So, as everyone knows a week and a half ago Black Friday happened. For me personally, the first thing it meant was I snap withdrew my roll due to rumors circulating that Stars would be forever closed down. This cost me 4 days of play and put me pretty solidly behind pace. The second and more important thing is that in the aftermath, FRLHE is dead and no longer a feasible option in pursuing SNE.
I have weighed up my options over the past couple of weeks while watching how the games change. Basically I have had to pick between PLO, SHLHE and SHNLHE. I picked PLO for a few reasons. First I'm finding it interesting, its a game I've never played before and I'm enjoying the challenge. I think it has the brightest future and the potential to be the next big thing, especially now that online poker will be primarily Eurocentric. Also, the vpp rates are great and it doesn't take much mental strain, at least so far.
Thus far I've been a marginal loser in aiev, but I think that will change over the coming weeks. Already I feel certain concepts are coming together.
I've also booked my flight to Brisbane on August 2nd. Working towards getting solidly ahead again by that date should inspire me.
Numbers below:
VPP/Pace = 293,042 / 316,438
$Poker = $23,931 (I'll work out the other number next tuesday)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Day 102/365
Over the last week I've spent a fair bit of time working on my nlhe game. The limit games, particularly during the weekdays, really don't have enough players now to put in long days, so having another option, particularly for evening sessions is definitely good. So far I've spent some learning tax tuning my game, but I feel fairly comfortable at least breaking even at 100nl now playing ~20 tables of 6max. The benefits if I can move up are there too, as if I can put in 10k hand days (not that hard at 6max nl), and can play mostly 2/4 or 1/2, I could potentially see double or even triple pace days.
I've also been building up my vpp rate again, and whilst falling under pace for the week, the past two days have both been above pace. I'm looking forward to putting things in to practise and having a big volume week ahead, I still feel like I can get back above pace by the end of April.
Not much else to report, so the numbers:
VPP/Pace = 269,312 / 278,082
$Poker = $9185 ($22,888)
I've also been building up my vpp rate again, and whilst falling under pace for the week, the past two days have both been above pace. I'm looking forward to putting things in to practise and having a big volume week ahead, I still feel like I can get back above pace by the end of April.
Not much else to report, so the numbers:
VPP/Pace = 269,312 / 278,082
$Poker = $9185 ($22,888)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Day 95/365
This week I've had somewhat decent results at the tables, but have had several distractions and have fallen behind pace. I feel like since my last downswing I've really reevaluated a lot of the things I have been doing and have been making fairly large changes, particularly in terms of game selection and mental freshness. Unfortunately it's difficult to go through such reevaluation periods during an SNE pursuit year, and my vpp rate has definitely suffered. It's also put me in a difficult position with regards to finding work midyear, as now everything will need to be pushed back.
I'm definitely fresh though now, with a reasonably new month, a solid gameplan, and 3 games I feel confident grinding in. I think in many ways April may be the defining month of this year for me. If I can get back solidly ahead of pace (say +10k) before the end of the month and can make a decent amount of cash I think I will be really set for the rest of the year. I'm not going to think about breaking any records this month, just 30 days of solid poker and grinding.
Football tracking is going well, however it is unfortunately taking up a fair bit of my time. I am enjoying it though so far. Given that I don't really want to go in to the details of what I'm doing I probably won't post much on this topic any more, until I make a decision on whether or not to go ahead or not. So likely not for the next 3 weeks. After that, assuming I do go ahead, I'll just provide profit/loss etc. as I do with poker now.
Now for my March and quarterly results. Before the year started if you had asked me where I would be at this stage I would never have really expected to be here. I guess a large part of me thought I wouldn't still be going for SNE, and another part of me expected me to be crushing it. Instead I'm kind of in that limbo-ish 7/10 region. I look at it positively though, as I feel I've built a strong foundation; the idea of making 750k vpps in 9 months is so much easier than the idea of making 1mm in 12.
March Graphs etc.
Honestly a lot of this month wasn't great, but there is no point crying over spilled milk and the last week really made up a lot of the losses which was nice.
Final results including rb:
Final results no rakeback:
To further see why March was at times frustrating, I have put boxes around downswings that happened in a single day. It's funny that I don't think in my life I've had a month with more winning days than I did in March (probably somewhere around 25/31 or so), but the losing days were just so much bigger on average than my winning ones:
March in BB:
And, first quarter graphs:
First, all first quarter hands including rakeback:
No rakeback:
And, in BB:
And finally, the numbers as they currently stand:
VPP/Pace = 251,535 / 258,904
$Poker = $10,497 ($22,242)
I'm definitely fresh though now, with a reasonably new month, a solid gameplan, and 3 games I feel confident grinding in. I think in many ways April may be the defining month of this year for me. If I can get back solidly ahead of pace (say +10k) before the end of the month and can make a decent amount of cash I think I will be really set for the rest of the year. I'm not going to think about breaking any records this month, just 30 days of solid poker and grinding.
