PLO...lol at that idea

So after my last post i chilled a bit, and came back to the game. I fired up a pot limit omaha table. blahhh lololol. I am just as horrible at that game now as i was a few years ago. Whitch is no suprise beings i never play it. So now that that idea was gone i came to this.

I really don't like the process of getting good at sngs. The whole goal is to become a ICM machine an to push fold perfect late while playing a kabillion tables. I would make it up to the 16s, build a 50 buy in bankroll, then just add tables untill i could 12+ making 10ish roi. While the money is good, it would be the total opposite of what i enjoy about poker.

But i make decent money 5 tabling the 3.40s and possibly the 6.50s so why switch?

Well i found out that i will only be making a little bit less than that playing what i really enjoy, 100+bb nl cash games.

If i am any where decent at nl cash games i should make 7-10 PTBBs per 100hands.

okokokok, so this is it. I can make ok money playing what i like???!!! whee strait to the 6 max .10bb NL cash games.

Things have not been going super stellar so far tho. I am not sure wether this is bad swings, normal 6 max swings, bad/rusty play, or what. I have been playing what i think is good poker, but i am not winning.

I think over all i am down around 5 buy ins. I have been unlucky in a few big pots, and also havn't won a few big coin flips, so winning half of those could of made me even, not to mention me hitting a great hand, and finding someone to pay me off.

I enjoy it tho. I can 2 table 6 max and follow the action well and it is enjoyable. I also think my game is improving with every sesh. Sooo i really think things will turn around. I still have over 30 buy ins for .10bb games, and am confident i am going to be winning soon. And if things go bad i can always grind out another roll at sngs.

Been busy.

I have been super busy with work, and my house. All of this extra stuff is taking a tole on my emotions. I am tired all the time, and getting burnt out on forever doing work.

As you might guess this is not the best frame of mind for playing poker. I have been on a downswing as of late, and i doubt i can blame bad luck. I have been getting some bad beats, but i my play goes south right after i take one little beat.

So i am going to be done with playing any real volume probably until the house is finished. I will still goof around from time to time, but no multi tabling sngs, or anything major.

I also have been thinking a lot about poker. More so in what direction i want to take my game, and the state of my ability now.

I really can't decide what i want to do poker wise. I know i can win at sngs right now, and other than that its going to take some time to turn a profit in other games. Give me a month and i would be a winner in almost any low fixed limit game, or NL cash, but mtts, and PLO are going to take lots of playing and learning before i am decent.

I cannot decide whether i should grind out sngs, or switch to something that i could go higher in. sngs get much tougher with every step in buy in, and eventually you can't go up any more. It seems like the 200+ buy in games are un beatable. So yes, you can make lots of money grinding them out at the lower stakes, but you are limited in your possible money making. NL and PLO cash games have much bigger games. Granted i am not sure if i will ever put in the time to play 300-600 but if i were to become very good at one aspect of poker, i would want to go very high with it. Why spend all the time learning sngs when the most you could ever make is 100-200 dollars a hour, where as cash you can make much more.

ok done rambling.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

Too tired to click a mouse???

I have been so busy with work, yard mowing, and finishing my house that i have played very little as of late. I have to finish up the construction on the house in 5 weeks, so that is going to be my main focus on the weekends. That means little time for poker :-(

I did play some .25-.50 live nl and wrecked. I did run good, but also i think i played pretty well. Also i have been trying to value bet much thinner, which is working out very well. I did get into one tough spot, but other than that i made some money in spots that i usually would of checked down.

I really enjoy playing live, deep stack poker. Yes the pace is slow, there is so much more involved in it compared to push botting sngs.

I also played some 10 max buy in 6 handed nl and lost around 15 dollars. I will re post the two key hands later.

I really want to play 500 sngs this month, but i am not going to play when i am tired, or put off my house to grind. we will see what happens.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

Running good, but playing sub par.

This is a different animal all together than running below expectation. I feel a bit frustrated because i am luck boxing my way into wins, and donking out of sngs due to poor play.

I know this is how it goes with poker. The best player can have poor results, and a total donk can run hot. I am thankful for the good cards, but i am still bumbed a little bit because i am making some bad plays.

Sooooo....i am not going to play anymore today. And start off fresh tomorrow. When i start tomorrow i am going to load half 3.40s and half 6.50s (have over 195 in the account again!) and really buckle down and try to play my best. Also i am going to talk about the plays as i play. This seems odd, but doing commentary as i play often forces me to accept and do the right play. I have a bit of a bad habit of impulse clicking the wrong action when if i thought about it i would of made a better decision.

Also i ran like a king on FTP over 4 sngs. Two 1st and one 2nd. So that pulled the account that was heading down to 30 buy ins range up to a healthy number even with me sending Jester_cky another 20. Really happy about the good run.

I really think a little break is all that is needed. Just relax tonight, and come in fresh tomorrow. Then i will see if i will be able to move up to the 6.50s fully (i am too big of a nit to play all 6.50s with right at 30 buy ins on stars)

21 sngs played...bitter sweat

Played 10 3.40s in town and wrecked.

came home and played 5 more...total wreckage.

over 195 dollars in account...6.50s!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Load up three 6.50s and two 3.40s

Got creamed. ran kings into aces in the first level of a 6.50 so i loaded up another 3.40.

Sparing the bad beats and coolers, i made a third in one 3.40.

So for the day i made around 20 bucks, but it kind of stings beings i was up ~45-50 and had a chance to run it up big time if i hit big on my first round of 6.50s.

But its no biggie. Just play some 3.40s until i get back up to 195 again. Grind Grind Grind. Also the 6.50s look soft as expected. Hope i can make it back up and take another shot tomorrow, then do well where i can play 6.50s all weekend!

i am really happy about getting 21 sngs today. thats a huge number for my lazy self.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

August Goals

After posting this on 2+2 i am going to put it here.

In august i want to....
1. Play 500 sngs. (mayyybe i played 50 in one month before)
2. Play 100 sngs in one 24 hour period. that is going to be hard, but i want to test my self
3. Move from the 3.40s to the 6.50s. the rake is less and the players are not that great.

I also think i am going to stick with stars for the time being. I am doing better there, and i don't see any reason to move. I also really need to get away from the 3.40 rake trap. Yes the games are gravey but i can make about 40+ cents per sng there. I really want to make about 1 dollar per sng.

So far this month i have played 5 sngs. wheee for coming out of the gate strong. I am going to try and get in around 15-20 tonight, then put in a solid weekend. I would really like to get 30+ each friday, saturday and sunday. If i can do this making the 500 sngs this month easy.

Also if i play 500 i stand to make a couple hundred dollars. If i run jood i could have a 500+ month. would be nice to pay my second morgage payment with poker monies.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

weekend re cap

I have been doing very well in the 3.40s. I have been getting creamed in the 6.50s on ftp.

yesterday i played 3 6.50s, lost when i was a big favorite, ran kk into AA and managed to eek a third on the last one. I have never been so happy just to cash in a sng. I guess thats the way things go sometimes. I know i can't run that bad for long.

Its odd that i am running bad on ftp and great on stars. thats never really happened before. regardless i am going to stick to the 3.40s on stars for now. I am around 164 dollars i think. Thats nice because i am not that far from the 6.50s!!!!!!!!!

god bless,
Takeover_inc

:-) then :-(

I finally got done with the day job, mowing a yard, and eating supper and could gamble. So i loaded up six 3.40s and placed 2 in almost all of them. I almost went nuts trying to keep up with all the tables! i really really don't need to be 6 tabling right now and it showed today.

Never the less i was creamed by the deck and raked in some cash. So now sharkscope says the 5+ tabling 3.40s has a 36% roi, 61 dollars made. I know that roi is unattainable, but its nice to run good when you start something new.

I was tired after the set of sngs, and took a break. Came back and loaded three 6.50s on Full Tilt. I have been sending money to Jester_cky, and i don't want my funds to get too low. Playing on a short bankroll for me is disaster waiting to happen.

Well i have run like poop sickle. Bad beat and coolered out of 5 so far and i am not looking too impressive in the 6th and final sng. Sucks, because i didn't get anything going in any of them. Then just when i think i am about to get some chips i end up against a monster, or i lose.

But i am taking it fine. at the most i am going to be down around 19 dollars total for the day, and if i luck box my way to a win i will make a small profit. (currently sitting with 1k in chips at 160bb) I understand the variance in these things can be brutal at times. The only major worry is down swinging to under 30 buy ins. (Update: Just doubled up, then i pushed from the sb at bb t200 k5<88 so i am back to around 1k) I really hate playing with less than 30 buy ins but if worst comes to worst i will drop down to the 2.25s when i am left with 30 buy ins for them.

Not having antes is pretty nice when you are on the short stack. (out of 6th sng on full tilt k4 is no match for A-10)

So the plan for tomorrow is to play more 3.40s on stars and 6.50s on Full Tilt. I really want to move up to the 6.50s on stars quick because the rake at the 3.40s is horrid. I am only 50 or so dollars away from reaching the magical 195 mark. I will play on stars while at home on the 15 inch monitor then when i get into town i will attempt to recover some of todays 39 dollar downswing on full tilt. Just load up three, and win 2 of them and i am back to normal :-)

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

6 tabling results

Since 6 tabling i have put in 42 games at the 3.40 level on Stars with a ROI of 16% aaaand 22 american dollars made.

I am not sure how to explain how i have been running, but its been wierd. Super unlucky mixed with crazy spots where i get lucky. I was bad beat/coolered out of 4 sngs early and placed second in one, and the last one went from 170 chips on the bubble to win the thing.

I know this is a small sample, but i think i can maintain a 15-20% ROI 6 tabling.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

off tilt and 6 tabling!!! :-)

After yesterdays meltdown i decided to play the 3.40s for a while. This will take a lot of the sting out of losses, and actually its going to be hard for me to lose at the 3.40s.

Also something that is new is playing with the tables cascaded. I have been active on 2+2 and read where switching to cascade would help you play more tables. After reading this yesterday i loaded up 4 tables on my home computer (15 inch screen with 1024X768 res) and was bored to tears! I had tons of time in between action, and could hardly pay attention. I found it kind of hard to follow the action, but that really isn't a huge issue when playing micro limit sngs. Everything is pretty cut and dry, so you can go on auto pilot.

When i got home today and loaded six 3.40s and it went great. I didn't have any trouble following the action, and only made a few mistakes. I think i may have missed 3 or 4 pushes total, and made one mis click. This is just crazy to be able to put in 6 games with this system. I think with a few more sets i will be better adjusted to the cascade view and not miss anything.

