Looking for leaks.

Obviously the trend with this blog is optimism so I'll try and get this out of the way as quickly as I can...

I somehow found myself playing on 4 tables of $100/200 PLO about a week ago and proceeded to have like a $50k day or something like that and then naturally shot it off. I've been practicing horrible BR management and basically just tried to go on a month to two month long heater. Obviously that isn't a recipe for long term success and I'm ready to to retire my 'run it up' strategy for the time being and start being a little more responsible. My track record obviously indicates a high likelihood of failing and reverting back into run it up mode but I've come across a couple scenarios that indicates that this time might be a little different.

Anyway. My new grand idea was to start practicing BR management again and that I was going to win $10k playing $1/2 before I would move up. I've tried that numerous times and always start off well and move up after I win like a quarter of what I intended to and before I know it I'm playing $100/200.

I started off hot and won 15 buy-ins in 3000 hands and then went on about a 10 buy-in downswing and the urges to move up started creeping into my mind. There were two separate occasions where I started looking at the $2/4 tables and actually resisted them. I haven't been able to do that for the past few months so I think thats a good indicator that I might actually stick with my plan this time.

I've stuck to it for 17.5 hours and if my assessment is right I'll have to play another 100-200 more hours before I'll be able to move up.

I've logged 5000 hands so far and I guess I'll take a look at my database and see if any of my stats look out of place. I've been opening my game up more and I'm playing almost 40% of my hands which is awfully dangerous of your on tilt so I'll need to be conscious of tightening up for a few orbits if shit starts hitting the fan. I've been folding to 3bets 28% of the time and it feels like I've been folding like 10%. There were countless times where I called with some sort of suited ace and 'feeling' like it was wrong and doing it anyway.

It feels like I'm misplaying Kings by 3b/getting them in too often. It's only been 123 hands but I'm losing money with them overall. I'm 3betting 68% of the time and a large chunk of those times I've been hesitant to do it but did because I want to raise my 3b %. Obviously the solution is pick different spots to 3b.

During a 10 buy-in downswing that I went on I tilted and fired up 6 tables instead of my usual 4 or 5 and it significantly contributed to my downswing. The majority of the tables were uncapped so I had to focus on how many BB's I had causing me to rush even more than I already was.

The higher stakes CAP PLO tables don't run as often as I'd like so I'll have to help start the games so I'll need to work on my HU game. I've only played 127 hands so far and basically felt uncomfortable in almost all of them. I'm certain that I'm losing well under 50% of the hands despite having a VPIP of 74% which has to be horrible considering how often I'm giving up post flop.

Anyway a brief recap of some adjustments to make...

1. Stop getting Kings AIPF and pick better spots to balance my 3b range.
2. I'm calling too many 3bets with suited aces.
3. No more than 5 tables and preferably 4.
4. Defend less when playing HU and try and pick spots to steal more pots.

Weeeeeee!!!!

Some guy was playing 97/70 in this $5/10 game and I ended up winning around $3500 in the game and I'm up about $7k on the day. Only $68k more to go! Hopefully I can show a little discipline once I start getting my face smashed because there was a stretch where I lost about $12k in 1000 hands so I know how fast these things can turn around.

Wild day.

After jumping out to a $10k profit I managed to finish the session stuck around $10k and took a break. Naturally I got pretty pissed off and looked to turn my anger into motivation and decided I would try and win $100k in the final 80 days of the year. I've obviously not been posting the days where I've lost $10 to $20k but I've been experiencing those swings relatively consistently and I'm starting to get used to them. Expectation wise I expect to earn between $75-150k on the year and as of now I'm a little behind pace but feel like I'm going to go on a nice run to finish out the year. BTW who knows how accurate table ratings actually is. I think it has me losing like $25k on the year and obviously that is nowhere near accurate.

So after my disastrous session and my newfound inspiration to win $100k by the end of the year (btw that was to include me playing no higher than $10-20 HAH!) I decided to play again and ended up winning $25k. I obviously haven't been practicing the greatest bankroll management but I feel like I've gotten fucked pretty hardcore playing in high stakes tournaments/cash games in my career and I'm dumb enough to keep firing at it until I figure it out. I've been cashing out regularly to prevent completely epic fails so if (when?) shit hits the fan I'll at least have a little something to show for it. If I'm gonna be taking shots at $25/50 PLO (seriously how ridiculous am I being for playing that high?) I have to be willing to step down if my account dips in the $20k range. I'll eventually figure this bitch out and run it up to the mid six figures and get to where I feel like I deserve to be at at this stage of my career or I'll die trying. No risk no reward.

So yeah, I'm definitely not taking the safest approach but I need approximately $300k to get where I want to be and I'm willing to take some gambles to get there. I'm not going to go balls to the walls/all or nothing to get there but I will aggressively take shots and test fate.

Best day ever.

Playing with fire...

...can get you burned. And burned I was. I lost a large chunk of Septembers winnings but still had a good month overall. I ran it up playing in games in which I shouldn't have played and inevitably lost it back playing in those same games. Live and let die I suppose.

I'm going to get back to studying zen and practicing yoga. It's good for clearing the mind and helping you stay calm and focused.

I feel like Ivey.

I think I have a good understanding of what it feels like to be Phil Ivey...unstoppable. Don't get me wrong, I obviously am just mediocre at poker and don't claim to be the next Ivey but I've experienced Ivey like results for the past month and boy is it ahhhsum. I planned on taking a few days off, but I felt pretty good after getting some sleep and a nice meal and decided to play some more. Played a little over an hour and..........wait for it........I.....WON! How shocking. Shipped $1768 in 370 hands. Was I playing like some sort of unstoppable poker savant? Um no. I suck. EV had me at -$145! EAT IT SUCKAS!

Another session, another $7k profit.

This just might turn into a good year after all...nice $6900 session putting me at $31k for the month. I'm probably going to take at least 2 days off and maybe a few more and forget about trying to reach 150 hours but I won't decide until I've had a little break.




**Edit**
As I was shutting the computer down I saw a couple fish playing and sat for like 15 minutes and won another $1500. Crazy.