Curiously Poking Along

So it's been almost two weeks since I posted last - a lot has happened since then.

Here's the quick day by day, in terms of poker:

June 19: 8-2
June 20: 9-13
June 21: 8-11
June 22: 17-12
June 23: 4-6
June 24: 13-8
June 25: 8-8
June 28: 14-12
June 29: 18-3 ($11's), 4-9 ($22's)
June 30: 5-2 (back at the $11's)

For those 10 days of playing, I was 104-77 at the $11's and 4-9 at the $22's. I reached my goal of $450 (well, $446, but it was close enough) to take some shots at the 22's. I managed to run terribly at the 22's, despite coming off of a 12-game win streak at the 11's. Which, by the way, extended to an 18-game win streak at the 11's overall.

June graph:

The big downswing in the middle started as me running poorly and then extended into my tilting a bit. A huge epiphany I had about my game (and yes, I know that this sounds like a no-brainer) is that I play very differently when running bad. I've gotten reasonably good at not being results-oriented about individual hands, but I'm still very much results-oriented about how a session/day goes. It's definitely something I need to work on.

The downswing at the tail end of the graph is my 4-9 shot at the $22's. That day was bizarre - I ran 11.26% above expectation in the $11's, and 11.58% below expectation at the $22's. I just couldn't stop being set up. In the endgame, I kept running Ax into Ay, where y>>>x. Occasionally I ran Ax into JJ+. Once or twice I just plain got sucked out on. It was a decimation by any account. I played maybe one or two more than I should have, but went a nice 5-2 tonight (at the $11's) to get back to near $400. So in a couple of days, I should be taking shots again.

June stats:

[22+1]
W-L: 4-9
% won: 30.77
ROI: -41.14 %

[11.00+0.50]
W-L: 167-123
% won: 57.59
ROI: 10.16 %

Total profit: $216.00

I played really well overall this month, making $339 in total profit at the $11's, and losing $123 (in one day, woohoo!) at the $22's. And let's not forget the abysmal waste of about $120 at HU cash. Alas, sometimes I can be an idiot.

June Goals Recap

I did manage to play 303 HUSNG's over the course of June, so I did manage to hit my number of games goal, as outlined here.

I was less aggressive with my 2p2 and blogging goals, however, only managing a measly 24 2p2 posts this month and not nearly as many blog posts as I would like.

That said, time is a limited resource for me - I've got a day job and a (reasonably) social life, so my time for this poker project is limited. I'm happy with the way I balanced poker time among playing, studying, posting, and blogging. I'll be adjusting that balance somewhat as I move up to the $22's (probably more towards studying, posting, and blogging), but I think it was fairly reasonable for the most part.

July Goals

So here are my July goals, adjusted for the reality that June presented:

• No. of games: 300


• No. of 2p2 posts: 50 (current count: 239)


• No. of blog posts: 15 (excluding this one, and more (which means any) strategy content)


• Hours spent studying/thinking about the game: as many as possible

I do expect, though I won't make it an explicit goal (avoid being results-oriented, right?), to move up to the $22's (and probably even the $33's) by the end of July.

And yes, I'm aware of how awkward that last sentence was. Deal with it.

It's time to sleep now. May Fortune smile sweetly upon you in July.

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It's been a few days since I've posted or played.

The results update: went 6-6 on Friday night, went 6-4 tonight (Wednesday night).

I've simply been swamped with work stuff and people and life being hectic, so I haven't been playing (or thinking about) poker as much as I want to. It's time to get back to it.

I've played 109 games thus far this month and gone 63-46 so far, BR is at $311.89. What this means is that in order for me to hit my target of 300 games in June, I'll have to average 191/12 = ~16 games a day for the rest of the month. I think that's doable, or at least close to doable. I can comfortably get in 12-14 per day, and I should be able to crank a little on the weekends.

Adding in the last 6 days of May (34-23), I'm 97-69 over my last 166 games at the $11's, meaning that over that period I'm winning 58.43% of my games, for an ROI of 11.79%. I'm ok with that, but I do think it could be even better.

In any case, at this rate, it will take me 102 games to get to $450, where I plan to start taking shots at the $22's. Irritatingly, I should almost be there right now, but for the ill-advised, semi-drunken HU cash fiasco. The bankroll would be around $434 if it weren't for that night. Time to put that behind me and kick some ass.

In other news, props to the Boston Celtics for annihilating the Lakers in game 6. As irritated as I normally am to be living in a city full of Lakers fans, L.A. is super-sweet right now, as I'm currently swimming in their beatiful, delicious grief.

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My friends just won't stop coming in to town to visit. This weekend will mark the 5th friend in 2 weeks. 3 on the 3 consecutive weekends, and 2 in the middle of the contained weeks. Frankly, it's getting a little bit tiresome.

