
-You learn about me as a player/coach
-I become more familiar with your Sit-and-Go experience
I’ll have a slew of questions about your history with SNGs, perceived strengths, weaknesses, goals, etc. Afterwards, I feel that the knowledge gained from the 5-10 minute consultation with help me better able assist in accomplishing what you hope to achieve.
Observation
In this stage, clients will play SNGs during which I will be taking extensive notes about the hands that occur. Notes about interesting hands/areas you can improve upon/possible leaks/things you did well. During play, I require my clients to “think out loud” using a microphone and a program that allows for voice communication (Skype/AIM). While my microphone will be turned on during both the introductory and review periods, I choose to keep it off during the first set of play. This is intended to keep the player from being distracted and/or influenced by me. Time permitting, I will watch you play a second session post-review with my microphone on and discuss hands during game play.
Review/Discussion
The discussion section will take up the majority of the time, and I believe you'll get the most out of my coaching that way. We'll start by going over the hands that occurred during your set, and branch off of those to delve deeper into topics that are more pertinent to your individual game (early stages, endgame, bubble play, ICM, aggression levels, multi-tabling, etc). If you have questions at any time, feel free to bring them up because that's what I'm here for.
Cost
The cost of the training is $250 for three hours or $100 for each hour or fraction there of. A second three-hour block can be purchased at the standard rate if you'd like to receive more one-on-one coaching. Payments must be made up front and can be sent via PokerStars or FullTilt to ‘abarone68.’
Please let me know if you're interested or have any questions.
Thanks,
Aaron The DownerIn the midst of one of my sets today, a fellow SNG grinder sent me an instant message to complain about a recent run. He had dropped $2200 in two days at the $60s after running at 15% for his last thousand at that level. I consoled him in the typical manner of all high volume SNG players:
"Ouch man, that's brutal."
I didn't have much time to chat with twenty four tables beeping and blinking at me, so the conversation became a bit one sided for a while. I looked over at the chat window after the number of tables had dwindled a bit.
"Look at your Sharkscope graph. You've had a couple of 30-40 buy in downswings too."
Wait, what? I couldn't believe it. I mean, sure, there was that one point where I lost nearly $3,000 in a span of three days. But nearly a quarter of that was due to disconnecting from a session. And aside from that, I couldn't recall anything of such magnitude. But I was wrong.
Since April 1st, I've had three downswings of 30+ buy ins. Some of that is decieving, however, as I often lose 5-6 buy-ins in a thirty table set before reaching the money. Still, I was forced to deal with the sick reality that variance is ever present and unescapable. Of course, I already knew this but the 125 $38 SNGs I played today helped remind me.
I could bitch about individual beats, but let's skip that:
30% ITM, -20% ROI, -$844
Look at that. Would have been a 30+ buy-in downer if I hadn't won the last two. Luckilly I ran well enough in $60s/$16 18-mans where I only lost ~$280 on the day. And if that's the worst day I have this month, I'll be ecstatic. The ArrivalSee what I did there? I was able to use this title, after all. Score.
I entered the final table with ten players left and the knowledge that only five of us would walk away happy. The payouts were as follows:
1st: $965
2nd: $605
3rd: $445
4th: $265
5th: $217
With a stack of 8500 at the 500/1000 level, I was going to have to make a move soon. Or at least I thought so. I felt a bit better looking around the table, as I was 5th in chips and two players had less than the BB. The re-deal for seats put me early position, so I had to get the BB the fourth hand of play. It was actually a blessing, as blinds were going up in three minutes. I posted my 1000 big blind and prayed for the table to fold. Instead, a shortstack moved in and everyone folded. I looked down at Q8o and asked for a count. 2900 total, 1900 to call. 2900+1000+500 = 4400 in the middle, so I'm getting a little under 2.4-1 to call. I deliberated for a few secounds and made the call. I did a little dance inside when my opponent showed pocket 7s and danced even more when I paired my eight on the flop. As I raked in the pot, I again was told of how fantastic of a call I made. I shrugged and sai d, "Well actually I was hoping he had more chips so I wouldn't have to call." I don't think anyone understood.
We lost a player one of the next two hands, bringing us down to 8. With only about 10000 chips, I was in decent shape but no where near comfortable so I told myself if I find a good spot, I'm going with it. I felt that spot came a hand later, as it was folded to me in the CO with K7s at 1000/2000. I shoved in and the SB hemmed and hawed before putting his stack in the middle. He tabled the AJ, and I told him 'good call' as I sheepishly flipped the K7s. But the flop made him question his call, as I made trip 7s. "Unreal! I'm a huge favorite there," he exclaimed. I resisted the urge to say anything but thanked the poker gods for letting me run good in a live game this one time.
Seven handed, the chatty european woman (Let's call her 'Eura') had seen her stack shrink, but she shoved the rest in at 1000/2000. I looked down at AQ again, and decided to isolate with a mini-raise to 5500. Everyone folded, and the look on her face after she saw my hand let me know she was drawing to three outs. Unfortunately, she caught one of them on the turn and I lost part of the breathing room I had luckboxed my way into.
About an orbit later, we'd officially reached the bubble. And while everyone around me was tightening up, I did the opposite. Not too lightly though, as the lumberjack to my left (I'll reffer to him as Jim, from now on since he introduced himself after the K7 hand) had me covered and the rest of the table had somewhere between two and seven big blinds. After raising the third hand in a row, I showed my AJo in hopes they'd think I was on some sort of a rush; I wasn't. Thousands of turbo SNGs had prepared me for this exact situation, and I wasn't about sit back and wait. A three way all-in bursted the bubble and I scooped the pot with my AT.
I planned on tightening up a bit, thinking that the other stacks might adjust their ranges since we made the money. But with the shortstack forced all-in by the 2000 big blind, I limped from the button with A6 in hopes the SB would come in for half price. He mucked, and the shortie was able to flop top pair on an eight high all-club flop, but I had the percentages were nearly even with an overcard and a flush draw. An ace peeled off on the turn, and I knocked out another player. Okay, now I can slow down, right? Nope. An orbit later with the blinds still at 1000/2000, I picked up 33 from the button and raised it to 5000. The player in the BB, who had earlier sucked out on me with his Q5s after limp/calling all in with it, moved in. Dealer was slow with a count so I nonchalantly did it myself and tossed in the 7000 difference.
"I think you're in good shape," I said. "All I've got a pair."
"Good for you," he sneered.
What? Fuck you buddy. You have no idea how lucky you are to even be here. To make a final table. Hell, I'm even surprised you have the ability to walk upright you tubby peice of shit.
I said none of that, of course.
"Good luck."
Flop missed him, but just barely KJ9. Turn paired the Jack, but a harmless 4 came on the river. Down to three. Unfortunately, this is where the wheels began to come off. Jim remained passive, limping in and doubling up the Eura when he should have put her all in preflop with his K8o. Would she have called? Maybe, but I think she's bad enough to fold. With her newfound confidence, she begins to go all-in every hand. I notice this could be a problem, but fail to pick up any hand that's even a borderline call. Well, there was one.
