Still Swinging Way Down

Last I spoke, I had cheated and played 2 - $6 heads up sit n gos to have around $18. I decided that was cheating, so I took it and played the Sunday quarter million for $11. Since then, I've run my roll down to just under $4 if I remember correctly. I think I played a $2 heads up pot limit omaha sit n go somewhere along the way and won it, which is the only reason I'm actually up. I've officially dropped under being a winning player at 6 max $.02 / $.04 limit hold em. It's an extremely swingy game, and I don't attribute very much of it to my bad play, but I definitely tilted off a bunch of big bets in there. I'm trying to gather my focus back and get ready to keep plowing ahead.

I took yesterday off, and I'm ready to play again tonight. I'm clearly a ton better at this game than the idiots that play 70% of the hands. I think I'm playing the ideal strategy against the maniacs, but I've been getting drawn out on a ton recently. On the flip side, I know these guys aren't folding much, and I've tried a few too many bluffs against people that I know better to even think about it. Honestly, the best way to beat these guys is to bet the hell out of your strong hands and make them pay to try and beat your monsters. It's just been really tilting to see that they keep beating them. Almost every set I've flopped in the last 10 sessions (which has been few and far between) has been on a 3 flushed, 3 card straight board, or something like that. It's still a pretty strong hand on the flop since most likely my opponent will have the draw, but I'll put in 4 bets on the flop, then a terrible card falls, and I just have to check/call down to the river to see I've been beat. If I get AK and flop an A or K, I'll bet it all the way to the river having them check/call me all the way, only to have my opponent catch his set of 4's on the river and then get 3 or 4 big bets out of me because I'm a pay off wizard in those situations.

It's been really frustrating, and I wish I could attribute it all to bad luck, but a 250 BB downswing just doesn't seem like it's entirely bad luck. Like I said earlier, I know for sure I've tilted off some, and tried stupid bluffs in some spots, but I'd really say about 80% has just been terrible luck and suckouts.

Oh well, I will keep my focus and try and play my best in every session. I can beat this game and I can learn from my mistakes.

Goals for the month:
1) Play at the top of my game at all times.
2) Play 10,000 hands of poker.

That's all I want to do. If I lose my roll because of bad beats, then I'll put some more money back in. I really want to prove to myself that I can beat these crappy limits, move up and become a solid cash game player.

Nice Little Downswing and Some Cheating to Get it Back

I've had a wonderful little downswing recently. I don't think I've had a winning session the last 4 times I've played. They've all been relatively small losses, but I've only won about $5 or $6 playing $.02/$.04 limit hold em over the course of about 2300 hands. I guess that's actually still a phenomenal win rate and it's just me coming back down to earth.

I also have to admit that I played 2 $6 heads up sit n gos and won both of them. So I have somewhere between $17 and $18 in my Stars account now. I might start playing some no limit with this roll. I don't know. I'd kind of like to get back on a nice little upswing in the limit game. Maybe I'll play a couple thousand more hands of limit and see if I can still win. 6 max is a really swingy game, so I guess I should get used to it.

I think if I can manage to get enough money in the account that it would piss me off if I were to lose it, I won't go broke. Unfortunately right now, if I have a bad session, I go play a heads up match because I get in to a fuck it I don't care because it's only a few bucks attitude. The amount I have right now is definitely enough to make a run at getting a real roll going again. I just have to respect it and not even think about it as money.

Still Doing This

I'm still doing this thing. I haven't had time at all to play with work and the fact that I'm moving in 2 days. I hate moving. It's going to be awesome when I get in to the house, and it's actually mine. In the meantime though, it sucks.

I think I have around $9.20 in the account right this second. I haven't played in over a week, but I know I had 2 pretty bad sessions the last time I played. It was still fun and I really can't wait to get back to playing.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to attempt to play in a few world series satellites on Full Tilt. I'd like to play in one of the cheaper events, so I'll probably give the sats a few shots when I get all moved in.

I'll update a little more when I actually get some time to play.

