Business As Usual

Since my last update I've managed to maintain a decent ROI. Today I had to throw in some 11+1 SNG's to make my nut. I managed to go 1 of 4 in these for a small profit. It looks like the play is comparable to the 6.50's so when my bankroll is ready I should be able to make the transition easily.

I have to say I was very disappointed Sunday that the WPBT event was at 8pm and not 9pm. I could have played at 9, but I wasn't home from work yet at 8. I know it wasn't the organizers fault but RAZZ is my second best game so I was looking forward to it.

Bankroll: $333.25

Stat Time

After todays session I've gone over 100 SNG's so it's time to reveal my status.

On the bankroll front I finally had to withdrawal $200 so after play today I have $286.85. It was basically like giving up my rakeback so that's not too bad. Sadly my reduced play is going to result in very little rakeback for this month.

Onto the numbers:
Ran: 111
ROI: 17.5%
ITM: 42.3%
Profit: $126.30

The ROI and ITM graph is looking good. The bad streak I had at the beginning is rather accentuated but I've made a nice comeback.



The finish distribution doesn't look to bad. My ninth place finishes were boosted a bit today as I saw a rather large number of 3 outers hitting. The graph for these turbo's is a bit different as compared to the ones from my outings at the "regular" SNG's. Previously I was seeing a bump in the 6th place finish position but now it's in the 4 spot. I'm also looking a little flat when I get to the money. It appears as though I could end up in any position once I hit the money.

A Beautiful Day On The Felt

A very nice day. Ran my 16 SNG's for a 81.7% ROI. Unlike yesterday I managed to cash in all four tables on my last set. 68.8% ITM to go along with it.

Down Day

Ran 16 SNG's today for a -22.1% ROI. I was holding my own and running close to break even for the day when I failed to cash in my last set of four. When I was heads up in one of my SNG's my opponent criticized my heads up play. I started down 3:1, got a little ahead, and then managed to lose.

I let it get in my head and then I pressured myself to do well in the last set.

That never works out for me.

I won't know how much of my bankroll I'm going to have to withdrawal until Friday. So until then, no bankroll updates.

P.S. I redesigned the blog. If your just reading the RSS feed go check it out and let me know what you think.

All A Twitter

I have to withdrawl $250-$300 from my bankroll today to cover some unforeseen expenditures. I'm not sure where that is going to leave me but I'll have a little bit of bankroll left. I'll update more on it tomorrow.

In the mean time I've set up a twitter account. This will allow me to do the things I've wanted to do but don't have the time for on this blog. Think of it as microblogging with the cellphone. This will be little blurbs or thoughts that I have that don't require the thought of a full blog post here. Check out my profile page and join my followers list if your interested.

If you have a twitter page let me know so I can join yours.

A Good Day

After taking yesterday off from the felt I waded through 16 SNG's today. I'm really liking these turbo's. I wish I would have tried them earlier. Now that I've written that you can expect horror stories to follow in the next few days.

Today's ROI: 29.8%
Bankroll: $411.84

Count The Ways

Let's see... I spent $34.80 to win one $26 token and then couldn't convert it into anything. Then I spent $8 on a $1 rebuy tourney and was kicking ass and approaching the money when the only player that could bust me at the table did. (AA vs. flopped set)

To finish up the day I played 5 $6.50 SNG's and managed a 99.4% ROI. If only that was possible over 500 of them.

Bankroll: $387.34

Quick Note

I have played virtually no poker since Sunday. I decided to try out the 10 day demo for World of Warcraft and I can report that it's just as addictive as you've heard. I can easily see how people have lost themselves in the game. The quests are quick and you can always look forward to the next challenge. If you could get paid for killing beasts... it could be the next poker.

Speaking of poker, I'm getting back in the saddle today. I'm going to try to collect a few tokens and play a few tourneys. Nothing to involved but I'd like to play in the Big Game tomorrow night so I need to token my way in.

After some more ad money and rakeback payment my bankroll sits at: $397.84

Eleven In A Row

Eleven in a row. That would be the number of SNG's that I consecutively did not cash in today. I then had two firsts and a second to end the day with fourteen played and an ROI of -22.9%. Use yesterday SNG's and I went sixteen without a cash. That's got to be close to the worst streak I've ever had.

