Well, it's been quite a hectic few weeks for me with my final exams at school now at an end. It seems kind of weird to think that I'll never sit another exam at school again, but I'm looking forward to a change of scenery when I go to university in September.
Poker-wise progress has been slow. Since my last post, I managed to rocket my bankroll up from $75 to $90, but I've been floating around the $90 for the past week despite playing a lot more poker than I usually do.
As I've said before, my focus at the moment is $2.20 Hold'em Double Or Nothing Tournaments. I know that I can beat these games in the long-run, but recently I've started to make a few silly mistakes and the drop in results and profits has had a negative impact on my confidence. There's a lot of criticism about Double Or Nothing Tournaments on various poker forums as many people describe them an being boring and monotonous. I'd probably have to agree with them.
Others argue that it doesn't teach you any poker skills which can be applied to other types of the game. I'm not so sure about that one, but the boredom factor is something which I believe has played a role in my recent slump. As I have increased the length of my sessions and the number of sessions I play in recent weeks, so have the number of silly mistakes I've been making.
If there's one thing that this game teaches you, it is the art of concentration. If you are going to succeed at Double or Nothing's, you have to be on the ball pretty much all the time. You have to stop and think about whether you'll get a better opportunity to shove - should you be shoving in the first place if you're on the bubble and there's one guy who'll be all-in by the time the blinds get to him. All these questions need to be whizzing through your head. You need to accurately and consistently evaluate these questions in order to beat the rake and make a profit at Double Or Nothings.
I've shown that I can do that in the past and I need to remember that if I concentrate, maintain focus, don't go on tilt, I have the requisite skills to beat this game.
Even though I've been going through what seems like a rough patch, I haven't really lost any money at all, and I know that once the cards fall my way and I take advantage of that by concentrating, I'll be able to get my bankroll moving forward a bit faster.
I think there could also be the mental factor of approaching the $100 mark. There's something very impressive about hitting those three figures isn't there?
If I can maintain concentration and focus, play when I am able to be at maximum concentration, I think I can reach $100 by the time of my next blog in a few days time.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
3. A session to forget
You know it's going to be a bad session when you get your money in with AA and find yourself an 80-20 favourite only for your opponent to suck out on the river. And you certainly know it's going to be a bad day when you flop a set of nines only for your opponent to make a set of jacks on the river. Anyway, basically I got unlucky initially, this made me go on tilt a bit, all of a sudden my calling/shoving ranges had changed and after some further bad luck (opponent making a gutshot straight on the river...), I found that for the day so far I have a record of ($2.20 Double or Nothing Turbos):
Double 3
Nothing 7
Profit/Loss: - $10
Bankroll: $74.23
So, after yesterday's solid performance of 9-4 and a healthy profit of $7, I'm back to square one and now $56 off my target of $130, which when (or if, should today's form continue) I reach, I'll most up to $5.50 level.
I think if I'd managed to avoid tilting, I perhaps would have came out of today with a record of 5-5, which although a small loss, isn't bad for an unlucky session.
Anyway, I'm gonna play another 3 Double Or Nothings now and depending on how I do in those, I might play some more on top. I think I just need to pick up a 2-1 mini-session and then my confidence will be fully back. I also need to remember that generally I've been running good recently and I know that in the long-run I can beat this game. The only way I'll lose at this game in the long-run is if I lose my mind and stop making the correct moves just because I've suffered a few bad beats. These things happen.
Double 3
Nothing 7
Profit/Loss: - $10
Bankroll: $74.23
So, after yesterday's solid performance of 9-4 and a healthy profit of $7, I'm back to square one and now $56 off my target of $130, which when (or if, should today's form continue) I reach, I'll most up to $5.50 level.
I think if I'd managed to avoid tilting, I perhaps would have came out of today with a record of 5-5, which although a small loss, isn't bad for an unlucky session.
