$3k or Bust Challenge Interrupted

Following Poker Stars' lead, FTP announced this morning that it is suspending real money play in Washington state. What a total drag......especially because now I'm forced to stare at that ugly progress chart for eternity......

$1k Goal Reached; Next Goal $3k

The goal was to turn $300 into $1000 in one year (July 1 to July 1). Got there.....in four months and eight days.

Sushi Cowboy's ST SNG recommendation accounts for the good returns here. Played 521 ST SNGs (ranging in buy-in from $2.15 to $20.90), and netted $499.25, for an ROI of 12.0%. I played comparatively few ring games, and my returns were blah. In a little over 14,000 hands, I earned a whopping $85.08, for an ROI of 2.2%. Earned another $149.57 in rakeback/bonuses...and voila.....$300 is now $1120 or so.

Now that I've basked in the glory of a goal met, it's time for a new goal. $1k to $3k by November 1, 2011. Assuming it'll be considerably tougher, given that the play will likely be better. Time will tell.

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.

Eight Weeks In: Slipped a Bit

Not a good week in Eeyore land. Played a bunch (2200 hands, including 52 ST SNGs and 1225 hands of ring games, mostly $.10-$.25 NLHE). Including the $11+ of rakeback, I dropped from $555 to $550. Obviously not a devastating blow, but frustrating to retreat despite all the play (and rakeback). Also frustrating because I hit an intraweek high of $615 before going in the shitter.

In the ST SNGs (49 $5+$.30's and 3 $10+$.50's), I still had a positive ROI, albeit a much more pedestrian (realistic) 10% rate.

In the live play, I had a negative ROI, losing 9% of every cent I bought in for. I really felt like I played acceptably, and suffered two memorable beats. (I've bored a few with them already, and I planned to drop links here....only to learn that I never checked the "save hand history" box on FTP. Thought it was automatic. Damn!!!) My "favorite" beat of the weak was losing $70+ pot with AA against K4o and JJ when an A hit the flop.....along with two freakin J's. Ouch.

Will continue to plug away, and will try very hard to get above $600 by this time next week.

Seven Weeks In: Choppy Progress

Bottom line, the 7th week in was a good one, climbing from $482 to $555. From one perspective, that's more than a month's worth of gain in a week, so right on (typed with Good Times inflection). [To reach my stated goal of climbing from $300 to $1000 in a year, the stack needs to increase $58/month.]

That said, my progress this week was mega choppy. Reached an intra-day peak of $587, but then dropped down to $550ish, and sat in that neighborhood for the rest of the week.

Played 52 ST SNGs (all $5 + $.30), and won $102.40 overall, with an ROI of 37%....more than twice my ROI for the prior period. [For the uninitiated, the ST SNGs I play are 6-handed; everyone starts with T300; the blinds start up at 15/30 and increase every 3 minutes; only 1st ($19.50 on a $5 + $.30 SNG) and 2nd ($10.50) are paid] With that likely-unsustainable ROI, the SNGs saved my bacon. Why so much success? I don't know, but my strategy is very, very simple. Depending of course on my remaining stack and where we are relative to the $ bubble, I break the universe of playable hands into "pushing" hands and "calling" hands, with the latter range being much narrower. Bet sizing is almost irrelevant, as I'd say upwards of 90% of bets in these SNGs are of the all-in variety. I focus primarily on just making the final two (the $). I have a fair amount of confidence in my heads up play, and once in the $, I always feel like I have at least a good chance of taking down 1st. I'm interested in Sushi's and take on my (and his) strategy in these. Others' input too please.

