Keeping to the Long Path

This week, I've played a mix of formats. After 12 more $1.10 DoN's, I was
6 wins/6 losses. I felt I was losing momentum, so I switched it up.

First format was Fixed Limit Hold'em at $0.02/$0.04. After feeling out
the format, I find I like Full Ring tables over the 6-max tables here.
Playing super-tight does the trick, and I won several dollars over a few
hundred hands.

I was also playing a bit of No Limit 6-max. I played at NL2 ($2.00 buy
in), and was down for a little while there, but came back with a good run
of cards + bad opponents.

Here's a fine example of a hand:

UTG ($2.60) raises to $0.06
CO (hero $5.00) reraises to $0.18 holding KK
UTG calls.

Flop 2sKsKd
UTG raises $0.20, hero calls

Turn 4h
UTG raises $0.50 hero calls

River Js
UTG raises $1.00, hero reraises to $2.00, UTG calls

Hero wins with four of a kind! I think that my opponent had J 7, so he
was essentially bluffing every street. If only it could be like this
every time I sit down to a table.

So, to round out the week, I am up about $10.00. I also made my first $50
withdrawal from the pokerstars account to start repaying my deposits.

Another thing to note is that I require 360 VPP at pokerstars by Dec 31st
to unlock a $10 reward. That's about 15 VPP per day, which means $3.00
worth of rake per day, or $1.25 at NL2. While this is certainly
achievable, it would mean playing a lot more hours, or more tables, or
moving up in stakes. The first of these (more hours) is not going to be
there. The last two (more tables, or moving up) will lead to worse play,
or the tilt problems I had before. Therefore I will do what I've never
done before and tell myself that I WON'T achieve this goal, and simply let
it go in favour of playing less and playing better.

Speaking of moving up, I have a plan and I will stick to it. For No
Limit, I will start to move slowly into NL5 once I hit $100 again. My
buy-in will be restricted to $5.00 (you can buy in for up to $12.50). If
my bankroll grows, I will move to NL5 exclusively as I approach $150. For
fixed limit, I believe I'm a winning player and could move up easily, but
I want to prove it with more hands. I will stick to the lowest limit
until I have 1,000 hands under my belt, then I will move up one notch (I
believe the next level is $0.05/$0.10.

Here's where I'm at. Pokerstars balance and total amount owing are lower
by $50 because I made that $50 withdrawal:

Current FT Balance : $0.23
Current PS Balance : $84.75
Current OWing: $650.00
Current Bankroll: -$565.02

Here's to hoping I can keep this up.

Grinding DoNs

With $66 tournament dollars, I decided to shift away from 6-max cash games
until those tournament dollars were played through. So far, I have played
through all of the tournament money except for $4.10.

I decided to play $1.00+$0.10 double or nothing sit and go's (DoNs).
Essentially, these 10-man tournaments pay you "double" if you're in the
top 5. They are very low-variance, and at this buy-in level, kind of easy
to play. The biggest downside is that they are a bit boring, as the
proper strategy is to play massively tight -> fold fold fold. On a
positive note, I can comfortably 4-table these, so I can play through a
lot without going over bankroll.

Thus far, the DoN's have been going well. 55 DoN's later and I'm up
significantly relative to my last post. $17.49 may not seem like a lot,
but in terms of percentage, I've increased my Stars account balance by
16%! This is mostly, but not all, due to playing DoNs. I also played one
$1.4 knockout Sit and Go, placing 1st, and knocking out 7 players (worth
$4.5 winnings + $1.75 in bounties). Where I wasn't sure I'd be able to
sit uninterrupted for an hour, I dabbled in some cash games - both No
Limit (0.01/0.02 blinds), and Fixed Limit at $0.02/$0.04. Fixed Limit is
new to me, but I did extremely well over a small sample of hands (up $2
over perhaps 500 hands). I might consider playing more Fixed Limit as a
result.

My Full Tilt balance was refreshed with $0.23 worth of rakeback. Its not
enough to play at any tables, so I'll wait for a bonus offer before
considering a rebuy there.

My Pokerstars balance of $125.42 is now large enough that I can keep with
my original plan and cashout some of this bankroll and start paying myself
back. I'll start with a $50 withdrawal, then wait until my bankroll hits
$200 before cashing out again.

Current FT Balance : $0.23
Current PS Balance : $125.42
Current Owing: $700.00
Current Bankroll: -$574.35