From now on I'll just state my poker bankroll. This will include money on poker site(s) and money in savings account. Whenever I take money out of savings to put into checking (most likely to pay for a bill or to buy something necessary), that will mean taking money out of my poker bankroll. Also, pending rakeback money will not be included in poker bankroll until it actually gets transferred INTO its respective poker site.
As of right now, my poker bankroll is ~$22.2k. $2k of that is currently set to be put into my savings as soon as I get the check. I still haven't gotten my first $700 check for this month's bills...
Niners beat the Lions 31-13 and are now 2-1, sweet.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Infection
Haven't updated much. More time dedicated to studying. Anyway....
So I have two checks coming now--one for $700 and the other for $2k. The $700 check is to be used for my bills for the month, and the other is to go into a savings account. From now on I hope to keep at least 10% in savings (obv not to exceed $100k cuz the banks lookin kinda funny now). But, now I'm thinking I might want to put this $2k towards my credit card debt. I have about $5k of credit card debt at ~$15%. The obvious answer would be to knock off the high interest rate first. However, if I put it in savings, I get better piece of mind when playing: knowing my bankroll is safe and large. Personally, if I feel my money is running low, I tend to play worse (scared/anxious/nitty). So I could just pay the minimums for the next four months or so, eat the interest, but the piece of mind might just be worth it. I need a second (and probably third) opinion.
Other than that, poker has been up and down. I HAVE noticed that my numbers are slowly changing. From 13/9 to, well, I'm not sure yet, but I'll tell you when it evens out. (Right now it looks to be heading towards 16/12). I just finished a good session: 4 hours @ $400/hr for $1772.45. This was a very good session and definitely not the norm. A lot of hands were holding up in the beginning, but I got coolered for a few in a row. Towards the end, I got a few buyins back to finish on a good note. There were a LOT of loose fish playing this Friday night. Forget going out if Fridays are like this.
One hand that stuck out was a hand that even I don't fully comprehend. The villain hadn't gotten out of line much when he three-bet/squeezed my open. I just really got the feeling he was squeezing, especially w/ his 3b% at about 10% (fairly high obviously). I had KTs and thought I was good, so I 4b him. So far, this isn't too much out of the ordinary. I rarely 4b light, but I do 4b light nonetheless. Well, I typed in the words "hold" in the chat box before I 4b, and he instantly shoved for 100bb. I effectively had 30% of my stack in the middle when he 5b/shoved. Thinking I was good in the first place (and getting a good price at this point), I practically snap-called. Well, my "hold" was needed and he tabled J9s. No one paired, and I got to take down a pot in a more unusual way (at least it rarely happens with me).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3215473
I'd like to get some feedback from some people on that. I'd like to discuss the minimum type of hands to feel comfortable doing that with. Hands to NEVER do that with. What to expect to be ahead of, etc, etc....
I had an ear infection exactly a week ago. I got penicilin, and the pain went away. But, I still must have fluid in my ear, because I can still barely hear anything in my left ear. The infection behind my eardrum hasn't drained yet. Very awkward and it's getting on my nerves that I can't hear well out of it yet. At least I won a 200bb pot w/ Khigh....
So I have two checks coming now--one for $700 and the other for $2k. The $700 check is to be used for my bills for the month, and the other is to go into a savings account. From now on I hope to keep at least 10% in savings (obv not to exceed $100k cuz the banks lookin kinda funny now). But, now I'm thinking I might want to put this $2k towards my credit card debt. I have about $5k of credit card debt at ~$15%. The obvious answer would be to knock off the high interest rate first. However, if I put it in savings, I get better piece of mind when playing: knowing my bankroll is safe and large. Personally, if I feel my money is running low, I tend to play worse (scared/anxious/nitty). So I could just pay the minimums for the next four months or so, eat the interest, but the piece of mind might just be worth it. I need a second (and probably third) opinion.
Other than that, poker has been up and down. I HAVE noticed that my numbers are slowly changing. From 13/9 to, well, I'm not sure yet, but I'll tell you when it evens out. (Right now it looks to be heading towards 16/12). I just finished a good session: 4 hours @ $400/hr for $1772.45. This was a very good session and definitely not the norm. A lot of hands were holding up in the beginning, but I got coolered for a few in a row. Towards the end, I got a few buyins back to finish on a good note. There were a LOT of loose fish playing this Friday night. Forget going out if Fridays are like this.
