Schwallie, Schwallie4, TheProdigy, lifegoezon poker blog

Update

2008-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hey,

6max isn't going too bad. As usual, I'm running like complete shit. This is all-in luck, but I'm running bad in every other way too. I think I'm approaching ~35k lost in allin equity.

Basically I'm just grinding 2/4nl for the time being. I have been continually cashing down my roll to keep myself caged in the 2/4 game and to keep myself from moving up. 'oooooooooh' is coaching me and I will hopefully show up with some more sick graphs in 3-5mnths when I can move up to hopefully my 5/10 game again :)

More Poker!

2008-07-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I'm back from my 2nd beach trip(awesome, but no pics this time), and ready to hit the tables. I'm playing 2/4nl 6max, and am running quite horribly. I'm -5k in all-in luck so far, and down like 2k overall, so I guess not a huge complaint seeing as how I'm not doing as bad as I would think with that kind've all-in luck. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

I am going to have 'oooooooooh' coach me, he is a 5/10nl 6m player and one of the biggest winners in the game while also playing a style that isn't a huge variance style. I am excited about things to come, and hopefully I will be posting some pretty graphs for everyone soon.

Poker Post!

2008-06-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Well I haven't posted much about poker, because, well, I haven't done any good. For a quick recap, basically I ran through 5/10 for a couple months and ran up a really good winrate. I usually kept cashing my account down to $60,000 but decided to go ahead and cash out smaller since I thought I was unbeatable. I cashed down to like $35,000(and later added some funds from FTP and also bonuses) and then proceeded to lose $20,000. I dropped down to 3/6 and dropped probably $12,000 more, and then dropped to 2/4 and dropped $8,000 or so more. Overall, a -$40,000 run. Not fun, but I am still happy with how things are going just unhappy I can't make the money I was at 5/10 at this moment. Regardless, I am showing a decent winrate now and getting some consistency in my game.

SNE:
I was basically going to make my "run" at SNE this month, to see if I could do it. I had to get like 4k pts/day, and to keep it short and simple, I can't do it. I will shoot for 800,000 points though.

Future plans:
I am going to probably move to 6m after I get back from vacation. I am teaching a friend of mine the game, and I am going to start him at full-ring but I am going to try out 6max as well for myself while teaching him. I'm not necessarily staying there forever, but now that I have no point goals or have to grind out mega-points, I can try new games to improve my overall game. I can't tell what will happen after I try it, but if it goes well I may stay for good, we will have to wait and see.

Beach Trip #1 and Pics

2008-06-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Me and Britt went down to Myrtle Beach, where my dad lives to go visit and have some free time/vacation for the both of us. We booked a room at The Breakers, which I highly recommend. I can't say we had a crazy time up there or anything, it was seriously just a major relax period. I was/am still on a ~40k downswing, and I really just wanted to get some sleep and just relax. Most of the time our day went: Wake up 10:30am, take a shower, get ready, go out to the water. I generally stayed in the pools or in the shade, although I am somewhat dark complected I really hate just sitting in the sun. I don't mind soccer/sports in the sun, but just sitting there or laying out is just not interesting to me. Around 4 we would generally go up to the room, take a shower, and then lay around till we got ready to go out at like 6 or 7ish. We went somewhere to eat each night, and were seriously back in by like 10pm just to lay around some more. Just completely relaxing and awesome.

For some places to eat there, I recommend:
1) Angelo's, an Italian buffet on 21st Ave S off 17 Business(aka King's Highway, the main highway)

2) Uno Chicago Grill, first place I saw that didn't always cook burger major well done, they actually offered me a medium-well option. Burgers were A+

3) Hard Rock Cafe, same as everywhere else but I love the grilled chicken there.

The above 2 were at Broadway at the Beach, which is on 21st Ave N

Here are some pics, I will caption a couple of them...

Oh yea, and Britt graduated so here is a pic from that party and from my nephew at the party:

--------------------------------------------Beach Trip ----------------------------------------

-- The necessary ocean-behind-you picture you always take at the beach

-- Uno Chicago Grill place I think, we went there twice.
- After getting ready, I think we have more pics in the room and car than anything..This on the way to Johnny Rockets

- On the way to Uno Chicago Grill

- Putt Putt! This has been something I try to do on every vacation since I can remember.

- She loves Facebook, lol.

