My $800 Blog

I've been waiting for today for a while. Today is the day that I feel is time to give myself a fresh start in poker. I'll spare the long story.. but this past while has been full of downs and learning for me. However, I didn't quit... I hired a coach, I read as much as I could and I'm still learning to be sure.. but I think my game is to a level now that I deserve a fresh start.

I figure between loses I incurred playing above my head and money I've spent on coaching etc. I'm about $800 in the hole right now... well not quite that bad on account of rakeback but I'm calling it $800 all the same. Hence the name of this thread.

This is more for me than anything else. I think it will be good for me to regularly post results etc. to keep me focused and looking long term. Of course I welcome all comments, but I'm mostly just interested in having a record of my progress from this point.

I'm not going to be posting bankroll amounts or anything of that nature.. simply my winnings, losses and results. Bonuses and rakeback will be left out of this thread.

To begin, I'm going to be playing mostly 10nl full ring and $5 sng's. I've been playing sng's for quite a while now and am confident I can do well over a large sample. I think I will seek sng coaching of some sort in the future as there is always more to learn and work on but I'm confident enough in my sng game for now that I think I need to be playing them to assist with bankroll.

Cash games are fairly new to me. I jumped right into 25nl... and lost my ass over a couple weeks so I cut back to 10nl and sought coaching. I'm definitely turning my game around and look forward to continuing to improve. I am going to play only 2-3 tables at a time for the next while and really concentrate on what I'm doing and why. I will be continuing with the coaching as required and looking to possibly get into 6 max in the future.

I'm not going to be to concerned with moving up stakes for a while. I'd like to at least get close to making my $800 back first. I will move down if it becomes clear that it is prudent, but that will be a disappointment. I've had enough of those for now.

I am going to be playing mostly on Full Tilt for the immediate future. The majority of my bankroll is there right now and I am working on releasing a nice bonus. I also have accounts at Stars, 888, Carbon and UB. I will likely get to work on those accounts in the coming weeks as well.

I will try to post something every couple of days.

GL, gogogo

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Originally Posted by Shotglass

GL, gogogo

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Thank you sir!

gl sir... word on FTP. they rake you like a bitch at stakes 10NL and below. This makes stars a better game until you reach 25NL... if you have rakeback on FTP then its basically the same as stars with no rakeback

Glad to see you've started up a blog, think it'll help to keep things in perspective as you progress and it's a nice place to keep a record of things you learn along the way.

Just a quick thought. It may be a good idea to focus on one game. I don't know much about SnGs but I understand there's an entirely different approach than to playing FR/6max. As you are receiving coaching in FR, it may be an idea to just focus on improving that game and making sure all your thought processes etc are sound before expanding to different games.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about building the bankroll/regaining the lost monies. Hopefully your $800 were disposable and not cash you need immediately. Rather try to focus on improving your game and becoming an awesome poker player, and the monies will pour in as a consequence.

Best of luck!

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Originally Posted by scott_owen

gl sir... word on FTP. they rake you like a bitch at stakes 10NL and below. This makes stars a better game until you reach 25NL... if you have rakeback on FTP then its basically the same as stars with no rakeback

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I wasn't aware there was a big difference.. so thanks.. information is nice to have.

Thankfully I do get rakeback at Tilt.. and I'm fond of their software so I'll keep playing there for now. I do have an account at Stars though, I will be playing there too.

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Originally Posted by Petulie

Glad to see you've started up a blog, think it'll help to keep things in perspective as you progress and it's a nice place to keep a record of things you learn along the way.

Just a quick thought. It may be a good idea to focus on one game. I don't know much about SnGs but I understand there's an entirely different approach than to playing FR/6max. As you are receiving coaching in FR, it may be an idea to just focus on improving that game and making sure all your thought processes etc are sound before expanding to different games.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about building the bankroll/regaining the lost monies. Hopefully your $800 were disposable and not cash you need immediately. Rather try to focus on improving your game and becoming an awesome poker player, and the monies will pour in as a consequence.

Best of luck!

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Thanks for the support!

