September is not quite over, but I'm done. What a month! I couldn't have asked for any better. The numbers:

Cash games:
29,635 hands at $200NL -- $4,200
3,640 hands at $400NL -- $2100
115 hands at $600NL - ($492) FU!

Total: $5,813.70 ($64.24/hr)

Tournaments:
$4,015.01 (all from that one big score)

Bonus from Pstars:
$120

Sports betting:
$100

I included the bonus and the sports bet because I needed them for this.....

GRAND TOTAL:
$10,048

This is my first 5 figure month and I'm really proud. I ran super hot at the end. While most people would attribute this to excellent play and skill, I will attribute it to satan and prehaps this korean mask I bought.

Allow me to explain. I bought this ceramic face that is filled with alcohol. He sits on my TV, smiling, watching me play. Since I got him, I've been on a sick hot run. Nearly $3k this week.

I know, I know... it's bad luck to be superstituous, but I can't help it. Look at this graph for the month:



Ok, so what does satan have to do with this? Well not much, maybe only a few hundred dollars. I was just playing a session, listening to some music. I was doing well, ina good mood, and singing along with the songs. The particular song in question was "Satan, lend me a dollar" by Hill of Beans. It's off the soundtrack for 'Weeds' season 1. ANyhow, so I'm singing "satan, satan, lend me a dollar....satan, satan, lend a dollar now" and this hand comes up:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP2 ($198)
CO ($46.85)
Satan's Child ($359.65)
SB ($178.10)
BB ($202.05)
UTG ($58.30)
MP1 ($51)

Preflop: Satan's Child is Button with 4h, 6h.
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, CO calls $2, Satan's Child calls $2, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($10) Kd, 5h, 7h (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO checks, Satan's Child bets $6, SB folds, BB calls $6, UTG folds, CO folds.

Turn: ($22) 8h (2 players)
BB bets $20, Satan's Child calls $20.

River: ($62) Qs (2 players)
BB bets $60, Satan's Child raises to $331.65, BB calls $114.05 (All-In).

Final Pot: $567.70

Results in white below:
Satan's Child has 4h 6h (straight flush, eight high).
BB has Th Ah (flush, ace high).
Outcome: Satan's Child wins $567.70.

Oops. Soul sold.

Anyhow, I wont get much playing in for the first week. My buddy Andrew is visiting me here in Korea. There is a lot of anticipation in the nation, and they're giving everyone three days off. So we're gonna be pimpin' it out with my new balla bankroll.

holllla.

Well I've worked hard to implement a couple of the things from my last post and things have gone well. I can also attribute this to running fairly well over the weekend.

(past 7 days)

This puts me around $8650 for the month and it's shaping up to be my best ever.

I'll post specifics at the end of the month, but I've been doing well at the $400NL games, and nearly half my cash game profit is from this level.

All I can do is keep plugging away and hope for the best.

Midish month update:

26,430 hands for $2,372
$1,500ish from 200NL
$655 from 400NL
$158 from 600NL
Hourly rate is ~$35/hr

Tourny winnings = $4006

Total = $6,300ish -- This is coming off a nice $600ish downswing at $200NL...

Hopefully things get a bit better with cash games, and I cash my 2.2k check from work and den.......$10k month!??! Keeping my fingers crossed...

Anyhow, on a more strategic note, here are some things I want to improve in my game:
1)bluffing
2)inducing bluffs
3)tilt control

1)I really don't feel I've been agressive enough with my busted draws or pouncing on opponents when I sesne weakness. I keep waiting for spots where I'm stronger and feel I'm being a weak tight nit. Bleh. So I've been giving some thought to the theory of bluffing, and trying to actively find spots to pull off bluffs. Getting into my opponents heads and finding the scary boards and putting them to tough decisions.

2) I'm noticeing too many people are folding to my river bets. Its not that I'm betting too much or something, its just that they have nothing to call with in a lot of cases. I'm talking about when I'm first to act, and I'm betting the whole way. I think I have the best hand and keep betting for value... the river blanks off and I fire another bet hoping for a call from a worse hand.

So anways, I'm going to start checking the river a lot more with decent hands. This is so that those hands that can't call a bet (because they missed a draw) will take a shot and bet at the pot. They know the only way they can win is by betting, so I'm going to let them hang themselves. Ths also saves me from getting raised huge on the river when an opponet is slowplaying. I may miss some value here and there, but hopefully I'm smart enough to pick the right spots.

