Bad November and Going Pro Thoughts

It's Tuesday November 23rd and I might not log another hand for November.  I've already played 170 hours this month between online and live, so the volume has been good.  However it's been a very bad month profit wise.  Online and live for November seemed to hit a brick wall at the same time.

What I'm Making vs Corporate

Since I went pro I've constantly been comparing what I made playing poker per month to what I would have made if I stayed in corporate.  I haven't been obsessively comparing this way, but it's something I keep in mind.  For the month of October I made more than double what I would have at my old job.  This month I made about HALF of what I would have.  Even if I didn't make a dime in November I still would have earned the same amount for October/November combined.

However, the dollar amount compared is just one of many factors.  Besides, poker results are going to naturally fluctuate on a month to month basis.  I'd need 6 months for an honest "What I'm making now vs then".  It's not all about money though.  There are a good amount of advantages to my current path even if I have months where I make less than I would have in corporate for a given month:

1)  My expenses are less. 

Pretty much all I do is play poker.  I don't blow money partying once or twice a week.  I've been taking my roommate out for dinner once a week, I mean that's about it.  Also, my gas expenses have gone down at least $250 per month.  Also, I don't pay $130 monthly for parking anymore.  The casino now gives me free parking.  I also get comped about $300 per month that can go towards free food.  So the money I save on gas, food, and parking (about $680 per month) could actually be used to pay my entire rent monthly.

2)  I feel more in control of my spending.

Even if I have a very down month I can slash my spending and get by only using a few hundred dollars for a given month.  It's a golden rule for whatever you decide to do in life:  simply spend less then you make and you're fine.

3)  I have freedom

The most freedom I've had since college.

4)  I can work hard to give myself a raise.

The sooner I get to 2-5 permanently, the more money I'll be making.  I can also continue to work hard to add more tables and improve online.

5)  New town, awesome experience, and great change of pace.

I feel like I'm doing something most people don't get to experience and it's fun.

Done for November

This weekend went below average live again.  Less than $400 in profit.  1-2 has really brutal below average stretches and I'm in one of them right now.  I still need about +$1700 in profit before I hit my goals and mix in 2-5 games.  Hopefully by January I can clear $1700 more at 1-2, but I really don't have complete control of that.  If I run like November, no way.  If I run like September or October yes it should happen.

Thanksgiving is Thursday, so I'm going to leave town tonight.  I can either drive 3 hours tonight, or 8 if I leave tomorrow.  The choice is mine!  So I'll be taking a break and spending time with friends/family at least until Saturday.  After that I might go to NY a few days.  I'm most likely not playing any online while I'm home.  I have my computer set up in NJ, and don't want to lug around 2 monitors and 2 machines for 3 days.  Besides, this time should be spent with family and friends. 

So I should resume the grind sometime next week.  I'm thankful I have the freedom to take an awesome break.  I'm very happy I planned this out where I don't feel "stuck" or overly stressed even know November royally sucked.  I have enough money saved to absorb bad months for a long time if need be.  Once I get back it's grind-time until Christmas break.  Take care everyone!

27 Days Straight

As of last night I have played poker 27 days straight (at least 6 hours each day).

Tonight I am FORCING MYSELF to take a break and going out etc etc.

I got hammered online this week for -$600 in about 24 hours.  My EV was also -$600 and I ran terribly so sounds about right.  In the upcoming weeks I want to commit at least 4-5 hours a week to studying top player's hands.  Study is a focus that has really slipped from my shcedule during the last few weeks.  If online doesn't pick up after a month I'll do whatever it takes to keep improving.  Maybe I'm missing something?  However, right now I feel like I'm still improving on my own.

Anyways back to the live tables this weekend before Thanksgiving break.

An End to a Miserable Live Week (11/15/2010)

I finished down -$185 in about 34 hours live this week.  I busted my ass and tortured my schedule, I really did, but it just wasn't happening this week for me.  The slump just went to first losing weekend in a long time.  It was just absolutely brutal this weekend.  I hit some variance and EXTREME card dead most of those 34 hours, I wish I could say I was kidding.

