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vltava United States. Sep 12 2010 08:19. Posts 1742

Hit the 40k VPP mark for the year and I'm halfway to 50k. I'm very happy about my progress considering I have not been trying very hard for the past couple weeks. I was slightly up at the $60 and $38 STT's following my BOP win, when my new laptop died in the middle of a session, and as a result of not being able to get back online, suddenly I was down, and my $55+5 ROI on SharkScope jumped into the negative. I guess I could have switched to my other computer, but I was putting all my eggs into the basket of trying to get the new laptop back up and running, and I failed. Waiting on a cashout to get that compy fixed so I can return to the SNG grind. (One of my Asperger traits is that disruption of my routine and expectations throws me off, enough so that I don't want to grind/practice, and the nonfunctioning status of stuff which I normally depend on qualifies as such.)

In the meantime I've been splashing around in various games. Took a couple shots at WCOOP events. Got close to the money in the 8-game $100k. I also joined bluefirepoker and I'm studying hard to improve my game. Listening to Galfond, Senti, and Kirkre think through their hands out loud as been a huge help to me in actually having a thought process for estimating my opponent's range. I tend to play based on a set of memorized patterns and general principles, which is acceptable for STT's, but leaves me totally adrift and doing strange things in other games. Also when I play cash games now, I am playing fewer tables (2 for stud and mixed games, 4 for hold 'em), and I'm focusing on 6-max, so I can give every hand the thought process it deserves if necessary. I had a marathon overnight session playing 6-max 1/2 NL where I got antsy from constantly table selecting, and I ended up just joining a ton of them. Really bad idea for the approach I want to take to the game now: I want to play very very well all the time and improve. I did win several buy-ins, but I ran insanely well, winning all my 14-15 out hands, and not getting sucked out on when I had a big hand. I think if I had run at expectation, I would have been down a shitpile.

I finally got the info for my bank which I needed to cash out via wire transfer, and cashed out down to 6k and change. While part of the reason is that I'll put the money to good use IRL, also, I'd like my roll not to be so large in comparison to the stakes I play that the money doesn't feel meaningful.

Now when I am grinding, I will be mass multitabling $38 and $60 STT's, and I will also work on my cash game, sometimes 2-tabling .50/$1 8-game and sometimes 4-tabling .50/$1 6-max NLHE. I know that's super nitty, but I don't feel a lot of pressure to make a lot of money right now, so I am going to do my best to study and improve my game. I know I can probably beat 1/2 when I am focused, but again I don't feel pressure to go for the glory, nor do I want to be aggro with my bankroll any more. I will just focus on making fundamentally sound decisions at .50/1 for now. I'll also be playing $40 tourneys at the Bike.

Meanwhile, the fall semester just began at my local junior college, and I am taking two classes: accompanying and applied piano (the latter basically means private lessons). In case any of you know anything about classical music, I am accompanying a friend, an excellent violist, in Hindemith's viola sonata, and my solo repertoire is not yet established. I think I will be preparing the Schumann concerto for a competition next semester, and probably focus on romantic and modern repertoire, so something like Prokofiev's sonata no. 7 in B-flat. As I'm no longer planning on pursuing attending university in the short term, I no longer need to prepare a bunch of stuff that doesn't interest me in order to fit into the box that universities want to put you in. (I.e., everyone has to play a Bach fugue, a Beethoven sonata, and one piece from one of the two later periods.)

If any other developing midstakes player on LP is in the LA area and serious about your game, I would be interested in possibly meeting up on a semi-regular basis and talking about poker and the poker life, especially if you can play at the Bike from time to time, although a pure online player would be cool too. Send me a PM if so.

Oh, I want to play the rebuy at Hollywood Park on Fridays, but I never get going in time. I have trouble getting places on time in general. If anyone reading this is busto or playing micro stakes, I would ship you like $10 on Stars every Friday morning to call me and berate me for running late, and to get my lazy ass down to Inglewood and get my share of the free money that is floating around that ghetto poker room. Or you could take 1% of my winnings in the tourney. Whichever you'd prefer ($10 is a strong favorite to be the better deal).

0 votes

tooker: there is very little money in stts.

Last edit: 13/09/2010 15:08

vltava United States. Sep 12 2010 09:20. Posts 1742

One of these days, Carol is going to kick my ass over one of these all-nighters.

tooker: there is very little money in stts.