Quick Update

So it has been awhile since I have posted anything. Since my last post I went on vacation and upon returning immediately had to do a stretch in the field again for work. Needless to say that has left very little time for poker since I last wrote. I have however been playing a few 45 man sng's this week trying to get back into a groove. I finally eclipsed the 1000 game mark on Pokerstars too! Not a huge accomplishment for say a pro, but pretty big for a small time player like me. I managed to make $275 profit according to Sharkscope in this time and my avg buy in is $1. So essentially for every dollar I invest I am getting back 27.5 cents, or a ROI of 27.5% (If I'm doing the calc right, sharkscope shows my avg ROI at 56% so I may be wrong). Looking at my grapsh, which I still don't have to post sorry, there have been ups and downs and even seemingly long break even stretch. Overall though it shows an upward trend in profit and there seems to be a huge inflection point where my profit starts to rise dramatically. I attribute this to stepping up my game and really trying to fix my leaks, as well as stepping up the stakes. As of right now I am close to breaking the $300 mark for my bankroll on Stars so I plan to really move towards the $3 45 man games as well as mixing in a few $2 180's. Hopefully this will show an increase in my $/game amount, but I do expect a slight decrease in ROI since the players are bound to be at least a little more competent. It's funny playing the $1 45 man games that even when I feel I am running bad or even playing bad I seem to run deep in at least 1 out of every 4 games I play. I would like to try to keep that in 1 out of every 6 games if possible when I move up fully to the $3 games. I'm finding the $2 180's to be challenging, even though good players seem to go on and on about how they are so easy. I just don't think I have enough sample under my belt to make up my mind about them as well as needing to adjust my strategy to keep from getting so short stacked and unable to make moves. I am comfortable with turbo structure though so once I figure it out I am confident I will make a good run sooner or later. Well that's about the happenings since the last time I wrote, nothing exciting but hopefully I can get back into the groove of grinding more and continue to make progress. Until next time, thanks for reading and good luck at the tables!

Back to the grind

The first week of March I put in decent volume for me. Played almost my original goal of 100 games. However, this encompassed my largest downswing to date. So part of that play was to get thru this run of bad luck. One of the key things I have learned from pokerwit is to not be results oriented, but rather evaluate your play and if it is a +EV move then in the long run things will balance out. Variance is a poker players worst enemy and downswings will happen. But so will upswings where you feel like you are just running like God. It does suck though when you are constantly getting two and three outted, but you just can't let it tilt you if you are making good moves and hitting good spots. I just keep reminding myself of this even though I've lost almost 25% of my bankroll on Stars. I'm not yet in the zone of having to go back to mini games though so hopefully I'll get thru it now.

So after running so bad last week was a welcome break with a vacation to Vegas where I didn't play a single hand of poker. It was a great break going to see my alma madder Wyoming Cowboys and the whole Mountain West basketball tournament. It was also great to get to see my grandfather and brother whom I haven't seen in a few months. That is one of the hardest things living so far from home, never getting to see the people you care most about. All in all it was a great trip with a lot of gambling and Vegas fun. I think I still may be hung over and I've been home for two days!

Well getting back to poker, I played a bit last night on FT. I had a mini winning session last time I played on there, but was also running bad until then. Last night I just sat down super focused and ready to dominate. I only played 7 games as it was late after working out, but I managed to win an 18 man SNG, third in 27 player SNG, and min cash another for a good winning session. I made some killer folds against some way better hands, something I've been working on more and more. I also made a nice comeback after getting 2 outted KK < QQ when a Q came on the river, but fell short of the money in that one. I'm feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to start getting out of the funk and evolving my game to start building my bankroll even more.

I also joined the Pro Hand section of Pokerwit and that has already provided some very valuable insight and new ways to look at hands. I'm looking forward to really learning a ton more on the site as the pros Amir got are some of the best in the world.

With all of this, I'm focused and committed to making March a good month for my game!