With the blinds at 2000/4000, Jim folds and Eura shoves. I ask for a count as I peer down at JTs. 17k more. So 8k in the middle, 17k to call. I'm not in bad shape against Ace-baby or a small pair, but the thought of her turning over KJ/QJ was definitely possible IMO. And I couldn't think of a single hand she'd shove with that I'm ahead of...so I folded. Jim tries to adopt her strategy the following orbit but she snap calls with AQ his J5 can't catch up.
I thought I started HU play with a slight disadvantage in chips, but I had forgotted there were 98k chips in play. Only having 40k or so meant I was a 3:2 dog. The Eura continued shoving but showed me her hand each time: 77, 22, 44, AT, KQs. Coupled with my inability to pick up anything, I was dwindled down a bit before the blinds were raised to 3000/6000. With only 30000 left, I knew I'd have to make a move soon. Eura limped from the SB, and I shoved T5o. She called quickly and calmly, telling me that "Okay, whatever but I have nothing" and exposing the suited J6. The board brought five bricks and I finished in 2nd.
Still not a bad result for my first live tournament in a casino. To top it off, both the tournament director and dealer at the final table approached me afterwards about the finish and asked how much experience I had. When I informed them that I currently play professionally, the TD told me he wasn't surprised and said it was rare to see a player of my caliber in the Bally's poker room. That, combined with an attractive waitress telling me how hot I was/what time she got off work, makes me think I might enjoy going back to Las Vegas. The TerminalI planned on titling this post, 'The Arrival" before I realized the innacuracy of it. It's not an arrival at all, but merely a second departure. The only way it could have worked was if I blogged just after landing in Vegas, and that didn't (and shouldn't ever) happen.
But I wouldn't be updating this unless I had something poker-related in mind to write about, and well, I do. Despite arriving with a bit of a headache/flu, I was soothed by the slot machines, table games, pool, and...a poker tournament. Remember when I said I wouldn't be setting foot in the poker room? Oops.
"I knew you'd play."
"You can't stay away."
"You're an addict!"
Get it out of your system now. Some of you might say I "lied," but I don't think this type of situation warrants such a word. Perhaps something more along the lines of 'I was mistaken' or 'I fibbed.' Fibbing is so much of a nicer, gentler word. I think I'm going to go with that.
I spent the entire first night avoiding the poker room. It wasn't much of a problem, though I found myself stealing glances each time I walked by. It tilted me a bit to be stuck playing games that are hugely -EV, but it just so happens that my father (whom I accompanied on the trip) really enjoys Keno and slots. Each time I reached into my wallet for another hundo, I had to keep in mind that the goal of the trip wasn't to make money; it was to spend some quality time with my dad.
On the morning of day two, I woke up feeling horrible. The headache had worsened, and my throat was killing me. I popped a few pills, downed some DayQuil, and sat on the foot of my bed for a few minutes until I felt healthy enough to walk to the elevator. I met my dad for a slice of pizza by the sportsbook and made a few bets on various baseball games before I heard an announcement for an 11 AM $65 buy-in poker tournament. Not in my normal "ugh, I hate live poker" mindset, I decided to give it a shot.
After barely making it on time, I'm seated with eight other guys who seem to have little idea how to play. I asked the tournament director for a sheet on the 'structure,' and a guy to my left chucks and asks me, "Why do you want to see that? It's all luck, anyways." The rest of the table seems to agree with him and I smile politely while making a mental note: Seats 2-9, all fish.
The sheet's rather detailed, as we're given 2000 chips, 25/50 blinds to start, and 15 minute levels. I wasn't too excited about 40 BBs, but 15 minute levels sounded fair - until I remembered I was playing live, which means we'd probably get in 4-6 hands per level.
The first hand I play is K9o from the BB. Three players limp, SB folds, I check my option, and the flop is 974. I lead 75 into 200, everyone calls. Turn is a 2, and I lead again for 225. This time, everyone instamucks. I flash the nine, and add 500 to my stack.
On the very next hand, four players limp in before the button announces raise. I peek at my hand as he's counting out chips and look down at KQs. Not a bad hand, but OOP I'm going to...wait, what? He made a min-raise? This is the same guy who folded his SB last hand, so I thought he *might* be good. Now, I'm confused. I end up calling the extra 75, and flop the nut straight on an AJT board. BINGO! I put in a weak 125 chip bet and the three limpers call before the initial "raiser" makes it 500 to go. I figure he's bad enough where he'll stack off with AK, so I make it 1200. Limpers fold, he calls quickly. Turn is a Queen. I underbet again, with 400. He calls, leaving himself with less than 200. River blanks, and I put him all in for his last 3-4 BBs. He puts his chips in the middle after giving the three second "I gotta call" speech and tells me he "had the Ace" as I table the KQ. Good start for me.
I wasn't dealt much for a few hands and folded in hopes I could establish a tight image and exploit people later. After remembering the caliber of people I was up against, I decided to just play solidly and make positional raises if I felt the players in the blinds/later position were too tight. I was dealt 8s in MP at 50/100 and made it 300 to go. A player on the button moved in, and I shook my head while the dealer counted it down. He'd been rather active early but I still figured him to have two overcards or an overpair. I only needed 1150 to call into a pot of 1900, and decided to take a gamble getting nearly 2-1. He turned over 4s and didn't hit his two-outer so I was up to 7000.
There was only one more hand I played before the break/initial table broke and it came against a very loose, passive player. He had limped every hand, so when he did so with a 1000 stack at 100/200 and three guys did so behind him, I made it 1100 on the button with my ATo, figuring I was well ahead of his range. The blinds folded quickly, he sighed and put the rest of his chips in, and the other guys folded behind him. He flipped the Q5s and caught a Queen on the flop to double through me. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
The field had shrunk from 49 players to 20-ish, and I used the first orbit at my new table to get used to the new players. Only one guy had came from my old table, and I had him pegged as a tight player although he would later prove otherwise. Three stood out: a very old man with an unlit cigar (thanks, Farha), a talkative middle aged european woman, and a quieter lumberjack-looking fellow at the other end of the table. I didn't pick up much and kept my stack around 6000 while several players were knocked out. I finally picked up 97s in the SB at 300/600 and the lumberjack limped in from EP. I planned on folding but the BB was a new player who'd just sat down. Young looking, dressed in a suit, and hammered out of his mind. Because of him, I decided to limp the 97 and hit a decent flop of A98. I lead out for 800 to see if the lumberjack had an ace, but the drunk in the BB surprised me by throwing out 600. The dealer informed him someone had already bet, and the drunk said, "I make it 1000" and threw in two red 500 chips. The dealer made him call the bet, and I tried to get a ready on drunkie by asking if he really wanted to raise or just call. "Whatever man, I wanted to raise but that's cool." I was rather stubborn and thought he'd raise preflop with an ace, so I check-called his 1000 bet on the turn. River paired my nine and he bet 2000 before I could check. Fine with me, as I shoved the rest in and he insta-folded. No matter, I was ready to felt with second pair.