This is great. I often wanted to play poker when i was at home but wouldn't due to playing few tables. I could play 4 tiled but you go blind. This is going to let me get more games which equals more money. More money equals building up the bankroll and higher buy in games. I really want to get to the 6.50s again on stars.

Moving back to the 6.50s will let me
1. Wreck a game that is easy. The 6.50s are a little bit tougher than the 3.40s, but they are still money.
2. Build up money that i could withdraw monthly. I could very easily withdraw 200-500 dollars a month off of the 6.50s. This would take a nice chunk out of my bills every month, and help me to get ahead of the game.
3. Build up enough money that i could start playing mtts more. I really really enjoy mtts, and want to become profitable in them. I think i could beat the 4.40 180 mans right now, but i don't have the bankroll to play them. I want to be able to play the 4.40 and 11 dollar 180 mans, and all the low limit mtts i want. I also want to play in the 3 dollar re buy tournament. a mtt with a first place of ~5 thousand dollars, full of bad players, and has a low entry fee??? SIGN ME UP!!!

well there is a little more non tilted update for the blog. More to come in the future because i am wanting to play a lot these days.

been a while....

I bought a house, so that has been taking up most of my time.

but now that that is over i am playing a lot. Things have not been going great tho...

When i play it seems like things fall apart towards the end of my sngs. I know i am rusty, and this is part of my problem. I also need to limit the number of tables i play, or more so think about how many i should play before i load them up. Just now i loaded 4 on full tilt and realised that i shouldn't be playing more than 3 right now untill i get use to FTP again. I can run 4 on stars fine, but the full tilt was a wreck and i am now tilted.

The thing that started it all was me re-raise bluffing on the flop when i thought it was me and another guy...but i missed someone who called in the blinds. So i bluff off 40~ of my stack and have to fold where i really should of check folded. Then i was spite called by a guy and he won. Verging on robo tilt now. Then bubbled the last 2 sngs on frustraiting things.

Massive tilt. entered a 6.50 sng and things went fine untill i thought he was blufffing and i pushed. I still think the push was fine, but i donked afterwards. so ended up down ~30 dollars for a hour long sesh. ugggggggggg

Every since i started playing again sngs have been kicking my ass. I know i am not playing my best game, but i still am playing well enough to win. I think its just some variance that i am going threw. Either way i am going to just play the 3.40s for a while. My Stars account is getting too low ~80. I really really don't want to go busto on stars.

Playing on stars will let me win some money, play in a easy game, and get some confidance back.

Sorry for a rant blog, but this is what it is. but i will come out of this and it will be fine.

God bless
Takeover_inc

Sharkscope says...

i am up 39 dollars after playing twenty four of the 12s on full tilt for a roi of 13%.

I am really thankful that this isn't in the negative. I know full well that i could of hit a bad run of cards and dropping money when you first move up is always hurtful. Thank God that it has been fairly good so far.

Yesterday i played in town and 4 tabled finally. I loaded three 12s and one 6.50 just because the 12 was not filling up. Also having the 6.50 in there made it a little less expensive if i were to have trouble with 4 tabling, or not cash in anything. I ended up losing a ~3500 chip pot in one 12 where the guy had 2 outs on the river. Thats no fun, but it doesn't really faze me. I thought i played pretty well. It also helps that i had lots of big pocket pairs, which is always nice. Ended up getting two seconds in for a profit of 17 ish. I had ak vs AX heads up in one for 10 or so thousand in chips but he hit his baby kicker and send me home. Oh well, i made money so that is always nice.

Its much nicer to 4 table. When you 2 table there is a pretty good chance you are not going to cash in either one, and that really makes me not want to play anymore. But 4 tabling you are usually going to get in the money, and making one first pays for all of the entry fees.

Thats a little update, i am going to try and get in some more games today when i am in town.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Bankroll 346.05
$ till 24s 253.95

2 tabling...

is the poops. I really need to be playing 4. I get no volume in like this. There isn't much i can do about it, so i guess i could grind my ass off and buy some computer parts.

After playing some sngs bad for a little bit, i ended up winning one and getting second in another to jump my monies back up. That was nice. I just played 2 and brought home a 5th and 4th. :-(

In one i pushed ~8bbs in with A3 off from the button and sb/bb had around 8-12bbs, guy called with AQ and i missed. That was a bit of a free roll because i pushed 77 and our ran 99 when he called earlier.

Second sng we were on the bubble and i pushed 2500ish in with QJ sooted at bb400 and was called by A8. He won and i was left with 78 chips. no comeback. It was a bad call on his part, but there isn't much i can do about that.

12s are nice. I want to be 4 tabling them so i can make some monies. I think i am going to go into town and play on a computer there and 4 table for a while and see how it goes.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

Bankroll 339.05
$ till 24s 260.95

374.15 to 345.95

lol, i am such a nit. I consider less than 3 buy ins a downswing.

So i have played a few, and not done so well. Just normal sng beats. Nothing too harsh. Its really boring only playing 2 tables. By the time i bust out of one and could load another i am bored. So i say skrew playing and do something else.

As far as my thoughts on poker, i need to get my computers fixed. Also i am trying to decide what i need to do after this challenge is over. Once i am crushing the 24+ dollar sngs, i have two options.

1) I could start to increase the number of tables i can play in a continuous fashion. As of now i think 3 is the max i could play continuous. I want to be able to play 4, and think it is possible with a little bit of effort. So in the never ending attempt to make more monies per hour, i could add more tables. Stay at the same stakes, odds are i will drop to the 24 dollar level unless i can crush the 36s, and just add tables.

2) I could stay with the same number of tables, but continue moving up the buy in ladder. This will a low me to make more money per sng, and i won't have to mess with getting another monitor. The downside is that i will be butting heads with tougher players.

Here is what i am thinking now...
I will play in till i reach the 36 dollar level, and play there. See if i can make it 4 tabling continuous. If things keep going well, monies keep rolling in, i will give the 60s a shot. Just load up a few of them and see what they are like. If i feel out matched, then i will just play the 36s, or even the 24s. If i do decide to just play the lower buy in levels i will start by adding one table at a time until i get to around 8. 8 tables will fit great on two 20 inch monitors, any more than that and i will have to get more or bigger monitors. So there are two roads to go down, and i will take a stab at the one, and if i doesn't work, no biggie, i will just go the other way.

One thing i am blessed with is the fact that i really don't need the money from poker. Yes it is nice, but i am not going to play something that causes too much stress. Once this challenge is over i am going to keep most of the money online and build a overkill bankroll for whatever i decide on playing. Even if i end up playing the 12s, i think i could make over 20 dollars an hour. So if none of this works out, its fine. I am not too worried about it. Just as long as i can play some level. I enjoy beating up the 3.40s, so i will never be playing too low.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

day jobs...

they get in the way of good grinding.

We have been putting in extra hours at work, so playing poker has been on the back burner. I have no idea how much money that has been lost by playing when you are tired, but its not wise. I am guilty of just playing because thats what you do, regardless of how you feel. That is a leak that is getting plugged. It wouldn't be so bad if i was playing the 3.40s, but a bad sesh could cost me some real money at the 12s. So i haven't played much.

But i just put in a few sngs (3 i think) and ended up placing second in 2 of them. So a nice little uptick.

I am going to start getting in better shape/eating better, and that always helps with playing after work. When you are taking care of your self its amazing how much energy you have. So hopefully i can get in a bit more volume here in a week or too when my body isn't gassed after 9 hours of work.

The 12s have been great. No players have really stood out as having crazy good push/fold games. I truly believe that the 3.40s may only be a bit easier than the 12s on Full Tilt. This challenge could of been done on stars, but the players are so much better that it seems crazy too. I think i will start running in to good players at the 24s. Even then, it should be ok. Beings i play few tables at a time i have a edge over the 12+ table guys. We will see tho. Hopefully in a few weeks.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Bankroll - 374.15

$ till next level - 225.85

350.75

Last night i played six 12$ turbos and managed to go
1 first
2 seconds
3 otm

So ended up making 34 bucks. YES!!! So happy to start this off on a positive note.

So here are some random thoughts after my first sesh.

1. My computer needs to get fixed in order for me to 4 table. Right now playing 2 tables is the max because of the lag. This might not be a bad thing to start off with tho. Just playing 2 tables lets me focus more on what i am doing. In the near future the computer will be up and running that way i can 4 table.

2. There is nothing special about the players at the 12 dollar level. I was a bit worried when i first started, but once we got around the bubble and ITM things were just like a 3.40 on stars. The gap between the level of how good the players are between full tilt and stars pretty big. This is a good thing, even tho full tilt is behind stars in the quality of there site. This took a big monkey off of my back. I was afraid of being stuck between 5 push bots when the blinds got high, and it just wasn't the case. The play is soft and may be beatable for around 20% ROI when playing ~4 tables.

3. The structure is very different. Full Tilt goes up a little bit every 3 mins where stars jumps every 5. After thinking about it, this might be very profitable to a good player. Making it less obvious when you are push botting, and letting people wait to long for them to start pushing. Its real easy for someone on stars to know when to start. When the blinds hit 100-200 most of the time you can push, and for sure when 200-400-50 hits you can. On Full Tilt its not so obvious. Seems like something that can cause people to make mistakes. +EV for people who can take advantage of those mistakes.

4. Thank God in heaven i won my first sng and placed second in the second one. I was so relieved to get things started on a good note.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Bankroll - 350.75
$ till next level - 249.25

been a while

its been almost a month since my last post, and i have played very little. Things have been busy, and i have not really felt like playing. I have been doing decent when i do, but nothing major.

Here is what is about to take place.

I am taking a sng challenge type thing. Something has taken away my drive to play, and i need a jump start. I think i have become bored. Poker is not as exciting as it was a few years ago. That may be due to the fact that i now use good bankroll management. Early in my playing i would buy into a 5-10 dollar limit game when i had 400 dollars online. It was a rush, but i eventually went busto.

So what i am going to do is attempt to get that same type of excitement going again, but on more controlled terms. I am doing this on Full Tilt. Currently i have 316.10 dollars. Thats a tad over 26 buy ins for the 12 dollar level. I am going to start playing the 12 dollar turbos. If things go good, i will play the 12s until i have 25 buy ins for the 24 dollar turbos, and i will step down from the 12s if i drop down to 200 dollars, leaving me with over 30 buy ins for the 6.50 level.

