Busto!

Took that $120 left in the account after withdrawing $500.... got hot in the 2/4 CAP NL games. Ran it up to almost $500. Then lost $200 in a HU cash game at 1/2. Then Went back to the CAP NL games and went busto. It was fun while it lasted, and at least I got $500 out... pretty good return on the 30k ftps I started with. I'll be playing the iron man Freeroll, and will be able to get one more token next month with iron man medals. But then I will be done fooling around.

-Boooom

Rush

So I got pwned in the 26/90s I played. Just didn't run very good, had 2 KOs and a 24th place finish out of 4. I min cashed in the 35k for about 45 bucks. But while playing in that I went on a sweet rush in the 23$ HU sngs. I think I won 5 or 6 in a row before calling it a night. Then today I won 2 more in a row, then I finally lost to end my streak. I sat down and played some short handed cash games. I had some good luck at some 2/4 and 3/6 tables and promptly ran the account up to 900. Then I doubled up a guy who flopped 2pair, when I flopped top pair + flush draw. It took me down to $450. I played a little bit of HU and am now up to $620. It reminds me of the old days when my bankroll would be all over the place during a day because I would play way out of my bankroll. The plan now is to take out $500 and leave myself with $120 to screw around with.

Pretty solid to turn 30k ftps into some nice cash. I'll probably play 11$ HU sngs with the remaining money and see if I can get another rush going. Also I am currently writing my last paper for my summer school class. Then I will officially have my bachelors degree which is pretty cool I guess. I just cant wait for this stupid Hamlet paper to be over.

-Boooom

Quitting

So I played my last session, got my bonus, withdrew my money... and I feel good about it. My last session sucked KK < AA allin pre, and QQ < TT when I 3bet preflop and he flat called with 35 BBs behind and flopped top set. Took my 30k ftps and won 5 tokens (should have won more but ran poorly). Got one 26token with my iron man medals, and will get one more after the month is over.

So I'm sitting on six 26tokens, with one more to come, to see what I can do with them. I just played a super turbo satelite to the 750k. Had JJ in the BB the first hand and doubled up. Never looked back and won my $216 seat. So now I have 5 tokens and $216 tourny dollars. We will see what I can do with it, playing sngs in my spare time.

I haven't been having too many withdrawal symptoms from poker. I have found that the extra time when I got home where I would normally grind, I am filling it with other things. I have been working really hard on eating well and getting back in shape. Also working on getting a job, and getting myself ready to get engaged/married.

As for the tokens and little bit of money I have in now. I am going to primarily play sngs (because I think cash games are too tough to play on a short roll for me). I don't know what I plan to do if I run this up into anything, but maybe I'll get creative.

-Boooom

School

Been jammed with school this week. I have 2 finals tomororw... one suuuuper easy, and one suuuuper hard. I am going to study all day today for the really hard BIO final.

Played a super quick session last Sunday night at NL100 just to get 200 ftps. It would have been good except I lost a stack on a lame hand... I have QQ in the SB, folds to me, i make it 4$, BB calls. Flop Qxx rainbow, I continuation bet, he calls. Turn is a low brick, and puts 2 spades out, I check, he bets 10, I raise to 38. He calls, river completes the backdoor flush, I bet almost his whole stack, he instashoves, I call and he shows me AKs. Other than that everything went fine and I got my points.

I haven't finished the bonus yet cause I've been studying. I think I will wait until I get my rakeback payment on Friday, just to make sure getting the bonus doesn't mess up this weeks payment. I need 150 ftps to get the $475 bonus, and need two more days of play to complete my iron man status for the month. Those will happen sometime after Friday.

Also, I came up with the most epic way to propose to my girlfriend. I'll give more details later on that one.

-Boooom

Last big session...

Just finished my last big session. Played for 2 hours and racked up almost 2300 hands at 1/2. Got off to a poor start once again, went down 1.5buyins early. But this session was much more docile than the 1/2 sessions I've played this weekend. I slowly grinded my way back up, and finished the session up $150. Got myself a ton of FTPs, anod now need less than 500 ftps to unlock my bonus. I'll probably finish it off on tuesday or wednesday and play NL100. I have 30k ftps which should allow me to get several 26$ tokens to play with after I withdraw my money.

-Boooom

Ugliness...

