176 and Done

I have to admit that naming my blog titles after how many super turbos I have played for the day saves me a couple of minutes in trying to come up with a blog title!

Today was a really pleasing day. I put in nearly 7 hours despite it being a Sunday, and played 176 super turbos (duh). I have been sticking to my rule of not playing anything higher than the 100s, and it's working out well. So much of the stress has been removed. Without further ado, here is today's beautiful graph:




















The graph looks even better when I convert the dollar to buyins on the axes. In dollar terms, the red line was +1265 and the green line was +2101. It feels phenomenal to run good and see the red line go up.

That is now 280 super turbos completed in the mini 1000 super turbo challenge after 2 days. I had a bit of a headache today towards the end, which is why I didn't complete my target of 200 for the day. I think finishing the 1000 in another 5 days is realistic.

104 Super Turbos Later

2 Blog Posts in 5 hours!

It's just been such a long time since I had a winning session with my red line going up, that I wanted to post my first session after my "1000 Super Turbo Drop Down in Stakes Challenge".




















That's more like it. Now I really hope this continues. I don't think I have had 2 winning days in a row in more than a month.

I also feel so little pressure at the 35s-100s because I dropped down. I don't feel paranoid that regs are exploiting me. I feel free to just make the best decisions possible. I am looking forward to getting in 200 games tomorrow and hopefully a blog post after I play and run well!

Trying to Rebuild

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron "The Baron" Barone sweated me and it really got me thinking again about super turbos. I then watched a couple of faarcyde videos on Cardrunners. I decided to move down a bit and rebuild. Since then, I have played 988 super turbos and the results have been poor. The problem is I didn't stick to any buyin. I played mostly 50s, 100s, and 200s, but I played a few 350s, and even a 500 which was soft. I also played some 35s to fill in some sets.

Playing a 35 and a 350 at the same time makes 0 sense. It's tough to play well at the 35s when you're playing a super turbo that is 10 times the buyin right next to it. The results are painful to look at:



















I have decided I need to stick to a couple of buyin levels. For the next 1000 super turbos, I am not going to play anything above the 100s. It's going to be mainly 50s and 100s, and a few 35s if nothing is running. I am going to try and play a ton and hopefully finish them in 5 days. If I don't beat them, then I am going to drop down another level. That would be terrible, so I am hoping to have a good few days.

Umm Cool

No Money in Super Turbos. Everyone's solid.

Full Tilt Poker Game #21044051778: $200 + $7 Sit&Go (Sup Turbo) (162102706), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:34:27 ET - 2010/05/22
Seat 5: COCO2612 (510)
Seat 6: Hero (610)
Seat 8: kingpin023 (1,580)
kingpin023 posts the small blind of 30
COCO2612 posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Td Ah]
Hero raises to 610, and is all in
kingpin023 folds
COCO2612 calls 450, and is all in
Hero shows [Td Ah]
COCO2612 shows [7d 2d]
Uncalled bet of 100 returned to Hero
*** FLOP *** [6s 6h 7h]
*** TURN *** [6s 6h 7h] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [6s 6h 7h 4c] [4s]
Hero shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
COCO2612 shows two pair, Sevens and Sixes
COCO2612 wins the pot (1,050) with two pair, Sevens and Sixes

A Low Point

Since that previous short and sweet session, I dropped like 4k in super turbos and 3k in Rush PLO 100. I don't know wtf is going on anymore. My EV line at Rush was -1.8k. Am I really that bad? I used to beat 1/2 on Pokerstars pretty well a while ago. I have lost my ability to play my A game. I am treating everything like play money. I am passively tilting - making bad calls, being passive, and making dumb bluffs.

I need to re-dedicate myself. I need some goals and need to play my best. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get my focus back? I am planning on watching a Jared Tandler video series on playing your A game, but I really need suggestions.

This is probably one of the low points of my poker career. I am feeling helpless. This is a completely new phase in my poker career that I have experienced. I have NEVER felt incapable of beating any game. Now, I still know I can beat them, I just don't know how to play well.

5 years ago when I started playing, if you told me the situation I would be now financially, I would snap-accept. That is the 1 good thing.

Nice Little Session

I sat down to play some 9 mans after a long time, hoping to put in some volume. I had coffee, got everything ready, loaded up some games, and what happens? The current goes out. So I just finish up and check my results.

Yup, a nice little +2k session in 9 games, where my red line went up at around 130 per game. That's what happens when you get AA vs AQ and 66 vs 62. Nice to be on the right side of things. Oh, my hourly was 3777 per hour!

This really means nothing at the stakes I play, so I will book this win and put in more volume soon. It's nice to have a positive blog post after a while. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

Is It Just Me?

Ever since I have played poker professionally, I have had unusual stretches of playing and not playing. I would play 45 days in a row, then take 20 days off. Right now, I am in one of those long periods of not playing. It's probably been 10 days or so since I have put in decent volume. I feel guilty when I read blogs and posts of other players about how motivated they are. However, I have put myself in this position and I have the luxury of taking time off whenever I want. It is one of the advantages of playing poker professionally. Is it just me that takes such long breaks from poker?

I also took this break right when my rakeback site started holding weekly rake races. I would get $3300 for winning all 4 rake races in May. This is a nice little bonus for the month. Having said that, I have already missed all of week 1. Ugh.

I feel myself slowly wondering when I will start playing again. I anticipate it being another 3 or 4 days. I might then do a "poker week" that Aaron "The Baron" Barone told me about. It would basically be a week of eating, sleeping, and breathing poker. I really need a high volume week like that to get back to putting in some solid hours. The poker week shall commence shortly!