The Horses have finished

So we had a little challenge and there were ups and downs, but through the month we have ended with the following results...

I pulled the numbers together as best I could, knowing that pro labs can be inaccurate, so a few games may have been missed out.

The interesting things to note are the amount of games played and also the finishing positions. Obvioulsy the more we can finish in the money the better, but also emplying a tight early game strategy should help that so reducing the amount of Early and Early Middle finishes is essential.

Sample sizes of less than 1000 games are a good indication, but until 1000+ games are logged then the jury is still out.

The final numbers are pretty irrelevant, the idea was to show that BRM can be employed to not only sustain a good level of volume, but enable a player to grow his bank and experience/knowledge along the way.

Fear of losing or 'playing scared' should be eliminated allowing the player to make difficult, but correct plays.

Tilt is a factor that needs work, but overall the standard of play has improved and if nothing else this has been 'interesting' journey for us all.

Party Poker Bonus

Monday morning I get a letter through the door from Kara Scott of Party Poker.

I'm sure she had lots to do with the advertising rubbish about the board of directors wanting me to have some bonuses. Either way instead of instantly filing it in the bin I thought why not see what I can do...

The initial offer was $10 immediately which could only be cashed out once a set number of points had been met, then a further $25 bonus which again was to be released by playing and earning Party Points.

So I got started on 13th Feb with a few $3 10 man games. Having been working hard with my coach recently on the 9 mans at PokerStars these felt way easier, far more fish in the pool at Party I think.

I managed to spin the $10 up and by accident (Party Lobby is not my favourite place) loaded up a 6max Turbo. Now I was a bit annoyed, but what a find. These things are super fishy and I have used what I am terming SBRM (Suicidal Bank Roll Management) of 10 Buy Ins for these games.

The main reason for doing this is that it is free money. I have never taken shots out of my bankroll and reading the likes of Vannessa Selbst recently talking about shot taking I thought what the hell, lets see what can be done.

So here it is...

The yellow arrows indicate the balance, and the 2 bonuses that I got. My Party roll has breached $200 from $10 in just 5 days. I am playing the $11 6max Turbos now (while still playing and learning $3.50s at Poker Stars)

Now where this ends up is uncertain but it will be fun watching. Using SBRM can an likely will result in failure so do not try this at home kids!!!

All I can say is thanks.

Bit of a grind

So I have felt a bit down about result lately and took some time off to think about my mindset over the weekend.

I looked at my tilt issues and decided that the majority of plays I am making are ok, but I am probably missing out on 5 to 10 good spots each game which is far too high.

So today I tried to play a few more games to see how things went. The graph below includes 3 games played on Party Poker as they kindly sent my $10 to use for free (cashout not possible until a set amount of points are reached) and I must say on initial view their SNGs are a bit softer than on Poker Stars.

I managed a few wins which was pleasing as HU I have been failing to make the final few hands count. Overall count  was 3 wins, 4 2nds and 5 3rds with a total ITM% of 44.4%.

So even thought the haul wasn't massive the results looked ok, I certainly felt a lot better and even the odd suckout or bit of bad luck wasn't tilting me.

Home game tonight, lets see what happens.

Bad Beat

I try not to get too hung up on Bad Beats or Bad Luck (even though it is difficult) I had to post this though...

I was running a Micro MTT while work was a bit slow and got AK in and had to drop it, 88 and had to drop it and finally KK and this is the result.

Look at the % to win figures on these:

I just had to laugh, I then ran AK all in against 75s and lost followed by ATo for my last few chips. Flop came Ace high against kings, but the turn King meant I was out.

Sometimes it is not destined to happen, no matter how much you would like it to.

Super Bad

So as I play I am earning FPPs (Frequent Player Points) which you can trade in for shop items, T Shirts, Cards, and other stuff, or you can play tournaments which are often step tourneys to others with a cash buy-in. With these you most often can convert to cash by de-registering form the next 1 before it is due to run.

So I play some low buy in Donkfests with a view that I will easily gain a seat if my cards hold against the sometimes idiotic play of the opponents.

It works for the most part, 1 such tourney is the Satellitte to a $3.30 $40k Saturday Event where for 33 FPPs you can often get $3.30 back which goes into the SNG grind bank roll.

BUT... beware the fish (see below) I managed to obv find a few calling stations and had to wait for a hand and then have it hold. I manage to get these to guys all in steadily increasing my bets until we get it all in value all the way baby... but he binked his 8 and I lmao for about 10 minutes. I really wish these guys were on my SNG tables.

