Vegas daily - March 27th

I woke up at 10am and tried to extend my stay at the Luxor but they would not give me a good rate for another night (something about not playing their slots while I was there), so I instead tried to get a late checkout. Then I toyed with the idea of driving back to CA in my tired state but I talked to Ami and she convinced me to stay a few more days and win some money off the weekend tourists, So I farted around phoning hotels and finally got a comp stay at NYNY for 3 more nights (Fri,Sat,Sun) under their Friends and Family offer.

Good Job. Now to pack and move hotels. Initially NYNY put me in a really bad room with terrible views and noise but they kindly gave me a room change so now I am on the 21st floor overlooking th strip. Unpacked and had a nap to 5.30pm to make up for last night. 

Now NYNY does not have a poker room but I have heard good things about the 7pm tournament at the Sahara so I decided  play there tonight. I bought in for $70 and played a cash $1/$2NL game while I waited. I only played for about 20 minutes but left with a $90 profit so I was frerolling in the tournament. I played well and was chipping up nicely when I really aggressive player was moved to the left of me. He was raising and 3 betting preflop and we had a couple of small battles that I got the better of when this hand came up. I am on the button with QJs and he is small blind. I preflop raise to 3000 and he min-raises to 5000 so I call. The flop is 6dQcJh - nice!! I check it because he is so aggressive.  I want him to bet and he does, firing out 8000. I think for a bit and then push all in for another 15000 or so. He calls instantly and shows QQ - the Q on the flop was the case Q. Obviously I could not put him on QQ - I had thought he had AA, KK, AK or maybe 66,  KQ, AQ or even the same hand as me. Well I was wrong and did not get runner runner JJ so that was that. I was quite disappointed.

I then played limit and N cash games which seemed pretty soft - a number of tight and/or drunk players combine with aggressive players who balked at any 3bets meant I won money in each session. I started my day with $750 and ended it with $1200.

After a taxi back to the NYNY I again am hitting the sack at 5.40am - seems I just cant get away from these late nights. At least I can sleep in tomorrow without worrying about the hotel room or a long drive back to CA.

Vegas daily - March 26

Today I got going about noon starting at the Luxor poker room. The only seat available was at a $3/$6 limit game so I played that. I got off to a good start but then had a number of coolers against a lady playing insane cards from out of position. 9-4 offsuit, J-2 offsuit, 10-4 offsuit etc. - not only did she play these cards but she cracked my big hands 6 or 7 times where I was ahead until the turn and betting every street and then the river made here a hand. I lost my $100 and could not believe her luck. I decided I would be able to get it back because she was so bad so I spent another $100 just having the same bad luck. So I stopped playing and decided that table was a cooler.

I played $1/$2 NL for  short while and made a net loss of $20 before deciding to go to Ceasors Palace for their 7pm tournament. It cost $160 to enter. I was playing well and chipping up to well above average when I made a bluff 3 bet on this chap to my right. It worked so I tried it again a short while later. It worked again.  The next orbit I raised his bb again from under the gun and he pushed. He had about half my stack. I looked at my cards (pocket 8s) and decided he was just playing back at me to stop me from bullying him so I called his all-in and he showed the aces. Ouch! A while later I moved tables and was trying to chip up again when I pushed in with A-10 suited from the cutoff. Unfortunately the BB woke up wth QQ and that was that.

I then played some $1/$2 NL at Ceasors and made about $120 back of my tourney buyin when they announced they had a few seats left for the midnight tourney. So I bought a seat. This only cost $60 and had about 50 runners. The problem was I was supposed to check out of my hotel the next morning and drive back to CA and by playing this tournament I would be really tired (and probably fall asleep at the wheel).  So after and hour or so I regretted my decision to play but I was chipping up well and still pissed at my 8-8 mistake in the early tourney. Nothing much happened except we played for 5 hours until we had 8 left on the final table and all agreed to  8 way split. I felt I would win if we carried on but I was tired, aware of what was going to happen the next day and just glad to be going to sleep. The good news was a $307 payout.

I took a taxi back to the Luxor and finally got to bed about 5.45am....

Vegas daily - March 25

Today I woke at 10am and spent 2 hours messing around extending my hotel stay for a bit longer so I can continue my Vegas adventure.  My day went as follows:

- 1.30pm - register for 2pm Luxor tournament

- play $3/$6 limit game while I wait - buyin for $100 and cash out $120

- 2pm - play Luxor tournament - only 11 people registered but I win it so I get $300 payout for 1st place after paying $55 to enter.

- 4.20 pm - play $1/$2 NL for a couple of hours until I go to the MGM for their 7pm tournament - did ok = buyin for $100 and cash out for $240

- 6pm - get some lunch/dinner from the deli

- 6.45pm - register for MGM tournament

- play $1/$2 NL game for 10 mins until tournament starts - buyin for $100 and cash out for $165

- 7pm - play MGM tournament - 40 runners and a few alternates. Got down to 2 tables but made a mistake. I had 8k chips at 800/1600 and played SB/BB, then they broke the table and put me on another table immediately playing SB/BB again. Suddenly I was mega shortstacked so I pushed with J8 suited into a 3 way all-in hoping for a miracle. Both my cards were live but I did not get lucky and that was that

- played $1/$2 NL for about 90 mins and did ok - buyin for $100 and cash out for $243

- played $3/$6 limit for a couple of hours (into early morning) and did ok - buyin for $100 and cash out for $163.

- walk back to Luxor and sort our room key recoding for extending my stay

- after checking emails and the blog updates it is just shy of 4am so I will sleep for 6 hours and start again.

Overall, a good day with 1 tournament win and a few cash wins.... 

Vegas daily report

I thought I would put at least one detailed entry of how I am spending a day in Las Vegas. Each day is different but this is typical. Its Tues March 24th and it went like this:

- 10am - wake up, shower, get a taxi from Luxor where I am staying to the Venetian

- 11.30am - register for noon toruney at Venetian - play some $4/$8 limit while I wait - buyin for $100 and cash out for $112

- noon to 4pm - play tourney 98 entries, down to about 35 left where I have 11BB and move all in on button with Q-10suited hoping to steal. The BB has AK and thats that.

- walk to Mirage - get some lunch/dinner

- 6.45pm - sign up for Mirage 7pm tourney. Play some $3/6 limit while I wait. Buyin for $100 and cash out for $101

- 7pm - 8pm - play Mirage tourney - get AK 3 times and lose/not connect 3 times. You have to chip up fast in this badly structured tourney so Im in trouble - push all in preflop with AJs in late pos. Called by J8 by large stack - he hits a straight - thats that.

