The WCOOP main event on Pokerstars costs $5200 and has a 10 million dollar payout. As far as I know it is the biggest online tournament ever. Both first and second place earn more than a million dollars and the top 9 all get more than $120k. I decided to try to satellite into the event.
So I enter a satellite. The first one I enter is a $5 rebuy to win a place in a $109 qualifier - no problem. I win the $109 place, enter the qualifier where the top X places get the $5200 entry and I just miss out. So I enter another satellite. Again I just miss out. So I enter another satellite...I just miss. So I enter another satellite....I just miss. So I enter another......Can you see where this is going?
As the $5200 WCOOP tournament gets closer and closer the satellites get more expensive and I get more ambitious. I enter a $109 rebuy satellite to try to qualify. Oops. I can enter a $215 freezeout satellite to try to qualify. Oops.
In hindsight I think I was blinded by my share of 10 million dollars and just kept entering satellites. I spent a lot of money. Needless to say I did not qualify for the event.
Even though I did not qualify I was emotionally attached to this tournament. I had to watch and think about what might have been. So I spent 2 days watching the event railing 9 players who I thought might have a chance to win (one of them eventually came second). After they made the money I found it really interesting watching how they each played the closing stages. I think this is educational but I am pining inside that this should be me! If only.....
When the event is over I am somewhat relieved. At least I will not spend any more money chasing a tournament that clearly was outside my bankroll.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
September progress report 2 - 10th to 20th
Here are my results from September 11th thru September 20th:
So as of September 20th I have made an additional $1600 profit which is great news. I have provided some analysis below for this period.
It is noticeable that I have been going deep in tournaments and just not making the final table where the bigger money is. To fix this I have been reading everything I can find on how to play the closing stages of the tournament trying to get that little edge I need. You can see the progress I made below in a few example tournaments:
Yes - I finally got that first place with a $1053 prize. So maybe all the reading paid off (or maybe I just got lucky!). I will keep an eye on this during the next 10 days.
Also very noticeable, I had some problems and negative swings towards the end of this period. This was largely due to my trying to qualify via satellites for the WCOOP main event on Pokerstars. This was an unprofitable and unsuccessful project which I will write about in another post.
Overall I am still progressing. I made 1016 in the first 10 days of September and 1626 in the second 10 days. I will post an update at the end of the month to see if this progress can be maintained. I hope to have 3000 profit at the end of the month which will be $100 per day - not a bad target for my first month after graduating!! Obviously if I make my target in September I will need to increase it in October....so playing poker is just like working in sales then...!!
SUMMARY
FullTilt PokerStars Live Total Cum. Profit
1016
09/11 - 76 - 55 0 -131 885
09/12 - 88 +126 0 + 38 923
09/13 + 51 - 24 0 + 27 950
09/14 +120 - 6 0 +114 1064
09/15 +435 +110 0 +545 1609
09/16 +492 +996 0 +1488 3097
09/17 + 59 0 +100 +159 3256
09/18 -169 -241 0 -410 2856
09/19 + 30 - 93 0 - 63 2793
09/20 - 51 0 0 - 51 2742
So as of September 20th I have made an additional $1600 profit which is great news. I have provided some analysis below for this period.
It is noticeable that I have been going deep in tournaments and just not making the final table where the bigger money is. To fix this I have been reading everything I can find on how to play the closing stages of the tournament trying to get that little edge I need. You can see the progress I made below in a few example tournaments:
9/13 - 85th in a $11 tournament with 2060 entries
- 15th in a $26 tournament with 892 entries.
9/14 - 83rd in a $33 tournament with 658 entries
9/15 - 44th out of 2000 players in a $11 rebuy
- 9th out of 401 players in a $75 buyin.
9/16 - 8th in a 210 player $55 rebuy
- 1st in a 300 person $22 tournament.
Yes - I finally got that first place with a $1053 prize. So maybe all the reading paid off (or maybe I just got lucky!). I will keep an eye on this during the next 10 days.
Also very noticeable, I had some problems and negative swings towards the end of this period. This was largely due to my trying to qualify via satellites for the WCOOP main event on Pokerstars. This was an unprofitable and unsuccessful project which I will write about in another post.