It will be like this
12 turbos with 316 dollars until 600 then move to the 24s or till 200 and drop back to 6.50s
24s until 900 then move to 36s or down to 360 and back to the 12s

Once i get to the 36 dollar turbos i think i am going to stop moving up, and see if i can survive at that level. Also i might try to win some extra cash by getting high on the sng leader board every month.

There is a player doing this on www.sngicons.com and i really think it is a good idea. I have become bored, and stopped being challenged by my current stakes. I know this could come off as being an action junkie, but this is a very controlled challenge. If worst comes to worst, i will still have plenty of money to grind out the 6.50s on Full Tilt, and enough to play the 3.40s on stars.

So there we go. Thats the plan, and hopefully my next blog will be of me doing well, and being on my way to the 24s.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

i have bad beat storys....

but i will spare you.

I played 7 or 8 3.40s today, and was happy with my play. There were plenty of times where i was a large favorite (over 70%) for 3k+ in chips, but managed to lose them. It was kind of sick, but these things happen. Poker can be a harsh game. If anyone were to ask me what is the most important skill for poker, i would say control over ones emotions. In my past, the beats i took in the first set of 3.40s would of sent me off into tiltsville. Now, i just take a hour or so break, get some food, and come back totally fine. Take more beats in the second set, take another break, come back and make a bit of money playing cash games. Threw it all i felt somewhat ok, and never let it effect my decision making.

So today i ran poorly, but i played well, and controlled my emotions. <---that is what matters.

So after playing sngs, i decided to run a little test. I opened up 6 tables of 1-2 cent nine handed No Limit, and just played. I have played 6 tables before, and feel that in 9 handed cash games it would work fine.

The results...Everything worked fine. I never felt overly rushed, never close to timing out, and only remember one minor mistake made. This is good news. I am aware that i make more money per hour playing sngs, but i need to be able to play other games, and at this point the only games i can afford are micro nl, and pl games because all of the fixed limit games are out of my bankroll. Its nice to change things up a bit, and i think there is some money to be made in NL cash games. Granted the level of play is much improved over a few years ago, but the games are still beatable. The key is to not over estimate your skill level. You really need to be outplaying your opponents regularly, and feel you are one of the top 2 or 3 players at the table. So what if you are only playing .25-.50, if you 6 table that, and make 5 dollars per table...30$ per hour. Not too shabby. I make 8 at my day job.

Plans for now is to 3 table sngs until i get all of the rust out of my game. Also only playing 3 tables lets me focus and make the best decisions. When you are in one of these little bumps in the road, that is what you really need to do.

Also want to keep 6 tabling the cash games. Not so much for the money, even tho i will make some, but for the experience. Once i get the bankroll up a bit, i can give the .05-.10 cent tables a shot, and hopefully make as much per hour as i do from sngs.

All in all i am just thankful to God for me playing as well as i have been. Without God, i am nothing.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

oddest negative variance

After not playing for a bit, i have come back.

There are a lot of things i am going to need some money to pay for in the near future. I need some computer stuff, birthday gifts for people, new tires for the vehicle, and other random stuff. Most of it i must buy (gifts, tires) but some of the stuff is just stuff. Either way, i decided i need to round up some money in the near future, so i might as well be rolling on tires payed for by the micro players.

So i ditched my 4.40 180 man sng dreams, and decided to just grind out my bread and butter.

Bread and butter = 3.40 turbos :-)

Things have been odd. I have played 16 sngs, and won 12 dollars. Thats a 21% ROI, not bad by any means. But i am rusty. I have not played that many sngs in a while and it shows. I have gone out in a couple with plays that were just horrible. I know i missed out on a few cashes due to some very bad play.

Also i have been having the odd variance where i am a card rack at the start of the sngs, but end up only getting 3 or bubbling. It is a bit frustrating to get a stack early, only for you to get drawn out on, or get called by a marginal hand when you are pushing. Ohhhh well, its no biggie. I am still winning, so there isn't too much to complain about. I will rack up the wins once i get all the kinks out of my game.

So thats it for now. I am going to be playing the 3.40s and try to grind up some money to spend on stuff.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

19th PLACE!!!

ahhh the bubble boy.

I bubbled out after playing short stack ninja a long time. I played really well the whole time, and couldn't be happier with how my play has been. The bust hand was kind of a downer. I was short stacked as i said, and had no short stacks to my left, so stealing blinds was not going to happen. The blinds just went to 400-800-50 and i am in the BB with around 5k in chips, everyone folds to the sb, who is a goofy player. He limps, the pot now has 1600 in blinds, and 300 in antes. Beings i see that i can pick up almost 2k without much of a fight, i push my monies in with the 94 off, and get insta called by the sb with K7 sooted. <--yes, k7 on the bubble.

I lost, i bubbled, but i think i played great. The 4.40s are going to get killed, and its only a matter of time. I am outplaying the players left and right, but i getting unlucky in key situations. When i do win that coin flip, or trap some guy for a big pot, i am going to wreck. I thank God that he has blessed me with the ability to play so well lately.

On a somewhat negative note, i am down to ~120 dollars in my poker stars account. I have been doing fine with playing the 4.40s and micro cash games, but the lack of any type of money coming out of the 180 mans is dropping my bankroll. When i take a top 3 spot in one everything will be fine, but in the mean time i am not thrilled about waiting it out. So it looks like i am going to hit the 3.40s again. Its ether that, or step up to the .02-.05 nl tables. I am not wanting to move up in the cash games when i am short on bankroll, so sngs it is.

Until the money gets back up, i am going to register for a 180 man, then load three 3.40s. This will let me play the sngs and be done before deep in the mtt. If i begin to go deep, then i will either play one sng along with the mtt, or open up a cash table.

4.40s...its only a matter of time. 216 dollars in my pocket soooon!!!

God bless,
Takeover_inc

Playing well

Things have been break even.

I have been playing some of the 4.40 180 mans, and have been playing well up until i get knocked out. Couldn't be happier with my play, but after the first break i have been getting knocked out shortly after. I have yet to reach the 100-200 bb 25 ante level. I have gone out with KK vs 45 all in pre for ~5500 chips, lost KJ to K2 in a small blind bb war when the flop came K, rag, 2 on the flop, he raised from the sb on the flop and i pushed. Lost a coinflip with extra money in the pot, and just now this lovely...

PokerStars Game #9189640312: Tournament #46690978, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/03/31 - 22:33:24 (ET)
Table '46690978 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: SirJoker (1700 in chips)
Seat 3: lucas67 (10075 in chips)
Seat 4: drdude777 (8260 in chips)
Seat 5: mcbah (2095 in chips)
Seat 6: eusdemanyob (2340 in chips)
Seat 7: Robosec (1820 in chips)
Seat 8: FS_YUL (4465 in chips)
Seat 9: norinco88 (5285 in chips)
Robosec: posts small blind 75
FS_YUL: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to eusdemanyob [Ah Jh]
norinco88: folds
SirJoker: folds
lucas67: folds
drdude777: folds
mcbah: folds
eusdemanyob: raises 300 to 450
Robosec: folds
FS_YUL: raises 600 to 1050
eusdemanyob: raises 1290 to 2340 and is all-in
FS_YUL: calls 1290
*** FLOP *** [7s Ts Kc]
*** TURN *** [7s Ts Kc] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [7s Ts Kc 6d] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FS_YUL: shows [4c Kh] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
eusdemanyob: shows [Ah Jh] (a pair of Sixes)
FS_YUL collected 4755 from pot

Its going to be hard on everyone when i do win one of these hands after the break. I have been reading hands very well, and i know i am going to go deep soon. I will win one of these hands eventually, and when i do i am going to crush.

I haven't played many sngs. I played one yesterday and won it, witch was nice.

The majority of my time has been spent at the .01-.02 no limit 9 handed ring games. Beings i only have ~150 online, and have been spending lots of time playing the 4.40s, I need a low variance, low risk form of making money. I am a pretty good NL cash player, and i am very confident in my ability's. I believe i would be a winning player in .10-.25 nl, so i have no trouble beating the .01-.02 games. Playing one or two 4.40s and two tables of NL cash lets me take a shot at the big score of first, or second in a 4.40, along with making enough money to level things out until i do.

I played some .50-1.00 horse yesterday and the trend of me getting killed in fixed limit games continues. Every since i left the games to play sngs, i can not put in a winning sesh. I was just killed yesterday, and dropped as much as 15 dollars, but got back to -10 for the game. I am having a bit of variance in the fixed limit games. Its a bit frustrating, but there isn't much i can do. I wish i could play them more, but i don't feel comfortable playing more than 2 tables of horse, and i don't want to play a lot of .50-1.00 with only 150 bbs on stars. Once i get up to around 200+ i am going to start playing the HORSE games more.

ARGGGG, i really have no idea how to play re-buy mtts, or satellites, so why would i ever play a re buy satellite??? i dunno, but i just did. GG 10 bucks. It was the 2 dollar re buy to some 33 dollar satellite for a wsop seat. I was just playing it to get some T dollars. wow, i was lost. I didn't gamble when i should of, and got money in very bad every time. I am done with satellites, and re buys for now. I am lost as to how to play them, so there is no need in wasting money learning them now.

So i am going to keep playing the 4.40s very often.
Play the NL cash games, and maybe move up to the .02-.05 games in a week or too.
Play some sngs every now and then.
I am just iching for the fun of going deep in a MTT. When i win a 4.40 i will get back to playing sngs more. Its a mater of time, because i am playing great right now. God has blessed me with very good skills in relation to my villains, and i am very thankful.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

new monitor, and treading water

THE 20" dell is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahhhh yessss

As expected i have been playing a lot more. I played a few sngs, but found that i was playing bad (loose) in the early stages. when i do this, i just switch over to NL cash games for a bit.

The .2-.5 nl cash games are super soft as expected, and i have been playing very well. Bluffs are going good, value bets are getting in, ect. I really have just been treading water with the cash games. Maybe i am thinking i am going to be making more than i am. it is nickel big blind after all. But i am happy with my play, and think i will be spending more time at the nl tables.

As for sngs, i have been breaking even, and just having a hard time getting things to go right, at the right times. I just played 5 and had 3K stacks in 2 of them after 4 mins, played a 4k pot as a 70% favorite early, AA so many times it could blind me, but i only managed to eek out a 2nd, and a 3rd. I just seem to be coming up short when it matters. People are waking up with hands when i am in auto push mode, and i am just having a hard time closing them out, regardless of the stacks i have.