My cash game play was really blah. Only played 826 hands, and dropped $33, for an ROI of -9%. I moved up from $.05/$.10 NLHE to $.10/$.25 (all 6-max, deep stack and generally with an ante). While playing $.10, I always seek out the deep-stack tables. At those stakes, I had no problem buying in deep (with my bankroll, I can easily buy in for 200 BBs). Unthinkingly, I continued to buy in at deep stack tables at the $.25 levels, but I don't have the bankroll to buy in deep. Buying in at $25 at a table where others are typically buying in for twice that felt disadvantageous, although I'm unsure exactly why. May be psychological, because with 100 BBs I obviously have plenty of play. I'm interested on any input here. If you can only buy in 100 BBs (the max at normal tables), does it make sense to buy in "short" at a deep stack table or to buy in for the max at a normal table? It's always nice to lots of money on the table to be able to go after (suggesting a deep stack table makes the most sense), but it's also somewhat damaging to one's image to be the short stack. Very interested in input, and to any suggestions on how to alter my play when I sit with a max of 100 BBs at a table where the average stack is 150-200 BBs. This feels like one of those super basic questions I should definitely know the answer to, but alas I don't. Maybe just my own psychology that's getting in the way. None of this is to say that my indecision had much influence on the results over the last week. Super small sample size (typed with obligatory lisp), but I felt uneasy about it.

Also, any thoughts as to when it makes sense to move up from $.10 to $.25? Sitting at $550, it seemed fine, but there was no great science that went into the decision. Premature at $550? Seems in line with what I remember hearing earlier. During Cake Challenge II, I recall Marsh indicating that he'd migrate from $.02/$.04 to $.05/$.10 at a bankroll of $200. I never discussed with him if 100 BBs (assuming buying in at 5% of 'roll) was the trigger, and if so why. Interested on anyone's take on the proper time to move up.

Overall, pleased with the results of Week 7, but need to ground myself a bit more in my ring game play....

Six Weeks In: Back on Track

After a very quick start to the $1k or Bustathon (see Week 1 post, below), I spiraled into the abyss. Lesson clear: don't f****n play online poker when exhausted and stressed out. My nosedive (which took me from the $380's to the $270's in 2500 hands) coincided with my 18 hour a day stressout in preparation for a trial in Denver. (I experienced a similar nosedive during the 3rd month of the Cake Challenge, during a week that my daughter was in the hospital and life was a bit out of control. Wanted to play a little poker to unwind, but ended up spewing chips left and right).

Once that trial passed, I got some rest and my stress level returned to my baseline, my play (and the results) headed back in the right direction. In the past 2900 hands, the 'roll has climbed from $270 to $482.

During "the run," I've played a mess of the ST SNGs recommended by Senor Sushi. Earned $33.25 in profit in 58 SNGs off of an investment of $203.45. A 16% ROI seems pretty decent. My cash game ROI has been crazier, climbing $154 in 1600 hands with a unlikely-to-hold ROI of 36%. All for now......hopefully things will keep on pace.

Two Weeks In: I Miss Week One

This last week has been dreadful in the $1k challenge. Started the week at $351.90, and while I temporarily climbed as high as $380, the 'roll went crashing down. At my nadir, I hit $287. A run-good, play-against-giant-donks 45 minute session that just ended salvaged the week a bit, and the 'roll is back "up" to $338.03, with rakeback.

Honestly unsure that I played too poorly this last week. Had a couple tilt sessions, but predominantly I had experiences like this. $.05-$.10 6-max NLHE. Effective stacks $10. I wake up UTG with AA and open to $.30. Dude to my 3-bets to $.90, button calls, and I raise to $2. I considered flat calling, but decided that I wouldn't mind scaring one of them off. My 3-better calls, and the btn folds. I like that. Flop is QJ4, two diamonds. A little over $5 in the pot, and I have $8 left. I have the lead and the board is wet, so I bet $3.75. Villain obliges by shoving all in. I call, and he turns over 22. WTF? A 2 hits the turn and I toss my laptop across the room (in spirit, at least).

Had a few of those, and only recall doing that once to somebody once myself. So, the Fates owe me a couple.

I also played a bit of Rush Poker. I adopted a quasi-Sushi Cowboy approach. Narrow pre-flop range. While I earned lots of FTPs, I was upside down about $11 in ~ 1200 hands dealt. The variance is, um, high, and while I'm sure that Martin and others can do well by exploiting the natural Rush Poker junkies, I'm not fond of how it changes my poker perspective. Given that my primary goal here is to learn to play better, I'll stick to the regular old boring ring games.

Back to a question I asked before, but didn't see a response to ----> is there anyway to make a URL of FTP hands so that I can post them??? Marty? I'm looking at you....

