July Results

My July was actually only a half month long. I was out of town and did not begin playing until July 15th. I ran a mix of 6 player games all month. I started with $3 then played some $6. I made 7% and 4% ROI respectively. At the end of the month, i switched to 6 player non turbo tournaments. This seems to fit me better, and create less variance. Im looking to do more 6 player standard blinds for the month of August. I played at the local casino this morning. Im looking to play their tournaments every saturday hoping to cash enough to show a profit. The field was very weak, however i was suprised a bit by the new tournament structure. Now we start with 4000 instead of 2500 chips, and antes are introduced after 30 min. So i look for next week to be more prepared for that tournament. My profit was $256.10 and my hours were just over 64. Im looking at staying with $6 tournaments now that i have found my way on these 6 man tables. And of course increase my hours having the full month back. Hopefully good things are to come.
Good Luck Everyone!

DATE GAME P LEFT BLINDS MY POS. MYCARDS MY STK OPP STK MY ACT COR ACT RANGE
6/11/2010 1 5 100/200 SB Q10s 1305 PU775/2160 FOLD PUSH 22,A5,K10,Q10S

Im having a hardtime getting my spreadsheet as a post so forgive me. However, i wanted to show my speadsheet I am using with the SnG Wiz. It may help some of you with your extracting hand historys. My speadsheet covers the Date, Game Number, Players Left in Tourney, Blind, My Position to Act, My Cards, My Stack Size, Opponents Stack Size, My Action, Correct Action (according to SnG Wiz), and SnG Wiz Range of Hands for pushing. I try to fill out this sheet manually after each session. Of course the Wizard has some differences and certainly isnt the perfect ideal move for every decision. However, by doing this work on the side it allows me to print out a sheet and look at all hands in question and get a much better understanding about mistakes I have made in each session. Plus its also a punishment for all my stupid mistakes, im suprised about so many things ive done wrong and not really realized. I feel this sheet has maximized my SnG Wizard purchase. If you guys wish to try it, hopefully it will improve your game as much as mine.
Thanks
Tom

My SnG Wiz Spreadsheet

DATE GAME P LEFT BLINDS MY POS. MYCARDS MY STK OPP STK MY ACT
6/11/2010 1 5 100/200 SB Q10s 1305 PU775/2160 FOLD COR ACT RANGE
PUSH 22,A5,K10,Q10S

Im having a hardtime getting my spreadsheet as a post so forgive me. However, i wanted to show my speadsheet I am using with the SnG Wiz. It may help some of you with your extracting hand historys. My speadsheet covers the Date, Game Number, Players Left in Tourney, Blind, My Position to Act, My Cards, My Stack Size, Opponents Stack Size, My Action, Correct Action (according to SnG Wiz), and SnG Wiz Range of Hands for pushing. I try to fill out this sheet manually after each session. Of course the Wizard has some differences and certainly isnt the perfect ideal move for every decision. However, by doing this work on the side it allows me to print out a sheet and look at all hands in question and get a much better understanding about mistakes I have made in each session. Plus its also a punishment for all my stupid mistakes, im suprised about so many things ive done wrong and not really realized. I feel this sheet has maximized my SnG Wizard purchase. If you guys wish to try it, hopefully it will improve your game as much as mine.
Thanks
Tom

Week June 2nd-8th

Im going to start tracking from thursday to wednesday my weeks. Wednesday is usually my 1 day off from poker. I ended up playing 231 tournaments this week and 14hrs. Im looking to explain to 480 and 24 hrs next week. My ROI ended up being 14.6%, however today lost all my profits for the day at the end. Adding HEM was a great idea, still getting use to the program. Im looking forward to next week i really want to put in the hours and earn some money as i am looking to move very soon.

