Monthly Review- June 2010

June Review

Cash winnings: $1,195.60
SNG/MTT winnings: $0
Rakeback: $253.58 FPP value (7,924.38VPPs * 2.0 FPPs/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
Stellar Rewards- $50x2= $100
Current Bankroll- $2,633.94+6,389.30FPPs x1.6c= $102.23= $2,736.17
Hours played|$/hr: 62.08| $24.95/hr
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$1,549.18 profit

This was an interesting month. I felt like I made great strides in my game and ran decent for most of the month. I did have a little downswing over the last two days, but overall it was my best month ever as far as total profit.

I did have the tilt monkey jump on my should some this month but less than in the past. I still have a nasty habit of watching results. I have to break this if I am going to make it as a grinder. Both positive and negative results affect my demeanor while playing and I am sure it detracts from my winrate substantially. Its very hard to be a complete emotional robot.

For July I am setting some new rules to help remove this part of my game. Its the main cause of C-game for me and it has to be fixed sooner rather than later.

For the early part of June I was not looking at the cashier nor pokertracker after each session. I would simply put in my time, play to the best of my ability, and then leave the computer and move on with my day. It was rather refreshing and but scary at the same time. I was afraid I would check a few days later and see half my bankroll gone. I was pleasantly surprised to see I did very well during that week long period.

So for July I will do a pokertracker weekly review at the end of my Sunday sessions only. I will review hands at that time and make any adjustments I feel are necessary going forward. Otherwise I will play each hand to the best of my ability and then move on with no regrets. I will try to post here each Sunday with my progress.

So here is my June graph. I ran around 3BB/100 for 90% of the month but with the small downswing at the end, ended up at 2.5BB/100.. still my best month ever at 25NL.

Halfway through and winningest month ever

Hopefully I'm not just running good and the hard work is finally paying off. I have half the month to go and its already the most total monthly dollars earned in my cash game career.

I have about $2,400 in my playing bankroll now if I were to cash in FPPs. So $100 more and I move up to 50NL. Now if I can avoid a big downswing right now, in 2-3 more sessions and I hopefully will be there.

One thing I have noticed is I now run 14/11/2.0 instead of the old 10/8/1.5. I feel like I am now finding more profitable spots and also finding thin value bets where I used to try to get to showdown. In fact, I think that's the biggest area I have improved. I still tend to lose the least when I am behind but am now getting much more value when ahead.

Besides that, I make sure I am at or near my A game or I don't play. If I feel tired or distracted, I study the game instead of playing. This is huge imo! Lopping off the C game is very powerful. Many thanks to Tommy Angelo.

May Graph

I forgot to post my graph from last month. I am not sure of the total winnings, but its around $650-$700 after rakeback.

Back at it lately

I joined a CAT team (Catastrophe) last month and have been on the road since 5/3. I may or may not have mentioned this in the past, but my main job is as an independent auto damage appraiser. I have been doing it for 13 years and have always enjoyed it. It pays way too much for the work involved and afford me a lot of freedom as I set my own schedule. It is a great job and offers me great opportunities to pursue any hobby I choose.. including poker.

That being said, I was working 17 hour days for 3 weeks and it was really beginning to wear on me. I have managed to get some poker in recently and have built the bankroll from $400 to $1800 during the trip. I have also achieved 35k VPPs for the year and still think I can make Supernova by years end. Once I get back to 50NL the VPPs fly in. My lofty target, however, is to be grinding 100NL by September and October. A push towards 200k VPPs might be within reach if I can put in 2-3 solid months there.

I did change the game that I play in. I found that the games post the Stars changes were worse than ever. So I decided to move to a particular NL Hold'em game where it seems all of the fish have moved. I won't mention what I am playing here, I don't want all the regs doing what I am doing obv.

I am only a 1.7BB/100 lifetime 25NL winner.. but since I made the switch I am nearly a 3BB/100 winner. Cha ching.

At any rate.. I have always dealt with mind games in regards to my play. I guess I am unconsciously very superstitious when it comes to the structure of my sessions. I have found in the past that I would monitor how my sessions were going and if I got way up early I would quit.. and if I was stuck, I would play on for hours trying to dig out of the hole. I am finding out this is a horrible way to play!

So I did an experiment starting this month. I set a specific amount of time to play in between checking to see how I am doing. I basically play until my next stellar reward and then check my earnings/review hands.. then I rinse and repeat. I was amazed out how much this liberated me during my play. Now I can focus on each hand as they come and give my all to each situation. I seldom look at any results even during while I play. I stack tables so this is quiet easy. Of course, I am cannot be completely oblivious to it. If a table pops up and I'm suddenly up a ton of cash, its pretty obvious I won a big pot. I have to be careful of reverse tilt. I get those "feel good" feelings and it makes me play more hands than I should.

Now I can play as many hours/sessions as I want and focus solely on the hand in front of me and table selection. I feel this is hugely +ev in favor of my winrate. (and sanity)

I have really gotten a lot more nitty about BR management. Ever since that 50NL fiasco back in February, where I definitely got out of my comfort zone/chased losses etc... I am now much more cautious. I will not move back up to 50NL until I have $2,500 in my poker account. Then $5,000 for 100NL.

Since my current job is quiet lucrative, (I make $350-$450 per day of work) I hopefully will not have to cash out out of necessity ever again. Even though I am sacrificing a lot being away from my family, I am gaining the freedom to play more hands when I have spare time and build up the bankroll. I feel like I have improved substantially over the past few months and am really for 50NL and beyond. I follow a blog by a guy named Ronfar, who grinds 100NL and typically makes 15k-25k per month. I aspire to do half as well as him. His blog is at http://www.pairtheboard.net/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50

I'm sure anyone reading this knows of him, though. His journey is really inspirational and gives guys like me hope.

Anyways, thanks for reading this wordy post.. I will try to blog here more often since I am back to playing again. I will post my graphs as I put in hands and at milestones.