It could be worse. I am breaking even over all, so that is good. I know i am playing well, so its only a matter of time until i start putting up some big numbers. I am so happy with the progress in my playing ability over the last few months. It seems like my game is really jelling together.

Plans are to hit the NL cash games and sngs. I have a higher $ per hour in sngs, but i believe that eventually i will get to a point where cash games will become my bread and butter, or at least be splitting my time between the sngs and cash games. Also NL cash games improve your sng, and mtt game some, so its a learning thing also.

I would like to thank God for blessing me with the ability to make money doing what is a hobby. I also would like to thank my dad for the new monitor. HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDEED!!!

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

getting ready

Just trying to get into the mindset to play. I have really been wanting to, but for some reason i am holding back. but, I plan on putting in tons of sngs (tons for me) when i get the new monitor.

I also have started running. When i get off of work i am tired and just want to take a nap. That all goes away if i am exercising regularly. i should be able to put in a 2-3 hour sesh every night in a few weeks.

So i will be on super grind in week or two. I am going to bleed the 3.40s dry.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Back at it

Well there is good news all around.

I have had a chair i could get in town for some time now, but have just forgot about it. So Saturday i decided i was going to get that nice chair, and stop sitting on a solid wood chair from the 20's. Its crazy how much a nice chair can improve your time at the computer, and at poker. Where i usually only play one set, i played two. Just makes things very easier when you are comfortable. I am really looking forward to when i get everything set up and i am laying in bed. I am the most comfortable in bed, and love playing poker while in this position. It makes me relaxed, and also gets me to play more.

Secondly i am getting a Dell 20 inch monitor very soon. It is my birthday in April, and my dad has been hounding me about what i wanted. I tryed the wide screen dell he has, but i makes the tables short and wide. So i just found the largest Dell what wasn't wide screen. It has a max resolution of 1600X12oo so 4 tabling on FTP without re sizable tables will be possible. Granted my desktop does not have that much resolution, but i am going to have my laptop fixed by then. It is kind of a pain to run the laptop and a monitor, but it will work for now. I want to grind out some money to send off my desktop and get it fixed up. Then i will not have to hook the lap top up to it. AAAND i can step up later on down the road and have two 20 inch monitors. ummm 8 tabling.

Third...I couldn't really get into playing lately. It seemed like after i got to playing the 6.50s i lost interest. I think it is because of the level of play at the 16s. I know they are beatable, but i need to be playing on FTP by the time i get to that level. As stated before, there is no reason to play against a bunch of people who know what they are doing. So have not been wanting to play, or when i played i wasn't focused. Saturday after i got the chair back home i started playing .25bb full ring nl on pokerstars and was playing very well. I have tons of faith in my ability to beat NL cash games, but i do not have the bankroll to play them all the time. So i was just goofing around, but playing well. Then a hand came up....

i had AKs in the hijack, 3xbb raised, button called and so did the bb. i have 30 behind, button has ~25 and bb has some small amount. Flop comes A J 6 with two diamonds. So i have have a huge hand with top pair, and nut flush draw. BB bets 2 dollars and has 3 dollars behind, i raise to 8, button moves all in, bb calls, and it gets back to me. Worst case is i am up against a set, and that is very possible beings the he called on the button and 66 is a hand that fits nicely into his range. I thought for a bit, and decided that this is low limit no limit, and he could very well have Aq, and that i am going in good shape against all one pair, two pair hands. Even against a set i am in decent shape, and the pot odds make up for it. I call, BB has J6 for two pair, and hits a jack on the turn to scoop the pot. I think i played this good, and was not upset at all. I got into a coin flip with extra money in the middle. I will do it all day long.

What this did show is that i am bored, and needed to do something before i lost my bankroll goofing around. I need to be grinding sngs, and not playing satellites, cash games, or mtts. I just need to make some money and get in some hours. I think i am a good player, but i need more experience. Playing sngs gives me some time to learn more, and make a nice profit in the process. In time i want to be well rounded, and i think i am decent in many games, but now i just need to stick to sngs.

So after realising the above, i decided if i couldn't get motivated to play the 6.50s i would with draw some money and get back to where i had to play the 3.40s. If i don't have 400 dollars online, i really can't goof around much. So i withdrew all but 150 dollars from Pokerstars and have a nice little check coming in the mail. That gave me 44 buyins, so i am well rolled for the sngs i am going to play.

After i took a bit of a break i came back and loaded four 3.40s and cashed in every one. No first :-( but 2 seconds, and 2 thirds i think. I enjoyed playing them and felt like playing more. I was once again motivated to grind. I loaded up 4 more, and OTM in all. that sucked, but i was still up a little bit. I took a break, loaded up 4 more, and won 2 of them. All in all i ended up ~20 dollars in sngs, and almost even for the day.

The decision to withdraw money couldn't of been better. Now i am wanting to play, and have a goal to grind up the money once again. I think i am going to start getting into a withdraw schedule. For now i am going to withdraw once i hit 300-400. Drop the bankroll back down to 150 and start it all over again. Once the whole online poker laws get figured out i will want to start building up and keeping more money online. Now it would really hurt if i some how lost 300+ dollars because online poker went south. I think sticking to the 3.40s, and withdrawing when i get to 300+ will let me make a decent amount of money while learning the game, and not leave myself open to losing a lot of money in case online poker goes away.

So that is the good news. Things are really coming together nicely. I think i have a good plan for now. Just enjoy whipping up on the micro players, and cashing checks. Then when the coast is clear, and online poker is all legit, i will be ready skill wise to wreck shop at the 6.50s and 11 turbos once i build up from my 150 dollars.

Once again, i just want to thank God for moving me in the right direction with my decisions. It seems as if i can't do much wrong as long as i keep Him in the center of my life. i am so thankful for everything i have been blessed with. All the glory to God.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

No time for poker

i can't grind to save my life. oh well.

I started a new job monday, and that has been taking up a lot of time. Going from working 12-5 to 8-5 and the time change makes you tired. I am not into playing when i am tired because i bleed off money. So looks like poker is on the back burner for a bit untill i get into the new time scedule.

Also another bump in the road is the poor equipment i have. It just sucks trying to 4 table on a 15 inch monitor, with a crappie chair, and a poop mouse. i need to get this stuff fixed also before i play any massive amounts of poker.

Little Downswing

I guess its not that bad, but it seemed like it at the time. I played a late night set of sngs at home and things just went bad. I was out of a few early and things were looking bad in the 2 left. I donked out of one, and lucked out and won the final sng to book a small profit.

Next day i was feeling like gambling more than anything. This is ok, because i manage my gambling well. If i can manage to hit a rush when i am feeling like goofing around, i will make some money. I usually just go play 25c a hand blackjack on UB for a hour or so. I know Black Jack is -ev, but its better than tilting away in poker games. Well no monies in the UB account, so i sat down at a 2-7 triple draw table, .50-1.00 limit. Things went poorly from the start as one guy seemed to have my number. Was down as much as 10 dollars and fought my way to ~1.50 in profit. Then played a 6.25 heads up turbo match, made a iffy call for all of my chips and got lucky. Up 5.75, so i entered a 3.25 6 man turbo sng, and somehow managed to win that. +8.00 All of this made up for losing 2 6.50 heads up matches earlier in the day. I was playing poker/watching tv, and that is a horrible combination.

Yesterday i made a mistake of playing when i wasn't feeling into it. I was in a poor mood to play poker, but i thought i could squeeze in 4 sngs before i went home. End result....I didn't cash in any of them. 26 dollar downswing. In hindsight i should of entered half or all 3.40s that way i could see how things were going without risking more money. I always think its ok when i start, then about half way into the game i realise i shouldn't even be playing. So over 8 sngs i have won one.

Things could be worse. If i play today it is only going to be 3.40s because it will hurt a bit to much to go 0-4 in 6.50s. I am wayyy up in sngs, and way over rolled, but i still have problems with losing money. Dropping down always helps me get back in the game.

Next blog entry will be of me crushing the 3.40s, and moving up to the 6.50s and displaying some pwnage there.

God Bless
Takeover_inc

I am on a heater...or am i?

I am kind of in limbo about this. I have been doing very very well the past month, with only a few spots where i was running bad. I am thinking i am on a heater, but then again, i really don't know what "heater" is in sngs. i know that running uber bad is hard to do in low limit sngs. with low level sngs the play is just baddddd, and one first makes up for 3 losses.

I use to run bad for a long period of time, or so i thought. The truth of the matter was i was just playing my -B or C grade game for an extended period of time. I let my losses effect me, and chased them. I believe this is why i have been a break even player for the majority of the time i have been playing poker. Its hard to make money when any losing session causes you to play like ass for the next 4 days. Thank God those days are over. I am using my overkill bankroll management, and taking breaks/dropping down when things go bad.

So in a lot of ways just by cutting out the playing when on mini tilt is a major reason i seem to be running well. I could be just running what is really normal, i just never knew what normal was. The cool thing about sngs is you really do not have to get any cards to do good in them, all tho it helps a lot. You can steal your way up to a big stack at the bubble, get your villains into a contest for second, and play heads up with a 4-1 chip lead. I think the low limit sngs are just so profitable that it is kind of hard to run that bad in them, as long as you keep your emotions in check.

With all of that said, i still think i am on a heater. Things are just going so great now. I thank God for how well i am doing, and not getting to emotional with poker. Everything is just clicking, and going in the right direction. i am flat out crushing the 6.50s on pokerstars. The skill level jump between them and the 3.40s is nearly non existent. The players are the same, but every now and then you find someone that knows what they are doing. Even then you can use his push/fold strategy against him. Just push into him with anything because he knows he should fold all but is huge hands.

As far as the 6.50s on full tilt...one word....yum.

I played 3 on full tilt today and won 2. Granted i made a questionable play that put me as a ~130 chip stack on the bubble, i came back to take it down. I was able to get big money in the pot as a 15-20% favorite many times. By that i mean when the bubble busted, and we all had stacks of over 15 bb, i was able to get players to call off 18+ bbs while they were a 15-20% dog. i really look for spots like this. Getting big money in as a decent favorite, and when you are putting yourself in a great spot to take 1st, makes up for many of the times when you get in ~8 bbs in as a small dog. I often think about these things, as in "oh well i got 22 bbs in as a 70% favorite so that makes up for a couple of the times when i am all in with a 40% chance to win." I am really not sure how all that evens out in the long run, but it seems to me that i get in more money in as a favorite that i do as a dog. Even when i get it in as a dog, it is usually after i make a profitable push, and get called.

