Playing online for a living Week 50

[davidross]

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]

First reply this week, woohoo! Now I have to read your post.

Cheers,
OUTS

[Chief911]

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]

[ 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]

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]

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]

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! [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[Redmen62]

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]

"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]

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.