Vegas!!

I just got back from a pretty epic trip to the US. I went to a bunch of places, met friends, family, and poker players. I spent 3 days in Vegas, and it was an insanely fun time.

I played exactly 1 hour of poker when I was in Vegas. It was a holiday, so no working, right? I didn't even make it to the WSOP area to see it! I went to the Rio, but only gambled a bit at the casino and left. I played a ton of blackjack and other random table games. I lost a bit, but was able to control myself only because of my discipline as a poker player. Although I wouldn't have gambled that much money in the first place if I wasn't a poker player. It is a double-edged sword!

On my last night in Vegas, I met up with biggamesjames, walchy, and faarcyde - a super turbo party!! We ended up getting dinner at a nice Mexican place at the Venetian. I ended up doing some fancy tequila, which really wasn't a great idea since it was still pretty early in the night. The bill came to over $400, which is easily the most expensive dinner I have had. I had my first ever credit card roulette and I didn't even have to sweat as my card was drawn out first! biggamesjames ended up losing and had to pay for dinner - thanks for dinner!! I then semi-learnt how to play craps and lost a bit. But probably the most fun gambling game of all time is Casino War. I love how the wikipedia page says "The game is arguably one of the most easily understood casino card games, but it also has a relatively large house edge compared to other games.". So true. We then ended up going to some random bars and clubs... overall a very fun night.

Despite Vegas, the highlight of my trip was by far meeting up with old college friends. But now, it is back to poker and the world cup. I am pretty upset that England lost, but there are still some great matches to look forward to.

I will probably start playing poker pretty soon, and I plan to grind it out hardcore for the next 3 months. After that, I will be moving to London to study. The plan is to make a ton before moving.

Any thoughts on the new layout?

An Extra Day

I thought I was leaving for the US in 2 days until a friend asked me when I was leaving. I thought about it and realized I had 3 days! I have a checklist of 6 or 7 things to do before leaving, so I thought that today would be the last day of poker. It turns out I can play tomorrow, and finish my goal of 500 super turbos.

I have been trying to play as much as possible, but have been really distracted with the growing excitement of the upcoming holiday! I have played 347 super turbos and my red line is breakeven. I have won 2k. It feels nice to run good. I am not that worried about my red line because I have run AQ/AK into AA 4 or 5 times in my last 2 sessions in 100s. That hurts the red line. I am not going to look at my red line in the middle of a session from this point onwards. It is just unnecessary hassle.

I have become seriously motivated to put in lots of volume and grind out super turbos. It is going to happen big time when I come back from the US. The goal for tomorrow is 153 super turbos and play well. The 500 super turbo graph is coming up tomorrow.

1001 Super Turbos

I just got done with this dropping down challenge. It took me 5 and a half days and 39 hours of playing. It actually ended up being 1001 super turbos, and I shipped the last one which was a 100 :)

Random Stats:

1. I played 20s, 35s, 50s, and 100s... (14, 230, 446, and 311 respectively)
2. EV line : +2113
3. Winnings: +5432
4. Rakeback: +652 (17 per hour)
5. Hours: 38.6
6. EV Hourly: 72 (with rakeback)
7. Actual Hourly:  157 (with rakeback)

Thoughts:

1. I got off to a great start, then kind of got into autopilot mode, before I realized a few leaks. I need to work hard on correcting those leaks.
2. Before starting this, I wasn't 100% sure that I could beat these. I will take 72 per hour while tweaking my game considerably. Although my hourly was around 200 earlier over a large sample, this is a step in the right direction.
3. I ran good, but I am still over 20k below EV in super turbos alltime.

New Challenge:

I am going to do this same thing again, but only 500 games as I leave for the US on the 9th. As usual, no 200s. The main goal of this challenge is to play my best at all times and to constantly work on the leaks I have.

Something Clicked

I started today playing normally with just one difference - I tried not to look at the red line in the middle of a session.  By and large that worked, and I only looked at it as I was winding down a session.

But during my last session, something clicked. I looked at a particular opponent in these super turbos, and it suddenly got me thinking a lot. I realized a few pretty major leaks of mine. I don't want to say what exactly it is in case some regs read this blog, but I am happy I realized it now. I am pretty sure I didn't have these leaks earlier when I was crushing, so I am more eager than ever to put in volume and see what happens.

That was my graph for today - 203 super turbos, run good, red line up. Great.

I am now at 884 super turbos for the mini challenge, and will finish the rest before lunch tomorrow. Most of my friends know, but I am making a 2 week trip to the US. I will be going for a wedding, seeing college friends, and of course VEGAS. I am only in Vegas for 3 days, but I can't wait. I need to book a hotel soon. I leave on the 9th, so after I finish the 1000 games tomorrow, I am going to do a little shopping. I hope to get that out of the way, and then hopefully finish another 1000 before leaving for my holiday.

Check back in for the post challenge graph tomorrow of all 1000 super turbos.

Let's Go One Better

I played 200 super turbos yesterday, and I went one better today. For you math-impaired folks, that means I played 201 super turbos today. That was a really lame sentence, but my mind is kinda messed up at the moment after one of the few tilt sessions I have had in any form of SNGs. I made dumb shoves and calls without thinking.

While the bad decisions were bad, it wasn't THAT bad. I just kept running into hands. My session ended when I had 99 vs TT on 2 different tables in completely standard spots. It's time to take a break now and start fresh tomorrow. I have to remember the blog title - Think About Every Decision.

The Double Century

I can be all cool like Aaron and start a blog title with "The".

I had made up my mind to play 200 super turbos today, and I did it.

I fired up my last session needing to play another 38 games, and it was an absolute train-wreck. It was past midnight and while I was fine, I knew that I wasn't that sharp. I didn't make the right decisions in some close spots, and just had a bad session (running into hands,  55 vs 66, AQ vs AK, etc). Although it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, a winning day is a winning day. I'll take it.

An update on the overall mini challenge of 1000 super turbos, without playing a single 200 or higher:



















I want to step up the pace and finish this in the next 3 days.  520 to go.