Going Forward In Reverse

Rather than looking back at the year that was, lets look forward at what will be. That's not to say that last year wasn't worth remembering. I had a very nice year at the tables. It's just that if anyone really wants to know, then read the archives. Personally, I'm more interested in what I will accomplish in the future.

The first part of this coming year has to be dedicated to bankroll building. After a rather expensive Christmas of giving, and receiving, I have left the bankroll in some sad shape. The total currently sits at $436.69. In order to be able to play the range of tables and tournaments that I want to I'm going to need about three times that amount. I'm not willing to put any money into the bankroll at this point so that means it's bonus whoring time. For the immediate future if I don't have a bonus or some other incentive to play at a site, I won't be playing there.

To go along with the bonus whoring, I've also decided to not play any ring games at a site if it is not supported by Poker Tracker. Being able to review all hands played will be important if I'm going to improve myself as I restart the building process. Taking this edict into account, I will have to give up some bonus money awaiting me at Titan and Noble. The bonus was substantial at Titan but I'm willing to give that up for the ability to review my hands in Poker Tracker. I may still play tournaments at these other sites, just no ring games. It's time to put that money I spent on the Poker Tracker Guide to good use. I may even begin doing daily updates. (The aforementioned was meant to be said with sarcasm.) But seriously, I might.

I've always been a devout proponent of having 300BB's at a limit before playing that level. I've fluctuated the levels I've played at in the past based on it. Having said that though, I'm going to break form and play $1/$2 with my $400 bankroll. I am very confident that my risk of ruin at that level is close to zero. I should be able to clear bonuses faster than playing at the .50/1 level as well. In order to feel comfortable with that decision though I'm going to have to make some sacrifices. Namely my recent Sit-N-Go adventures will now have to go on hiatus. I also can't afford to spend money on many multi-table tournaments.

I will continue to play in the weekly Kansas City Poker Club online tournaments which occur on Mondays. These are only $5 buy in events and usually there are only 6-8 of us even playing. In the 4 that I've played I've managed 2 wins and a second. I will also play the monthly KCPC live tournaments but I'm going to have to give up my monthly Casino play until I can get a live bankroll going.

Since I brought up a "live" bankroll, I've also decided to split my bankroll up a little. I will concentrate on bonuses and bankroll until I hit the $700 mark. I will then take $200 of that and create a "tournament" bankroll. This will be used for multi as well as single table tournaments. The goal is to have this bankroll be self sustainable so the buy-ins I play will be adjusted according to my comfort level within that confined bankroll. A third bankroll will be setup for "live" play. For the January tournament I will just pay out of pocket for the buy-in. For all future tournaments and casino play I will use an established bankroll which will also need to be self sustainable.

Once I have been able to establish each of the bankrolls I will begin to use my online ring game roll to delve more into the no limit arena. Online no limit was kicking my ass a little last year so I want to get in the black with those games as quickly as possible. I also want to get in the black at 5/10 but it may take a while to get back to that level.

Of course all of this will be dependent on my doing something I've never been able to do before. That is to leave my bankroll alone. I hope to take a weekend in Vegas come March and then perhaps take a trip out during the WSOP. These trips need to be paid for entirely by the poker bankrolls. Everything from the plane tickets to the food I eat. That means no screwing around and building as quickly as possible.

After taking a few weeks off I'm ready to get back into it. I will be playing at Check N Raise until my last $30 in bonus is retrieved. I'll then take advantage of the Full Tilt reload before the 4th. I currently have $650 in bonuses spread out among a few sites so after the Full Tilt reload I'll move onto those before taking advantage of another reload.

See Ya At The Tables

Ooops, I did it again

What did I do again you may ask. I cashed out most of the bankroll again, that's what. It will make for a Merry Christmas in my household but won't do anything to further my poker playing. As it stands though I probably won't be playing much for the rest of the year anyway. I leave on Saturday to pick up my son for the Holidays and he will be here till Jan. 1. That will be family time so other than maybe a few short hours I won't be playing for the rest of the year.

I'm working on a plan for next year that will involve some serious effort. I want to start with what I have left in Neteller and build it into something meaningful. It won't be anything as ambitious as some of these project 100K's you read about, but I have certain performance, not necessarily monetary, goals in mind. I'll finalize the plan of action and post it up when I'm ready after the new year.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Dismal

That would be the way to describe this week of poker for me. Nothing seemed to go my way at the cash games or the SNG's. Rather than drone on about details no one, including myself cares about. I present this weeks $20 SNG numbers.

47 played
6 wins
5 seconds
6 thirds

ITM 36.17%
ROI 0.97%
$10.00 profit

Just stellar.

Fuckin Bluff Poker Tour

I probably shouldn't be writing this right now as I am very pissed off but I have to vent. One of the final two events has been cancelled without an apparent reschedule. Since I am 115 points behind the leader, and the most points given per event is 100, it is now impossible for myself, or anyone else to catch the points leader. Bluff magazine is giving the current leader the three seats without completion of the advertised tour.

The way my multi game has been going recently I'm not overly confident in my chances to take the lead in the end, but I shouldn't be robbed of the opportunity without explanation or compensation. I invested months of effort and followed the tour to some really crappy poker sites because I wanted a shot at those seats. Now the Bluff Magazine people are just cutting the tour short. No one from the magazine has offered an explanation even on it's own forums. It's like they just don't give a shit. They got what they wanted out of the thing so fuck the participants.

If I'm wrong about this and I hear otherwise I'll state so here, but until then I'm really disappointed. The final stop is next week at PokerRoom.com. With an added prize pool I'll go ahead and play for the money. I'll finish out the season and play the one seat freeroll since if the rules are actually followed I should begin with a chip advantage. I've invested too much time and effort to walk away at the end.

I hope I'm wrong and I hear something soon.

First Results for Twenty

I just ended my first week of $20+2 SNG's. I'm very pleased with the overall results but I was suprised to see that my 2nd place finishes were outnumbering my 1st's. Whenever I get down to heads up I feel that I am the favorite. I'll need to go back and look at the hand histories to determine if I was playing badly or getting unlucky.

Toward the end of my $10 SNG's I was able to settle into a rythm that has carried forward to the $20's. At first I was struggling with playing two heads up matches at the same time. As I worked through that I tried to find a way of multi tabling. I read that others were recommending a staggering of the start times by 15 to 20 minutes, but that wasn't working out well for me. I found that I needed to start 3 tables, one after the other, in order to play efficiently. This allowed the start time of the first table to be within 3 to 5 minutes of the last one. I found that it was important to me to have all of the tables within the same blind structure so I could transition fluidly from one to the next. Playing two heads up situations has become easier but my heart rate still climbs when I'm down in the money on all three.

Here are the results:
30 played
6 wins
7 seconds
2 thirds

ITM 50.0%
ROI 50.0%
$330.00 profit

I'll take a look at the hand histories and talk a little about the differences I'm seeing between the $10 and $20 level in a future post.