I kind of got side tracked, here is more proof that i need to get ready to move over to full tilt...I did the sharkscope thing again where i picked a random table from FTP and stars and checked the stats on the whole table. Only this time i did a 16 on stars, and a 22 on full tilt. I really was shocked at the results. I figured they would be somewhat even beings the full tilt sng was about 1/4 bigger buy in wise. Full tilt had one player with a ~7% roi, and one other small winner. The rest were all losing players, and 2 had the fish bowl icon by them. The stars 16 turbo on the other hand had 2 players with negative ROIs and the rest were all winning players with one or two winners over a large sample size.

Full Tilt is where the money is, plain and simple. I will still play at stars because of all the great things they have to offer. It is going to be a good idea to grind up my money on stars, because of the MTTs, Satellites, FPPs, and customer service. I love full tilt, but they are way behind stars in many respects. I have heard some negative things about cash outs on full tilt also. Even tho this isn't much of a concern now, i will be making enough money in the future to make some cash outs. Nothing could be worse than grinding up cash, then having to go threw 17 flaming hoops to get it. I probably end up transferring money to another player on full tilt, and getting them to send it back to me on stars. This will allow me to get money easily.

I am a bankroll puss, but this is the plan as of now. Grind up to ~300 dollars on FTP and make the jump into the 11 dollar turbos. This is a somewhat drastic move for me (even tho it is wayyyy low risk beings i will have ~30 buy ins) but i know i can beat the 11 turbos on FTP. I really think that the skill level in the 6.50s on stars is equal, if not greater than the 11s on FTP. I will still be playing the 6.50s on stars around 30-50% of the time. I plan on making my way up the latter of sngs playing one level lower on stars that i do on full tilt. So when i am doing the 22 turbos on FTP, i will be playing the 16 turbos on stars. I have no desire to jump into a situation where i am neutral or possibly -ev. This brings me to another point.

I think most players play a level or two higher than they should. I think this problem plagues the losing players, the break even guys, and winning players. I read the blogs of big money players, and they just over estimate their skill level. One player is trying to make the move from sngs to the mid stakes cash games. He is killing the 1-2 nl and from their things just go down hill. He is a good enough player that he could move up the ladder in a decent amount of time. Another player just started doing well in big buy in live mtts in the middle of 2006. He had a great year, and he can play. There is no denying that. But i don't think he has what it takes to thrive in the poker world. With the high cost of buy ins, traveling, hotels, ect. the live mtt player needs to be cutting down cost when ever he can. This guy has done very well in satellites for the main events he plays in. To me it seems like a guy who is making his living mainly off of big buy in mtts should be jumping at the chance to get into his main game for 1/10th the price, especially if he is good at satellites. Yet the player i am talking about has stated that he really doesn't think they are worth his time. He is passing on a very lucrative situation, just because of the idea that he is too good for it. Call me crazy, but spending a few days a month playing super satellites where you could possibly cut down money spend on entry fees seems like a very good idea. but he doesn't want to. money is too small, even tho he can crush...and the scary thing is, he really hasn't proved anything on the live mtt scene. Yes he has won a large sum of money, but it is only enough money to live on the trail for a few years. Passing up on easy spots, and only wanting to go into harder games may catch up to him.

Why put yourself in a situation where you are at the very best a small winner, or break even skill wise? people could be making a very nice profit, and learn the game at the same time, if they would just drop down in stakes. Its an ego thing, and a money thing. Not wanting to "waste time" playing a lower stakes game. Granted they will move up the ladder faster than a guy only plays in games that he can kill, but at what cost? Tons of emotional stress, highs, lows, for what? As soon as they learn enough to beat the level they are trying to get to, they will probably just do it all over again trying to go higher. I respect going after a challenge, but that is not what i am in this for. I want to make money. Money i can enjoy. For me that means playing in games where i am clearly +ev. If i look around the the table and don't think i am one of the top 2 players, i really have no desire to be there.

I hope i stay humble. Ari said a few things in the pocketfives.com pod cast he did that really show my point. He said that he isn't just itching to jump into the next 100r on stars, because all of the players are going to be good. even tho he is going to be +ev, he sees that is time is better spent else where. Why go against a field of mostly pros when you can go on auto pilot and crush easier MTTS. My thoughts to the tee. In my view why jump up stakes just because i can afford it. Why not just beat the level i am at for a nice number, then take my shot. I will take a lot of money out of every level of sngs on my way to the top. I have pulled enough out of the 3.40s to be very well rolled for the 6.50s. I am going to take a large number out of the 6.50 - 11 dollar turbos before i ever think of moving up. I am going to buy some things i need, and really help my self out with the money. Then when i feel like i can really beat the next level, i will give it a shot. If things go good, when i will stay there. but if i am having trouble, i will just drop back down and go back to making money. no harm done. the time will come when i can beat the next level, so why force it. Might as well make some money and have fun while you are learning the game.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Double Shoot Outs -rant-

I am either the unlucky in them, or i just have no clue how to win one of these.

I have played everything from the 2 dollar 6 max triple shootouts for Sunday million seats, to the 16 dollar double shoot outs for 650 dollar WSOP sat. seats, and i have yet to make it past the first table. I am sure i have played them over 20 times, but i am just lost. Its the feeling i have when i play Pot Limit Omaha. I never know when to loosen up, when to steal, when to do anything. Just like a little kid wandering around walmart looking for his mother, i stumble around and dust off my chips.

The play in them isn't great by any means. I think the average ~10 dollar buyin sng player is better than them. I just pushed all in for 15 bb over a 4 bb raise (guy had been doing it all day) and was insta called by the villain. his hand, none other than the Q 5. my hand was A4, and i pushed knowing i was ahead, and that he would call. Won the hand, and ended up losing a flip later when my 44 lost to AK. (how my 44 lost is a mystery. low pocket pairs pwn.)

Just seems like the players are so bad that they donk each other off and then i am left with a short stack 3 handed, but not short enough for ICM to come into consideration. I end up 3bb raising from the button with some K-X hand, get pushed all in by one of the monster stacks, and have to fold down to a 10-12bb stack.

I really think i am +ev skill wise over all, but i am just lost as to how to play these things.

I really want to play them more, due to the fact that for 16 dollars i can play a sng with total donks, instead of playing with 3 or 4 decent sng players at the 16 dollar turbo level. I think someone could easily have a 40+ percent roi if they knew how to play them.

Here is the plan...If i play any more of the double shoot outs they are going to be Turbos. I think i am better suited to faster blinds where i feel more comfortable pushing the action. Also i am going to give these things a shot a few more times, and then just give up. If i do not make it to the second table in my next 5 trys i am just going to find another way to sat. into stuff.

sorry for the total rant blog, but it is just frustrating to know i am playing with bad players, yet can not seem to make anything go right.

432 dollars

That is the number i am up this month in sngs according to sharkscope.

For just starting to take sngs seriously just a few months ago i couldn't be happier. I am truly blessed in life, and poker is no exception. I believe i have been a winning player skill wise for quite some time now, but i haven't been the best at keeping my emotions under control. If i could see the amount of money i have blew while on tilt/glue tilt it would probably be huge. I know for a fact it cost me over 1400 in one weekend about a year ago.

But it seems like that is over now. My extreme over kill bankroll management is taking a lot of the sting out of losing. Also i have become a much more stable person emotionally. My relationship with God has helped greatly. It opened up my eyes to how great my life is, regardless if i drop 30 dollars playing a game. I am without a doubt one of the luckiest guys in the world, and now i realise that.

In total i played ~170 sngs in last month. I am shooting for 5000 this month. just kidding, that is wayyyy out of my league. 500 seems like a decent number to shoot for. 500 sngs at the 6.50 dollar level with at least a 20% roi. Ends up being around ~16 sngs a day. I think i could do it, but it is going to take a lot of effort on my part. Good thing is i stand to clear around 600+ dollars if i reach my goal.

Yesterday i played a little .50-1.00 limit cash games. WOW. I forgot how soft these things are. The horse games on Poker Stars should be renamed Free Monies, because these guys are bad. I wish could play the games more, but when i can 4 table sngs and make around 10 dollars a hour, it is counter productive to play 2 tables of limit, making around 4-8 dollars an hour. sngs are my money maker, and i am going to spend 90% of my time there. Maybe i will make the switch back to cash sometime, but i don't think it is going to happen any time soon.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

Doing Very Well

Things are just clicking right now. I have been playing well, running well, and everything is falling into place. I have built up the initial 50 dollar deposit on poker stars to 400+, and i am wellllll bankrolled for the 6.50s on that site. I am very much overkill with the bankroll management, but its what works for me. Playing well within my BR lets me have one less thing to worry about when playing, and it really helps me out. Only played a few 6.50s but the players seem almost as fishie as the 3.40s. There are a few more people who know what they are doing, but i think a 20+ ROI is very attainable. Plan on grinding it out at the 6.50 dollar level for a pretty good bit, and take my stab at the 16s when i have 1000 or so dollars on poker stars.

FULLLL TILT. ahhh my "home town" i guess you could call it. Stars is like the big city, you go and you may love it, but something in you always wants to go home. Well they are going to have to get there beta version fixed before i can play there. I do not have the equipment to 4 table without the re-sizable tables, and trying to play with their beta version is worthless. everything is blurry, hard to read, and hurts my eyes. FIX THIS!!! The fact remains that the sngs on full tilt are probably 25-50% as soft as stars. I know i am going to start running into harder games at the 16 dollar level on stars, and i would rather go where the players are weaker. I am not in this game to prove my self against better players. I am in it to win money.

Rake back is also offered by FT. Granted getting ~25% of 50 cents isn't much, but it helps. When i am paying 1.00 in rake and playing ~1000 sngs a month (i hope, but i am lazy) that will be a 250 dollar bonus per month. thats ~20 buy ins. 250 dollars a month is half of my pick-up payment. Free money? i'll take it.

The leader board that full tilt has could be another incentive to move over once they get their beta version fixed. Even tho i pail in comparison to the volume put in by some people, i think i could get on the leader board and win a few extra buy ins every month. It could push me to play more, and that is always a good thing. I will probably never put in enough to beat guys like sippin_criss but i think i could make almost as much money as the 12+ table junkies. They play so many sngs but they make very little per sng. I believe that they are taking the # of tables they play past the proper amount. I believe if i can 6 table continuous for 20+ hours a week i would be able to get pretty high on the leader board. Once again, free money.

