Reports Of My Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

~ Yes, I'm still here. I've been saying for the past six months or so that I'm losing interest in blogging, and that I'll probably be posting less. I've have over 400 posts on this blog, and I highly doubt I will get to #500. I have no plans to close the blog, but posts will only come along when I feel like it.

~ Now for an update on how my year has been. First of all, I'm trying to take my recreational play more seriously. I've set a goal this year of $10k profit. That is far ahead of anything I've made in the past. It may seem like a big number, but it's only $2500 every 3 months or roughly $835 each month. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.

I'm also trying to follow stricter bankroll requirements, rather than just playing whatever I feel like. I started out just playing $1/$2 and small tournaments under $200. Right now, my "pile of cash" is up to the level where I can play bigger cash games ($2/$5 NL or $10/$20 Limit) once a week, and I'm occasionally taking a little out for gas and groceries.

Here are the monthly numbers:
+$2144 January
+$697  February
-$1019 March
+$842  April

So far, the +$2664 is on pace for an $8k year, which isn't too far from my goal.

The main reason that I'm a little off pace is tournaments. My tournament year started off great. In the first series that Peppermill ran in January, I had two cashes in three events for a +$1085. After that, it all went to shit. I've only had one additional cash in a +$100 tournament, and I'm even doing terrible in the donkaments. Here are the numbers.

Donkaments <$100: 64 tourneys, 8 cashes, 4 win/chops, -$495, -11.97% ROI
Tournament >$100: 21 tourneys, 3 cashes, 2 wins/chops, -$675, -22.06% ROI

I think the main reason for the tourney hole is simple variance. No, I haven't played everything perfectly, and have had a couple of time when I got stubborn or over aggressive in a bad spot. But most of the losing has just been normal tournament silliness. I've had a few 0-12 and 0-16 streaks during this past few months. It's gotten to the point where I'm currently taking a few weeks away from tourneys. I'll get back on the tourney trail next weekend.

Another reason the tourney break is that I'm running really well in cash games, especially $1/$2. It's really bizarre how bad things are going in tourneys, but great in cash games. It hasn't been uncommon for me to bust out of a tourney in a ridiculous fashion, and then sit in a $1/$2 game only to be up $100 or $200 within an hour. A couple of Sundays ago, I sat down in the  $1/$2 game after a tourney, and bought in for just $50. I ran it up to around $250 before I payed a Big Blind.

Shortstacking has been common for me in the $1/$2 games, especially when I play during the day or on a weeknight. I buy $100 in chips, and put $50 on the table while the other $50 goes in my pocket. If I go through those two buy-ins, the I'll put another $100 on the table. I'm doing this because Reno is full of passive Super-Nits. It's not uncommon for my initial $50 to not be the shortest stack at the table. They are buying in short because they are scared to lose any money. I'm buying in short so I can get my chips in the middle faster. And if I happen to find a table that actually has some action, I can always pull out a couple of $100 bills.

Overall, this has worked well for me. My $1/$2 numbers are +$2775, 154.5 hrs, 70 sessions (38-22). My goal this year for $1/$2 is $15/hr. I know $20/hr is the magic number that everyone says, but I decided to lower it due to Reno being overrun with passive Super-Nits. So far, I'm at $17.96/hr, and I think that's pretty damn good for usually buying in $50 at a time.

As for the bigger games, I haven't played many sessions, but the numbers are mixed.
3 session of $2/$3 ($5 to go): +$430 7.75 hrs (Reno's version of $2/$5)
1 session of $10/$20 Limit: -$199 3.0 hrs
1 session of $10/$20 Omaha-8: -$392 3.75 hrs.

~ As most of you have probably heard by now, Nevada had its first hand of regulated online poker yesterday at Ultimate Poker. I was not one of the first players to sign up. I am planning on signing up at just one site, WSOPonline.com (or whatever they're gonna call it). I will go into more detail on this subject in a future post (maybe).

~ Since this is the beginning of May, that means the WSOP is just around the corner. I'll be planning on being in Las Vegas for the first two weeks in June. However, I don't plan on playing any WSOP events. Since I lost so much last year, I'm not planning on playing a tournament over $250. It will be mostly donkaments and small cash games in the beginning. I'm should be playing a few $240 tournaments at the Golden Nugget. They have a great schedule of Mixed Game tournaments, so I'm gonna play a HORSE, an Omaha-8, and maybe an 8-Game if things are going well. I may also try some other tournament and maybe a WSOP satellite or two if I can win enough money to basically freeroll into them.

I'm not sure how much blogging I will do in Vegas. It will strictly depend on if I feel like it or not.

~ However, I do have two Hands Of The Day that are currently half done. One is from a $4/$8 Omaha-8 game, and the other is from a $1/$2 NL game. Hopefully, these will be posted between now and the WSOP.