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

Ballooning my Bankroll

I didn't want to do it, but I had to. I've had a difficult month. I seem
to go into a pattern of having multiple good sessions with modest gains,
but then I get hit with a single session with massive losses.

I rebought into Stars for an extra $90, and this subsequently dwindled
down to about $50. My Full Tilt balance has been obliterated - down from
$6'ish to zero.

At PokerStars, I was also going to convert my Frequent Player Points (FPP)
into cash, a conversion which requires 2500 points, and nets $25, for a
conversion rate of $0.01 per FPP. However, I was two hundred points
short.

Instead, I picked up a technique from the www.twoplustwo.com forums: Play
6-man hyper-turbo Sit and Go's which cost 280 FPP. Out of the 6
positions, the first 2 players get a buy-in to a weekly quarter million
dollar tournament, and third place gets their FPP back. You get nothing
for placing 4th through 6th. If you win a tournmanent entry, you can then
unregister for the tournament, and you will get $11.00 worth of tournament
dollars in your account.

Since 6 players contribute 1680 FPP minus one player who gets his 280 FPP
back, that means there are 1400 FPP for prizes totally $22.00. That pegs
the FPP value at 0.0157 if you do "average" over the long run at these Sit
and Go's.

I had enough FPP to join 8 of these. I did amazingly well. I placed 3rd
in one of them, regaining my FPP, which I reinvested in a 9th SnG. Of the
rest, I lost only 2, winning 1st place in 6 of them. That netted me
$66.00 in tournament dollars. That's roughly $0.03 per FPP, so I
essentially TRIPLED what I would have gotten with a cash bonus!

It was good fun to play Sit and Go's again. The winnings are tournament
dollars, which means they are only available to pay for subsequent Sit and
Go and Tournament entries. I don't mind, as I am a winning player at Sit
and Go's. In fact, going back to SnG's is probably good therapy after
getting trounced at 6-max cash games for the past year. As well, the
lessons I've learned from 6-max should enable me to play a little looser
in the early going with confidence. In fact, if I play well enough, I may
stick with Sit and Go's to rebuild my bankroll, as I'm confident that I
can do it.

As for my Full Tilt bankroll, it looks like I will have to do something
similar. I have 4000+ player points. Time to look into what I can do
with those to rebuild there (although using them will impact subsequent
rakeback). Or I could possibly wait for a reload bonus while I work on
Pokerstars.

Current FT Balance : $0.00
Current PS Balance : $107.93
Current Owing: $700.00
Current Bankroll: -$592.07

The $5.50 tournament

I had the day off today, so I played the $5.50 tournament for the donation. Unfortunately, I did not get in the money this time.

Out of a field of 5004 players, the top 720 players are in the money. I was busted out in 1215th place.

The hand that busted me was my QQ versus an AK holding.

This player was getting quite aggressive, and I'd seen him try to bully a number of pots prior. His aggression factor is 3.5 and his 3bet percentage is just over 10%. Here I thought he was simply bullying the initial raiser and I was going to squeeze.

Poker Stars $5.00+$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t150/t300 Blinds + t25 - 9 players - View hand 1020234

Hand History Converter



BTN: t5685 M = 8.42

SB: t24804 M = 36.75

Hero (BB): t11105 M = 16.45

UTG: t1925 M = 2.85

UTG+1: t4520 M = 6.70

UTG+2: t12000 M = 17.78

MP1: t14230 M = 21.08

MP2: t16030 M = 23.75

CO: t8040 M = 11.91



Pre Flop: (t675) Hero is BB with Q Q

1 fold, UTG+1 calls t300, 5 folds, SB raises to t2100, Hero raises to t11080 all in, UTG+1 calls t4195 all in, SB calls t8980



Flop: (t26880) A T 9 (3 players - 2 are all in)



Turn: (t26880) K (3 players - 2 are all in)



River: (t26880) 6 (3 players - 2 are all in)



Final Pot: t26880

SB shows A K (two pair, Aces and Kings)

Hero shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)

UTG+1 shows A 4 (a pair of Aces)

SB wins t13170

SB wins t13710

Another tough night

After losing three buy-ins... this happens.

My opponent has played roughly every other hand, and I've been playing back at him by reraising his limps and until now he's been backing down. I've actually had the goods each time! Unfortunately, he hits his breaking point and won't take it anymore and calls his way into a lucky break:

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 1006337

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter



CO: $7.63

BTN: $5.05

SB: $5.16

BB: $4.39

UTG: $3.19

Hero (MP): $14.01



Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP with K Q

UTG calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.15, 4 folds, UTG calls $0.10



Flop: ($0.37) 9 Q 6 (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets $0.25, UTG calls $0.25



Turn: ($0.87) 4 (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets $0.70, UTG calls $0.70



River: ($2.27) 3 (2 players)

UTG bets $1, Hero raises to $4.45, UTG calls $1.09 all in



Final Pot: $6.45

UTG shows 4 3 (two pair, Fours and Threes)

Hero shows K Q (a pair of Queens)

UTG wins $6.14

(Rake: $0.31)

The $5 MTT

Just an update - No, I haven't played the $5 MTT yet. I haven't had time, but I will this coming weekend! Rawr! I can't wait.

The Big Tilt-Off

Well, it wasn't enough to learn the lesson once...

After losing a few buy-ins on Friday night, I tried to recoup the losses
very late at night at higher limits... extraordinarily high limits.

