February News & Notes

- Sunday is the Super Bowl. I know you've been anxiously waiting for my picks, so here is my official opinion... To me, as a life-long Cleveland fan, this is just another New York vs Boston match-up. Who cares?

I have no interest in the game, and will put no money on it. But, out of respect for my loyal readers, I do like the Giants +3 (or the Money Line) and the Under of 55. The Giants already beat the Patriots at Foxborough back in early November. The Giants are also the Hot Team right now, and we saw what that meant for the Green Bay Packers last year.

- If you're into poker podcasts, my boys at the Cleveland Poker Meetup Group have started doing a strategy podcast. They have done three podcasts so far, two on NL Cash Games, and one on Tournaments. The episodes are in the 1.5 hour range, and they do a pretty good job. The two hosts interview another CPMG member about a topic. Since they are Home Game players, there are some references to players and events that an outsider might not get. But overall, I definitely recommend checking them out, as the podcasts just become available on iTunes.

- Last month, I mentioned that the biggest success I had last year was the Daily Donkaments. So in January, I decided to just grind the tournaments. My goal was to play 25 tournaments in January, along with the occasional $4/$8 Omaha-8 game. I was gonna play two every Sunday, and I had two Holidays from work when I could play up to three tourneys. Here are the raw numbers:

Daily Donkaments <$100
Count: 23
Avg Buy-In: $56.74
Total Profit: $1350
ROI: 103.45%
Wins/Chops: 7 (30%)
Cashes: 9 (39%)
Bubbles: 1
Best Scores: 01/25 $95 Peppermill Cash Me Out, 23 players, $700
                    01/16 $45 Atlantis 11am. 44 players, $485

Tournaments $100+
Count: 7
Avg Buy-In: $182.14
Total Profit: $255
ROI: 20%
Wins/Chops: 1 (14%)
Cashes: 1 (14%)
Bubbles: 2 (28%)
Best Scores: 01/14 $130 Omaha-8, 50 players, $1530.

Totals
Count: 30
Total Profit: $1605
ROI: 62.21%
Best Streak: 5/6
Worst Streak: 0/5

Overall, these are pretty good numbers, as this was my third best month since I moved to Reno. Although they could have been a lot better. I had back-to-back bubbles in the $115 Saturday night tourney at the Peppermill. In the first one, we had 19 players and I bubbled in 4th place. The following night at the Peppermill, I played a $55 tourney with 20 players, and did a two-man chop for $335. If I had chopped the Saturday tourney instead of the Sunday tourney, I would have made another $300+. That's the nature of grinding tourneys.

This month, I'm still gonna grind donkaments, but I'm lowering my goal to 20 tourneys. I only have one holiday off this month, and I doubt I will have any other off days from work. Also, since I had such a good month, I want start to playing a little $15/$30 Limit. It won't be much, as I want to limit my risk, and just stick my toe in the water. I'm planning on trying it about once a week. If it goes well, then I'll stop focusing on the $45 donkaments that are on the weeknights.