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davidross
04-11-2004, 10:26 AM
Another week of limited playing, but still a success. No poker during the day Monday, as I configured my new laptop and wireless router. Very short sessions on Thursday night and Friday night because of a visit from my sister and her husband and step children. With Friday being a holiday I didn’t play during the day either, and I’m writing this Saturday afternoon watching the Masters not sure whether I will play tonight or not. We have an easter egg hunt scheduled for the morning so my opportunity to write tomorrow will be limited. We have numerous bottles of wine to drink tonight and since I know the kids will be up early I may opt not to play. There is a WSOP qualifier at 9:00 PM tonight, but I doubt dinner will be finished, and it would probably be rude to abandon my wife to my family, so I think my dreams will have to wait another week. I guess I played 15 hours fewer than normal already this week.

I started the week on a great note with a $611 win on Sunday. Monday night was a struggle and I lost $136. Tuesday was a sad day, we were eliminated from the club championship in curling, my season is over, but winning $1,231 took away some of the sting. Wednesday was a wild day. A terrific couple of hours in the afternoon put me up $400, but a horrible evening put me $344 in the hole by the end of the day. Thursday however saw me bounce back with another big win of $1,119, and on Friday in a 90 minute evening session after taking my sister to see Mamma Mia I won another $419, which covered the tickets and dinner nicely. Going into Saturday I am up $2,900 for the week.

My sister has borne the brunt of looking after my mother since my dad died. I’m lucky that I live 350 miles away, but my sister is visiting my mom almost every day. She takes her out, entertains her etc. This was my way of paying her back for some of that. My Mom is healthy as a horse and will be with us for a long time to come, but she was with my dad from the age of 17, and is very lonely.

The big news in our household this week was my wife getting a job in the area she wanted. Labour and delivery. Most of her classmates are already working, they graduated in December. But none of them is really working in the area they wanted to. They all hope to eventually move to where they wanted, but after 3 years of school, needed to start working. My wife had the luxury of being a little more patient and it paid off this week. So she starts in two weeks, and will love being around babies and expectant mothers all day. I’m going to love some guaranteed income.

I owe so much of the good things that have happened to me this year to the contributors of this forum. Despite my own stubbornness too. It took me many weeks of urging before I made the switch from Paradise to Party, and that paid immediate dividends. It took a lot of urging for me to try the shorthanded games, and once again I was glad I did. I was a latecomer to the affiliate programs, and that has certainly made this year just amazing, (my laptop, bar-b-que, power washer, show tickets and dinner out were all thanks to this months affiliate payment). And finally Poker tracker. I stalled and stalled before buying it, and for the life of me I can’t imagine why. Has to be the smartest $40 I’ve ever spent. Besides pointing out several hands I was playing that were losing money, I am loving the notes export. Twice this week I have been sitting on the button with a very playable hand, AJ and 99, and faced a raise from the cutoff. When I checked the notes, the player had a pre-flop raise percent of 1%, and I folded without any doubts. Both times the guy had AA. I folded AQ against an EP player who had limp-re-raised, but had pre-flop raise % of 2, and he flashed AA at me too. I’m really starting to like this tool.

I have spent a lot of time this week wondering what game to move to next. The time is ripe for a change, the bankroll is healthy, and my game has improved. I’m considering 3 possibilities, shorthanded 10/20, full table 10/20 and full table 15/30. The shorthanded 10/20 seems to be the most logical choice, but some of the advice I have received indicates the 15/30 game may be softer. The curious thing about moving up though is if I assume I can maintain a 2BB/100 hands win rate, I would only break even with my current situation playing 2 15/30 tables. I would only see 120 hands an hour at 2 full tables, making me $66 an hour, and right now I’m seeing 320 hands an hour making me $64 an hour. I don’t know what the reduction of rake played would be, and of course it’s probably a big assumption that I can continue to make 2 bb’s at an increased limit, but it would seem I would need to play at least 3 tables at any increased limit. One thing I do know is that when I do change, I have to give it a reasonable amount of time. 4 weeks at least. Anything less than that and I think I’m just gambling that I won’t run bad the first week or so.

