Federer vs Murray & Sunday Tourneys?

No poker and grad school applications means that I have had a lot of time for watching the Australian Open, cricket, random movies, and whatever's on TV. I did get one essay completed, so the rest should be a lot easier with some modifications. After that, it's nonstop poker!!

The men's Australian Open this year has had many incredible matches, and the final - Federer vs Murray - is fitting. I don't really play a lot of tennis, but watching it is fun and I am hoping for a great final. My pick is Murray to win 8-6 in the 5th set.

I saw this gem of a point on youtube. Is it the best tennis rally ever?

As for the WBCOOP (World Blogger Championship of Online Poker 2010), I haven't played any events due to the essays, but I just might play the main event. If I do, then I think I will also play the Turbo Takedown, Battle of the Planets (I have had a spare ticket forever) and the Sunday Million. It should be fun!

If anyone wants some action on the Federer Murray match or some last longers in the Sunday tournies, then leave a comment or your AIM, and we can talk! I need to keep my degen side happy since I haven't been playing poker :)

Eagle!

I had an eagle playing golf after a loooooong time, maybe 2 years. It was a 510 yard par 5 downwind. My drive was a few inches from being in the rough and I then flushed my hybrid to 1 foot! It felt pretty good. That's only my 6th eagle ever. I feel my first hole in one coming!!

No Poker For a While

I made a goal list 2 posts ago for this week:

Poker:
Yes Start playing again
No 30 hours
No Solid poker
Yes Enjoy myself

Golf:
Yes We have a very good professional coming down next week and I have booked 2 lessons with him - a short game lesson and a long game one. I hope to make the most of it.

Others:
Yes Finish writing atleast 1 essay for the applications to Masters programs. Hopefully, finish 3 or 4.
Yes Get a haircut.

I basically finished all the non poker goals. The essay is actually only 60% done, but I consider that a success because I have put it off for so long. I did the essay and got a haircut only because of this blog and the goal list, so I know the blog is life +EV

I have decided to not play poker until I complete my college applications. Once those are done, it's time for some serious volume and grindage! I am not sure what I will be playing though. I want to play rush poker since it is so much fun. I also want to keep playing super turbos, MTTs, PLO. I hope to finish the essays and applications by the end of this month, then it's non stop poker for the next 6-7 months!!

Don't Know What To Do

I have never experienced anything like this in my 5 years of poker. I just cannot control how well I play. I know something is a wrong move, but I do it anyway. My EV line is down 5k since its peak earlier this month. I played some Rush Poker on FullTilt, which is NL50, and promptly lost 1k. I wish I could say I ran bad, but I really didn't. I just keep making stupid plays.

I am lucky that my form of tilting doesn't involve moving up and blowing my roll. I just spew and spew at whatever limits I play, till I feel so ashamed at what I'm doing. Losing 20 buyins at NL50 means I was seriously playing terrible. Even when I play super turbos, I feel myself making bad calls and pushes.

I thought the 5 day break would help, but I have gone straight back into this stupid form of playing. Sometimes I need to remind myself how lucky I am with regards to poker. Most players (including me when I was starting) would dream of having my roll and playing the games I do. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I need to get myself out of this funk. I need to start getting excited about making a +0.5% push, instead of just thinking "$#$A it, it's only NL50, I will just tilt shove". I mean, I lost a $400 pot at NL50, drawing to 6 outs on the river. Stupid Rush Poker. It is unbelievably addicting though.

I think I need some more time off. The next 2 days are going to be full of golf. Maybe I will finish all college application work, and then hit poker hard again.

Goals & Schedule for the Next Week

I haven't played any poker since my last blog post and have really enjoyed my time off. I have been doing a lot of thinking/reading/analyzing and am getting the itch to play again. I have also been playing around with the idea of doing some sort of challenge in February, so stay tuned!

Goals & Schedule for the next week -

Poker:
Start playing again
30 hours
Solid poker
Enjoy myself

Golf:
We have a very good professional coming down next week and I have booked 2 lessons with him - a short game lesson and a long game one. I hope to make the most of it.

Others:
Finish writing atleast 1 essay for the applications to Masters programs. Hopefully, finish 3 or 4.
Get a haircut.

