100k in 100 Days - Intro and Days 1 and 2

[soda]

***DISCLAIMER***This is a very rough sketch of my days. I do not have time to refine this, so please hold your criticism of punctuation, grammar, structure, tenses, continuity, etc. I will be unable to post a day every day, so posts will be sporadic, I apologize in advance for this. I will be unable to reply to some questions/posts unfortunately. My primary focus will be spent on reaching the goal of 100k in 100 days. Any and all feedback will be read and is appreciated.***/DISCLAIMER***

Brief Introduction:

My name is soda and I’ve been calling myself a professional poker player for the last two and a half years. I got my start by playing at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. I never had anyone teach me how to play, I learned by reading books and watching others. Commerce gave me a great start, I usually made between 20 and 30 bucks an hour playing the 9/18 Hold ‘em games. I hated it with a passion, but it was pretty good money and I didn’t have to answer to anyone. The game was simply too slow and the drawouts too often. In October of last year, I quit playing live games.

During this time at Commerce, I had been working on my game online. With about $200 in my Paradise Poker account, a good friend bought me Super System as a gift and I started learning No Limit play. I found that I could squeak out over $20 an hour doing this with virtually no risk. I could simply outplay these guys and gals. My naturally aggressive style was a great fit for the “too tight” online NL games. No Limit was a huge boon for me, I made enough money to go to Europe for over 6 weeks. At this point, I could squeak out about a thousand a week at Paradise.

After my return from Europe this summer, I discovered that the WPT was on TV. How exciting! I loved watching the amateurs and pros on TV. I also noticed that Party Poker was doing a lot of advertising. I figured the games might be better there with all the new blood coming in from this advertising.

I was right! Party Poker was awesome. I remember after my first hour at Party Poker, I told my dad that I may have stumbled onto a gold mine. The No Limit games at Party were crazy. But, the blind structure hindered the better player. It made little difference though, I made much more money playing 3 $100 NL tables at Party than I did playing 2 $200 tables at Paradise. So, I made the switch. My party account starting climbing higher. I remember when I had my first $1000 day. I was ecstatic! Of course, I also suffered some losses. Overall though, I was pulling in over 2k a week now.

I also got into Party’s tournaments. About the 10th or 11th NL tournament I entered, I won! There were about 520 people in it, so I really got a kick out of that. The $2400 first place prize combined with an $800 win at the tables brought me over $3200 for my best day ever – online or in a real casino.

For ten days in September, Party Poker offered a “rake kickback” to the top 20 players on the site in number of raked hands played. The kickback was $80 at the top level. I was having trouble making the top 20 the first day, so with an hour left, I shut down my No Limit tables and played 3 $1/2 shorthanded games. It worked, I made the top twenty and took home the extra $80. Even better, I made over $200 in that hour. The players were just awful, even worse, I thought, than the No Limit players. So, the next day, I did a mix of No Limit and $1/2 shorthanded. Again, I got the $80 and did really well at the shorthanded. The next day, it was all shorthanded games for me.

I hit that bonus every day and by the end of it, I was playing the $5/10 tables and making about $90 an hour. I stayed on these tables and got the idea to write this book – A Hundred Grand in a Hundred Days. Literally, days later, I packed up my stuff and drove a Uhaul from Los Angeles, CA to Buffalo, NY.

Well, I’m in my new apartment in Buffalo and I’ve gotten used to the cable modem and computer setup and wiped the rust off my game. It’s a perfect time to get started.

Day 1 – 10/16/2003

I had the most amazing start. Every hand I played was QQ or better and they were all winning. Flopping sets, getting great action – I could not believe how lucky I was. Started out at 5/10 and in 3 short sessions of about 30 minutes each I was up over $600. Then around 2 in the afternoon I moved to $10/20. Two thousand dollar sessions brought me up to 2600 for the day. I peaked out at about $3100 and then plummeted during a terrible streak at night to finish the day at $2175. Interesting to note that during the terrible streak I added a 4th table.

Best hand was the very last one I played. Moron #1 UTG raises, I have 77 in the next spot. He could do this with any two cards. Well, probably not 72o, but maybe. I three bet. Moron #2 caps from the BB and we’re three to the flop. 479r!!! The action goes bet, call, I raise - #2 3 bets it, all call – I figure I’ll raise the turn and maybe get 3 bet again. Turn is a deuce, but there is a 2 flush now. He bets, caller, I raise, he three bets, I cap. All three are in. I’m praying for a 7 in case Moron #2 has 99. River…. Is a 7!!!! Halleluiah! He fires out, caller, I raise. Now he thinks, just calls, Moron #1 overcalls. I show my miracle hand. Moron #2 has KK and Moron #1 overcaller has AJo.

Ah, I can’t believe this is $10/20.

Day #1 +$2175, $1175 ahead of pace.

Day 2 – 10/17/2003

Have a vet appointment for the puppy today at 11:40 am. She’s a 7 week old, black Labrador Retriever. I just picked her up two Saturdays ago. She’s absolutely beautiful and a bundle of joy. More on Melanie later.

Because of the appointment, I played on Empire (a Party skin) at the 6 handed $1/2 game for about an hour. I just opened my account there and have only $500. I lost $37. Everyone was calling down with everything and I didn’t adjust quick enough. Also, 1 hour is not very long. Got called down by K high twice on solid bluffs. You just don’t see that at the 10/20 game.