- walk to Bellagio

- 9pm - after waiting a while I get a spot in a $4/$8 game and do ok. Play for about 90 mins. Buyin for $100 and cashout with $210.

- walk to Excalibur

- 11.30pm - sign up for the Pokerpro electronic machnes and play a game of .5/$1 against crazy drunk people. Get to $144 and then push all in with 87 suited on a 956 rainbow flop. Called by a guy with 10-9 (top pair). Turn is a 10, river is a 9 - nice catch by him as he stacks me. Its 2am by now and even though the table is soft and crazy I decide im too tired so take my loss and 

- walk to Luxor

- 3am - by the time I arrive and check my emails its time for bed.

Vegas trip - March 2009

So I am updating the blog from Las Vegas. I took my wife Ami to Vegas for her Birthday on March 14th weekend and I stayed on here for a couple of weeks to practice my live cash game and tournament progress. So far its been a fun and very educational trip.

I started off in Monte Carlo casino on the strip where Ami and I focused on her interests which included slots, shopping, blackjack, spa and relaxation. Not a lot of poker played but I did sneak into the poker room a couple of times for short sessions and it is a nicely laid out room. There seem to be a few regulars who like to educate the tourists by taking their money but I held my own and even got a few compliments and asked if I was a local. (Maybe they were just buttering me up but it seemed sincere).

After Ami left I upped the poker ratio and tried to stay away from the Craps tables (my biggest leak - that game is such fun!). So far I have played cash games and/or tournaments at MGM, Wynn, Venetian, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo. 

My stats:

- came 16th out of 207 in a Venetian deep-stack tournament for a $307 cash ($150 entry)

- came 1st out of 18 in a Luxor tournament for a $160 cash (3 way chop) ($50 entry)

- bubbled in Mandalay Bay 35 person tournament (5 paid) after losing with AQ then AK in 2 hands on the bubble v all-in short stacks. Worse they were all in on the BB with no choice so I lost to random cards!!!!

- played 7 tournaments so far, cashed in 2.  Bubbled in 1.

The cash games are harder to quantify. I have bounced all over the place posting some losses and some wins. Some terrible bad beats taking my stack (AJ v J8 on J65 rainbow board where his 8 catches the runner runner straight, AA v 10-10 were he catches a 10 etc.). As I said before I am taking this in stride.

Some of the younger Vegas locals I have met out here are mega aggressive and its interesting to watch and learn. They seem to have learnt online how to play poker and brought that game with them. They play 1-2 or 2-5 no limit. In 1-2 NL they seem to raise most pots preflop to $15 or $20 and then bet $30-$50 on the flop. The tourists often do not want to risk this much money preflop to the locals take it down. Its an interesting strategy.

I have tried to avoid these players by moving to a different table or mixing it up and playing 3-6 or 4-8 limit where a lot of older players like to play. There the older guys like to give advice on how I am playing which often is helpful and occasionally terrible. But it is worth exactly what I am paying for it and I am keen to hear from anyone I can about how they play and if they are profitable. 

A big part of my game right now is trying to pick the right table. Often you go on a casino list so you don't get a choice but you can request a tale change if needed. Other times when it is quiet several tables have an empty seat and you can select where to sit. I look for drunk players first and foremost, then unbalanced stacks and if I can I try to observe the table for a bit. Even if I sit down I am waiting an orbit or o before I get too involved just to get a feel for the players.  When I have decided who is weak and I play aggressive against them. I also tend to be very aggressive in the first couple of hands I play - the other players seem to give a lot of respect until they have seen you for a bit and often fold to flop aggression or a second barrel on the turn.

I will try to update the blog again while I am out here - its been 10 days so far so I only have a short time left before I have to go back to CA.

Oceans 11 tournament - finally cracked it

So as you know I have been frequently going to Oceans 11 casino in Oceanside on Wednesdays and playing the tournaments they put on. I have made he final table a few times but the best I have got is 5th place last year.

Well, that all changed on March 4th when I finally won the thing. To be fair we chopped it 4 ways but I am going to chalk that up as joint 1st place!!

So what now....I guess I will have to pick another tournament to try to win....!

More cash game theory

So I played a lot of cash games in February and I lost a lot of money! I read a lot of books and forum messages and websites on cash game theory. I moved down limits to the micro levels and still lost. I played in the local CA casinos and lost some more.

Eventually I turned it around and started winning. Some significant adjustments I made regarding how to play include:

- play position very strongly but only with cards that can improve and only if the pot is worth it. For example if it is folded to me on the button with only the blinds to go I will not bother with raising any marginal hands because the pot is not worth it. However if there are 2 or more people in the pot I will play marginal hands because the pot is likely to be a decent size.

- in limit poker I was chasing draws to the end calling down bets on the turn and river when the pot was pretty small - I now will only call down to the river IF the pot is large. Most of the times I still miss my draw but when I gt the miracle river card the payoff now makes up for all the times I miss.

- I have upped the aggression. There are lots of limpers and weak players wanting to keep the pot small. I now raise much more than calling and c-bet more than 50% of flops that I have raised with a large near-potsized cbet. The idea is to get rid of the raggy cards preflop and get rid of the draws on the flop. I tend to fold to an aggressive flop re-raise unless I have a made hand.

- I am doing a lot more reading of my opponents and trying to understand pokertracker and its various statistics.  I am looking for tight weak players who will limp a lot into the pot preflop and fold to a raise either preflop or when they miss the flop.

- I am only playing the marginal hands from late position and being much more picky. It seems in cash games too many players now play 1 and 2 gappers trying to get lucky from the wrong position. I am trying to play less of these hands and focus on suited or high unsuited connectors from late position only and only when there is already money in the pot.

- tilt. I am trying to understand good poker players gamble their stack when they think they are ahead and therefore must lose sometimes. So if I lose my stack nd have to rebuy, no big deal. The beats I have taken have been sometimes very tough - KK v KK and he gets  a flush, A v JJ and he gets a straight etc etc. - No big deal. I now realise the other guy got lucky and I will often win those chips back by keeping my focus on the game.

Thats about it...... 

Cash game theory

So lets try to Cliff-notes the difference in theory between tournaments and cash games:

Tournaments. Most people start tournaments by playing tight while the blinds are small and just trying to survive and slowly chip up until the latter stages. As the blinds and antes rise and become a bigger percentage of your stack you get more aggressive.  When you have less than 10BB you get very aggressive. A large part of most online tournaments is played with average stacks of 10-30BB. Most pots seem to be won with starting hands that are pairs or high cards (AK, AQ etc). When you lose in a tournament your fun is over, so most people do not want to gamble unless they have a made hand or great pot odds. 