Played a 2 hour 1/2 session and got tons of ftps. However, I ran like absolute crap. I did some update thing for HEM and now I can't view my sessions. I hardly care since I'm going to be done soon but I don't get to see how bad my allin EV was. I lost 4 times with aces, twice I had a set. The last one it was 5bet preflop vs KK, but he flopped top set. I was down over 3 buyins at one point, but finished down only about 240 for the session. Could have been even if I won that last AA v KK hand. Oh well, run better next time I guess.

My timing was just all off. Everytime I tried a bluff, I was getting looked up. That's one of my biggest leaks I think, when I run bad I just tend to try more bluffs. If I stayed more solid and didn't spew off in the session today, and the one yesterday I would probably be sitting alot better. I have one more big session left that I will play tomorrow. I need 1700 more ftps. I'll try to play about 1400, and leave the rest for next week.

-Boooom

Great Post

I was reading this on a cardrunners blog... I think it is a great post and is a good excercise for any poker player. Read it and be honest about where you are at. See what it will take for you to move up...

-------------------------------------------

You've probably heard this from many different people. I generally think these are oversimplified and am bored enough to map it out. I don't think the chart is linear like most people say. "Evolution" fits the description perfectly as evolution necessarily takes many branches. It's possible to be a species who stagnates and goes extinct. For the sake of our discussion that would constitute losing as opposed to being wiped from existence.

Players don't jump from step A to B to C. Some people stay at step A and hover around A a), A b) etc. To give a concrete example think of the last time you played live. No doubt you can remember an old man who has been playing poker for 40+ years. He's been playing poker since the Nixon administration yet why does he still suck? It's because he's grown complacent with his game... and he probably solidified his gameplan before you were born and has never deviated. Regardless of the trends in poker he carries on because that one winning day is good enough for him even though his bank account isn't lying to him as it slowly dwindles.

So before we examine where the old man fits into the equation we have to start from the very beginning:

1. The complete amature. These are people that don't know all the rules. These are people you might be able to stack when they hold 67 on a 4444K board and you have A-high. They might be weekend warriors who saw Phil Helmuth push all-in on TV and want to replicate such bravado. You can identify them by overbetting the pot severly with top pair no kicker, and not being able to laydown a A5 on a AQKJ2 board. They deposit online and splash around heavily. They are delighted to realize that their T4o only needs to catch one card to win the pot on a AQJK board and will gladly call large bets to get there.

2. The "competent" amature. He's not really competent and is most assuredly a large loser in the games, but he at least knows the majority of the rules. This particular category spans a broad horizon of potential players. Our complete amature might fit this category after a dozen sessions of poker. Our old man example fits this perfectly even though he's been playing for 40 years. His play is horrible, but he knows all the rules. He might even know a trick or two for gaining value or bluffing. His one successful bluff will override any memory of the failed dozen attempts leading up to said bluff. Things like "flop texture" and "pot control" aren't part of his vocabulary although he's probably heard some of those young fancy internet players use such terms at the table.

3. The entitled amature. The old man definitely straddles categories 2 and 3. He probably hovers closer to category 3 but could also be considered the alpha category 2. These are players who prematurely think they've paid their dues and should be winning at poker. You see them online a lot grinding out nl50 and nl25. They live to berate other players for their play and to share bad beat stories. They possess a plethora of excuses as to why they are not crushing nl5000 on upwards. They share anecdotal experiences of when Andy Bloch graced their presence at their nl50 table and how they proceeded to outplay him. Time is of no consequence to this type of player. One can be stuck here forever as evidenced by the old man.

It goes without saying that categories 1-3 make up the vast majority of the real poker playing community. It's important to note that any of those in groups 1-3 can play any stake of poker. They are often known for gambling up bankrolls from nothing and exhibiting awesome bankroll management by putting it all on the table. There are no stakes associated with amature players

4. The small stakes grinder. These players range from breakeven to winning players. If they don't breakeven or better than they display characteristics of categories 1-3. This category of player has the widest amount of attributes. These include 9-5ers who play every hour that they are home from work waiting for the day they can tell their boss to fuck off when they hit a certain goal with their bankroll and can go pro, to players who are entitled low stakes grinders. They might be winning players but they haven't gotten passed their desire to berate and make excuses. There are even hidden Phil Iveys amongst the bunch. Players who play very well but fail in one or more "non-felt" related activities such as bankroll or tilt management who are slave to the busto/robusto cycle forever.

