November Results

And another month in which I struggled. I played about 3/4ths of it at 6M, and the last week or so I went back to fullring for a bit. Here are my results:

• 50NL 6Max: 26,601 hands, -$381.05, - 1.43 ptBB/100
• 100NL 6Max: 12,088 hands, -$242.00, -1.00 ptBB/100
• 50NL Fullring: 11,184 hands, +$356.34, +3.19 ptBB/100
• Various other levels
• Totals: 67,773 hands, -$322.46, -0.34 ptBB/100

With rakeback and tournies I played (mostly rakeback) I ended at +$303.02 for the month. That comes out to a whopping $1.42/hour. Woo-hoo!

For the year, I'm at +$6,143 with no chance of making my goal of $10,000 for 2008.

October Results; November Goals

Overall, October was a tough month. I had some huge downswings followed by huge upswings. It was just damn swingy. I got a new laptop and tried to make some videos playing the 6-max tables b/c there is more action. Turns out I was running really good there so I've decided to play some 6-max for awhile (I know, again!). But I was getting REALLY sick of the nitty full ring tables at 100NL, and playing 6-max will improve my pre-flop aggression and post-flop game anyway. So 6-max it is for the month of November (I'm going to try and not switch back to full ring even if I run/play bad - instead, I'll just go back down to NL50 6M).

So here are my results compared to my October goals:

October Goals/Results:

• Play 60,000 hands (at least 80% at NL100 and do not move up until I have at least a 3 bb/100 at NL100). Accomplished. I played 60,583 hands at NL100 Full Ring. I usually played 8-12 tables stacked. For the last week I played 6-max nearly exclusively.
  
• Over 6.0 BB/100. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. No. I was -.076 BB/100 (-.038 ptBB/100 for you PT users). However, I did play 5900 hands at NL50 6 Max and ran at 23 BB/100 (11.5 ptBB/100). I
  
• Hourly rate from cash NL cash games: $5.00. I know this isn't good for NL100, but making it $10/hour (10x what I did in September) seems way too lofty. Ha Ha Ha Ha. No. I actually don't know what it is with Rakeback, but at least it was positive.
  
• Watch at least 1 instructional video per week. Accomplished. I watched a number of videos from both Stoxpoker and Cardrunners.
• Spend 30 minutes reviewing hands. Accomplished (close enough anyway)

While I was a slightly down at NL100 FR, with my Rakeback and 6-max winnings, I finished up $495 for the month. I'm at +5,840 for the year, which is WAY behind my goal. I have to win $5,160 total for November/December to reach my goal of making $10,000 playing poker in 2008. I don't think I have a chance of that happening.

November Goals:

• Play 60,000 hands at NL100 6Max
• Keep an overall aggression number over 2.5.
  
• Have VPIP/PFR numbers for the button for what I have for UTG (encouraging positional awareness).
  
• Over 4.0 BB/100. I think this is reasonable and probably low for what a "good" player can make but I'm not a "good" player.
• Watch at least 1 coaching video per week.
• Review hands daily (no time commitment)
• Be rolled and ready for NL200 6M by December.
  

First Poker Video

Here is a link to my first poker video:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NE2AZIAS

It sucks and I probably played like a donk, but it was fun to make. I did 6M to get more action and I did. Unfortunately, my HEM is screwy and not all the hands showed up. I since fixed it and I ended up pretty good for the session.

Feel free to criticize any of the hands and tell me what an idiot player I am. Feedback is goot.

September Results; October Goals

Here are my September results:

• Goal: Over 60K hands (50K at NL100): Nope. Oh SO close, thought. I played 59.4K hands. I played 42K of it at NL100, though and only 3.1K at NL50. I also played some NL200, some NL/PL 50 6-max, and some NL25 6 max (at Stars). I'm at NL100 to stay except when I play cash games at Stars (due to roll).
  
• Over 6.0 BB/100. Not even close. 1.31 BB/100 for NL100; 0.65 BB/100 for all hands.
  
• Get rolled for, and take shots, at NL200. I got rolled and then some. Took some shots at the fish. Played only 2,200 hands at -2.85 BB/100
  

With rakeback, bonus, and tournament $ (cashed in the last 4 tournabees I played), I ended up the month +$1,440 for my 3rd consecutive month over $1K. I'm still not playing well, but I'll take it. I made (are you ready for this?) a whopping $1.16 per hour! (not including rakeback). With rakeback and tournabees, my hourly rate was $8.04/hour. Sweet. I'm almost ready to go pro. (NOT!).

