Bankroll challenge: Starting with a whole $2!

I've been anti-Full Tilt for several years now due to lack of rakeback.  That hasn't changed.  However, I did have a couple bucks (literally) left on an account there.  With a now 1 year old little girl running around, my serious play time is limited to a couple hours late at night after she goes down for the night. 

Soooo...when I have 10 or 15 minutes these days, I'm popping into the $5NL Rush tables.  It's proving to be a fun little format for short distractions.  Now just to build it up so I can play the limits available on my phone....

So far, so good,  10x my original bankroll in 500 hands.

Whoops...

Run good officially ended.  No longer going to be posting results.  Period.

10 tabling 100NL

After all the struggles and ups and downs, who would have thought that I'd blitz to playing 10 tables of 100NL and starting to look at 1/2 within the first quarter of this year?

So far this year I've put in just over 60k hands at 100NL, maintaining a respectable 2.65 BB/100 (that's BB not bb).  I've been running very hot over the last 30k hands which certainly helps.  The graph for your viewing pleasure:

There is no such thing as a doomswitch.

/end of story.  (I hope this ride never ends.)  One thing to note, I continue to play a 50bb stack.  I honestly think that regs don't give me credit and I'm getting paid off lightly right now.  I'm sure that will change soon enough.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying this:

Upswinging and a Question

It's funny how spending an hour really concentrating on a solid video can result in a 10 buy-in upswing.  Was it the video or the practice of concentrating?

Hmmmmm....may have to investigate this one further.

Million Dollar Freeroll Cash

One benefit of all the hands I put in last quarter was that I was able to achieve Supernova.  A benefit of that is a quarterly $1 Million Freeroll put on by PokerStars.  Today's tourney got 6180 entrants.  I was able to finish 765th for a cash of $300.  Not bad for a freeroll.  Really not bad considering I haven't played a tourney forever. Really didn't make any mistakes until the knockout hand.  Early position minraised, shortstack with 19k stack shoves.  I'm in the BB with about 16bb, a 42k stack, and find myself with AJo.  I reshoved and got snapped off by KK from the original PFR and AQ by the minstacker.  No miracle straight for me and I go home $300 richer.

A good experience and looking back, I should have folded.  I had enough play left to get to the next cash breakpoint of top 702.  The pay jump was $100 if I would haven't gotten there and after that point the pay jumps decelerated immensley (top 600 got only $50 more).  Oh well, lesson learned.  Hopefully I can convince the wife to allow me the time to try a few more tourney's down the road.

And, oh yeah, my bankroll has reached it's highest point ever.  /brag doomswitch on??????

2011 Poker Goals

Main 2011 Goal:  Be playing 1/2NL by the end of the year

Sub-goals required to meet main goal:

• 500k hands in the year
• 42k hands per month
• 10k hands per week
• 2 hours of play per weekday, minimum of 3 hours per day on the weekends (16-20 hrs play per week)

Study:

• Finish and comprehend a book, "Poker Math That Matters" 
• 1 video reviewed/studied per week.  This includes posting feedback to author and actually asking questions

Mental:

• Control tilt.
• Maintain 3 buy-in stop loss at all times

Physical

• Eat better, drink more water and less caffeine, exercise more (which means exercise period)

And do more of this, remembering constantly to analyze the villians and there hand ranges.  I would say I was about 80% confident I was ahead making this +EV (now I just need to do the actual math to see if I was right):

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1110128

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $74.10

SB: $15.50

Hero (BB): $64.75

UTG: $51.65

MP: $50.00

CO: $105.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A 8

3 folds, BTN calls $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $3

Flop: ($8.50) 6 5 3 (2 players)

Hero bets $4.50, BTN calls $4.50

Turn: ($17.50) 6 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $6, Hero calls $6

River: ($29.50) 4 (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $10, Hero calls $10

Final Pot: $49.50

BTN shows T K (a pair of Sixes)

Hero shows A 8 (a pair of Sixes - Ace kicker)

Hero wins $47.10

(Rake: $2.40)

Congratulations! You have achieved Supernova.

Wonderful message received from Pokerstars.

Supernova

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I decided in mid October that I was going to make Supernova.  Since then I've been pushing hard.  With a screwy schedule and an 8 month old, every spare minute has been put into getting hands in.  I went from averaging 12-15k hands per month to getting in approx. 20k in October.  November saw that jump to over 63k hands.  I'll top that mark in December as I'm already approaching 65k hands.

At first I tried mass multi-tabling 18 tables AND jumping to 100NL.  Big mistake as I suffered some significant (to me at least) losses.  Dropped back to 50NL and recovered to only 15% of my starting bankroll to month being lost.  

That was nothing compared to November where nearly a third of my bankroll disappeared.  Took some heavy losses as my basic game is not strong enough to make good decisions at the rate required.  Fortunately bonuses from the store kept my bankroll able to absorb the losses.

For the last two weeks, I scaled it back to 6 or 7 tables but putting in more hours after discussing with wife the benefits of hitting.  Winrate has sky-rocketed and my confidence has been restored.  I'm over 65k hands so far this month and will probably approach 70k.  I've also restored a bit of the bankroll with profits. Supernova bonus will put me back at my original bankroll from back in November.

