Here we go again. After the Cake 1000 challenge the next logical step is to go for C2K, the Cake 2000 challenge to double up from the last milestone. I'm getting more aggressive with the slope as well since I will need to net out more bankroll in less time than the last challenge. I also will be without the assistance of a mid-year bonus to pad my numbers and only have two rounds of freerolls to potentially benefit from. I've been pretty busy away from the tables this month and have decided to just try to clear silver level in the Iron Man promotion instead of iron last month. That will keep me from trying to press too hard to clear points and instead I can concentrate on making good decisions.
New chart has been posted at the top of the page.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
MMM: Got a plan yet?
Yo Sushi,
You've had a while to think about it. What's the next step going to be?
Antonio E.
Las Vegas, NV
Antonio,
Yeah, I've been slow on the blog but have have been playing as normal. I knew this already but having a goal in front of me keeps me focused. In the past few days I've been playing, profitably, but probably not as well as if I had a target to go after so I'm going to arbitrarily pick Halloween, October 31, as my day to hit $2000 by. I'll have a new chart up shortly to view progress against the goal. Thanks for the prodding to get this done!
Sushi Cowboy
You've had a while to think about it. What's the next step going to be?
Antonio E.
Las Vegas, NV
Antonio,
Yeah, I've been slow on the blog but have have been playing as normal. I knew this already but having a goal in front of me keeps me focused. In the past few days I've been playing, profitably, but probably not as well as if I had a target to go after so I'm going to arbitrarily pick Halloween, October 31, as my day to hit $2000 by. I'll have a new chart up shortly to view progress against the goal. Thanks for the prodding to get this done!
Sushi Cowboy
Monday, August 16, 2010
MMM: After $1K, what now?
Hey Sushi Cowboy,
Congrats on hitting the $1000 mark. So what's your plan now?
Dan H.
Santa Monica, CA
Dan,
I'm still formulating my next step but one thing for sure is that I'm not going to cash out. I want to leave everything in the account for now and keep building it up. I feel that the $5 Super Turbos are still plenty ripe for the picking and I want to keep playing those for now. I actually still don't have a large sample set to determine my long term earn rate in that game so for now it's going to be staying the course. I do think that I should get another carrot in front of me so that I don't donk off my roll like the last time I didn't have a target to shoot for. Right after crossing the $1000 line I looked at my chart and tried to extrapolate the line to see what I would have at Labor Day. Keeping in mind that $75 of the jump came a freeroll and that a lot of the early growth on the chart was from the mid-year bonus, I came up with $1250 as a number to try to reach by Labor Day which is a slightly faster curve than the pace I originally set.
I plan to move up to the $10 Super Turbos at some point now that I have 100 buy ins for that game. But I am going to crunch numbers and review hand histories to figure out exactly how I'm currently doing. Long term I want to find the equilibrium point between game difficulty and buy in so that I'm playing at the optimal stakes to maximize my hourly rate but that is a discussion for way down the line. For now, I'm going to keep plugging away at $5 ST SnGs for now and establish a baseline before moving on to anything else.
Thanks for writing.
Sushi Cowboy
Congrats on hitting the $1000 mark. So what's your plan now?
Dan H.
Santa Monica, CA
Dan,
I'm still formulating my next step but one thing for sure is that I'm not going to cash out. I want to leave everything in the account for now and keep building it up. I feel that the $5 Super Turbos are still plenty ripe for the picking and I want to keep playing those for now. I actually still don't have a large sample set to determine my long term earn rate in that game so for now it's going to be staying the course. I do think that I should get another carrot in front of me so that I don't donk off my roll like the last time I didn't have a target to shoot for. Right after crossing the $1000 line I looked at my chart and tried to extrapolate the line to see what I would have at Labor Day. Keeping in mind that $75 of the jump came a freeroll and that a lot of the early growth on the chart was from the mid-year bonus, I came up with $1250 as a number to try to reach by Labor Day which is a slightly faster curve than the pace I originally set.
I plan to move up to the $10 Super Turbos at some point now that I have 100 buy ins for that game. But I am going to crunch numbers and review hand histories to figure out exactly how I'm currently doing. Long term I want to find the equilibrium point between game difficulty and buy in so that I'm playing at the optimal stakes to maximize my hourly rate but that is a discussion for way down the line. For now, I'm going to keep plugging away at $5 ST SnGs for now and establish a baseline before moving on to anything else.
