Off to SB

I am going to have to hide in the garage for a couple of hours tonight when the first horde of kiddlies comes through our neighborhood since we didn't buy any candy this year. And by hordes, I mean hordes. They literally bring the kids in by the busload to our neighborhood since it is safe, the houses are close together, and it is wealthy enough that everyone has good candy. But as soon as my wife is off work (hopefully by 7) we are hitting the road.

Word on the street is that we might be able to get internet access for the first time at her mom's house, but I'm not going to put total faith in that so it's very possible I won't be blogging again until we return.

Another what if night

I took a bad beat somewhat deep in the 250k on stars and am now going through the inescapable "what if I had won that hand" phase. I won't bore you with the details but I was a 75% favorite postflop for a stack that I could have crusied to the final two tables with. Knowing that it's getting a top 3 in these big payout tourneys which basically determines whether you make good money or spectacular money in a given year always makes losing in them even more bitter. The fact that I've now gotten close to big payouts (over 20k) three times in the last week is encouraging since it shows I've been playing well. The fact that I haven't got there in any of those three still blows goats tho.

Still grindin'

I played a small aft session today because I quickly got bad beat in my first two tourneys and then unregistered for the other 3 I was going to play because my mind was not in it. I think a lot of my lack of volume comes from that - I know I'm in a crappy mindset so I don't play. It's good that I'm not tilting, but I do need to figure out a way to play through it so I can get my volume. One other big reason for my lack of volume comes from the simple fact that I am actually running much better than I thought. As a tourney player I am going to have many more losing days than winning ones, so it feels like I am constantly losing. In fact, I have not had a losing month since May, and the last 4 months (June-Oct)have all been really profitable months so I just felt no need to play.

I am going to play a normal session tonight and tomorrow, and then we leave for a week vacation (another reason my volume is never huge).

Since I have open time this aft, I'm going to go for a run and try and clean up the house a bit.

Another close call

I actually played a really light schedule today because my wife was on call last night and when she got home she said that she wanted to be woken up at 4:30 ish. I haven't spent time with her in like a week so i figured I could play some of the tourneys that started at 11:00 and if I got deep that was great, and if not, I would be free by 4:30. Well I got deep in one of the two "Sunday Majors" (the buy-ins at 215+ across all the major sites on Sunday). I got 12th in the Sunday Brawl on Tilt. 1st was over $70k, even 5th place was $20k. Unfortunately for me, 12th was only $2800.

I was definitely disappointed since I was so close to a huge score, but I sucked out like 3 times (cracking AA three separate times) just to get there so I can't bemoan my luck too much. The what ifs always go through your mind after getting so deep and then not quite getting the results you were looking for, but I played great and am playing great overall and as long as I keep plugging away the results will come.

Almost reversed the curse

I got 6th in the $100k guarantee on Pokerstars last night. For whatever reason, when I make a FT on Stars (which is not very often) I just can't finish the job. Last night was more of the same. I got it in 3 times where I was either a slight favorite or a slight underdog and I lost all three times. Alas, that's poker so although I will be going to bed with the dreams of the $20k that I almost had for first place, the bankroll still did get juiced about $5k so I won't cry myself to sleep.

1000 tourneys

I finally passed the 1000 tourney mark for the year today. For those that don't understand playing tournament poker professionally, that's an awfull small number. Considering that I can put in 12 tourneys a day (which is also considered a small number), that means that I've really only played like a little over 80 days this year. And for a fulltime job, that's obviously not many days. We talked about it last night, and I really just need a way to light a fire under my ass so that I can get more volume in. I feel like I should be at double this amount (at least 2000 tourneys) and even if I made just 50% as much as I did over the first 1k, I'd be at $100k profit for the year now.

As far as the stats go - I'm super pleased with my ROI which is at 73%. My itm is at 14.4% which seems low, but a lot of that has to do with my double up or go home mentality - I am working on relaxing a bit more w/15-25 BBs, so hopefully that will increase. My FT percentage is 2.5% - I don't know what to make of that. It seems low, but it also seems to be working. I think when I do make a FT I get a top 3 score a huge percentage of the time, so I'd like to increase my FT percentage in case I start picking up some more 4-9ths rather than 1-3rds.