And last night, I was just too tired after watching the Celtics pull out the extremely improbably victory and working out, so I just crashed.

Getting good sleep is ++++++EV.

I'll be getting back to the grind tonight. GL to me.

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Today was a good day at the tables, went 9-6 at the $11's. I played 15 because I needed 50 vpp to clear a $50 bonus that I had bought for 5000 fpp. With the results and the bonus, the bankroll is up to a healthier $300. (Argh, it should be more, but sometimes you lose with AA to 44 with even stacks). (Double argh, it would be even more than that if I hadn't donked off $123-ish playing HU cash a few days ago).

I don't want to jinx it, but I also don't want to deny it - I'm playing well. I'm focusing well and picking up on opponents' tendencies. I'm also paying the right kinds of attention to my mental state. 2-tabling HUSNG's continuously (as opposed to start 2, finish both, then start 2 more) is emotionally taxing, as there are no respites.

There was a period from game 4 to game 7 today where I was starting to feel myself tilt. I was disciplined about not opening the next game, finishing my games out, and taking a second to get my head straight before continuing. It felt really good to have that kind of discipline and control, because I sure haven't had it historically. I've been working on it though, and it seems to be having some effect.

Anyway, if I can keep this pace up, I should be hitting the $22's by the end of the month.

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Three days without poker - and just when I was beginning to do so well.

A good friend came into town this weekend, so I spent all my time with her and none of my time working on any of my weekend projects (including poker).

As much as I want to really buckle down and get good at this poker thing, I'd [i]much[/i] rather spend a weekend with a good friend.

I'm tempted to play some now (she's asleep at the moment), but I think it's a better idea to get a good night's sleep and return to the plan tomorrow.

I'm also wondering about whether the goals I've set for myself are too aggressive. I don't really want to stress myself out about this - I think I'll call this month a trial run: I'll keep my goals in mind, but really use this month as a testbed to see what kind of commitments I can really keep poker-wise. I believe it's pretty -EV to get worked up about not being on target to meet my monthly goals.

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Today was one of those days where nothing extraordinary happened (poker-wise).

I went 6-5, for a fun $5.50 of profit. Should have gone 8-3 or so, but sometimes AK loses to 49 when it's allin preflop, and sometimes Q8 loses to JT when it gets allin on an 889 flop.

But hey, I'll take running like crap and pulling out a winning session anyway. Makes me feel pretty good about my game.

I think one thing I really need to be wary of is falling into an unfocused decision-making rut (otherwise known as "going on autopilot"). I found myself doing that today a little. It's not terrible, because I was playing fairly straightforward opponents, but focus is paramount.

If I start doing that in the future, I'll switch to 1-tabling for a game or two just to really make myself lock in and focus.

Slowly but surely, I say, slowly but surely.

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So I quit smoking a couple of months ago, and along with it quit alcohol and caffeine, as those were my two biggest enablers of smoking. I've been getting back in shape, watching my nutrition, and just generally being healthy.

I decided recently to relax the strictness of those restrictions - they're still the default, but I can make an exception every now and again, on special occasions.

I made such an exception last night - an old friend was in town, and she and I went out for drinks.

Those drinks turned into a "let's try shortstacking HU cash" experiment (see my last post). Ah, but if only I had left it there - my bankroll was still sitting not too far off from where it was, and I had gotten to dabble a bit.

After I made the post, I noticed the server restart was over, but the HUSNG's still weren't up, and I really wanted to play my 10 HUSNG's for the day (see my goals post). Alas, the server was still down, so, naturally, I decided to shortstack some more HU cash (I think I've officially caught the bug).

The Bad News

I lost a 60-40, then a 65-35, and suddenly I'm down $20 to a guy who knows what he's doing generally, but doesn't play all that well with short stacks. Keep in mind I'm no longer really drunk - I actually didn't have all that much to drink - but I'd had enough that my ability to quit was compromised. I proceeded to donk off $100 in $10 increments, leaving my BR in tatters at $173.

The Good News

I eventually quit and went to bed. I was irritated with myself and extremely tired, so I called in sick to work. After spending a little bit of time on the couch (a little hungover from a couple of margaritas and 2 or 3 beers - I'm such a lightweight now) watching Roger Federer destroy Fernando Gonzalez, I proceeded to vigorously 2-table some $11's.

I managed to keep my composure and play a solid game, and 40 games later found myself up 23-17, putting my bankroll at $219.

Usually when I 2-table, I play sets of 2 at a time, but today my concentration was on point, and I just played continuously, adding a new table whenever one finished. I got in more games quickly, and managed to play well as well.

I've just got to stay disciplined, be consistent, and stick to the HUSNG's.

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