With my stack now near 11000, I felt pretty good. Old man river limped in the CO, and I popped to 2100. He called quickly, so we had a HU pot for half my stack. I asked him if he liked his hand, and he told me he'd chase it to a flop. Uh...ok. On a flop of KT9, he moved in and told me he likes his hand a lot more now. I believed him and folded the fives face up. He showed KTo and the table couldn't tell me enough how great of a laydown I made. Umm, thanks? It's a pretty standard fold there...
I sat back and watched the same guy stack off to the lumberjack on a board of TQK3A with A2 while the other player held AJ and his knockout brought me to the final table. I'll save that update for when I get home, as the plane is boarding now. The DepartureI'm writing this from San Diego Aiport, which is conviently located only a few miles from my house. Not bad. And while I wait for the plane to board, I'm imagining all of the fun I'll have over the next few days in Las Vegas - without playing a single hand of poker.
That may come as a surprise to you, since I eat, talk, sleep, and breathe poker. I play it for a living. Thirty hours a week I'm sitting in front of my computer, grinding. But everyone needs a break now and then. And this is mine.
It might sound insane since I'm venturing to the 'promised land' of poker, but I don't plan to sit at the felt at all over the next three days. Not once. Imagine if I were a basketball player. It's a stretch, I know, but I used to be decent. Not great, but alright for a 6'0 white guy pegged as a forward because of my dribbling skills. Anyways, during the offseason I bet those guys never want to even pick up a ball, opting instead to spend time doing other hobbies like hanging out in strip clubs, shooting their own butlers, or smoking massive amounts of dope. Alright, perhaps my generalization of the NBA is a bit unfair but my point still stands; they'd rather do something other than play basketball, as I'd rather not play cards.
I learned in previous trips to Vegas that playing live isn't exactly my idea of fun. I mean, it's alright, I guess. But sitting at a table with a mixture of wanna-be-pros and geriatric, bitter perveted old men bothers me after about three orbits. On top of that, having to hear bad beat stories 'round the clock tilts me to no end. And most of the time, it's their own incompetence that caused them to lose the hand. You shoved against a 4-bet with AQo and lost? Shocking!
Moreoever, I'm disgusted by the way dealers/women are treated at the table. The two groups of people are on opposite ends of the spectrum of course, as dealers are seen as the scum of the earth and any woman is treated as if she's the last female on the planet. That's right, I just made two comparisons to our world in the same sentence. Maybe it works in a poetic sort of way. Or it's just lazy, I'm not particularly sure. But come on. The constant effort to hit on the only woman at the table breeds the type of atmosphere that makes me as sick to my stomach as dealer abuse. Is it really his fault that you lost the pot? Maybe you shouldn't call raises with cards because they were "suited?" As for the woman, it doesn't matter whether or not she embraces it, I'm still pissed off. Either she turns into an attention whore or feels so uncomfortable that she leaves the table shortly thereafter.
So my TR in Vegas is unlikely to have any 'bad beats,' at least not at the poker table. I'd much rather play roulette, blackjack, or bet on sports. Being the baseball fanatic that I am, I'm pretty sure there will be enough games to keep me glued to the set. I might pass by the poker room a few times and lean my head in though, because in a perfect world, I could sit in there without tilting my head off. Maybe even play a live SNG knowing full well that the structure is atrocious, but I doubt that'll happen. Oh well. Don't feel bad for me. I'm an attractive, fit, charming, 22-year old male with money to burn in a city whose nickname has the word 'Sin' in front of it. I'm also very modest. Possibly the most modest person ever. The New GameI've been told that I don't post enough entries, or at least not enough to satisfy the masses (i.e. 5-10 people?) who read this blog. It's partly due to a busy schedule, but mostly because I don't like posting unless I have something new, exciting, or interesting to write about. I know, I know. Hold on. Those who you who have the pleasure of knowing me in real life are likely perplexed at this notion, since I'm liable to talk at great lengths about nothing. For some reason, I find mindless chatter so much more difficult to do in this type of medium. But at the behest of others, I'll make a conscious effort to update the blog once a week.
I ended April in somewhat of a break-even stretch, not because of my place, but actually the lack thereof. Packing and moving cut into my time, and I chose to spend most of my last week in San Luis Obispo surrounded by friends instead of two regulars and six fish. Since moving down to San Diego, however, I've found myself with much more time to work. Unfortunately, just because I have the time to play poker doesn't mean I'm going to do so. My computer desk sits only a few feet away from double doors that open to a beautfiul patio area, and right next to my apartment complex's pool and spa. While I've found it rather relaxing, being so close isn't exactly conducive to the desire to sit in front of my computer for hours on end. Still, I've been able to put in a forty hour work week through May 7th, mostly accrued during the wee hours of the night.
May's been amazing, although today put a bit of a damper on the month's progress. I've nearly made as much money so far in May as I did in ALL of April, and am on pace to crush February's totals as my best month ever. But I probably should pull back the reigns of excitement just a bit, as "on pace" means nothing unless I can sustain my volume and continue to run at the same level.
Last month, I felt I spent too much time at the $60s in an effort to "get used to them" quicker when I should have been focusing on the bottom line. With that in mind, a goal of mine was to focus more on the $38s in May, since I've been crushing them for a 9% ROI. While I'd eventually like to move up to the $60s, it makes little sense to do so if I'm not going to be able to make as much as I can at my current level. So far this month, I'm averaging just under 96 of the $35+3s per day, and have also played a mixture of $60s, $27s, and $16 18-man tournaments.
The $15+1 2-table SNGs are new for me, as I've played mostly STTs throughout my 'career.' A fellow grinder (sokpuppet7) suggested I give them a shot, as he's found the game to be very soft. A few days ago I did just that...and the results have been fantastic. My sample size is still rather small, but through 101 SNGs, I have a 27% ROI and a 30.1% ITM. Because my normal sests take a long time to load, I figure I'll be playing a lot more of the 2-table SNGs in the near future. The SupernovaAt the end of last month, I reached Supernova on PokerStars. What does this mean? For those who are unfamilar with the VIP program on PS, it means that I've earned 100,000 VPPs over the course of this year and am now entitled to certain rewards, such as freerolls, cash bonuses, and more FPPs. All good stuff.
Reason I've been a bit laggy with updating my blog as of late is because life has been rather hectic. Several trips to Los Angeles/San Diego have cut into my time at the tables, but that should come to and end in the enxt week or so when I relocate in SD for good. Or at least until I drop out/graduate from law school.
People have asked me how I plan to balance poker with law school, and frankly, I'm not sure if I'll be able to. Based on all of the horror stories I've heard about the first year, I might not even have enough free time to bathe on a regular basis. Not that I take baths; I'm more of a shower guy. Besides, I'm all out of bubbles. But in all seriousness, I hope I'm still able to play somewhat consistently. There's no doubt I'll have to cut back on my current 3,000 SNGs/month, but I believe 1,500/month is attainable. That'd put me around +5k to go along with 80,000 FPPs each month, nearly enough for a $1500 bonus.
