Weekly Bankroll Update 12/22-12/29

Well, this is my last blog post of 2018 and it's nice to be able to report good news. Not only is the bankroll at an all-time high, I also had my best week since I started this crazy quest in May of 2017. Let's begin with online. I changed my strategy last week to include a mix of MTTs and SnGs and it worked rather well. I played four SnGs winning three of them, and had a couple of deep runs in the MTTs. On Saturday I went to MGM Springfield to play some $1/$2 No-Limit. I played for around five hours or so, and only won maybe four or five pots, but they happened to be pretty good sized ones. First, about an hour in I picked up KK under the gun. I made a healthy raise and got one caller. I spiked a King on the flop and filled up on the river and took down a nice pot. Next, I picked up pocket Aces and got all-in pre-flop against KK. The aces held. Finally, I limped in with 33 along with five other players. The flop cam 9-9-4. Everyone checked and a 3 hit the turn giving me a full house. I was able to get one of the fish at the table to come with me till the river where he made a good sized bet. I came over the top of him and he folded (wisely). As I said, I had my best week so far. Here's where I'm at:

Play Money: 14,820,000 Up 787,000

Real Money: $1,445.45 Up $165.37

Target for next MTT level: $1,650 ($33)

Target for next Cash Game level: $2,000 ($100)

Target for next SnG level: $2,200 ($110)

This week I have no plans to make any changes to my strategy. I need to see if this is truly a profitable mix and I figure two more weeks should be enough time. If all goes well, I will increase the amounts and play bigger tourneys. 2018 was a good year for me. I profited around $900, had three successful casino trips, and lots of wins in home games. I'm poised for success in 2019 and am going into the new year playing the best I ever have. Hope you all have a great New Year and thanks so much for all your support!

Weekly Bankroll Update 12/16-12/22

Losing $10 cash and going 0/10 in Sit N Gos is not how I wanted the week to go, but a $10 promotional win from Global kept a bad week from being a REALLY bad week. I literally lost everything I played up until Saturday night when I cashed the Daily Bonanza for $1.05 and took down one of the play money Christmas tourneys. Those were really the only highlights in an otherwise dismal week of poker. Here's where I ended up:

Play Money: 14,033,000 Up 419,000

Real Money: $1,280.08 Down $32.53

Target for next MTT level: $1,650 ($33)

Target for next Cash Game level: $2,000 ($100)

Target for next SnG level: $2,200 ($110)

This week I'm going back to playing MTTs. I'll sprinkle in some SnGs to try and keep myself afloat, but playing straight cash just isn't working as well as I'd like, and obviously playing just SnGs is not a profitable venture. So I'll mix in SnGs with my MTTs to try and balance things out and hit the casino on the 29th. I'm really hoping to finish off 2018 on a high note so stay tuned for what will hopefully be some good news next week! Happy Holidays everyone!

Weekly Bankroll Update 12/9-12/15

Finally had a good week last week and was able to boost the bankroll a bit thanks to a 7th place finish in the $3 re-buy MTT. It was a 6-handed tournament and I ran really well, but bubbled the final table (and a nice pay boost) when this hand happened: I was in the BB with 8-9 and 40k in chips running 5th. The SB with 160k chips called and I checked. The flop came K-8-9. He min-bet for 2500 and I shoved all in. He snap-called with K-3 and rivered the 3 for a higher two-pair. Heartbreaking, but I was happy to pull out some profit. I pretty much broke even the rest of the week playing $10 and $20 cash games, and $3 and $6 SnGs. Here's how I finished my week:

Play Money: 13,614,000 Up 682,000

Real Money: $1,312.61 Up $19.56

Target for next MTT level: $1,650 ($33)

Target for next Cash Game level: $2,000 ($100)

Target for next SnG level: $2,200 ($110)

I hadn't played a MTT in a while and it was nice to have a good run. Especially since I had to deal with a miracle hook-and-ladder by the Dolphins to knock me out of my survivor pool on Sunday. I was stunned for a good hour after that game. I made plans to hit the casino on the 29th and I'm hoping I can finish the year on a positive note. This week will be more of the same as last week. School is not a distraction right now and I'm able to put all my focus on poker. It showed last week as I had probably one of my best online weeks in the past two months. Let's hope I can keep this thing going!