One hand that stuck out was a hand that even I don't fully comprehend. The villain hadn't gotten out of line much when he three-bet/squeezed my open. I just really got the feeling he was squeezing, especially w/ his 3b% at about 10% (fairly high obviously). I had KTs and thought I was good, so I 4b him. So far, this isn't too much out of the ordinary. I rarely 4b light, but I do 4b light nonetheless. Well, I typed in the words "hold" in the chat box before I 4b, and he instantly shoved for 100bb. I effectively had 30% of my stack in the middle when he 5b/shoved. Thinking I was good in the first place (and getting a good price at this point), I practically snap-called. Well, my "hold" was needed and he tabled J9s. No one paired, and I got to take down a pot in a more unusual way (at least it rarely happens with me).
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3215473
I'd like to get some feedback from some people on that. I'd like to discuss the minimum type of hands to feel comfortable doing that with. Hands to NEVER do that with. What to expect to be ahead of, etc, etc....
I had an ear infection exactly a week ago. I got penicilin, and the pain went away. But, I still must have fluid in my ear, because I can still barely hear anything in my left ear. The infection behind my eardrum hasn't drained yet. Very awkward and it's getting on my nerves that I can't hear well out of it yet. At least I won a 200bb pot w/ Khigh....
Sunday, September 14, 2008
First Cashout
If you've read this blog, you know on May 5th I started w/ $1k. As of 15min ago, my FTP roll was $20.8k. Looking at that amount is sort of depressing, but it's good at the same time. I set out to be at approximately $11k by September 5th to win the $7k in prop bets; in that regard I'm doing just fine. But, I'm not putting the time to study technique or the discipline to sit and play like I did when I started to grind. On the bright side, I'm rarely spewing, running "ok," and not SICK of poker like I was getting.
Also, taking out money from the bankroll is not what I want to do also. But, I lived off the prop bet monies (paying bills, eating, etc.) like I planned to. Justin still owes $300, but I'm not in a desperate need for that like I was before. I made my first cashout today for $700, putting my FTP roll at $20.1k. Playing for over four months and only cashing out $700. In one respect, it seems like I'm cashing out SO SO little. But at the same time, I don't want to take a penny out of my bankroll so it can continue to build up.
In my opinion, I need to feel a little bit more confident before I move up to the $400NL game. Floating and thin value bets become MUCH more common. Also, when I get to $400NL, I will probably cut my tables down to six, from eight. There are a few things I want to do at $200NL like having a $10k month and padding my bankroll to a certain amount. I'm starting to think about the money point where I'll feel comfortable playing $400NL. I remember when I first started out, I was ready to move up to $400NL once I got to $16k or so, but now I'm thinking more like $25k. A ten buyin downswing is $4k now! Just saying that sounds a little daunting. Maybe once I hit $26k, I'll take a shot and I'll drop back down to $200NL if the roll dips down to $22k.
Oh, and a funny hand happened. I didn't pokerhand it, but it's kind of easy to recall. There was a 80/5 loose/passive fish to my direct left that had a 6buyin stack. I opened 3d3h UTG to $7 and got 4 callers (fish called and I'm guessing the others called to stack the fish if they hit). That made a pot of $35 on a Qh6h3c flop. It was checked to me, and since the fish had shown a tendency to bet when checked to on decent-sized multiway pots, I checked to him. The fish ended up checking, but the cutoff bet $26 into the $35. The SB raised to $82+ (allin), I called hoping to not scare anyone off and also get put on a draw, fish called, cutoff repopped to $207 (allin), at this point I just put the rest of my stack in and raised to $260ish (allin), and the deep stacked fish even called! The pot was $875+ and four-way. I was expecting to have to dodge a bunch of cards, but it ended up that I was a HUGE favorite w/ everyone holding top pair (QKs, QK, and the deep stack holding QT.) All I had to dodge was a running full house or two running clubs, but they were drawing dead on a 9d turn. Now, $875 definitely isn't the biggest pot I've won, but to be allin four-way on the flop and to be such a huge favorite (and holding of course) is something that doesn't happen often. I can only recall one other time, but that was much more crazy than this one and a long time ago--holding 99 on 972 flop vs 77, 22, and JJ.
So, in summary, my FTP roll is $20.1k. I'm waiting on a $700 check from FTP--my first cashout. I'm not playing much, but that's almost alright. Feel like the favorite to get to $30k before Aaron gets to $100k or Justin to $10k. Will probably take a shot at $400NL when roll gets to $26k....