5. The low stakes grinder (LSG). The attributes of the entitled amature are never really erased from the player pool of any category but are probably most prevalent at the micro and low stakes where self-proclaimed poker geniuses are quick to tell you how awesome they are but are not quite as skilled at showing you. Again we see a broad range of players. Their thought processes are becoming refined, it might be possible to take down a few thousand dollars a month on a consistent basis. Players might begin to reach out to find poker Nirvana, studying the best players and trying to figure out how to get to higher stakes. This level of player also loves to crunch numbers on winrate, how much they could potentially make in a year, how much they could potential make playing higher. The results to these numbers are often extremely generous and boner-inspiring in those who slave away at menial 9-5 jobs. College students are less prone to fit this description.

And now we come to a major crossroads

5-1) Content Low Stakes Grinder: This might be a mom or dad who enjoys the extra income that poker provides. Their presence at the tables is usually small and so is their winrate and desire to improve. They are the ultimate complacent player and are probably a lot happier than 99% of the poker community.

5-2) Future Durrr Low Stakes Grinder: This guy is the cat's meow, the bees knees, the best poker player to ever grace a $1/$2 table. He watches the highest stake videos on any instructional sites. Those of this player type frequent the 2+2 forums. Their favorite response to any thread is "lol". On the positive side these players can turn into superstars. For every 100 players of this personality type maybe 5 make it to play 5/10 or higher. Most crash under the weight of their own ego and inflated sense of poker prowess. They'd sooner contract AIDS than to game select. Of those 5 that make it to play 5/10 and higher 4.9 collapse.

5-3) Well Adjusted Low Stakes Grinder: This guy has it all together. Bankroll management, tilt management, reasonable goals and a decent game. Stagnation is their worst enemy and they can be effected to varying degrees by symptoms of 5-1) to 5-3). Many times these types of players don't have a creative game. They know how to emulate plays they see from instructional sites but have no idea how to come up with new lines or to do anything other than ABC

6. The Mid Stakes Grinder (MSG). Awww yes. The most colorful group of poker players in all of poker. They frequent the Bellagio 5/10 games, the Commerce $1500 max buy, nl400+ online. Cliques are formed, personalities are molded, egos are inflated, while silent ninjas take your money.

6-1) The Ma&Pa Mid Stakes Grinder: Don't let the name fool you this can be an 18 year old male who somehow has the presence of mind to stash his ego. This can also be a single mom or dad playing for diaper money. The pitfalls of these types of players are complacency and stagnation. They are generally the last to evolve with the changing tides of the game and either adopt other qualities or fade away. They share common ancestory with 5-1) and 5-3) and eek out a small winrate for mid-sized cash

6-2) The Elitist Mid Stakes Grinder (E-MSG) If this group were to decide which country that best represented them they'd be Israel. God's chosen players. They grace you with their presence on 2+2, they are too good to explain to you why you're wrong so in place respond with "terribad." They often hide or overinflate their winnings. Some very few actually can back up their gigantic mouths with equally gigantic winrates. Their e-peens outweigh the Singularity that later became the Big Bang. These players are generally extensions of 5-2), future Durrrs and suffer the same fate. Although once you've become an E-MSG your chances of making it to HSNL are pretty good but your lifespan is often short. At the tables they are easily identified by their constant reminders that you snapping off their bluff was very -EV against their range.

6-3) The Ninja Mid Stakes Grinder: His post count on 2+2 is 17 but his join date is January 2003. He has never done a video for any training site but he's watched them all. He knows what you know and knows you know it. These guys can exhibit Ma&Pa qualties or can be complete play makers who are smart enough to keep it to themselves.

6-4) The Philosopher: This player isn't necessarily a mid stakes player but you will see a lot at mid stakes. Technically they can range from $2 SNGs and onward. They are often a byproduct of not moving up and getting too comfortable at stakes. They overthink EVERYTHING. There are two schools of these players:

6-4-a) Professor of Dumbfuckery: These guys overthink everything but almost always arrive at the same conclusion.... their opposition has the only hand that they beat and so they should call. These players are the most annoying at HUNL where lots of bluffing does occur. Although they are very easy to play against, it's a grind. They exhibit the reverse qualities of the competent amature (#2) in that their 20+ whiffed hero calls are quickly erased by their ultra-sick call with bottom pair in a 4bet pot.