- On our balcony, we had a nice view
- Waiting at some restaurant

--Just some more boring pics from us getting ready to go out or whatever

I had to...

2008-06-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Dealer: Game #18277535281: lifegoezon wins pot ($275) with a pair of Jacks
HeliKa0N: well played
HeliKa0N: write it in your blog

Dunno if the guy is frustrated or just funny, but it definitely made me laugh. Plz leave a comment and tell me if you are a 1) fanboy, 2) funny guy that I want to hang out with, 3) frustrated, 4) anything else.

The hand history:

ifegoezon: posts small blind $2
HeliKa0N: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lifegoezon [Jc Jd]
g0_all_in: folds
Mitsaa: folds
ERockGuy: folds
aznpride06: folds
Kelisitaan: folds
fumbo420: folds
gl79: raises $8 to $12
lifegoezon: raises $22 to $34
HeliKa0N: raises $24 to $58
gl79: folds
lifegoezon: calls $24
*** FLOP *** [6s Th 7h]
lifegoezon: checks
HeliKa0N: bets $75
lifegoezon: calls $75
*** TURN *** [6s Th 7h] [Qc]
lifegoezon: checks
HeliKa0N: checks
*** RIVER *** [6s Th 7h Qc] [8s]
lifegoezon: checks
HeliKa0N: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
lifegoezon: shows [Jc Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
HeliKa0N: mucks hand
lifegoezon collected $275 from pot

Prepare

2008-06-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

TO BE AMAZED!

Update

2008-06-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Well, I figured I would give a quick update of where I am right now and what I'm doing. Right now I'm at 2/4nl, not because I've lost money at 3/6 and 5/10(that isn't true), but I made a pretty big cashout(Prob my biggest ever), and snapped into a $35,000 downswing right afterwards. What this did was cripple my bankroll, and since I am against sending money from my bank to Pokerstars(it just makes me feel bad), I felt it was best if I take my roll and rebuild it at 2/4nl.

During this time I am training myself for what may become a Supernova Elite run. I am playing 24 tables now, and would likely play 18-20 tables when I move back up by mixing in some 2/4nl even when I'm mainly at 5/10. I am testing my VPP limits and seeing what it is like to play a lot of tables right now, and I will decide eventually if I will go for SNE or not.

As for life:

I just got back from the beach last night, and I had a great time. I am trying to put on some weight to beef up some, so I ate like crazy at the beach(not the correct way to beef up, but I don't care that much). Coldstone ice cream is awesome, and so was the random place in front of my hotel where I stayed(The Breakers). Me and Britt basically used the week to chill and do nothing, we didn't party, we didn't really do anything. We would go eat and go to a couple local places to walk around and stuff, but we would be in by 10-11pm and then would just, uhm, lay around till we fell asleep. Most of my time was spent on the beach and in the lazy river, and I actually slept 9hrs per night, which is a huge amount for me.

Basically just a great relaxing trip, and I will be going again in July(5-12) for more of a "fun" trip. I will put up some pics once Britt uploads them if I can remember to.

May....Yay!

2008-05-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have much to write about right now. This was the worst month I've ever had in emotional/grueling tolls. The game has hit me hard this month. I will do a write-up when I'm not extremely pissed and just cannot think right some other day.

I'm going to leave one positive note even though it is tough for me to say it when I am just so pissed:

Keep working hard if you want to make it in this game. It will pay off eventually. My hard work is going to pay sick sick dividends one day. Today, unfortunately, is not that day.

Perspective

2008-05-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sometimes as a poker player it is hard to keep a perspective on things. I'm sitting here, just waking up, and can't stop thinking about how pissed I am about how my current month is going. Basically I started off zooming up above 25k or so and am currently on a 12k downer. I don't know the exact amount I'm up, but it isn't much in poker terms. This is where my perspective needs to set in. I'm waking up at 1pm instead of waking up to go work at Mcdonald's. My current month is double or more nearly every parents salary, and I'm only midway through. Yet I still feel like I'm failing for the month right now.

I am definitely happy to be where I am, but it's just that I have so much further to go to get to my goals. The thing is, I don't think I'll ever be satisfied or "impressed" with where I am. I'm always going to try to be appreciative of where I am, but I think being satisfied or impressed with anything I(or anyone trying to succeed in something where they have a long way to go) have done is just a reason to get stale and stop working hard. It is a hard balance, but anyone trying to make it in a competitive environment like this has to try to be appreciative and happy enough with where they are that they aren't always upset and down about losses, but they also have to be driven enough to keep saying that you aren't content with where you are and that you want to push further and further. It is definitely a tough balance.