When you run like shit it's pretty frusterating.  You see people sit down and stack up to +$1,000 NO PROBLEM, it's just so easy.  They run like God, hit 5 sets, get dealt JJ+ 5 times in an hour, you know the usual.  Meanwhile, there you are in seat 5 folding out your standard 59o preflop.

I chased a really profitable game Saturday night until 8:50 a.m in the morning.  I thought I could turn a solid profit the entire time.  To bad I was literally card-dead from 1:50 a.m to 8:50 a.m.  In a game where people were betting $20 blind pref-flop I literally did not get dealt JJ+ ONCE, not one time.  Nor did I flop a set once (though that was standard this weekend as well).  I got dealt AK 4 times during that span, but missed the flop every time.  Every time the pot was three or more players, and contained at least one queen and or one jack.  Absolute shit. 

Eventually at 8:50 a.m I made a mistake and shoved all in pre-flop with AK to try to go after a player I'd been watching for 4 hours.  Well it wasn't really a mistake, but it was over-aggressive.  Any other time I would have folded the hand, but against the 3-betting villian it was correct.  The 3-better was a really bad player, and I wanted to single him out and/or steal the pot.  I thought I could easily have him dominated or use my tight image to fold him out.  He had AK as well, but a nit who had just sat down pre limped, then ended up blindly calling my 4bet with QQ and held.  Oh sweet some dude who was sandwhiched between us got dealt QQ within 5 minutes!!!  I hadn't seen a hand that strong dealt to me in the last 5 hours.  But anyways that knocked me down on that session.  That was the biggest mistake I made all weekend, very uncharacteristic of me.  But it serves me right for fucking up my schedule and staying up at such a crazy hour.  I should have ended at 5:00 a.m on Sunday morning and logged up +$280 on the night and accepted it WASN"T MY NIGHT.  I was incredibly disapointed in myself for really messing up my schedule and losing discipline there.  It's almost NEVER worth it to stay that extra few hours when things are going horrifically live, you just have to keep your schedule in mind. 

This Sunday sealed the weekly loss as I lost -$230 in 6 hours.  Most of it gone on an all in overpair on a flop.  There was $60 in the pot, and the guy calls my $110 all in on a flush draw.  What do I have to raise to get these idiots off a flush draw?  My House?  He binks the river, so there goes that session.  I was also dealt AKo 4 times I believe.  Not once did I flop anything worthwhile.  I stole at least two of the pots that went heads up, but the other three I could not.  Same deal with any AQ or AJ I was dealt.  Was dealt AA once, took down a small pot.  Was also dealt QQ once, which could not hold up on an all in pre against a short-stack who held with AK.  Oh sweet must be nice to hit a KING on the flop in that situation.  I think my last 10 AK's dealt live have whiffed the flop.  Also not one set flopped like usual tonight.  Tonight was bad, but I didn't make any mistakes.  If it wasn't for that suck-out on the river I would have still been up on the session.

So a really bad week and I'm not in a great mood right now because of it.  So exhausted, should get to sleep by 3:00 a.m tonight which is really early for me.  Man do I need sleep.

Bad week, but I guess most people have those occasionally.  I had won the last 8 weekends live played, so it had to come to an end sometime.  Meh, what can you do. 

So my schedule during the upcoming few weeks should be something like:

Mon 15th - Wed 17th (All online)

Thurs 18th-  Forcing myself to take off a day from playing poker.  Going to dinner with my roommate and then probably going out later.

Friday 19th- Sunday 21st  (All live.  Doing everything I can to break out of the live slump and log another solid win)

 Monday 22nd (online)

 11/23- 11/26  (No poker.  Home for Thanksgiving.  I might play some online while home, but probably not.  Friends + Family!)