Anyway, I'm gonna play another 3 Double Or Nothings now and depending on how I do in those, I might play some more on top. I think I just need to pick up a 2-1 mini-session and then my confidence will be fully back. I also need to remember that generally I've been running good recently and I know that in the long-run I can beat this game. The only way I'll lose at this game in the long-run is if I lose my mind and stop making the correct moves just because I've suffered a few bad beats. These things happen.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
2. The first 100 Double or Nothings and making +EV changes
Evening,
Having done a two-hour economics exam this morning, I'm looking forward to 6 days off before my next exam. So, this afternoon, I decided to do a 2-hour poker session, which is a long time by my standards. Most of the time, I play for 30-40 mins three tabling $2.20 double or nothings on Hollywood Poker. It's usually a v quick session and then escape with some profit (hopefully!). I think that I need to get to used to playing longer sessions as that's obviously what I'm going to have to do if I'm going to stand a chance of building up my bankroll to anything of note over the summer.
I've only done a handful of 2-hour sessions before in the past and my record, whilst satisfactory, has been noticeably worse than my mini-sessions. I think it's a combination of not focusing 100% on the games I'm currently playing and perhaps, dare I say it, a lack of stamina. I'm used to concentrating when writing essays, but my mind can wander a bit if I'm being honest. Nevertheless my stamina could be improved and until it would be a +EV move for my poker to improve my fitness. For some reason completely unknown to me, my Dad has managed to persuade me to run a 10km race in June and I've got a lot of training to do before the race - currently I've only done a handful of 3km runs. It's interesting to note that when I play poker a few hours after going for a run, my results are pretty much always good.
Another +EV change I need to make is to move my laptop so that it's placed in a way which doesn't give me a neck ache. I'm sure anyone who uses a computer at work will no what I'm talking about, but it's surprisingly difficult to find the balance between having the laptop high enough so that it doesn't give you a neck ache but also not having it too high so that your arms ache. Today I thought 'I must get some books off the shelf to put my laptop on', but I forgot and started playing - only to realise within a few minutes that I had forgot to solve the issue of my neckache!
Something that I'll have to work out over the summer as I put in more of these longer sessions is how exactly I should go about them. Do I play 1 hour straight or even 2 hours straight with only a toilet break in between my sets of 3 DoNs? Or do I opt for playing for half an hour, then taking a break? I guess I'll have to try each out and see what's the positive +EV move.
I haven't really noticed any variation in my performance based on what time of the day I'm playing, but I think the best times must be when the house is quiet and there's no people running around me - that changes from day to day, but I'm seriously considering having some early morning/late night sessions so that I won't be distracted by the outside world! There's also something I find very pleasant about dawn especially in summer. It's light, the day has started but everyone is asleep and there's peace and quiet. The only downside with that is ensuring that I've actually properly woken up if I opt for a 4am start.
So, I think there's a lot of little changes aside from strategy that I can and should make over the summer in order to increase my profits per hour.
Anyway, I've reached a significant landmark with regards to my Double Or Nothing Career. I've played 100 games now and here's how I did in the first 100 at $2.20 level.
Double 64
Nothing 36
Total Profit $36 at $2.20/hour
Whilst it's not much of a profit, I'm pretty pleased that I win 64% of games.
Having done a two-hour economics exam this morning, I'm looking forward to 6 days off before my next exam. So, this afternoon, I decided to do a 2-hour poker session, which is a long time by my standards. Most of the time, I play for 30-40 mins three tabling $2.20 double or nothings on Hollywood Poker. It's usually a v quick session and then escape with some profit (hopefully!). I think that I need to get to used to playing longer sessions as that's obviously what I'm going to have to do if I'm going to stand a chance of building up my bankroll to anything of note over the summer.
I've only done a handful of 2-hour sessions before in the past and my record, whilst satisfactory, has been noticeably worse than my mini-sessions. I think it's a combination of not focusing 100% on the games I'm currently playing and perhaps, dare I say it, a lack of stamina. I'm used to concentrating when writing essays, but my mind can wander a bit if I'm being honest. Nevertheless my stamina could be improved and until it would be a +EV move for my poker to improve my fitness. For some reason completely unknown to me, my Dad has managed to persuade me to run a 10km race in June and I've got a lot of training to do before the race - currently I've only done a handful of 3km runs. It's interesting to note that when I play poker a few hours after going for a run, my results are pretty much always good.