Biggest Pot Evar

2008-05-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of a rough day, but this turned it around and kept me going to start the month. Still on pace for 100k month, yo :P

Sorry PrimoGen:

Poker Stars, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $1,273
MP1: $1,040
Hero (MP2): $2,027
CO: $2,107.65
BTN: $100
SB: $2,183
BB: $2,021
UTG: $790

Pre-Flop: Ad Ac dealt to Hero (MP2)
UTG calls $10, 2 folds, Hero raises to $40, CO folds, BTN raises to $100 and is All-In, SB raises to $200, 2 folds, Hero raises to $600, SB raises to $2,183 and is All-In, Hero calls $1,427 and is All-In

Flop: ($4,174) Qh Ah Qc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($4,174) 6c (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($4,174) Ts (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $4,174 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed Ad Ac (a full house, Aces full of Queens) and WON $4,171 (+$2,144 NET)
BTN mucked Jc Jh and LOST (-$100 NET)
SB showed Kh Kd (two pair, Kings and Queens) and LOST (-$2,027 NET)

May: SUMMERTIME!

2008-05-01T00:31:00.000-07:00

So I am so happy that summer is almost here. I get done with my last final on May 9th, and I simply cannot wait.

I'm happy to see I brought in May with a bang as well! I hope everyone has a great month, and I really really hope I can pull in my best month ever yet again this May.

April Review: Another great month.

2008-04-29T23:35:00.001-07:00

Wow,

I can't believe how far away January feels, in more than one way. In general terms, I cannot believe it is already near May and near summer. I feel like I'm 2 months into the year. Also, I cannot believe the difference in poker since only then.

For a quick update, I finished January down like 15k or something. I am going to post some quotes from January blog posts that make me LOL and also realize why I am where I am. Many will call me cocky, some will call me an asshole, and I am cool with that. But the thing is, you absolutely have to believe in yourself to make it in this game. It simply does not matter what others think of you or your game(but, if many are saying you suck, LISTEN. That is what got me past 100nl, listening to the many people saying I sucked). Throughout January, I was consistently upbeat even though I had a downswing that many thought was impossible, and despite many people telling me I simply sucked.

-I took some time off, and have been studying the game some. I made some conservative changes to my game and found a couple more leaks that I had. I still have a long ways to go, but I must say that this downswing could end up being the best thing that has ever happened to me. Just from all the studying I am learning so much more about the game and I plan to continue doing a lot more to help my game.

-I lost 5 figures still and am quite sick of poker.

-I can't say I am unhappy with my play. I know I have leaks, but the thing is, I won 11/12 months last year and I haven't changed anything. All I have done is continually fix leaks. I can say that my game has went to another level this month though. I feel the changes I have made will make me turn this thing around quick and eventually lead to my success at 5/10+. I think my main goal right now is rebuilding my FTP roll(I really don't feel like transferring anymore of the roll from Stars to FTP), and eventually playing and beating 5/10+ levels of FR. I think I will want to win a couple of months there before starting to play some 6max and working on my overall game in other types of games. I think by summer I will be able to play 5/10 with a comfortable roll(not full-time, only mixed with 2/4 and 3/6.)

All of these are genuinely upbeat although I was going through complete hell. I had a dwindling bankroll, no idea what to do, and no idea where to go next. I was working so hard, and had NOTHING to show for it. I was just getting my head beaten in. I definitely love the quote at the end about summer. Luckily I am already playing 5/10 Full-Time, and mixing 3/6 in because not enough 5/10 runs. If I didn't believe in myself and my abilities, I doubt I could've made it out of that downswing.

April:

I just finished my best month ever. Although I am not done, this is basically where I should end at as I will play minimally for the next couple days. I ran at 3.5ptbb/100 at the medium-high stakes games for the month, and played and ran very well. I am extremely happy with everything. I also got like 4k in bonuses. :)

Funny enough, I started the month at FTP once again trying to beat 2/4nl there. The results? 18,000 hands, +$540. I simply cannot beat FTP and it is actually truly unbelievable. I am -12k or so over 180k hands there this year, and I doubt I will play there much more at all. It is simply statistically unbelievable that I can be down 20k in all-in EV and be running so bad in every other facet as well. Oh well, I might play there some, but we will just wait and see.

