Sunday Report: Nope. Nothing---FTP Double-guaranteed week!

I had a long day of running below expected. Played 21 mtts and was down about $260. Sundays seem to be the day that has been giving me the most trouble lately. Cashed in just one of the 21 mtts I played and after 6-barrelling the double-deuce, I can see why I had such a down day. Played pretty well I thought. One thing I seem to be doing is getting too much money in preflop as just a slight favourite. I think I get it in my mind that they are just small tournaments so I can try to double early, but I may be costing myself by not allowing more decisions to be made postflop.

DOUBLE GUARANTEED WEEK BEGINS TOMORROW!

After looking at varying strategies on P5's I think I will be using the one that allows me to play the lower end of my tournaments ($11 fo and less and $3r and less) and put max entries into those. I think this is ideal for me as I do find my most success in those. Though I have a busy week I am excited because I know I have been giving myself more chances as I get playing more often. I will definitely be hoping to avoid all-in preflops as many tourneys progress as I seem to be losing that key flip or 80-20 when all the equity is on the line.

Also, my tournamentpokeredge.com membership runs out in about two weeks and I am trying to decide if I should keep it or not. I have been watching every video made but am not finding that they are adding too much to my game. A reason for that could be that most of the more skilled players are playing the HSMTTS and I am still playing the low/micros where the intricacies of their play is useful. 

I am happy to get a chance to keep playing though as my roll was almost gone a couple weeks ago. I have been stuck at around $11k profit for the year for a while now and hope to make the next jump in the next week. I am also hoping to hit the 500mtts for the month this week aswell.

ahh the days go by

bankroll is back up. Hovering the last week or so and making some deep runs. have found these rush-turbo mtts to be really good and have made some deep runs in them. Made a final table in one yesterday and the beauty thing about them is they take about 3 hours start to finish. went out 8th when i shove from the cutoff with QJo and 14bbs and the button had AA. $360 when first is $4200 is frustrating for sure. Leaving a lot of money on the table this year. Hope to get some results before the month is out.

It's not much, but it will have to do.

Amidst my quest for bankroll recovery I have been able to fix a few leaks that I think I have had in my game for the last little bit: I have been playing scared. I remember I made a withdrawal in mid February that lead me to that position. With my bankroll at around $4500 I thought I had more than enough and that I could even afford to pull out $2000 to throw in the bank without worrying too much. I did and right afterwards began the big downswing. Now looking at my stats over the past month is kinda sad. I have moved from a legit low-mid stakes grinder to a micro-low player. For me this is embarrassing in that not many people can make a living off playing the micros. From when I was staked my average buy-in has moved from around $40 to about $11. I just can't believe it happens. At what point did I think a $26 buy-in would be my biggest of the day?!!
There is, however, a reason for the change. It really has a lot to do with the quality of the tournaments that Full Tilt has at the low stake and how profitable they are. When I look at my last 10 scores, none of them are in a $26 mtt. This is rediculous to me considering winning one of those was my first big score and that was over two years ago!

I am really enjoying playing the low stuff and usually I am the best player that gets deep in these things. What I would like to do is increase my success late in the $26 daily mtts.

I was able to make a deep run in the $1 1rebuy 1add-on today. I picked up a second place score of $1190 and was okay with the second only because I got lucky when we were down to about 12- I won with 44 v. kk v 99. I picked spots well and was a 9-1 dog headsup with 12bbs. We got it allin the first hand with my a9s shoving after he limp called the button ako. It was fine and not a bad return on a $3 investment.

Bankroll in manageable position and hoping to keep it that way for the time being. I can feel the scores piling on. I have been getting deep in the midnight madness every night and am just waiting for the right time to win a flip late. Soon I am sure.

17 Straight Losing Sessions Ends!

After almost a month without a final table and a profitable day I am bursting and very pleased to get a score. Yesterday I took some time off from online and heading to our local casino for some $1-2 NL and a small $55 buy-in tournament. I played well in the cash game and in about an hour and a half came out just above even ($25). The tournament was a very fast structure (can't blame them for wanting to get the things done with quickly- five tables and only $250 going to the house they aren't making much money) and I found myself in shove mode after the first break (an hour and a half and 4 levels). I shoved several times mostly based on position spots and finally got JJ utg and shoved for 3900 (5k starting, 200-400), sb calls and holds with QQ. 