One Week In: so far, so good

One week into the $1k or Bust challenge, things are going pretty well. I've played almost exclusively $.05-$.10 on FTP. FTP offers the game full ring, 6-max and heads up, and at each table size it offers regular buy in (100BB), short stack, deep stack, "capped" (haven't looked to see what that means) and with antes. My game of choice is 6-max, deep-stack with antes. Seems to drive greater action (avg pot size definitely bigger). Overall, rakeback and signup bonus* included, I'm up from to $351.90. A little over 3000 hands of play in a week (a lot for me).

No particularly notable hands. Normal # of bad beats, suckouts and coolers. In fact, it's unclear to me how to URL'ize hands played on FTP. Anyone know how? Overall, the larger player pool (as compared to Cake) seems like a huge advantage. Not super impressed by the quality of play, overall.

* As for the signup bonus, I deposited $300 back on March 12 in light of 1:1 signup bonus. For every dollar deposited (up to $500, I think), FTP matched it with a dollar. I failed to read the fine print, and didn't play much while the Cake Challenge II was onoging. Last week, when I started the $1k or Bust challenge, I took a closer look at the FTP Cashier, and noticed two things. First, the bonus isn't a simple deposit, but instead is redeemed $.06 at a time, for every FTP earned (so, every dollar in rake = $.06). At $.05-$10 stakes, it takes a while. Second, I noticed that the bonus is paid in $20 increments, meaning you have to earn $20 of redemption, $.06 at a time, before anything is handed over. With 3000k hands of play in a week, I've earned just over $20 in bonus, so at least I got something out of it. Finally, I noticed that the promotion expires on 7/12 (4 months from signup), and thus my $300 signup bonus will likely amount to $20. All of this is my fault, obviously, as I'm sure the terms of the bonus were readily apparent...had I bothered to look. Anywho, at least I got $20.

$1k or bust

Given my assumption that there will be little interest in an immediate beginning to Cake Challenge III, I've decided to begin my own quest. Gonna try to turn my $300 on FTP into $1k in a year. Unsure if that's an overly-lofty goal or a soft one. My instinct is that it'll be difficult, especially given the smaller rakeback and the (presumably) tougher opponents as I'm playing in higher stakes games. I'll start off at $.05-$.10 and maybe $.10-$.20, and will endeavor to abide by proper bankroll management principles (which I understand to be 5% buyin; 10% at risk). Of course, if it's June 15, 2011 and I'm at $412, proper bankroll management may go out the window.....

Interested in:

1) thoughts on whether this is overly- or underly-ambitious;

2) whether anyone else wishes to join in the challenge; and

3) whether a sushi/jason-like book should be established, regardless of the answe to 2.

The Challenge Endeth......

I'm over 95% certain that the Cake Challenge is actually ending today. I've been certain before, but all signs point to July 1 being six months from January 1. Ended at $204.27, up (obviously) 104.27% over six months (and 30,464 hands)....but (more importantly to me right now) up 1300% from my June 4 end-of-session low of $13.07. Hard to (generally speaking) recommend the June POA, but (win or lose) I took the right approach given the enormity of the hole, the remaining time and my somewhat limited opportunity to play.

A rough breakdown of how I did over the six months in various games. Subject to the inaccuracy of today's tabulation, of course. [If someone wants to audit my google spreadsheet, let me know.]

$.02/$.04 NLHE (17k hands) -- $22.28
$.05/$.10 NLHE (1.5k hands) -- ($54.16)
$.10/$.20 NLHE (3.5k hands) -- $4.47
$.25/$.50 NLHE (1k hands) -- $127.38 --> sweet spot or pure, unadulterated luck?
Omaha (various) (2k hands) -- ($48.51)
SNGs and MTTs (various) -- ($74.80) --> tournament specialist

In the end, my best game was clearly Rakeback. Earned $111.20, or 107% of my overall profit, from Rakeback. Super scary. Never figured out HEM (actually, had it set up on wifee's laptop, but never got it properly set up for my laptop bought in February/March).

This experience had two clear phases, and I'm ok with both. The first phase (January-March, when I ran out of steam due to family drama) involved grinding $.02-$.04, one $4 buy in at a time. Played between 3 and 7 tables at a time, and I felt as if 4 was probably the ideal # given my peculiar attention span. Got as high as $200, before dropping back to $150ish. Certainly no master (and probably a pure middle of the road player, at best), but I enjoyed the grind of staying within my means.