So I definately learned a lot throughout this experience and am hoping to share some of this insight after the new year.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  Take care and be looking for my Supernova screenie.

Go Hawkeyes!

My condolences to all MSU fans who actually thought they had a chance at a nat'l title.

Why it's important to not TILT....

Tilt is still holding me back from being anything more than a marginal winner at my stakes.  The following 3 hands shows why it is critically important not to tilt.  I've been working on pounding shorties.  With my 3b squeeze shove, I thought for sure that the SB would fold, a 36/9 poor player over a very small sample size.  I was shocked to see what he called off 37bbs with:

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Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 989412
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $23.85
SB: $63.00
BB: $20.00
UTG: $16.40
Hero (CO): $116.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with K A
UTG raises to $2, Hero raises to $6, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($13.50) 4 3 K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $11, UTG calls $10.40 all in

Turn: ($34.30) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($34.30) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $34.30
UTG shows 7 K (a pair of Kings)
Hero shows K A (a pair of Kings - Ace kicker)
Hero wins $32.65
(Rake: $1.65)

******************************

After this, I simply took the following note:

100NL6M:  

-sat w 40bb stack at 50bb table 

-cld 35bb in SB vs BB 3b sqze

So I know this player is going to call down lightly at this point.  Time to look for top pair or better.  I'd get my opportunity very soon after:

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Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 989413
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $24.35
BB: $43.05
UTG: $63.00
MP: $20.00
CO: $75.20
Hero (BTN): $58.80

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 8 7
2 folds, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, CO calls $3

Flop: ($9.50) 6 5 3 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $6, CO calls $6

Turn: ($21.50) 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $19, CO raises to $65.20 all in, Hero calls $29.80 all in

River: ($119.10) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $119.10
CO shows 5 5 (three of a kind, Fives)
Hero shows 8 7 (a straight, Five to Nine)
Hero wins $116.10
(Rake: $3.00)


*******************************


Time to finish him off:

*******************************

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 989412
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $23.85
SB: $63.00
BB: $20.00
UTG: $16.40
Hero (CO): $116.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with K A
UTG raises to $2, Hero raises to $6, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($13.50) 4 3 K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $11, UTG calls $10.40 all in

Turn: ($34.30) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($34.30) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $34.30
UTG shows 7 K (a pair of Kings)
Hero shows K A (a pair of Kings - Ace kicker)
Hero wins $32.65
(Rake: $1.65)

*******************************

By keeping in control, I was able to maximize my returns (albeit it was a bit of a cooler for him).  Now I just have to remember this mantra ALL the time, instead of 60% of the time!

Speaking of loving PokerStars Updates....

Another significant change to the VIP club makes purchasing $ bonuses much easier and much more attractive:

From 2+2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/pokerstars-vip-program-changes-oct-1st-2010-a-887224/

PokerStars VIP Program Changes: Oct 1st, 2010

---

PokerStars would like to announce two changes to VIP Club Rewards effective October 1st. These changes are made after listening to input from players here on 2+2 and elsewhere.

Effective October 1st, VIP Reward Bonuses purchased from the VIP Store will instantly reward players with cash. In the past, players had to earn VPPs equal to 7 times the dollar amount of the bonus prior to the reward being credited to their account. This requirement will be removed.

Also, starting October 1st, NL and PL ring games at limits up to and including $0.05/$0.10 will earn VPPs at rates faster than other stakes. The new rates will last at least through December 31st, 2010.

$0.01/$0.02: 12X
$0.02/$0.05: 10X
$0.05/$0.10: 8X

These rates will be reflected at new tables created as of October 1st. Older tables awarding the previous VPP rates may still exist until the next server restart. Note that the 10X multiplier from the MicroMania promotion in July was continued unannounced and is still in effect, so the 'older' tables are awarding 10X VPPs.

NL/PL ring games at other stakes will continue to award VPPs as normal. All Fixed Limit games, including stakes that have been awarding 10X since July, will also award VPPs at normal rates. Some older Fixed Limit tables up to and including $0.10/$0.20 may continue to award VPPs at 10X until the next server restart. The normal VPP rates for ring games are:

8+ seats: 6X
7- seats: 5.5X

Thank you for your continued involvement in helping PokerStars to better serve their customers.

Loving the new PokerStars Update

Some seriously good stuff.  The Average Stack sort feature in the lobby is phenomenal, especially with the new auto buy-in and seat me options (eliminates delay that occurs when using TableNinja).  I also think it is helping get the 100bb games more popular as the default puts those tables at the top of the list.  Fish like easy so they go to the top of the list.  Tada more good 100bb games.

At least that is my theory.  I like the following hand.  I 100% knew my opponent had AJ here based on previous reads and wasn't going to fold a full house.  100% standard and easy play.


Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 913930
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $50.00
UTG: $53.35
MP: $37.70
CO: $54.55
BTN: $51.50
SB: $64.10

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with Q Q
3 folds, BTN raises to $1.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $2.50

Flop: ($8.25) 8 8 J (2 players)
Hero bets $4.75, BTN calls $4.75

Turn: ($17.75) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $11.25, BTN calls $11.25

River: ($40.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $30 all in, BTN calls $30

Final Pot: $100.25
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Eights full of Queens)
BTN shows J A (a full house, Eights full of Jacks)
Hero wins $97.25
(Rake: $3.00)