Good luck to everyone,
Schwallie

Pokaaahhh!

2008-04-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

" Goldseraph said...

Dude yer blog is getting boring, post some shit about poker!"

So let's do a little update on how things are going poker wise...Last month, I played 3/6 throughout the month and the last two and a half weeks I played 5/10 as my main game. All went well, and I made a buttload. Unfortunately I cashed down to 30k every so often to keep my BR small online. Well, a cashout coinciding with a 12k downswing crippled my Stars roll. I hate to cash back in, so I'm stuck grinding for a bit. I started off the month trying to play some 2/4 FTP, but I just cannot win at FTP so I've moved back to Stars 3/6nl. Things have went well, and I had a good two day span this week. I've already been playing some 5/10, but I want to wait till my bankroll hits 50k again to make it my main game again.

Hope this post doesn't activate my downswing, so let's hope I can run hot for the rest of the month. Also, this was a two day span but I had to include a day earlier(the 3k break-even hands) because I won like 2k between 11:30-12 midnight, so basically it is a two day period with 30mins of running hot in the day before.

Hotels in Myrtle Beach

2008-04-02T14:18:00.001-07:00

Hey,

Looking to find a hotel in Myrtle Beach somewhere near the strip(like The Breakers).

Any ideas? I would prefer a Jacuzzi tub in the room, only need one room, it is for me and my girlfriend in June.

Looking for something right on the beach, but a hotel for sure that has people around and near the strip so I can walk there and shop in the little shops and watch the people/etc.

I wanted The Breakers, and may still go there, but I kinda wanted a Jacuzzi and don't see any rooms available with any Jacuzzi's? I don't know why not, but also would want it Oceanfront.

Anyone got any ideas?

Also posted here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=169194

S'Mores!

2008-03-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

So we were at the local supermarket place and decided to buy some s'mores. I don't think anyone doesn't know what these are, but it is just two graham crackers with some Hershey's chocolate and marshmallows in between. We had just got done eating Subway(healthy LOL), and now we got back and all ate like 3 s'mores a piece. All 3 of us were stuffed by then, but my one friend/roommate decided he would be a champ and finish off the rest of the stuff.

So the challenge was made: 16 s'mores, the leftover marshmallows and graham crackers, and a half gallon of milk in 10 minutes. Did I think he could do it? Not at all, but hey, he wanted to try.

The line-up
The Champ

And we're off!

So we start the "challenge" and decide that we need some music to pump us up. We decide to throw on some Zombie Nation at full blast. You have likely heard it, it is basically played at every basketball game ever.

He gets through about 10 of them before he starts slowing down. We try to keep him going by cheering him up(well I just laugh at him really)

Unfortunately he has to give up:

My other friend decides to take over from there, and they both finish it off in 12mins and 45 seconds.

Is this gay? Absolutely. But we didn't really start it out as any planned activity and it turned out to be hilarious. More hilarious than most of the beer contests I have ever watched.

Pics from Florida

2008-03-30T00:56:00.000-07:00

Some notes, I guess:

- I'm not commenting on each one, I'm tired.
- They were all taken in the span of like 2 or 3 days, because her camera sucked and I went and bought a new nice one(Canon SD750) with like 3 days left on the trip.
- As you can see in the first picture, she is telling me to stop taking pictures.
- These are in reverse chronological order really, blogspot did it this way for some reason
- I hope they are all Photoshop-able so everyone can make fun of me

Craigslist Meets WallStreet…Classic

2008-03-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

What a classic answer…..

THIS APPEARED ON CRAIG’S LIST

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy.
I’m not from New York . I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER
Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.
Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful”
as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way.
Classic “pump and dump.”
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

Found this here, all credit to him: http://howardlindzon.com/?p=2725

New Poker Movie, The Grand

2008-03-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hey,

CMAR pointed this out to me, looks sweet. I will get pics up this weekend cause GF has camera and her comp sucks so I gotta do it.

Back from Florida, pics coming..

2008-03-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Edit: I think I'm going to start posting some random quotes since I don't really post as much as I used to about results and stuff. I'm a huge quote guy for some reason, so if I find good ones I'm gonna post them here. Gay, I know.

