Casino Play Better, Home Game Worse...

Now, this is a switch.

For as long I've been playing poker, I've held my own at the home games, but been very inconsistent at the casinos.  Part of the reason is that I've played most of my casino play in Minnesota, where the cash games are limit poker only.  That's the only time I ever play limit poker, and I've never been a winning player in that game.

Lately my issue has been losing in home games.  I'm afraid my play has become too predictable.  Am I running bad?  Playing too many hands?  I've focused on not playing out of position.  I'm really confused about why my results have changed over the past several months.  I think the remedy is some time off.

Maybe I'll hone my skills online at low stakes for a while, and go back to the live game refreshed and less confused.

It's not good to play poker confused.

Respect the Game

This has been a tough week.  On Sunday I lost a personal friend who died unexpectedly and way too young.  It has also been a busy week, with more than usual routine "errands" to deal with.  I have ended up coming home late in the evening, logging on to PokerStars, and escaping reality for a while.  Last night, I was tired but logged on and played anyway.  It is relaxing to get your mind away from the affairs of the day.

Well, it turns out that I was so tired, I actually turned my brain off (which on some level was probably good under the circumstances) and played poker in a mindless escape from reality.  In recent nights I have played well, gotten some good hands, been patient, and turned $1.36 into over $20.  Last night was different.  I had been at the funeral home, and it was difficult.  I logged on out of habit and hopeful to return to my recent success at the table.  After all, I had to miss my weekly Wednesday night home game because of the funeral services.  Anyway, I played until I was dozing off to sleep and had mindlessly gone through seven $1 re-buys at the same table before I woke up and logged off for the night.

Poker is a solace at times, and occasionally luck can make winning easy.  However, as I have found in the past, playing poker as an escape from reality clearly does not pay; in reality performance and mental sharpness matter, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill.

Roller Coaster Month

Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is to get lucky.  Recently I was fortunate enough to increase my bankroll by almost 50% in a session of 13 hands!  I played only 2 sessions that day, each for only $1.  The first one went 9 hands, and since I doubled up, I had to leave by the blinds.  The second one went a whopping 13 hands, and after doubling up (or better) right away, I caught another monster hand in a 3 way pot and turned my $1 buy-in into $9.32!  That was the good news.
The bad news is that I apparently came to expect that kind of luck a little too much, and began taking too many chances again.  The result has been a month long roller coaster ride and an effort to get back on an even keel so as not to play like a maniac just so I can double or triple up real fast.
Could my bankroll have been better off without the windfall of luck?

New Challenge!

Here are the results from Month #1:
Now that I've been trying to freeroll my way back into the game, I've found that I need to start with some $. The good news is that the freeroll circuit has taught me to appreciate having and protecting a bankroll again.

Bottom line, deer_nevets transferred back to me a dollar I'd deposited in his account a couple of years ago. So I've started the challenge again, a 4th time, but this time WITH ONLY $1.

Heading to Vegas

To be honest, the last 2 weeks have not been confidence boosters for my upcoming trip to Vegas. I'm doing pretty well in tournaments, but my cash play has not been very productive, in fact, I've lost $660 in the last 3 weeks, including -$500 at the Hollywood on Friday night July 3. In that time, I've won $200 in tournaments. I've also gone from just a couple of bucks online up to $7.99 and back down to below $1. Not exactly the same sense of invincibility I was feeling a couple of weeks ago. Dawson said that is probably a good thing. Maybe I should be a little guarded as I wander out to places like Bellagio, MGM Grand, and the Golden Nugget. I think I'd rather head out feeling at the top of my game, but maybe it's best to be reminded how poker can turn on you before the trip than finding out again on vacation. I was curious and looked at my longest losing streaks and overall win/loss variance. Twice before I've lost money 4 times in a row; in my last 4 sessions I've lost 3 and broken even once. That ties my two longest droughts ever. I have never lost money 5 times in a row. I also counted up how often I sit down and win money. It is less frequent than I expected: 32 of 63 times (50.7%) I've won money or broken even. So if I take the long view of my play, I really have no reason to think I'll have a bad poker experience in Vegas.

I've often said that nothing has helped my cash game like Harrington's Cash Games Volume I. Zach just brought it back to me after borrowing it this spring. I'll re-read it now and on the plane, and go out there and play smart, tight-aggressive poker and be patient for the right hand to hit. Poker is all about patience and good decision making. I hope I pack plenty of both for my trip. One caveat: this trip is going to be all about time with my wife. She obviously supports my interest in poker, but I don't want to leave her stranded on our trip together. We will discuss it and I know we will arrive at the best balance of poker and time together. BTW, here is how my live poker bankroll looks now. And, for the record, $500 of it is on hand in cash, the rest has been spent on things like rent at UC and vacations. I have some cash in the bank I think I'll take along just so I can play in some of the best poker rooms on earth.