Cash games: Cash games are often played with very large stacks (100 or more BBs) and if you lose your stack you can easily rebuy. So there is no fear of ending your fun. If you have a draw and reasonably good odds you go chase those cards.  When you hit the pot tends to be huge. Therefore starting hands in cash games are often small cards and connectors or 1-gappers (9-8, 7-6, 10-9 etc). In fact AA, AK and KK are often cracked by 2 pair, sets and straights or flushes. These large hands need to be played quickly in cash games to stop people drawing out on you.  Position is really important in cash games. You really want to be the guy to act last. And mistakes (yours or someone elses) are massively important. You can play a cash game for hours patiently chipping up and then lose your whole stack with one bad mistake.  Good players are extremely patient as they know they make most of their money on a few big pots that only come around once in a long while. Good players also practice hand reading. It is extremely important in cash games to be able to get away from a second best hand - you can only do this by putting your opponents on a range of hands and trying to determine which is the most likely one they are betting with.  This is a big skill and a key part of being a good cash player.  You also need to be able to counter other cash players from reading your hand by being deceptive - making your set of 8s look like top pair top kicker.  

So there you go. Nothing to it. Except that even when you think you have it figured out, it still does not work........

I will detail some of the strategies Ive been using in future posts. I am trying to find the right mix of patience, aggression, bluffing and skill.  While I am searching for this mix, I will bleed money out of my bankroll. I will lose, lose and lose some more. I am philosophical about this - eventually I will win, win and win some more.   I hope!

FTOPS and cash games

So February is all about playing some FTOPS events and re-visiting cash games.  The FTOPS is a twice yearly online tournament hosted by Full Tilt with large guarantees.  Each time it is on I try to win entries into a couple of the events via the satellites Full Tilt put on.  Normally I burn a huge amount of my bankroll when FTOPS is on and this month will probably be no exception.

So why do it? This is my chance to take a shot at some bigger tournaments.  Normally I play$11 and $26 tournaments so my average buy-in is $15.  Even with last months 161% ROI (which is quite an impressive number) I only win less than $4000.  To win the really big money you have to take a shot at larger tournaments and FTOPS is one time I take my shot. Some of the FTOPS tournaments pay 400 or 500 thousand dollars for first place. Can you imagine that return from one tournament.  The top players sure can.

Cash games. I flirt on and off with cash games online and rarely make much headway. I have focused my poker training on tournament and SnG play and mostly skipped the sections on cash games. But I think I need to learn to make me a better all round player.  I know you can win and lose a LOT more money in cash games so I need to figure them out for long term poker success 

Most poker newbies do not understand why cash games are so different that tournament play. They also might be surprised that cash game play is so complex.  I must admit I have never mastered the complexities yet and February is going to be dedicated to that goal.

So for February, forget the ROI (it will probably be skewed because of FTOPS anyhow) and forget the attempt to make $100 per day profit. My main goal in February is to understand the ebb and flow of cash games and figure out how to play them consistently. FYI, I will be reading and re-reading the cash sections of the followign books:

Harrington on Cash games volume 1 and 2

Supersystem 1 and Supersystem 2 by Doyle Brunson

Sklansky = Theory of Poker

Sklansky and Ed Miller - No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice

I will also be scouring the pokerXfactor forums and training videos for everything on cash games. I will be searching google and pokertube for training material and articles. I will be reading poker forums at 2+2 and pocketfives and anywhere else where I might get some knowledge.

Yes, I am on a quest.....it all sounds like bloody hard work!

January Summary

A good start to the year.  This is the first month I have passed my target of $100 profit per day. Obviously I would like this to continue. 

SUMMARY - Jan 2009

         FTilt  PStars   Live  Total   Profit

                                          0

01/01     20       2      0      22      22

01/02   -118    -  1      0    -119    - 97

01/03   - 90    - 40      0    -130    -227

01/04     23       0      0      23    -204

01/05   - 91       0      0    - 91    -295

01/06     80    - 23      0      57    -238

01/07   - 79      35      0    - 44    -282

01/08   - 93      32      0    - 61    -343

01/09   - 64    - 22      0    - 86    -429

01/10   - 13       0      0    - 13    -442

01/11   - 18       0      0    - 18    -460

01/12   2895    - 23      0    2872    2412      

01/13   -109    - 10      0    -119    2293      

01/14   - 25    - 10      0    - 35    2258      

01/15   - 74    - 15      0    - 89    2169      

01/16    155       0      0     155    2324      

01/17      0       0      0       0    2324      

01/18      0       0      0       0    2324      

01/19   - 31       0      0       0    2324      

01/20   - 95    - 29      0    -124    2200  

01/21   - 92    - 51      0    -143    2057      

01/22    795    - 17      0     778    2835      

01/23    547    - 62      0     485    3320      

01/24   -118    - 29      0    -147    3173      

01/25      0       0      0       0    3173      

01/26   - 54    - 44      0    - 98    3075      

01/27    216      23      0     239    3314

01/28    595    - 76      0     519    3833

01/29     46    -  7      0      39    3872      

01/30   -174       0      0    -174    3698      

01/31    148      15      0     163    3861   

Some things stand out when you look at the numbers. Why am I winning on Full Tilt this month and yet cannot win a thing on Pokerstars. I have stepped down limits to as far as $1 sitngos and still lose all the time. If I have aces, the other guy gets a flush. If I have kings or AK the other guy has aces.  I recorded a number of my tournament exits where I got all my chips in with the best hand but got unlucky....time after time.

I still cannot explain how or why the 2 sites are so different.  Maybe FullTilt is being kind to me this month and hitting my drawing hands more often that it should and that's why I am winning. Or maybe Pokerstars is being unkind to me.  I know last year I had a spell where the opposite was true and FullTilt would not win a thing for me. Maybe this is all psychological and I am causing my own problems.

So notwithstanding the puzzle above I am reasonably pleased with this months results and want to try to meet my target again in February. I am going to take a shot at a couple of larger tournaments - one good cash in one of these should improve my results but a few losses will make it very hard to meet my target.

Onwards......

Poker Tracking sites

I use OfficialPokerRankings.com extensively to record my tournament results and to track my progress on this poker journey. There are several similar sites out there but this one is allowed by Pokerstars and FullTilt and is very informative.

I use the site  in several ways:

1. It records all tournaments you enter and tracks your finishing position and money you win along with cost and ROI numbers.