Thanks for writing.
Sushi Cowboy
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A funny thing happened on the way to $1000...
First things first, the $1000 barrier has been broken with $7.27 to spare. That's $618.55 more than the starting amount on July 14th, one month and one day ago.
A brief timeline:
* July 1st - Adam wins the Cake II Challenge concluding at the end of June and immediately sets his sights on the $1000 mark. Having futzed around with my bankroll since the April 1 cutoff point, I am inspired by Adam's thoughts of a Cake III challenge.
* July 11th ($205.23) - I blog that I have adopted the goal of $1000 as well. Set mid-February as my deadline.
* July 14th ($388.72) - Reset deadline to Labor Day and begin charting the progress.
* July 22nd ($568.88) - Completely clear my $250 mid year bonus.
* July 29th ($558.52) - Start playing Super Turbo SnGs exclusively. Begin unworldly heater in those tourneys.
* August 2nd ($837.77) - Start to level off and being two week period of fluctuating up and down.
* August 14th ($988.35) - $146 day. Cashed for $5 and $75 in freerolls, got the rest in ST SnGs. I realize that I am within one 1st place ST SnG finish of the goal but decide that it'd be best to just leave the tables for the day and come back the next day instead.
Which brings us to today. Basically all I have to do is net out one 1st place finish but the tables were not going to make it easy. AA vs 33 all in pre and he spikes a trey. KK vs QT and he flops trip tens. The usual and not tilting in the least but very untimely and I am more acutely aware of every result of every hand I'm involved in since I'm so close. I am down a few buy ins and leave the tables for a while to take a break. After a while I jump in again later and like a scene from a movie, I get my cashier window up to $980.29 so a win puts me over, second place doesn't. I am triple tabling and in the last window I get it down to heads up. I am laser focused to get this thing done. I have a lead but am picking my spots carefully. I eventually get villain all in in terrible shape with his eights up against my jacks. I fade his two outer and do a virtual fist pump then immediately pull up the cashier window to see that glorious four digit figure but to my utter dismay I instead see $999.79 instead! It takes me half a second to remember that a win is only $19.50, not $20.00 so I end up tantalizingly close but still a paltry 21 cents short. Unbelievable.
So I mentally scramble to figure out how best to scare up two dimes and a penny. I decide against another $5 SnG and instead opt for nickel Rush to keep the variance down. I buy in for $2 at each of two different tables. I'm in lockdown mode and just looking for that one hand. All I need to do is take down a pot to put me over. I'm folding everything and blinding off nickels and pennies but I'm not concerned since any pot I get involved in will easily cover the blinds I'm paying. Then it comes, MP pots it to .17, button calls, and I'm in the BB with 99. I decide to flat call and see what the flop brings. Flop comes 356 rainbow. I am OOP and pot it to .53 knowing that an opening pot sized bet in Rush is usually a big pair or two big cards but when villain shoves my read jumps to two big cards since premium pairs would normally flat call there. Button folds and I go with my read and commit the rest of my stack. Villain, unsurprisingly shows AK. I fade his six outs on the next two streets and I instantly cash out of both windows up $1.30 which brings my cashier window to $1001.09 using up an extra few pixels of screen real estate to display that extra digit.
Pop the cork on the champagne! I'm getting Twitter warmed up and ready to crank out a blog post. Last step is to update the spreadsheet and see my progress line pop above the $1000 mark. I plug in the number and realize that I haven't gotten my rakeback number for the day which is, to my horror, -12.18 due to the overlay from the freerolls yesterday so instead of being over $1000, I'm still short by a few bucks!
I'm a little deflated after having two close calls with hitting the mark. I take another break before heading back to the felt then dive into the SnGs again. Unfortunately, I start off by going through two sets of three tables without cashing digging myself a $30 hole but come back with two wins and two seconds over the next six tourneys which puts me on the edge of $1000...again...but for real this time. Then for the truly final time today I am in a make or break situation. Heads up for the thousand dollar mark. Again, I have the lead and just need to pick my spot. Villain is very aggressive and shoving every hand. I decide to call off with KTos. He shows 78os and I have his suits covered. He spikes a seven on the flop but I river a ten spot to put me over. I recheck my math and verify that the numbers. Once I've dotted i's and crossed t's, I send out the tweet to announce that the goal has been reached.