Phase two was the "oh shit, this is about to end, I've been unable to play for two+ months, better throw caution to the wind" period. Because of my unique calendar-reading skills, I actually got two cracks at phase two. While some may question whether this approach (single tabling with a huge buy-in) was consistent with the spirit of the contest, it absolutely was. The contest had a finite time period to it. Some blew through their $100 'roll in one or two or ten sessions, early on. So be it. I accepted far greater risk in phase 2 (2a and 2b), and I had many opportunities to bust out. High risk, high reward. Certainly acceptable under the allotted time frame, in light of the scoreboard at the time. No other way to play it out.

Who's ready for Cake Challenge III? I am. I propose starting at $200 or $300 this time. Having climbed to greatness (ok, acceptable mediocrity) via imprudence, I'd be interested in communally giving it a shot using proper bankroll management at slightly higher starting stakes. Any takers??? (chirp, chirp, chirp.....)

One Day to Go in the Challenge

About 30 hours to go, I'll have very little remaining time to add to the Eeyore roll, which (proudly) stands at $167.43, plus about $14 in rakeback coming today/tomorrow). After reaching the $194 apex (and bragging about it my post), I had a horrible session (punctuated by my overplaying AQ), dropping down to $110. Never deterred (again, sole motivation = Whitmore's "I'll gladly short Adam" face), I kept plugging away, and have climbed back up near my June high.

I know Marsh (likely as a result of me raising the topic with him--duh) is re-engaged somewhat, and who knows if $180'ish will be enough to take it down. Regardless, I'm pretty pumped to have climbed out of my late May hole. Some interesting lessons:

* My game (or at least my attention span) seems best suited to play a single table, with stakes that cause me some level of concern. I'm not sure what would happen if I bought in $4 into a single $.02-$.04 table. I like to think that I habituate well to the stakes I'm playing, but I imagine I'd be hard pressed to respect the stakes when the downside risk is $4.

* I spent a lot of time (while playing $.10-$.20 and $.25-$.50) fixated on the 3-bet/4-bet tendencies of my opponents. By focusing significantly on that single facet of the game, and taking copious notes regarding those tendencies, I believe I've been able to exploit my opponents. In a way, the limited player pool of Cake has assisted me. Were I playing on FTP, I would have a much harder time leveraging that info given the huge player pool.

* One important tweak I made, as I put myself into the high risk world of putting a big % of my 'roll to work at one table, was to stop firing if I raised pre and then missed the flop. Assuming the board was accommodating, I certainly c-bet most of the times, but I resisted the temptation, when called pre and on the flop, to keep trying to push my way through. While I may've ultimately bought a few hands, I certainly would've blasted off my stack more often. And, working without a net (given the huge chunk being risked), I simply couldn't endure the volatility.

* It's ok to be bluffed. Again driven by life on the edge, I started to be more willing to simply lay down my hand when my opponent showed a ton of strength in the face of my apparent strength. I'm sure I've mucked quite a few winners, but I'm also sure the approach helped me survive the unique circumstances I found myself in.

Eeyore Has a Fighting Chance

So a good last week for the Eeyore roll. Motivated solely by separating Whitmore from his "I short Adam" money, I've played quite a bit (for me, that is). About 3300 hands since June 1.

My progress has been jagged, but that's to be expected playing $.10/$.20 (and now $.25/$.50) with a tiny stack. Nearly gave up when one cooler and one bad beat dropped me down to $52.20. [While I can hear Chuck and Marsh dismissing those hands as "standard," and they are, they didn't feel so "standard" given the percentage of the 'roll that was consumed.]

Instead of giving up --- once again nearly exclusively motivated by the vision of Whitmore paying Jeh one dollar at a time --- I did what any junkie would do with only a few days left. I bought in for $50 (of my remaining $52.20) at the $.25/$.50 table. In four $.25/$.50 sessions (totaling 300 or so hands), I've increased the 'roll from $52 to just over $194. The players at $.25/$.50, or at least the handful that I've encountered, are horrible. Station after station. I've definitely had my share of "run good," but I've been paid off at every turn. We'll see how it ends. Liking the trajectory of the graph, if nothing else......