2. It provides a leaderboard of the top players (highest winning players) on Pokerstars and FullTilt sites and allows you to see which tournaments they entered and where all their winnings come from.

3. It allows you to lookup in real time the players on a table that you are on to see their normal average buyin and current form. I think it provides an edge to know if a player on your final table has never won this big before or if they regularly win big. It helps you to decide which players are out of their depth and you can target with raises and re-raises.

4. It shows how you are progressing as a player by showing you ROI for each calander year in the last 3 years, the last 120 days and the current YTD.

For example I can see that:

- in 2007 my ROI was -88% - completely useless

- in 2008 my ROI was -11% - this reflects a poor first 6 months and a stronger last 6 months

- in 2009 my YTD ROI is 189% - this is reflecting a good January (so far)

- my ROI for the last 120 days is 60%

This information suggests I am on the right track. It also shows that for FullTilt at least (all stats above are site specific and are for Full Tilt) I am having a good month. I may even make my $100 per day profit target depending on how I do from now until the end of the month.

So officialpokerrankings.com, or OPR as I like to call it, well done. It is a great site and very useful to a poker player like myself who is trying to measure their progress.

Do good poker players need luck

I had an interesting chat today with a player called snoop86 about luck. Do good poker players need luck to win tournaments, and more to the point, as snoop contends are they good enough that they dont rely on luck.

I think all poker players need luck, Even aces are only 82% likely to win pre-flop so you need to be lucky to dodge that other 18% of cards that will beat you.

When you push in with KK on that final table, you need to be lucky for it to hold up and put you into a chip-leading position.

When you are playing aggressively around the bubble, you need some luck in that other players do not play back at you that one time you are making a move with marginal cards. and hopefully they will play back at you that one time you have a monster hand.

So I think luck is needed, and relied upon. But snoop disagreed with me!

Wrapping up 2008

I wrote my first blog entry in November 2007 and stated I have 3-4 months to train to become a poker player and get to the pinnacle whatever that means.  I really started my journey the month before in September. I finished up my computer job for a year of rest and decided I might as well fill in that time trying to play poker.

In September I carted around the casinos and poker rooms in Southern California and realized how much I hated commuting and sitting in traffic and how much I enjoyed working at home. I found online poker. In October I signed up for Full Tilt and in November I tried Pokerstars. I also found a bunch of poker magazines with articles on strategy, a number of poker learning books at the book store and online websites and forums that train you to become a better poker player. I decided after 3 months I was ready to try some big tournaments in different countries around the world.

So 2008 was about combining my enjoyment of travel with my new found passion of competitive poker. I travelled to Australia and played in a tournament in Adelaide in January coming 3rd, then I played in the Aussie Millions event #1 in Melbourne and came 33rd. It seemed to be a great start.

I went to Las Vegas in February and played in a bunch of regular casino tournaments. I then played in the LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino in March and headed to England in April to play in the casinos over there. In May I went to Monte Carlo for the EPT grand final and played in one event and some live SitnGos.  I was back in Las Vegas for June and July and played in one event in the WSOP.   For all the experience I was gaining I did not yet feel good enough at poker to be out of training. 

So I decided August was a study month. I decided as I had started the journey in September it was more reasonable to allow for a 12 month training period. I would start to play for real in September 2008 tracking my results and setting some goals.

So I did. I set a goal of earning an average $100 per day clear profit from online poker. It started well in September but then went downhill. My results:

September - win $2212

October - win $58

November - lose  $477

December - win $114

I guess if I met the goal right away it would be too easy.  I struggled in October, November and December to stop the rot. I reviewed all my training material - what was I doing so right in September that went wrong in these three months. Or was I just lucky in September and playing the same way now without getting lucky. Or was there an online conspiracy that I was victim to .

So here I am in January. Trying to review the past year I have enjoyed the time playing poker and travelling the world. I am in a very lucky situation that I can afford to continue playing poker during 2009. I want to meet my goal and then pass it.  

The big question is am I good enough? Or can I become good enough? I guess the only way to find out is to play on during 2009 and continue to learn and adapt my game. 

December summary

It looked like December was going to be another disaster money-losing month taking my downswing into its third month, but I had a late month comeback of sorts which left me barely in profit:

SUMMARY - December 2008

         FTilt  PStars   Live  Total   Profit

                                          0

12/01   - 24    - 11      0    - 35    - 35

12/02    - did not play

12/03    - did not play

12/04    - did not play

12/05    - did not play

12/06    - did not play

12/07    - did not play

12/08    - did not play

12/09     33       0      0      33    -  2

12/10   - 22       0      0    - 22    - 24   

12/11      0       0      0       0    - 24 

12/12   - 18       0      0    - 18    - 42 

12/13      0      12      0      12    - 30 

12/14      0       0      0       0    - 30 

12/15   - 31       0      0    - 31    - 61 

12/16   -135       0      0    -135    -196 

12/17      9       0      0       9    -187 

12/18   -  7    - 11      0    - 18    -205 

12/19   -  9       0      0    -  9    -214 

12/20      0       0      0       0    -214 

12/21      0       0      0       0    -214

12/22   - 15    - 99      0    -114    -328

12/23      0      23      0      23    -305

12/24      5    - 32      0    - 27    -332

12/25      0    -  3      0       3    -335

12/26    319       1      0     320    - 15

12/27    115    - 28      0      87      72

12/28   - 93    - 18      0    -111    - 39

12/29    296      54      0     350     311

12/30   - 44    - 35      0    - 79     232

12/31   - 77    - 41      0    -118     114

So I ended the year not thinking I was totally useless but still very disappointed in my roller-coaster results. If I win one day I seem to lose the next. I am obviously not playing consistent poker or maybe this is just the variance all the pros talk about so much. 

 

Making a profit again

So since the day after Christmas I finally cracked my downswing and returned to winning ways with a modest profit.  Notable small victories:

12/26 - came 2nd in a 200 person $11 tourney ==> $330 

12/27 - came 5th in a 90 man $26 SnG ==>$144

12/29 - came 1st in a 90 man $11 SnG ==> $230

12/29 - came 1st in a 90 man $3 SnG ==> $72

I am hoping this will enable me to finish December in profit and get back to my $100 per day profit target in january.