The homestretch was a little more convoluted than I wanted but I can't complain. From an original target of a mid-February finish down to Labor Day and now ending up three weeks early, overall it's been a pretty good ride even with some bobbles at the finish line.
A brief timeline:
* July 1st - Adam wins the Cake II Challenge concluding at the end of June and immediately sets his sights on the $1000 mark. Having futzed around with my bankroll since the April 1 cutoff point, I am inspired by Adam's thoughts of a Cake III challenge.
* July 11th ($205.23) - I blog that I have adopted the goal of $1000 as well. Set mid-February as my deadline.
* July 14th ($388.72) - Reset deadline to Labor Day and begin charting the progress.
* July 22nd ($568.88) - Completely clear my $250 mid year bonus.
* July 29th ($558.52) - Start playing Super Turbo SnGs exclusively. Begin unworldly heater in those tourneys.
* August 2nd ($837.77) - Start to level off and being two week period of fluctuating up and down.
* August 14th ($988.35) - $146 day. Cashed for $5 and $75 in freerolls, got the rest in ST SnGs. I realize that I am within one 1st place ST SnG finish of the goal but decide that it'd be best to just leave the tables for the day and come back the next day instead.
Which brings us to today. Basically all I have to do is net out one 1st place finish but the tables were not going to make it easy. AA vs 33 all in pre and he spikes a trey. KK vs QT and he flops trip tens. The usual and not tilting in the least but very untimely and I am more acutely aware of every result of every hand I'm involved in since I'm so close. I am down a few buy ins and leave the tables for a while to take a break. After a while I jump in again later and like a scene from a movie, I get my cashier window up to $980.29 so a win puts me over, second place doesn't. I am triple tabling and in the last window I get it down to heads up. I am laser focused to get this thing done. I have a lead but am picking my spots carefully. I eventually get villain all in in terrible shape with his eights up against my jacks. I fade his two outer and do a virtual fist pump then immediately pull up the cashier window to see that glorious four digit figure but to my utter dismay I instead see $999.79 instead! It takes me half a second to remember that a win is only $19.50, not $20.00 so I end up tantalizingly close but still a paltry 21 cents short. Unbelievable.
So I mentally scramble to figure out how best to scare up two dimes and a penny. I decide against another $5 SnG and instead opt for nickel Rush to keep the variance down. I buy in for $2 at each of two different tables. I'm in lockdown mode and just looking for that one hand. All I need to do is take down a pot to put me over. I'm folding everything and blinding off nickels and pennies but I'm not concerned since any pot I get involved in will easily cover the blinds I'm paying. Then it comes, MP pots it to .17, button calls, and I'm in the BB with 99. I decide to flat call and see what the flop brings. Flop comes 356 rainbow. I am OOP and pot it to .53 knowing that an opening pot sized bet in Rush is usually a big pair or two big cards but when villain shoves my read jumps to two big cards since premium pairs would normally flat call there. Button folds and I go with my read and commit the rest of my stack. Villain, unsurprisingly shows AK. I fade his six outs on the next two streets and I instantly cash out of both windows up $1.30 which brings my cashier window to $1001.09 using up an extra few pixels of screen real estate to display that extra digit.
Pop the cork on the champagne! I'm getting Twitter warmed up and ready to crank out a blog post. Last step is to update the spreadsheet and see my progress line pop above the $1000 mark. I plug in the number and realize that I haven't gotten my rakeback number for the day which is, to my horror, -12.18 due to the overlay from the freerolls yesterday so instead of being over $1000, I'm still short by a few bucks!
I'm a little deflated after having two close calls with hitting the mark. I take another break before heading back to the felt then dive into the SnGs again. Unfortunately, I start off by going through two sets of three tables without cashing digging myself a $30 hole but come back with two wins and two seconds over the next six tourneys which puts me on the edge of $1000...again...but for real this time. Then for the truly final time today I am in a make or break situation. Heads up for the thousand dollar mark. Again, I have the lead and just need to pick my spot. Villain is very aggressive and shoving every hand. I decide to call off with KTos. He shows 78os and I have his suits covered. He spikes a seven on the flop but I river a ten spot to put me over. I recheck my math and verify that the numbers. Once I've dotted i's and crossed t's, I send out the tweet to announce that the goal has been reached.