All of this, of course, is predicated on the idea that I'll be playing only $38s. My recent venture up to the $60s hasn't exactly gone well, as I'm only averaging 0.5% ROI through 700 ish SNGs. Could this be variance? Probably. But it's also probable that I'm not adjusting to better players or that I'm not yet comfortable with the stake. Because of this, April's been somewhat volatile so far. Up, down, up, down. At the moment I'm still making $40+/hr this month which causes friends of mine to become frustrated with me when I complain about running 'bad.' Oh well.
I'll be without internet for a few days after moving into my new place so I better try to make up for that lost time now. The AnniversaryAs I was loading up a set of SNGs tonight, my friend Matt reminded me of something I had forgotten all about. Yesterday marked my one year anniversary with PokerStars.
Luckilly, this is the type of anniversary I'm allowed to forget. I won't have to buy PS a box of chocolate, or flowers, or apologize profusely to make up for it. I'm sure that the $23,000+ in rake I've paid over the course of the last year is more than enough.
One year ago, on March 18th, I decided to give turbo SNGs a shot. Before that, I had been 4-tabling the $10+1s and $20+2s, with moderate success. I mean, my stats (ROI/ITM) were solid, but the bottom line was that I was "wasting my game at low limits" as several friends/forum members pointed out. At the time, I didn't like hearing that, but I felt a bit intimidated at the prospect of moving up.
I had spent the last few months helping my friend Matt improve his game, and he asked if I'd watch/play a few SNGs with him on PokerStars. I obliged, and immediately noticed the $15+1 Turbos in the tournament lobby. I had always been anti-turbo, because I felt that the higher blinds resulted in more variance and thus put better players at more of disadvantage. However, the idea of a 15-1 prize pool to rake ratio intrigued me enough to try them out. And good thing I did. I started out with 9 at a time and fell in love with the prospect of winning more money in a much shorter amount of time. After a while, I was able to 12 table, and eventually 16-tabled.
Since then, I've been slowly moving up in both stake and the total number of tables. With the 24-inch monitor I purchased in December, I've upped the tables to 30, which is actually the most that the resolution is able to tile. It's gotten to the point where I'm honestly considering the prospect of getting another monitor, or perhaps a bigger one. The $16s are in my rear view mirror, as I've been playing a mixture of $27s/$38s in the last two months. I'd prefer to play only $38s if possible, but they simply don't load up fast enough and so I throw in a few $27s to keep me busy.
As for the results, well, I'm rather proud of them. In the span of a year, I've went from a 4-tabling micro stakes player to currently securing the top spot on the Sharkscope Leaderboard for 2008 total profit in $16-$35 SNGs. I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed by that. It makes me wonder what type of jump I'm capable of making over the course of the next year. Multi-tabling 109s, perhaps? Supernova Elite? A six-figure income? I'm not sure, but it's going to be fun to find out. The MonthIt's only a few days into March but I already miss February. After suffering through a brutal end to January, I took a few days off to re-energize myself and it worked out rather well.
Despite only playing 2200 SNGs, I was able to have my most profitable month ever. My previous 'best' was in December when I made ~$4,500 and I eclipsed that mark in February by the 15th. Part of me wanted to write a blog about it at that time, but I fell victim to superstition (after "jinxing" myself in January) and decided against it. While I only played 2200 SNGs in the month, I am more than happy to report that I cleared a little over $10,000. Not too shabby at all.
After February's results, I'm more open to the possibility of putting my Frequent Player Points towards something extravagant rather than simply turning it into cash. But I need to be careful not to get too ahead of myself, because last month could simply be an abberation. Besides, I still have to clear another 30,000 VPPs before I'm even able to be eligible to purchase the $1500 Supernova Reward Bonuses. With this pace, I'll reach it before April 1st.
In all likelihood, I'll put off doing the buying of bonuses for a while, and the first FPP purchase I'll make will be once I reach 200,000 VPPs on the year. I believe it's referred to as the "200,000 VPP Milestone" and at that point I'll happily trade 50,000 FPPs for $2,000 in cash. Even if I decide against the regular $1500 bonuses, I'd be a fool not to go after the "Milestone" versions, which can be bought at:
200,000 VPPs ($2,000)
300,000 VPPs ($3,000)
400,000 VPPs ($4,000)
500,000 VPPs ($5,000)
Just to be clear, each bonus will cost me 50,000 FPPs and I put the amount awarded in parentheses.
In other news, yesterday I reclaimed my spot as the #1 ranked $16-$35 SNG player in the world after losing it for a few days to Premier. I've got a decent lead on the guy in terms of profit for 2008, but I wouldn't be surprised if he overtakes me in the coming weeks. He puts in much more volume than I do, and to be honest, I'm hoping that I'll be playing mostly $60s come June.
The funniest part about being ranked #1 is that I don't even consider myself to be that good of a poker player. While I'm familiar with several plays that involve "higher level thinking," most of my SNGs come down to push-botting; something that I'm sure that most people could do/learn. Yet in the last week, I've had a few fellow grinders thank me for sharing my knowledge which has supposedly helped improve their game, respectively. It's a wonderful feeling, and it reminds me of how far I've come in such a short time; only a year or so ago, I was the guy posting poorly played hands and asking for advice in certain situations, eager to read the responses from more respected contributors. Recently, I was actually surprised to run into one of them (Syndr0me) in a few of my SNGs.
While I'm familiar with his username, I doubt he remembers mine. Both of us were active members of the CardPlayer Forums back in 2005, and I recall learning several NLHE techniques/strategies through his posts. At the time, my game wasn't much to rave about, nor were my stakes (single tabling $5/$10 SNGs). Part of the reason for my success can be directly attributed to posters like him who were kind enough to share their expertise with others players who shared the same goal of wanting to improve. Without them, I doubt I'd have turned into the player I am today, and been capable of making the following plays on Syndr0me.
PokerStars Game #15705492832: Tournament #79493376, $35+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2008/03/03 - 05:33:11 (ET)Table '79493376 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: syndr0me (2995 in chips)
Seat 4: kalamitsis (2740 in chips)
Seat 5: abarone68 (6265 in chips)
Seat 9: javnc (1500 in chips) is sitting out
syndr0me: posts the ante 25
kalamitsis: posts the ante 25
abarone68: posts the ante 25
javnc: posts the ante 25
kalamitsis: posts small blind 100
abarone68: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to abarone68 [4c 9d]
javnc: folds
syndr0me: raises 400 to 600
kalamitsis: folds
abarone68: raises 1200 to 1800
syndr0me: folds
abarone68 collected 1400 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1400 Rake 0
Seat 3: syndr0me (button) folded before Flop
Seat 4: kalamitsis (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: abarone68 (big blind) collected (1400)
Seat 9: javnc folded before Flop (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #15705517208: Tournament #79493376, $35+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/03/03 - 05:36:17 (ET) Table '79493376 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: syndr0me (3890 in chips)
Seat 4: kalamitsis (1815 in chips)
Seat 5: abarone68 (7120 in chips)
Seat 9: javnc (675 in chips) is sitting out
syndr0me: posts the ante 25
kalamitsis: posts the ante 25
abarone68: posts the ante 25
javnc: posts the ante 25
abarone68: posts small blind 200
javnc: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to abarone68 [Ts 3s]
syndr0me: raises 800 to 1200
kalamitsis: folds
abarone68: raises 5895 to 7095 and is all-in
javnc: folds
syndr0me: folds
abarone68 collected 2900 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2900 Rake 0
Seat 3: syndr0me folded before Flop
Seat 4: kalamitsis (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: abarone68 (small blind) collected (2900)
Both are completely standard bubble situations in which I'm able to capitalize on as the chipleader, but I'm still proud that I was able to put it into action against a player whose game I have much respect for, and helped tailor my own. The LeaderboardI've been a subscriber to Sharkscope, a site that tracks SNG performance, for quite a while now. In the beginning, the purpose was mostly to scout other players at my table so I'd have a better idea of the caliber of my opponent and be able to adjust accordingly.