Today, things were about the same as I had left them. My roll had dwindled about $1600 at its peak and I was not looking very good. I have always taken a good view of losing streaks but this length of one was ridiculous. I played only 6 mtts tonight and the one I made a deep run in was the $2 rebuy rush turbo==Cramsession. I ran pretty well until the final table where the avg stack was always 20bbs or less. I picked good shove spots and when we got 3 handed we all had around 4-5million. The button raised to 1million (100k-200k 10k ante) as he had been overraising and I autoshove AJo in the sb. bb folds and he calls with A8o with me covered by about 900k. He flops the 8 and I don't improve. 3700first, 2400 second. 1700 third. I'll take it. It sucks cause this guy got very lucky so many times but it happens. Bankroll restored at $2600 and I can breathe again!

New PB in MTT Volume Achieved (45): Another Losing Day

As said above I took a lot of time today to try to get some good volume in. I have been looking all over the place and trying different things in an attempt to get my poker game back on track and into the winning flow again. Today I thought it would be good to play a bunch of the 45 and 90 man sit-n-goes. I was able to pump out 40 mtts (including the morning slate with the sngs) and found myself down about $160. I took a few hours off in the afternoon and plate the evening slate. As you can find playing only 5 tournaments at a time, things can get slow. I was, however, happier with the way I played with just the 5 tables going but didn't make any great deep runs. 

I have heard people talk about when you get into slumps and wondering how you ever won before. I think I am in something like that right now. It has been over 3 weeks since I made a final table and I have had 12 straight losing sessions. I have to change something, I think. For the rest of the week I will try to get things back together. I am on a $1200 downswing and have let almost half my bankroll dwindle. I can always get more money, that is for sure. However, if I do I won't be reloading for the amount I have right now. I need to draw a line in the sand and make this week work. I will be playing just the a handful of tournaments a night and focusing on each one of them very hard. 

Let's see how this goes. I have faith in my skill, I just need to get the confidence back with a nice score before the MiniFTOPS starts this weekend.

February Review: $1950.20 Profit ---MEHHHh

This month has been a pretty tough one. Coming in I had made a great effort to watch a ton more videos and put in more hours. After a few weeks and making about half a dozen deep runs in tournaments I was pretty discouraged. I really let things get away from me and after a $800 downswing, I ended the month with the following numbers.

235 MTTs

120 Hours

$1950.20 Profit.

I have one more month left of Tournament Poker Edge and I have seen it do very little for my game. It is good to see videos but I think most of the players do not take the time to tell the viewer why they are making certain moves often enough. I have decided to refocus on playing the evening tournaments and I know this will be good month.

GOALS

300MTTs

150 Hours

$7000 Profit

5 Final Tables

I can feel that my focus is back and it is going to be a good month

Tough Day-very hard to get anything going

Early Tuesday morning and I decided to play the morning sked of tourneys. Usually populated by Russians and other Euros, it is definitely the easier way to make money. The downside to the weaker players is the volatility of the action. Very often I can find myself with either 200bbs or out of the tournament in the first two hours (my style usually waits for better spots to get the money in and I almost always make it through the first two hours of tournaments). 

Today was a crapshoot like no other. In one, I was up to 250bbs in the first hour. Lost two races and an 80-20 and I was out. In a qualifier for the Sunday brawl I ran into a guy that pot raised called a 50bb allin with 97o headsup for the ticket. Second was $80 but this guy was so happy to get his money in no matter what spot, he was obviously happy to see he was up against my 66. Why shove with 50bbs and 66? Well he had raise-called several all-ins in similar spots with any ace and being down 2-1 in chips I needed a double. Maybe if I had know he would have called there I would have waited. Ohwell. 

It has been 7 sessions since a win and can get frustrating. The good part about it is that I have been able to maintain small loses in my losing sessions and have gone down very slowly while the jumps usually pretty decent. 

