Update for the week:
Well, good news and bad news. The bad news is I suffered a $90 downswing this week. But the good news is I'm still up almost $100 for the week.
I'm a little behind my pace for total hands played, but I'm keeping it close so I'm not worried about that.
Totals so far: 22,887 hands, $521 profit, still over $15 per hour.
As an aside, I've been playing the Rush games almost exclusively, and I've noticed that the limit Rush tables are getting pretty short. Where a no-limit Rush table will have 800+ people, the limit game is lucky to have over 100. And last week I noticed at the off-peak times of day where I used to see 50-60 people there are now zero. So I'm a little worried about my bread and butter game drying up.
So I searched for some help. My biggest problem before was getting many tables running and managing them. Turns out there's a great script someone wrote to stack tables and control the action for massively multitabling. I installed it last night and it worked beautifully. It even works for multiple sites at once.
If anyone is interested I can link it. For now I forgot the name of it.
The only real problem I'll have now is still finding enough tables on FT to maximize the number of hands I'm in. Full ring limit just isn't very popular with the masses. Last night I had four Rush tables going and about three or four regular tables going. If Rush dies completely my volume will likely be cut in half if I have to rely on the regular full ring games. But there the waiting lists kill my volume. Since I typically only play 20-30 minutes at a time, if I spend 5-10 minutes on a waiting list it's a huge waste of time.
I might need to deposit on PokerStars just to get access to more tables to play. Either that or start mixing in some 6-max tables.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Week 5 update
Another solid week for me. It's getting to the point where I expect to win $30 every time I sit down, so losing $12 like I did last night felt worse than when I used to lose $50. Emotional variance I guess.
So for a running grand total, I've played 17483 hands in 26.06 hours (670 hands/hour).
I've made 1.52 BB/100 and with bonus and rb I'm up $432.90 overall for a whopping $16.61 per hour. As you can see by the table on the left I'm about a month ahead of schedule already.
One side note: I've locked up a bronze medal in Full Tilt's Ironman program. This is the first time I've ever been able to do this, and to top it off I'm quite certain I'll end up with a silver this month.
I'm starting to get to the point in my bankroll that I'm considering adding a table of 1/2 to the mix. I don't think I've very comfortable with that just yet, but it's probably going to happen soon.
So for a running grand total, I've played 17483 hands in 26.06 hours (670 hands/hour).
I've made 1.52 BB/100 and with bonus and rb I'm up $432.90 overall for a whopping $16.61 per hour. As you can see by the table on the left I'm about a month ahead of schedule already.
One side note: I've locked up a bronze medal in Full Tilt's Ironman program. This is the first time I've ever been able to do this, and to top it off I'm quite certain I'll end up with a silver this month.
I'm starting to get to the point in my bankroll that I'm considering adding a table of 1/2 to the mix. I don't think I've very comfortable with that just yet, but it's probably going to happen soon.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Quads again.
So I was sitting down for some maintenance hands just to see if I could get my auto-import hand history working right again and in less than five minutes I was down almost $20. WTF? Every hand would flop a flush draw and get sandwiched between raisers, or pair + gutshot type hands. Or double barreling AK when I missed the flop. Ahhhh!
I said screw it and contrary to every instinct decided to play my way out of it just because I was mad.
So I started by committing another cardinal sin of poker... open limping. Pocket 4's under the gun limped and immediately raised by UTG+1. Cold-called by MP, called by BB. I called. Flop bottom set with two clubs on board. I check to UTG+1 who bets. MP raises, BB calls. I call. UTG+1 calls.
Turn is another club, but also a 4 (lol quads!!!!!!!). I check again to UTG+1 who bets, MP raises, BB calls again. This time I 3-bet. UTG+1 caps, called around. So now I'm hoping I'm facing the nut flush and kings full. I bet the river and unfortunately just get called by UTG+1 and MP. $24 pot. All of a sudden I'm up about $6 in my mini-session and close the tables and count my blessings.
btw, UTG had JJ with Jack of clubs. MP had KQo.
Yes sir. Online poker still has bad players playing. Just make quads.
I said screw it and contrary to every instinct decided to play my way out of it just because I was mad.
So I started by committing another cardinal sin of poker... open limping. Pocket 4's under the gun limped and immediately raised by UTG+1. Cold-called by MP, called by BB. I called. Flop bottom set with two clubs on board. I check to UTG+1 who bets. MP raises, BB calls. I call. UTG+1 calls.
Turn is another club, but also a 4 (lol quads!!!!!!!). I check again to UTG+1 who bets, MP raises, BB calls again. This time I 3-bet. UTG+1 caps, called around. So now I'm hoping I'm facing the nut flush and kings full. I bet the river and unfortunately just get called by UTG+1 and MP. $24 pot. All of a sudden I'm up about $6 in my mini-session and close the tables and count my blessings.
btw, UTG had JJ with Jack of clubs. MP had KQo.
Yes sir. Online poker still has bad players playing. Just make quads.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Woo! I (continue to) run good
A short week for me, but a good one. 5.33 hours and 2,968 hands. 3.3 BB/100. Awesome.
