My Poker Goals - Summer 2005

[KingOtter]

Okay, it has taken this long for me to get to the point where I feel comfortable enough with my game and start making goals.

First off, I need to move up. I'm beating .5/1, even after some kind of nasty downswings (I'm now in a considerable unsustainable upswing, but that's how it all evens out, eh). But I can't move up because I don't have the bankroll (I'm actually barely bankrolled for .5/1). So I need to get there.

I don't want to make my goals based upon bankroll. That'll make me too results oriented and increase my emotional swings when I hit some bad beats or the inevitable stall in my current upswing.

So, I need to play hands. Lotsa lotsa hands. I've been tracking my game in PT since January, and I've played 27000 hands. Six months, 27000 hands. I don't get to play alot, do I? It boggles my mind people play that many in a month.

But I have a family, 2 kids, help my wife cook and clean up after dinner, teach my kids math (we homeschool), and read to my kids every night.

Anyway, I figure if I can sustain a 1.5 BB/100 pace, and play 30,000 hands then I will have more than adequate bankroll for 1/2 + some bonus money I can take out and reward myself.

And I'm going to do it in 3 months. The summer months. When I'll be going on trips every month. So it is going to be a real challenge, for anyone who doubts.

I must play 333 hands/night, for 90 days, and maintain a 1.5 BB/100 pace. That's my goal. Right now I mostly 2-table, but will probably need to work up to 3-4 tabling to complete this.

Target date: 9/7/2005
Target hands: 30,000

------------------------

My first night:

Hands played: 339

Tonight was tough because I ran so very well early. Usually when I run that well I close the tables, call it a night and go to bed. But I was only at 200 hands! So I had to keep playing!

So I kept playing, and I didn't lose it all, so that was a good thing.

-----------------

I probably won't update this thread, unless there is interest. I am keeping track of it on my blog (which someone suggested me to do not so long ago).

Thanks for listening.

KO

[DeathDonkey]

Hi,

I think your plan of attempting to play an approximately set number of hands per night to be silly. It's also going to cost you money. Some nights you will want to play more, you may be winning, you may be concentrating, you may have a good feel for your opponents, whatever. On these nights you will probably win more money if you continue playing. Some nights will be the opposite, and continuing to play may very well cost you money.

Attempting to treat poker like a 9-5 job goes against some key components to playing that make it profitable. Like S&M point out in at least one of their books, if the game is a good one for you the time to quit is never.

Oh, and do some bonuses and you should be bankrolled for higher limits in like a month.

-DeathDonkey

[scotty34]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and do some bonuses and you should be bankrolled for higher limits in like a month.


[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly, I just whored around a little bit, and after a month of just over break-even poker, I was more than bankrolled for 2/4. It's a little more difficult now than a few months prior due many sites changing their bonus structures, but there are still more than enough out there to keep you occupied.

[imported_exelius]

Sounds good except I agree that you should play when you feel good and not play when you feel down or whatever. I homeschool too so I know how that is, but if I'm feeling pumped up I skip a night and maybe read SSH some more instead.

As far as the bonus deal, what do you guys do to get that. Just pool your money play out bonus's then withdraw it and deposit it into another site and rinse repeat. I have neteller and play at Party and Stars. Is it easy to do it that way or am i missing something? Which sites dis you do that at to get BR for 2/4?

Thanks
ex

[alien freak boi]

[ QUOTE ]
As far as the bonus deal, what do you guys do to get that.

[/ QUOTE ]

read the microlimits faq. there are some links at the bottom. homer talks about building a bankroll using bonuses...

cheers,
afb.

[aces_dad]

As far as bonus info goes, check the 101 cheat sheet at
www.bonuswhores.com.

I am in a similar situation to the OP with family etc, and
can't play as often as I'd like. However, I still only
play when I want to and feel good, and wouldn't worry about
meeting a certain hand count number. If you can slowly
add tables and get to 4, your hands per hour will increase greatly.