I know I have been playing well, I am just waiting to get to that spot deep where I can win a race to make the final table and take something down. Things are getting dry around here and I'm hoping for something to happen this week. 

I am positive it will. I am playing all the weaker players and getting in great spots. In the $11 cubed I was in a sick double up spot for 3rd in chips heading to the money. 

With a short all-in and a good stack for it. I flatted the button. The sb came along and I just called his flop bet and raised all-in on the turn.

It wasn't to be. A dirty river and I went busto. I went out quite quickly from the other two I was in and am almost relieved to be done. 

I know the one-outers will come back to me. They always do. I would just prefer to hit my one-outer when deep in a tournament for a huge pot as opposed to early in the $3rebuy for a small pot.

I AM GOING TO GET DEEP THIS WEEK__

Oh Boy. I Eat, Dream and Live Poker.

I don't usually make a point of inflicting pain onto myself. However, that seemed to be exactly what I am doing this morning. I wake up about 5 hours after going to sleep (6am). I played the slate yesterday - the noon slate with more success than the evening - and found myself trying to review hands from the previous session. As I am doing so and finding that my Sunday slate has to be the most pathetic of anyone out there to call themselves a "pro" (when I say pro, it does not directly relate to my skill level versus the average level of the best players in the world- just merely that I do this for a living, as meager as it may be at times). I am also finding that the reason I am waking up so often in the early mornings is that I am dreaming or having nightmares about poker. When you immerse yourself so much into the daily grind of poker (and more frustratingly, playing the micros where even a good day can be only a couple thousand profit), you can find yourself dreaming about the most ridiculous things. While most men probably dream about women or sports (I really don't know, I haven't been normal for many years), I dream about having to milk a short stack late in a $3 rebuy. I dream about how am I going to barrel the river when every draw just got there and I have 40% of my stack already in the pot. You know the movie Inception? It talks about the activity of your brain when in your deep sleep and you awareness that you are dreaming etc? Well, I know I am dreaming - I really do most of the time. The problem that I find is that my brain seems to be working on such a high level that it's like I cannot contain it. It wakes me up and there is no chance of me going back to sleep. 

*I don't suppose it helps that I watch poker for the 30-50 hours a week I grind, I listen to poker podcasts when I clean the house, walk the dogs and fall asleep. Or that even in my leisure time I watch every episode of the newest shows on the sports channels. 

So now I find myself at 6:50am. Up for an hour checking out the final 3 tables of the FTOPS ME ($640 Buy-in - $1.3 million for first). I am such a poker degen that I am making notes on these players. The odds that I run into them at my tables is very low, however, it might be the optimist in me that thinks I might need to use these notes one day. Let's put this lightly. I am more f*cking jealous of these pricks than I can put into words. Now down to the final 16. Next out gets over $31k. The play is pretty good thought too. There is not one flop, it seems, that is seen without a 4 bet making its appearance. I feel, though, that the play is not out of my level - I just need to get there. Many of these guys have put 6 bullets into this event - $3240! That is more than my current bankroll-!

It's not like I'm saying that I'm the worst in the world or anything - I make money from this, no doubt. I am just lamenting where did I go wrong? There are numerous times in my poker playing career that I can say I probably missed good spots. I don't want to cause I think about them most days. What I do know is that I am too much of a nit when it comes to poker and my bankroll. I am having a decent start to the year - all without running well deep in most of my tourneys. I am playing really well but it can be disheartening to know that you have only $10,500 profit almost two months in and many of the guys that are younger and less experienced than me and playing bigger and better. I hope I can use this as a stepping stone. I am looking for that one big score (not big like most online pros think- but like $20-30k) that will get me going again. I want to keep more money online and get myself more comfortable in my bankroll so I can play the sunday majors and go for a nice score.

I really think the upcoming MiniFTOPS will be quite telling in how my poker career will turn out. If I can make some moves and run deep in one of them I love my chances against the average player. I really can feel it. This year was supposed to be a year of $70k profit - I want more. I don't want to be average but I want to crush the mid stakes. I don't think I would ever play the high stakes MTTS - I don't have the stomach for the swings and frankly don't think I'm good enough. However, I can crush anything $109 and under. We'll see how this coming month or so goes.