Football tracking is going well, however it is unfortunately taking up a fair bit of my time. I am enjoying it though so far. Given that I don't really want to go in to the details of what I'm doing I probably won't post much on this topic any more, until I make a decision on whether or not to go ahead or not. So likely not for the next 3 weeks. After that, assuming I do go ahead, I'll just provide profit/loss etc. as I do with poker now.
Now for my March and quarterly results. Before the year started if you had asked me where I would be at this stage I would never have really expected to be here. I guess a large part of me thought I wouldn't still be going for SNE, and another part of me expected me to be crushing it. Instead I'm kind of in that limbo-ish 7/10 region. I look at it positively though, as I feel I've built a strong foundation; the idea of making 750k vpps in 9 months is so much easier than the idea of making 1mm in 12.
March Graphs etc.
Honestly a lot of this month wasn't great, but there is no point crying over spilled milk and the last week really made up a lot of the losses which was nice.
Final results including rb:
Final results no rakeback:
To further see why March was at times frustrating, I have put boxes around downswings that happened in a single day. It's funny that I don't think in my life I've had a month with more winning days than I did in March (probably somewhere around 25/31 or so), but the losing days were just so much bigger on average than my winning ones:
March in BB:
And, first quarter graphs:
First, all first quarter hands including rakeback:
And finally, the numbers as they currently stand:
VPP/Pace = 251,535 / 258,904
$Poker = $10,497 ($22,242)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Day 88/365
So the past week I slowed things down. A lot. My VPP rate practically disappeared at parts and I've dropped behind pace, but my winrate has picked up again and I put in my second most profitable week of the year. I feel like that $7k downswing throughout the middle of the month could be the best thing that's ever happened to me because it was the kick in the pants I needed to refocus and think things through.
Someone asked me in the SNE thread on 2+2 a question that has really had me thinking lately. The question was what % of the time would I say I'm playing my A game. I feel like to answer that question I first need to define each thought level.
Here is what goes through my mind in each game =
A game: What does my opponent have, and how is he likely to react to various plays I make.
B game: What do I have, and what balanced approach do I need for my range in this situation.
C game: How tight/loose should I be playing, and without a nut hand, can I get to showdown here.
D game: How much am I up/down, and how well/badly am I running.
E game: Total autopilot play. Play strong hands fast, fold weak hands. Thinking about specific hands and the luck or lack of luck in them.
For the year so far, if I'm being completely honest I would say I've played maybe 5% A, 40% B, 40% C, 10% D and 5% E. The thing is, as an SNE grinder, it is just completely unrealistic to think you can always play your A game. If someone has the brain power to be totally on, all the time, then I commend them, but for most mortals its a virtual impossibility.
I believe as an SNE grinder your aim is to be on your A game as much as possible, such as when you start sessions, especially in the morning, and never drop below your B game. The key to this, as far as I know so far is:
-Work out and keep your mind as fresh as possible.
-Recognise when you are dropping in to your C game and end such sessions.
Random other thoughts: When I started this blog I wasn't entirely sure of it's purpose. I felt like it would quickly turn in to something everyone would forget about and that I would use basically just for myself to track my progress. I think I know now the aim I have in mind for this blog. I want to be able to build something that future SNEs and serious grinders can use to learn the skills to make it (Note that this isn't quite as arrogant as it sounds, because even if I fail to make it I still think lessons can be taken from my failure).
Football season has started and I have begun tracking today! It will probably be at least a couple of weeks before anything decent is reported on this front, but I'm certainly happy that footy is back!
Finally, on to the numbers. There is still a day and a half left in March so I'll do a month and quarterly review next week. I've added a week by week profits here though as it just seems kind of interesting:
VPP/Pace = 239,198 / 239,726
$Poker = $9672 ($20,167)
Someone asked me in the SNE thread on 2+2 a question that has really had me thinking lately. The question was what % of the time would I say I'm playing my A game. I feel like to answer that question I first need to define each thought level.
Here is what goes through my mind in each game =
A game: What does my opponent have, and how is he likely to react to various plays I make.
B game: What do I have, and what balanced approach do I need for my range in this situation.
C game: How tight/loose should I be playing, and without a nut hand, can I get to showdown here.
D game: How much am I up/down, and how well/badly am I running.
E game: Total autopilot play. Play strong hands fast, fold weak hands. Thinking about specific hands and the luck or lack of luck in them.
For the year so far, if I'm being completely honest I would say I've played maybe 5% A, 40% B, 40% C, 10% D and 5% E. The thing is, as an SNE grinder, it is just completely unrealistic to think you can always play your A game. If someone has the brain power to be totally on, all the time, then I commend them, but for most mortals its a virtual impossibility.