For example, if he had a decent ROI, I'd know that a raise in the early levels was more likely to be a big hand. Or if his average stake was lower than the SNG we were currently in, it might be possible for me to steal from him because he'd be playing "scared," and tighter than normal.
But truth be told, my greatest joy came from typing in my username and looking at my graphed results. After I started playing $15+1 Turbos in late March of last year, I noticed that Sharkscope had a yearly leaderboard that listed the top twenty players in terms of total profit at a particular stake. The only reward was a sense of personal gratification, unless if you count the nifty star that would be put next to your username when other players looked you up. From that point on, I started playing more frequently in an attempt to get my own.
Despite my late start, I actually made it into the top twenty sometime in October, and was very proud of the white star I recieved. But I moved up to $27s shortly after and I lost it by the end of the year.
As of today, February 27th, 2008, I'm back. And I'm not just on the leaderboard, but I'm in first place. That's right, the shiny blue star is reserved for only the player on top which means I am the #1 ranked player in the world for total profit in SNGs $16-$35.
I won't go as far to say I'm the best $16-$35 SNG player in the world, but umm, you could make the argument. The VictoryA little over two months ago, my friend Matt (glitlr) and I made a bet; I could make $10,000 before he could make $2,000. Only SNGs counted towards are profit margin, something he was rather happy about, especially after I won a small multi-table tournament for $1200 only two weeks after we hammered out the rules.
The $8,000 difference in winnings was put in place to account for the fact that I play higher stakes ($27s/$38s vs $10s/$6.50s) and more often. We stayed relatively even, percentage wise, over the first few weeks but then I began to run hot and pulled away substantially. If it weren't for me downswing, I figure I could have closed this thing out by the end of January, but instead, it took me a bit longer.
When I woke up this morning (cough...cough...afternoon), I only needed to make $177.30 to reach my goal. A 32-table session on Stars netted me $134.50, but as I attempted to add more, I noticed that SNGs were no longer running. Apparently the site had encountered some sort of technical problem, leaving me $40 short of a solid brag. I considered shutting it down for the day, but eventually decided to play a set of $22+2s on FullTilt. Although I could only start 12 at once thanks to their software, it was more than enough. One hour later, I had made $65, enough to bring me past the $10k mark and into shit-talking territory.
In total,
66 Days (Only played on 49 of them)
SNG Profit: +$10,025.60
SNGs Played: 4502 The Road to RecoveryMy last post, now more than three weeks old, is a constant reminder of the variance that exists in this game. Playing SNG for a living means that all tournaments, at one point or another, will come down to whether or not I can win a showdown. No matter how well I outplay my opponents, it's not enough. Considering that most of the all-in situations are where I'm somewhere between a 4-1 and 6-5 favorite, I'm going to lose a lot of hands. And for a 1,000 SNG stretch, I sure did.
The total damage was somewhere around $2,000, capped off by an unfortunate session where I was blinded out for twenty or so $25+2 SNGs. Thanks, Charter. Needless to say, I didn't sleep too well that night. The actions of the previous four days had eroded my confidence, diminished my desire to play, and left me feeling helpless. Many people had suggested I take a break, while a few others advised me to cash out immediately and give up. As I laid in bed, considering my options, I couldn't bring myself to quit. I knew the beats would stop coming, and that variance would even itself out, eventually. My only hope was that I wouldn't go insane before that happened.
And I didn't. At least I don't think so.
Since the 26th, I'm up more than $4,000 and that includes a five day vacation in LA/Vegas when I didn't play a single SNG. More importantly, I feel re-energized and ready to continue my quest to play at least 100 SNGs per day and reach Supernova by April 15th. Missing the first few days of Februrary has thrown a bit of a wrench into that plan, along with a family emergency that required me to go to my parent's house for a few days. However, I figure I can still put in 50 or so SNGs/day on my laptop, and make up the difference when I return home to San Luis Obispo.
Although I'm normally not a superstitious person, I'm a bit reluctant to declare myself fully recovered from the downswing, hence the title of this blog entry. Sharkscope tells a different story. Still, I think the dip in my graph will be a constant reminder of how brutal this game can be, to even the most consistent players. My game is still feeling the effects of the downswing, as I put off moving up to the $38s full-time until I deemed myself ready. The goal is to play 1,000 of them this month, evaluate my ROI, and then make the decision. The PriceThe phrase "running bad" makes me cringe. Part of it stems from the fact that it violates the rules of grammar in several different ways, but mostly my sentiment is grounded in the knowledge that variance can strike at any time, and haunt even the most solid, fundamental player. Unfortunately, it's my turn.
I made a bet with a friend of mine that I could play 1,000 SNGs in about six days, and I was doing rather well up until the 16th. At that point, I had reached 40% of my goal and profited over $1,400. Life was good. But since then, it's all been downhill.
I've lost over a grand in my last 475 SNGs, and am down a little more than $800 over the last three days. Not good. During this stretch, however, I've mixed in a few $35+3s and have been faring much better in them than the $27s. Because of that, I might move up a tad earlier than expected. If I can play five sessions a day at the $38s and average 5% ROI, I'll be able to make close to $80,000 in a calender year from my play alone, not including the bonuses/rewards I'd earn with VPPs/FPPs.
One problem. I believe it's cruical to remember that if I do choose to move up, variance won't stay at the $27s. In fact, it'll only grow. I'd be playing with an extra $264 on the table each session, and "running bad" would hurt even more. The caveat is that by playing $38s, I can earn significantly more bonus money through my player points. In one year's time, I'd acrue 180,000 more VPPs (360,000 vs 540,000) and 625,000 FPPs (1,160,000 vs 1,785,000) simply by switching from $27s to $38s. With those extra FPPS, I'd be able to "purchase" six additional $1500 bonuses, equaling $9,000. In addition, the difference in VPPs is enough to where I would be given another $9,000 for reaching the 400k and 500k VPP "milestones." Therefore, even if I did experience the occasional variance I'd be able to cry about it on by wads of $100 bills totaling $18,000.