Also, taking out money from the bankroll is not what I want to do also. But, I lived off the prop bet monies (paying bills, eating, etc.) like I planned to. Justin still owes $300, but I'm not in a desperate need for that like I was before. I made my first cashout today for $700, putting my FTP roll at $20.1k. Playing for over four months and only cashing out $700. In one respect, it seems like I'm cashing out SO SO little. But at the same time, I don't want to take a penny out of my bankroll so it can continue to build up.
In my opinion, I need to feel a little bit more confident before I move up to the $400NL game. Floating and thin value bets become MUCH more common. Also, when I get to $400NL, I will probably cut my tables down to six, from eight. There are a few things I want to do at $200NL like having a $10k month and padding my bankroll to a certain amount. I'm starting to think about the money point where I'll feel comfortable playing $400NL. I remember when I first started out, I was ready to move up to $400NL once I got to $16k or so, but now I'm thinking more like $25k. A ten buyin downswing is $4k now! Just saying that sounds a little daunting. Maybe once I hit $26k, I'll take a shot and I'll drop back down to $200NL if the roll dips down to $22k.
Oh, and a funny hand happened. I didn't pokerhand it, but it's kind of easy to recall. There was a 80/5 loose/passive fish to my direct left that had a 6buyin stack. I opened 3d3h UTG to $7 and got 4 callers (fish called and I'm guessing the others called to stack the fish if they hit). That made a pot of $35 on a Qh6h3c flop. It was checked to me, and since the fish had shown a tendency to bet when checked to on decent-sized multiway pots, I checked to him. The fish ended up checking, but the cutoff bet $26 into the $35. The SB raised to $82+ (allin), I called hoping to not scare anyone off and also get put on a draw, fish called, cutoff repopped to $207 (allin), at this point I just put the rest of my stack in and raised to $260ish (allin), and the deep stacked fish even called! The pot was $875+ and four-way. I was expecting to have to dodge a bunch of cards, but it ended up that I was a HUGE favorite w/ everyone holding top pair (QKs, QK, and the deep stack holding QT.) All I had to dodge was a running full house or two running clubs, but they were drawing dead on a 9d turn. Now, $875 definitely isn't the biggest pot I've won, but to be allin four-way on the flop and to be such a huge favorite (and holding of course) is something that doesn't happen often. I can only recall one other time, but that was much more crazy than this one and a long time ago--holding 99 on 972 flop vs 77, 22, and JJ.
So, in summary, my FTP roll is $20.1k. I'm waiting on a $700 check from FTP--my first cashout. I'm not playing much, but that's almost alright. Feel like the favorite to get to $30k before Aaron gets to $100k or Justin to $10k. Will probably take a shot at $400NL when roll gets to $26k....
Friday, September 5, 2008
Change
I don't feel like I'm playing very well right now. My FTP roll is still $16.8ish, but not feeling the best about playing. My hourly rate, though better than some starting jobs, is in need of MUCH improvement. An hourly of $50/hr is the smallest I should be running at, in my opinion. So, anything less than that is definitely a disappointment. My game plan at the moment is, WORK FOR THE CITY! It's the job I want, and the job security I want (unless our economy keeps going to shiznit). But until then, I have some bills to pay and some debt to erase. Over two years ago, I told myself I'd pay off my student loans w/ poker money. I finally have enough, but paying that off would wipe out almost my whole bankroll--and obviously look very suspicious to the IRS. So when people say, "you should pay off your credit card now," know that I WANT to. But the ultimate goal with playing poker while not working is to invest in myself now, so that when I do decide to pay off a $5k credit card, it won't feel like I'm losing 25% of all I have. Hey, when I get to $100k, $5k will just be 5% and it won't hurt nearly as much.
Right now I'm living frugal to say the least--not buying much of anything for myslef except for food and gas. But when I finally get to where I want to be, I'll have my student loan and credit card paid off with a sizeable amount left to continue to grow. At that point I can do what I set out to do, and that's pay off the house note for Moms. But for now, not playing my A game means not earning at the hourly rate I expect to be at, and that's a problem.
Right now I'm living frugal to say the least--not buying much of anything for myslef except for food and gas. But when I finally get to where I want to be, I'll have my student loan and credit card paid off with a sizeable amount left to continue to grow. At that point I can do what I set out to do, and that's pay off the house note for Moms. But for now, not playing my A game means not earning at the hourly rate I expect to be at, and that's a problem.
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