I spent the last week in Florida, around Sarasota or some shit like that...Not a romantic getaway, but more of a family thing where I could just relax. The girlfriend obv. came along, and we all had a good time. Kinda funny but I do more "relaxing" while at school than I did there, but relaxing here at school involves a lot of stressful poker. I'm not sure which relaxing I prefer right now, but I'm hoping I can maintain my good determination in putting in hands(I don't see any problem with this).

In Florida I mainly sat around the pool all day long...I got a pretty good tan, although I generally would rather be in the pool than outside of it. We spent the nights just roaming around different places and doing some shopping and general sight-seeing. In the future I will be traveling around the world, but as of now the 14 hours from home is the furthest I've ever been, which is quite pathetic.

Poker-wise, I didn't get in nearly the work I wanted to while at Florida. I didn't plan on playing any while there, and that stayed true, but I had planned on doing a lot of work on studying some parts of the game. I did a lot of thinking, but I didn't get to look at a lot of stats or do any work in PT3 as I was usually away from the computer. I think I have improved in a couple areas, but not quite like I wanted to. I've played a couple sessions since I got home, and have shown good results at 5/10nl while showing really horrible results at 3/6nl. I can only hope the few minor improvements I have made will show in my winrate and I can put in a couple crazy good months in a row. I'm not sure how far I am away from playing some 6max, but I assume by the end of 2008 I might be playing 6max regularly. Full-ring doesn't really run much at 10/20+, and I think I will want to play in those games pretty often eventually. I also need to work on getting at least a somewhat not-retarded HU game, as I think it is pretty obvious the highest winrates are going to be possible at HU games. I would like to say that I would be happy winning 6ptbb/100 at 5/10nl HU games one day, but I doubt that will be good enough, so I am going to keep trucking and eventually work my way to the top of this damned game in all facets of this game as well as others.

*Sorry for the unorganized and crappy post, but it was just some thoughts going through my head ATM. I will post some pics of me and the gf at Florida when I get a chance to get them off the camera either this week or if not def. this weekend.

**Stinger(a high-stakes player that is 19 as well) posted a 1.2+ mill month in like 20 hours. I am sincerely pissed that someone as young as me is that far ahead of me in this game. I think by 21 or so I can be playing his stakes but I just don't get how young I would've had to start to be where he is. I am thinking if I started at 15 or so and had someone to teach me, but I mean I had almost 0 time if you incl. sports in high school so I doubt it even then. For only a couple months over a year of playing I feel I am doing somewhat OK, but also feel I could be doing better. I am still 7 months away from turning 20 so I hope that guy is a bit older than me so that I won't feel as bad :)

March Continuation; Florida

2008-03-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as you can see at the beginning I continued the hot streak I had to start the month. Since then it has been very meh. I've basically ran breakeven or less for a week now it feels like. Regardless, I'm up a lot, and I think a bit under 20k in play so far.

I'm heading to Florida for the week so I get a week off of poker. I have little internet there, so mostly I will be studying the game and the regulars and writing notes on what I need to improve on and etc. I am going to do this out by the pool when I get bored and stuff and I'm not at the beach. (Yes, I'm a workaholic and can't simply vacation ever, I have to accomplish something).

I plan on continuing my workouts and running a lot in the good weather down there as well as chilling with the girlfriend and just having a good time. See you guys next week!

March: 10k Month, yo.

2008-03-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I usually don't like to post winning graphs, but I am giving in on this particular one. I think this is the fastest I've ever reached a 10k month, it took me 3 days. I didn't really play the 1st of March, and this doesn't include my play today, so this is 3 days, +10k. Pretty good run, but I did play a lot of hands. All 3/6nl.

Edit: I'm obviously not done for the month, I was just posting this as it's a bit of an accomplishment to hit 10k in 3 days of play to start off a month.

GET A LIFE!

2008-03-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

So I haven't posted anything lately, and you may ask: Why would you do this to us?

Well, I've been busy with life. And the effects permeate through my game.

The problem with most of you(or "us" for that matter) is that many of us don't have lives. I'm not going to write some inspirational shit telling you what to do with yourselves, just ask this question when you are about to sit down: Have I seen the sunlight in 3 days? Do I have friends? Does my life suck? Is playing poker this much really worth it?

If you answered no to any of the above, go outside, be social, get a life, and stop playing. I promise you that you will see the effects in your game and start showing a higher winrate than ever before. Most of you are sitting here looking up to the first SNE's of '07 and thinking "OMG they are awesome." I'll be the first one to tell you that you are completely off-track. Look up the high stakes players, and strive to be them. Consider playing good poker. Consider being good at poker, and consider getting a life. All of these things will benefit you in more ways than you can imagine.