11/27- 12/1  (Most likely taking a needed vaction and visiting Manhattan)

12/2- 12/3 (Grind)

12/4 (party)

12/5- 12/22 (Grind)

-bag

Best Online Session in a Month (11/11/2010)

This isn't a joke.  Absolute ROLLER COASTER of a night.  The first 4 hours (discussed in my last post) represented the worst online net loss I've had in a month.  Then I come back the next 4.5 hours and log the best net profit session I've had (probably during the last year).   I just finished my last 4.5 hours from 12:50 a.m- 5:30 a.m up +$494.  So I won 10 buy-ins in 4.5 hours of play.  This completely negates the session earlier and I finished my online session this week actually up +$66 in 24 hours.  I'll take it, never been so relieved to be up just over a buy in.  Everything went wrong this week until that last session.  Also keep in mind I'm still clearing the VPPs and FPPs from playing 8-10 tables for a good amount of hands.  It was a struggle but I did my job online this week.

How to win 10 buy-ins in 4 hours:

(It's only fair)

First drag a $185 pot with AKs.  A short-stacker pushed $18 all in pre over my open and I called.  I was relieved another guy behind me also called.  With the short-stacker out of the way there I was, myself and the 61/7 toolbox left to fight it out.  This was going to end in disaster or fortune.  Board

Kc 2c 4d Ah 8c

I didn't want to push this all in pre-flop because we happened to be deep stack for this format.  I bet $20 on the flop villain calls.  I shove $50 on the turn he CALLS.  Villain shows JJ.  WOW.  I know it's normally a good play because the two outer comes against me every time, but for real?

Next, attack one of your most hated regular's blinds and stack his stupid ass.  I stole with 8Ts and turned a nut straight.  He instantly stacked off with a doomed set of nines.  His fault, he could have raised me out pre-flop but he wanted to play for the big pay-off (like I'm going to ever pay his set-mine off anyways, haha).  I know this guy was shocked, he couldn't have had the 8Ts hand in my range.  +$140 pot there.

Next hold up all in preflop AKo > A5o.  I open from MP and a psycho jams me $54 all in pre-flop.  I had to call based on the villain.  +$108

KK > JTs +$103.  All in on the flop over-pair kings holds against top pair T, jack kicker.

KK > JJ +$108.  All in preflop here against another bad player.  Kings made a come-back during this session big time.

KK > AA +$100.  This time notice we get dealt KK vs AA (like every session), but wait WE ACTUALLY HIT A KING.  No remorse because he smooth called the $12 3 bet pre with AA despite only being 50BB deep.   It's going all in anyways, feels good to suck out for once.  I certainly never get the situation where I'm dealt AA over my opponent's KK deep-stacked so again no remorse, it was nice to have some justice.

JJ > 88 +$100.  The two outs miss.

TT > KK +$100.  Set mined to hell.

66> KJs +$100.  Flopped set holds against top pair king, jack kicker?

AA > J9 +$90.  Overpair holds against top nine, jack kicker.  Go figure.

KK > JQo +$80.  Overpair holds against top pair quee, jack kicker. 

And that's really the idea.  One of those incredibly rare online session where for a few hours EVERYTHING seemed to be going right for me.  I'll enjoy it until next Monday, when it's back to being sucked out like usual.  I'm glad I finished up the online part of the week week as scheduled and kept fighting.  I really feel I'm improving weekly.  If the live tables are slow tomorrow (Thursday night) I might even put in another online session Thursday night around 2a.m- 6a.m.

The biggest question mark I had going into playing full time would be my ONLINE progress.  The last three weeks I'm doing enough to get by online, which is really exciting to me:

Week 1 (10/25- 10/27):  +$749 in 27 hours

Week 2 (11/1- 11/3):  -$50 in 25 hours

Week 3 (11/8- 11/10):  +$66 in 24 hours

SN Bonus + Tournament Freeroll Cash:  +$2,000

Even if I manage to play just break even during next week or two I'll still be up because I can begin clearing another $1,500 Supernova bonus.  My goal is always to do everything I can to profit every session, but it obviously doesn't always work out that way.  The bonuses are a great security net.

It's 6a.m my schedule is slightly off, but I feel great!

-bag

EDIT:  It's 6:30 haha.

Worst Online Session in a Month (11/11/2010)

I just finished up my worst online session in a month.  Down -$267, so lost about 5 buy-ins in 4 hours of play.  I needed a break so ate something and wrote this post to justify some of it.  Really the bullshit I experienced during that last session was pretty unthinkable.