Plans for now...GRINDDDD out the 6.50s, and pray to God that they fix the beta version on Full Tilt. I will play some on Full Tilt just to get the money i have on the site up a bit. I have around 225 dollars, but i would like to have more before i start putting in lots of play. i am a bankroll wuss, what can i say.

Trying to squeeze in a few more MTTs in the future. Now that i have the bankroll built up, i can enter all the 4.40 180 sngs i want without hurting me. I have, and still think that the 25$ and under MTTs are a gold mine. If i can put up some decent results in the 4.40s i might start giving the lower buy in mtts with tons of players a shot. I know i will probably not put up any big wins right off the bat, but when you weave your way threw a 10 dollar freeze out, or the 3 dollar re buy, you stand to make a couple of thousand dollars if you take it down. I am thinking of playing mostly 180 man sngs that way i can regularly make some money, and about 20% of the time take a shot at a huge field.

God Bless,
Takeover_inc

MTT cash.

Well since last blog i haven't played too much. Kind of leery once i have a bad night, but i played a good bit today.

Jester_cky came over and we started playing sngs. He was hitting the 2.25s of ftp/.05-.10 cent nl tables. Play a sng, lose, and try and make it up in the cash games. lol. I am trying to push him in the right direction with bankroll management/game selection. Hope he listens.

I started with three 3.40s and a 6.50 on ftp. busted out of the 6.50 making a donk rr with AJ, and got bad beats in two 3.40s. Ugg. It felt just like the last session. Have the best hand, and it goes to crap. Here is what i am most happy with, i stopped loading sngs. aka i wasn't chasing my losses/tilting.

Things turned around in the last 3 sngs, because i got a 1st and 2nd in 3.40s and won my second 6.50 on ftp. Nice to decide to stop because things are going bad, but still manage to make money.

Came home, and decided it want to play some 6 max cash games. I love deep stack short handed nl. LOVEE, but i have to play well under my bankroll to avoid bleeding off chips/not taking enough risks. Started playing and was doing really well. Making nice value bets, folding good but beaten hands, ect. BUT, its kind of boring to play one table of 6 max, and i didn't want to play 2 tables of it on my small monitor. I wanted something i could nut peddle, and to basically keep me from being so bored. Saw a 4.40 180 man about to start and jumped it.

MTTs...i think i am ok. I don't play them much because i am not too much on long sessions. anyways i ended up playing very well, and took 2nd for ~140 dollars uptick. Final hand i got it all in on the flop with the chip leader for 120K in chips with my flopped pair of aces vs his flopped pair of queens. queen on the turn, and i am done. Oh well. no biggie.

So, i now have over 300 dollars in my Stars account, and ~230 on full tilt.

After the mtt boost, i really have no excuse not to play the 6.50s. I have over 80 buy ins, and believe i have the skills to win at this level. Also a big help is my willingness to step down levels when things are going bad. So if i start off on a tough run in the 6.50s i will just drop back down untill i feel comfortable.

Looks like 6.50s for the most part now. Excited about it. WHEEE for mtt cashes.

The good, and the bad

So i have decided to put in 20 sngs per day for the next 40 days.

This is going to be a major step up beings i usually put in maybe 30 a week. I am a lazy guy, and my computer situation at home makes it harder to play. 15 inch monitor, and a uncomfortable chair. but i am going to tough it out and play 20 a day

Yesterday was the first day. I did pretty well in my first 8 or so, ending up ~20 dollars, but that is where the fun somewhat ends. I went cold. I haven't ran like this in a while. but you get your money in with an over pair, and are shocked when it holds up. I just ran completely horrible for my last 12 sngs. It was bad.

The Good: I kept a level head, and played well despite the horrible beats. Nothing was going right, but i kept playing my game. I am very proud at my discipline, and focus. And even better, after taking a beating like that i ended up even for the day! This is the cool part about micro sngs. The play is so bad that even when you run cold, you are not going to lose that much money. And had one hand (66 vs 54 all in pre flop) held up i would of made a nice 6 dollars profit for the day.

I am glad for yesterday. I played well despite the troubles, and broke even. No tilt, no bleeding of chips, just pretty good sng play. Also, i have in the past had trouble with leaving poker at the table. I would have a bad session and be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. But after i was done playing within 3 mins i was my normal self. This is a great thing, because if i am going to play poker with any level of seriousness i need to be able to let go of as much negative emotions as i can. forget the bad sessions and move on to the next. Also not let my life outside of poker suffer.

So after a BAD run, i am as happy as can be. Ready to take on another batch of sngs, but this time, God willing i will run better. And if i don't oh well, just keep playing my game.

God bless,
Takeover_inc

Sharkscope

after ~100 games my roi in the 3.40s is 33%.

I am happy about this. I have ~160 dollars on Poker Stars, and things just keep going good over all. I have had some pure heaters, and some bad runs. I wish i could somehow gauge how good/bad i am runnin. I honestly think i am running even or a little hot. I get lucky more than most because i am always pushing. I am just going to keep playing my game.

Full Tilt really needs to do some work on their new re-sizable tables. They are blurry, and hard to read unless you have them in the normal size. There is no way i can 4 table on the 17" monitor at work, and forget about playing more than one table here at home. So 3.40s it is.

Thank God for these 3.40s, and for me doing well in them. I know i am not all that great in sngs, but i am good enough to beat these things up pretty good. The play is just bad. No other word can describe it. It can get agrivating at times, but i know their mistakes are what makes me money. So its easy to get over when i crush the next sng.

I really think i am going to play 500 3.40s before i jump into the 6.50s. I want to have a well padded bankroll, and i also want to see where i end up in the average profit for the last 500 games leaderboard on sharkscope.

RE SIZABLE TABLES ON FTP

They are FINALLY here. I was reading Z32's blog and he had it up. I screamed like a little girl, and had to refrain from jumping on the bed. This is great news. more on this later...

So i played my normal pissy session today. 6 tabling the 3.40s on stars. Realised about half way threw that i have no business 6 tabling. I am fine as long as i go busto in a few before getting shorthanded, but that is no way to play. So toughed it out and played pretty decent. ran well at the end, and took down 1sts in 3. I really should of made 3rd at least in the 4th sng. the guy on the cut off had 800 chips with 300-600 blinds, and it gets folded to me and i have some random crap. Push my 2500 chips into the chip leader thinking there is no way he can call. he does. with A-rag. i am pretty sure that was a crap call on his part, but i think i should of just let the guy bubble. I am not sure that winning the 900 in the pot was worth risking a sure shot at 20% of the prize pool. I plan to post the hand on Pocket Fives and see what others think.

So uptick 24.60 in monies. even with the nice score i can't help but think i should have 6 dollars or more in my account. "Its the little things like that that piss me off"

So back to the FTP tables, i am now going to be able to play as much on full tilt as i want!!! I will still play on stars, because there site is great, SNG's are soft at the lower levels, and they have so much to offer in MTT's. I am planing on playing the 6.50's on FTP/3.40's on stars. I am playing way below my bankroll at the 3.40's, but i really don't think i am good enough to play the 6.50's full time. I think i am a winning player in the 6.50's but i have lots of holes in my game. I am just going to keep grinding out the 3.40's half the time as a variance reducer. Last think i want is to drop a big number in the 6.50's. I am a bankroll nit...but that is better than being a goof ball like i was before.

30% ROI...O RLY?

Yesterday i was planing on doing some more 6 tabling, but started playing some live heads up matches with a friend. went 1-1 on the heads up. Dominated the 1st match, and lost the second match when my A-4 couldn't beat his 8-10 all in pre-flop, first hand of the game. Knew he was feeling like gambling, so i pushed 30 bb's. gg me.

Came home and started a 4 table set of 3.40s on stars. its pretty much a pain in the ass to 4 table on a 15 inch monitor. Only saving grace is that stars has the re sizable tables, otherwise i would be skrewd.

first set of 4 and i brought back a 1st and a 3rd. always nice to start off on a good note.
seconds set of 4 i busted out on one within 5 mins, so i opened another game. so out of five i got a 2nd and a 3rd. :-(
Final set of 4 i crushed with otm, 3rd, 1st, 1st. always nice to end on a better note.

So i ended up making a nice amount of money for playing thirteen 3.40s. I also realised how to use the advanced search on Sharkscope.com. So far out of ~50 3.40s i have a 30% roi, and it was 24% before i went on the heater. Its a pretty good feeling to have those kind of numbers. I have played sngs before, but never that much. Now that i started taking them serious a few weeks ago, its nice to see that i am pulling down a 20+ roi. I am really happy about that.

I think the main reason for doing well is playing at the 3.40 level. For some guy who is maybe "ok" at sngs to be doing this well right of the bat is crazy. I know 50 is a small sample size, but i don't think i have been running hot. I think over all i have been normal to slightly cold. But it doesn't matter when the most of the players are fish. these things are a gold mine. I think someone could 8+ table 3.40s and make .75 per sng. That's pretty good for micro limits. Hell, there are a lot of the regulars at the 27 level that only make 2 dollars per sng. This limit is a blessing to me. Its letting me work up my small amount of money are stars quickly, and safely. Over all i am really really happy with how things are going now.

As is usual i have been giving a lot of thought to the future. If i played sngs as much as i thought about what i am doing to do when i move up levels, i would already be there. But i am not going to force my self to looek at 15 in screen, and play with lots of overlap. So back to what i was saying...I have been looking at the regulars in sng's at the 30 dollar and under buy in. It seems like they are letting the whole "I 18635 table" go to their head. They are playing 12+ tables at a time, but they are only making 8% or less roi. Yes playing more tables at a slightly lower roi increases dollars per hour, but that statement can be taken to far. Proof of that today was a regular sng player that 12+ tables has a 6% roi over 3000+ 12 dollar sngs on Full Tilt Poker. That is horrible. The games on Full Tilt are so soft that their is something wrong if you are only having 6% roi.

Just seems like people are playing by their ability to multi table. To me, you should play the way you make the most money. If you took the a player like mentioned above with a 6% roi that plays 12+ tables, and a player that 8 tables with a 15% roi, to me it looks like the second guy would walk away with the most money. they are taking playing more tables too far. I could be wrong...but i really don't think i am.

