Bigtimin's Poker

160k Hand Challenge.

2009-06-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

Soooo, it's been 4.5 months since my last update, which is what happens every time I start a blog. I'm hoping to keep it updated more regularly, but we'll see how that works out.

I've decided to start a 160k hand challenge over the next 4 weeks. It starts today and will end at noon Friday, July 17th. I'll be playing all NL 6-max. So far for the year I've averaged 80k hands/month, so doubling my play over the next month will be quite tough, especially considering I have a wife, 3 daughters and work full-time 2 hours away from home. I'm gonna have to get in a bunch of 10k hands to make this happen and running well would be good.

So why the challenge? It's almost vacation time! We'll be headed back to Navarre Beach, FL July 25th for a week. 160k hands will give me plenty of FPPs to pay for the trip so I can Concierge how much I'll need through Pokerstars. Kinda makes it a free trip (sounds good anyway :) .)

I'll be making updates via the blog and Twitter (twitter.com/jmcleland). Til then, GL at the tables.

January and early February

2009-02-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well January was a pretty crappy month for me. Here are my results overall:

18k hands NL50 +$70 - .38 ptbb/100

68k hands NL25 +$210 - .62ptbb/100

Tourneys/FPPs ~$400

So not a great month for me at all. I started off and was +$620 over 25k hands, then the bottom fell out. I dropped steadily for the next 22k hands before finally starting back up. Overall I played 72k hands last month and was breakeven, which is a fucking grind if you've never done it. I was happy it has finally started turning around b/c I was starting to doubt myself somewhat, even though I knew I could beat nl25.

TUNICA!

Omfg this was the best trip ever. I can't say that I remember much, but from what I do it was a blast. Yankees is a solid dude and it was nice getting to hang out with him and was awesome getting to watch him win a LAPT seat. I didn't get to play any tourneys (ok, I was too drunk and passed out all day to play) but I am hoping to make plans to go again next year. The worst part about the trip is that my car broke down and us 4 guys had to ride back home with my parents (luckily they drove their Suburban to Tunica that weekend.) I am somewhat happy that it will only cost $1700 to fix it and am waiting on a new/used motor.

I'm back to work now which sucks. I was off from Dec. 5-Feb. 3 and it's amazing how fast the time flies by. The baby is growing well and mom is back to normal. It's amazing how fast they grow.

So now we're on to February. I've started off Feb. great. I won a seat to to the $1m on Stars Feb. 1 and that seemed to set it off. It put me up enough to start playing NL50 and I actually ran good and am mixing up some nl100 too. For whatever reason, I am more comfortable at nl100 then nl50 (prob b/c over 150k hands I'm still not beating nl50.) So far I'm +$628 from cash and ~$180 from tourneys, so I can't complain atm. I'm just hoping I can stay at nl50/nl100 and not have to cash out, it's amazing how much faster vpp are earned. I'm needing to get 22k to be back on pace for keeping Supernova by July. It's gonna be tough, but I can do it.

That's all for now, I'll try to get an update more regularly from now on. GL at the tables.

Starting off the new year

2009-01-09T05:09:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a couple weeks since my last update so I figured I should get to it. The holidays are over, thank god, so now I can get back to the grind. I ended up going out to Texas on New Year's Eve and spent 4 days deer hunting with my brother and his father-in-law. It's absolutely amazing how many deer there are out there. I killed 1 doe while my brother killed 2. I'm hoping to get to go out there again next season as the scenery is beautiful.

I got back late on the 5th so didn't play my first hand for the year until the 6th. My results so far:

NL25 - 8.5k hands - +$275 - 6.5ptbb/100

NL50 - 9k hands - +$4 - .04ptbb/100

I came home and ran good at nl25 so decided I should move up to nl50, where I run like shit obv. I was +165 after 2k hands, but it has been a roller coaster. I am playing nitty as hell so am gonna keep working on that, but I still think I can beat nl50, even though it's the devil, imo. I'm starting to work on position and 3 betting more so we'll see what happens there.

We're less than 2 weeks away from the Tunica trip and I can't wait. There are 4 of us going plus some of the ITH guys so it should be a blast. I'm planning on playing the $200 6max on Friday and the $300 on Saturday so hopefully someone will run good and go deep in one of the tourneys. I'll try to keep it updated a bit more, but it's hard finding the time when I'm trying to get in at least 5k hands/day.