I feel good now. I think I'm playing $38s from now on. The MoveI haven't updated in a while, and for good reason: I've been busy. I've played nearly 1,000 SNGs so far this month, and it's been done rather easily, twenty-four tables at a time.
Okay, I shouldn't say "rather easily," because first of all it's not true, and second of all it makes me sound like a jackass. But twenty-four tabling has allowed me to play more tournaments than I had ever dreamed of, and so far, the results have been very good. It's only been a few weeks since I moved up from the $15+1s, after putting in 4,300 of them between May and November. Since then, however, I've played more than 2,500 of the $25+2s and am running at nearly the same ROI. In fact, I'm at 12.02% over my last 1,800 of them.
While I'm ecstatic with that, I'm eagerly looking forward to playing even higher. My current plan is to finish out January by playing mostly $25+2s with occasional $35+3s mixed in to my sessions. By the time Februrary rolls around, I should have completed close to 5,000 of them and will begin to focus more on the $38s. I actually haven't been doing too well in those tournaments so far, but the sample size is small (<100) so I'm not worried. Besides, I only have to average a little under 9% ROI to make more money per SNG than I'm currently doing right now.
My basic plan is to slowly move up, playing at a certain level and moving up only after obtaining at decent win rate over the course of 5,000 SNGs. Unfortunately, there are no baby steps between the $35+3s and the next level, $55+5. And after that, it only gets worse, as the next SNG starts at $114. This leads me to believe I'll stick at the $60s for quite a while, taking occasional shots at the $105+9s when I'm feeling confident enough in my game to do so. I probably won't even have a choice, since I'm pretty sure there's no way I'll be able to 24-table the $114s simply because there aren't enough players to fill up enough tournaments. I'm aware there are a few levels higher than the $105+9 variety, but I don't think I'll concern myself with those for a while.
Another benefit of moving up is that I'll acrue VPPs/FPPs at a faster rate. Most people who play on PokerStars are aware of this, but for those who aren't, the site rewards its players with 'points' based on the amount of rake paid (5 VPPs/$1). Based on your level of play, PokerStars will multiply your VPPs and turn them into FPPs, with which you're able to purchase items from their store. Personally, I'll be shooting for a $1500 Supernova Reward Bonus which costs 100,000 FPPs. I could throw out a lot of numbers, but the bottom line is that I believe I'll be able to make enough FPPs to purchase one bonus per month. I've been toying around with the idea of hoarding the points until I could 'buy' something more extravagant, but it's tough to turn down cold, hard, cash.
And finally, I hate to jinx myself by saying this, but January has been nothing short of fantastic so far. I made more money last month than ever before, and in all likelihood, I'm going to crush that number this month. Might even double it. Of course, that'll rely on me putting in the hours - something I've neglected over the past few days. I blame it on a friend of mine, with whom I've been spending nearly every waking minute. But that's fine by me, because he'll be moving soon and when I look back on my life in a few months, or perhaps even years, I know I won't regret it. Funny, it seems that the more money I have, the more meaning I find in the things that don't cost a dime. The SessionThis entry happens to be nothing more than a brag post, but I don't really care. It is, after all, my blog.
I had played an earlier 24-table session today and didn't do too well. So I took a break, cleared my head, and came back strong.
For those who've always wanted to know, this is what a normal poker session looks like to me.
For my second session, I actually ended up playing 25 of the $27s, and had seventeen cashes. Interesting, none in second. But more importantly, eleven of them ended with me in first place.
In total, I made $832.50. Not bad in under an hour. The MorningI couldn't sleep to well last night, as I kept tossing and turning over a hand I played in a $5 MTT on FullTilt. It's rare for a hand to keep me awake, but whenever I go deep in a multi-table tournament and don't finish first, I generally think about the hand I went out on for a day or two. Since I couldn't sleep, nor could I stop thinking about poker, I decided to take a shower, grab some coffee, and fire up a few sessions of $27 SNGs.
I got started around 4:45 AM, and even felt adventurous enough to throw in a few $35+3s. Turned out to be a bad idea, as I only cashed in one of the six tournaments I played. The $27s, on the other hand, went rather well. I was lucky to experience the rare scenario of both running good, and playing good. With the new monitor, I 24-tabled the tournaments, and attempted to play for individual sessions. Along the way, I realized I had made the mistake of not joining enough SNGs so I added one to another session. Once I had completed 72 of them I realized how much cooler it would sound if I played 28 more to make it an even hundred. So I did. Actually, I played 101.
The following is the break down, per session.
Session 1 (6 $38s, 41 $27s) + $281
Session 2 (25 $27s) + $257.50
Session 3 (29 $27s) - $112.50
Funny thing is that I had an uneasy feeling about session three, even before I started. Call it intuition, call it dumb luck, but I knew I couldn't run good forever. And I didn't. Still, I'm rather happy with how the tournaments went.
I finished them all in under five hours (it's 10:46 AM currently) and I was able to make $416 during that time. Not bad at all. Funny thing is that I don't even feel tired right now. But my right eye is rather bloodshot, and I'm pretty it needs the rest more than I do. The CasinoAs a non-believer in the divinity of Christ (i.e. a Jew), I didn't have much planned for today. I considered 20-tabling, watching a movie, or even visiting family before I decided to go to a local Indian casino. Since I rarely get to play live, I wanted to try and make the day a truly "merry" one.
I arrived at Chumash with $300 on me, and put my name on the waiting list to play $1/$2 NL. The woman told me game had a $60 max buy-in, but I already knew that. And while I'd much rather play with a deeper stack, I'm used to operating with 30 BBs; I primarilly play SNGs.
After a few orbits, I had lost nearly half my stack because of hands like this:
Raise with AQo, get five callers, whiff the flop, fold
I reloaded for another $40 and slowly built my stack up to $80 or so. Meanwhile, an old man to my left was steaming. He kept complaining about the bad beats he had earlier that day (AQ vs QT, AA vs A6, etc) but I figured the worst beat had to be the fact that he was sitting in a casino on Christmas instead of being surrounded a warm, loving family. Since angry strangers tend to make me uncomfortable, I tried to make conversation. He asked me why I was playing cards instead of opening presents, and I told him it was because I was Jewish. He gave me a half nod, and that was the end of our chat.
He didn't stop complaining about the beats, however, and one player even apologized to him. Bitter old man says "It's not your fault," and for a second, I think that perhaps this guy isn't that dumb after all. But my hopes and dreams are dashed as he turns to the dealer and says, "What the hell are you doing, Chuck?" The dealer looks stunned, as he should be. No one (myself included) at the table says anything at the time. During my lunch break, however, I made it a point to seek out Chuck and apologize on behalf of the bitter old man and the table.
A few orbits after the outburst, I pick up AA UTG and make a smallish raise to $8. Bitter old man immediately raises to $18, and a forty year old hispanic man with rudimentary english skills cold calls the $18. It's folded back around to me, and I shove for my remaining $78. Bitter old man 'Helmuth's' his chips in the middle and the hispanic gentleman utters the following as he phyiscally pushes his chips towards the center of the table. "Okay mang."