Some of the things I have changed to get past the downswing:

- fold KQ in early position and play real cautious with it in ANY position (similar to how I play AJ)

- focus on bullying small and medium stacks around the bubble

- slow down on final table

- build chips early by positional play

I've also been more relaxed over the Christmas period and with all the travels, shopping and partying completed I have been able to slow down and focus a bit better.  This may or may not have helped my poker :-)

Pokerstars blogger freeroll

My great luck continues and I continue to smile. I was playing the blogger freeroll (the prizes are great so why not). This was a NL satellite with top 72 players qualifying out of 538 runners and I was going nicely having some banter with the table then hit the following 2 hands:

QQ v 87 - the flop was J87 and he checked, so I led out with my QQ and he called. Turn was a 7 and he checked.  I checked a little scared of the paired board and the river was a 5. He put in a small bet and did not have many chips left so I raised to put him all in. He called and showed the FH  and there went half my stack leaving me with 22oo chips or so.

AQ v 88 - I was SB and he was BB. Preflop I just called because I wanted action and he raised - things were looking good. The flop was 8AQ. Hows that for a setup. I bet and he raised, so I called and we played a bit of cat and mouse. I figured he had A-rag or maybe even A-8. I had a good banter going in the chat box and everything was looking rosy with all the chips going in the middle. His set won the day!!

I saved the history for this hand:

PokerStars Game #23034721655: Tournament #124189661, Freeroll  Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (25/50) - 2008/12/18 14:39:14 ET

Table '124189661 35' 9-max Seat #9 is the button

Seat 2: ace-redman (2076 in chips) 

Seat 3: Nis Puk (4326 in chips) 

Seat 4: DrewFours (3294 in chips) 

Seat 5: bigpoppaboat (2439 in chips) 

Seat 6: MrAckley (3650 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 7: ImRafa20 (2465 in chips) 

Seat 8: Priitk (1261 in chips) 

Seat 9: SiresNme (4574 in chips) 

ace-redman: posts small blind 25

Nis Puk: posts big blind 50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to ace-redman [Ad Qs]

DrewFours: folds 

bigpoppaboat: folds 

MrAckley: folds 

ImRafa20: folds 

Priitk: folds 

SiresNme: folds 

ace-redman: calls 25

Nis Puk: raises 200 to 250

ace-redman: raises 200 to 450

Nis Puk: calls 200

*** FLOP *** [8h Qd Ac]

GRobman is connected 

ace-redman: bets 350

Nis Puk: raises 350 to 700

ace-redman: calls 350

*** TURN *** [8h Qd Ac] [2d]

ace-redman: checks 

Nis Puk: bets 450

ace-redman said, "gl all"

ace-redman: raises 476 to 926 and is all-in

Nis Puk: calls 476

*** RIVER *** [8h Qd Ac 2d] [Kh]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

ace-redman: shows [Ad Qs] (two pair, Aces and Queens)

Nis Puk: shows [8d 8c] (three of a kind, Eights)

Nis Puk collected 4152 from pot

Nis Puk said, "gg"

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 4152 | Rake 0 

Board [8h Qd Ac 2d Kh]

Seat 2: ace-redman (small blind) showed [Ad Qs] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens

Seat 3: Nis Puk (big blind) showed [8d 8c] and won (4152) with three of a kind, Eights

Seat 4: DrewFours folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 5: bigpoppaboat folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 6: MrAckley folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: ImRafa20 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: Priitk folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: SiresNme (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

On a positive note I had another session yesterday where I lost 4 tournaments (I cannot win a tournament right now), but won all the buy-ins back and a little more in a cash game. So maybe I should just play cash games right now!!!!

That would be smart, but I am not smart. I am persistant - this tournament luck has to change at some  point!!

Pokerstars bloggers event

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 178421

The conspiracy theory - online poker

I am in the middle of a downswing which I am hoping will end soon but it leads to inevitable questions from my friends and family about the possibility of online poker being rigged. I am very optimistic that this is NOT the case but it did lead me to think about the possibilities and how it would work:

1. DBA/Programmer cheats

Of course I am very familiar with computers and running databases because this is what I have done for the last 14 years. The recent Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker scandals prove it is easy for programmers to hide code or hooks into the system that someone could abuse (for example to see hole cards of the other players on the same table),  but with competent code reviews and ongoing software upgrades by other programmers these hooks would always eventually be found out and exposed.  A more likely cheat is the DBA who has access to every game, every hand history and every player record stored in the database. They could use this information to improve their own game or share it with other players and interested parties - this would be much harder to detect but is not so different from the current occurrence of players using training sites to see the full hand histories of other winning or expert  players.  Even though the DBA can access this information it may not provide immediate benefit.

2. Pokerpro type tables.

The new electronic tables also could store all hands played so it could be possible for someone (a DBA) to run through the full hand history of the person who won a tournament playing on these machines to determine when they bluff, how much they bet for certain starting hands etc, to either improve their own game or to fully understand how another player plays - the main difference between this and the training sites is the player may not even be involved in this information being shared.  For example Mike McDonald (aka TIMEX) won the Pokerpro tournament in the 2008 Aussie millions event - who owns the hand history stored in the PokerPro machine?

3. Player collusion

We all know this exists expecially in mid-stakes cash games and single table SitNGos. The most likely scenario is 2 players who are friends  sharing information over instant messaging software regarding their hands while they play on the same table.  This would be very hard to detect if it is done sporadically but fairly easy to detect if it is done regularly. I suspect the online poker sites are working hard to identify IP addresses that regularly play on the same tables together and tracking any money transfers/chat logs etc. between players with those IP addresses.  The other form of player collusion is in large MTT tournaments where player 1 may play the easy part of the tournament and hand over to the more experienced player2 for the end game, OR one player will play the same MTT with several accounts aka multi-accounting. Something similar to this appears to have happened in a large Pokerstars tournament recently but Pokerstars had a system in place to detect this and disqualified the eventual winner. I think the  "player collusion" form of cheating will always happen to some extent but the online sites are working to stamp this out.

4. The online sites player retention scam

This is where things could get interesting. I do not think the big sites would dare to do this but because I am a programmer I know it could be done. The worst form of cheating would be an algorithym to encourage players to win a little and then lose a little, win a little more, then lose a little more eventually losing their bankroll so they have to reload. This would maximize the amount of play each player would make and therefore increase the online sites rake. How would you disguise this - basically it would just look like a run of bad luck where players appear to have a number of bad beats. Who would you target - probably the mid-range players who are the bread and butter of the site. The higher end players and the  pros know the percentages and would quickly discuss skewed statistics amongst themselves and to avoid certain sites. But the mid-range players would just keep depositing a little more money and assume their lack of skill and "bad luck" caused them to have a bad run - after all they were winning the month before!! 