EDIT: Next 1 played on 4th hand managed to get AA in the CO raised big as we had 3 limpers in... aipf KJo wins lol

Friday night horse update

The horses have been working away and I think progress has been made. See the graphic below for actual stats.

A solid week in that the guys have run over the allotted 40 games per week. The profits have yet to come, but I think progress has been made. We have reviewed a couple of sessions and apart form some tech issues meaning less time spent with Poker Plough on this than I had hoped for, my ideas have been well received.

Variance is a bitch at times, but I think most of the losses incurred are more from poor choices made while playing than bad luck. If more good choices are made then over the next week I expect the guys to improve their bank rolls and even get in the black.

Bank Roll Management has meant that Poker Plough has played a lot of games this week and NOT gone broke ;)

The big step next week will be closing out some of these bubble situations and getting 1st places instead of 2nds & 3rds (they just don't pay enough).

Wll done so far guys.

A Heater

I have just finished an awsome set of 8 $3.50 9man SNGs, probably my best to date in a single session :)

I had a session with  my coach earlier and we looked at a couple of trouble spots, I think it really helped.

Ty Peter.

Sngs, coaching and variance

I have not posted for a while, but have been busy playing and working on my game.

I am getting some coaching for Sngs over the next month or 2 and playing a lot of them. All on pokerstars and in the $1.50 to $7 range.

So far the variance has been tough working at -15 Buy Ins at the moment which is a pain, seems as if most 50/50 or 60/40 situations are going against me but it will all change soon enough.

Tilt is a major concern, but I have really been thinking about it recently and found that beats are affecting my play less and less, long may that continue :)

What an idiot

Played a MTT ($5k) last night and was going well $12k with 300 left when I get J4o in the big blind. Small Blind completes and gives me an option to see a flop for free.

Flop comes A4Q and the SB checks, I do too (the guy had been tricky before and could easily have completed with Ax or Qx.

Turn is a harmless 9 and again we both check

River is a J.. woo hoo I have 2 pair, well disguised I am well ahead of Ax or Qx.... now to get paid.

So the SB makes it 700, a min bet and I think about 2 seconds before thinking I shove and get A7 to pay me off...

Obviously I am only getting called by better and a fold from worse, he shows KTo for the straight and I ship him all my stack. 303 out of 2250 when 252 got paid, I could have gone deep.

I shout at the laptop, then myself and then go kicking myself down stairs to watch TV.

Still kicking myself this morning, what a stupid move.

Winning

I made what could have turned out to be a poor decision yesterday. I thought about how I was losing and winning at the $1.50 level and felt that a lot of my play was good, but I was being either called in spots where 'thinking' players would have to fold to a shove or just being played back at with lesser holdings which were getting lucky.

Looking at yesterdays results I am happy with how things went after I made the move from $1.50 to $3.50 games. The $1.50s were leaving me beaten in 6th place by poor players calling shoves in position with poor holdings, QQ beaten by K3s etc, but also the type of agressive end game I employ was being scuppered by lose calling on the bubble, for example I shove in the CO seat with A6o and get called by KJs or similar leaving my in acoin flip situation - better players would see this as a coin flip and fold, instead I was losing some of the coin flips and meaning that the wins n losses were racking up together but the strategy was not able to work.

The fifty50 $3.50 tourneys I busted out of were standard spots fairly early on QQ v KK, AKo v JJ etc where winning a flip there would have set me up well for the end game.

The strategy I employ is a lot more suited to thinking players, it is certainly not fool proof and involves being SUPER tight in the early stages. The pokerprolabs ranks indicate a players ability through a card and star ranking system, this can be used as a guide to players ability, someone designated an Ace or King will be fairly good whereas someone who is a 2, 3 or even up to Jack designation will be poor, making marginal choices and thinking top pair average kicker is good on a coordinated board against heavy action...

the $1.50 level of fifty50 games is littered with poor players, 1 game I played last night had the following (in finish order): 5, 10, K (me), NA, A, 6, 8, 10, 5, J. So in effect there were 2 good players, myself a king and the Ace designated player.

Contrast that to a $3.50 game where we get the following: 10, A, K, K, K, 10, 6, 10, 9, 7. This is an excellent result in reality as the bubble becomes playable, the poorer players have been taken out early leaving time to try build a stack to increase the end payout.

We will see how it goes, but $10 profit yesterday says things are looking up.

Monkeys

I have to keep reminding myself that the $1 level on pokerstars is full of monkeys & fish.