6-5-b) Socrates Would Be Proud: This guy's thought processes are off the charts. Every decision incorporates 50 different elements from the hand. They have a check list of referencing their play to what they repped, what their opponent is repping, what is the flop texture, what is the pot size, how often have I been 3betting, how often have they been 3betting, do I have a history of value betting light, do they have a history of value betting light, did I leave the stove on, how does this guy react in 4bet/double OOP floated pots etc etc etc? They are the masters of information overload. Their frontal lobes have occasioally caught fire. They would fair well against the best of the best but they fail to realize that they aren't playing anywhere near that level of competition. Dumbing it down would do them a world of good

6-6) This Guy's Good: Everything is in balance. This is a well seasoned player with elements from all pools (even Professor of Dumbfuckery). Every hand played is near their A-game, every decision poured over using relevant information and a thinking process of equal weight to their opponent. They don't overthink and they don't underthink. They are comfortable playing at any level on the "leveling chart". Their ego is in check, their bankroll strong, their passion for the game is high. They are as comfortable calling for stacks with King high as they are with folding the 2nd nuts. Some of these guys go on to do great things. Some never move up. Some even exist at low stakes.

Hopefully you all are on your way to being a 6-6)

Best of luck at the tables!


-----------------------------------------


Reflection:
I am definitely 5-3. I am comfortable where I play, but stagnation is my biggest "weakness". My game isn't creative, I know that a more versatile game would be necessary for me to move up to higher stakes, but I am not trying to be the next durrr, I am just trying to make some money.

I have definitely been at many of the other levels in the past... where I have skills but no bankroll/tilt management. I have berated other players, and shared bad beat stories.

I am happy for the heights I have reached in poker and after many ups and downs I feel like I've beaten the game.


I will be playing a big session during the 5x happy hour later tonight. I will also play a session tomorrow which will get me very close to finishing my 9500ftps. I am going to wait until after Monday to finish the bonus (so that it doesn't screw over my rakeback for this week). When I finish the bonus I am going to take out all my money (I may leave a very small amount). Then I am going to use my FTPs to win some tokens to play some 26/90s and see if I can run something up by playing sngs. If I can't then I'll be done playing online. I also have a feeling that after a complete month off FTP might try to offer me a bonus to come back. If they make me a good offer for some free money, then I might make a quick return and just grind out a bonus. I've also thought it might be fun to pick a big tournament to play before I quit... I'll update on that later.

-Boooom

Rebound

Just played a 2hour+ session where I got in 2k hands in at 1/2. Won about 3 buyins. So it helped alot after losing over 4 buyins earlier today. Also got 1400 ftps... and the majority of the time I was playing it was during the 5x happy hour, so I just got a ton of FTPs in my account.

I feel alot better than earlier, but still think the whole quitting after I finish the bonus is a solid idea. I should get some play in tomorrow night. Only 3k more ftps to release my bonus!

-Boooom

1/2 madness

Just played about 1600 hands of 1/2... the good news is I got like 1200 ftps. The horrible news is that I dropped over 4 buyins. It was just like everything went wrong. During it I definitely felt like just calling it quits for good. I need like 4500 more ftps for the bonus. I might play another session tonight since I won't be able to play tomorrow. I think once I clear the bonus most of the money in the account will be coming out. I might leave a little bit to play sngs or whatever. It's been pretty smooth sailing lately, but this reminded me of why a normal job would be nice. I don't feel like doing much of anything after a session like that. I don't want to hang out with my friends, or talk to my girlfriend, or anything. I hate this feeling and I won't miss it at all.

I'm going to eat some food, and get ready for my night session. I'll admit I may have not played my best earlier, but I also ran pretty bad. I hope it turns around tonight.

-Boooom

Getting down to business

Had a big test today in my lit class. I thought I would fail, but I think I managed to pass it. Next week is the last week for two of my classes. Then I will have a ton more time to... find a job, play poker, hang out with friends. I need to get over 9k ftps this month, and right now I almost have 4k. I need to pick it up a bit to finish this off and get the whole bonus. I am not sure how much I am going to play after this month. I feel like right after getting the bonus would be a decent time to quit (because I'll have to work off the rakeback after the $475 bonus).