Edit: This post will be orange.

Edit2: For clarification on earlier posts about SNE. I played a lot this week and that is why I made this post. I didn't even play 1 week of SuperNova Elite pace and I am thinking "why would anyone do this to themselves?" I feel like it would be really hard to maintain a social lifestyle while trying to attain SNE. This post is obviously for young players, because many older players aren't in the same situation and can treat poker like a 9-5. For the young guys, I think we should all be enjoying life a little bit.

Subscribe to blog ; Weekly Updates discontinued

2008-02-23T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I think I'm going to discontinue my weekly updates. I guess I can update my losing sessions but I think that would get pointless. I'm sorry guys, I just have no point in posting my wins and/or losses. I don't get anything out of people thinking I'm a good player at all, and I think most already think I'm bad for my yearly results so far so I don't really want that to change.

I still would like to write about big days, and occasional topics I want to talk about poker wise. I still will give advice on any topics anyone wants me to hit(have a suggestion? leave a comment.). It is just weekly updates aren't anything I'm interested in, and, trust me, I don't need any ego boosts of people when I have good weeks or anything. I have plenty of ego without anyone thinking I'm good, I couldn't imagine it if people actually thought I was good at poker(I'm not yet, but one day.)

Some comments:

1) If you click the subscribe to feed button on the top right, you can add this blog to your rss reader(just do a google search for RSS Readers to find some good ones). That way any updates I do you can see.

2) I still want to write updates on general poker things going on. I don't know about SNE still and I don't know where I'm going to be playing/etc. I will post when I move up to 5/10, etc, etc.

3) I will start back weekly updates at some point in the future. Likely to be this summer or something like that. Once I get my feet firmly in the ground and know that my table image doesn't matter, or that I feel I'm good enough that no one is going to be able to stop me, then I will start them up again. It will likely be the former that leads to me restarting the weekly updates, but I just don't want to right now. Good luck to everyone, and I think I'll have a update to my status about SNE and what I'm going to do about where I play/etc pretty soon.

SuperNova Elite

2008-02-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Hrm..

Well I think I might go for SNE at Pokerstars this year...

So far I've been playing at FTP, but I don't think I can make up the difference in money missed by playing there all year. Even if I just go for 600k or 800k points, my rakeback % will be much larger than it would at FTP. Also, if I get SNE the perks are just amazing considering that I will use the 5x FPP multiplier to it's full advantage for the year after.

I'm going to play Stars this week and post later about what I think I will do.

10 Google Video Documentaries You Have To Watch

2008-02-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is an awesome link, some cool documentaries on the site. I love Zeitgeist and The Iceman Murderer, which is the movie below about an old mafia hitman who murdered 100's of people with basically no remorse to this day.

Week 7: Tues. Feb. 12 - Mon. Feb. 18

2008-02-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well the week definitely didn't go how I wanted it to, but I'm not going to complain too much. I ran extremely bad, and feel really good about being up at all. I lost a lot of tossups and lost to a lot of <4 outers. I know I can really pull in a couple good weeks and would love to so that I can start getting on track for 2008.

With all that being said, I can't complain about that being a week's salary when I compare it to the real world. I also had a great great week last week and am still doing decently well for the month of February so far. I am confident in my game and that is a really important part of doing well long-term. I feel like I am getting better each day and before long I really think I'm going to be showing some crazy good long-term results. Anyone that knows me knows I hate to show winning graphs, but I guess I will try to post some more of them when I am winning :)

Edit: Stop at February 12th, ldo.

Feb 12: Pretty nice day

2008-02-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to tell everyone the -2,600 day was luckily not an indicator of bad things to come.

Question: I have a number in my head but I'm wondering what you guys think: What do you think is the highest sustainable winrate at a level like $400NL?

Week 6: T. Feb. 05 - M. Feb. 11

2008-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Stop Loss:

So I've decided to implement a stop-loss in my game. I dropped 2,600 last night and I just think that is unacceptable and puts me into too big of a hole. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not because I don't have any tilt issues and I don't know if I should just try to play through it or not. Last night I was down with 2pair, sets, straights, flushes, AA,KK,QQ, and JJ. I didn't tilt but it was my worst session I have ever had, and I don't really know if I should ever let my sessions dip below 3 buy-ins. I think at least a 20 minute break is a good idea, so I think I am just going to set a stop-loss at 3 buy-ins and take a break if I hit it, and then maybe start back up a session if I feel the games are good still.