Hello Variance, My Old Friend

One week into the $.10-$.20 ($20 buy in) experiment, things are up, then down, then way up, then way way down, then up. Considering that my post-catastrophe bankroll started at $13.07, these swings are huge. My session results:

* up $27.99
* down $20.00
* up $19.62
* up $11.16
* up $13.15
* up $5.83
* down $18.78
* up $5.30
* up $5.00
* down $40.00 (tilt!!!)
* up $32.46

With rakeback, I'm sitting at $69.00, having played over 1300 hands in my post-meltdown period. Heck of a lot better than $14, but a long way to go to get back into it. Check out the crazy graph. Glad I'm still in it, but I basically can't endure more than one or two lapses in concentration or coolers.

Oh, my graph. My beautiful, beautiful graph....is dead

Ok, my June 1/July 1 snafu has been well documented.......and very well exploited for the enjoyment of the crowd. So happy to entertain. Frustrating, but it's in the rear view.

So, I started June with a whopping $29 and change in the 'roll. I'm not going to pitch it in, because, well, I desperately want Whitmore to pay for shorting me. But, there's no way I can get back into contention...in 30 days...by adhering to proper bankroll management. At least, not until I can get the 'roll back to Marsh's neighborhood.

Following my May meltdown, I started June with $29 and proceeded to play a couple hundred hands at $.02-$.04 NLHE.....getting me exactly nowhere. In fact, it got me down to about $22. I shouldn't say it didn't get me anywhere. It got me off my self-induced, "if I could only count to 6 months" tilt. But $22 is $22.

So......with apologies to Marsh and Chris Ferguson.....I calmly and consciously bought in for $20 at the $.10-$.20 NLHE table. 44 hands later, I cashed out at just south of $48, with the overall 'roll at $50.01. My plan, for now, is to continue to buy in (way too large) at a single table in the hopes of sustaining some success. I fully realize that odds are that I will go busto employing this strategy, but I'm not sure what else I can do given my May debacle. I don't have much time or energy to grind it up in June, and even if I had Marty-like dedication and opportunity, I still couldn't turn $22 (or now $50) into $200 by month's end.

Any feedback on this approach????

2010 1Q Report

So...on Tuesday, with 2 days to go in the Sushi portion of the challenge, I sat in the low $170s. Decided I'd try my luck at $.05/$.10 NLHE to see if I could make up some ground on our fair leader. A little out of line probably, but semi-reasonable. Bought in for $8 at a few tables (still under the 5% rule) and proceeded to get crushed. Down about $14 in just 134 hands. Ugh.

With rakeback, the Eeyore 'roll ended at $158.76 (subject to review -- my spreadsheet tells me it should've been $3 higher, but Cake says what it says).

The breakdown (just under 21k hands in total) is as follows:

$.02/$.04 NLHE -- $60.17
$.05/$.10 NLHE -- ($42.25) - ouch
$.02/$.04 PLO -- $2.02
SNGs -- ($32.30) - ouch
MTTs -- $11.21
Rakeback -- $60.01

These results are a little unsettling, especially as I hope to get to the $200 plateau and move out of the micro micro stakes. Ditching the SNGs is easy. Done. But the $.05/$.10 result (which occurred in just 900+ hands) is problematic. I'm somewhat at a loss to explain the results; the following is all I've noticed.

* My (limited) experience is that people aren't simply handing away their money, as they often are at $.02/$.04. That dead money sure does help. Duh.

* I feel like I'm approaching the game a bit differently, which is adding volatility to the results. I'm trying to be a bit craftier (rather than simply playing ABC, TAG poker). By anecdotal memory (as opposed to HEM analysis), I'm 3-betting more from the blinds when the initial raise comes from the button. This approach has me putting more chips at risk than I my typical ABC baseline mode.

* My buy in is a little light, as I tend to buy in for $8 rather than $10. Maybe somebody has some insight here, but I feel REALLY short stacked in this game when I buy in for $8 (as I would if I were buying in for $10) because I'm seeing some really huge stacks. I sat at a table the other day where there were several people above $20 and one over $40. (Perhaps that should've been a sign that these guys had been there a while and were picking off the other players)

Not sure. Any words of wisdom re an approach for $.05/$.10? Eeyore inertia would prefer to go back to being the TAGgiest of TAGs. At least my volatility would lower.