Overall I am still progressing. I made 1016 in the first 10 days of September and 1626 in the second 10 days. I will post an update at the end of the month to see if this progress can be maintained. I hope to have 3000 profit at the end of the month which will be $100 per day - not a bad target for my first month after graduating!! Obviously if I make my target in September I will need to increase it in October....so playing poker is just like working in sales then...!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
September progress report - $1000+ profit in 10 days
Here are my results from September 1st thru September 10th:
So as of September 10th I have made over $1000 profit. Its interesting when you analyze the results to notice that:
1) I am more successful on Full Tilt than I am on Pokerstars right now, and
2) I have some big swings on a daily basis.
I have also played a few cash sessions not included in this analysis and been moderately profitable.
So I am making progress - it will be interesting how the next 10 days go and if I can keep up the momentum!!
SUMMARY
FullTilt PokerStars Live Total Cum. Profit
09/01 +109 0 0 +109 109
09/02 -104 - 10 0 -114 -5
09/03 +174 - 12 0 +162 157
09/04 - 55 + 47 0 - 8 149
09/05 + 96 0 0 + 96 245
09/06 - 28 0 0 - 28 217
09/07 0 0 0 0 217
09/08 + 25 + 50 0 + 75 292
09/09 +244 - 19 0 +225 517
09/10 +545 + 14 -60 +499 1016
So as of September 10th I have made over $1000 profit. Its interesting when you analyze the results to notice that:
1) I am more successful on Full Tilt than I am on Pokerstars right now, and
2) I have some big swings on a daily basis.
I have also played a few cash sessions not included in this analysis and been moderately profitable.
So I am making progress - it will be interesting how the next 10 days go and if I can keep up the momentum!!
Monday, September 1, 2008
August poker training
So after some enjoyable distractions with visiting family members over the summer (who doesn't want to come and enjoy California weather) I finally have had some quality time in August to focus on my poker training.
I am still reading and re-reading the Gus Hansen (Every hand revealed) and Collin Moshman (Sit n Go Strategy) books trying to drive the ideas into my head. I also have spent a decent amount of time on pokerxfactor.com looking at training videos by JohnnyBax, Sheets and PearlJammer. My preference is to look at Sheets videos for SitnGo tournaments and JohnnyBax/PearlJammer videos for large MTT strategy. Its interesting that since I joined pokerxfactor.com the main guy JohnnyBax is listed at the top of the rankings for pokerstars on officialpokerranking.com. I think it is fantastic to be able to learn from the guy at the top of his game.
I have also thought and re-thought (even dreamt) about how I play and how others play in the training videos. I have had ideas that I discuss with my brother in the UK really just to get his opinion and allow me to vent. Most of the time he brings me back to the simpleness of this game - he suggests forgetting all the theory and just playing more.
And I am playing. Especially online. Maybe too much. Several tournaments and SitNGos a day with a sprinkling of cash games. The good news is I feel I am getting better. I feel I am on the cusp of a major breakthrough. I feel that I understand how to play MTTs successfully now, when to be tight and when to be aggressive, when to bet, steal or re-steal. How to play various stack sizes. How to maintain a stack size, how to bully with a big stack and when to bluff/semi-bluff. Its like the training is coming to an end, and I am about to graduate.
So on to September where I will track my results closely. Lets see if my "feelings" can turn into a big wad of hard cash. That would be nice
I am still reading and re-reading the Gus Hansen (Every hand revealed) and Collin Moshman (Sit n Go Strategy) books trying to drive the ideas into my head. I also have spent a decent amount of time on pokerxfactor.com looking at training videos by JohnnyBax, Sheets and PearlJammer. My preference is to look at Sheets videos for SitnGo tournaments and JohnnyBax/PearlJammer videos for large MTT strategy. Its interesting that since I joined pokerxfactor.com the main guy JohnnyBax is listed at the top of the rankings for pokerstars on officialpokerranking.com. I think it is fantastic to be able to learn from the guy at the top of his game.
I have also thought and re-thought (even dreamt) about how I play and how others play in the training videos. I have had ideas that I discuss with my brother in the UK really just to get his opinion and allow me to vent. Most of the time he brings me back to the simpleness of this game - he suggests forgetting all the theory and just playing more.
And I am playing. Especially online. Maybe too much. Several tournaments and SitNGos a day with a sprinkling of cash games. The good news is I feel I am getting better. I feel I am on the cusp of a major breakthrough. I feel that I understand how to play MTTs successfully now, when to be tight and when to be aggressive, when to bet, steal or re-steal. How to play various stack sizes. How to maintain a stack size, how to bully with a big stack and when to bluff/semi-bluff. Its like the training is coming to an end, and I am about to graduate.
So on to September where I will track my results closely. Lets see if my "feelings" can turn into a big wad of hard cash. That would be nice
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