At the same time I am going to start golfing and it would be nice to keep making money to pay for golf cause all those green fees can add up. I am kind of a tightwad and just don't like seeing the money in my bank account go down. I think what will probably happen is that I'll keep playing on some level until I get a job.

This weekend should be good for me as far as getting hands in. I'd like to get about 2k ftps before the weekend is over. I won $100 today in my session despite the tables not being super great. Everything seemed pretty standard, and it was a smooth session. I played the 6max KO tourny, and had a huge stack. I had almost 30k chips (avg was like 7), then I got it allin on the flop in a 3way pot with an overpair, one guy had top pair, the other had 2nd pair +flush draw, the flush draw got there and I lost the 28k chip pot. I still had like 12k in chips, but ran trips into a straight and that was it.

The recent FTP update sucks. I think they have worked some stuff out, but still have some work to do. I get more hands in, but the other little problems are such a hassle (like the window doesn't always pop up when its my turn, or in a showdown the opponents hand is distorted when it pops up). The 5yr anniversary promotions are kind of cool. I am going to enjoy the 5x happy hours this weekend. Hopefully I can take advantage of some of the other stuff too.

-Boooom

Sunday!

Got a good session in earlier. I wish I had time to play more today, cause I felt good about my game, and the tables were awesome. I played 1175 hands and won $150. I also won 80$ in a 26/90 where I took 7th. It's hard for me to say I ran poorly... but it was a super roller coaster. I had a big stack at times, one guy 3outed in in huge pots... twice. On the bubble the two times I made a shove against short stacks with 52o and 85o, I got called by A4 and AT, and they held. At the final table I ran AJ into AQ and lost, lost 88 v AK, then lastly I lost K9 v A5. Ran poor late even tho I had a big stack multiple times.

It was a good day, between today and last night I've made decetn progress on my midyear bonus. I still need to get 6k ftps more, but that should be very doable if I find some extended freetime the next two weekends.

-Boooom

Session

Finally got a cash game session in tonight. FTP just did an update, and I had heard that it was going to make them get more hands in. I was playing 12-14 tables and it definitely felt more hectic than normal. I got almost 1300 hands in... in only 85 minutes. So that is cool that they are getting more hands in, I may cut back and only play 12 tables at a time (lately I usually get up to 14). Action was nuts on my tables, super donkey night, but I ran into alot of suckouts. Finished up down $20 which isnt so bad. I plan on playing at least 2 hours tomorrow if I wake up on time and get some stuff done. I need to make some big progress on my bonus to make sure I get it in before the end of the month.

-Boooom

Recaps

May Recap

Tournaments: May was a tough month for tournaments until I won the WSOP seat for $2500. For the month I ended up +$1250 on tournaments.

Cash: All messed up because I am missing a bunch of hands from when HEM stopped working. I have record of about 9k hands where I won $575.

Rakeback: $350 in rakeback in May

Altogether it turned out to be a decent month, but I didn’t play that much because school was ending and I was graduating. So I tried to spend more time with people at school since I wasn’t going to see them for a long time. Total comes to almost $2200 profit on the month. Solid month considering my lack of playing.

June Recap

Tournaments: $850 profit on tournaments. I definitely played a lot less in June. When I did play I don’t think I played that great. I had some nice profit because I had a hot streak in 26/90s. However by then end of the month I realized that big MTTs I don’t show the patience to play them anymore. However I destroy 26/90s… the time it takes to play them is perfect (about 2 hours). I am mostly going to scrap big MTTs, and just play 26/90s while I grind cash games.

Cash: Total profit of about $500 on cash tables. I played about 22000 hands, mostly NL100 but some NL200 was mixed in on my personalized table (early on I ran like crap on my NL200 table, but by then end I pretty much broke even.

Rakeback: Just over $400 in rakeback

A solid month where I put in decent volume (22k hands). I am moving away from big MTTs, except for on occasion. Now more than ever I have to be in the right mood to play (well rested, fed, not be busy with other stuff). I think this is good, because a year ago I would play way too late into the night which is when all the tilt/playing too high would happen. My total profit for the month is about $1750.

