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View Full Version : SnG marathon (Delays and Snags) Week 1


stupidsucker
07-08-2004, 02:33 PM
When you embark on meeting a strong goal, the last thing you want are problems on the first step.

Snag #1

I played my first four SnGs, and was ahead of the goal RoI/ITM wise, but empire decided to skip me on the tournament transcripts. This happens occasionally, and normally it just takes a while to get them. Not this time…It has now been a week and three emails later, and I still don’t have the histories. Yes Yes, I know it’s not that important, but it does create a disorder in my marathon. I had my bankroll all set up pretty, and now my bankroll doesn’t match my results.

Speaking of bankroll

Snag #2

I started with a $600 bankroll that I had set aside and I didn’t need to touch it for anything, BUT that has also changed. To make a short story shorter (I plagiarized that one) I made a brash decision to drive to San Francisco to surprise my girlfriend for the 4th of July weekend. This has almost nothing to do with poker itself, but still affects my bankroll. To pay for the cost of the trip I have taken out $400 from my bankroll so now my starting bankroll is $200 instead of $600. Considering that after my first 14 SnGs I have already jumped to a $316 BR, I feel confident this shouldn’t be a problem.

Snag #3

The trip to the bay didn’t cost me much more then $150, but it also cost me my job. I despised this job, and have never worked under worse management then this. I quit on the spot (I was ‘on call’ that Saturday evening) so I could make the trip. This may sound absurd to some of you, but trust me…. I do not regret this, and I was about to put in a notice anyways. This was not a job I would even consider using as a reference on my resume. I have never ever done anything like that before. I am a waiter, and they didn’t even need me. They have been overloading the floor with extra staff to punish us because management doesn’t think the teamwork is good enough, thus giving me a 2 table station on an on call shift that they don’t even need me for. I am rambling on about this, because I am being defensive.

I have decided to take it week by week, and I am not looking for a job right away. I have 2 months worth of ALL living expenses set aside plus the bankroll online. If things go awry then I will look for a job. I will have to take money out of my bankroll at the end of each month to always be 2 months ahead. My goal is to make a mere 1k/month (this covers all of my living expenses) If I fall below this mark I will quit the marathon until I am securely employed again. Let me stress, that I do not recommend anyone else ever ever ever work with such a low buffer. It is my opinion that a pro poker player should have no less then a year worth of expenses set aside plus a healthy bankroll. I don’t have a family, or many bills, and I do have some things already lined up for me for immediate employment.

This situation does however change my format, so lets go over that.

Starting bankroll $200
1- Play 300 SnGs at the party 10+1 level (warm up step)
2- Move up to the $20+2 level when I have reached a bankroll of 30x the level PLUS $1000
---($20SnG = $600 plus $1000= $1600)
3- On the last day of the month I withdraw $1000 and move to the appropriate level for the online bankroll after the withdrawal
4- If I ever drop below 15X level plus $1000 then I drop down to the level below.
5- I will always play a minimum of 100 SnGs at any given level before moving up (but not down).

Well it has changed to a seat of the pants type of venture, but now I have more time to get in a lot more SnGs per day, and more time to post some Tournament hands for review.

Here are my stats for the tiny 14 SnGs I have played so far. Playing 4 at a time (except once I only played 2 at a time)

1st 3
2nd 2
3rd 3
4th 1

ITM 57%
RoI 75%
Profit $116
$/SnG $8.29


Original post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=793673&page=15&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#793673)

stupidsucker
07-08-2004, 05:31 PM
Lesson #1

Keep your piehole SHUT

Table 11505 (Real Money) -- Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: Vrel_sz (665)
Seat 2: ChevyPU54 (970)
Vrel_sz posts small blind (100)
ChevyPU54 posts big blind (200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Vrel_sz [ 6h, Th ]

-It gets folded around to me in the SB
Vrel_sz raises (565) to 665
Vrel_sz is all-In.
ChevyPU54 calls (Thinks and thinks and thinks)(465)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ah, 4h, 2c ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6c ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 5h ]
Creating Main Pot with $1330 with Vrel_sz

As you can see He makes what I consider a horrible call, and I am slightly behind and win with a flush.

Conversation ensues

ChevyPU54: good calls bad luck
Vrel_sz: it was a bad call

cutting it short... the table disagrees with me

Later...

Seat 1: Vrel_sz (1330)
Seat 2: ChevyPU54 (205)
Seat 4: ayjayiii (1660)
Seat 5: BallStar69 (3515)
Seat 10: GAPlayer1 (1290)
GAPlayer1 posts big blind (200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Vrel_sz [ Jd, Js ]
Vrel_sz raises (1330) to 1330
Vrel_sz is all-In.


more conversation

BallStar69: messin with the wrong dude
BallStar69 folds.

I take down the blinds and state that I am holding my own, and ill mess when I want too.

Now I have 2 people at the table having it out for me.

The very next hand Ballstar bluffs a small sidepot Vs me and the all in. I fold and see he was an idiot.(although he did win the pot when he caught a pair on the turn)

I asked why he would do that , and couldnt hold it in that this guy made a bad play and is struting around.

This may have cost me ITM..

Im short stacked now and so is the guy to my right.. He is in BB and Ballstar is SB with over 4k in chips. he completes then folds to the BB when he goes all in slightly double the what the BB is.. Ballstar folds and everyone at the table knows he did this just to help out the other small stack and bring me out on the bubble.

It worked. I took fourth calling with ATs on my BB and losing to AQo.

