The Journey
Pillars, Feb 28 2011
The Journey
by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
2010
Pillars, Dec 25 2010
Poker earnings - $188,500
SNE earnings - $108,000
2010 total earnings - $296,500
2010 hours played - 720
2010 hourly rate - $412/hr
In 2010 I clicked a lot of buttons.
Played mostly 20-50BB tables on Stars, usually buying in for 20BB and staying until the end of my session [unless the table was particularly strong.]
Interestingly, the majority of my profit came with a stack-size between 25 and 40BBs.
I'll be playing in the PCA and probably the WSOP main events with the packages from Supernova Elite.
Not sure what the plan is for 2011. Might play just enough every month to keep SNE status [cashing in on the 5x FPP modifier], or might try for SNE once again. Poker is less and less of a priority in my life lately, and I'd generally prefer to put my energy into things which provide more intrinsic value.
Good luck to ya'll the rest of the year.
Down, down, down, up
Pillars, Oct 03 2008
Poker poker poker. I took a month off from the game in June and had a horrific time getting back into the 2/4 and 3/6 games on Stars during July. In late July I started playing fewer tables and had some initial success but then suffered through the longest break-even stretch I'd ever encountered [100k+ hands]. It began with me running terribly, but by the end I just wasn't playing winning poker.
After taking another short break I decided to move down to 1/2 to regain confidence. Things have gone very well so far as I've managed to maintain a $220/hr pace over 34,000 hands. I'll probably play a few more weeks of 1/2 then start mixing in some 2/4.
I'm still not really enjoying the game, though, and I just can't imagine myself ever moving past 5/10 or even 3/6 at this point without re-discovering the passion required to continue improving.
Changes
Pillars, Jul 24 2008
New, primary goal:
Learn how to play poker.
Sub-goals:
1.) Play four tables, not twelve.
2.) Think critically about the game.
3.) Stop being a nit.
4.) Raise, bet and fold more often; call less often.
My first 10,000+ hands playing four tables...
The solution
Pillars, Jul 15 2008
Poker is a game of cute little bunny rabbits...
vials of blood...
...and strange, androgynous dolls.
Fun 5/10 hand
Pillars, Jun 10 2008
So I'm in Vegas until June 20th. I'll be playing a couple smaller NLHE events and maybe some of the larger events at the Venetian. In an attempt to 'minimize the variance' of the trip I'm also attempting to play a bunch of 5/10 NLHE cash. Today I played a short session and booked a small loss.
An amusing 5/10 hand:
UTG limp, I raise to 5x from MP w/ AJo, player in LP calls, blinds fold, UTG folds.
Flop is K72ss, I bet 3/5 pot, LP calls.
Turn is an offsuit 7, I bet 3/5 pot, LP calls.
River is an offsuit 5, I check, LP bets 1/2 pot, I make a ninja-call.
LP flips over AQhh and inadvertently owns me.
I enjoy the additional variables one has at one's disposal when playing live, but I hate the fact that 1.5 weeks of playing cash games and tournaments will be equivalent to playing 5-6 hours of online poker in terms of hands dealt.
2/4 and 3/6
Pillars, May 13 2008
Interesting results so far this month. Apart from running terribly at 2/4, I also think I'm spewing a bit in a number of pre-flop and post-flop spots, thinking that players are squeezing light / semi-bluffing at a much higher frequency than they actually are.
Looking forward to playing some events in the WSOP next month...I'm actually going to be traveling a bunch in late May and June, visiting friends in Richmond, DC, Seattle, Vegas and then going on a cruise down to Bermuda. Yay for freedom?
2008, to date
Pillars, Apr 24 2008
2008 has been a rough poker year for me. The first few months I ran very badly at both 2/4 and 3/6, somewhere in the area of $30,000 below expectation. The psychological ramifications of this run combined with the increased difficulty of games on Stars led to a pretty sizable loss of confidence in my poker game. Playing poker without confidence is a pretty ugly thing, and certainly helped to ensure that I continued to win at a pretty lackluster rate.
As I've written in previous blogs, I also saw my interest in the game continue to wane. Poker felt like a grind, I didn't enjoy thinking about the game away from the table [or even at the table!], and the emotional swings were beginning to wear on me. Given that poker is my only source of income [and that I had made a number of important decisions under the assumption that I would continue to earn $$ at a steady rate over the next few years through poker] this was a pretty miserable state of affairs.
The past few weeks have been better. For whatever reason, I'm finding myself willing and somewhat interested in continuing to learn and improve as a player. I've watched somewhere between 15-20 mid-stakes videos during this timeframe [most notably the 'Movin' on Up' series by FoxwoodsFiend, a couple 6-max videos by MYNAMEIZGREG and a pair of videos by Raptor.] I'm thinking about situations much more clearly, hand reading better, and generally just making more solid decisions [all very vague, I know.]
My goal over the next few months is to once again make 3/6 6-max on Stars my regular game. This is where I spent the vast majority of my time playing during 2007, and there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to continue beating the game at a solid clip in 2008. The games are getting tougher, yes, but I have an extraordinary amount of faith in my ability to adjust and thrive.
Had a good session earlier tonight, also sat at a couple of "50% Liquidpoker" tables with JohnnyCosmo and Adam001 some portion of the time.
I'll continue playing a mixture of 2/4 and 3/6, playing more and more 3/6 as I feel myself comfortably able to combat the majority of the regulars there.
Oh
Pillars, Apr 21 2008
Two solid hours of work!
First week of April
Pillars, Apr 07 2008
I took a week long vacation to visit some friends in NYC last month and the break felt very beneficial. Upon returning, I've found myself regaining some measure of interest in continuing to improve as a player. This = good.
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