Best Laid Plans

On Saturday I woke up happy that I had written for the blog for the first time since May. I was refreshed after a very lazy Post-Thanksgiving Friday (ask my wife). That night I was having my first poker tourney at our new place and I wanted to straighten up the house. I started in the living room and worked my way into the kitchen. I finally got most of it done and started a pot of coffee while I logged on to FTP. 4 minutes prior to registration closing I signed up for the $10+1 $12.5K Guaranteed Rush tourney. Blinds were already 120/240 and I started with 3K in the BB. The good news was that well over 1/2 of the field of ‎1,863 had already been eliminated.

A few hours later I ran my KTo into and A5o and finished 4th place for ‎$1,471.77.

So about that plan for $900 in the next month... Time to reevaluate. I was planning on playing rush tourneys as much as possible and slowly creeping toward the goal while taking shots in $2 and $3 buyin MTTs with huge payouts. I was also going to run a stake on Part Time Poker for miniFTOPS. Admittedly, All of these approaches were long-shots for an entire $900. To put it in terms any poker player can understand, I was at least a 2:1 dog.

Now I'm a lock for accomplishing my goal and it feels great! I have some decisions to make though. Foremost I need to decide how much money to leave in my account. Historically I play my worst poker after a big win. I don't plan on that this time. That, coupled with the fact that I have accomplished my goal means I probably should leave plenty in my account. But we all know how plans go sometimes...

Next, I need to start formulating a goal for next year. Doubling a bankroll is an easy target (in terms of planning, not neccisarily hitting), but I want to find the best balance between challenging and realistic. FTOPS, WSOP, and WPT entry come to mind.

Either way, it means more writing for me, which means that part of the plan is still in tact.

With a Banner Like Mine, I Should be Writing More

And I will. I always do this time of year. It's freaking freezing outside, and I tend to get a little nostalgic around now. Also, the weather lends itself to mass-poker playing. So does my amount of off time. That means fewer Rush tournaments, and more massive MTT's with opportunity for huge payouts on eensy-weensy buyins. Historically I always make more money playing in winter time.

And I'm hoping the trend will continue. So far this year I've yanked over $1,500 off the Internet playing poker. Last year my total was $1,200. Secretly (or not) I've been attempting to double each year's production. That's a lofty goal for someone who doesn't like letting more than $200 sit in his bankroll without pulling some out so that "they'll never get it back". Most of the time, $5 and $10, (and all of the time $24) tournaments are out of my range. But I've got a plan. One month left. $900 to go!

January

I saw a total of $475 cashed out for the month. This is excellent progress towards my goal of $1200 for the year. Actually it puts me on pace to earn nearly $5600 for the year (@ over $15/day). That is an unrealistic expectation, as I likely won’t play as much as I did in January in the coming months. However, you never know, since the ever-increasing bankroll allows me to take larger risks.

My most consistent success came on PokerStars at the $1 S&G and the .10/.25 cash game at the end of the month. Most of my money came from FullTilt however, as I hit the $26 45-person S&G and finished first. Since my cash out from that site, I have done nothing but lose. I have some theories as to why this always seems to happen after a cash-out. I’ll have to write about it sometime. I want to say right now that it’s no master-plan of the poker sites to make you lose money after you cash out. That theory simply makes no sense (you already have your money, what does it matter if you lose?).I have been terrible in the last two weeks at Full Tilt MTTs, and I am convinced that it is my aggression level compared to their blind structure. When I switched back to PStars, I saw a lot more success and consistency.For February I am going to stay focused on my cash game. So far everything is going great. In limited action on the 1st, I was able to secure another $100 cash out, bringing me half-way to my goal for the year. I am terribly excited about my play right now, and I can’t wait to take my game to the real life felt in Laughlin later this month.

Speaking of Laughlin, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the support they have shown since my Uncle’s passing. My family and I are doing much better of late. There is a small sense of normalcy that has returned to phone conversations with my dad (poker stories, rooting for the less-hated football team together, a general sense of disappointment after another football season with the bad guy at the top, you know – normal). I’m able to tell stories about my uncle to my coworkers and my kids without choking up. In general, there is a lot more smiling and laughter this week than there was last week.

Week 2 Report

I had a tough week. I started off strong with two wins and a second place at the $2.25 18-person sit and go tourneys that I talked about last week. However, I fell into the same tail-spin I encountered last week, and in all $2 S&G’s for the week, I lost $3.15.

My only cash game attempts this week were at seven card stud 8ob and Omaha 8ob warming up for the PTT events. I lost $3.75, but I didn’t play too poorly.

MTTs were also a loss for me this week. $6.75 lost. The highlight was another cash in the PTT in Omaha 8ob. I also hit a record 6 straight final tables until Wednesday night when I couldn’t attend event #16. About halfway through the events I am in 4th place for Player of the Season standings.

I played a $5 S&G and placed 3rd, which kept the week from being a bigger loss than it was. For the week I only lost $3.18. Because I cashed out $375 last week, it seems like a lot more.

This week I will play more of the $5 version S&Gs. I am also limiting the amount I play per day, especially since I am back to work now. I am going to play one S&G, the PTT event, a Cartel event if needed, and an MTT if time permits. I won’t be playing any cash game, no matter how much I want to.

As you can see from the graphs from this week and last, there is not a lot of consistency in my game right now. We'll see if I can lock that down in the coming weeks.

A Look Back at Week One

After my first week of playing I have profited $390.73. I lost $7.17 playing multi-table tournaments (MTT) ranging in buy-ins from $1-$5.50. I lost $4.00 at the cash games (.05/.10 and .10/.25). Most of those losses came at the .10/.25 tables not surprisingly. I lost $20.80 at single table $4.40 satellites, however I turned one of those into a $26 token, so the actually gain was $5.20.

I lost $2.70 playing in $2 sit & go tournaments, which surprised me. I thought I lost more than that. I sure as hell played a lot of them. If I can cash in 5% more, I will turn that number into a gain. I know I can play better in most of them, so I should be able to turn a larger profit this week.



My biggest cash came when I turned in my $26 token for a 45-sng. The payday was a monstrous $410.40. This week I am going to make another run at Brain’s plan. I gave up prematurely last week after some frustrating losses, and ironically that’s how I got my big cash. Here’s how it works:

Step A:
Play $2 +.25 18 person sit & go.

1st place pays $14.40 - $8.80 goes toward two step B “tickets”, and $5.60 goes into bankroll for a $3.35 profit.

2nd place pays $10.80 - $4.40 goes toward one step B ticket with a $4.15 profit.

3rd place pays $7.20 – One step B ticket and $0.55 profit.

Step B:
Play a $4.40 single table $26 token satellite.

1st pays one $26 token – zero additional profit to bankroll
2nd pays $10 – one step B ticket and $5.60 profit.

Step C:
Once 5 $26 tokens are collected, spend four on Step C tournaments:
9 to 45 person sit & go tournaments, satellite or cash.

Step D:
This is the one token spent on a large MTT such as a 21k guaranteed. It’s the fortune and glory shot. For example, the winner of a recent 21k won $6,204 (1,175 entrants).