Overall, 14,292 hands in 21.3 hours. 1.25 BB/100.
My total profit including bonus is over $335, or $15.72 per hour. I'm running better than I expected, but not necessarily better than I could achieve over the long term. A portion of my profit so far is $80 of cleared bonus from Full Tilt. If you take that out of the equasion I would be somewhere around $13 per hour.
If you look at my original goals I'm right on track with hands played (which is the only part I can truly control), and way ahead of schedule for winnings.
Last night's session was another roller coaster. Down about 30 BB's in about five minutes. Stuff like sets losing to a flush. Standard, but costly. Then all of a sudden I got wrapped up into about a half dozen big pots that swung me up about 60 BB's in no time. Flopping a set in a five-way capped pot. Making crying calls with just one pair in big pots when the action showed me I was beat, but holding up anyway. Once again I found myself with quads and being bet into. "Okay... I raise."
Good stuff. And the most important thing I'm learning right now is that poker is still fun for me. Even in the -30 BB in five minutes moments, I still like pounding out hundreds of hands of Rush poker. It goes so fast I don't have time to feel bad about losing a big pot. I don't have time to get bored and browse the internet or turn my mind to other things. It's the perfect balance of focus and enjoyment. The hands happen just fast enough for me to keep track of the action and make a good decision, but not slow enough to give me any extra time to let my thoughts wander.
One of my goals is going to be tough to meet. I assumed after four weeks of 3-tabling Rush that I'd be ready to add a 4th table. I haven't been able to do that comfortably yet. I've tried a few times and always get a little too overwhelmed. Right now I'm averaging just shy of 700 hands per hour. That seems to be my comfort zone.
On a side note, I'm on track for making Gold level in Full Tilt's Ironman program. If I can manage that month over month (it would take at least an hour on each of 20+ days in a month), and their mid-year bonus offer happens like last year, it will mean an extra $75 per month in bonus. That would be worth almost $4 per hour on it's own. Plus rakeback. Plus what I win at poker. I think $10 per hour is very sustainable. $15/hour isn't out of the question.
Disney, here we come.
Overall, 14,292 hands in 21.3 hours. 1.25 BB/100.
My total profit including bonus is over $335, or $15.72 per hour. I'm running better than I expected, but not necessarily better than I could achieve over the long term. A portion of my profit so far is $80 of cleared bonus from Full Tilt. If you take that out of the equasion I would be somewhere around $13 per hour.
If you look at my original goals I'm right on track with hands played (which is the only part I can truly control), and way ahead of schedule for winnings.
Last night's session was another roller coaster. Down about 30 BB's in about five minutes. Stuff like sets losing to a flush. Standard, but costly. Then all of a sudden I got wrapped up into about a half dozen big pots that swung me up about 60 BB's in no time. Flopping a set in a five-way capped pot. Making crying calls with just one pair in big pots when the action showed me I was beat, but holding up anyway. Once again I found myself with quads and being bet into. "Okay... I raise."
Good stuff. And the most important thing I'm learning right now is that poker is still fun for me. Even in the -30 BB in five minutes moments, I still like pounding out hundreds of hands of Rush poker. It goes so fast I don't have time to feel bad about losing a big pot. I don't have time to get bored and browse the internet or turn my mind to other things. It's the perfect balance of focus and enjoyment. The hands happen just fast enough for me to keep track of the action and make a good decision, but not slow enough to give me any extra time to let my thoughts wander.
One of my goals is going to be tough to meet. I assumed after four weeks of 3-tabling Rush that I'd be ready to add a 4th table. I haven't been able to do that comfortably yet. I've tried a few times and always get a little too overwhelmed. Right now I'm averaging just shy of 700 hands per hour. That seems to be my comfort zone.
On a side note, I'm on track for making Gold level in Full Tilt's Ironman program. If I can manage that month over month (it would take at least an hour on each of 20+ days in a month), and their mid-year bonus offer happens like last year, it will mean an extra $75 per month in bonus. That would be worth almost $4 per hour on it's own. Plus rakeback. Plus what I win at poker. I think $10 per hour is very sustainable. $15/hour isn't out of the question.
Disney, here we come.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Early update for the week
Alas, I will not be able to make my standard Monday morning update. I will be in Las Vegas. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and I will return Tuesday night. I'm sure I'll have a good story to post.
In the meantime, I'll update my progress so far this week. Overall another decent showing. I'm up to about $285 profit over 13.5k hands. Not too many hands this week, but I made a good show of it. +$80 for the week in 2.5k hands. That's well above average so I'm pretty pleased.
But a note on variance. Limit hold'em is not for the weak-willed. I sat down yesterday during my lunch hour for 45 minutes and lost over $45. Then in about 20 minutes after work I won back over $40 of that, plus cleared $10 more in bonus. So I pretty much just ripped up a $50 bill at lunch time and threw it in the garbage, only find one sitting there waiting for me when I got home. Fun stuff.
Also, I spent an hour or so at our local casino this week to warm myself up for Vegas. I bought in for 1/2NL and won $58 in an hour. On the walk out I decided (in the spirit of Las Vegas) that the extra $8 of that would be well suited to a few pulls on the slot machine. Three pulls later I cashed out $60 and went home. Overall that hour of fun paid for my Vegas hotels for the weekend.