Another Update From Work

I'm up over $11 now. I played for a couple of hours on Sunday, and I actually lost a few big bets this time. It really was only $.10 or so, but it was my first losing session. I don't really remember anything notable about the session. People play pretty awful at this level, and I'm getting better and better every time I play. One of these days I'll get to play in a game that actually gives me some FPPs from Stars. I don't actually know what rake level in cash games you need to get to in order to earn the points. I know that I can earn them playing the $1.10 double or nothing sit n gos, but not at $.02/$.04 limit hold em.

I just bought a house yesterday, so I probably won't get too much of a chance to play in the next month or so, which obviously sucks. I really hate packing and moving, but I'm pretty pumped for the house. I'll sneak in a session or two every once in a while though I'm sure.

Forgotten Update

I forgot to put this update in this past weekend. I played about an hour on Sunday I think it was, and won another dollar something. I am officially up and over $10 now.

I have about 1000 hands logged between 6 max and full ring limit now, and I think that I'm playing a bit too loose. I know that what I'm doing seems to be working, but I don't think that I'm playing a sustainable winning style beyond this limit. I'm very new to the limit variety of the game, and I'm trying to learn. I've been lurking in the 2+2 forums, and I've plugged a few things up. I've just got to keep playing, reading and getting better and I'll do just fine.

Big Win (For These Limits)

Played another 45 minutes and won $2.12. I think that's my biggest win yet. I played a few hands pretty terrible too, so I should have won a little bit more. Oh well, I'm pretty happy overall obviously.

The bankroll is now up to $8.60. It keeps looking more and more likely that I will not be going broke. Awesome.

Another Session

A 45 minute session and I ended up $.45. I'm happy since I got stuck to start with, and any win is good at this point. That brings me up to $6.48. I suppose I should start putting some hands up to remind me how bad I was at this point if I ever come back and read this.

I might play a little bit more later, but I'm doing well with this short burst style of playing, so I'm going to keep doing it.

Edit to Today

Played another half hour, and won again. I now have $6.08. I actually might not go broke with this bankroll.

Slowly Winning

I played another half hour or so today. Won a little more than a dollar still at the $.02/$.04 tables. I am now up to $4.51 in my bankroll, which puts me over the 100 big bet mark. I'm winning a little bit too high above expectation, but hopefully I can ride it long enough to get me in to the $.01/$.02 NL games, and then the $1.10 double or nothing sit n gos. Once I get to those games I think I'll really start putting in some volume since I'm more comfortable with those games. Short handed limit hold em can be really swingy, but there's something about the controlled nature of the game that I really like in the few hands that I've played.

Anyways, that's a quick update on how I'm doing.

Short Session

I played for about a half an hour. It was pretty up and down, but I made $.20, so I'm up to $3.56.

It's fun while I'm winning. I've only played a couple hundred hands, but I've made a few adjustments already. For the most part though, playing really straight forward and just betting when you have a big hand will win in this game. Good story.

As long as I keep my cool and patience I think I will be just fine with the roll that I have.

$3 Challenge and Goals For Me

This next set of posts is entirely for me to record this somewhere.

I've got $3.36 in my Poker Stars account. I had $.80 a few days ago, but I ran really good in $.02/$.04 limit holdem and now have the $3.36.

Here are the bankroll goals I will use.

At my current roll, I will play $.02/$.04 limit holdem and continue to destroy the tables.

Bankroll Game
$20 $.05/$.10 limit holdem or $.01/$.02 NL holdem with a $1.00 buy-in
$30 $1.10 Double or Nothing sit n gos or $.01/$.02 NL holdem with a $1.50 buy-in
$40 $1.10 Double or Nothing sit n gos or $.01/$.02 NL holdem with a $2.00 buy-in
$100 $1.10 Double or Nothing sit n gos or $.02/$.05 NL holdem with a $5.00 buy-in

We'll see how this goes to start with. If I get to the $30 or $40 level, then I'll expand my rules a little bit.

I'll probably cut limit holdem out after $20 because I honestly have no idea how to play the game, and I think it would be much more productive to play NL. I'm really hoping to do this with cash games because that's where I really want to be good now. Tournaments are sweet and all, but I think there's more money in a good cash game player. I particularly want to get good at heads up cash. Oh well, no sense in worrying about that since there's only about a 5% chance right this second I'll make it to the $100 level. I just want to put my hopes and goals in to writing and fucking do it for once.