A Fresh Look at My Bankroll

The WSOP satellites are over now, and I never really got as close as I did that first week or so. One other time I was in first place at the break of an 81 player tourney where only one player qualified for the WSOP. I "played to win" and not to survive till the final table. I ignored the fact that 2nd-13th place paid several hundred dollars. Ooops! I became too fixated on going to Vegas in First Place. Duh, I should have survived and put myself into position to get the money and a chance to win at the final table. I spent a little more money overall trying to qualify online than I initially thought I would, but it was spread out over several pay periods, $15 at a time, and only had to get into my live-game poker stash once to pay for it (near the end when I decided to do a re-buy satellite, mentioned above.) I am happy I tried, and satisfied overall with my performance. Next year perhaps fewer tries....just like online cash play, too much is too much in a short time.

Throughout the same time period as the WSOP satellites, my live cash game play has been on a roll. I have only really lost in Minnesota where the cash game is a limit game, which I am less informed about. I have won a lot of money in both cash and tournament formats in both home and casino games since April. I was invited to the Honnerlaw Wednesday night game, and placed in the money in both tourneys so far. I am very confident in my game right now. Check out my live-game cash bankroll below:

This chart dates back to July '05 and includes every single live game in which I have played, including cash games and tournaments. It shows my bankroll in terms of net profit/loss, which now stands at an overall profit of $1,580.00. Although I have recorded every single buy-in since I began playing for money, only recently did I decide to create a chart, as I have done so consistently with my online bankroll. The first thing that struck me after creating this chart was the fact that only once throughout my time playing live poker was I a "losing player." The first time I ever played I showed a $3 profit, and the second time I played I lost $20 for an overall loss of $17; the only time in my life that I've shown a net loss in live poker.

I found this "discovery" to be quite impressive. Though I've lost money in several individual sessions, I can say without equivocation that since June 2006 I have not shown a net loss in my overall poker bankroll in any one year period, and my bankroll has never dropped to zero.

Another interesting fact revealed by my thorough record keeping involves my performance in limit hold 'em. I have a net loss of $380 in limit games. I only play limit hold 'em in Minnesota where no-limit is not allowed except in tournaments. Even with this considerable drain on my bankroll, my net profit since I began to play live games for money in July '05 is $1,580.00.

Knowing all of this, playing very well recently, and the long break from playing in cash games online has really been good for my attitude concerning the $10,000 Bankroll Challenge. I have also established the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour, and I exercise a lot more now. I am confident that if I play less, and don't play too late at night, that my online bankroll will slowly swell. I am not giving up on growing it to $10,000.

Good News, Bad News

My online bankroll stands at $2.13. However, I've decided to make a serious attempt to qualify online for the World Series of Poker Main Event. Pokerstars has lots of interesting satellite opportunities, and the one I prefer is the Steps qualifier. There are 6 levels, or steps you can buy into, and move up if you place high or win, and if you make 3rd-6th place on most of them you get bumped down a level or replay the current level. The first week I tried this, I made it to level 6 (on a $7.50 buy-in) and played in a $2,000 game for a WSOP package. I played pretty well, but came in 6th hitting a flush but losing to a BB special full house (he had Q4.) Since then, I have not done as well, and I'm considering buying in for more or trying the quadruple shootout. I'm getting encouragement from my wife to press on!

The good news is that my live play has been very good lately. I've profited $933 since April 16 in 4 buy-ins. Three home games, and tonight at Argosy. I had to widen the column on my spreadsheet to accommodate the 4 digit profit margin on my running total. In 49 sessions of live poker since April 2006, I've profited $1,134. This includes all tournaments and cash games at both the casinos and home games. My confidence in live poker, especially cash games, is very high right now. My summer job is promising a lot fewer hours this year, so I plan to get to the boat once or twice per week until I decide it's not a good idea. I think I stand to make a lot of money this summer at the boat.

My online bankroll experiment is not going very well, but the whole point of it was to improve my overall play while not losing money online. To that extent it has worked out well. I credit most of my cash game success to Dan Harrington's books on Cash Games. They made a huge difference in my play.

A Bankroll Booster!!

Finally a big win! I played very well and busted out when my AK flopped an Ace and the SB flopped a set of 3's.

I did not make it to the casino over break, so it was nice to get an online win.