I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to live play, and ask if the other guys want to show each other our cards. Bitter man proudly tables his AK, which causes the hispanic man to sigh as he too shows AK. Seriously? Wow. Flop comes K94. Turn 5. River K. The hispanic man says nothing but lets out a toothy grin. At that moment, the bitter old man yells,
"There is a god! Thank you Jesus."
Fuck you. That's right, buddy. I'm sure Jesus has nothing better to do on this holiday that celebrates his fucking birth than help geezer donks like yourself suckout for a $200 at low stakes NL hold'em. And as if the brutal one outer to lose the biggest pot of my life wasn't enough, thanks for the implication that Christianity > Judaism. Real classy.
I re-buy for $60, and promptly lose it all on the following hand:
UTG raises to $6, five players call, I call on the button with 65 of diamonds and both blinds call. Flop is A43 with two diamonds. The preflop raiser bets $15, and it's folded over to me. I raise to $45, he tanks and finally shoves. I call and blank both the turn and river. AQo good sir.
I'm down about $140 at this point, and decide to take my lunch break. I feel much better with a full stomach, and return to the table. Most of the faces are new, but the hispanic man is still here. With my chips. Fantastic. I begin to pick on the limpers and build my stack up, but it ultimately fails me as an old man to my left keeps picking up monster hands behind me and shoving. I rebuy, and tell myself that it's my last time. And it is.
I actually hit a few flops and find out how it feels to win a pot. Hooray. Poker is fun. After stacking a guy with a set vs his top pair, I'm up to $160 and feeling pretty damn good. Unfortunately, the table breaks and I'm relegated to sitting at a new table, with a bunch of players I have no reads on. I sit down with $171, just in time to see a crazy asian guy in seat one try to pull a tripple barrell bluff with AJ. The other guy calls him on the river, but stares longingly at his cards/the flop for a second before he mucks. Tripple barrell value bet, perhaps?
Next hand, crazy asian man limps in UTG and two players limp behind. I limp with 8h9h, and the flop comes AJ7, all hearts. Blinds check, and the crazy asian man leads for $20 into a pot of $12. Folded around to me, I raise to $55. He thinks for ten seconds before making the call. In my head, I'm screaming, "No heart on the turn and don't pair the board. Please. One time! One motherfucking time!" Turn is a 3 of clubs. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. He checks, and I shove for my remaining $114. Now he tanks. He keeps muttering to himself, and one of the words sounds like 'call.' I ask if he said "call," and he looks at me for a second before standing up and proclaiming "A7. A7. I call you. A7." He turns over his cards, A7, for two pair. I turn over the flush and he doesn't seem fazed one bit. Dealer burns, and flips over the disgusting Ace of diamonds on the river. He goes nuts. I sit there in shock for half a second, muck my hand, and stand up.
Funny how things work out, huh? A little more than hour ago, I had just lost the biggest pot of my life. Correction. That pot was now only the second biggest one of my life. Because the crazy asian man's four outer cost me $350. But for some reason, I wasn't angry or upset. I calmly walked over to the cashier, exchanged my remaining $7 in chips for cash, and left. While I'm certainly not happy with the results, I'm proud of how I played and how well I kept my composure. And more importantly, I look forward to going back. The BetA friend of mine (glitlr on PokerStars) and I share very similar goals in poker; we both want to play more often and make more money. Because of this, I recently put forth a challenge to him. I bet that I could make $10,000 before he could make $2,000.
I did this, partly because I'm an ass, but mostly because I believe it will motivate both of us to put in more hours, and subsequently, reap more profit. The winner of the bet only gets $60, the amount of a max buy-in at Chumash Casino's $1/$2 NL game. Most people hate the structure, but as a guy who primarilly plays SNGs, I've found a silver lining - I'm used to playing with 30 BB stacks.
The only caveat to this bet is that multi-table tournaments do not count, nor do cash games. He and I agreed on this because it will force me to play more $16s and $27s, while he'll be focusing on thee $11s instead of small stake multi's. He's a proven winner at the $11s (+25% ROI) so I have my work cut out for me. I do happen to have a few things in my favor though, since I play more frequently and more tables at a time. I also recently bought a 24-inch monitor that allows me to tile 24 tables without much overlap. While I doubt it will double my current hourly (I've been playing 12 at a time), there should be some sort of increase in my total profits.
After today, I wish I wouldn't excluded MTTs from our bet. I went deep in a few multi's but had it end brutally in most of them. QQ>KK, Set under set, etc. However, one of them ended pretty well.
*********** # 491 **************
PokerStars Game #14038792049: Tournament #70319976
$5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXI (6000/12000) - 2007/12/22 - 23:45:48 (ET)
Table '70319976 100' 6-max
Seat 3: abarone68 (928534 in chips)
Seat 5: chungyongtkd (626966 in chips)
abarone68: posts the ante 1200
chungyongtkd: posts the ante 1200
abarone68: posts small blind 6000
chungyongtkd: posts big blind 12000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to abarone68 [ Ad Ts]
abarone68: raises 24000 to 36000
chungyongtkd: calls 24000
*** FLOP *** [Ah Qh 5d ]
chungyongtkd: checks
abarone68: bets 48000
chungyongtkd: raises 48000 to 96000
abarone68: raises 795334 to 891334 and is all-in
chungyongtkd: calls 493766 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Kh ]
*** RIVER *** [Js ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chungyongtkd: shows [As 8d ] (a pair of Aces)
abarone68: shows [Ad Ts ] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
abarone68 collected 1253932 from pot
Even though it was only a $5.50 6-handed MTT, it felt good to take it down. 1000+ runners made the prize pool pretty juicy as well.
One final note: I've moved up to $27s. I might have mentioned this in an earlier post, but I've decided to stick with this level for a while. I still might do $16s from time to time, but it'll no doubt cost me my "star" on Sharkscope's Cardplayer $20> Single Table Leaderoard. Oh well. Money > Prestige. The ResentmentPoker has a cyclical effect on me. No matter how well I play and how much I make, something bad always happens. Like a brutal suckout in a big pot. Or a session where I drop ten buy-ins that momentarilly crushes my confidence. Or a vicious downswing that makes me want to punt a small child.
Over the course of so many hands/tournaments, I've grown to live with it. Poker is a demanding game, and I'm fully aware that it will bring me both highs and lows. Generally, it's the results that get to me, or (rarely, I hope) the tilt-induced plays that cost me equity. In short, losing money hurts. However, that's not why I've become frustrated with the game over the last few weeks.
At this point in my life, for the most part, things are fantastic. I live in a fun town, near my 'best' friends, and my only responsibility is to play poker on a semi-regular basis to my for my rent. That's it. No school, no job, no family, no nothing. And I love it. I love waking up whenever I want, and going to sleep whenever I want. I love working for three hours a day, and spending the rest of my time hanging with friends, going out to parties, hitting up the gym, etc. For the first time in sixteen years, I'm free.