I sent Empire an e-mail this week asking about the satellite package they are auctioning later this month. It is described as 5 nights in Vegas the week before the “big one” and includes 2 entries to super-satellite’s, and airfare and hotel. But what they told me was that upon arrival in Vegas, they will give you $2,000. So I’m guessing you make your own arrangements, and can actually play no satellites if you choose. No matter how it works, I guess it still seems like a good deal to me, since cashing in my e-points will only be worth $200 to $300.

I was interviewed this week by a reporter from the Washingtonpost.com. He’s doing an article about the online poker boom and has already spoken to Chris Moneymaker and Mike Caro. I’m in esteemed company.

I played exclusively on the laptop this week, and it was good and bad. Nice to play anywhere in the house, I took advantage and played upstairs during the sunlight hours. Unfortunately the best chair in the house for sitting hours on end, is the chair at my computer desk. Anywhere else leads to discomfort after a short period of time. It seems silly to plop the laptop right next to the desktop, but I think for the long evening sessions that’s what I’ll be doing for a while. I found the display hard to look at after a few hours the first couple of days, but I turned down the brightness and that problem seems to have gone away. The only problem I’m still having has to do with the touch pad on the laptop. I seem to hit it inadvertently while I’m typing, and it moves my cursor, usually backwards several lines, as I keep typing. By the time I notice it, I’ve got a pretty mixed up paragraph. I’m pretty sure I can disable the touch pad sensitivity, but I haven’t looked for it yet. I guess my next purchase will have to be a comfortable chair for upstairs.

Well I did in fact take Saturday night off. So it goes into the books as a $2,900 week. I think I will try a new game this week and I’ll let you know how it went next week.

47outs
04-11-2004, 11:09 AM
First reply this week, woohoo! Now I have to read your post.

Cheers,
OUTS

Chief911
04-11-2004, 11:14 AM
David,

Thanks for the weekly post. A sad day it will be if you decide to ever stop posting (I know you've come close several times). As a starting player, its been fun to read through your history of weeks, and be encouraged by both your success, and how you've battled through the bad stretches.

Nick

benfranklin
04-11-2004, 12:20 PM
[ QUOTE ]
It took a lot of urging for me to try the shorthanded games, and once again I was glad I did.


I have spent a lot of time this week wondering what game to move to next. The time is ripe for a change, the bankroll is healthy, and my game has improved. I’m considering 3 possibilities, shorthanded 10/20, full table 10/20 and full table 15/30. The shorthanded 10/20 seems to be the most logical choice, but some of the advice I have received indicates the 15/30 game may be softer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Could you give us a brief pro/con look at full table games vs. short-handed. Based on absolutely no experience or facts, my first assumption would be that there would be more fish at a full table, and the better players could share in the feast, rather than butt heads against each other. On the other hand, I would assume that a lot of the players at short-handed have an overly inflated view of their own abilities, and have a snobish attitude about the common folk at the regular tables.

I'm sure you have discussed this in the past, but I am just starting to go back and read your postings from the start. Thanks.

JTrout
04-11-2004, 12:36 PM
Twice this week I have been sitting on the button with a very playable hand, AJ and 99, and faced a raise from the cutoff. When I checked the notes, the player had a pre-flop raise percent of 1%, and I folded without any doubts. Both times the guy had AA. I folded AQ against an EP player who had limp-re-raised, but had pre-flop raise % of 2, and he flashed AA at me too.

I, too, have benefitted from this very aspect of PT.
If the ONLY reason you use PT was to make note of opponents that raised 1 or 2% of the time, it would still be worth purchasing!

I've enjoyed your posts David. Entertaining and educational.

How's the diet/exercise going? It's time to dust of the golf clubs!

JTrout.

1800GAMBLER
04-11-2004, 01:15 PM
If you get bored/want a change of pace/to learn a new game/want a lower variance you might want to check out the $100 6 max NL games.

The variance here is a lot smaller, plus with the amount of hours you put in per day it's doubtful you'll have many losing days per month. So if variance is something that affects your play or your mood this could be ideal. Your win rate will also big a little higher.

Thanks for the update again.

MisterKing
04-11-2004, 02:32 PM
David-

Any idea as to when that Wash. Post article is going to run? I'm a DC resident & would love to have a look at it... thanks! /images/graemlins/spade.gif

Redmen62
04-11-2004, 04:02 PM
Just a note on the laptop- there should be a small button right above the touchpad to one-touch disable it. Useful while typing, or if like me, you break down and buy a small mouse instead...