My only worry is that I'm peaking too soon... I need to time this lucky streak just right. Take care.
In the meantime, I'll update my progress so far this week. Overall another decent showing. I'm up to about $285 profit over 13.5k hands. Not too many hands this week, but I made a good show of it. +$80 for the week in 2.5k hands. That's well above average so I'm pretty pleased.
But a note on variance. Limit hold'em is not for the weak-willed. I sat down yesterday during my lunch hour for 45 minutes and lost over $45. Then in about 20 minutes after work I won back over $40 of that, plus cleared $10 more in bonus. So I pretty much just ripped up a $50 bill at lunch time and threw it in the garbage, only find one sitting there waiting for me when I got home. Fun stuff.
Also, I spent an hour or so at our local casino this week to warm myself up for Vegas. I bought in for 1/2NL and won $58 in an hour. On the walk out I decided (in the spirit of Las Vegas) that the extra $8 of that would be well suited to a few pulls on the slot machine. Three pulls later I cashed out $60 and went home. Overall that hour of fun paid for my Vegas hotels for the weekend.
My only worry is that I'm peaking too soon... I need to time this lucky streak just right. Take care.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Suck it.
Here's to flopping quads and being bet into, turning trips after flopping bottom pair, runner-runner nut flushes that get capped on the river and otherwise being generally incapable of doing anything wrong. +$60 in 51 minutes. I also found out I'm qualified for the $20k freeroll that my rakeback provider hosts. Ship it!
I have to get my gloating out now before I hit my next 100BB downswing.
I have to get my gloating out now before I hit my next 100BB downswing.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Still going strong...
A total of 5.7 hours and 3749 hands. Up $68.80 in poker, plus $25 more in rakeback/bonus. Yes, I ran pretty good this week, but my overall win rate is 0.81 BB/100. While I'm very happy with this, it's by no means an unsustainable number.
So the total since I (re)started is 11.7k hands in 17 hours, for a total profit of $204, for $12/hour.
So the total since I (re)started is 11.7k hands in 17 hours, for a total profit of $204, for $12/hour.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rush Poker has changed my life
So about a month ago I got a seemingly innocuous email from my friends at Full Tilt. Turns out they started a new program called "Rush Poker" which promised to change poker forever.
If you're not familiar, Rush Poker puts a large group of people (up to 2,000 if I'm not mistaken) and seats them all at the same "table." As soon as you fold your hand the players currently seated with you disappear and the next batch of 9 is immediately seated and dealt a new hand. Let me tell you, it's a rush. Position is relatively random-ish, with blinds being assigned by who's gone the longest without paying a blind. Over the long term it's all evened out.
The biggest difference here, imo, is that you can't count on being seated with the same people, so traditional reads and tendancies are pretty much out the window for now.
For me, the greatest thing about this is the shear volume of hands played in an hour. On one table you'll see over 200 hands per hour. I've been playing three tables simultaneously, and I'm averaging about 700 hands per hour.
The long and the short of it is, however, I'm back in the action. And on top of it all, it's more fun than it's ever been for me.
So here we go again. I've updated my table of goals on the left, but I'll share the details here as well. Note: all of this assumed .50/1.00 limit full ring games.
GOALS:
1) Play about 5 hours per week, or roughly 3500 hands (first three weeks)
2) After I get back into a rhythm I'll add a fourth table and be up to about 5000 hands per week
3) Win at least .5BB/100 poker, or $0.50 won for every hundred hands dealt. Combine this with 27% rakeback and my true goal is...
4) Win $10 per hour
If I keep this up for a year I'll have over $3000 ready to pay for our family trip to DisneyWorld.
If you're not familiar, Rush Poker puts a large group of people (up to 2,000 if I'm not mistaken) and seats them all at the same "table." As soon as you fold your hand the players currently seated with you disappear and the next batch of 9 is immediately seated and dealt a new hand. Let me tell you, it's a rush. Position is relatively random-ish, with blinds being assigned by who's gone the longest without paying a blind. Over the long term it's all evened out.
The biggest difference here, imo, is that you can't count on being seated with the same people, so traditional reads and tendancies are pretty much out the window for now.
For me, the greatest thing about this is the shear volume of hands played in an hour. On one table you'll see over 200 hands per hour. I've been playing three tables simultaneously, and I'm averaging about 700 hands per hour.
The long and the short of it is, however, I'm back in the action. And on top of it all, it's more fun than it's ever been for me.
So here we go again. I've updated my table of goals on the left, but I'll share the details here as well. Note: all of this assumed .50/1.00 limit full ring games.
GOALS:
1) Play about 5 hours per week, or roughly 3500 hands (first three weeks)
2) After I get back into a rhythm I'll add a fourth table and be up to about 5000 hands per week
3) Win at least .5BB/100 poker, or $0.50 won for every hundred hands dealt. Combine this with 27% rakeback and my true goal is...
4) Win $10 per hour
If I keep this up for a year I'll have over $3000 ready to pay for our family trip to DisneyWorld.
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