So like I said... keep your piehole shut, its a +EV choice to be quiet.

Tosh
07-08-2004, 06:22 PM
Assuming you're using PokerTracker you can manually enter those SNGs you missed, assuming you can remember where you finished.

stupidsucker
07-08-2004, 06:31 PM
Ive tried Tosh, I cant find the option..

TLC
07-08-2004, 06:44 PM
"File-Party & Affiliates Tournament Results - Manual Entry..."

Tosh
07-08-2004, 06:44 PM
File --> Party Manual Tournament Entry. Make sure you have the latest patch.

stupidsucker
07-08-2004, 06:55 PM
downloading as we speak.. that was my problem.. thank you.

stupidsucker
07-08-2004, 10:25 PM
Ok thanks to Tosh I have entered by hand the 4 tourneys I was missing.

The opponents names are not correct, but my money stats are, and thats the important thing.

Is anyone interested in this at all as it progresses, or am I just talking into the wind? I will make a write up after my first 100 SnGs now, and post some hands for the Replayer (http://www.tightpoker.com/replayer/replayer.zip).

Cosimo
07-09-2004, 01:07 AM
Keep it up, I'm interested. I'm getting killed in SNGs and I don't know why. I might as well watch everyone else succeed. =)

AtlBrvs4Life
07-09-2004, 02:23 AM
Looks like a good plan. I wish you luck with it.

stupidsucker
07-09-2004, 05:29 AM
I forgot to mention that now with all this time on my hands I will be playing between 20-40 SnGs a day 5 days a week. (in case anyone thought taking out 1k a month was ridiculous)

If I am running bad then I will take breaks here and there.

I finished up 21 SnGs today ending up with 35 for the marathon.

I am having a fantastic start with an unstainable 87% ROI and 60% ITM. This was exactly wgat I needed though.

I am semi concerned about my HU play, so I am going to post some HU hands soon. I feel its the weakest aspect of my game, and could really use some help from the gurus. I want to have fun with this and get people involved.

Thakns for the support. I need encouragment.

Also anyone interested in watching live look me up as Vrel_sz and hit my tables (to watch not school me).

lacky
07-09-2004, 07:24 AM
$1000 a month playing full time 4 at a time should be very doable. Just make sure you stick to your budget. If you only spend $1000 during the months that you make 2 or 3 thousand, the months where you fall short (or even lose) won't hurt so much. The more you build up your reserve the less stressful this job is. Just curious, what are your percentages for 1st 2nd and 3rd when you get in the money?
When you get the heads up play down the highest percent should be 1st.

Just for reference, my numbers from when I played the $11’s were 1st 46%, 2nd 33%, 3rd 21%

JalKelly
07-09-2004, 11:02 AM
hey keep it up, i am enjoying reading how everything is going! good luck

Jason Strasser
07-09-2004, 11:18 AM
SS,

I am 19, so take it for what it's worth, but I'd really suggest looking for some sort of job and having SNG income as something on the side. As a waiter, I'm sure with time and patience you can find a better boss, and be in a better spot.

SNGs, like all forms of poker, are frustrating at times, and when you up the ante to making them the only source of income in your life, they may become more frustrating. There is no doubt you can make $1k a month playing sit and gos, but why not make it in your off hours? Get in 2-3 hours per day, play your 20-25 SNGs per day.

Also, because poker is income, I think you'd earn less money in the long run because you must withdraw from your account. I've taken money out of my poker account twice this summer, and because I've felt like I had more than I needed in my account for the $200 SNGs. The more money you have in your account, the more money you can make, and the less hours you have to spend playing.

If you had another job, and allowed poker income to accumulate, I bet you'd have a real good situation in half a year where you'd be able to maybe rely on SNG income. Withdrawing money and not moving up as fast as you could will cost you money in the long term.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck, keep us posted.

-Jason

stupidsucker
07-09-2004, 03:08 PM
Jason I respect what you are trying to say, and the moment I have one snag in the money then I will be looking for employment, and I already have some possibilities lined up. I have only worked for 1 month since January, it’s just been poker. The only time I even fell short and needed (felt the urge to be safe) get a job was because of the huge $$ I spent buying a car and moving to Las Vegas.

I just function better like this. While working for that month I kept telling myself to play more poker, but I just couldn’t. Poker already feels a little like work to me, so when I work and play poker it feels like 2 jobs and one of those jobs pays a lot less. I am smart enough to keep a reserve of money and options open to me at all times.

I hope like hell that I don’t have to go out and get a job again, but if it comes to that then I will do it. In the mean time I am taking it week by week, month by month. If I can stay ahead of my goals I feel a job will only slow me down. I have mentioned before that I do NOT recommend anyone else do this. I am a rare bird, and I understand the calculated risks involved.

One of the other reasons is non poker related. I am involved with a long distance relationship (because I moved). When she gets time she comes over here. We aren’t sure of when those times are. The whole reason I quit the job was to see her. Its very hard to lead a scheduled life with so many variances in it.

At this point, Id say there is a 50% chance I will need to get a job within the next 2 months. A risk I am willing to take to enjoy my life better, play more poker, and see my girlfriend when I can see her.

Moving on to answer other questions…

In my first 35
1st 8
2nd 6
3rd 7

I feel my HU game needs work and that this is a lucky run. Although my very last HU match ended with me having TT pushing and the BB calling with Q6o spiking the Q on the river. I am going to post some of those in another post this afternoon along with more of my HUs games. I want opinions.