Reason for all this is i have been wondering if i need to strive to be the guy who is 10+ tabling continuous. Others are doing it, and swear by it, why should I? well, because i think there is a better way to do things. If i could, i would play 12 tables with a 10% roi, but i can't. I think i need to realise what works good for me, and my current skill level. For now, that is 4-6 tabling in sets. If i were to start 8 tabling just because i got a bigger monitor, i would play more sng's yes...but i would probably blow a hole in my bankroll because i would be making so many mistake. When the time comes where i can 8 table while maintaining a good roi, then i will start doing that. But there is no reason to be playing more tables when it is costing you money. I believe a lot of players are leaving a good chunk of money on the table, just because they are playing a few more tables than they should. I do not want to be those guys.

Tomorrow's plans...Play a good amount of 3.40s. i am thinking about shooting for 50. I want to test my self, and see how it feels to somewhat grind these things out. Play a few sets of 4 here in the morning, then take a break for a few hours. Head into town and play a 3-4 sets of 6, then go and get some supper. Come back and grind out the last few sets. If (i use that word a lot) i could play 50 3.40s a day, 5 days a week with 75 cents profit per sng, that's 750 dollars a month. not bad for a game that requires a bankroll of 175 dollars. (that is until dominate the 6.50s)

2nd place

I played a set of 6 3.40's yesterday
out of the money X3
3rd place
and 2 second place.

I was kind of worried about getting the 2nds and 3rds but i really don't think it is a problem. I am aggressive on the bubble, and i think i play 3 handed better than most at the 3.40 level. By the time it gets to heads up it really is a crap shoot. with 600+bb's its any ones game. You just have to push and pray. So i am not worried about the recent 2nds and 3rds. I am sure it i will all even out in the long run.

6 table run

i just finished making a 6 table lay out for sng's on stars. There is a decent amount of overlap on the 17" monitor, but i think i should be able to handle it. If things don't go well then i can always drop back down to 4.

So the plan for today is to put in a huge (for me) session of sng's. I plan to 6 table the 3.40's in sets, and hope to get at least 4 sets in today. If i am doing well and feel good, i am going to keep playing.

I really want to test my self to see what i am capable of doing if i decide to grind. Because if things keep going well and i get to the 6.50 level i am going to start putting in a lot more sngs that i usually do. The fact that the time spent will be for real money. After i went busto year or so ago, i have been playing the micros and really break even/small winner. Now i believe i am profitable in sng's and am ready to make some money. I really want to get to the point where i am 8+ tabling the 6.50's with around 1 dollar profit per sng. Then i am going to grind my ass off. This will be a nice supplement to my current income, and allow me to keep my job i have now. I don't make that much money at my current job, but i enjoy it. After my last job i realise how important being happy at your work is, and i don't want to go back to a shit job.

+++

Ok its the next day and the 6 table thing went somewhat well. I managed to play the 2 extra tables, never timed out, or made any decisions that i regretted because of being rushed. So it is going to be 6 tables from now on.

I played 12 sng's with one 3rd, two 2nds, and a first. I lost 3500-7000 chip pots three times when i had a pocket pair, and the villain had one over, all in pre flop. I would of cake walked to 1st or 2nd place had my 70% favorites held up. I am really happy with only losing a dollar or so being i ran horrible. I guess that is expected. Just sucks to lose HUGE pots when i was a big favorite. But i am glad i didn't tilt, and lose more money that i should. I was planing on playing more sets, but i had to leave to go run across town, and when i got back i just didn't feel like playing. But i plan on putting at least another 12 sngs in today. and i hope i run a little bit better this time.

stars...i dunno...

I like stars. Seems like they have the best site around. Full Tilt is good, but it seems like stars really has everything right with the customer service, selection of games, ect. I can decide i want to play 4 sngs at the 3.40 level, and boom boom boom i have them all open before the first one starts dealing. Today i timed the sngs on Full Tilt, and they fill a new one about every 1-1.5 minutes. The easy part about playing on stars is all the tables are at the same blind level at the same time, and i don't get confused. But....

There are too many people who know what they are doing on stars. Period.

Today i randomly opened up a 12 dollar turbo on Full Tilt and sharkscoped the whole table. I think there was two guys with +roi's, and they were around 3. the rest were negative. Pretty nice thing to see.

I also did the same thing on a 16 dollar sng on stars. there was one person with -10+ roi, one that was a small loser, and the rest had over 8% roi's. Also the #9 ranked player in the 16 turbos was at that table (24k in profit), and a guy that was ranked in the 2 table 16's. AKA bad news bears.

How am i suppose to win money at a site when every player has a +roi??? I am not in this to bang heads with winning players every sng.

I think the 3.40's and the 6.50's on stars are going to be easy money still. So i am going to start trying to stagger my start times so i can get use to playing with different blind levels. Because i think once i fell like moving up to the 12-16 dollar turbos, i am going to be playing on Full Tilt. I just don't see any reason to play against a bunch of good players. I will probably keep playing playing on stars, but just play a level under what my usual game is on Full Tilt.

So now the plan is....
3.40's on stars until i have enough to play the 6.50's on that site then...
6.50's on Full Tilt and Stars. Play about 60% on FTP 40% on Stars then...
12 on Full Tilt 75% of the time, and 6.50's on Stars 25% of the time.

Sucks. I really like the 16 dollar level, and everything stars has to offer. But it just not worth it to play in games where you are almost always playing 3+ regulars. I just don't see the point.

rambling

no set plan for this blog, just getting some thoughts out.

Have been doing well in the 3.40's. Not much to complain about there. Play is horrible, and i am doing well, grinding back up to being able to play the 6.50's again. The thing i am somewhat worried about is that i am getting more 3rds lately. I have read on Forums that you should be bubbling more than you get 3rds. The reason is you need to be abusing the bubble that way you can get 1st or 2nd. I am a manic on the bubble. I am usually by far the most aggressive person. So why am i getting more 3rds? I am not sure. Maybe its just a variance thing. Getting in the money, and things happening to put me out in 3rd. dunno. I have always played very well 3 handed, and its my favorite amount of people to play cash games with. But i am winning almost just as many times as i am getting 3rd. oh well. Its working for now. If it continues long for a few weeks then i am going to have to take a better look at my game. until then i am just going to take them how they come.

I need a bigger monitor. This is of huge concern. The reason i spend all of my time on stars is because of the re sizable tables. It is hard to 4 table on Full Tilt, so i just grind 3.40's with a 80+ buy in bankroll. I have the money overall to play 6.50's, but going broke on stars due to some variance is not what i want to happen. If i could mix the 6.50's on full tilt, with the 3.40's on stars, i could be making more money, and safely building a roll on stars. I just do not want to drop 39 dollars at once on stars due to a bad set of sng's. Bigger monitor will let me build up the bankroll faster, safer, and easier. I was thinking of holding out for the 30 inch Dell, but i really just need to get something were i can 6+ table, and get it quick. There will always be more monitors to buy later on down the road. I can just sell the small monitor when i get the scratch to upgrade.

I am really liking SNG's. I really feel like this is where i need to be. The fit my playing style, and also fit my personality. I would love to be a big cash game player, but i know i probally will never put enough effort into it. MTT's are nice, but it is hard for me to put in 2+ hours in without a 30 min break. With SNG's i can start a set, play them out, if i want to take a break when i am done, cool. If i want to keep playing, i just open up another set. They just give me more flexibility. Also I believe i am good enough now to play at the 6.50 level, and if i had the roll i wouldn't have a problem stepping up to the 16's. I by no means think i am great at them, but i am much better than the competition. I will be able to make some nice money when i get to the point where i am running 8-10 tables in a set at the 6.50 level. with the 15-20% roi i think i will have, that is around 1 dollar a sng, 8 at a time??? I will take it. Wouldn't be hard or stressful to make 10 dollars a hour from these things, and that is at the 6.50 level.

But sng's fit me well, very well. I am doing great so far, and feel that i could beat the 6.50's right now. When i get to the point where i am able to move up to the 11 or 16 turbos i am going to polish up my game with one of the sng tools available. I would do it now, but funds are tight. No use spending money on something that is not going to make that much of a difference now. I can beat the level that i am at now with out it. But i really want to hone my game, and grind out a nice chunk of change before i ever get the idea to move up from the 11/16 level.

What i am really shooting for is to be playing the 11/16's by summer time. I want to be 8+ tabling them, and making over a 1.50 dollars per sng. If i could make 15 dollars an hour, i will be very happy. I could get into a schedule of playing a set before work, right after work, and a couple at night. Making 100+ dollars a week from sngs would be great. It would really make life easier money wise, allowing me to pay a few bills each month with poker profits if needed. Having some extra money to go places, and eat a nice meal. Or save up the winnings to buy i some furniture, or take a vacation. It would be so cool to be snow skiing, knowing i got there of of playing poker. Another point i would like to get to is putting away money for retirement off of poker. The idea of maxing out a Roth IRA with poker money would be a dream. Knowing i was building a nice nest egg of a game i enjoy playing.

Goals???
Keep playing the game.
Get a larger monitor
Build up enough money on stars to play the 6.50's comfortably
Be able to 8+ table the 6.50's for at or over a 15% ROI.

long winded hu?

3.40's and uptick

Well after yesterdays downswing, leaving me with 70$ in my stars account, i decided i had better drop down a level. I am have enough money over all to stay at the 6.50's, but with all the trouble getting money on and off, i don't mind playing a little lower to avoid having to re-deposit on stars.

3.00 buy in and 40 to the rake. thats a little bit steeper than usuall but not that bad. The tables are 10 handed also, instead of the normal 9. not that big of a deal. I did well in Party sng's and i think they were 10 handed. so anyways...

First set of 4
OTM
OTM
3rd
2nd
So i made 1.4o dollars. wheeee

Second set went
OTM
OTM
1st
1st
16.40 dollars uptick? o rly? and a total for the day of 17.40. Not to bad for 3.40 dollar sng's.

well it happened.

I just played six 6.50 sngs on stars and didn't cash in one.

i made one donk play where i rr all in out of the blinds with AJ when i should of folded.

