Downswinging

I am putting in lots of volume (at least for me) this week. I have probably played like 60 tourneys this week, and although I made one final table, I have only cashed 5 times and am down quite a bit. The frustrating part is that I feel I am playing really really well - I am just not getting rewarded. I know this is part of the game, but it still gets frustrating nonetheless.

Just grindin'

Not much going on here. I am just trying to get in some volume this week, so I've been playing over 10 tourneys a day. So far nothing huge this week, but I am playing well - I just need to run better.

I'm Famous

Haha, not really.

My first video for pokerpwnage is up though and so far the subscribers to the site are giving me positive feedback so that's good. I am actually really enjoying their site and am enjoying the good discussion that goes on on a daily basis in their forums.

In pokernews, I finaltabled a $26 FO on FullTilt and left disappointed in 7th place, but I felt I played well overall and just didn't get the cards to fall my way. It happens, oh well. I also recorded myself playing the last two tables, so hopefully that turned out decently and will be posted at some point on pokerpwnage as well.

Birthday Weekend

We went up to Tahoe for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. It's only a two hour drive and we've never been so we figured it was time to check it out. We had great weather, great hikes, and even though we only had one full day there, we had a great time.

We stayed in North Tahoe by Kings Beach and we spent Saturday at the beach.



That afternoon we went for a hike up the mountain for a better view of the lake.


Today we drove down to South Lake Tahoe along the Western shore of the lake and went for another hike by Emerald Bay.


And tomorrow we are back at it - the 16 hour days for her, and the 8 hour days of what I still consider fun for me.

Weekend Off

We are heading off to Tahoe tomorrow. Neither of us have ever been and we're only a two hour drive away so this is an early b-day gift to myself.

Pokerwise - I went on a bit of monkeytilt tonight so it's probably a good time for a break. I'll be back at it on Monday.

Eye Exam

I went and got my eyes checked today and now have the drugged/dazed look that you can't help having after your eyes get dilated. I am super lackadaisacal about doctor/dentist appointments in general, so it feels good to have gone. Next hurdle is getting off my ass and going to get glasses...

A poker anniversary

1 year ago today I won 6 figures in the FTOPs main event. It was obviously an incredibly exciting time for my wife and I and it allowed us to buy our first house. It was also a somewhat stressful and scary time for myself because we decided that I would keep around $30k as my poker bankroll and from that I could take a shot at playing professionally. If I could make enough to sustain our lifestyle, I could keep playing; if not, it was time for me to get a "real job" and practice law again.

With my propensity of having horrible bankroll management (I have previously donked off rolls of 15-20k), it was touch and go to start. But it is now one year later and somehow I am still playing. The journey so far has not been easy - the downswings have brought my roll down to around 20k and forced me to move down in levels at least 3 different times. But each time that has happened, I have been able to resist the urge to try and get that 10k back by playing higher buy-in tourneys or high limit cash games. Although I am not out of the woods yet, my roll has increased by 50% and I am making monthly withdrawals, so the outlook is brighter now than it was one year ago.

I hope this post is not coming off as being a bragfest because I realize I am neither the best player nor have I made the most money this last year. I simply wanted to let everyone know that I have survived one year and as that old Bartles and James guy used to say "I thank you for your support."

Back at it

I spent the day reviewing some hand histories, clearing up my computer a bit, and then playing tonight. Back to a normal 2 out of 8 cashes. Almost made the final table in one tourney. Thought I played really well. Mindset is much much better.

Time to review

I don't feel like I've been playing badly, but I have only cashed in 1 out of my last 40 tourneys, so tomorrow will be a review day before I start playing anything.

Day trip

We went on a daytrip about an hour and a half away from us in the sierras where there are natural waterfalls that you can slide down. It was the same place we went earlier this spring and were surprised to find snow. I had a blast.




In poker news, I played a full schedule today and didn't make the money in anything. It's always bitter to swallow - but I don't think I played poorly. I'll check the hand histories tomorrow just to make sure. When all is said and done, I am still progressing, so as long as I can end this downswing sooner, rather than later, everything should still be fine.

The Olympics

I am a sports nut so I love the Olympics. Everyone else is talking about Michael Phelps (and both his race tonight and the earlier relay race were some of the most exciting sporting events I have ever seen), but I am loving watching beach volleyball. I went to school with and have played against one half of the top seeded men's pair - Todd Rogers. It's hard for me to believe that I actually used to be able to compete with this guy who is now ranked #1 in the world. At one point in my life, my dream was to become a collegiate and then a professional volleyball player. Although I never fulfilled that dream, I did get pretty good. And watching these guys make what is a really difficult game look so simple, is really fun to watch.

Time to stop being retarded

Ok - for those of you that get offended by the word retarded, you can pretend I wrote mentally challenged instead.

Anyhoo, I have just been way way too results oriented this last week which has led to me being frustrated more than I would like. I always do my best when I just focus on making good decisions and letting the results happen. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know how good my decisions have been this last week because all I was doing was focusing on my bad results.

I am taking the rest of today and tomorrow off, and am already looking forward to getting back to it on Sunday.

I also e-mailed the volunteer coordinator at the Boys & Girls Club so hopefully I will start getting out of the house at least once a week and doing something useful in the near future.

Still grinding

Back to the grind. I finally played over 10 tourneys in a day again yesterday - played so/so.

Today I played perfect and just ran bad. I had one horrendous beat on the bubble of the 50 rebuy on stars that sent me in a tizzy. I am playing FTOPs tonight, but I think that will be it.

Here's to running better.