Quick Update: Solid Start

Only played 6 hours this weekend, but it was a solid start for a new game. I started with just 1 tournament and now have worked my way to 8 games at once. Im struggling a bit with having 3 or 4 tournaments headsup at the same time. I think in time will come to me better, and maybe i will add more tables. Also my headsup game i admit is a little off, mostly because of all the DoN's the last year and a half. I ended the weekend with a 54%ROI with only 40 tournaments. Its a good start, and something to build on. Im going to work on improving my heads up play, adding more tournaments and improving everything even more. Hopefully June will be very promising.
Good Luck to All!

DoN Project Over Next Game

After this months continuous struggles with DoN. I am ending the DoN project as have so many others. However, DoN's have helped me alot, for the first time it gave me a true bankroll. I am planning on returning to 6man turbo sit n gos. These tournaments I did previously at a 29%ROI. That was only 332 games so not a true ROI sample. However, at that time i was a 1 game at a time player. I will need to really be able to learn to play multiple tables at these smaller tables that require faster decisions. I believe I can accomplish this and return a solid ROI%. Plus these games will also allow me to return to the Battle of The Planets Leaderboards. Leaderboards allow me to put money aside and focus on earning pts, and the money plays itself out. I will for sure not bring back this high a return, however I am confident I can bring back solid profitable poker. Right now, that is exactly what I need.
Good Luck Everyone!

Turbo Mania

April was my second straight month struggling. But only with certain games, it didnt produce the results but did show some very obvious trends. First of all, i struggled big at non turbo tournaments, but i did have some solid success in 5.2T DoN, as well as some omaha success. For this month, im looking to build on this and already in 2 days a solid beginning. Im looking at massive amounts of 5.2T DoN's, and throw in some Omaha DoN's during the day on weekends when the traffic for that game is the highest. Its been a tough few months for me, but i feel this month will be much better. I am going to Vegas for a week this month, so that will take away from some of my hours, but the other 3 weeks im going to put in as much time as possible. Some good trends ive been able to key on. I minimize the table when im all in thus not to worry about it, and remind myself how i did the right play. Im also no longer recording my sessions by sets, rather just adding up my tournaments played and checking my email records later to see how many . Today ive played 60 tourneys and have no clue how much money ive won or lost. This is good for me, im prone to quitting after a bad set or stopping early if ive won enough for the day. This will keep my hours up this month.
Good Luck everyone

Small Stakes in Vegas

Hey everyone,
Im heading to Vegas in a few weeks with a limited bankroll. Does anybody know any nice games that can be played for profit? The best casinos for poker? I noticed some sit n go tournaments at luxor with my experience i thought i could do well, or perhaps ill just play a few of the big tournaments. Also trying to find some good NL tables. So that said, any of you people played in vegas that much?

My cure to avoiding TILT is simple dont look!

After watching so many bad beats take away so much $$$ from me. I have found a simple cure to avoiding losing my mind. I simply do not watch the hands play out when the betting is over. When multitabling, it is easy to minimize the table and move on to something else, if in 5 seconds nothing happens you know you didnt go broke. Imagine you have AK and somebody else has QJ and your all in. If you minimized the screen, you could remember your a 2:1 favorite and you did your best. Instead you watched how you flopped a Ace and King and watched your opponent make some miracle runner runner flush on the river. This wears and tears on you, and now for the next 10 minutes you are trying hard to not lose your mind and your cash. Sometimes ill even remind myself after the betting how i played it right and got my money in the right spot whatever happens. This tactic is hard to accept even for myself because its human nature to want to see what happens, its part of what makes poker exciting. But in the end watching hands play out really doesnt gain you anything.
One hand at a time!
Tom