December so far

2008-12-19T10:20:00.001-08:00

Well so far poker hasn't been going so great this month. It started out ok, but after cashing out all but $200 I've hit a wall. It's just too hard for me to play so few tables, but I have to do it. I've been hunting a lot which has cut into my playing time and it seems that even though I'm off work, there's always something to do. Hopefully I can get some time in over the next week though.

I'm actually riding on my way back from Louisana atm. My little brother graduates college tomorrow so we drove down to pick up my grandma so she could be there. It's 3.5 hours 1 way so a lot of chill time for sure. We did all our christmas shopping yesterday and have all but 1 or 2 things left. I think the kids will be pumped with everything we got them. I'll try to post more details on poker later. Til then, gla.
Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

2008-12-16T15:58:00.001-08:00

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

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 543628

November totals and early December results

2008-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

I've gotten a bit lazy updating the blog so here goes. November was one of the best months I've had in a while. I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to, but I hunted and chilled around the house quite a bit. I played 79963 hands total for the month and finished +$1857 total. Plus ~$500 from FPPs. I'm hoping to do quite a bit better this month as I'm gonna get in a ton of hands. December is starting off ok so far. I played 1k hands @ nl50 and finished -$285 cause I tilt hard sometimes. I dropped 3 bi to one donkey in no time so I decided to drop back to nl25 and get my bearings. I've been 16 tabling and have had great results so far, imo. 13k hands I'm +328 for 5ptbb/100. If I can do that all month I will be happy. 16 tabling I'm getting about 1500 hands/hr and clearing vpps much faster. I plan on trying 20 tables this weekend so we'll see how it goes.

Nearly baby time, yo. We have just 4 days til Carter will be here. I still have a few things to finish up but we're pretty much ready. I got the office done the other day which has been nice. We're using it a lot more than I thought we would so far. I can barely keep my 3 year old off the computer when I'm home though which is really eating into my playing time a little, lol. I have to work tonight but am off for 6 weeks after that! SHIP IT! It will be a great break and good time to get refreshed.

'Til next time, good floppin.

WOOT! Finally made Supernova!

2008-11-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

I officially made Supernova a bit ago which is awesome. I'll be concierging $6-700 in gift cards in the next few days which is a nice boost to the br. I'll probably cash most of it out though. I should notice a big increase in my "rakeback" since I'll be able to concierge things and get the cash put straight in my account.

I cashed out another chunk after I hit nova and have dropped back down to nl25. NL50 has been going ok, but I've ran even for about 20k hands now so I'm gonna drop back down to nl25 until I can grind it back up a bit to move to nl50. I'm gonna try to squeeze in some hands in the next couple days so I can get back up asap.

So Thanksgiving it tomorrow and I'm looking forward to a fairly peaceful day. The wife and kids will be gone part of the day so that will give me some quiet time to grind. I'm also gonna try to hunt a bit since I have deer running all over my backyard now. We're still trying to get ready for the baby, but all the major stuff is done. My list includes cleaning the garage, basement, office, deck, and everything else outside. I'm going to fry a couple turkeys either today or in the morning. I still need to find a good recipe and directions to cook it. Last year it was a bit undercooked which sucked, but I have high hopes for this year. I'll post again maybe later tonight or tomorrow.

Grinding the last few days

2008-11-23T10:03:00.000-08:00

Has been a while since I updated, so here goes. The last few days have gone pretty well. I've still gotten lazy playing, but just have lot going on still getting ready for the baby. For the last few days:

6.5k hands nl50, +$333, 5.2ptbb/100
115 hands nl50 HU, -$74, thanks dank
10.8k hands nl25, +134, 2.5ptbb/100

As you can see I moved up to nl50, which has been going well so far. I'm getting more comfortable with the $ amounts at nl50 which has been helping. I'm getting more aggressive also, but selectively. I'm so close to nova I can taste it, so hopefully I'll actually play today and get it wrapped up. Will be nice to get a $600 "bonus" from concierge. Will probably update next after I finally hit nova.

VPP to Supernova: 1872

Last few days.

2008-11-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't played as much as I would like in the last few days. I managed to put in 6k hands yesterday which was nice, but not very profitable. I cashed out quite a chunk the other day and instead of dropping back to nl25, I decided to stick it out at nl50 and regret it now. I only dropped 3.5 bi there yesterday which is nothing, but when your roll is only 500 it definitely hurts. I'm gonna stay at nl25 now for a while until I can build it back up. Then I will move back up to nl50 and lose enough that I have to drop back down, lol. I'm still running very good for the month, actually, with over 43k hands played at nl25 and nl50 and running at 5ptbb/100 on both. Can't complain with that.

In other news, we still don't have baby. We had an appt. this morning with a nurse (whom I don't like) and were in there for 30 minutes and came out not knowing anything more than I did before. We have an appointment next Monday so hopefully we will know more.

I'm still keeping on teh grind to Nova and making good progress, but slower than I like. Just spending more time doing other things than playing. Gonna put in some hands tonight and hopefully in the morning before work though so maybe I can make some progress.

VPP to Supernova: 4519

Kinda blah session

2008-11-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Just put in another quick 1k hands and finished -95. I had AA 5x and KK 11x, but only finished +16 between the two. I lost two big hands with AK vs Ax on A high flop and same with AQ. I think I played ok overall with the exception of those 2 hands. I probably won't post again til Sunday some time as these short posts are a bit tedious.

Also, I think I'm going to Tunica in January to play a couple WSOP events. Dank and another buddy from Russellville are planning on going, as well as yankees from ITH. Hopefully we can get a few more ITHers to join us. As of right now we're planning on playing the $300 6max tourney on Jan. 23 and the $300 on Jan. 24. Hopefully this goes through b/c I'm ready to take another shot at a live tourney after my results in February. Aight, off to work.

VPP to Supernova: 6187

Quick update

2008-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

So yesterday before I headed to work I played a quick 1k hand session at nl50 and ended +212. I've been on such a sick run lately. I am definitely keeping in mind that most of it is variance and that I can't really run at 13ptbb/100 forever, lol. Gonna try to get in another 1k hands or so before I head to work so will update late.

VPP to Supernova: 6403

Finally got some playing in

2008-11-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

So I finally got some playing in over the last couple days since I got my new ISP set up. Since Wednesday I've played 8k hands @ nl25 and am +308 and 1k hands at nl50 and finished +112. NL25 has been a major roller coaster with Wednesday finishing +10.5 bi for the day after 2k hands. Then Thursday morning I wake up and proceed to lose 8 bi of that in 2k hands. Standard variance imo. I ended up playing 4k more hands @ nl25 yesterday and made it all back +2 bi. Then I decided to make the jump to NL50 for the rest of the night. It started off rough with me dropping 3.5 bi in 500 hands. I lost AK on an AxTA board to TT as well as set-under-set which always sucks. Even had a flush under flush which hasn't happened in quite a while. I ended up grinding it back though and finished +2 bi so I was happy. I have to get used to the monetary swings @ nl50 or I'll never be able to beat it. It's so easy to throw around a bi @ nl25 but I'm more cautious at nl50 even though it's the same game. I can definitely tell The Poker Mindset is still having a positive effect on my game. Even though I have tilted some (headhunting mostly) I've been able to make myself stop.

So the dell guy just came (while I was posting this) and replaced my LCD, keyboard, palm rest, and wi-fi antenna so now I pretty much have a new system except for the video card, ram, and hard drive. Hopefully this will last me a bit longer until I can buy a new system.

I won't get to play much this weekend b/c I have to work and will be driving back and forth every day which means I'll get home around 8am and have to leave again around 3:30, I can usually squeeze in 1k or 2k hands before I leave though. I'm having the best month I've had in a while so I need to keep grinding. 30k hands so far this month so I'm about 20k behind where I want to be. I really think I can make it up and hit 100k this month which is my goal. I'm gonna try to get in a quick session before I leave this afternoon so I'll post back this afternoon.

VPP to Supernova: 6623

The Poker Mindset and other stuff

2008-11-11T13:45:00.001-08:00

So I finally finished reading The Poker Mindset by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger (ITH.) I must admit that I am very impressed with the book overall and think it was very well written. It brought up a lot of new concepts to give you a more in-depth look at the psychological side of things. I would highly suggest that every poker player reads this book.

I haven't gotten much playing in over the last few days. I was off all weekend but only got in around 4k hands. Mainly due to the fact that I cancelled my old ISP b/c it sucked and am waiting on my new service to be installed Wednesday, so I was stuck using my cell phone to connect which puts me on tilt b/c I have shitty signal at the house and disconnect a lot. So rather than tilting all weekend I just kicked back and enjoyed it. I also formatted my laptop over the weekend so it took a while to get everything copied back over, which is always a pita.

It looks like we've almost finished Carter's room. We got it painted and pictures hung up and such. The only thing we're waiting on is her bed and the baby, obv. The wife is kinda thinking that she will come early, and I wouldn't be surprised. She's about to bust and it looks like she has an alien moving around in her stomach or something.

I'm planning on getting in a lot of hands Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday I will get slowed down a bit b/c of the ISP coming out and I also have Dell coming out to replace my motherboard and processor to hopefully fix my speed issues. I'll probably be getting thelaptop screen and keyboard replaced soon as well. Might as well get it all fixed now b/c the warranty runs out in January.

VPP to Supernova: 7730

Mobile posting

2008-11-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

So it seems pretty simple to post from my mobile. Hopefully this will work b/c I always have my phone with and time to kill so I will actually post. Anyway, just a quick post to test.

2008-11-07T01:59:00.000-08:00

Quick post. I've been on quite a tear lately and have been running great and playing ok. Since Wednesday I'm +$488 after 5040 hands.

NL50 - 2991 hands - +504
NL50 HU - 925 hands - -33
NL25 - 1124 hands - +18

I've been running like god at nl50 which has been nice for a change. I got the urge to play some HU today and I need to quit that. I'm not good and I tilt too easily right now. Gonna keep grinding NL25 and taking shots at NL50, hopefully I can settle in there full time soon. I should get a lot of playing this weekend, but will be in the woods quite a bit since deer season opens Saturday morning.

VPP to Supernova: 8758

Finally an update

2008-11-06T02:32:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a couple months since I updated so I decided to get off my lazy ass and post something. The last couple months have been fairly slow with moving up to NL50 and NL100 for a bit. Obv I run like shit at NL100 but NL50 has been going ok, at least breaking even now. I'm making a huge push for Supernova on Pokerstars and have nearly made it! Nov has started off well and I'm hoping to keep it rolling all month and actually have a 4 fig month again.

Enough poker for now. We are about 3.5 weeks away from Carter (baby) being here. I can't believe it's happening so fast. We are picking up the crib next week and painting her room this weekend. So much to do and not enough time to do it. I also have to decide how long I'm gonna take off work when she's born, but it's looking like 6 weeks atm. I'll see what it's like to be a 'Poker Pro" for a few weeks anyway which can either be good or can be a total disaster, I hope for the former obv. Deer season has also started so I'm trying to get in as much hunting as I can. I made my annual trip to the deer camp in October and had a blast as always. It doesn't look like I'll get another chance to go this year, but next year I will be there a lot.

The election is finally over and Obama won. What a flipping disgrace. WTF is wrong with the American people nowadays? Have all sense of morals and doing what is right disappeared? I've felt like vomiting since I heard them announce that he won, so disqusted that I can't even look at the news right now until all of this shit has passed. Anyway, that's it for now. I'm gonna do my best to post more updates and will keep a running total of VPP progress.

VPP to Supernova: 9288

Cashed out my roll last night

2008-06-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well I finally made it back up to the $500 mark last night and decided to cash out all of it (I actually had $12 left.) I plan to redeposit only if I have to in a couple weeks, but I'm hoping to have it built back up by then. I had around 2500 fpps left and discovered the 210 fpp 2 table satellites to the 100k paying 6 seats. I played 12-13 of them and won 5-6 so they definitely seem +EV to me and might be how I convert my fpps from now on. As of right now my roll is sitting at $58.37 after I donked off a bit at NL5. I also played a 2/180 turbo and finished 13th in it, which is ok I guess since I haven't been playing tourneys in a while. They seem like a good cheap way to build the roll up. I played 5 $2 HU sngs and only won 1 which sucks, but I got sucked out on hardcore in a few of them so oh well. I'm working all weekend so it will cut into my playing time quite a bit, but oh well, that's life I guess.

I finally got a chance to look at the house we're moving to and love it. It's 4br, 2 bath with a bonus room and an office. The yard is very shady and has a huge deck going out back and French doors leading from the master BR and living room. Also has a Jacuzzi in the master bathroom which is awesome, very relaxing. We should be moving in the weekend of July 4th, gotta wait until it's good and hot obv. I'll post some pics after we get in and get everything finished out. Next weekend I'll be in Louisiana again and can't wait. Then it's just a few more weeks til vacation in Florida! We're stopping off at Tunica on July 24th, then staying in Buloxi the 25th, from the 26th to August 1 I'll be chillaxin in Destin, can't wait. That's all for now.

Been way too busy lately

2008-06-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

So we ended up getting most everything moved Saturday. I wanted to be leaving NWA by noon, but at 4:30 we were still cramming stuff in the truck. We had a 24' moving truck rented which was totally filled. I was towing the wife's Millenia which was full, the Suburban was full, as well as my MIL's Xterra. Of course there are still a few things left that I will have to get and the Jeep also.

So poker has been going crappy lately. Over my last 34k hands at NL25 I'm running at 4.5ptbb/100 for a nice profit, however, there is a 20k hand even stretch in there which has been killing me. I think I am playing well, but my cards just aren't strong enough. I've lost set under set a few times (of course this was after talking to Dank about not having set under set lately) and AA not holding up preflop a few times. One of my favorite hands was AdKd aipf vs QQ, losing I don't mind, but when you flop a flush draw, turn a K and still lose on the river it's a kick in the nuts. I was a 9:1 favorite on the turn, there were 4 cards on the river he could hit (the off Q and 3 T for a gutshot) of course he hits he Q to make it even more sick.

For the month I've played 27k hands at nl25 and am running 2ptbb/100. Not horrible for how I've been running I guess, but it's 1/3 of what I'd like it to be. I still think I can manage 100k hands for the month, but it's looking like I might have to cash out most of my roll so we'll see. That's it for now.

Slow goin

2008-06-02T01:14:00.000-07:00

Well June is starting off slow. Have only gotten 1.2k hands in and am -$45. It started off fairly well and I was +90 soon, but dropped over the last 400 hands I played. I cashed out $500 yesterday so that is definitely a big hit to the br, it's at around $275 atm. I've been playing NL50, but am going to drop down to 6 tabling NL25 until I get back to around $500, which hopefully won't take too long. I've decided that I need to get more active in the ITH NL forum so I am going to start posting 3 hands every day for review. Hopefully this will help smooth out my game a little and fill in the voids. I'm definitely feeling very well about how I'm playing and have definitely learned a lot over the last 2 months.

I'm not sure how much playing I'm going to get done over the next couple weeks. I'm going to try for around 3k hands/day, but it will be tough. I will have both my girls at home all week so it will slow me down a bit. Oh, and there's the whole house packing thing so we can be ready to move by Friday. That's all I've got now.

HU and end of the month

2008-06-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

So I got the HU itch over the last couple days. It started off we and I was +3 bi over 1.8k hands, which I was ok with, then tilt hit. I dropped to -400 at 3.8k hands, but ran it up to -$14 at 4.5k hands, tilt again and it ends at -$412 over 5.4k hands. I have to stay away, but that game is too addictive.

For the month:
Overall I'm happy with the month. It could have definitely been better, but it could have been worse. The first 3 weeks of the month I was working on the stake which was very swingy, since then I've been running great at the tables. I only played 68k hands this month, which is around half what I wanted, but dropping to 4 -6 tables slowed me way down. I do think I am move +EV now though even playing less tables. Since the stake ended I've played 5.5k hands NL50 6max and am running 7ptbb, I'd love to be able to keep this as my earn rate and definitely think it's possible. NL25 I'm runinng even hotter at 14ptbb/100 over 6.8k hands.

I'm going to try to play 100k hands in June, but it will be tough. With the move and adjusting to the new schedule and stuff, but I think I can do it. Here's the graph for the month and goal results:

Goal: $1400.00
To date: +$420.90
Need: $979.10

Finished up for the night

2008-05-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

So I just finished my session for Wednesday night. It started off slow, but eventually I came out on top. I'm feeling really good about my play so far, and running good is helping. So far this month I've played 6775 hands NL25 for $485.55 profit, 14ptbb/100. I definitely don't expect to run at 14bb/100 forever, but it is nice when it happens.

Goal: $1400
To date: $+$446.40
Need: $993.60

Been a while

2008-05-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

So my last entry was a couple weeks ago. I've been horribly busy lately. I spent the last weekend at my Grandma's house in Louisiana which is always nice for a change. Everything just seems to move a little slower down there and it was nice to see family that I haven't seen since November. While I was there I finished up my stake, finally. I finished +$65 or so, which is ok since I was -$550 at one time. My staker has offered to let me run it again, which I plan to do in a few weeks. I've decided to drop back down and play NL25 6max for a while. I want to be able to 6-8 table while keeping my vpip/pfr up to where it was when I quit playing NL50. Since Sunday I've played 4611 hands at NL25 and am +$378, running at 16ptbb/100 which is amazing. Last night I played around 4k hands which is where I made $330 of that. I'm hoping to run at around 7-8ptbb/100 at NL25. My vpip/pfr is 14/12 right now, so I need to get it up a little. I'm wanting to be around 17/14, so I'm pretty close.