Made another donkish play when i raised from the button with q-10s to 300 with 50-100 blinds, got min raised from the bb. and i called. we both have over 3k. flop come AKX with 2 of my suits. I push for some reason, and get called by AQ. missed my 13 outs on the turn, but got a 10, missed my 15 outs on the river. really i should of folded the hand pre-flop. I felt the guy was strong, and i am in trouble with tons of flops. Also i had plenty of chips.

lost all in pre-flop with my A-X vs KQ twice. Lost a 4200 chip pot with AK vs K4. so really...i don't think i played horrible. I am sure i wasn't playing my best...but really i got put out 4 out of the 6 when i was ahead.

such is the norm for me. I do well in something for a bit, and then hit a wall. But i have learned from my past mistakes. i am not going to play anymore online today. Odds are i will not play online tomorrow. If i do i will probably play the 3.40 sng's on stars. The thing is i play well, but get unlucky for a bit. that's all normal, but after i get unlucky for a while i start kind of leaking. Its not full blown tilt, but playing passive, calling too much, and making donk plays. So i am going to take it easy for a few days.

Usually this is the time that i change to a different game, but really i think sng's are what i need to focus on. I am positive i can maintain a 10-20% roi in them, and they fit my playing habits perfectly (short burst, laggie) I just think i took a normal bad streak. I am positive after a short break i will be playing well, and hopefully the cards will better than they have been.

I will have this all turned around soon enough.

Take's a SNG grinder?

Apparently so.

I am a lazy guy. no denying that one. And with poker i am the same way. Online i rarely put in monster sesions, and i am not really good at playing X hours a day. Poker is just a hobby to me, but i would like to clear some money from it. At the rate i am going with my MTT, and Cash games, it would take forever. but not with sng's

Turbo sng's.

last under a hour...so it keep my attention.
Able to multi table them easily...$$$
Lets me be the lagtard...yusss

Its the perfect fit. The perfect game for me to spend most of my time.

As of right now i can 4 table turbos. I am very confident that when i get a larger monitor/better at turbos, i will be able to 6-8 table. This will be great, because i can stay focused for that long, and i will be turning a decent profit. I like playing sets also, so its easy to stop if i am doing bad. I am sure i could put in 2-3 sets during the weekdays, and play a lot more on Friday nights and Saturdays. Also sng's are a lower variance form of poker.

As of right now i am playing the 6.50's on stars. The play is bad for the most part. There are still some guys that somewhat know what they are doing, but its not that bad.

I don't know why, but i am scared of "Regulars". I use to think i could kill any poker game, but now i am worried about playing better players. But i think i will be fine if i just jump in with them. granted i am going to have the proper bankroll before i move up the ladder, but i think i will be fine. Just try to avoid them, and learn from them when i do end up at the same table. Someone has to beat these things, might as well be me.

Today i played 4 6.50s and got out of the money in 3 and won the 4th one for a big 1 dollar profit.

sng's

did another round of sng's

started 2 5.50 9 man. busted out of one on some draw outs, so i opened up 3 6.50 turbos.

I have kindof avoided turbos before because i thought my edge was in the early part. After playing a few i found my edge was much larger when the blinds got bigger. I am not scared to push, or to bust out before the money. so, i thought i would give the turbos a shot.

things went pretty good. Granted i think i am running a wee bit better than normal, but it isn't some crazy heater. I think i am learning with every sng i play. I have always had a pretty good feel for pushes, and with a little bit of work i should be good to go. Also the 6.50's are full of donks, and 4 tabling them should make me some nice money. (when i upgrade to a larger monitor i think 6 tabling will easy)

nice money untill i get tired of them and move to a different game. I will probally end up being profitable in every single form of online poker (if it is still around) eventually. It helps me to move around. avoids the leaking type tilt i am bad about. All tho the downside to me moving around is i probally could be making more money by just playing/learning one game. But eventually when i get good at all these things i will have all sorts of freadom to search out good games, and play what i am feeling like.

5.50-0$
5.50-22.50
6.50-0$
6.50-10.80
6.50-16.20

oh yes. i run good.

I think i am in for some Variance

well beings i have won every pot for the last 2 weeks, its about time for me to lose a few.

Yesterday i played some 10.50 heads up matches, went win, win, loss, loss. The last losses were against a player i think i have a nice edge against, but i just couldn't do anything right. every bluff got min raised, every value bet got folded. oh well.

Beings FTP is running the 50 dollar bonus thing, i decided to 4 table some 9 man sng's. The idea was to play 2 5.50s, and 2 11 dollar. but some how i entered 3 11s and 2 5.50s. EEEKKK. there is a decent amount of overlap with my current set up on ftp with 4 tables....with 5 its horrible. But regardless i busted out of the first 3 and got a 1st in a 5.50, and 2nd in a 11. the second in the 11 hurt, because i had him all in 2 times for all of his chips. both were 50/50's, but the thing is i got him down, and he won a coinflip. so i have 3-4k, claw my way up and we do another coin flip, he wins, and i am down to 4k again. blah. ended up making a small profit. But i think it could of been more had i not opened the 5th sng. i made a few errors that wouldn't of happened.

Today i have lost about 7 bucks in cash games. I have probally played less than 100 hands, but i am getting in that mood where i am wanting to get back the money i use to have. This is how my last downswing happened. I had around 500 online and pissed it down to 300 in a couple of days.

Thats not going to happen this time.

i would like to put in some hours so i could get the 50 dollar bonus, but its not good if i piss away 70 dollars to get it. So i am going to run one set of 5.50 9 man's and see how things go. If i do well, i will probally keep on doing that, or do half 5.50/half 11. If things go bad i am going to take the weekend off, then come back monday and grind it out on the omaha hi-low, and razz tables.

NOOOOO GLUE TILT THIS TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...i hope.

Short Stack Live

Yesterday i finally got in the mood to play poker again. Just havn't really felt like it. guess because i am running good. <--lol. Anyways i got off of work, and thought about what to play.

This is important for me to give my self a bit of time to decide what i want to play. because if i am feeling laggie, and go decide to 4 table hi-low, i am getting smoked. Taking 10 mins or so to decide what my best choice in games is very critical.

Decided I wanted to play some NL sng's. cool beans. But with is the wierd part. ususally i play 6 max sng's, or heads up. But i decided i wanted to try and 4 table 9 man regular sng's. The most i have ever played was 2 sng's at once, and have always had trouble with it. But the last time i tryed it was ages ago, and on my laptop with tons of overlap. sooo....i decided to do 4 tables, and do them in a set. Play 4 untill they are all done. That way i don't skrew up while getting use to the sng's again.

Things went great. I got off to a decent start in one, and pretty well folded untill the blinds hit 50-100. From their i made a few hands and had 2 of the sng's up to 2500+ in chips, and the others were around 1000-1500. Ended up busting out of one, getting a 3rd in another.

Getting the 3rd in the second sng was really a boost. This ment even if i bombed out of the other 2 i was only going to lose 13 bucks. MUUUCH better than droping 22 dollars on what is pretty much a test run. So by now i am 4 and 5 handed, and bust out in 5th in the 3rd sng.

meh, really wanted to get in the money on both of them, but alas we don't always get what we want. So on the final sng, i played pretty good. Was the big stack at the bubble with the shortie in the bb while i was sb. This ment i could 3x the bet on the button/cut off and usually get folds. Then if i didn't have a good hand i would just fold my sb to the short stack.

There was a interesting post about this on pocket fives. Giving up chips to the short stack, so you could take more chips from the other players. While i don't agree with doing this in a MTT, but in a sng i have had a decent amount of luck with this stratagy.

So the bubble burst, and i pretty much had a cake walk to first place. whee.

22.00 in buyins
9.00 for 3rd
22.50 for 1st.
So ended up =9.50 for a ROI of 40 something %

Ok from there i went to the Live 20 dollar re-buy here in mason. 20 bucks gets you 5k in chips, and you start at 50-100 with 30 min blind levels. The structure is really good. nice and slow. So i was staked into it, 17 players. I made a actual ARI move that worked. 6 handed before the we moved to the final table i raised it 3x bb to 1800 at 3-600 blinds with 44 from utg. had around 10k in chips. table had been somewhat tight, but still a bunch of donks. So a player moved all in for around 5k. this guy could be doing this with a somewhat wide range. Then this lady that had only played poker 4 times before called the all in for less than 5k. so it gets to me and there is 300+600+1800+5k+~3k in the pot. I thought for a bit and decided there was too much in the pot for me to fold, and i also thought there was about a 60% chance i was up against overs. the guy had AQ and the girl had AK. I was really happy, untill they hit, but oh well. I was still really happy i called off a lot of chips with way the best of it.

Called a 3xbb raise with 10-6 suited, having about 14 bb's, and thinking the guy was 1) on tilt 2) re-buy period was almost over, and i am looking to maybe take a few chances to get some chips. flop comes 7-8-2 with 2 of my suits. pot has 6.5 bb's in it, i have 12.5 left. I push. He calls with 7-9. Thats about the best i could hope for. I have 3 outs with the 10, 2 with the gutshot, and 9 flush outs. and some random runner runner odd ball crap. spike the 5 of of my suit on the turn, and 4 of my suit for a strait flush. oh yes, i run good. untill i drop 8 bb's on my next hand. blah.

All tournament i had around 10X bb. never had a stack for very long, and just played shortstacked all day. ended up getting down to 4 players and with me as the short stack with ~10X bb. 3 players get payed, but i thought i would try and get some money out of the deal. These guys often make deals that are horrible. 2-1 chip leads will even chop heads up. So i suggested we take 20 dollars a piece out of the pot. everone agreed. wheee. that was horrible on their part, but oh well. We played 2-3 hours with 4 players and most of the time with me and another guy around 8-10Xbb. It didn't bother me, because they were folding to my pushes, and i was treading water easily waiting for a big hand.

Then the blinds go to 2000-4000 and the short stack had ~15K, i had ~20K, 2nd in chips had ~25K, and the chip leader at maybe 35-40K. the other players were getting tired and bored, so i though i would at lease take a shot at making a deal.

After a hand was over i sayed that this was basically a crap shoot, and even the chip leader is gone if he loses 2 hands in a row. With 460 in the pot after we took the 20 dollars out, we could all walk out of here with 135 dollars total, avoid all the luck involved with blinds so high, and we could go home.

well they kindof were quiet, but then it was a "well whatever everyone else wants to do" fest, and i got them to agree to an even chop. WHEEEEEEEEEEEE

That was just a great deal for me. If we had played it out...
0$ for 4th
40 for 3rd
126 for 2nd
294 for 1st.

getting a little less than second place money, while on in 3rd chip position with a 5Xbb stack. I will take that all day long. even tho i think i have a decent edge over them in a situation like this due to all of my sng play, i think this is a great deal.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE again,
-Take