Three Months In: Thank G-d for Rakeback/Bonus

Five weeks since my last confession. Extreme turbulence, resulting in no actual overall movement from the actual playing of actual poker. Over the past five weeks, climbed from $550 to $596. Of that $46 climb, -$1 is attributable to playing poker, and $47 is attributable to rakeback and bonuses. As the graph indicates, I went into a major slump, dropping from $550 (at last update) as low as the $380s. A nice 10 day SNG run has propped be back to decency. At the 3-month pole (1/4 of the way), I should be at $475 to be on pace to reach $1000 by June 30, 2011. Significantly ahead of that, at least.

As far as the actual play goes, my SNG-vs-ring game splits have remained somewhat constant. I have fared much better at the ST SNGs. Over the past five weeks, I played 169 SNGs, earning $53.15 on an investment of $1,246. My SNG ROI dropped to 4.27%, which is probably much more realistic than earlier ROIs. Overall (since July 1), my ROI for the ST SNGs is 10.55% (325 total ST SNGs). I'll take it.

My ring game play continued to suck a**. In about 1800 hands (focused much more on the ST SNGs), I dropped about $54, for an ROI of -12.70%.

So why so much (relative) success with the SNGs and so little with ring games? A couple of theories, as discussed with Senor Sushi.

First, the ST SNGs are super easy to play. Practically every decision (95% plus) is an all-in or fold decision. Not a ton of nuance to the play. Those who try to play a nuanced (small ball) game are chum. Simply not enough chips in play to justify limping or raising small. So, while my overall poker skill is probably average'ish, my lack of superior skill is offset by the simplicity of the strategy. All-in....or fold. Not rocket science. As long as there are at least 1 or 2 fellow SNG'rs who call too light or bet wrong, I'm in good shape.

Second, while I generally think of myself as having a pretty decent attention span, sometimes not so much when playing poker, especially when tired (which is often). The ST SNGs last 10-15 minutes max, denying me an opportunity to make a "I'm tired, f** it, I'm all in" move that creeps into my ring game play from time to time. Playing the ST SNGs is liking reading a book of very short stories. They're designed so that you can make it through a couple tourneys/chapters without risking too much and losing concentration. When I play ring games, I'm generally fine for quite a while (playing a relatively small % of pots), and then sometimes the brain goes goofy, I lose focus and bammo, I drop my stack. Not too often, but it certainly happens.

Anywho, that's my theory as to why the ST SNGs have been so much more profitable than my ring game play during this Challenge. I have mixed feelings about them, however. On the one hand, my goal is to turn $300 into $1000, and the ST SNGs appear to be a decent vehicle for making that so. But, on the other hand, I'm not feeling like they're in any way improving my poker playing. "All in or fold" poker is very infrequently the decision facing me in ring games. Perhaps I should play more short-stacked games....but again I'm not sure that's helping me in my overall play. Anywho, that's my rambling for today.