Number 4 is the type of conspiracy which can only be prevented by competent regulation by an authority that can punish any offenders. It is possible self-regulation (which exists now via the importance of reputation) would also prevent the online sites from doing this. But as much as I am very optimistic this is not happening, it is impossible to know for sure.  And I am in the middle of a downswing....and several people have said to me "it must be rigged".....

Food for thought!!

Still trying to figure it all out

My downswing is ongoing. the last 3 months have gone as follows:

September - win $2212

October - win $58

November - lose  $477

Early in December I decided to take a week or so off from playing online  poker hoping this would refresh me and get me back to winning ways. Unfortunately it has made little difference as evidenced by my December month to date results:

SUMMARY - December 2008

         FTilt  PStars   Live  Total   Profit

                                          0

12/01   - 24    - 11      0    - 35    - 35

12/02 no poker played

12/03 no poker played

12/04 no poker played

12/05 no poker played

12/06 no poker played

12/07 no poker played

12/08 no poker played

12/09     33       0      0      33    -  2

12/10   - 22       0      0    - 22    - 24

12/11      0       0      0       0    - 24

12/12   - 18       0      0    - 18    - 42

12/13      0      12      0      12    - 30

12/14      0       0      0       0    - 30

12/15   - 31       0      0    - 31    - 61

Not too good. After my break I started playing again and had ONE day of positive results at Full Tilt, then continued losing money. The strange thing is I have been playing cash games on Full Tilt and winning.  For example I played on 4 tables low-stakes NL on 12/15 and ended up $71 in profit for about 2 hours work. But in the tournaments and SitNGos I continue to lose money.

Possibly the simplest reason is the lack of a winning mentality (or going on tilt). Maybe my continuing playing tournaments where I go deep and then losing around the bubble is causing me to make bad decisions. Or maybe my recent reading up on cash game play has somehow affected how I am playing tournaments.

I am hoping to figure this out and get back to positive ways. 

November summary

As mentioned in my last post, November started ok and then went downhill. The full results are shown below:

SUMMARY - November 2008

                                                            

         FTilt  PStars   Live  Total   Profit

                                          0

11/01     67    - 19      0      48      48

11/02      0       0      0       0      48

11/03    100    -  2      0      98     146

11/04   -158    - 12      0    -170    - 24 

11/05    229       0   - 60     169     145

11/06   -245       0      0    -245    -100

11/07   - 35    -  3      0    - 38    -138

11/08   - 23       0      0    - 23    -161

11/09   - 85       0      0    - 85    -246

11/10   - 33       0      0    - 33    -279

11/11      0       0      0       0    -279

11/12     16       0      0      16    -263

11/13    140       0      0     140    -123

11/14    138      15      0     153      30

11/15   - 77       0      0    - 77    - 47

11/16   -107    - 12      0    -119    -166

11/17   - 10    - 28      0    - 38    -204

11/18      0       0      0       0    -204

11/19   - 42       0      0    - 42    -246

11/20      0       0      0       0    -246

11/21   - 26       0      0    - 26    -272

11/22   - 68      29      0    - 39    -311

11/23     58    -  0      0      58    -253

11/24   - 95    - 57      0    -152    -405

11/25   - 22       0      0    - 22    -427

11/26   - 38       0      0    - 38    -461

11/27      0       0      0       0    -461

11/28      0       0      0       0    -461

11/29      1    -  0      0       1    -460

11/30      0    - 17      0    - 17    -477

The final loss for the month was $477. When will this downswing end? The obvious question is what am I doing about it. I am reviewing my hand histories, writing down how I am playing certain hands, moving to different buyins and different types of games, re-reading certain books and re-watching certain training site videos that seemed to help me before. 

So far I have not cracked the nut. I am going deep quite often and then losing near to or on the bubble. For example, some of my recent beats:

AQ v A8 (he hit the 8)

set v pair (he back-doored a straight)

AK v AA

AQ v AA

KK v JJ (he hit the J)

QQ v 33 (he hit the 3)

Jh9h v As7s (me short stacked on the bubble, money goes in post flop on flop of 2d, Js, 7c - he calls with pair of 7s and gets a backdoor flush 5s, Ks)

I decided to take some days off from playing poker - maybe a break will get me back to winning ways in December.

Back home

So Im back in California after staying an extra 10 days in Australia for some additional R&R.  Its kind of an inside joke as a lot of my friends are bemused by my time off "work" playing poker and probably think my whole life is R&R.

What happened in Australia after my great little 6 final tables in a row?  A massive downswing.  Once again the gods (or Full tilt shuffler) seemed to go against me. Every time I went all-in I seemed to hit AK V AA, or QQ v KK, or AK v AQ with a miracle Q appearing, or KK v JJ with a miracle J appearing. My step-dad was watching and was amazed how unlucky I seemed to be - he is now convinced Full Tilt is rigged. Of course I do not believe that - I am just on another downswing that will eventually end.

Anyhow I am back home to the wife and dogs and with no sign of the downswing ending in Australia I am hoping it will end over here. I have been reading some additional poker books - currently I am reading "Online Ace" by Scott Fischman.

Australia

So i am on vacation in Australia out to see my parents and hang out for a few weeks. One of the joys of online poker is you can travel anywhere in the world and if the internet is available you can continue to work. This gives me the freedom to stay home in California, visit parents in Australia or visit my brothers in England and still play poker.

Also the timezone is 17.5 hours ahead of California (or 5.5 hours behind but the next day) so when I login to play it is possible I will be playing different players. One could argue that more online pros live on the west coast of California than anywhere else so when you play during the day in California you are playing pro grinders a lot - this is much tougher opposition than playing against the night-time warriors who login after their day job is finished. So maybe while i am in Oz I will play against weaker players just because of the time difference.

And so it seems. I have been playing a lot of 45 seater $11 and $26 tournaments recently and I just had a little spell where I final tabled 6 tourneys in a row. Normally I will final table one or two and then have a couple of 15/16/17th type finishes. But not this week. Six in a row leading to a decent profit to help makeup for my losses on the FTOPS entries.

My plan is to keep playing these 45 seaters for a little while to boost my bankroll. The nice thing about these tournaments is they do not last long (normally 75 mins or so) which means I have maximum flexibility to still go out over here and visit people.

It will be interesting to see if I can get back on track with my $100 per day target after the October shortfall (because of WCOOP) and the problems last week (because of FTOPS).  I will post an update here for November when the totals are in.

FTOPS

So Full tilts FTOPS series is here and its a chance to win some serious money. 

I entered satellites to win an entry into FTOPS #1 for $191 instead of $220 so I was ahead before it started. Just prior I had placed first in 2 smaller tournaments and was also going pretty deep in most tournaments I entered so my confidence was high. 