I certainly realize the benefits of focusing on one game.. and I had focused on only cash games for the last few weeks.. but I can't deny that I have sng skills that make me money.. so I can't leave them behind entirely just to focus on cash games.

The coaching I've been receiving has been worth every penny and much more when it comes to my cash game FR play. My game now is 100x what it was and I'm finally confident that I might not blow the farm! So I'll keep trying there too.

Fortunately, the $800 was totally disposable.. just a wound to the pride. Also fortunate is that I have a lot of time to play.. so keeping up with sng's and cash games while learning and growing in both should be possible. If time was more of an issue I may have to make a choice... that would make me sad.

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Originally Posted by derekeverett

I wasn't aware there was a big difference.. so thanks.. information is nice to have.

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when I first played on tilt 10NL and below got raked 10%, it was catastrophic unless you were some kind of god. For me it killed my win rate by about 75% and probably made a lot of winning players on stars loses on FT. My account is years and years old so i dont get rakeback. Now i believe its not quite so bad as the rake has been reduced. The figures are pretty horrible, I've seen peoples stats from ~20000 hands at FT 10NL who were losing/breakeven, had they played on stars they'd have been up ~$120

some more info here Rake and Rakeback at the Micro Stakes: A Critical Review

anyway, you have rakeback so it doesnt matter so much to you.. just know that if you're only a marginal winner and your winnings seem to be coming from rakeback its because FT are greedy mofos

i don't think there is any longer a huuuuuuuge difference between the effective rake on stars and tilt (assuming you have rakeback, which i'm pretty sure you said you do). i personally found FTP to be slightly softer than stars so that could potentially offset any shortcoming in effective rake.

as a sidenote, good luck on your poker journey.

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Originally Posted by scott_owen

some more info here Rake and Rakeback at the Micro Stakes: A Critical Review

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Wow I had no clue..

So my first day in my new poker life was a fun one. Took an unexpected turn which had me coaching a friend that is taking up an interest in sng's... taught me a lot to try and teach somebody. I'm no coach (that's one of the things it taught me lol)... but I think we made progress today. I coached her through 3 sng's and we even scored her first ever 1rst place finish.. so that felt good.

Needless to say the 3+ hours I spent with her cut into my poker time today and I didn't play as much as I had planned.. but here's the results from what I did play...

I should mention that I started my poker day out with an hour of hand reviews done by my coach. I can't believe how much I am learning from that guy.. I leave every session with him just dying to get in a game and put some of the new skills to work.

I 2-tabled some 10nl for a while.. taking it slow so that I can focus on the players at the table.. and it's paying off I think. I made almost 2 buy-ins over 264 hands. I made some folds that I don't think I was capable of just 2 weeks ago.. man does that feel good.

I also fit in 6 sng's. I cashed in 3 of them (1 first place and 2 second place finishes) which makes a tidy profit there also. 1 of the sng's saw me exit after only 5 hands to a massive cooler.. that's poker for ya.. I got my chips in good though so no complaints. Pretty rare to see me play a hand that early in a sng.. nevermind getting all my chips in the middle!

So all totaled I'm up $33.93 on the day so I go to bed now happy about that. I can't expect to have that nice a return on such little play often.. but I'll take it when I can get it and it sure is a nice way to get the ball rolling!

Today was another day of decent results..

Played 8 sng's and cashed in 4 of them. 1 first place, 2 second places, and 1 third place finish. Made money in the end so can't complain.

One of the second place finishes was a bit of an odd one. I played nearly 80 hands head-up.. I'm pretty sure that's never happened before. Went back and forth a couple times but in the end he cracked me.

Played 3 tables of 10nl while I watched a few episodes of Fringe. I know I mentioned earlier that I really want to concentrate on what I'm doing.. and I meant it.. but sometimes having something in the background helps me focus. Sometimes it doesn't.. but today was one of those days that it did. Played 516 hands and left with a profit of $25.70.

So I'm up $40.20 on the day.

