Mega-Heater at High Stakes (6/20/2012)

My 5/10 shot started up with a mega heater on Tuesday night, up +$170 in 6 hours.  Pretty incredible having such a break-through!

But seriously, planning on going to the beach all day Thursday with some friends who are coming in town.  Plan to play Friday and Saturday. 

Going forward I'm in shot taking mode, but the next two weeks I'm planning to pretty much just focus on playing the weekends.  I wouldn't call it slacking, it's just summer-time and I want to enjoy the rest of my life some.

-bag

Updates and Shot Planning (6/19/2012)

Updates and  Shot Planning (6/19/2012)

Last week I put in an lol 22 hours and won +$1600. 

I’m very concerned with my work ethic at the moment, normally one of my strongest areas.  Last week I went to clubs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Obviously I was so out of it Thursday I could only stand 2 hours before leaving.  Then I put in 22 hours Friday- Sunday.

I want to put in well over 30 hours a week, but half the time the games aren’t even worth it.  Also I think I’m quite bored with mid-stakes at the moment.  I haven’t gone out like that unplanned since I’ve been a pro.  The week was supposed to be business as usual, so what the hell happened?  Usually when I get too content and I’m not really satisfied with my direction I naturally lash out and do crazy bull-shit that makes no sense.

I think there are two problems here that I plan to address:

1)  I need to take a break and step away.

Don’t ask me why.  But it is recently summer time, it’s beautiful outside, and there are pretty girls at the clubs every night of the week.  During May I put in my lowest volume as a pro (116 hours), so you think I wouldn’t need a break.  Then again that was the lowest volume month in the past 20 months.  I’m not sure 116 hours of poker in a month is a real break.  I think eventually I’m going to need to force myself to take a nice break, something like 2-3 weeks.  I’m having trouble with the balance recently.

I’m not sure if I can ever force myself to take a break that long.  But here is what I am going to do for the rest of the month:  NOT FORCE VOLUME.  For example, I have friends visiting Thursday-Tuesday.  The only days I’m going to play during that stretch are Friday and Saturday maybe.   So During the next seven nights I’m only going to play three max, there is a mini-break.  I’m also planning a big break staring July 8^th, It’s going to be a full week minimum.  Ok moving on…..

2)  I need to take another shot

There is no reason to not take "shots" (fuck I hate this word) at 5/10 right now.  My bankroll is at an all-time high, over 40k at this point.  No it’s not enough to instantly stabilize at 5/10, but it’s a great number to take shots whenever the games seem good.  I’m also up 6k on the month playing 2/5.  Even if I blow 4 buy-ins playing 5/10 I can still pay my expenses for the month, and fine whatever.  So whenever I commit to playing sessions the rest of the month I plan to bust my ass to dig out 5/10 games.  If there aren’t any good games fine I’ll drop to 2/5, but there is NO REASON I shouldn’t be looking.

I always seem to make excuses for not taking shots enough, but it’s really just bad.  There is no magical bankroll number.  Moving up is largely about work ethic and continued dedication to elevate my game to high stakes.

I also need to focus on conquering directly what is in front of me.  The next logical step is my home-town 5/10 games.  Time to step it up.

-bag    

Strong Week (6/11/2012)

I finished the week up about $2400 in 33 hours.  Sunday (tonight) I ended up losing $600 in 7 hours, sucks ending the week with a bitter taste.  But it in retrospect it was fine, one hand I lost KK < QQ in a 3-bet pot against a mid-stack giving away any profits for the night.  Then I got stacked KK < AA against a younger unknown.  Neither hand is worth wasting the energy to think about.  Just gone, let it go whatever.

If someone told me I'd log 2400 on the week playing 33 hours of 2/5 I'd be damn happy with that, so I should be fine with the week. 

Tomorrow I'm definitely taking off, maybe Tuesday as well.  I think I'll feel better after a forced break.