Random Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about how goal oriented I have become since starting to play super turbos. I think it's a little silly. I am 23 years old and am making more money that I thought I could have at this point of time. I think it's time to stop worrying about how much I make per month and just concentrate on playing the best poker I can. And more importantly, it's really important for me to just start enjoying playing poker more. I have taken the last couple of days of after a bad run and am enjoying relaxing and playing golf. I shot 79 after playing for the first time in 2 months, so that was nice.

For the rest of the month, I am going to not be so results and goal oriented and try to play lots and play well. My super turbo graph right now is depressing so I will post it after the weekend, where hopefully it looks a little better. When I was running badly in the past, my EV (red) line would still be going up without fail. Now my EV line is actually swinging on its own and has been going down. I am really worried about that. I think it's a combination of 2 factors - a) the games getting tougher and b) me not playing the best. I am not sure how much of each it is, but if it continues like this then I might have to move back to cash.

I really hope that my EV line keeps going up because otherwise super turbos are just too swingy and not fun.

Boom!

My goals from 12 hours ago were -

1. Get back to playing well
2. Back to even. 1 timeeeeeeeee

12 hours later -

1. +3.7k
2. Played well... felt like I got in the zone. Never felt like that before. Was nailing ranges pretty spot on
3. 11 hour day

I feel sooo relieved and happy now. After that morning session, I was really upset with poker. All is well now again. Final graph for today - 227 tournies

The Blog Jinx

Good start to the day, right?

I am getting pretty fed up of how bad I am running. 14k below EV in super turbos lifetime now. I started off playing well, then made the mistake of signing up for some $24/90 mans where I didn't really care how I did. That led to some bad plays, which tilted me, and I played badly in the super turbos. But still... when am I going to be up 4k for the day when my EV is at 0?

Goals for the rest of today -
1. Get back to playing well
2. Back to even. 1 timeeeeeeeee

WBCOOP

2 posts in a day!

Thanks Daleroxxu for making me notice this. It should be some fun tournaments.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! Bloggers can register to play for free in the WBCOOP, if you don’t have a PokerStars account you can get your Free Poker Download at PokerStars

Registration code: 314321

Fresh Start

A new year, new goals, new leaderboards, and a new start has me excited about playing poker again after the massive downswing to end last year. I watched all of Big Bang Theory after the downswing, and it is one of my favourite shows ever. This video might be the funniest bit of TV I have ever seen. I never laugh out loud, and I was laughing for a good 2 minutes.



I have changed things up a bit for 2010. I am not sticking to solely super turbos. I have started mixing in some of the higher buyin 45 and 90 mans and the odd MTT. I am also cutting back on the number of 75s I play and trying to play only 169s, while making better decisions at them. The super turbos having been going well, here is my graph on them for the year -

















I'm up around 6k on the year. I won a 69/45 man and got a 5th, but also bricked in a few MTT's and some other 45/90 mans. It has been a good start, and I hope it continues

I attached a screenshot below of the leaderboards I am in for 2010, and that I ended up in for 2009. 4th in overall super turbo profit for last year is pretty cool, since I played only 4 months and had that massive downswing. The one for this year that I really like is 16th in total profit on Full Tilt in all SNGs.

Ending 2009 and 2010 Goals

2009:

I would rate 2009 as a passable year. I didn't play for 3 months in the middle, and even the months that I did play, I wasn't happy with how many hours I put in. I started the year going for Supernova Elite and stopped that when I took the 3 month break. I was playing PLO then, and ended the year playing Super Turbos. It looks like I love variance! That is not the case at all though, since I am probably one of the most overrolled players that exist.

I made roughly 130k in 2009, which is decent. I sadly lost all the PLO data due to my laptop crashing in the middle of the year, so all I have is my super turbos graph since August, when I first started playing them.
















2010:

I am not sure how much longer I will play super turbos, but for now I have put too much time into them to abandon them. So here are my poker goals for 2010.

1. 250k profit

2. No.1 Super Turbo player in the world

3. Maintain Supernova on Stars by playing once a week on there.

4. Mix in more MTTs, and play well in them rather than blowing up.

5. Keep writing in this blog.

I am about to start playing for the year after a week or so off.