I played a few different games yesterday but a Fifty50 I played ended when I showed in 7th spot v 6th place guy with A3o.

Now anyone who hasn't played these nor understands the Nash Theory will probably think donkey, but in this position I shoved knowing that a reasonable player would only be able to call this shove with a good pair or AQ+, meaning that the increase in stack of 30% meant it was a risk well worth taking.

Well the monkey made the mistake of calling with QJo (I am a 56% favorite) but he hit the flop to leave me out.

I am finding it difficult to get out of the $1 level games...I am seriously thinking about going straight to the $3.50s.

Last night I won a $2.20 Sunday Storm Satellite which I converted to T$ I will now run these through the Fifty50s to push to BR back up.

Pokerstars decided it wasn't to be

Ever feel like the game has decided you are NOT winning, no matter how well you play?

Me too, today I have played 2 reg $1 sngs and 2 $1.50 fifty50s, and what a pile of crap the deck gave me, at 1 stage I was 2/8 or 1/7 in all the games and ended up with 1 cash...

Examples:

55 shoved into QQ

QTo (short stacked after beat) shoved into AA

ATs (short stacked after K6 v JJ on K79 board ended with river J) shoved into 99 (for quad 9s)

QTs shoved into KK (BvB)

KQo flops Nut Straight v Trip Ts 1 diamond...runner runner diamond to SS me ffs, what next AAA v KKKK?

Jees can't catch a break

Going well, even mass tabling

Played a set of 8 $1.50 Fifty50s and ended up nearly a buy in, I later played 3 more winning 2 so a good evening.

I also watched the Coral Late Night Poker, great hero call by Luke Schwartz got to give him credit for playing well.

Good Luck at the tables

Felt good, took some shots.... feel bad.

So I was running good in the $1.50 Fifty50s and thought why not take a few shots at the higher games.

My BR was growing well and I played some $7.50 and $3.50 Fifty50s....

Boom the wheels fell off, bad beats, no not really, just standard beats AQ v AT, guy hits his T type stuff and unfortunately I lost half my BR. I then played a load of $1.50s to bring me back up again. I will probably not bother doing any of the $7.50s again for a while but shot taking in the $3.50s will be on my to do list as soon as I get back to around $50 BR.

They are just as weak as the $1.50s and I feel a good run at these will boost my roll quickly.

Decent couple of days

I have tried to up the volume on these Fifty50 games and so far things have been going well (see screen shot).

I suspect making the money in 100% of these at the $1.50 level would be easy, but as the payouts are top heavy based on finishing stack size you will not end up making much profit.

I am pushing hard near the bubble so I tend to finish well or get busted in 6th at the moment, which I am happy with from a financial point of view.

Stay Lucky

Discovered Fifty50s

I have been watching some more videos and happened upon some at PSO (PokerStars Poker School Online) including a video showing the Fifty50 SNGs...

I thought these were just the old double up jobs, but as it happens Pokerstars have changed the format so that the top 5 still get paid, but you make more profit dependant on your finishing stack size. Being super aggressive late on especially on the bubble, increases your stack and payout massively.

These tourneys start off fairly tight and then as people get busted and the blinds rise more action happens. I have only played some $1.50 buy in SNGs so far, but having looked at the videos I suspect the competition is weak up to the $10 levels... I will report back when I get there :)

Having averaged £1.26 profit/game so far with each game lasting about 30 to 40 minutes I may have finally found a game that I enjoy and that fits in with my schedule. 

Finally managed some poker

It's been a heavy summer for work but already things are winding down and I am seeing some action at the tables.

The initial idea was HU SNGs, then I got bored and played 6Max SNGs, then ran out of time and played a few cash games & SNGs...

I have now decided to just go with the game I feel like on the day. Recently I have been playing some Limit Cash, some micro SNGs and a few Satellites.

The PokerStars Sunday Storm Satellites are a great way of adding to your bankroll, $2.20 entry and tickets awarded for every $11 in the prize pool. You can play super tight and very often get paid off with your big hands as the play is pretty soft and predictable, satellite play is different to normal tourneys in that the pay structure is flat, ie same prize for 1st or 10th (dependant on amount of tickets awarded).

The $11 ticket to the Sunday Storm can be converted to T$ (Tournament $s) by unregistering from the tournament and can be done as many times as you like. Check out the screenshot, these are not difficult to win. These T$s can then be used for more tourneys where you can obviously win real $s and bump up that Bank Roll.