3) See 2nd last post. I have to try to maintain my killer instinct throughout a session. I'm not sure how exactly to do this, but I'm working on it.

Until next time......

Its like 4am but I need to post this:


I actaullly chopped this three ways as the chipleader and took in $4085. I didnt even have to pay for the buyin. I played a $36 satelite and won $215 tournamnet dollars. I used $109 to enter this... awesome. So on my $36 investment... i made $4155

I htink this puts me near $7k for the month

Holla.

Another solid weekend, and I don't think I'm done yet. I might log another session tonight, and then definitely one in the morning. I'm feeling really good with my game right now, I'm making good laydowns and also flopping pretty well. I am still making mistakes though, and I have to cut them out of my game. When I get up a fair amount on the day, I start to get alot more passive -- limping with hands I might raise with, and calling with draws instead of raising when I see a good spot. This is a form of tilt (though a far less destructive kind) and I shouldn't be a victim to it.

I've continued to take shots at $400NL and the results have been better. Nearly 10% of my hands this month have been at this level and I'm up $414. I've been table selecting very well, and only playing in the games when the bad players are in (weekends/evenings). I can definitely compete at this level, though there are alot better players here.

So the month has been good overall, and I'm up $2900. I'd love to keep this pace and lock down $8-9000. But that's wishful thinking, and I would be really happy with 5k. I'm planning on taking a vacation in october, so this would be a nice cushion.

Quite the recovery from my downswing to start the month. I've had almost no hitches in my ride since.

10,877 hands so far this month and I'm almost up $1800. This works out to about $62/hr. If I can run like this for the rest of the month (4.5bb/100) then I will be happy. That would be somehting like 8K? That would also require me to play 45k hands this month, which is a little much.

The bad news is my shots at $400NL havn't gone well. I've dropped almost $400 there, but whatever. I'm not going to get gunshy, if I see a good game I'm going to jump in. I'm properly rolled for that game, but I'm just comfortable where I am. I have ~60buyins for NL200 which is ridiculously overrolled. Whatever -- if I can somehow pull 8k/month from a mixture of games, thats almost 100k/yr. I'm not greedy, that'd be more than enough for me (obv.).

Sidenote: If anyone is interested, I've paid close to $7000 in rake($ taken out of pots) to these sites over the last 80k hands. Thats just one player. Imagine how much these poker sites make.... wow.

NICE TRY SEPTEMBER

I got off to my worst start of a month ever. Dropped nearly $1300 in my first two sessions. $900 of the downswing were off sick sick beats. I got my money all in on the turn as an 80% favourite twice and lost both (one $500 pot and one $400). Those two go my way and I'm robusto.

But anyways, I guess this is what saturdays are for:


Ahhh, the long road back. Feels really satisfying to climb back without having gone on serious tilt and losing a lot more money. Now I have a clean slate to work from and pound out a sick month.

The month is over and I feel very meh about it. I rode a monster wave of variance near the end. Here's the graph:



I totally forgot about that huge downswing at the start of the month... pretty weak.

#'s

Hands: 27,009
Moniez: $2751.55
Hourly rate: $35/hr :(
bb/100: 2.61 :(
mt ratio: 5.74

At least its better than last month. With all those big swings down (One for $1500 and a few nearing $1000), I guess I can't be dissapointed with the month. I'm proud I got so many hands in. Next month will be better, and will include calulated shots at limits as high as $600. I plan to mix $400NL games in on the weekend and nights that are juicy. I'll play up to $600 if I'm following a fish up. This will be good for multiple reasons. 1) More money to be had and 2) it will desensitize me to $200NL. For example, now if I play $100NL, I play absolutely fearlessly. My bankroll is huge for these games and can make plays with less concern for the money. At $200NL I still get that uneasy feeling when I lose a big pot. Hopefully winning and losing at higher stakes will give me that fearlessness at $200NL. I mean, I used to feel this way when I played $100NL, so it only makes sense.

I'll check back in and let you know how september is treating me.

Well, it took 77,056 hands, but I finally hit 10k profitz since I began this quest.

Cash games:
62,781 hands/ $8974.09 (270.13 hours)

Tournies:
14,134 hands/ $1,447.84 (146 tournies, with a ridiculous 226% ROI)

That ROI is pretty sick, I should really play some more tournaments. I think I'm going to try and get into the WCOOP and win some big moniez.