Trying to get my head back on straight

For the second night in a row I took some bad beats/coolers early on and just knew I wasn't in the right mindset so I just packed it in. I might take tomorrow off. The good thing is I am not tilting my roll off. The bad thing is I am not getting in any volume. But I'd rather not play at all then play bad.

Once a crybaby always a crybaby

I don't know what it is about me that I still take every bad beat personally. It's more than that though, I still get annoyed whenever I lose a race. I expect to win everytime, and when I don't, I turn into a 5 year old and want to throw a tantrum.

As you can guess, I did not have a good night tonight. It started off bad in the FTOPS event which was my biggest buyin for this series at $1k. I lost early on in a blind battle when my 7d9d ran into 4h6h on a 6d8d6s board which is basically a cointoss. After that I quickly lost in other tourneys in bad beat situations and then I just decided to pack it in for the night and not register anymore.

The crazy thing is that I know I am having a kickass year. After my score last week, I have over a 100% ROI, I have made over 50k this year (in less than 6 months), and I am doing it all in a very low number of overall tourneys which means I am taking tons of time off. Yet even knowing all of this, I still want to break my keyboard whenever my QQ loses to AK.

Sunday

Sundays are big days in online poker. Most of the sites havea big guaranteee tourney and since most people don't work on Sundays, a lot of players who have "real" jobs will take their shot in these tourneys. Since Sunday is usually my wife's day off, I normally don't get to partake in these pretty lucrative tourneys. I got to play today which is always fun, but didn't get any huge results. In fact, my net sum for the day was exactly $1. Better than losing I guess.

All I needed in 2 of the tourneys I played was to run a little better, but my play was fine - I know in the long run, I will get there again.

I also got a run in today for the first time in a long time, so I will try to continue with that. I was hoping to play volleyball tomorrow night, but I forgot I have agreed to play the $1k FTOPs event, so maybe next week.

Other than that, life is good. I am enjoying watching the Olympics, getting back in shape, and even though I am not playing the volume I would like, I am still enjoying playing.

Whoops

I was supposed to play the FTOPS $300 1 rebuy/1 add-on tourney today and thought that it started at 6:00 when it actually started at 11:00. Worst part is that I was awake and ready to play.

Back to some goals

Wife is back to working lots, no family reunions in the near future, no big item purchases coming up, lots of free time = time to get back to some goals. Working out, running, playing volleyball, basketball, and maybe some volunteering are all in the mix.

I got my first workout in today; tomorrow I am planning on running. We'll see how it goes...

Pokerwise, I should be back to a full schedule tonight. I'm just going to continue to concentrate on playing well, and let the results come from there. I'm also going to be finishing up my video for pokerpwnage this week. So far we haven't got my account set up there, but I actually always learn something from reviewing my own play, so it can't hurt.

wheeeee for 5 figure scores

well I didn't put in the volume I wanted, but I got the results I've been wanting. I got 3rd in the nightly 100k guarantee on Stars for $16k. I've been running so horribly on stars this year that it felt nice to finally turn it around.

The FTOPS (a series of higher buy-in tourneys on FullTilt) starts tomorrow, so I'll be back at it for that.

Mr. Fix-It

I am absolutely horrible at fixing things. That's why we bought a "turn-key" house - I might have the time to complete the projects necessary for a fixer-upper, but I have neither the know-how nor the patience to actually do them. Which is why today I feel super impressed with my fixer upper tasks. First I switched a sprinkler head from a full circle spray to semi-circle so that our deck would get a little less doused everytime the sprinklers go on; second and more impressively I fixed the kitchen faucet. The water pressure in that sink was just atrocious. I ended up breaking a filter off, but it worked and there is still another filter at the end of the faucet so I really don't see a problem.

On the poker front, my plan is to start playing tonight around 5, and to get a full session in tonight.

Weekend Off

My wife just got home from call, which for a resident means that she worked a 24 hour shift. But she is off the rest of the weekend and Monday as well, which means I am taking the rest of the weekend and Monday off too.

I continue to love the flexibility that poker gives me. In fact, it is that flexibility that finally turned my wife around and made her a proponent of me playing poker rather than practicing law. If I had a "real job," there would be times when she is off that I would have to work; we might not be able to get the exact same weeks off for vacation; I would want to spend some of my time off playing poker. Since I get to set my own schedule, none of that is true, and we are able to maximize what little time off she gets together.

On the other hand, I think I may have fallen a little too much in love with this whole idea of setting my own schedule. After reviewing my stats last night, I realized that I have only played 600 tourneys this year. For most pros, that equates to two months worth of tourneys or less. I don't play as many tables as others, but even I am surprised at how little I have actually played this year. I can easily play 12 tourneys in an 8 hour day. 12*15=180. So even if I just played every other day I should be playing at least 180 tourneys a month. In fact, I have averaged just 120 tourneys per month (I have only played 5 months this year because I didn't really play in January or February as I was studying for the bar exam). That means I have played only 10 full days of poker per month on average. Although I want to make sure that I don't play so much that I get burned out, I also realize that I am losing money by not playing - the more volume I can play (as long as it is around the same ROI), the more I make. So I need to play more. My goal is going to be 200 tourneys/month.

Small victory

I took down the Big Double "B" on Tilt for a little over $3k. Nothing huge, but it keeps my bankroll going in the right direction. The funny thing was, I actually got super frustrated tonight because I just have been taking some horrible beats. This tourney was the last one I was in for the night, and everything just worked out. I played mistake free, and got a big enough stack that even when I got sucked out on I could keep grinding my stack back up. The only thing I feel bad about is that I didn't record it as I was playing - it would have made a good video because it was one of those rare times where I was the chip leader with like 100 left and stayed at the top until the very end.