MicroBob
04-11-2004, 06:28 PM
"I, too, have benefitted from this very aspect of PT.
If the ONLY reason you use PT was to make note of opponents that raised 1 or 2% of the time, it would still be worth purchasing!"

indeed.....on just the 3 hands that david posted i think he made his $40 back.

congrats on another good week.....and share that washington-post article with us when it comes out.


sounds like you are really doing well with the affiliate payments. you bought all that stuff from one month of payments?? impressive.

i too struggle with the laptop screen brightness....but i have overly sensitive eyes to begin with.
have even tried wearing sunglasses while playing.

davidross
04-11-2004, 07:35 PM
Shorthanded games allow you to play more hands and make more decisions. If you feel that you make a certain amount of money every hand you play, then this obviously is an advantage. However trying to play multiple tables, full ring games will give you a little more time to study your opponents, but there are more of them to keep track of.

You are more likely to run into an "action Junkie" at the shorthanded tables., If you play them properly they can blow off a lot of chips. I find the full ring games usually have more of the "weak tight" players that you might be able to push around. THe real trick is making the appropriate adjustments to each game.

davidross
04-11-2004, 07:37 PM
THe diet went well until this weekend. I started adding carbs back to the diet, with bagels and OJ for breakfast, and I found that much more palatable. But I blew it big time this weekend. A lot of alcohol. I'll be good again starting tomorrow. I didn't get out on my bike this week though, I need to get back to that.

davidross
04-11-2004, 07:39 PM
I'm not sure when, but I'll include it in my post as soon as I hear. I don't think he's finished talking to me yet, we talked for 30 minutes on Friday, and he said he'd call back on Monday.

davidross
04-11-2004, 07:45 PM
I am using a mouse, but the touch pad seems to stay active and if I hit it by mistake while typing the cursor jumps. I don't see any button to disable it. I'll call the guys who sold it to me Tuesday.

MicroBob
04-11-2004, 08:36 PM
on my laptop you can go to:
control panel....
mouse....
touchpad enable/disable...

i think you can have a little icon for this in the taskbar too if you like.....but i have so many icons down there and i dont know what half of them are,

NLfool
04-11-2004, 09:32 PM
depends which mousepad you have most are synaptic some are alps just download their utility and you have all the functions and tweaks you would want. Geez

Bozeman
04-11-2004, 10:23 PM
Since I installed a new Logitech mouse I have lost my control panel and taskbar for accessing the touch pad. How can I get back control over it?

Craig

NLfool
04-11-2004, 11:11 PM
touchpad software and mouse software don't like each other much it's either or I believe. You may need to mess with the registry and tweak it a bit but until I need both I haven't bothered to figure things out. Hope someone has a solution for you

Dieter01
04-12-2004, 12:43 AM
I just wanted to say thanks also. I have just now completed reading all your posts from the very beginning. Took me a good week, but I enjoyed it very much. Learned a lot and became inspired to try a few new things myself!

Thank you!

pretender2k
04-12-2004, 04:51 AM
The thought of this weekly post ending in two weeks makes me sad. It has become an after work Sunday night tradition and I have learned so much.

Alporfavor
04-12-2004, 07:20 AM
I've been meaning to do this as well, did you sift through all the posts or is there a quicker way to do it?

ps. Thanks for your posts David

Dieter01
04-12-2004, 11:06 AM
I bookmarked this page, The Beginning! (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/dosearch.php?Cat=&Forum=All_Forums&Words=220&Match =Username&Searchpage=20&Limit=25&Old=allposts), which is a search of all of davidross' posts. When you have read week 1+2 you click 'previous' to get the following weeks. Update the bookmark occationally and it actually works pretty well

Festus22
04-12-2004, 11:44 AM
Just a curiousity question for you so please don't read more into it.

Now that you've done this for basically a year, do you feel this was the best way to invest your time and intellect? If so, do you plan on doing this for the rest of your life or at least the next few years. If not, why not?

Alporfavor
04-12-2004, 01:20 PM
cheers

squiffy
04-12-2004, 01:48 PM
DAVID, you obviously love poker and have computer skills and enjoy writing. You should seriously consider applying for some kind of position with PartyPoker or World Poker tour in some capacity. Continue with writing. Possibly offer poker lessons, etc.