Nice to be making some progress.

cruising along nicely. keep on rockin' in the free world

I think your reporting/putting so much focus on your daily short term wins and losses is a really bad idea and kind of undermines the point of not stating your BR all the time. I'd be happier to see you post ideas/things you've learned/how you're growing as a player than report exactly how much you won or lost.

Long ball, not short ball.

Good luck man.

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Originally Posted by Carroters

I think your reporting/putting so much focus on your daily short term wins and losses is a really bad idea and kind of undermines the point of not stating your BR all the time. I'd be happier to see you post ideas/things you've learned/how you're growing as a player than report exactly how much you won or lost.

Long ball, not short ball.

Good luck man.

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I here what your saying.. I do.. but that is completely opposite of what I want to accomplish here.

The things I've been learning and how I'm growing as a player are being recorded.. just elsewhere.. not publicly. At least not yet. There are areas I'm working on hard and sharing with my coach that I don't yet want to confuse by seeking mass opinion. That day will likely come, but it's not now.

I'm not focused on daily results. Although I can see how it might come of that way. I'm more just trying to create a log of short term results that I can flip through from time to time. Not just the money.. but also how many sng's I played on any 1 day and how many hands at the cash tables. These things take time to go back and filter with HEM so it's easier for me to flip through a log like this.

Of course I'm more interested in long term results, but they are a snap with HEM as you know.. so no need for me to post a running tally here.. but I like to look back at individual days too.

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Originally Posted by rpm

cruising along nicely. keep on rockin' in the free world

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Thank you sir!

I didn't get as much poker in today as I would have liked... but I certainly did enjoy the game today. I think it was largely because the sng's I played today were all very challenging. Toughest batch of sng's I've encountered in a while I think.

I played of them and only cashed in two. I had a first place and a third. In 3 of the remaining 4 I was eliminated on the bubble which is a little frustrating but at the same time I feel I played them well.. so it is what it is. I end up down $1.5 playing those.

2-tabled 10nl for 392 hands worth and got a little more than a buy-in out of it. I started feeling tired and called it a day. I wish I had of been able to play an extra hour or two.

So the day brings me up $11.09.

I work a fair bit this weekend so I won't be able to play too much.. but I will get some play in during the afternoons. Luckily I can play with HEM at work so I think I'm going review some hands and perhaps take some notes etc.

So it was a tough day on the poker front. Played 8 sng's and only cashed once.... a second place finish at that.

Man I had to laugh though... I was pushing in all the right spots but I couldn't win a flip today to save my life. I got in ahead for the most part.. but the poker gods were pissed at me I guess. That's ok.. sng's are a high variance game and it just wasn't my day.

I did want to get some 10nl in but my daughter decided that I should be watching some Elmo & Grover with her instead.. so that's what I did. There was even a song Elmo sang about ducks that I think I kind of like.

I'll likely just stick to 10nl tomorrow to restore some balance... but who knows. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. Down $30.50 today anyway.

If I owned a dunce hat I would certainly be wearing it today.

Started out with some 10nl and doing quite well for most of the session. But a couple really bad calls on my part turned that around for me. I think my opponents were playing stupid.. but I managed to play even worse than them by calling huge river bets when I knew they had made their draws. I know better than that. Shit I was even telling myself if they made the river I would fold. But I didn't.. and it cost me a stack or two. NO MORE BEING STUPID! lol.

Played sng's.. and again lost the important flips for the most part... cashed in one.. a second place finish.

So I'm down again.. $18.57 today.

The day wasn't a total waste though.. I spent a couple hours with my friend who is learning sng's. I felt like I really got some key concepts through to her today and the 2 games she played with me coaching her were both cashes. 1 first place... so I'm happy about that.

I also think I'm going to play a bunch of the $1 and $2 games in the coming days. In the sessions with her I have noticed that the play seems unbelievably soft in those games. I don't remember those games being much different from the $5 ones on the past but it seems like maybe they are now. Something to do with Black Friday maybe?

Anyway.. I usually try and avoid the higher percentage of rake paid on those lower limit sng's but I'm clearing a bonus right now... and they seem real soft... so I think I may try.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow.