160k Hand Challenge.

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

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

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

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.
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November totals and early December results

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!

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.