 

16.5 Hour Losing Day

I've put in a lot of long days in my time playing online. I have played for over 24 straight, some days with 20 hours played and a tiny afternoon nap and over 20 15+ hour days. What I usually find at the end of those long days is that I have had a winning session. For the most part the reason for the long days is that I have been playing well and have made some really deep runs in some mtts. Today I put in a long day. I play late last night from midnight to 430am, slept for 5 hours and played for much of the rest of the day. I just finished now, and had a deep run in the $3rebuy. Having the chip lead with 36 players left I thought I was in the right spot for the win. With my leading stack around 60bbs, it certainly wasn't deep as I ran a couple big hands into slightly bigger ones. I had set myself up perfectly to double up with 20bbs after a loose player utg raise 3x and a weak Russia flatted with his 22bbs. I jammed from the button with 33 and the original raiser folded, only to have the Russian snap call with 66 and hold for a top 5 stacks. Out in 26th.

I also made a deep run in the 2pm but faded away in the 50s I think. I am getting pretty frustrated as it feels like I haven't made a deep run in a long time. I did cash for $879 on Sunday but then I also withdrew again and now my bankroll is at a pretty modest amount again. I know I am playing well early and am just waiting for the deep run and my chance to outplay people. It just seems I pick up a hand in some tough spots of late and can't get away from it.

I wasn't down a lot by any means, however $132 is a lot worse than the expected $900 I should be earning in that time. I think I'm playing live cash game tomorrow night so I'll have lots to talk about in that way I'm sure. Its been a slow month (only up around $2500) but I know it will turn around if I keep putting myself in the spots to win. 

Things will definitely happen, just have to wait for the spots.

Early Double = Worst Players Alive

The $6 Early Doubles at 4pm are pretty much the lowest level of tourney that I play when I play the slate. They usually end up in the lull between the noonish and evening tourneys. That is except when I play them on Sundays. Since on Sundays the afternoon tourneys are kinda blended together with the double-deuce, I just threw these two onto my slate to give me a couple more to play. The multi-entry FTOPS was on aswell and I was only able to secure one bullet for the $129 so I didn't have much to play. I busted from a few tourneys in gross fashion and by around 730 I was left with just the Early Double B. I had squeezed into the money with about 10bbs and before I knew it, it was down to 80 and I had doubled up a couple times. I picked my spots well and won a few races and was chip leader when it was down to 18. I turned on the recorder and knew that if I got anything less than 1st I would be pissed. I played well and was able to adjust to how weak the field was. These players were doing some really bad things. They included:

• calling any pf raise in the blinds and donk leading every flop then folding to a raise
• 4x raising for half their stack and folding
• limping with 8bbs and folding to a min raise
• open shoving 40bbs KQo and showing it

AND- all of this happened when we were down to the "best" 18 of the tournament. I picked my spots great and was able to have the chip lead with 8 left at the final table. We saw players bust out, waiting til they had 5bbs to finally call off a raise with J8o. It was so bad I dare not explain it all. I had made a video but it again was too big for youtube.  Finally after messing with the weaknesses of the players and doubling people up a lot. I got headsup with a really weak player down 1.9m to 1.1m in chips. I was using my button to play most hands by 2.5x raising or limping (since he never raised a limp). He was using his to 3-4x raise and fold quite a bit. I got caught 3 barrel bluffing once and was down pretty low. After getting just below his stack I button raised to 90k (3x) and he made it 245k. I shoved with AJo and he snap called with a5o (never good here and I had never 4bet yet) He showed A5o.

I never once thought of making a deal with this mutt. He was so bad that I should win that 9 out of 10 times. I did get lucky to get to that point - enough luck that I think it made up for me running below expectation for the day. $879....kinda ridiculous considering the extra $550 he takes for first after winning the 30-70 but I have done it many times to people before. Again, I leave some money on the table. This is not something big to report about but  a nice little boost to the bankroll and will keep me moving forward and gathering some momentum for the rest of the month. I am certain my good play will become more evident late in tourneys. Glad to turn a min cash into something. Back at it tonight -  maybe tomorrow morning. Either way. I love that I get to do this for work right now :)