Slumping, Big Time

It seems that I want to get all my losses back at once on every buy-in. I am playing like I am desperate. I'm also falling back into the old trap from very early on where I just play until I'm broke, as if I'm in a tournament. I've lost about $65 in 7 1/2 weeks. I need to just get away from a table as soon as I've made a little money and slowly build up a cushion, and to develop the instinct of leaving the table with a profit to grow my bankroll. Take the longer view. Duh. Oh yea, and for the 1,000,000th time, step away from the table by about 10:30 pm.

PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code:
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346575

A Tourney For Bloggers?

Wow - this might be a boost to my effort....Just found out PokerStars has a tournament just for bloggers. The World Blogger Championship of Online Poker looks like an exciting way to freeroll into some very nice prizes. I am in the process now of getting authorized for entry as a blogger -wish me luck!

My play lately has been very erratic. I am taking way too many chances trying to get lucky and double up. Specifically, I have been playing way too much in early position. I think I'm calling more and playing more hands out of boredom. In fact, when I infrequently enter a $1 tournament, I find myself not being nearly as disciplined as I used to be. It has also been about six months since I read a book about poker, so I don't think I'm playing very sharply at all. To compound the problem, I tend to play at night when I'm most tired. Bad idea. My balance now stands at $45.08. I realize this is a 50% gain on my total investment, but given the fact that I was up to $90 a few months ago, it feels more like a 50% loss.

Anyway, I hope I manage to get into the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

Bad News, Good News, BIG WIN!!

1st Place out of 3,620 for $67.50!

Of course the good news is my big win. The bad news is that I went broke last night and needed to play a freeroll to get back to having enough bankroll to buy in for $1. Now I'm up to $68.41, an all-time high in this experiment.

I must be extremely careful. Three months ago, my bankroll was above $60, and just two weeks later it was down to $30. I really need to protect myself.

I've played nearly 11 months on my 3rd and final $10 buy-in. I had to resort to FFP freerolls twice to resume play, but I am still at it. I still feel like I need a big tournament win to propel this thing. I'm getting way better at the cash game, but to play well requires concentration, and too often I'm in a cash game and multi-tasking. Enough rambling...

I'm back!

No Graphics This Time!

When the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through and we lost power, I lost my PC. It never woke up from the power being off. Since then, I have resorted to keeping records old school, hard copy style. So......no graphics.

According to my records, it looks like I was at about $22.00 when my computer crashed. Now I'm playing on Seth's PC; he and his laptop are at UC.

My plan was to get my bankroll to around $50 and then concentrate on the $1.00 huge tournaments. That is pretty much what happened, but with no significant wins, my bankroll began to melt. Careless play and bad luck followed, and I actually went to under $20 at one point. I implemented an emergency scheme to buy in for only $1 until my bankroll got back up to $30, which I stuck to all the way up to $39. The scheme also called for me to leave the table immediately after a $0.50 profit, which I did not follow all of the time. In fact, once over $30, I made a couple of huge wins, always certain to abide by Ferguson's 10% rule which I've never violated. Today I stand at $34.91 after being up to $39 last night and staying up too late. Except for last night, I am generally pleased with my bedtime.......in bed by 11:00 was the third and final rule of the emergency scheme. Violating it last night did cost me some dough. Maybe balancing a few tournaments a week with the regular ring games is the better option.... I just realize that I'll probably need a huge win to leverage my bankroll and the more big tourneys I play the better chance I'll have to do it.

I'm up about $12 in two weeks, so I might continue to buy in for only $1 for a while; it certainly minimizes my risk, and I think it might make me more careful to not risk too much of the dollar too early. An interesting note, I've always decided to buy in to the tables with the highest possible average pots since the $1 scheme began. I actually like that environment better because it more closely resembles live play at the casino, and it has more promise of bigger wins.

One Year In....

It is Labor Day, 2008. Last year on Labor Day, September 3, I began this experiment. I bought in for $10 and that lasted until October 6. I went bust and bought back in a third time December 4. I basically went broke May 8 with only $0.10 and clawed my way back with FPP freerolls until I hit big June 27 in a freeroll finishing in 2nd place for $41.50. Since then I've been as high as $61.41 and as low as $30.36, but mostly in the $30's. Today my bankroll stands at $47.80. My first buy-in lasted 4 weeks, my second 9 weeks, and my third continues 9 months and running, freerolls notwithstanding. At one point about half way through, I mentioned that if I didn't have $100 at one year I'd have to seriously consider whether I could do this. I am still determined to make it to $10,000 but it is likely to take a lot longer than Chris Ferguson did it. He got to $10,000 in less than 2 years. My time frame is looking more like Seth's college career, which is scheduled will be four more years from now as UC has a 5 year Bachelor's program. I don't know what would make me more happy; me making it to $10,000 in that time, or Seth graduating college on time!
I have learned a lot during this experiment. One important thing I learned is that I spent too much time playing poker at the computer. I learned a lot more, too; maybe as much about how to approach this experiment as how to play poker. Nothing has helped my poker over the past year more than reading Harrington. In the Spring I read and completed the Tournament Workbook - very revealing about my play - and early summer I devoured his Cash Games books.
As Ferguson's bankroll rules imply, much of poker is discipline. In future posts I'll outline what I think I've learned about discipline and how I should approach this experiment - sort of a list of Do's and Don't's and other considerations regarding this pursuit. For now, I'm logging off while it is still a decent hour to spend time with Mai before bedtime. She convinced me to accept the challenge of a running Monopoly game, which we will start tonight and play a little at a time.