How to lose 5 buy-ins in 4 hours:

First get dealt KK into AA twice and lose two full fucking buy-ins.  Each time I had to run into guys with full buy-ins rather then short-stackers.  That’s a great start.  It’s amazing BOTH hands I actually put the opponent’s on KK pre and almost folded.  Both times they made unusual min-raises pre-flop.  Both were opponents who 3-bet rarely as hell, much less make a strange min-raise pre from MP.  So both times I ended up calling pre-flop.  The boards ran out low each-time.  I check raised all in and got fucked by AA both times, almost identical.  In the future I think the strategy would be just 4-bet them preflop to a reasonable amount.  If they 5-bet the only hand they could be playing is AA when considering these types of opponents.  This might sound sort of crazy to people reading this, but based on the stats I have on the villains I can actually get away from these hands.  Then again, it’s never a terrible mistake stacking off with KK pre, just the worst session ever whatever.

Next, stack off a full buy in to a 64/40/20 bomb retard.  Get all in on the turn with KT on a K T 6 J flop.  He will have the AQ of course.

Next get all in on the turn against a calling station 30/13.  I’m holding Ah Kh.  He has Ks Ts.  Board:

Kc Qs 8s 9c

RIVER:  4s

THANKS!

Next, get all in pre-flop with AK.  Three way pot for $100.  We all have AK.  Oh put the 47/18/9 dude has AKs.  He runs out 3 fucking clubs and stacks me.  So there’s another -$50.

So KK vs AA twice= -$100

Stack off with two pair to bomb retard who’s holding the miracle nuts= -$50

AK < AKs= -$50

That’s - $200 right there.

I’m going to keep going because they shit I saw in the span of 4 hours actually made me dizzy thinking about it.  When the session was over and I looked at hands, just WOW.

Ok so next.

AA < A5s  That’s -$35 more gone.  That’s what happens to my AA.  I’ve never sucked one out holding KK in my life, but the opponent sure as fuck has no problem doing it calling a $6 raise pre with A5s.  He flops the flush draw and goes $22 all in.  Another incredible flop.

Now let’s through in the COOLERS/SUCKOUTS.  COOLER SUCK-OUT REMIX BABY:

JJ < KK all in pre -$20

QQ< AQ all in pre -$20

AA< JJ all in pre -$20  (Can’t win with AA pre or KK, why am I even playing at this point?)

QQ < KTo all in turn -$20.  All the money goes in I have 90% equity, but he peel s one of his 7 outs on the turn.

Oh can we get a COIN-FLIP?  COULD WE WIN ONE?

AK < TT all in pre -$20

AK < QQ all in pre -$20

So that’s -$320 adding all that up.  So that’s about right, that’s how you drop 5 buy-ins in 4 hours.

I made a mistake stacking off to the bomb with top two pair, sort of.  Yeah I was bad when the money was all in, but his range his still crushed.  Also, not getting away from the two KK hands were mistakes, because I didn’t trust my instincts that they had AA.  Both times here was the thought process:

“HE has AA, he isn’t playing any other hand like that, he has AA, he has AA, there is nothing else he could have here.  Call it pre-flop maybe you can hit a king or something.  Christ the flop is low, ok CHECK RAISE, he’s all in, FUCK IT, Show-down AA, THANKS AGAIN”.

Going Forward

Now that I have that out of my system I’ll stop talking about specific hands.  I almost want to just go out the casino live tonight and start the live sessions early this week but I won’t.  I’d probably have to get lucky to find decent action on a Wednesday night just walking in.  Then again I’m not going to lose 5 fucking buy-ins.  But I’m going to finish off the last 4 hours online this week.  I’m already down -$430 this week which almost completely erases the tournament win Saturday, it has been absolutely miserable.  Just finishing the last 4 hours mistake free is my goal right now.

I’m going to try to just stay focused an play my game after watching some South Park.  It’s going to be tough to get the last 19 hours out of my mind, but I have to, I don’t really have another choice here.

Anyways that’s all for now.  Running like shit online for extended periods is probably one of the most disgusting things a person can experience.

I'm ready for the next session though understandable a little pissed off.  Either way I'm looking forward to live this week.