I believe as an SNE grinder your aim is to be on your A game as much as possible, such as when you start sessions, especially in the morning, and never drop below your B game. The key to this, as far as I know so far is:
-Work out and keep your mind as fresh as possible.
-Recognise when you are dropping in to your C game and end such sessions.
Random other thoughts: When I started this blog I wasn't entirely sure of it's purpose. I felt like it would quickly turn in to something everyone would forget about and that I would use basically just for myself to track my progress. I think I know now the aim I have in mind for this blog. I want to be able to build something that future SNEs and serious grinders can use to learn the skills to make it (Note that this isn't quite as arrogant as it sounds, because even if I fail to make it I still think lessons can be taken from my failure).
Football season has started and I have begun tracking today! It will probably be at least a couple of weeks before anything decent is reported on this front, but I'm certainly happy that footy is back!
Finally, on to the numbers. There is still a day and a half left in March so I'll do a month and quarterly review next week. I've added a week by week profits here though as it just seems kind of interesting:
VPP/Pace = 239,198 / 239,726
$Poker = $9672 ($20,167)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Day 81/365
A weak end to an otherwise good week has left March pretty much a joke. In total I've now dropped $7k since being up on the year two weeks ago. I know I've been very unlucky, but feel that I must be making mistakes at the tables as well.
I have one week left in March pretty much, and not only it is the last chance to salvage something, but its also a chance to get some momentum back going in to April. Given my poor run, for the next week I'm going to keep to the following rules, every time I break one I will record it and report back next week:
-No cashier refreshing midsession.
-Quitting games as soon as I feel tired or tilted.
Also, sportsbetting begins next week! I expected to begin this week but it seems lines are released earlier in round 1 so I'll wait for round 2 to start tracking.
VPP/Pace = 227,150 / 220,548
$Poker = $7691 ($16,956)
I have one week left in March pretty much, and not only it is the last chance to salvage something, but its also a chance to get some momentum back going in to April. Given my poor run, for the next week I'm going to keep to the following rules, every time I break one I will record it and report back next week:
-No cashier refreshing midsession.
-Quitting games as soon as I feel tired or tilted.
Also, sportsbetting begins next week! I expected to begin this week but it seems lines are released earlier in round 1 so I'll wait for round 2 to start tracking.
VPP/Pace = 227,150 / 220,548
$Poker = $7691 ($16,956)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Day 74/365
The past week was not great. A lot of distractions (social stuff) kept me away from the tables a lot. I managed to have another $2k losing day chasing 200k, so I guess I should be happy just to finish the week in the black.
I feel like it still could be possible to have a semi-decent March as it's a long month and there are still over two weeks left, but it will be tough. I definitely need to refocus though at this point if it is to happen. I'm finding a lot of my self-discipline has gone and I'm tilting quite easily as soon as I take a few beats in a session.
Anyway, not much else to report, so the numbers:
VPP/Pace = 209,597 / 201,370
$Poker = $3523 ($16,119)
I feel like it still could be possible to have a semi-decent March as it's a long month and there are still over two weeks left, but it will be tough. I definitely need to refocus though at this point if it is to happen. I'm finding a lot of my self-discipline has gone and I'm tilting quite easily as soon as I take a few beats in a session.
Anyway, not much else to report, so the numbers:
VPP/Pace = 209,597 / 201,370
$Poker = $3523 ($16,119)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Day 67/365
So I dropped about $3.8k today.
It's funny, yesterday I was off to a great start to the month and everything was looking up, and short of a disaster today I had pretty much got my blog post set out. Then disaster struck, and I can't say all the awesome things I was going to say, because I am now 8 days in to this month, and losing money. At this point I think I will be happy if I even end up with a $6k month, and sadly am already looking towards April to hopefully be the month where I finally don't run terribly.
I firmly believe that every failure is an opportunity for growth, however it will take a couple of days for me to think about just what I can take from this opportunity. This blogpost will thus be fairly short.
Numbers:
VPP/Pace = 190,405 / 182,192
$Poker = $2664 ($15,764)
It's funny, yesterday I was off to a great start to the month and everything was looking up, and short of a disaster today I had pretty much got my blog post set out. Then disaster struck, and I can't say all the awesome things I was going to say, because I am now 8 days in to this month, and losing money. At this point I think I will be happy if I even end up with a $6k month, and sadly am already looking towards April to hopefully be the month where I finally don't run terribly.
I firmly believe that every failure is an opportunity for growth, however it will take a couple of days for me to think about just what I can take from this opportunity. This blogpost will thus be fairly short.
Numbers:
VPP/Pace = 190,405 / 182,192
$Poker = $2664 ($15,764)
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