Programs to help your Profit

Ive switched to 10 $10 DON's at once. The 30 tabling was screwing with my mind, with less tables im able to think through more decisions and really use my skills more to my advantage. The days of sitting at DON's tables and folding to the money appear to be over. Some other tactics will be needed. I am currently using 4 programs to help my play.
1. Pokerspy - Pokerspy helps show mucked cards, and also shows whos playing tight and loose at the table. Its very helpful and gathering the situation so you can figure out the correct play.
2. DoN Indicator - This is a great tool for DON multitabling, it will help locate exactly where you are at in the tournament for faster decisions.
3. Tableninja- The hot keys allow me to not use the mouse as much and kill my wrist, plus it starts new tournaments as soon as other ones end (this has not helped me much since it seems i have a lower roi% when starting new ones before finishing old tourneys)
4.SNG Wizard - I just checked this out and have no fully used it, but it picks out mistakes and shows every hand played easily making it much easier to look back at your work. This is a great tool after your done to research your play.
These tools have really helped my performance at the table and i would recomend them all to serious players! Good luck!
One hand at a time!
Tom

12 in a row!!!

Wow my form is really back now. After going thru the biggest of struggles in January. I finished Sunday hot..and rode that right into monday night finishing my last set by winning my last 12 games, and winning 20 of my last 24. There is so no question some great adjustments have paid off, and its a great feeling to be back at the top of my game. 25 at once i seem to have a handle on, and my patience is very good. Heres to hoping for a really great Febuary. Oh yes, and i also made GoldStar last month for the first time, this is going to help acheive my bonuses quicker and get more $$$ back. For today, all is well.

Use Research as a Guide

Using research and appropiate data to digest your struggles and success at poker is huge. This month has been a struggle and the data from last night really says it all. I played 72 DoN's last night in 4 1/2 hrs. I went 27/14 to start the session which is about 3 hrs, i proceeded to have a stretch of 3/18 near the end. Its simple, switching to 25 tables from 20 is not a problem. Playing 4 1/2 hrs straight with that many games is. After looking at this, i realize i need to switch to 2 sets at a time (3 hrs) followed by some type of break. The constant decisions and constant end of tournament end game tactics is too much for me to take. So by switching to two 25 game sets, followed by a short break i hope to end drastic finishes that ruin my performance. My goal is still to average 100 games a day for a month, but how many you play doesnt matter if you cant perform at a high level. Its amazing i went from a 70% win percentage to a 15% at the end of a session. Numbers dont lie and you must pay attention to them!!!

Back in Business

Efforts to improve my play with reading articles and trying to understand problems have paid off. My new improvements have brought back a 60%+ holdem win percentage. Also including omaha DoN to my sets have been a big success so far with winning 16 of 21 games so far. Although it is only in a day, it feels good to feel more in control at the table and knowing my head is working very well. Im more relaxed and more eager to play since i feel i can be profitable. Hopefully a few more sessions of success and my goals can once again be a target instead of a dream. Also because less omaha dons are played i feel hardly no regulars play omaha as a target for your bankroll. This has also led to my recent success.
Good Luck to all
One Hand at a Time!
Tom

I found new game which looks intresting

I dont know if anyone has noticed but i noticed there is also DoN Pot Limit Omaha...now im not one of the greatest omaha players around, but this could be worth a look considering how loose people play omaha. This could also be another cash cow. Also the difficulty of reg holdem DoN's is apparent as most of the top players last year have struggled so far. Im going to drop down how many games i play perhaps use sharkscope more and improve my strategy more. I feel my losses are mainly due to mechincal issues and really losing the edge in skill i had in the middle of last year. I feel recharged and ready to get back to work.
One hand at a time!
Tom

Welcome to the Wall

As i watch and see im not the only one struggling at the start of 2010. My move to $10 was short lived my move to turbos also did not produce much except wasted time. This games must be conquered eventually, but will take some time. In the meantime its back to 5.4 don..im up to 25 tables at once. Some days its very hard ive played this game 8000 times yet i feel like i dont know what im doing. Certainly the players have improved but still i feel the biggest problems are within myself. I must do a better job with my play and in time things will turn around. Its frustrating to look at 2009 and start like this, but it is what it is. Just have to take it one hand at a time.
Good Luck Everyone!
Tom