For the last seven days I have been on the most soulcrushing downswing I have ever experienced... I am down 100 buyins at the 4.40/180s and I really want to just throw up. I will start out sessions playing very solid and after getting fucked in the ass time after time, I start to tilt and I have to quit. This is really quite ridiculous since I have tried to make the 180's my specialty.

Ive taken breaks, monitored and improved my play, studied, sent money to Kidpoker and im still getting shit-on in a serious way. I really dont know what to do but keep playing and getting more and more depressed. I cant wait until I look back at this entry and try to feel the emotions I feel now. Its friday and I need to get drunk. but first im going to cry

peace rags

Que pasa fives...

Its been a shamefully long time(early June)since I’ve sat down and updated my blog. My blogging aspirations have been seemingly crushed by my utter lack of motivation to do anything other than play poker, sleep, and go out at night. How did I compel myself to create this entry? Well, I consider tomorrow to mark another chapter in my life in Madison, Wi and I wanted to be able to reflect on and document the last month or so. What better place to examine your life’s standing than in a blog that was to facilitate this type of analysis in the first place. Blah blah blah lets get to it…

1)Poker

My last post I wrote about how I was quitting my job at the university to play poker full time for the summer. I had recently switched to 4.40/180’s with encouraging success and wanted to give making poke my main source of income a legitimate shot. Although I haven’t nearly been putting in the # hours I had planned on, there have been some minor achievements and developments that I feel I should mention.

A) I am still doing very well at the 4.40’s and have raised my ROI another 7 pts since I last posted.. It now stands at 21%

B)I am now ranked 8 and 7(>3 tables) for total profit for 2008 on Sharkscope and have a silver star thingy.

C) I was approached for staking by the owner of a poker training site who has since given me the opportunity to play the higher stake 180’s on stars.

At the higher buy ins I have been running so ridiculously bad and coming so close to a major cash (my standards) that I havn’t even made a dent in those and am currently running a upsetting loss. Hopefully this will turn around.

In general, I really have got to work on getting more hours in so I can realistically play two sessions. I may need to sacrifice going out as much but that is prob a good thing in the end anyways. I am still pretty new to MTT’s and feel that there is a lot I can do to improve my game and profit margin. I’m still looking at ways to accomplish this.

2) Life

Tomorrow I will be moving out of my one bedroom apt into a nicer 5 bedroom place. Although I am excited, I’m wondering how it will ultimately affect my ability to put in the time and quality into my sessions. I’m living with two cool guys and two cool girls so the ability to socialize will be greatly increased domestically. Most are in grad school already so I doubt any major circumstances will arise. On a plus side, one of my roomates is a huge video game head and is fairly active so there will be an added options when it comes to winding down, relaxing, or taking a break from poker. I think this transition will be a good thing.

I have about a semesters worth of work left in my undergrad… when I go back to school in September I wonder if I will be switching to mainly SNG’s and/or turbo mtt’s as time constraints will become more real.

All in all I am happy that I left my job….. The added flexibility is amazing, but I feel as though I am already taking the freedom for granted. Losing sessions have the potential to sour any day and the mental anguish that sometimes goes along with playing poker seriously make me sometimes question my choice in direction at times. Then I usually conjure up some image of me in my office setting and I quickly snap back to my senses…

Almost nothing is perfect and easy….but having tough times seem to give more weight to the good ones…

I gotta keep telling myself that
Blah blah blah.. I’m done
GL and Peace Fives!

Hey Rags...

This is probably the first time I’ve ever been excited reporting poker news. I think its simply because I can start to see some of the time and work pay off to some degree.

Let me offer a little background for those who haven’t been following my sporadic and disappointing attempts at blogging. I was primarily a lowstakes, halftime sng grinder with good but not great results and have since moved to lowstakes mtt's (just 180's for now) with encouraging results. May was the first month I was to take the 180's seriously.... Below is my report.

My May goals were a bit ambitious given my work situation. According to my 2+2 goals post I wanted to: 1200 games..
3k+ profit
Improve mtt
Work out
Not neglect other duties

I find it amusing that I did not accomplish even one my goals but am still pleased with the month overall. With only 355 games for the month of May under my belt I managed to have my best money month ever.



With these results in mind and playing m-f from 5-10PM I decided that the next step towards increased profitability would be to up my hours by having both a session in the morning and one in the afternoon. I currently work for the university for 5 hours a day 11:30-4:30. If I want to play poker, keep a job, and have any social life at all I can only put in one session a day during the 5-10PM timeslot. Looking at this situation critically I then decided to give my boss my two weeks and eliminate the troublespot in my schedule. It simply is not worth my time in light of possible anticipated earnings

This is a scary step for me

But I want to give poker my best… I’ve been learning to trust myself and it has payed off so I want to see where this will take me. I will still have plenty of great references and a pretty damn nice resume to back me up if I do need to return to the workforce.