Another +EV change I need to make is to move my laptop so that it's placed in a way which doesn't give me a neck ache. I'm sure anyone who uses a computer at work will no what I'm talking about, but it's surprisingly difficult to find the balance between having the laptop high enough so that it doesn't give you a neck ache but also not having it too high so that your arms ache. Today I thought 'I must get some books off the shelf to put my laptop on', but I forgot and started playing - only to realise within a few minutes that I had forgot to solve the issue of my neckache!
Something that I'll have to work out over the summer as I put in more of these longer sessions is how exactly I should go about them. Do I play 1 hour straight or even 2 hours straight with only a toilet break in between my sets of 3 DoNs? Or do I opt for playing for half an hour, then taking a break? I guess I'll have to try each out and see what's the positive +EV move.
I haven't really noticed any variation in my performance based on what time of the day I'm playing, but I think the best times must be when the house is quiet and there's no people running around me - that changes from day to day, but I'm seriously considering having some early morning/late night sessions so that I won't be distracted by the outside world! There's also something I find very pleasant about dawn especially in summer. It's light, the day has started but everyone is asleep and there's peace and quiet. The only downside with that is ensuring that I've actually properly woken up if I opt for a 4am start.
So, I think there's a lot of little changes aside from strategy that I can and should make over the summer in order to increase my profits per hour.
Anyway, I've reached a significant landmark with regards to my Double Or Nothing Career. I've played 100 games now and here's how I did in the first 100 at $2.20 level.
Double 64
Nothing 36
Total Profit $36 at $2.20/hour
Whilst it's not much of a profit, I'm pretty pleased that I win 64% of games.
Friday, 8 May 2009
1. The story so far....
Evening all,
A little bit about myself - basically I'm currently 17 and live in Kent, England. I've been playing poker for a couple of years now and I'm in the process of building up my bankroll. I hope to use this blog as a way of getting some of my poker musings down and hopefully someone else might read this - who exactly I'm not sure!
OK, so about my poker career so far. As you may have noticed, I'm actually not legally allowed to play poker at the moment (shock horror!!) but I'll be turning 18 in a month. I started playing for play money a couple of years ago, had great success on facebook poker (!) and then my poker career took off when I discovered my route into underage gambling - the poker freeroll.
The first site I played on was Coralpoker and after a few freerolls I eventually 'made it into the money'... but of course it wasn't money it was a ticket for a final qualifier to a live event! So, having learnt my lesson I tried to find a site where I could actually wins a few cents through a freeroll. And that site was hollywood poker.
Having had very limited Multi-table tournament experience I was very surprised how well I was doing. The freerolls usually had about 300 runners and the top 20 qualified for the next round and picked up literally $0.05 - I was managing to get into this top twenty about 50% of the time. Eventually my breakthrough came in September 2008. Having finished in the top twenty of a freeroll, I progressed to the 'quarter-roll' where I once again finished in the top 20, then onto the 'fifty cent roll' where I again finished in the top 20. As a result I'd reached the pinnacle: The Dollar Roll.
40 players, money for the top 10 and compared to the few cents I'd been winning, the possibility of winning a few dollars in one go was (embarrassingly) very exciting. And guess what, I won the dollar roll!!! I think it was $6.57 that I won and over the past 8/9 months I've built that up.
I entered a $1 + $0.30 hold'em sit n go, once again incredibly nervous/excited. I wasn't really sure if I was prepared for this step up given that all I'd really done before is facebook poker. But I knew I was a decent player and managed to win my first ever sit n go!
Through this $1.30 sit n gos by Christmas I'd reached a whopping $40. But then it kinda went all wrong and after a tough streak I was down to $25 and was fearing losing it all. I decided that there was no option but to try something new.
So, I tried $2.20 Double Or Nothing tournaments. Basically there are 10 players and the top 5 double their money. I thought it was something that I could adjust to quite comfortably and also it was something that I felt I could multi-table at effectively. After some promising early results I decided to switch to the turbo versions of these double or nothings. I know people usually say that there's a lot more variance in turbos and they're harder to win at in the long-run, but I've actually been doing better in the turbos!
I currently 3-table these turbo DoNs and I can play about 6 games an hour. At the moment by bankroll is $71 and my record so far is:
Double 54
Nothing 32
The way I like to look at this is that, over the course of 100 games, 55 doubles are required in order to break-even when the rake is taken into consideration. So, I think I'm making good progress to hit somewhere in the region of 60-65 doubles over my first 100 games - which I'm certainly very pleased about.