There were 5124 starters and 492 got paid with 1st place getting $170,000 or so. Anyone in the last 27 got really good money. That was my target. But alas, it was not to be. I came 1184th place and went out in a bad way. My stack was getting lower (about 12 BB) and I was card dead for a while and then picked up AJs. I decided a double up at this point would give me a chance to make a decent run for the money so I pushed and was called by a player with 2-2. The flop came A, 8, Q so it was looking good but the turn and river combined to give the guys with 2-2 a backdoor flush. And I was out......no money, no glory!  

As ever I always think about the big tourneys after and doubt my moves. I had enough chips to wait longer for a premium hand (AJ suited is not really premium) but the longer I waited the smaller my stack would get and the less effective a double up would be. This is a little bit of Snyders philosophy I still think is good - its better to double up earlier so you can change 12BB to 24BB instead of later when you change 6BB to 12BB and are still low and need yet another double up.  So I went for it. And missed. No problem - I think it was an ok move.

So to the next FTOPS. Generally I only keep a few hundred dollars in my poker account and withdraw the rest so I decided to satellite into FTOPS #9. Well this did not work and I lost about $200 trying and just going out with bad luck (AA, KK - that kind of thing). Finally I had to decide whether to put enough money into my account just to buy in to the FTOPS - after much agonizing this is what I did. So FTOPS #9 - this cost $322 to buyin and had 5370 entries. Again the top prize was massive - $270,000 to the winner. The top 27 spots all paid well so again this was my target.

I played much better in this tournament again expecting to go deep. I was keeping above average right up to the money bubble. Then I played like a scared chicken. Maybe it was because I bought in with new money or maybe because I lost the satellites but I wanted to make the money. I remembered TJ Cloutiers advice which is he first plays to make the money and THEN plays to win the tournament. I also remembered the advice of every good player and good book on poker that says the bubble is the time to gamble, to pick up chips from everyone who is scared of not making the money - this is when REAL players get going.  So even remembering all this I wanted to make the money damn it. I folded and folded and played slowly and advertised to everyone else I was a scared chicken to be bullied. Even when I picked up a couple of hands (AQ, 88, AK) I just folded them like a wimp.

Hey hey hey - I made the money. After making the money and patting myself on the back I waited for all the immediate post-bubble stuff to happen. This is where all the scared chickens start pushing all-in with some gamble because now they've made the money the pressure is off and they do not care if they go out. I know all this - I've read about it, I've seen it - heck I've exploited it in most tournaments I play. But not today - today I wanted for a while, then got KQ and decided to push all in just like all the other scared chickens. I got called by AA and that was that. I won $418 - yes I paid $322 to enter, played for 5 hours and 10 mins and WON $418. So my profit of $96 did not even cover the cost of the satellites I entered. 

So maybe in reading this you can sense my frustration. If I had pushed pre-bubble with AQ, 88 or AK and lost I might have gone out with no money but at least I would have the pride of knowing I played the right way. Instead I have earned the right to say I cashed in one of the big FTOPS tournaments..............by playing like a scared chicken.

So thats my FTOPS experience so far. I feel  lost one tournament (did not cash) by playing well and making (arguably) a good move at the right time, and I cashed in another tournament by playing terrible (like a scared chicken)  around the bubble. 

October results

I started October with a visit to Las Vegas so did not play too much online poker.  In Vegas I came out about even with one decent cash in tournament play and some cash game winnings (against drunk tourists mind you). I was disappointed in the trip because I thought I would be a winner. My expectations were way above my results.

My online results this month were up and down. I hardly played from October 1st to October 10th due the the Vegas trip and ended up with a $17 profit.  I played a bit more when I returned from Vegas and I was up to just under $800 profit on the 19th. But then I went for broke on Sunday 20th with entries into some big buy-in tournaments. I ended a decent loser on the 20th losing almost half my profit. I finished the 10th to 20th  period with a total profit of $432.  This sent me on a downward spiral - between the 20th and 26th I lost all my monthly profit and went into the red. I was still in the red on the 30th but then had a very good 31st to bring me back to a small profit.  The final profit for the month was $58. This is about $1.50 per day and only $3042 less than my monthly target of $100 per day.

Notable results:

->Oct 10th - $55 freezeout - I came 35th out of 1818 runners and won $173. 

->Oct 13th - $28 freezeout - I came 2nd out of 225 runners and won $984.

->Oct 16th - $55 freezeout - I came 82nd out of 1729 runners and won $130.

->Oct 19th - $109 freezeout - I came 63rd out of 1079 runners and won $236.

->Oct 22nd - $4 Sit n Go - I came 9th out of 180 runners winning $12

->Oct 26th - $55 freezeout - I came 88th out of 1854 runners and won $139

->Oct 31st - $26 Sit n Go - I came 2nd out of 45 runners winning $270

Monthly review

----------------

So what went wrong this month. I think there were 2 main issues:

1.  "Snyder".  his book made me think about playing a totally different way. I think I overplayed his methods during the middle of the month and had to stop myself by going back to my prior strategy. Now I am slowly incorporating his methods into my overall game.

2. Large tournaments - success in $5, $10, $20  tournaments do not come anywhere close to matching the payouts in the $55, $55 rebuy, $109 and $109 rebuy tournaments. This is where the big boys play and I decided this month to join in. On Pokerstars  I played nine $55 tournaments,  one $55 rebuy, three $109 tournaments and one $109 rebuy.  I paid $1200  to enter these tournaments and won $678. That's quite a loss. For now I am going back down in stakes where I have been more successful.

So how am I feeling. Surprisingly good.  Although I am way below target I have just posted another profitable month. Also I made quite a comeback towards the end of the month by playing fundamentally sound poker. If I can continue playing this way, I hope I will have a decent profit in November.

 

Arnold Snyder - quack or genius

Most poker books are very similar. Its had to find a book that suggests a different method. Each book I read may suggest slightly enhanced strategies but very few are as bold as the new book I am reading by Arnold Snyder. The book is called the Poker Tournament Formula 2. This book basically refers to other books like Harrington, Sklansky and the like and literally says they are wrong. 

How can that be. Harrington is a bible for a lot of tournament poker players. Snyder refers to them as 'Harringbots' - players who blindly follow the Harrington methods and are easy pickings in tournaments. How credible can this guy be? Maybe Snyder is wrong!

I googled Snyder and found an interesting  thread in 2+2 poker forums where Mason Malmuth and David Sklansky take great offence at Snyder and call him out as an idiot. But there are other posters who are far more positive and say his original Poker Tournament Formula book changed their game and helped them immediately become more successful at winning tournaments.