We Are Experiencing Turbulence

My schedule today allowed me to play a lot (for me) of challenge hands. All told, I played about 700 hands across a few different disciplines: micro PLO, micro NLHE and one MTT. It was a crazy turbulent day. In the end, I closed up $3.40 or so (excluding rake back), but it was a jagged road.

First things first, it was a very satisfying day in that I didn't forget the rules of ANY of the games I played. So, that's progress.

PLO was a quick, painful experience. Bought it for $4 at $.02/$.04, and that lasted a displeasurable 18 hands. Managed to drop $1.20 off the bat pushing too hard with middle set (raise your hand if you are surprised). The remainder of the stack went as follows. I am in the BB with AAK8 double suited. Liking that. Villain 1 (UTG) raises to $.14, villain 2 raises pot, villain 3 calls and when it gets back to me I re-pot. Villains 1 and 2 fold and villain 3 raises the tiny bit that puts me all in.....with 5567 badugi. What?!? I felt great until the flop came 66K. Turn and river blanked, and I retired (again) from PLO. Bad start to the day.

NLHE was, again, the profit center. Up $7.63 in 415 hands. As expected, suffered a few bad beats, but hung in there without getting all tilty. Proud of this hand, although the opponent was clearly a moron. While he may've believed he had the best hand when the flop hit, my call on the flop and turn should've tipped him off, especially when the river brings an overcard AND I speed up all of a sudden. Thank you, EBO29.

In this hand, I won a big pot with quads, but I felt pretty frozen pre-flop when he put in the third raise in position. I flatted, but I'm not sure my reasoning was particularly sound. I flatted because I didn't really know what to do. Ah yes....paralysis, the genesis of all great decisions. My "plan" was as follows -- please comment. When this guy (who was new to the table) 4-bet min-raised, I was perplexed. Seemed too small to be a bluff. I decided to flat call (leaving myself $2.50 behind) to see if I could dodge an overcard on the flop -- but think about it, if I'm worried I'm beat, then how does that really help? I suppose it cuts out one of the two scary possibilities (AK, as opposed to QQ-AA). The flop was super kind. I let him keep the lead, and he obliged. The river was gravy. So, ignoring the result, what should I have done (knowing nada about the villain) when he 4-bet min-raises pre???

The MTT was entertaining, but financially a non-event. It was the $.10 R&A variety, and I like my approach to those in general. While people are flailing about trying to "double up or rebuy" with super mediocre, or worse, holdings, I play pretty tight and very aggressive when I do have a hand worth playing. 236 players in this one, and my play was pretty good early on. Took one super aggravating beat, but climbed back in thanks to the R&A.

The money bubble was at 50th, and I cruised into the money without great drama after the rebuy period ended. I sat in 10th or so with about 40k in chips when I was dealt KQo on the button. Blinds (if I recall correctly) were something like 2000-4000 with a big ante. I raised to 10k with KQ and the BB shipped (total 27k). I didn't love putting most of my stack at risk, but I felt like I had to call, getting over 2:1. Villain showed 66 and I never improved. I clawed for a while, but that hand crippled me. Ended up going out in 29th, earning me a $.21 loss for my three hours of effort. From a time element, obviously not the greatest plan ever. But, I more or less play MTTs in the background while playing a few ring game tables. Having some diversity in games going seems to help me concentrate on both for some reason. And, I need as much tournament experience as I can gather. Three hours of tournament experience for $.85 seems like a decent price. Worthwhile???

So, that's it for today. The Eeyore 'roll sits at $178.43, plus I should be earning some decent rakeback this week....just in time for the end of Sushi Book challenge portion. Now, if I can only convince Martin to play 50k tilty hands before April 1......

Eeyore update

I fell off the blog train a few weeks ago, and thus a brief update. My trip to PLO-land lasted a week or so. Was very profitable overall, up $14.96 in 1589 hands. Was on track for a much better result, but then had one horrific 164 hand session where I dropped $14.51. Hello variance, my old friend. I don't remember the details, but my notes say "way too tired, why play?"