All is well on the poker front. I'm at $2580 for the month, but more importantly I'm really close to hitting $10,000US in profit since I ended school a few months ago. Looking at the numbers, I'm on pace to do ~$30k this year, but I'm thinking 50k is attainable. Combine this with the fact that I actually work a real job now, and I should have a pretty profitable year.

All I can do is put in the time and the hands, and hope everything goes well.

I'll let you know when I hit 10k (~$225 away from it).

Month is still going pretty well.

Today is Idenpendence Day in South Korea, so I got a chance to log 1500 or so hands. Booked a nice session, despite running my KK into AA on the flop (when we both flopped sets) and running my K-high flush into an A-high flush (where I feel I managed to only lose the minimum).

Mid-August Results:
12,509 hands
$2,143 profit
$53.60/hr

I love that I've alreayd played 20% more hands already this month than I did last. Finally I'm on pace to get a lot of hands in, and there is really nothing to stop me.

Feel free to check out my blog in Korea -- I've added a link to the side bar, but it's located at:
www.wevegotseoul.com

peace

9554 hands - $1475 profit
My winrate is still ~4. I'm begining to wonder if that is my actual winrate at this level or just bad negative variance. I guess I can't complian, b/c it's leading to about $50/hr, but I really think/wish it should be up closer to 8. Only time will tell I suppose.

<\3 variance.

8290 hands already for the month. And I'm down since my last post? $1288 profit with a staggering 3.97bb/100 winrate. My multitable ratio is waaaay up though, so my hourly rate is a 'happy time' $48/hr. I also won the biggest pot of my poker career yesterday. $798.15. There was a moron giving away money at the table, and I took a lot of it (then gave some back when I had a full house trumped by his quads). All in all, I probably took $500 off that one guy. Anyhow, that hand he paid off my set with his two pair and another guy had an overpair. It was a very sexy pot. It was the biggest I've ever seen at 200NL by over $100.

Anyhow, I'm on pace to do some damage this month -- hopefully I can crack 5k... that would be lovely.

rock on.

<3 August.

2089 hands - $1,379.15 profit so far
$224/hour with a multi table ratio of 5.7 (i've been playing as much as 9 at once)

My 16.47ptbb/100 winrate is sustainable, I swear.

Edit: Casino bonuses sucked - I lost them both for a grand total of -$1

The month is over. Since the last post -- I got sucked out on horribly once in a $400 pot, missed a big draw (50/50) in a $400 pot, and someone hit thier draw (60/40) in a $400 pot. This all happened in the span of a few hours. Lots of fun. The result? Grossness.

THE MONTH:

10,352 Hands in 60hours (2.95 multitable ratio)
$149.90 profit

$2.48/hour!!!

If I didn't somewhat enjoy playing, I'd probably cry.

It a new month and I'm in a new country, so I'm ready to rock and/or roll.

Hopefully my casino bonuses treat me right this month and I can rake in a couple hundo.

Folding KK pre-flop gives me a hard-on. There's something so satisfying about making the hardest flod in poker.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP2 ($139.35)
MP3 ($522.15)
CO ($63.25)
Button ($290.60)
SB ($296.80)
Hero ($206.90)
UTG ($107.25)
UTG+1 ($239.15)
MP1 ($216.45)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ks, Kd.
UTG calls $2, 1 fold, MP1 calls $2, 2 folds, CO calls $2, Button raises to $10, 1 fold, BB raises to $25, UTG folds, MP1 folds, CO calls $23, Button raises to $290.6, Hero FOLDS KK!, CO calls $38.25 (All-In).

Flop: ($383.85) Qh, Kh, 7s (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($383.85) Ah (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($383.85) Tc (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $383.85

Results in white below:
CO has As 4s (one pair, aces).
Button has Ac Ad (three of a kind, aces).
Outcome: Button wins $383.85.

It was a pretty obvious fold to me, as I had a read on the button. This is the only real positive I can remember from my session.

It was a sad day of getting cold decked. I had another flush over flush where I got stacked (lost a $400 pot). I flopped a flush which got smoked by a full house (villain made it on the river and bet pot out of position -- he was capable of bluffing the scare card, and I paid him off like a donkey-- $200pot). I also ran my QQ into KK for a sizable pot. No fun.