After 8 months, I should have won $8,000 to be on pace to make $12,000 this year from poker. I am only at $5,345, about $2,700 off the pace.

October Goals:

• Play 60,000 hands (at least 80% at NL100 and do not move up until I have at least a 3 bb/100 at NL100).
  
• Over 6.0 BB/100.
  
• Hourly rate from cash NL cash games: $5.00. I know this isn't good for NL100, but making it $10/hour (10x what I did in September) seems way too lofty.
  
• Watch at least 1 instructional video per week.
  
• Spend 30 minutes per day reviewing hands.
  

August 08 Results; September 08 Goals

Results vs. Goals for August:

• Over 60K hands (about 30/30 split NL50/NL100). Fail. I only played 37K hands total for the month. This is due to having to travel way too much this month for work. I got in 27K hands @ NL/PL100 and 7.7K NL/PL50. I also played some 6 max.
  
• Over 3.6 ptBB/100 for both levels. Fail. Sort of. I was at 6.25 ptBB/100 for NL50 but only 1.3 ptBB/100 for NL100. I'm still happy with both, although I can easily find enough hands that I donked that I could have been around 2.6 ptBB/100.
  
• Get rolled for 1/2 NL (doesn't mean I'll move up, though). Fail. Sort of. I did get rolled for NL200, but I fell back down. If I deposited monies from my rakeback account I would be rolled, but I want to play the majority of this month at NL100 and at the end I should be more than rolled for NL200.
  
• Improve my tournament play. I think I did this. I read HOH Volumes I & II and I managed to get a 2nd place in a 180-man SNG this month.
  

Total made for the month (w/out rakeback): +$1.073.47.

My year goal was to make $12k from the poker. YTD I am far behind - I'm at $3,904 (May and June just killed me). So, over the next 4 months I have to make about 8,000 in poker. Considering that my best month so far has been $1700, its going to be a stretch. However, I have moved up stakes so that should increase my potential winnings (but on the downside it increases potential losses). I think when its all said and done, I'm going to be damn close.

September Goals:

• Over 60K hands (50K at NL100)
  
• Over 6.0 BB/100.
  
• Get rolled for, and take shots, at NL200.
  

Other poker news and notes:

• After being very frustrated with how laggy PT3 was making my laptop (could barely play 4 tables), I tried out Hold'em Manager. Long story short - I fell in love with it and bought it. The look isn't as "slick" as PT3, but its a ton faster and takes up less resources. I also feel its easier to filter the data that I most want to see.
  
• I didn't mention it earlier, but I'm a mod in the poker section of a site called insidestl.com. check it out. Though, since I am the ONLY person who reads this, I can guarantee that my entire readership will join the site.
  

July Results

July was a pretty decent month - especially compared to May and June. Overall, I ended up up $1,768 (including poker winnings, bonus, and rakeback). That is the largest month of my (poker) career.

Here are some details:

50NLFR
Hands: 45,067
ptBB/100: 1.44 (not great, but I was over 6 for my last 10K, so that is promising)
P&L: $646.90

50PLFR
Hands: 6,567
ptBB/100: 2.57
P&L: $187.05

100NLFR
Hands: 4,718
ptBB/100: 0.17 (hey, its positive)
P&L: $15.80

25NLFR
Hands: 7,770
ptBB/100: 3.63
P&L: $141.10

Goals for August:

• Over 60K hands (about 30/30 split NL50/NL100)
• Over 3.6 ptBB/100 for both levels
• Get rolled for 1/2 NL (doesn't mean I'll move up, though)
• Improve my tournament play.
  

Mid-July Results

I'm doing alright this month (saying that just blew it for me, didn't it?).

• At NL50FR I'm running at 1.86 ptBB/100 over 27K hands. I need to get it over 3 over a significant sample before I can move up to NL100 for good.
• At PL50FR I'm running at 5.45 ptBB/100 over 3,100 hands
• At NL100FR (yes - I don't deserve to play there but I did) I'm running 11.14ptBB/100 over 900 hands (its just variance)

Overall I'm pretty happy with my play. I'm making much better decisions and I have found the fucking fold button. I've made some mistakes that have cost me a few buy-ins, but I'm making less mistakes than in the past.

Full ring is definitely where I am best suited.

That's it for now.