The last two months have been solid despite my move away from poker. My life has been filled with summer school and other things that take up my time (mostly good things). I have always known I won’t play poker forever. But at this point I am pretty sure I’ll quit by the end of the year. This month the only thing keeping me going is unlocking my midyear bonus. After that I imagine I will reduce my play (maybe just try to barely keep my iron man status each month). As I get a job, and get engaged, I will work my way into a more “standard” way of life. I am really happy about the flexibility poker has given me as a part time job, and the ways I have progressed this calendar year (at the beginning of the year I was basically broke as far as a poker bankroll). My knowledge and ability to execute good bankroll management has been the biggest thing for me. My goal was initially just to make enough to buy an engagement ring (which I just picked up last week), and I have been able to consistently beat the game and make even more than that. I feel like the competitive side of me is satisfied that I was able beat the game. So barring some major change in my life, I think my days as a “semi-professional” poker player are numbered. Bring on the real world.

-Boooom

Grinding

Last two days I've played two sessions. Three 26/90s, none of them went well. Late last night I played 4 sup turbos, didn't cash in any of them. Literally lost every race or 60/40... no matter what side I was on.

Yesterdays cash session was 944 hands, and I won $75. Today's cash session was 1133 hands on NL100 where I won $1 (one dollar). Which was great because I was down as much as $140. Ran set into flopped str8, and overplayed my AQ when a guy slowplayed his set and really made me think he had a draw on A56 flop with 2 diamonds. Was happy to break even on those. Did well and won $125 on my 1/2 table where there was super donk action.

So far in three sessions this month I've gotten 1700 of the 9500 ftps I need to unlock my $475 bonus. I'll continue to work on that when I have time.

-Boooom

New Month

Didn't play at all the last week. Busy with school and life. This month I need to get my $475 bonus, so need to play alot of hands. Hopefully that will motivate me to get hands in. Just played a long session of cash while playing a 26/90. Cash I ran WAY above ev...

Was a long session so there were alot of pots, but I ran top set into a turned flush (allin on turn after alot of flop action), and I filled up. I also ran KK into AA for a full stack allin preflop and straightened out. So I made $220 on the 1800 hand session, despite an allin EV of -80. Good start to the month. I played mostly good, a few smaller pots that I didn't think I played great, but the tables were pretty good with some donation stations.
The 26/90 I played was a slow start, and was short stacked. Chopped AK v A6 which coulda given me a nice stack. But I got it rolling, abused the bubble, and got to the final table with a big stack. Things went so so early on, but the short stacks busted. I got into HU with a big stack. Playing against a guy who was super tight, but played super weird. I abused him with just over min raises every hand, and he kept folding. I had 180k to his 70k or so. Then he open shoves (which he never really did), I call KQ and lose to T3h when he flops a flush. So then I have to battle back, get the chip lead. I won a pot off him, then next hand he open shoves for 110k, I call A8, and he flushes out again with J7d. I almost came back again, but ran Q8 into QJ for the 2nd place finish. Just ran too crappy HU to put him away even though I was destroying him otherwise. Those were like $225 bad beats (cause first is $225 more), so I guess I can call it even from the run good in the cash games.

Gonna be doing some grinding to get my midyear bonus cleared. But other than that, I'm very unmotivated. I've been thinking about quitting poker, but the competitor in me makes me think I should at least keep getting iron man each month to keep that going. I'm also thinking about setting some goal for money I want to have in the bank before quitting. Cause right now my lack of goals is hurting me. I know I'm not going to play poker forever... I reached my goal of building up a roll, maintaining good bankroll management, and saving some money up in the bank. My mom told me the more I can save now the better... for when I want to buy a house. So maybe I should focus on something practical like that to keep me going.

At the same time I don't want poker to ever get in the way of the rest of my life. Once my summer school classes end in a month I will have a lot more time, but I'm not so sure I want to use that time on poker. I'm going to be trying to get a job/internship for the fall. But if I can't land an actuary job... the idea of getting some $15/hr job to get experience isn't that appealing me... when I could be making $35+/hr in poker. I'm going to focus on clearing this bonus in the next two weeks and in the meantime set some poker goals.

I should do some sort of midyear report, or month recap (especially since I didn't do one last month), but I'm not sure I'll get around to it. At least July is off to a good start.

-Boooom