The homestretch was a little more convoluted than I wanted but I can't complain. From an original target of a mid-February finish down to Labor Day and now ending up three weeks early, overall it's been a pretty good ride even with some bobbles at the finish line.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Knocking on the door of $1000
I got $5 in the One-a-Day freeroll and $75 in the Iron level Iron Man freeroll which brings my grand total to $988.35. Very close.
Monday, August 9, 2010
MMM: Why 6 max ST SnGs?
Hey Sushi,
Why are you are playing 6 max Super Turbo Sit and Go tourneys? Is there a reason you went with those?
Daniel N.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Daniel,
Good question. Frankly I just happened to run across them in the SnG category in my lobby window. Figured I'd give it a try and see what happens. Turns out they really work for me. They are short, usually under 15 minutes, so I can jump in and not feel tied to the computer for an extended amount of time. But they are still a tourney which matches my playing style and the combination is perfect. I did try full ring ST but got frustrated by idiots no playing properly on the bubble but at the short handed tables there are fewer people to interfere. I also tried normal stack SnGs back in April but didn't fare too well at those. Dunno what else to say but that format really works well for me. I enjoy the structure and it is EV+ for me to play. I will eventually branch out and try other games as well but for now I'm just going to stick with this one until I cross the 1K mark then reassess later.
Sushi Cowboy
Why are you are playing 6 max Super Turbo Sit and Go tourneys? Is there a reason you went with those?
Daniel N.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Daniel,
Good question. Frankly I just happened to run across them in the SnG category in my lobby window. Figured I'd give it a try and see what happens. Turns out they really work for me. They are short, usually under 15 minutes, so I can jump in and not feel tied to the computer for an extended amount of time. But they are still a tourney which matches my playing style and the combination is perfect. I did try full ring ST but got frustrated by idiots no playing properly on the bubble but at the short handed tables there are fewer people to interfere. I also tried normal stack SnGs back in April but didn't fare too well at those. Dunno what else to say but that format really works well for me. I enjoy the structure and it is EV+ for me to play. I will eventually branch out and try other games as well but for now I'm just going to stick with this one until I cross the 1K mark then reassess later.
Sushi Cowboy
Friday, August 6, 2010
Controlled landing
My concern about an epic crash has so far been unwarranted. I took a dip right after my big run up but have since recovered that and then some. I still have an enviable 12.7% ROI and this is about as ideal a way to transition out of my heater as possible. Just basically grinding away, being EV+, adding to my roll in an orderly fashion. I've actually been ever so slightly short of my daily quota but considering the cushion I had built up I'm not worried about it. I have freerolls coming up this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to pad the roll with some MTT money.
Monday, August 2, 2010
A down day
Built the roll up to as much as $850 before going on a cold streak. I bubbled out of a few tourneys in irritating ways but I closed at $810 still and I'm not complaining. I was aware of my missteps as I took them which is a lot better than just flying blind. Still even after a "bad day" my ROI is 17%. Would have been nice to have ended at the $850 mark instead but I can't get sucked into trying to keep winning streaks alive. It is actually a bit of a relief to give some money back. I was feeling pressure to keep my unrealistic numbers alive, kinda like a pitcher going into the sixth inning with a no hitter. Just a bunch of extra external factors which were distracting from the task at hand. Now that I have that monkey off my back I can just return to playing good solid SnG poker.
MMM: Account security
Hey Sushi,
Nice work on building your bankroll. One thing to keep in mind is that the bigger your roll, the more people want to hack your account. Trust me, I had it happen to me once. So take measures to secure your money.
Greg R.
Stoningham, CT
Greg,
Thanks for the warning. I'm kind of a security minded guy in general so I appreciate the concern. I have to confess that for convenience sake I've had the FTP client software save my login and my password for one click login. However, I keep my machine locked when not in use and my screen saver auto-locks after 15 minutes of idle time so I don't feel like that is a major issue. Ever since I started my serious run and went past $400 or so I did take the additional step of implementing a PIN, which in the FTP software is done by clicking on three different cards in sequence after entering your login and password. I feel that that is a very strong counter-measure against hacks. I do plan on continuing to build my roll though and will end up spending some FT Points on getting the security key software for my phone at some point. Thanks for the suggestion!