There was another hand of note I'd like to share. I totally mind-fucked this guy and... well, you'll see:


MP2 ($103.95)
CO ($186.30)
Button ($303.35)
Hero ($319.45)
BB ($194)
UTG ($338)
UTG+1 ($209.55)
MP1 ($132.75)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ad, As.
UTG raises to $6, 1 fold, MP1 calls $6, 3 folds, Hero raises to $25, 1 fold, UTG calls $19, MP1 calls $19.

Flop: ($77) 5d, 8s, Tc (3 players)
Hero bets $50, UTG folds,

I bet $50 so I could get MP1 to commit his stack (if he calls 50 now, he'll call the other $57 on the turn). Anyways, he thinks and thinks about it and runs his whole time bank down. I know exactly what he's thinking, and I'm pretty sure I know what he has. I figure he has 77 or 99 or some other medium sized pair. He's sitting there thinking that "maybe he raised with AK or AQ and missed the flop and is bluffing". When he took that long, I knew I was winning (he doesnt need to try to trick me, as even if I did have AK, I'm calling his all-in). So with about 5 seconds left I type "AK" into the chat box. RIGHT away he acts:


MP1 raises to $100, Hero raises to $150, MP1 calls $7.75 (All-In).

Turn: ($334.75) 3d (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($334.75) Js (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $334.75

Results in white below:
MP1 has Jc 8c (two pair, jacks and eights).
Hero has Ad As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: MP1 wins $292.50. Hero wins $42.25.

So I totally mind-fucked him but ended up mind-masturbating? I don't know.

It was a bad day, I dropped nearly $400 which puts me about -$250 since my last post. Lame.

I've made it here alive in S.Korea, with a little time to pad my July stats. I haven't played any poker as of yet, but I should get a fair amount of time. I'll be starting a different blog to track the adventures I have here over the next year.

Hey! A good day! I played for a few hours and booked a nice win. Over the last 500 hands I won $566 bringing the month to $1185 over 7268 hands.

People say a lot of things about poker. Two of my favourite sayings are; 1. It's a hard way to make an easy living, and 2. It's a great job... if you can forget about it. The latter is the focus of my post.

I couldn't sleep very well last night. Before I fell asleep I was mulling over why I was having such a lackluster month -- even while I slept I kept dreaming of poker. And it wasn't anything exciting like playing in the WSOP, it was a boring, tedious dream of me grinding away at my computer (and doing poorly, at that). I wish this wouldn't occupy my mind - I'm smart enough to know this is variance. But whatever, I need to justify this month to myself, so here goes:

There have been 15 hands this month where I've won over $100. In all of these hands I got another player to put a lot of money in once they were behind. In not one do I put my own money in with the worst of it (the closest was getting all in on the flop as only a 52% favourite with the nut flush draw and a pair vs. an overpair). I'd say about 3 of them were tough spots for my opponents to fold (One flush over flush, and two full houses vs. straights).

There have been 10 hands this month where I've lost over $100. Two of these were flush over flushes (My K high vs. and Ace high, and my J high vs. a Q high). Both times the money went in on the turn, and both were against pretty bad players who could've had a much worse holding. Both of these were also $400 pots. Another big pot had me turning a flush and a solid player semi-bluffing me all in with the nut draw ( He was about 15% to win and did). That pot was $300. The worst one was a $400 pot where I got all in on the turn with AQ vs. AJ on a 8-A-2-A board. I'm a 90% favourite, and unfortunatley the jack hit the river. The last (barely) mentionable one had someone hitting their flush draw versus my set in a $200 pot (all in on flop). Three or four of the other hands could've been avoidable in retrospect.

This really illustrates the variance in poker. I mean, two huge hands where I was over 85% to win went the wrong the way and my month has been shitty. If those hands hold up I have at least doubled my take for the month (both hands total $700). And if one of those flush vs. flushes goes my way, thats $800 more!

This has been theraputic for me, and I hope my luck swings in the right direction soon.

I put in a huge session today, nearly 2k hands. Lost about $130. Awesome. Hourly rate for July is now just below $15.

This is all of July so far- as you can see I've been break even for about the last 5700 hands.

Its a sick up-down-up-down cycle right now and its frustrating. My goal of $2k is still doable, but I don't think I'll be getting much more playing time in this month. I'm leaving for south Korea in less than a week and the preperation +adjustments will eat up most of the rest of July.