That down session sent me back to $.02/$.04 NLHE, where I've played much better than before strolling over to PLO. I've stopped playing the SNGs, and have stuck solely with ring games. In about 3900 hands of $.02/$.04, I've climbed just under $40. The diversion to PLO seemed to reset my attention span and focus, so yay.

When I got back to $180, I started mixing in $.05/$.10, playing 2 or 3 $.02/$.04 tables, while playing 1 $.05/$.10 table. My $.05/$.10 results have been pitiful so far, and I'll have to back off for a while. In 250 hands, I've dumped over $13. Can't say why. Perhaps ordinary variance. I can think of a couple hands where I over-committed, but in general I think I played fine.

But, for now, it's back to the kiddy table until I'm back over $180. As I type, the Eeyore 'roll sits at $175.01 in 19,686 hands. Not bad, not great.

PLO, the Cure for the Common Boredom

In two weeks time, I dropped (like a rock) from $200 to $140. While that cataclysm coincided with the Molly hospital exhaustion/stress, I don't think that explains it. Instead, I'm pretty sure what happened is that I got bored with $.02-$.04 and stopped respecting the stakes. Marsh somewhat alluded to this in a supportive comment when he talked about going up in stakes. Thinking back, I think this is what happened. I got to $180 or so and started transitioning by playing half $.02-$.04 and half $.05-$.10. I played fine at $.05-$.10, but lost enough (through what I believe is ordinary variance) that I decided I needed to bust myself back down to $.02-$.04. But, once there, I was bored. I stopped respecting the stakes and started thinking about bets/calls/raises as "it's only $.22." Disaster.

I've admittedly had a hard time breaking that cycle. I find myself much more interested in playing the double-up SNGs, and have fared well enough in the $2.20 ones (27 of 42) to turn a moderate profit ($15.60 for $92.40 invested). I've fared poorly in the $5.35 double up SNGs (winning just 2 of 7, for a loss of $27.45).

In the last couple of days -- similarly to Royal, apparently -- I decided to play some PLO. As Royal mentioned, the availability of $.02-$.04 PLO on Cake is ridiculously thin. But, I've been able to play one 6-max and one full-ring table at a time, and have had very good success (admittedly small sample size notwithstanding). In just 550 hands, I'm up over $20. I've tried to be very conservative with my starting hands, looking to avoid middle pairs, unless they're joined by connected straight and flush cards. Mostly, I've been looking for big pairs with straight/flush friends. I've tried to remain diligent not to overplay sets (where a better hand is already possible), but to make players pay the max for draws when no straight or flush is yet possible.

We'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'm getting way the best of variance right now. For now, with rakeback, the Eeyore roll sits back above $158.

So Much For the Good Times

My "hot streak" lasted one day. Yesterday, I reverted to form, dropping nearly $20. I lost three of four $2 double-up SNGs and both $5 double-up SNGs. Also dropped about $4 playing $.02-$.04 6-max NLHE.

Yeseterday's debacle felt much more like a "run bad" session than it did a "play bad" one. I wasn't particularly tired, and felt like I played reasonably well. I got busted out of one $2 SNG when my 66 got outflopped by 2-3o. With 6 players left, the huge stack started shoving on every hand. I get the strategy. He had 7k in chips and only needed to knock out one more player. He was the BB and I shoved my last 800 chips with 66. He insta calls, flips over 2-3o and 2-3-9 is the flop. Sigh. Lost another where I got my 1400 chips all in pre with AQs and lost to a runner runner straight to the bozo who put 2/3 of his chips at risk with A7s. Whatever.

So, the Eeyore 'roll now sits at about $135. Barf.

Finally, a Good Day

After a solid week (closer to two) of losing session after session, I finally "put together" (or lucked upon) a big win yesterday. Played about 90 minutes, and won about $20.

Played four $2 double-up SNGs and two $5 double-up SNGs, all at the same time. Won all but one (losing one of the $2 SNGs). Also played a whopping 49 hands of $.02-$.04 6-max NLHE. Won almost $7 in very few hands.......almost all of it on my first hand at one table. Being that it was my very first hand (and thus having no table image) and thinking/hoping that I thought I might get away with my opponents thinking I was a maniac donk, I shoved pre with QQ. Obviously, it worked out. Good play? Bad play?