Sushi Cowboy
Nice work on building your bankroll. One thing to keep in mind is that the bigger your roll, the more people want to hack your account. Trust me, I had it happen to me once. So take measures to secure your money.
Greg R.
Stoningham, CT
Greg,
Thanks for the warning. I'm kind of a security minded guy in general so I appreciate the concern. I have to confess that for convenience sake I've had the FTP client software save my login and my password for one click login. However, I keep my machine locked when not in use and my screen saver auto-locks after 15 minutes of idle time so I don't feel like that is a major issue. Ever since I started my serious run and went past $400 or so I did take the additional step of implementing a PIN, which in the FTP software is done by clicking on three different cards in sequence after entering your login and password. I feel that that is a very strong counter-measure against hacks. I do plan on continuing to build my roll though and will end up spending some FT Points on getting the security key software for my phone at some point. Thanks for the suggestion!
Sushi Cowboy
OK, now I'm just getting scared
I have no idea what is going on and quite frankly it's kinda freaking me out. I'm trying to run out some tourneys so that my chart will normalize and I'm just continuing to run good in massive proportions. According to HEM my $219.80 in winnings is substantially above my $55 EV adjusted amount. I know I had some suckouts today but I don't feel like I have been getting *that* lucky when getting it in while behind but the chart says otherwise.
Nonetheless, here I am sitting at $826 just a mere weekend after not being able to close above $600. My ROI is 21.4% which is ludicrous. According to 2+2 a 13% rate would be exceptional at these stakes. I'm ITM 42% of the time. I'm now about 22 days ahead of schedule for hitting 1K. This actually is more nerve wracking than anything else. It was fun at first but now it seems like the blissful calm before the storm of bankroll nosedive. But I don't know what to do about it. I'm trying to keep it all in perspective and not let the upswing affect my play but holy heck is it hard to ignore. Eeeeek. I'm just going to have to try to stay real even keeled and ride this thing out.
Below is my Sharkscope chart. The first half or so of that was my first go around of playing Sit and Go's back in April. After bottoming out the climb out of the cellar was from the $2 Super Turbos and the big gains at the far right (including the sharp cliffs) are all from the $5 Super Turbos. Ridonkulous.
Nonetheless, here I am sitting at $826 just a mere weekend after not being able to close above $600. My ROI is 21.4% which is ludicrous. According to 2+2 a 13% rate would be exceptional at these stakes. I'm ITM 42% of the time. I'm now about 22 days ahead of schedule for hitting 1K. This actually is more nerve wracking than anything else. It was fun at first but now it seems like the blissful calm before the storm of bankroll nosedive. But I don't know what to do about it. I'm trying to keep it all in perspective and not let the upswing affect my play but holy heck is it hard to ignore. Eeeeek. I'm just going to have to try to stay real even keeled and ride this thing out.
Below is my Sharkscope chart. The first half or so of that was my first go around of playing Sit and Go's back in April. After bottoming out the climb out of the cellar was from the $2 Super Turbos and the big gains at the far right (including the sharp cliffs) are all from the $5 Super Turbos. Ridonkulous.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Inevitable downturn
Well I can't just not play after being on a heater because that's not going to get it done. I will eventually have to grind out a ton of games and face the reality that I'm...gasp...not a double digit ROI player so I decide to play a little after Saturday Night Poker. Perhaps not a good idea? Dunno but I went on an immediate 0 for 6 slide after whiffing on two straight sets of three which is $31.80 right off the top of my roll and dropped me out of the vaunted 700 club. Bummer, but certainly a definite possibility. I call it a night then get up and play some more after getting some sleep. Bam, drop four more which is $53 off of peak and a number which is too close to approaching 10% of my roll. But I soldier on and finally get some of it back. I bounce around for a few more tourneys before catching fire and getting back to "just" four buy-ins down which I write off as just one first place money from breaking even for the day. I'm glad just to keep the damage minimized. But before calling it a day I decide to jump into the fray and finish off strong including three straight first place finishes which put me over the top for the day while setting a new high water mark of $737.38. Actually it should be over $740 but my rakeback reports have been empty for the past couple of days so there are a few bucks not accounted for. Inevitable downturn...postponed. ROI at an even more absurd 14.2% now. I'm bracing for impact.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
