The Amoeba

Things have gone pretty well since my last update.  I had an unfortunate run where I went 32 tournaments without taking a 1st place, but that poop seems to have passed.  I set a personal record for sngs played in a day (60… hoping to break that today?) as well as profit during one set of 6 tourneys (5 1sts, 1 2nd), wins in a row (4), and buyins made in one day (20).  A little unofficial goal I have is to play 100 tourneys in one day before the end of the year. 

As far as next year, I feel pretty good about the direction that my game is heading.  I’ve played 500 9-man tourneys since starting back up, and have learned (re-learned?) a ton.  I feel much more confident about my decisions in certain situations, and being able to analyze situations on the fly.  Multitabling was a bit of an issue at the beginning, as 6 tables was a bit overwhelming.  But for the last 200 or so games, I have been averaging over 6 tables at once, and have gone up to 10 tables for a few brief periods. 

Despite some nice statistical achievements during the last month or two, the things I am most proud of can not really be expressed in numbers.  I have played tilt-free poker for MOST of the time I have been playing.  I really think my 100buyin + 1000 sng @ each level rule is a major contributing factor to this.  Another little trick that I have learned to help me deal with downswings is, when I am in the middle of a brutal swing I visualize my long-term graph.  There are some pretty sick swings in that graph, but the obvious trend is an upward trend.  It’s just a nice visual reassuring reminder that I play winning poker, and the current down trend that I am on will soon be a blip on another upward trending graph

I am so lazy. I have only played 20 tournies since my last update. Not that I haven’t been busy though;

I got impulsed a 56” tv into my living room, so that was a lot of work to get it all set up . Very much worth it though. Watching tv, or playing video games, or anything like that has totally changed for the better. I wouldnt even call it ‘watching’ tv now… more like ‘experiencing’. The thing is way too big for the room, which makes it perfect. Getting my laptop fixed and hooked into the tv are my next little projects I will be working on .

So now I’m left with 9 days to play 380 tournaments. We’re pretty settled in the new house, so my poker schedule and life in general will start falling into more of a routine soon. That will be nice. 2007 has probably been the most event-filled year of my entire life. It was seriously an unbelievable year. I’ll sum that up in my last blog entry of the year when I reach my goals.

It’s true, I am a huge loser.  I can not live without my beloved internet.

I just moved into a new home, and have been lazy about getting my cable TV and internet transferred over.  On a normal day, I will get home from work around 6:00 pm, eat a few things, strum the guitar for a little bit, and do other small tasks.  Around 7:00 or 7:30, I sit my ass down on my chair and play on the internet for like 3 or 4 hours.  Mind you, I do enjoy drinking and hanging out with my friends and what not, but in my free time in general, I am on the internet.

 It’s amazing how many times I have sat in the new place, and I have sorely missed having the ‘net.  Directions, store hours, news, sports scores, emails, school work, class registration, christmas shopping, homeowning questions, instant messaging, POKERS; I’m cut off from all of them.  I guess this is more of a whine post than anything lol.

Obviously without teh interwebz I am unable to play teh pokerz.  I played 80 sng thru DEC 2nd, and haven’t played since.  I am confident that after I get my internet back and my holiday travels done (DEC 17th) I will return to poker and meet my december goals.  I will be left to do nearly the entire month’s goal in 2 weeks, but I think I can handle it.  It will be good preparation for the poker-filled year to come. 

I  was really excited to get started in November.  Playing STTs was like getting reaquainted with an old friend; there was some familiarity, but also some stuff that I had missed over time.  I started out at the 6max sngs, and it did not go well.  I was not able to adjust to the differences between 6m and a full table.  I will explore that some day, but for the time being, I think I will stick to full tables.  I had around 50 buyins for the $13 6max tables when I started.  Towards the end of my stint at the $13s, I was getting mildly upset at losing.  That should never happen.  Profitable plays make profit in the long run.  A profitable play is a profitable play is a profitable play.  Whether I win or lose in real money, all my plays should be profitable.  There should be nothing to be upset about.  At that point I bumped my bankroll requirement to 100 buyins, forcing me to move down in stakes, but I guess increasing my comfort by double .  I am going to stick to this 100 buyin rule.  I will also play at least 1000 sngs at each level I move through.  If I dip below 100 buyins for the level I am at, I will move down.

So I moved down to the ultra fishy $6.50s, and did pretty well.  I think my end game is fairly strong, but my 6 player to bubble game could use a little work.  I started out playing 4 tables at a time, at all times.  I have now started playing 6 at all times, with  7 or 8 going when it looks like I may bust from a couple tables.  I time out every once in a while, but for the most part, if I am focused, it is not a problem to play 7 or 8 at a time.  This will be part of my goals for december which I will get to later.  I would say I ran about average.  There were some sick hot days and some ice cold days.  The great part about it, which has me excited, is that whether I won or lost, I never felt tilted.  Having a 100 buyin cushion really makes life easier when KK loses to J7o AIPF. 

Okay enough blabbering, here is the meat:

 My November goal was 350 sngs, 10% ROI.  I did make the 350 sngs, but not the 10% ROI unfortunately.  I had a 15% ROI at the $6.50s, but the losses at the higher buyin $13s hurt my bottom line quite a bit.

All November 

$6.50 November

$6.50 November Finish Distribution

November Results: 400something Stts, +$180 Stt, +$60 Online Mtt, +$200 live mtt, $440 profit.

December Goals:  480 sngs, 12% ROI, 60/40 HU finish distribution, 6 tabling consistently with 8 tabling sporadic, get pictures of new house online

December goals will be extremely difficult to reach because I am in the middle of buying a house and have final exams, but it will be fairly important that I reach them, as I am trying to reach supernova next year, and getting a head start on the higher buyins will be imperative.