I've got a long summer coming up in between my final exams in a couple of weeks and when I go to university in October, so I'm hoping to play a lot of poker and keep building my bankroll.
My aim is to reach $130 ASAP, as once I reach that amount I'll have a big enough bankroll to move up to the $5.50 DoN level. Currently I'm making about $2.50 an hour, so at the current rate it's going to take me a further 25 or so hours of play to reach that goal.
By the time I go to university (October 1st) my goal to be in a position where I'm making $8 an hour consistantly - that would pretty much be equivalent to what I'd get for an hour's worth of proper work. I think it's an ambitious target but one that I think is very attainable.
See you at the tables!
Twisted Logic.
A little bit about myself - basically I'm currently 17 and live in Kent, England. I've been playing poker for a couple of years now and I'm in the process of building up my bankroll. I hope to use this blog as a way of getting some of my poker musings down and hopefully someone else might read this - who exactly I'm not sure!
OK, so about my poker career so far. As you may have noticed, I'm actually not legally allowed to play poker at the moment (shock horror!!) but I'll be turning 18 in a month. I started playing for play money a couple of years ago, had great success on facebook poker (!) and then my poker career took off when I discovered my route into underage gambling - the poker freeroll.
The first site I played on was Coralpoker and after a few freerolls I eventually 'made it into the money'... but of course it wasn't money it was a ticket for a final qualifier to a live event! So, having learnt my lesson I tried to find a site where I could actually wins a few cents through a freeroll. And that site was hollywood poker.
Having had very limited Multi-table tournament experience I was very surprised how well I was doing. The freerolls usually had about 300 runners and the top 20 qualified for the next round and picked up literally $0.05 - I was managing to get into this top twenty about 50% of the time. Eventually my breakthrough came in September 2008. Having finished in the top twenty of a freeroll, I progressed to the 'quarter-roll' where I once again finished in the top 20, then onto the 'fifty cent roll' where I again finished in the top 20. As a result I'd reached the pinnacle: The Dollar Roll.
40 players, money for the top 10 and compared to the few cents I'd been winning, the possibility of winning a few dollars in one go was (embarrassingly) very exciting. And guess what, I won the dollar roll!!! I think it was $6.57 that I won and over the past 8/9 months I've built that up.
I entered a $1 + $0.30 hold'em sit n go, once again incredibly nervous/excited. I wasn't really sure if I was prepared for this step up given that all I'd really done before is facebook poker. But I knew I was a decent player and managed to win my first ever sit n go!
Through this $1.30 sit n gos by Christmas I'd reached a whopping $40. But then it kinda went all wrong and after a tough streak I was down to $25 and was fearing losing it all. I decided that there was no option but to try something new.
So, I tried $2.20 Double Or Nothing tournaments. Basically there are 10 players and the top 5 double their money. I thought it was something that I could adjust to quite comfortably and also it was something that I felt I could multi-table at effectively. After some promising early results I decided to switch to the turbo versions of these double or nothings. I know people usually say that there's a lot more variance in turbos and they're harder to win at in the long-run, but I've actually been doing better in the turbos!
I currently 3-table these turbo DoNs and I can play about 6 games an hour. At the moment by bankroll is $71 and my record so far is:
Double 54
Nothing 32
The way I like to look at this is that, over the course of 100 games, 55 doubles are required in order to break-even when the rake is taken into consideration. So, I think I'm making good progress to hit somewhere in the region of 60-65 doubles over my first 100 games - which I'm certainly very pleased about.
I've got a long summer coming up in between my final exams in a couple of weeks and when I go to university in October, so I'm hoping to play a lot of poker and keep building my bankroll.
My aim is to reach $130 ASAP, as once I reach that amount I'll have a big enough bankroll to move up to the $5.50 DoN level. Currently I'm making about $2.50 an hour, so at the current rate it's going to take me a further 25 or so hours of play to reach that goal.
By the time I go to university (October 1st) my goal to be in a position where I'm making $8 an hour consistantly - that would pretty much be equivalent to what I'd get for an hour's worth of proper work. I think it's an ambitious target but one that I think is very attainable.
See you at the tables!
Twisted Logic.
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