I know it's all about getting to 5/10, but I'm temporarily trying to keep it out of my mind.  The strategy is really to get my bankroll to a level that is too big to fail.  2/5 is a little boring for me right now, but I have to just keep logging clean volume.

-bag

Early June Upswing (6/7/2012)

Things have started very well this month.

The lucky number seems to be 1010. 

Friday 9 hours +$1010

Second half of Saturday 4 hours +$1010

Wednesday 7.5 hours +$1010

The month has started up just over 3k.  Nice to run good, but I'm obviously not letting it affect me in any way.  I need to stay focused and put in good volume.  This is a month where the pressure already feels off, I'm free to play my game and GRIND.  I have to go for the jugular.  The only way to do that is too put in the work, stick to my game plan, and hit daily targets every session.

There is really nothing I'm doing out of the ordinary.  I'm playing mistake free and I'm generally angry less.

I've also been making a big effort to study (on and off the table) and focus on physical tells.  I feel I'm making some progress.  I came up as an online player so I feel this is an area of weakness for me.  Focusing more on physical tells has actually made the game more interesting.  Even when you're not in a specific hand there is always something you can be learning.

I'm aiming to play Thursday-Sunday, so I'll update after that stretch.

-bag    

Pushing for Increased Volume (6/3/2012)

I’m currently trying to get myself in the mind-set to log increased volume for June.  Anything less than 150 hours played for this month would be a disappointment.  I’ve decided to stick around mid-stakes for the time being.  Consistent and increased VOLUME is my plan until my bankroll gets around mid 40k.  The next two weeks I’m going to try to play 5 straight nights Wednesday-Sunday per week (unless I go crazy and have to take an extra night which could feasibly happen).  I’m going to attempt to keep this schedule until my bankroll is where I want it to be.  Poker will pretty much take over my life at least this month.

I’m not even looking at 5/10 games right now.  My plan for 5/10 is simply getting my bankroll so big that I can’t fail.  I want to be able to lose 6k+++ and not flinch.  Yeah I’m conservative and take shit for it from a few players I look up too, but honestly fuck everyone else looking in giving advice.  I started completely on my own, this is my show, this is my plan, and I’m sticking to it.  I like the comfort of knowing I can pull a sizable amount out of my bankroll for any other expenses that come up.  Maybe I want to put a % of my roll back online, or I want to travel not stressed, or I want a new car.  The point is the bigger the roll the less stressed out and more flexibility I have.

And I consider my roll non-replenishing.  Sure I could try to borrow money from family with money, but really that’s not me.  I’d rather absorb the torture and do everything myself.  I started alone, and I’m aiming to keep it that way.  There is no reason I shouldn’t be able to slash my expenses, bust ass at mid-stakes, and save up the final 15% of my bankroll needed myself.  Yeah it will suck at times, but that’s life.

The first 17 hours of June were shaky at times, but I ended up with an ok win.  For the second straight week I won all of my profit on the weekend ($1500 total).  I was extremely close to a huge weekend, but a few pots went horrifically bad.

Friday I limp re-raised the biggest fish on the table with AA $15 to $100 around 3:30 a.m.  The flop came K J x and his KJ some-how flopped top two and held.  That single pot cut my profit from 2k to 1k for Friday.

I came into Saturday refreshed and ready to go.  The first 4 hours I grinded up about $250.  Then I get AA all in pre-flop and LOSE to AA.  The board runs out a flush to smash me for $700.

“Ok no more diamonds and I’m good….. TURN diamond….. do not put that fourth diamond you whore ass fucking dealer…. River DIAMOND…. And I’m fucked wow.”

I’m not sure why losing AA vs AA tilted me so bad (I mean I lose big pots for two outers weekly), but my mind pretty much blew up after that.  I actually left the casino and went home down $500 for the night.  After a while I REALLY regrouped and came back to log 4 hours on Saturday and win $1500, so I finished Saturday up $500 and yeah I’m fine with any profit. 

-bag