Also in the last couple weeks we've decided to move back to Russellville. I am definitely looking forward to it and think it will be a change for the better. We're planning on moving June 6th, which bring me to the last point of my post.

I'm estimating that I will need around $1400 for the move for rental truck, house deposit, and other utility deposits. I've decided that I want to pay for all of this with poker money, so I'm gonna give it a try. I actually decided this yesterday so we will put the start date on May 27, and stop date will probably be June 4th, to allow me time to cash out before the 6th. I'll keep a running total daily of my progress.

Goal: $1400
To date: $+$339.15
Need: $1060.85

Running like absolute crap

2008-05-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

So I haven't felt like updating lately. Over the weekend I played quite a bit, I started out ok, but quickly had a 5 BI downswing, that's tolerable but I quickly recovered and got it back to even. Then I had another 5 BI downswing, I can handle that, 6 max is known for it's high variance anyway, I quickly got it back up to nearly even, then hell hit. Over the next 10k hands, I've dropped 20 BIs, which absolutely sucks. I have definitely taken my fair share of beats lately, but I am seriously doubting my game. I have noticed I've been playing differently in a lot of spots. Since the downswing began I have played over 6 tables at a time (compared to the 12 I was playing), and I've mostly been 4 tabling. I'm really trying to get my vpip/pfr stats to where they should be and actually concentrate on other players and make more profitable plays, instead of just blowing and going w/o thinking too much. The odd thing is that I've been losing a lot more since I've started to slow down, which is to be expected when you're trying to adjust from vpip/pfr 13/9 to 17/14. right now I'm playing around 16/11, so need to get my pfr up a tab bit more. Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon or my backer will probably shoot me. Til the next update, gl at the tables.

May so far.

2008-05-09T03:31:00.000-07:00

May is starting out great. On May 1 I was talking to a friend of mine and he asked if I would like him to back me so I could play NL50 with a proper bankroll, I agreed and off I went. At the end of April I started mixing up Full Ring with 6max and was having good results at both, but 6max was going a little better, so we agreed that I will play 50k hands at NL50 6max. So far I've played 26k hands and am +$460, 1.8ptbb/100. This is a bit low but over the last 4 sessions I've had 2 5 bi drops, so I expect this to go up, I really hope I can get somewhere around 3-5, but we'll see. Today I played some tourneys, won a 5400 FPP satellite to the $1m for $215, then won a $10.70 DSO for another $215, so that was nice. I tried to win a couple seats to the San Jose qualifier, but didn't luck out. Gonna try to get 2-3k more hands in today hopefully so we'll see how that goes.

Getting Started

2008-05-09T03:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I've tried the whole blog thing several times and I always quit posting after a couple weeks. Hopefully this time I will continue updating my blog instead of forgetting about it.

I have been playing online poker now for nearly 3 years (wow, weird to say that.) I started out like most people, a losing player, until I found Internet Texas Holdem. I learned there how to play Limit Hold'em, which was my game of choice for around a year while I built a bankroll. Then I discovered NL Hold'em Tournaments. They're like crack, you just have to have more. I focused on tournaments for around 1.5 years and had some decent success, but nothing great. My biggest score actually came this year at the Oklahoma State Poker Championship, where I finished 4/754 in a $300 event for a cool $13k. Sometime late 2007 I decided to start focusing on NL cash games. It seemed as if all the Limit games had gotten tough and the fish were at NL, so that's where I went, which brings us up to now.

2008 started off slow, my bankroll was nearly void, around $200 in January. It had actually slid down to $15 at one time and I slowly rebuilt it. I started playing NL10 6-max and it went great, but when I went to NL25 6max, things were different. I was having a tough time beating it, along with my buddy Dank. We decided to both make the jump to Full Ring games. I have now played over 100k hands at NL25 Full Ring since mid March and have had good results. During April I decided to start playing seriously and logged over 100k hands at mostly at NL25. I tried moving up to NL50 several times during April, but every time I had to drop back down to NL25 and rebuild, I just couldn't beat NL50 for some reason. I ended up with around $1500 profit in April, which I was definitely happy with. The mail problem was that I kept having to cash out for "real life" stuff, which was stunting my growth as a player. That's all my history and brings us up to May.