Sounds like you could really make something happen with this. No guarantee. But worth a shot.

Did they ask you any questions about curling?

davidross
04-12-2004, 01:52 PM
I started out thinking it would be a fun way to pass the time before my next contract came along. THe thought of going back to work as a programmer/analyst somewhere didn't appeal to me at all. Now I think I will be doing this for quitre some time to come. First of all, the high paying contracts just aren't out there anymore, and I have come to really like this lifestyle of being home for the kids, and not commuting 2 to 3 hours a day.

As far as being the best way to invest my time, I don't know how to answer that, but for my families sake I think it has been. If and when the chance to keep making decent money doing this dries up, I will have to carefully consider what to do next. Obviously my technical skills are not keeping up with the market place.

SinCityGuy
04-12-2004, 02:08 PM
David,

As your time is winding down on the weekly posts, I'd like to congratulate you on your success, as well as your discipline and consistency. You took the road less traveled, and you made it work.

Through it all, you faithfully posted every week, fully knowing that there would always be a few bystanders throwing rocks at the parade as it passed by.

I'm also pleased to see that you were able to maintain a good family life, as there's no price tag that you can put on that.

Keep up the good work.

MisterKing
04-15-2004, 12:11 AM
[ QUOTE ]
And finally Poker tracker. I stalled and stalled before buying it, and for the life of me I can’t imagine why. Has to be the smartest $40 I’ve ever spent.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see the list price as $55... am I missing out on something here? PokerTracker is certainly worth the higher price, IMO, but if I can save $15, I'll gladly do so. Thanks!

MicroBob
04-15-2004, 01:44 AM
the price used to be $40.
it went up to $55 on Feb 1.

CubsWin made a few posts about a week in advance of the price increase encouraging people to buy it while it was at its cheapest.

as far as i know...you have to spend $55 now.


as i recently stated in a different thread....if it cost triple that amount and only did 1/3 as much i would still consider it a decent investment.

ThePimpulator
04-15-2004, 01:53 AM
Thanks for the year of posts. Just wanted to say you are an inspiration. I wish you continued success. I honestly cant imagine why you would quit playing for a living at this point what with it allowing you to be home with your family. And let's face it, you ain't doing too badly salary wise either! Doesn't even sound to me like there is a choice to make.

BTW, how come you are not hooking up your proper (or spare) monitor, keyboard, and mouse when you are playing in your basement? Would eliminate the problems youve been having would it not?

If you do stop your weekly postings I hope you consider making a short monthly posting. Just something for those interested in hearing how the career is going generally. Any changing of games/limits and the success/failure thereof.

Anyway, thanks again.

ThePimpulator.

OnlinePokerCoach
04-15-2004, 07:16 PM
I am definitely interested in seeing you move up, whatever you may choose. It definitely cannot hurt you to try taking a shot. If it does not work out to be more profitable, you can always move back down.

Cheers,
OnlinePokerCoach.com

MuckMe
04-16-2004, 07:06 PM
I am a relatively new PT user and have a couple questions regarding what has been said here...
1) What does the "notes export" feature do?
2) Where do you go to look up a player's pre-flop raise %?

Thanks! MM

davidross
04-16-2004, 08:01 PM
The export allows you to put some key statistics (that you choose yourself) into the notes at the site you play on. I have chosen pre-flop raise %, flop seen % and dollars won, so I can quickly see if an opponent is a habitual raiser, loose or tight.

GOing into the ring game player statistics will show you all the info on anyone you have played against. PFR % is the pre-flop raise percentage.

MicroBob
04-16-2004, 09:03 PM
the p-tracker note export function.
learn it, live it, love it, USE IT.

i maintain this can be worth up to .5BB/hr in terms of in-game play and table-selection.

the stats on all of the players you have played against just appear in the notes at the table.

here is one of my favorite players....