So what is the big revelation in the book and did it help me.  The answer first - yes it helped me right away. I started enjoying poker more and came 2nd in a Pokerstars tournament. The revelation is something we all know but do not practice.

Play your opponent

Build a stack, then use this stack to dominate

I saw this in Vegas. While I was doubling up through small pairs that made a set, and occasional showdowns with AK or AQ and creeping towards the final tables, some guys were building monster stacks. When they eventually came on my table they piled on the pressure. If I called a preflop raise my post flop decision was ALWAYS for all my chips against these guys. If I tried to check to see a flop they always put in a huge 5 or 6x raise. Basically everyone else at the table had to shut up shop and wait for hands while the big stacks stole blinds and antes again and again and got bigger and bigger.

This is exactly the point Snyder makes. He talks about Utility odds and chip utility and other things but ultimately he is saying you must do everything to build a monster stack early in the tournament when everyone is playing tight (the Harrington way). Even if you bust out trying to build the huge stack it is worth the effort to try.  When you have this stack you have "full utility" and can basically run the table. Snyder points out several pro players like John Phan  play exactly this way - they do anything and everything to get a big stack and then use it to steam roller the other players.

So how to build a monster stack. Some people on 2+2 say Snyder does not explain exactly how to do this but I think he does. He says to pretty much ignore your cards. Play position and other players regardless of your cards. To me this means you will be betting preflop, postflop, after the turn and on the river sometimes with complete air. You must spend some time scoping out the players at the table first to see who seems to fold to pressure.  Then you will be the guy applying that pressure against those players regardless of your cards. Another important point - Snyder suggests we forget the GAP concept and be more than willing to call preflop bets made by weak players.  Especially loose or aggressive players.  They will be more prone to fold to post flop pressure. Snyder emphasizes you must be willing to gamble early on to double up your stack. For example J-10s v an all-in raise may be a callable hand, because if you double up your chip utility will be massively enhanced. And if you bust out - just play another tournament another day and do not worry about it.

Its certainly an interesting book. In the next post I will explain how I put his ideas into action and how they worked for me. 

Vegas trip report

I love Las Vegas. The last time I was there was when the WSOP was on and poker tournaments were everywhere and pretty well attended. Almost any time of night or day you could walk a short distance along the strip and play in a tournament.

This time I took the wife for the weekend (no poker!!) and then stayed an extra 4 days on my own (loads of poker!!). I've been to Vegas loads of times over the last 13 years and this was the first time I can say it looks like the tough economic times are hurting it. There were still tourists, locals, drunks, hen-parties, 21st Birthday groups etc. but noticeably less so than previously.

In July several people told me that poker was the one bright spot in the casino industry - still growing and bringing in revenue. On this trip it was evident the poker boom was slowing down significantly. Several small regular tournaments around town appeared to be cancelled due to lack of players - you only found this out when you turned up to play. During the day some of the poker rooms are completely empty - even to the extent that they were closed down.

I saw some of this first hand. The new Hard Rock poker room had one table of players playing $1-$2 and about 30 empty tables. There were more staff than players in the casino. In Treasure Island the poker dealers were playing gin amongst themselves.

I was staying at the Venetian. This casino seems to have weathered the storm and still had an active poker room - several regulars told me it had the best tournament turnout in town. The Wynn, Bellagio and Ceasors were also still pretty active I was told.

I played 6 tournaments in the Venetian poker room and a couple elsewhere. My schedule and results are shown below:

Sunday - 7pm - 1am - Venetian - finished 26th out of 90.
Monday - noon - 6.45pm - Venetian - finished 16th out of 90.
Monday - 7pm - 2.30am - Venetian - finished 6th out of 90 ---------> CASHED
Tuesday - noon to 1.30pm - Venetian - finished 80th out of 100 (out with QQ v AK)
Tuesday - 2pm - 4pm - Treasure Island - finished 9th out of 18
Tuesday - 7pm to 1.30am - Venetian - finished 13thout of 100
Wednesday - noon to 6pm - Venetian finished 32nd out of 100
Wednesday - midnight - 2am - Osheas - finished 5th our of 18

My thoughts on the trip:

1. The Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday marathon sessions took a bit out of me. I had a stinking headache on Weds and decided to cry off the evening tournament and get some sleep. As much as I love poker, 16 hours per day is too much for me!!

2. In the Venetian I played against a bunch of Vegas regulars and feel that I held my own. I cashed once and bubbled twice (13th and 16th) which suggests I was playing ok but still need to work on my end-tournament play. I talked to a few pros who complimented me on my play so that was nice.

3. On Tuesday afternoon I went over to Treasure Island to play a 2 table SNG tournament but went out in 10th place with QQ v AK. After a sleep I went over to O'sheas and played some cash games against the drunk tourists. I left the casino at 4.30am after a fun session.

Overall I was disappointed by my results on this trip. Something is still missing from my game especially in my endgame. I am bubbling too much still. As soon as I got back home I went and bought a couple of new poker books to continue my education. I am also looking for some local peer poker players to discuss my strategy with.

September progress report 3 - 21st to 30th

Here are my results from September 21st thru September 30th:

SUMMARY

         FullTilt  PokerStars  Live  Total   Cum. Profit
                                                2742
09/21       0        -341       0    -341       2401
09/22       0        - 13       0    - 13       2388
09/23    -189        +  6       0    -183       2205
09/24    - 21        -  3       0    - 24       2182
09/25    - 20        +  7       0    - 13       2168
09/26    - 12        - 61       0    - 73       2095
09/27    - 18           0       0    - 18       2077
09/28       0           0       0       0       2077
09/29    +217        -  2       0    +215       2292
09/30    - 52        - 28       0    - 80       2212

So as of September 30th my total profit for the month was $2212. This is below my target of $3000 and was largely due to a large downswing from 9/16 to 9/28. For 12 days straight I made a loss.

It is hard to say why downswings occur. I am the same person playing the same way but the cards just went against me. I recorded some of my beats. It just seemed every time I got KK the other person had AA. When I had AA another person would make a straight or flush even when we both got it in pre-flop. If I had a set another person would hit their miracle river card to get a higher set.

The downswing started with my failure to make the WCOOP despite entering numerous satellites. Could this have mentally affect me. Probably. Or maybe I was affected by watching the WCOOP. Who knows.

The important thing is to get back on the up. And how better to do this than to take a trip to Las Vegas to play some poker.

Off to Vegas I go......

WCOOP - winning part of 10 million dollars

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.