Weekly Bankroll Update 12/2 - 12/8

I was up and down last week as SnGs played a dominant role in my game selection. I started out well cashing in the Weekly Bonanza, but tapered off as the week went on. I still ended at a record-high though. Sit N Go's can be tough sometimes especially if you're used to playing cash games. It's a very different pace and strategy. I also have an uncanny ability to finish 4th when 3 are paid. Anyway, take a bite of these numbers:

Play Money: 12,932,000 Up 174,000

Real Money: $1,293.05 Up $2.67

Target for next MTT level: $1,650 ($33)

Target for next Cash Game level: $2,000 ($100)

Target for next SnG level: $2,200 ($110)


School is over until Feb 2nd so I will be vamping up my play over the next two months. I'd like to focus mainly on the $20 cash game and $6 SnGs going forward. It does mean I'll probably have to undergo some swings, but I feel like my bankroll is healthy enough to withstand them. In order for it to grow, I have to be playing at an optimal level and $10 cash games and $3 SnGs just aren't cutting it anymore. It's hard to believe, but there are just three of us left in my football survivor pool. I have New England this week, and they have Denver and the LA Chargers respectively. Go Pats!

Weekly Bankroll Update 11/25 - 12/1

Well it's back to the peak for me. I didn't make as much as I wanted to last week, but I didn't play as much as I wanted to either. A couple of small wins in the $10 cash game and a 3rd place in a $3 SnG was all that went down. I also played in a "home" game last week with 9 players. Buy in was $40 and I was down $10. No harm no foul though because the buy in was made from personal funds not the bankroll. My cards were atrocious. I lost with trip J's to a full house, a full house to a higher full house, and then with just three hands to go, I picked up As Jc and here's how it went down. First let me say that somehow I was actually ahead $6 when this hand came and I was just trying to get the hell outta there with SOME profit so I really didn't want to play this hand. I was on the button and eight players were in the hand. Flop comes all clubs so I'm sitting on a Jack high flush draw. Everyone checked and the turn was a blank. Everyone checked AGAIN and the river brought a club making me a flush. Incredibly, everyone checked around to me and I bet $1.50 into a $4.00 pot. Small blind raised to $10 and it folded around to me. It made no sense. I was very familiar with the small blind's play and I really didn't think he would check-raise the river with a made flush so I called. Sure enough he turns over Ac 10s. I was livid (not at him of course, well ok maybe a little). Dude, you checked the nuts on the river?!? Sorry Benny, he says. I checked and actually forgot what I had so I looked down and was like Oh! I have the Ace! He accidentally made a very good play in my opinion. Checking the nuts on the river is gutsy but can be extremely profitable if someone has the second best hand. Especially in an 8-handed pot. To me it looked like a bluff. Plus they'd been bluffing me all night and I picked them off several times so this seemed like more of the same. Oh well. Here's where I ended last week:

Play Money: 12,758,000 Down 591,000

Real Money: $1,290.38 Up $4.92

Target for next MTT level: $1,650 ($33)

Target for next Cash Game level: $2,000 ($100)

Target for next SnG level: $2,200 ($110)

This week will be short due to homework for my class that ends Saturday. Just 7 more Saturdays to go until I finish school and I can't wait. The MBA is in my sights now and I'm getting anxious. I'll get some playing time in this week though so I'm hoping to at least break $1,300.

As a side note, I just wanted to talk a bit about poker players that stream their online sessions. I just joined Twitch last week so I could participate in chat rooms of some of the players I like to watch. There are two in particular I follow: thegoldenblazer and SpaceMexican1. If you're on Twitch definitely check them out. A lot of people have asked me if I'll ever stream my sessions, and I just tell them flatly No. I think it would give other players too much insight into my game allowing them to exploit me somewhere down the road. Now this doesn't mean I'm totally against those that do stream, I just think personally it's not really my thing. I think if I were to use Twitch for anything other then following poker players, it would be to live stream myself playing video games. That would be a lot of fun. I actually like to watch other people play games sometimes especially if I'm thinking about buying one and I just want to see what it's like. For now though, I'll just stick to watching poker streams.