But my freedom has come with a price; I consistently face people who hate what I do. My parents are reluctant to tell relatives/family friends about my "job," and I don't blame them. It's rather difficult to explain to a non-poker player about how the game differs from other forms of gambling, and how one person is able to have a competitive edge over others. I don't even think my parents fully understand. But in all honesty, that's fine. If people fail to understand the mathematical component behind the game, then it's not my fault. It's theirs.
I'm more upset about the people in my life who have basically told me that I'm a "lazy degenerate gambler who is wasting his life sitting in front of a computer all day." There are so many things wrong with that statement that I'm having difficulty deciding where to start. For one, I don't sit in front of a computer all day. It's generally somewhere between 2-4 hours. :)Despite the animosity, I'm glad to see my sense of humor is still working. Secondly, it's not like I'm playing slot machines or scratchers. Yes, I am technically "gambling." But the entire economy (stock market, interest rates, etc) could also be called a "gamble." And very rarely do I see stock-brokers/traders looked down upon.
I really don't understand all of the hate. My only explanation for it is that people are jealous. I don't have to wake up early in the morning, rush to work, grind out eight hours in a cramped cubicle with innane supervisors/co-workers breathing down my neck. I'm lucky, I guess. For now, I'm making enough money where I don't have to work outside the home. I don't have to put in more than four hours a day to pay my bills. But I get the feeling that some people would be happier if I had a "real job," even if it meant I made less money. In fact, I know it'd make them happier because it would allow them to brag to their friends about me, instead of hiding/avoiding the truth. As if the truth is really that bad.
And let's remember, it's not like I'm going to do this forever. I never have once even considered the possibility of making a career out of my poker skills. Not once. My law school applications are basically complete, and I'll be focusing solely on that when the time comes. But if I plan on paying for tuition myself, I'll need to play a lot over the course of the next 6-8 months. The AttemptSince I don't have many responsibilities at this point in time, I figured I should try and play 1,500 of the $15+1 SNGs in the month of November. Even with 12-tabling, I knew I'd be in for a difficult task. Fatigue, burnout, downswings, etc had cut into the amount of time/games I played in the last few months. Hell, I only did about 300 of them in October although I did post my most lucrative month since "going pro" thanks to my 2nd place finish in a $24+2 NLHE multi-table tournament.
I still laugh when I write the word "pro" to refer to myself. I mean, I guess I am playing professionally since I'm paying for my bills and such soley with money made via poker, but my lifestyle doesn't really reflect that of a professional poker player you'll see on television. And my 660 square foot apartment certainly won't be featured on MTV's Cribs anytime soon.
So far this month, I'm ahead of schedule in the quest to get 1,500 of the $16s under my belt. Sharkscope has me at 597 SNGs, but they've been missing more than a few of my tournaments (and profit, for that matter) and I estimate the number is closer to 620. At this rate, I'll play close to 1,800, though I bet I'll take some time off towards the end of the month. Unfortunately, I'm not running spectacularly well. My mom always asks, "But are you still in the positives?" And I am. I always am. Before today, I was only running slightly below expectation (14%), but this last 50-SNG session was b-r-u-t-a-l. It dropped my month's ROI a full 3%, and the according total profit fell by 1/6th. Not good.
I'm not discouraged just yet, but I've decided to call it a night. No more poker. Most of you wouldn't be surprised since it's 1 AM, but recently, I've been playing until the wee hours of the morning and sleeping until the afternoon. It's a crazy schedule, but it's proved to be profitable so far. I might get back on it tommorow, who knows. The Day OffI didn't really play much today. It wasn't that I had a lot to do. In fact, I spent a large part of my time watching poker and reading threads on strategy. While my passion for the game is rather intense, some days, you just don't feel right.
I woke up at 2 in the afternoon, still exhausted. Mainly I stayed up all night playing poker and didn't get to sleep until 7 AM. But it was totally worth it.
I actually didn't even play that much, judging by the number of tournaments I played. My first twelve SnGs were of the $27 variety, and I ran incredibly hot. I was rather happy to do well in that particular session, since I'm planning on moving up after I've logged enough experience at the level to feel comfortable. It was my only session of $27s, however, as I moved back down to $16s and played forty of them over the course of the day.
Session 1: $27 SnGs (12) +$351
Session 2: $16 SnGs (12) +$78
Session 3: $16 SnGs (16) +$217.50
Session 4: $16 SnGs (12) +$91.50
I made $738 in a a little over three hours of tournament poker. Not bad. I also played about two hours of low stakes cash games (NL $100, NL $50, NL $25) and somehow left up $280. Don't ask me how I did it; I'm not used to winning in cash games. I say that jokingly, but in all seriousness, I do feel like I need to improve in different formats and in particular, cash games. Perhaps my poor play comes from the fact I'm using "real money," or that I've grown accustomed to playing with 30 BB stacks. Either way, I was happy with the results. Most of my money, however, came from one single hand when held the absolute nuts against the second and third best possible hands.
While any day where I make over a grand is a good day, for some reason, 'calling in sick' felt so much better. I've got to go back to tommorow, so I should probably get some sleep. Looks like I'm waking up in the afternoon again. The New MonthI was rather happy to see September come to an end, but when it was all said and done, I was finally able to see the silver lining:
I had the worst statistical month since I started playing poker in March of 2005
I had to take several days off due to fatigue, tilt, and prior engagements
I had to deal with a faulty internet connection which cost me an estimated $400 in SNG entry fees
Despite all of this, I still made enough money to pay for my rent, utilities, food, and other the essentials. It makes me feel better than even if I get smacked in the face with variance, I'm still able to sustain myself soley through online poker.
I was admittedly hesitant to start off in October, and it didn't help that my first two sessions set me in somewhat of a hole. I decided to take a little bit of a break, and come back when I felt "ready." That's something that most people on the outside don't realize. Friends of mine often want to watch me play, and expect that I'm constantly able to turn on a computer, start up a session, and play at an optimum level. But I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. To play at my best, I need to be in the right mindset. Of course it's neccessary to be properly fed and well rested, but more importantly, I can't be thinking about anything else in my life.
There have been times when I've had nothing to do, but I can't bring myself to play. It's not that I don't want to, but it's that I know my mind isn't right. I'll either be too aggressive, too passive, too tight, or too loose. Being on an extensive downsing definitely hinders my desire to play, and the opposite holds true as well; when I'm running good, I don't want to leave my computer.
I woke up yesterday around 10 AM, and for the first time in a few days, felt like playing. So I fired up twelve $27 SNGs and went to work. After finishing those, I started a second session of twelve $16 SNGs, and added one session immediately afterwards. In less than three hours time, I had made a little under $400 and wanted to keep playing for as long as I could. Unfortunately, I couldn't. Even when I feel like playing, I also would like to have somewhat of a life away from the computer screen. Somewhat of a life.
Anyways, below is a break-down of the first two months of "work."
Mid August-August: +$2,444
September: +$1,135
My goals for Ocotober are as follows:
1) 1200 $15+1 SNGs, 15% ROI
2) 100 $25+2 SNGs, 12% ROI
3) +$2,200
I haven't played that much so far this month, but I'll continue to post updates.
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