Went to the Boat!

OK, all of this reading about poker and practicing online might be beginning to pay off. I played for 13 hours at Argosy (after getting busted out of the Thursday noon tournament in the first round on a really really bad call) and cashed out with $1,203. My buy-in was $300. I am finally figuring out what deep stack poker is all about, and I am beginning to enjoy ring games more than tournaments, which is a real shift for me. My online account stands at $50, so it has been a pretty good summer for poker, even though I've not played much live.

In the Right Direction

I'm pretty happy with how things are going here with one exception: I'm missing too much sleep. My constant struggle is Determination v. Proper Rest. Playing when everyone is in bed is the best time of day to play - no distractions - but the obvious consequences are frustrating. I simply must figure a way to reconcile my appetite for growth with my need for proper rest. As stated before, switching over to huge tournaments once in a while rather than daily cash game play might work, but how often am I available for a 6:00 or 7:00 pm game that lasts 5-6 hours to win, and with minimal distractions or conflicts? Perhaps I need to find the answer and accept playing a lot less.

Bankroll Stays Above $30 for Over 3 Weeks

On the face of it, the fact that I'm happy about a headline like this seems rather sad. However, my next longest previous stint above $30 went only about 2 weeks. I've invested $30 since last September, and I now stand at $46.67. I've played on $10 for nearly 8 months, and once during that time my total bankroll was a mere dime. So I suppose you could say that since September 3, 2007 I've added 55% to my $30 investments. I'm still not very good at the ring games, but I'm at least treading water. I'd like to get the bankroll back above $50 and keep it there a while. I think $50 is a big enough bankroll that I can begin to enter some really big multi-thousand player tournaments for a dollar buy-in. As I've said before, and demonstrated in my recent comeback from being way under a dollar, winning a few really big tournaments is what will propel me toward my goal. Maybe once I get above $50 I'll begin to play in one or two of these tournaments per week. In the meantime, I think my ring game play is becoming a little better and beginning to show a little more consistency. If I can play the ring games well enough to keep the bankroll above $50, I'll have enough cushion to enter some really big $1 tournaments.

Back in Business!

For only the 5th time since this experiment started about 10 months ago, I will go to bed with a bankroll over $50. Rock bottom for me was May 8 when I was down to just $0.10.

I've been fortunate to add over $9 in the two days since I hit paydirt in the 10 FPP freeroll. Incidentally, I won $85 at Argosy over the weekend in about 3.5 hours of play. With my new understanding of how cash games are played, I am very excited about the future of this experiment.

Big Win Gives New Start! Bankroll Goes from $0.71 to $42.21

Click on the screenshot to read the details of my big FREEROLL WIN! I had slipped to under $1.00 this morning, and had to go back to playing freerolls to get enough to buy in for the minimum one dollar in cash games. I very nearly won the tournament! I went into heads-up with a chip lead, and my two pair lost the final hand to a full house. I really dreaded the long climb back up to $50 to get another chance to keep it. Holy cow, if I can't keep it this time, I don't deserve to keep trying.

Back at it Again

By May 8, I was down to $0.10. I had become very busy with training for my triathlons, and then on April 28 I became the head lacrosse coach at WHS, which devoured all my time up until June 1. Since May 8 I occasionally played on FFP freerolls when I could, until finally I won enough money this week to get up over a dollar again. I really have not played much since early May.

In the meantime, I've been doing some reading. I read Harrington's Tournament Vol. III earlier this spring, and recently finished his Cash Games Vol. I. I started Cash Games Vol. II today. I'm pretty sure Vol. I won me $85 at Fortune Bay Casino in Minnesota this month. I really understand the difference between Tournament play and Cash play much better now. I hope Action Dan comes out with Vol. III for Cash Games. I found the workbook results very revealing.