I essentially tilted off my entire Full Tilt roll down to $2.00 at NL100.
I was actually doing quite well until I lost a Full House to a larger Full
House (54 with a 456 flop. A 5 on the turn, and we're all in. Villain
was holding 66 to achieve a better Full House). I then went to Pokerstars
with an "F"-it attitude and proceded to tilt off the entire balance there
where two pair lost to a rivered flush.

After these events, I had essentially $2 left. And I still owe myself my
initial $600 Full Tilt deposit.

New Rules
---------
1) No play past 1 a.m. When I play "up" and "take shots", invariably its
well after 1 a.m. when my judgement begins to be impaired with fatigue.
At 1 a.m., I will immediately set to sit out at all tables after the next
big blind rolls around to me.
2) Stricter Bankroll limit enforcement. No taking shots unless adequately
bankrolled. I will continue playing at each level until I have 30 BI for
the next level. I will fall back down to the lower limit if I drop to 20
BI's at any point. These buy-in limits are site specific.
3) Cashouts. Once I hit each milestone of $50, $100, $200, $300, $400,
$500, at any given site, I will cashout half of the balance. This is
BEFORE any consideration to move up in stakes. It ensures I stay at lower
limits longer. It also ensures that it is not possible to do as much
damage if I go on a fatigue-induced bankroll tilt-off again.

Since Friday, I have played short-stacked NL2 tables at Full Tilt, where
the maximum buy-in is $0.80. I have done quite well and built that
balance from $2.00 to $6.75. I am still inadequately rolled for NL2, but
it looks like I will get there without any problems.

On Stars, I had to rebuy to be able to play at all. I rebought for the
minimum. $10.00. This will be repayed in addition to the requirements
above (perhaps wait until I hit $60 rather than $50, then cashout $35).
After playing a short time on Pokerstars, my balance there is now $11.90.
So this is encouraging too. The only problem is that there are no
short-stacked NL2 tables. Minimum buy-in at any table is $0.80 (40bb's)

I should be able to recoup these losses. At NL2, over 14,000 hands, I am
achieving a win-rate of 23bb/100 hands. I've won about $60 at this limit.
There should be no reason I cannot continue to do this and rebuild my
bankroll at this level. It will just take a lot longer to accomplish.

Current FT Balance : $6.75
Current PS Balance : $11.90
Current Owing: $610.00
Current Bankroll: -$591.35

Why Pokerstars is better for the micros despite Full Tilt Rakeback.

First off. I've gone from $2 to $139 in a month!! Wow! Move over Chris
Ferguson. I was at $36 dollars at Full Tilt last time I posted. The new
approach has worked wonders. My full tilt bankroll balance is now $139.

I'm playing a tighter, more solid range, and it is working.

My bonus at Full Tilt has now expired. I still have 27% rakeback at Full
Tilt, but from a purely effective rake point of view, its better to play
the micros at Pokerstars without rakeback until I hit NL25. This is
because Pokerstars rakes $0.01 per $0.20, as opposed to Full Tilt's $0.01
per $0.15. Because of the rakeback percentage, it would normally be close
to a wash, but the difference is made up via the respective to vip points
programs. The pokerstars points are unencumbered, whereas using the full
tilt points will incur a rakeback penalty. This means that when you
factor the bonuses, etc. for a person on the lowest end of the VIP scale,
I come out on top with pokerstars.

In addition, Pokerstars points are currently doubled for NL10 and below,
which makes it an even sweeter deal. I don't know how long this will
last, but it makes pokerstars clearly the number 1 option right now.

But I still like Full Tilt better in a few key ways. Here are the reasons:
1) Full Tilt has Rush Poker. On regular tables, you inevitably have to
wait a lot for the multi-tabling types who play too many tables, and
make every hand last > 1 minute, even when they are folding pre-flop.
Rush does away with this for 80% of the hands dealt with the quick-fold
button. My only issue with Rush Poker? It starts at NL5. I really
wish there was an NL2 Rush Poker table. Its also challenging to learn
to play your opponents properly when you're not sitting at the same
table as them over long periods of time.

2) Full Tilt has a greater range of buy-ins at the micros. This is
more a problem with Pokerstars than anything else. At Pokerstars, the
NL2 buy-in is $5, and the NL5 buy-in is $12.50. That's 250 big blinds.
Oddly enough, the standard 100 bb buy-in starts at NL10. So a
standard buy-in at NL10 is $10... which is less than a standard buy-in
at NL5 of $12.50. Something's wrong there. I wish pokerstars would be
more like Full Tilt here. Full Tilt has short-stacked, standard, and
deep-stacked buy-ins at EVERY stake level, including NL2.

So which site will I play at?

I will play at both right now, and leave it to pacing. Right now, a
standard buy-in at NL2 is a bit low. I've got enough accumulated to play
NL5. But at a standard buy-in table.

So, I will play NL2 at Pokerstars (with a $5 buy-in) when I feel like a
properly paced, slower game where I can analyse my opponents properly.

I will play RUSH NL5 at Full Tilt when I feel more focused, or have less
than 30 minutes to play.

This seems like a good compromise for now.

Anyways, total Bankroll at Stars and Full Tilt leaves me at -$328. This
puts me back to where I was at the end of July, but at least it is on an
upward trend now. My goal is to see this number at breakeven or better by
Christmas.