{{VP$IP: 77.5 - SF-ALL: 80.3571
PFR: 20.7 - TOT HANDS: 280
WSD: 60.89 - W$SF: 34
W$SD: 29.197 - WON: ($558)
LAST SEEN: 4/14/04}}

as i was typing this he just took a small pot with A9s. an ace hit on the flop...he was last to act...and it was checked through on each round. never bet his pair of aces.

it's players like this that can make you a lot of money.

as david pointed out...it's nice to be able to identify the tight-players too. when i see a raise from someone with a PFR around 2 or 3 i can play very cautiously.

i'm surprised at how many VPIP-18'ers are out there in 1/2 and 2/4 full-ring but now i can choose to avoid any table that happens to be full of them .


you should really play around with p-tracker to check out your various stats and the stats of your opponents. you might be surprised at what you can learn about your game.

MuckMe
04-16-2004, 11:19 PM
Thanks for the replies.

I have been scowering through the stats but hadn't noticed PFR....very cool. Guess I need to spend some more time with it.

The export feature is also cool but I take a lot of notes myself...including some of the stats I like...but also how they played a certain hand, if they are a loud-mouth, sore-loser, their general style, etc. Will those stay in my notes at Party when I export the stats from PT?

MicroBob
04-17-2004, 01:56 AM
yes...the notes stay. there is a little box you can check to decide whether you want your personal notes to appear after or before the players' PT stats.
it's under the Advanced Export function on step 2 i think....this is where you customize what stats you want.

taking notes is great...but the PT export function is pretty terrific also.


like you, i also am noting if they are a bitchy-whiner.
or obnoxious table-coach.
or foul-mouthed arse.


i will also note if someone says it is their first time playing...or if they ask a question like 'what does Post BB plus Dead mean??' as one guy did at my table last night after he was disconnected during his blinds.


bad bluffs and raising all the way to the river with garbage get special attention as well as general PF hand-selection.

davidross
04-17-2004, 03:05 AM
I lost all my notes when I exported. I missed teh feature to keep them.

MicroBob
04-17-2004, 04:50 AM
ouch....that's terrible david, as i am assuming you had some pretty extensive notes on several opponents.
i suppose there is no way for you to retrieve them.


fortunately, with the number of hds you play it probably didn't (or won't) take you long to notice player tendencies again, and build a nice sized pt-stats export.


i'm only at 40k hds so sometimes i play at a table with 6 or 7 players whom i have stats on and other times i only have background on 1 or 2 of my opponents.

tomcain
04-17-2004, 12:41 PM
David

Most laptops have a mouse port which will disable the touchpad. I had many problem with my touchpad also, including hitting the wrong button several times, oops /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Tom

davidross
04-17-2004, 01:52 PM
I found my solution in the control panel. Under the mouse there is a tab for tapping, and you can disable the touch pad while typing. That solved my problem. Now I have to find a way to stop turning on the caplock every time I type an A.

MicroBob
04-17-2004, 02:11 PM
david -
when exporting my notes today i noticed on the first page for exporting that it said 'a backup of the player notes file is always made prior to export' or something to that effect.

i'm not entirely certain what this means....but perhaps there is hope that your long-lost player-notes are still retrieveable.

just thought you may want to give it a look-see.

jdl22
04-17-2004, 10:21 PM
Thanks guys for the pokertracker discussion. I just exported my notes and it worked for me in the same way. I play NL100 and a small stack pushed all in when I was dealt tens. Normally when this happens it's a bad player making a desperate move so it would be correct to call, even against an unknown opponent. I had a note on him and his preflop raise was like 1.3% so I folded. Sure enough he had aces. Most likely saved 30 bucks on that hand alone.

davidross
04-17-2004, 10:56 PM
I'm pretty sure I have them in the backup on the desktop. I need to work with that somehow and get it into my lap top. I think I'llo emaiil pocker tracker. THeir support is excellent.

MuckMe
04-18-2004, 12:32 AM
uh-oh...

I was too anxious to wait for a reply so I exported already. I was happy to see Bob's reply but very unhappy to see David's. I didn't recall seeing anything about keeping personal notes or what order they should be in but now that I go back I do see it. It says General Description (Your Notes). I didn't see the "Your Notes" part the first time and thought it meant a description of what the stat was (beyond the abbreviation). I just exported again with the correct box checked and it went through with no errors but I have yet to see someone I know I definitely had personal notes on so I don't know if they will be there now. I would think the notes are stored on PP so they would still be there. If not then it serves me right for not waiting for a reply.

I certianly like having all those stats handy on every player I have played with (at least 50 hands).

Thanks again for the replies.

MM