Well, the vet appointment is really tomorrow. I walked into the office and the counter girl gave me a funny look and asked what I was doing there. I weighed Melanie anyway and she’s gained almost three pounds!! She’s over 13 pounds now. So, not too disappointed, I parked my butt in front of the computer – Melanie asleep at my feet and proceeded to rip up two $10/20 games at Party and one $5/10 at Empire. Picked up $91 at Empire and $845 at Party in under an hour and a half. My game was solid. I’m checkraising more often heads up now. For instance, I have K9 in early position with 3 players. Flop comes 248r and I bet at it. One overaggressive caller. Turn is a 9. I check, he bets, I raise. This play ticks people off and it makes more money. A win-win!

My second large session today featured a good win at Empire and a big loss at Party. All told, I was down almost $900 at Party and up over $600 at Empire including a $100 bonus from my $500 initial deposit. I was playing 2 $10/20s at Party and 2 $5/10s at Empire at the end of the session. I added a second Empire table in the middle of the session. 2.5 hours of play.

The only notable hands were terrific beats. One hand, I raised 99 UTG, button and BB call. Flop comes 558. I bet and BB calls. Turn is a 6, he checks. I bet and the BB checkraises. I consider reraising, but feel that a smooth call is better here because if he has a 5, he’ll 3 bet. River is a 6, for 55866. He bets, I call. He has 46o. Lost to many, many hands like this at Party last session. Let’s hope the evening is better. I’m only up $760 so far today.

Third session was short, but sweet. I played one $10/20 at Empire – I figured this was better than playing two $5/10s and won over $500 there. Meanwhile at Party I played the usual two $10/20s and made over $300 on them. All this in under 50 minutes. Just picked up some nice hands that held up, for once. I stopped because my buddy, who I taught to play, called to tell me that he started today on Party at the $1/2 shorthanded. He’s up $125 for the day. Very nice. We chatted for a bit, I hope he continues to do well. Status report – played 5.5 hours – up $1474. One more short evening session, then a $25,000 freeroll at 10pm. It would be nice to put up another 2k number.

Well, I missed one of the evening sessions. My sister came over with a pizza and we played with the puppy. The late evening session was almost a disaster. In the first hour, I lost and lost and lost. The games were crazy. Typical for a Friday night. I hate these games. Terrible players making terrible plays and getting lucky. Down $1200 before I sat down, I made a conscious effort to make sure I was not making mistakes. I fully believed that I could turn this 1200 loss into a small win. Slowly but surely the boat stopped sinking. Then, bam – I hit 3 or 4 huge hands and was within striking distance of even, down only $300! This felt like a win. I kept pushing and ended up $170 and am very happy with my performance. Up almost $1000 on Party and dropped $770 on Empire. I’m at a dangerously low $1000 on Empire and may revert back to the $5/10 game for a while.

Checking out Poker Tracker with 3400 hands, I have made over 7 BB per hour on Party and only 3.4 on Empire. Empire will increase, just short term bad luck and lower number of hands.

Day number 2, was a good one, although not quite the numbers I was hoping for on a Friday – up $1644 for a two day total of $3819 and $1819 ahead of pace. I’m really going to push for a 3k day tomorrow. It’s only a matter of time.

[Oblivious]

[ QUOTE ]
The only notable hands were terrific beats. One hand, I raised 99 UTG, button and BB call. Flop comes 558. I bet and BB calls. Turn is a 6, he checks. I bet and the BB checkraises. I consider reraising, but feel that a smooth call is better here because if he has a 5, he’ll 3 bet. River is a 6, for 55866. He bets, I call. He has 46o.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think your opponent out played you here. You didnt say if the button folded to your flop bet or not, but the only thing your opponent did wrong in this hand was chase an inside straight draw without a sufficient number of opponents. That being said, he probably figures you for a maniac just like I do, and might have figured he had more outs than just the four 7s. He check raises the turn, as many low limit players do when they flop low trips from the blind, and the raise worked to some degree, since at this point you were figuring him for a 5, but you called anyway. I guess at this point you could just call him down if you think hes making some sort of move, which im sure people do to you all the time with the way you play... not that its wholly bad, but it does have downsides.

[zamora]

this is a very interesting post. i wish you all the best, soda.

[ QUOTE ]
Checking out Poker Tracker with 3400 hands, I have made over 7 BB per hour on Party and only 3.4 on Empire. Empire will increase, just short term bad luck and lower number of hands

[/ QUOTE ]

it is obvious that soda is a very competent player, but is this win rate (10 bb/hour and hoping for 14+) possible to sustain in the long run?

i am not asking because i am doubting soda´s numbers, i am asking simply because i am clueless about shorthanded earning potential.

[archmagi]

Just guessing...
Since he's talking about NL, maybe BB means big blind?

[archmagi]

Good post.
One question though: Why do you play Empire and Party? They are the same site if I'm not mistaken and hence don't offer you any added game choices.
Good luck in you quest

[Aceshigh7]

Excellent reading. Please keep posting. And good luck in reaching your goal.

[karlson]

Ah, but they do offer the ability to play more than 3 Party tables at once.

I find, however, that I can't handle more than 3. Even three is pushing it if two of them are short-handed. I'm curious how many soda is able to do without losing focus. For that matter, what do the other people who play semi-professionally online do?

[Eihli]

If he's playing 4 tables, that's only 2ish BB an hour.

[citanul]

the shorthanded ring games are not nl. he means big bets.

citanul

[soda]

[ QUOTE ]
I think your opponent out played you here.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think my opponent tried to outplay me with his 6 outer checkraise. He failed, as I did not lay down the better hand, which is what he was hoping for.

Don't worry, I'll post hands that I did get outplayed in too. Since this happens everyday, I have many to choose from.

As far as being a maniac is concerned, that is certainly the image I wish to portray as it is highly profitable in this game.

soda