I've got the Anti-Midas touch.

Bankroll: $223.16

Best Article In A Long Time

This is by far the best article on poker that I have read in a long time. It rings especially true for me considering my last few months. Go read it.

A Magical Mind

Progress

Stayed away from cash games entirely today and it makes me wonder why I even bother with them. I've been so fixated on maintaining my iron man status at Full Tilt I've let my play suffer. I had to grind out the hours... get the points.

So I took a break today and played nothing but SNG's and a Razz Tourney. Finished very well in my 10 $6.50 turbo SNG's managing a 24.6% ROI. Played a $1 45 man SNG and final tabled but was bad beated out in 8th. Used my token today to try for a $75 token but went out ninth. The Razz tourney went poorly as I finished 30/49.

Bankroll: $238.66

Disaster

Wow...Wow...Wow

Words can't describe the depths to which I fell today. The reraises I saw with nothing but flush draws on the turn (which hit of course), the calling down with Ace high (which hit of course), gutshots, open enders, you name it, they chased it (and hit of course).

At this rate I'll be broke in two more days. Game over. Thanks for playing.

One turbo SNG played for a fourth place finish. 583 hands of shorthanded .5/1 played for -$105.45. My only profit was a $50 payment received for an ad.

Bankroll left: $229.41

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tighten up, or loosen up at these small shorthanded tables. The big winners I've tracked seem to be suckout artists at this point. Perhaps just SNG play and some forum research on these shorthanded tables will be in order for tomorrow.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

How Many times have you said that? We all have. If we could just go back in time, things would be different.

Over the last few days I've been looking at my poker game in those terms. Could I start over and have even greater success? I looked back at my very first blog post and saw that when I started this blog I had a bankroll of $300. I managed to build that up to a nice sum over the years and I wonder if I could do it all again. Just start over.

The state of online poker is still largely uncertain and I want to challenge and enjoy myself while the ride still lasts. With that in mind I have emptied my poker accounts and left myself with $292.11 (and a $26 Full Tilt token). Not quite exactly $300 but with the odd amounts I had sitting in a few sites that's what was left after making withdrawals.

Things will certainly be different this time. Jumping to new sites to take advantage of bonus opportunities are no more. I do have pending bonus money at Absolute and UB due to reloads that are there. I also have the rakeback with Full Tilt now and a small amount from blog advertising. I can also trade in my iron man points for tokens or bonus money if I choose to so all that should offset the bonus whoring. It's probably even more than the bonus whoring yielded way back when.

So what's the gameplan? How will I use the money? For grinding out the Full Tilt iron man points I'm going to make .50/1 limit short-handed my grinding game. That allows me to play within the 300BB bankroll guideline. It does leave me a little thin playing 4 tables at once if I have a bad day on all tables at once. I should be ok with it though. For SNG's I'm going to follow a 45:1 guidline and for MTT's a 40:1 limit. That means with the current bankroll I'm at $6.50 for SNG's and $7.00 for MTT buy-ins. I'll try to collect tokens to play in higher buyins when I can.

Well that's it. Let's see what the future holds.

PPA Commercial

I think a better commercial could have been produced, but it's a step in the right direction.

Swap

I have $25 on Poker.com that I can't get access to since I don't have a click2pay account. I am looking for someone willing to accept a $25 transfer from me on Poker.com in return for a $25 transfer on Full Tilt. If you can help me out, and I know of you (ie. a fellow blogger) please email me at (lifesagrind at gmail dot com).

T.G.F.O.

Thank God February's Over

For everything I gained in January, February wiped it off the map and then some. I played 15,635 hands of NL Holdem and managed a loss of 4.47BB/100. For the life of me I can't figure out what my issue is with the NL cash game. If someone out there was willing to help me out I'd be willing to listen.

Playing 1,000 hands a day really did lead to a grinding mentality. I played at times I really would have rather been doing something else and I missed the tournament action. I can play limit holdem and get my 200 full tilt points in fewer hands so I might give that a shot.

I'm going to enjoy today and maybe things will be clearer tomorrow.