[SayGN]

I haven't read all the responses, so maybe this has been posted in this thread already. But I bonus whore more than anybody I know. Here is the best course of action that I've taken:

First, sign up through Boogster.com. It is an affiliate site that will give you tons of free stuff ontop of your site bonuses (I got a free poker tracker, 2pack of Copag cards, a copy of WLLH, and a freakin Xbox for playing on sites that offered bonuses of their own. To get all these prizes, I played a grand total of about 2000 hands. I also made about $150 in bonus money while playing on the various sites that Boogster.com is affiliated with.)

1)Put $100 into party poker. They'll give you $30 in bonus and you can clear it in about 2hrs (sign up through Boogster for an extra $50 worth of prizes)

2)Empire Poker. Use 25FREE in the bonus code spot and get $25. Again, its easy money that you can clear rediculously fast.

3) Hit up Wild Jack (www.wildjackpoker.com) and Trident Poker. They both give you $30 free to play with on a $20 deposit and all you have to do is play like 150 raked hands to withdraw it.

--Now you're at $115 in bonuses for playing like 700 raked hands, plus boogster prizes.

4) Check out the rest of the Prima sites (there's like 20 of them so I won't post them all, so go to primapoker.com to check it out. They all offer good bonuses that are extremely simple to clear. Royal Vegas poker is also a boogster affiliate. Sign up through their link and you get $20 worth of prize points ontop of the royal vegas 40% deposit bonus.

5)Try the Cryptologic sites. They offer these renewable bonuses EVERY month. Interpoker is awesome. 100% match bonus up to $90. Play 720raked hands (download cryptocounter to keep track of your raked hands) to clear this bonus. Play the full ring games at the beginning of the month and it is like taking candy from a baby.

Next, go to PokerPlex. Play 300 raked hands and get $50

The other crypto sites offer monthly bonuses too
5)In no particular order, I've also cleared bonuses from absolutepoker, cdpoker, noblepoker, and bodog (all boogster sites)

You should be able to make over $500 in bonuses by playing the specific sites I've listed, and alot more if you check out prima and do all the crypto sites. And the Boogster prizes that you get on the side are quite nice as well.

Boogster also offers bonuses for a bunch of other sites. I'll let you check those out. I'm only plugging boogster.com here because they have given me awesome service and really cool prizes for playing the poker that I was going to play anyways. If you check it out and like what you see, please sign up through my link so I get a few extra prize points from them for signing you up.
Boogster.com

[KingOtter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and do some bonuses and you should be bankrolled for higher limits in like a month.


[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly, I just whored around a little bit, and after a month of just over break-even poker, I was more than bankrolled for 2/4. It's a little more difficult now than a few months prior due many sites changing their bonus structures, but there are still more than enough out there to keep you occupied.

[/ QUOTE ]

I definitely plan on whoring... but right now my bankroll is small enough that the contribution is minimal.

I deposited my entire bankroll for part's recent one and I got $55. That definitely HELPED, and I'll be better in the future (have more for bonus).

So anyway, bonuses are going to count for building it, too.

KO

[detruncate]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I think your plan of attempting to play an approximately set number of hands per night to be silly. It's also going to cost you money. Some nights you will want to play more, you may be winning, you may be concentrating, you may have a good feel for your opponents, whatever. On these nights you will probably win more money if you continue playing. Some nights will be the opposite, and continuing to play may very well cost you money.

Attempting to treat poker like a 9-5 job goes against some key components to playing that make it profitable. Like S&M point out in at least one of their books, if the game is a good one for you the time to quit is never.


-DeathDonkey

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends what your goals are. It's certainly better to have the flexibility to adjust your sessions to conform to how you feel + how the games are, but sometimes you don't have the luxury, especially if you're facing time constraints. It's not uncommon for people who play frequently to build their schedule around time or hand count. I know I do. There are certainly times where you're not at your best, and learning how to improve the quaility of your play on the less than optimal days is a skill in itself.

Whatever. Do what you want. All I mean to say is that I find consistent, planned sessions easist to sustain over an extended time period -- there's always a clear understanding of when I'm going to stop, and it goes a long way toward aleviating the desire to bank a win or get unstuck. It also helps me compartmentalize, as my poker time is clearly defined.

Best of luck in your quest, Your Royal Otterness.

[DeathDonkey]

Ok but you're leaving money on the table. And for a guy who "needs to move up" that is a problem.

-DeathDonkey