Ive spent roughly 2-3 years playing sng’s and eeking out some profit… I found out that in two months playing 180’s I’ve made more profit than I’ve EVER made from sng’s… I don’t know is that is a brag or beat….





For an added bonus… when I was checking for my stats this morning I found my name had one of those Sharkscope star things!!!
I am ranked 17 in any game>3 table $2.50-$5.00 total profit leaderboard… WOOT!

Hoping for a good June…
peace

Hello all!

I know its been quite some time since I last posted and I feel guilty. So guilty in fact that I was hesitant to create another entry knowing how long ive been away(like I don't deserve to blog).

Anyways April was a very interesting month for me. Being a SnGo enthusiast I recently began starting to learn MTT's as I had almost never played them. I wasn't doing well in early April w/ SnGos on Stars and tried my hand playing 180s. Now with favorable results behind me I am wondering why I hadn't learned to play them sooner (yes cash games one day i assure you).

I started to multitable the 4/180 and mostly broke even for a stretch of 400 games while still getting a handle on MTT strat (P.S. thanks to Bond and TJ for their insight). Then in the last week of April everything just seemed to click. I had made no real money at that point but in a span of 5-6 days i netted around 900 dollars without putting too many hours in.




Swings the way they are and such...I feel as though If I could avoid impatience while playing these things I can realistically pull down at least $200/day with 9 hours of work or less. I feel as though that is a modest goal (some may say not). Even so, this would be way more money than I would make playing SNG's at my buy-ins and a little less frustrating to boot. (Bubbling four table in a row sends me off like a maddman) I am working on my stamina because I do feel REALLY drained during my second 11 table session of the 180's. (adderall anyone?)

So I guess im just really excited to see what May has to bring as i'm already in the black and have only really played one day. Anywhosers Ill be more diligent in updating the blog and let you guys know how it all goes.

May Goals:
$200/day >>> $1000/week
Stay focussed at work
Workout
Continue learning
Dont shirk other responsibilities
Learn to cook

Ok lets try this again!
I will try to re-capture the same essence of literary perfection that found me yesterday before I decided to mistakely press the delete button.

Firstly, Its been awhile since I've updated my blog and I apologize. I know you all have been anxiously checking every day to see if I have added anything(dont lie). Anyways... The poker has been both good and bad. Good in the sense that I a have been able to increase my 10-tabling session stamina after returning from work an still have enough energy to go out at night(sadly its a must in Madison.. at least for me). Bad in the sense that I still am not really making any progress in regards to my bankroll.



As you can see I have been Six Flaggin it up as it has been a virtual up and down BR rollercoaster. I do however consider this breaking even. Thinking about my last post where I was about to cry about the foot Stars was putting in my ass... I feel much better now as the 'doom' switch has been switched back to 'normal'. That being said..I have not been playing exceptional poker. I attribute this lack of results and performance to a few factors:

1) I am pumped up to play poker after work but am mentally tired already. This I believe leads me to make looser calls and go on auto pilot more often.

2)10 Tabling.. I am still learning to play Sng's and Mtt's at a high volume and I KNOW I am missing alot of info that I would usually pick up on. I am losing a sense of table image (A big part of the game for me) and am not being able to pick up on betting patterns. I also forget what my image is on a particular table. Some poeple (spacegravy and venetian come to mind) say they dont really bother assessing table image when volume playing and i guess it makes sense to them. However, I do believe they use PAHUD which I am too stupid to figure out how to set up(and lazy). ughh maybe i should just sit and figure it out one night. Anyways.... me not being able to assess table image leads me to make more mistakes on the bubble, which I am almost as fond of abusing as narcotics(jk folks).

3)Friends and girls... As much as I love being social and somewhat normal, I have really found that this area of my life directly and heavily influences my being able to put in sessions. I almost feel ashamed to be spending so much time with poker. I feel like a bad friend and a bad bf because when I get home cause I gotta "get that cheese and put in the hours". Ill get the same Im's every day:

RandomBorG: What are u doin? Wanna hang out?
Me: Poker..perhaps later?
RandomBorG: That’s a surprise, I swear you are addicted
hgkhkgfjhgflj

times this by 3 during my initial session and half of my mid is thinking about social relationships now... Not good for poker profitability. I dont know what to do about this phenomena. Most of my friends know I play poker but I dont know if they understand hte level of commitment and hard work required to succeed in this ever toughening arena. Subsequently they dont understand why it should occupy so much of my 'free' time. Unless im pullin in the G's, its kinda hard to justify your lifestyle to anyone. Poker is the main reason why I dont have a steady GF. I am simply too selfish with my time and girls like to have your undivided. I am not a fan of random sex (which i have learned to accept) so I dunno where that puts me.

Well thats prob it or now... just wanted to check in! Peace

-St. Lucifer