Sunday

Sundays are big days for online tourney players as it is the day most sites have their biggest weekly tourney(s). It is a good day to play because you actually have the opportunity to win a huge (i.e. 6 figure) payout, but it can also be a frustrating day to play because all of the buy-ins are generally high ($200 ish) and if you don't cash anything you can easily blow through thousands of dollars. I generally don't play on Sundays because that's usually the day my wife has off. But yesterday my wife had to study so I actually got to play a bit. I was planning on playing a pretty full schedule, but I just wasn't feeling the mojo so I ended up only playing 4 tourneys and then packing it in. I didn't play excellent but didn't play horribly either. Oh well, it looks like I'll get to play again next Sunday so not a huge deal.

Today I am taking off from poker. I'm going to clean up the house. Maybe cook some meals for the week ahead, and tonight I play volleyball. So I'll get back to the grind tomorrow.

A little more light

I got 3rd in the 90k 6 max tourney on Tilt for $10k.

wheeeeeee - back to positive for the month.

A little light at the end of the tunnel

I finally cashed more than one tourney tonight and I even got 3rd in the small sniper tourney on UB to actually have a positive day.

It was nothing huge, but feels good to stop the bleeding at least.

Barftastic night

After getting down to less than 1 BB I somehow managed to not only make the money but get a decent stack in the 65k guarantee on Tilt. And then my connection went out and players started stealing my blinds. By the time I made it back, I was down to less than 15 BBs and went out soon after in 19th when a good spot to reshove didn't get there.

I also bubbled the deepstack tourney on UB which is always tilting since it takes like 4 hours just to get to the bubble and then to not even make the money just blows.

Anyhoo - I'm still playing good. Just a matter of time before I break out.

Back to it.

So the downswing continues, but I am playing fine. It is this aspect of poker which is really hard for non-poker players to understand. Playing well and losing money plays a real havoc on your mind. Sometimes I start to press and force things other times I go into supernit mode because I don't want to spew. In the end it always comes down to playing well and then just letting things happen. But knowing this never ever makes it any easier for me when I am losing $1k/day.

Away from the tables, I went to S.F. to visit my family this last weekend and had a blast. It's nice to only have to drive 2 hours to S.F. rather than the 6+ to L.A. or Santa Barbara. My sister was in town for a conference so I got to see her as well. My next extended leave from the tables should be in a couple of weeks when my wife goes on vacation. Until then, I hope to actually get some decent volume in and hopefully pop out of this downswing.

Downswinging... Again

I've played close to 40 tourneys this week and have only cashed in one. I actually have made a couple of mistakes, but for the most part I am just running bad. I feel like this always seems to happen after I make a decent score. I'm not sure how much of it is a mental block and how much of it is just standard - you can't always run well.

I know that if I keep playing well it will turn around, but as always it is hard getting through the downswings.

Back at it.... again

So after a basic 2 week hiatus (I've played once since Sep. 20) I played again a bit. I have volleyball tonight so I actually only played 3 tourneys, but it's a start. I should be playing a full schedule during this week, but then I'm going up to S.F. to visit my family this weekend, so the volume is still not going to be huge this month.

We had a good time with my in-laws. The whole premise of the trip was actually a b-day gift to my sister-in-law who is a terrific dancer and really likes to watch the show "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox. My wife and mother-in-law really like the show too, so we bought everyone tickets for a performance where they had their top ten dancers doing performances from last season. I was expecting it to be us and thousands of 12 yr old girls, but was surprised to see a wide spectrum of people. And the audience really gets into it, so it was more like a rock concert than a standard dance performance. We all had a blast.

Her family is also super active, so we went biking/rollerblading/running/hiking as well and had a nice steak dinner out one of the nights too.

Anyhoo, I should get back into playing/making some videos for pokerpwnage these next couple of weeks, and I feel excited to play again, so hopefully I can get another decent score.