nearing the end of the month

With a little less than a week left in the month, I've just crossed the 15k hand mark and Goal #1 for the month/year has been achieved. So far this month ive put in 11.2k hands at 25nl...3500 hands at 50nl and about 3oo or so at 1/2 LHE. The way things are shaping up I think I'll end up with 16.5k or 17k hands this month. And even better than getting in as many hands as i wanted (and more) Is that I've been winning, all month long. Its been a real long time since ive played a full month and just steadily won. Even more reassuring is that in the past I haven't played as many hands per month as I do now (due to 4 tabling now vs 2 tabling in the past). So it's very reassuring to see results like this over a larger sample. My game has been FAR less swingy and I've been making far better decisions.
My bankroll is nearing 1k at this point and as i said in my previous post, I'll take a few shots at 100nl at that time. With some time between all that neteller news and the following days, i don't think the situation is as desperate as when i wrote that post, but things are definitely still unsure as to how long online poker will be this good. I think that due to all the recent developments, right now, more than ever its important to constantly work to improve my game and start taking it to the next level. As the fish dry up, and lack the motivation to jump through whatever hoops are going to be necessary to fund a poker account, the games will get tighter and I'll have to be a truly better player to be the type of winning player i want to be. As for now though, i couldn't be happier with how im playing and how the cards are falling.

Going for broke.

Well, in light of recent events, such as NETELLER pulling out of the US market. Noone really knows whats going to happen with Internet Poker in the US in the coming months. If anything, the games are going to get a lot tougher as the "fish" wont want to jump through all the hoops its going to take to get money onto a poker site now. So, I say fuck it. I'm going to try and make the most of online poker while i still have it. Right now my bankroll sits at a little over $700 and I'm playing $50Nl. Basically I'm just going to accelerate my goals for the year. I'll play $50Nl until my roll is $1000 or a little more, and then I'll start taking shots at $100NL. Hopefully those shots go well, and I can stay at $100nl....if they dont, i'll drop back down to $50nl if my roll drops to $600 (moving back up again at 1000). If my shot at 100 goes well, I'll start taking shots at $200nl once I hit $2000. Again, dropping back down to 1oo if my roll drops to 1k. If i do in fact make it to 200nl...I'll probably stay there for a while before ever taking a shot at $400nl.
The reason being, from all those I've talked to, the skill level jumps between $50 and $200nl isnt all that significant...and right now I'm fairly confident that i can easily beat $100nl once I get some money behind me.

Well, thats basically it....im going to give up a little cushion in the bankroll in order to more quickly move up limits while things are so unstable in the online poker world, hopefully I succeed, if not its not the end of the world to have to drop back down...after all, id rather have to cash out $1k from online and head to the B&M casino if the damn government brings it to that rather than be a total idiot and blow everything I have right now. We'll see how it goes...wish me luck....

Political Semi-Rant

So over the past few days news has come out that the two founders of "Neteller" have been arrested in the US. This is just the latest arrest in the witch hunt for anyone associated with online gambling. The US government is really starting to piss me off, they pass this law outlawing online gambling (well, really just funding it directly from your bank account or Credit card) because they're scared of not getting their cut from this multi-billion dollar industry, under a veil of morality, preaching the horrors that come from American adults enjoying a poker game or two while at their home on the internet. So instead of finding a way of regulating and taxing the industry here in the US, our fearless leaders prefer to hunt down and persecute anyone involved with the industry.

It seems for now that the idiots in Washington may be winning, but from my seat i see this playing out very similarly to a simiar fight that happened a few years ago with the RIAA and Napster.

You may recall that back in the late 90's downloading free music online exploded in the US. And of course...instead of embracing and working with an obviously exremely popular new technology the suits in the RIAA used every lame scare tactic they could think of to hunt down and persecute anyone involved with downloading music on the internet...only because they werent getting their cut of the pie. Finally somewhere a long the line someone with a brain came a long and Apple introduced Itunes, and well, the rest is history. I really think that all that needs to happen is someone in the US to come a long and talk some sence into our government.

Perhaps one of the large gambling companies in the US such as Harrahs or MGM will come a long and realize that the only reason the poker rooms in their casinos exploded over the past 6 years or so is because of the online game. Maybe that will drive them to work with the government and set up some kind of new product in the US. Or maybe the right palms will get greased and the new congress will do something (although I highly doubt this is a huge issue to anyone there.) Only time will tell, but for now, where theres a will theres a way....and I wont be leaving the online game anytime soon.

Grindin

Well, we're about 1/3 of the way through the month and so far, I'm right where I want to be. I've played about 6800 hands so far this month, so it looks like 15k will be a breeze. And the better part is...im kicking ass. For the first time in a long time I'm feeling real confident in my play. I'm trusting my instincts and making very decisive decisions, and thus far its paying off.

Tonights session was probably my worst of the month so far, at times I played great, at times I played horrible....at times I ran good, at times I was getting coolered, all in one session. Needless to say If you saw the graph of my session tonight it looks like a seismograph from a major earthquake. I think i ended the night down 2.5buy ins or so...which isn't bad considering where I was sitting before i took a break. The bankroll is in the best shape its been in a while too, once i get my rakeback payments from last month (hopefully sometime next week). I may jump back up to $50Nl. I'm not really sure yet, I may take my time and give myself a bigger cushion to work with, but knowing me I'll jump up at the first opportunity. Either way I still have some things to work out in my game. Namely, momentary lapses in judgement/sanity that have led to losing a few buy ins on some stupid calls& bluffs.

I also need to find a new "second home". I have been playing on Absolute Poker as my #2 site latley, but they've recently made big changes to how their bonus' clear and how they're calculating rakeback which take them from being one of the best sites in these area's to one of the worst. I think i may head back to doyles room, but its really hard for me to play more than 2 tables there, which causes a problem. Oh well, I'll figure something out...and if anyone actually reads this and wants to recommend a site with good bonuses + rakeback...I'm all ears. (not full tilt though, thats my home :) )

A new year....

2006 wasn't a very good year for me. Although I came out ahead at years end, it was a struggle all year long and I never felt very confident or satisfied with my game and results. But hey, It's a new year, a fresh start, another chance to turn it all around.

Currently I'm still grinding it out at the 25NL games, once i dropped down last year I found that i had a lot of work to do on my game and am still working that all out along with getting a decent bankroll back together after blowing it all on my vegas trip last summer.

For now these are the general goals I'll be working towards in 2007.

- Play Roughly 15k hands per month
- Earn enough points for Plasma TV from Full Tilt Store (roughly 290k points to go! lol)
- Reach and Maintain a bankroll of at least $5000 before year end.
- Maintain a comfortable bankroll level so that Rakeback payments can be cashed out and invested in some form.
- Be playing and winning at $200NL (or higher) by year end.


As for non-poker goals id like to see happen this year:
I'd like to finally start putting my degree to work in some kind of full time job! Hopefully this will happen later this month or early February.
I'd also like to save up enough money to buy a new car sometime this year. But obviously this wont be happening unless the first one does! (unless i hit some kind of ungodly year long heater in poker?!)


Thats about all i have for now. Hopefully these will be the minimum of what I'll achieve this year! Maybe I should have added keeping this blog updated to one of those lists, oh well.

For now, its time to get started....