My week in review:

Well, I finally broke through. Funny enough, I just can't get myself to post this weeks graph. Let's say this: Including the 2,600 loss last night, this was still probably my best week ever. I'm almost recovered from the downswing and running very well. I still need about 2+ weeks of this to catch up with the "pace" I set for myself for 2008, but I think I will get there eventually. I feel my game is very good and I think I have good things to come for a long time. I will definitely post a couple good graphs for everyone but I'm not going to post every winning week, just because I gain nothing from doing so. But also, since I have made this blog for everyone, I will probably post 90% of my winning weeks and I will continue posting 100% of my losing weeks. Sorry everyone!

Also, I have decided to start randomly adding colors to all my text just because I think it is funny. I will change this policy if I feel like it. lolz im so like the king of this castle ldo.

No More Bitching

2008-02-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

So I have decided to take a vow of "No More Bitching." I usually bitch constantly in the NC threads(I don't fill up useful forum stuff with bitching or anything), but I have decided it is, well, utterly pointless. It is quite annoying to others and it does nothing to help me at all. In a sick way, sometimes I would sit there with AA vs KK all-in pre and be thinking "Well, if the K does hit I can show off how bad I run." So here is a fun list of reasons I'm not going to be bitching.

Who gives a shit? I mean really, who gives a shit. Poker players all have bad runs, and none of them care about mine. We all go through it. Being legit and asking for advice is fine, just bitching is not
It solves nothing. Generally it only makes one dwell on things and thus compounds itself to cause more trouble. I read once that smiling after a bad beat helps. It releases those "feel good" chemicals that your brain gives off when you smile, thus making it seem better even if it isn't. I assume this type of behavior has the opposite effect.
It's not like we are in bad shape. Let's face it, we are all basically mid-20's and under and we all have a vehicle to get us to be quite wealthy. Most of us(me not included) have quite a bit of money already, and are living great lives(me included in the great life part). This is just part of the process, and expecting the money to just be handed to us constantly is naive. We have to put in the time and do it the hard way.

I am not saying I will never bitch. I might post about a particularly bad beat or something crazy, but the incessant whining has got to stop. It was basically done to be an attention whore so everyone would have sympathy or something like that. I(and everyone else) have to figure out that not only does no one in the poker community care, but also it is just annoying.

I will continue to post weekly updates and am trying to start thinking of things to write between the weekly updates. I will try to give honest reviews of my weeks and if that includes me running horribly then I will say so. I don't consider that to be bitching but more of just a recap of a week. If anyone has any ideas for what I can write, just hit me up on AIM(my name is in my profile on here) or leave a comment.

Week 5: T. Jan. 29 - M. Feb. 04

2008-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Another crazy week.

Like I've said before, I feel I'm very close to breaking out. I have been playing pretty well and concentrating better. I seem to be playing well enough vs the regs and am up on most of them. I am still losing a lot to bad players and have had more bad beats than I am used to. I'm going to run hot eventually, and with my "better" play some good results should be right around the corner.

GL Everyone

Quote I just found:

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."
-- Winston Churchill

End Of January: Finally.

2008-01-31T19:13:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Well I just finished the worst month of my life poker wise. I finished one month down last year, but was up quite a bit including bonuses that month. This month wasn't even close. I lost 5 figures still and am quite sick of poker.

I can't say I am unhappy with my play. I know I have leaks, but the thing is, I won 11/12 months last year and I haven't changed anything. All I have done is continually fix leaks. I can say that my game has went to another level this month though. I feel the changes I have made will make me turn this thing around quick and eventually lead to my success at 5/10+. I think my main goal right now is rebuilding my FTP roll(I really don't feel like transferring anymore of the roll from Stars to FTP), and eventually playing and beating 5/10+ levels of FR. I think I will want to win a couple of months there before starting to play some 6max and working on my overall game in other types of games. I think by summer I will be able to play 5/10 with a comfortable roll(not full-time, only mixed with 2/4 and 3/6.) and then I will start working on 6max and tournaments.

I understand some of you think I suck at poker, and that is fine with me. Because of this view, I will not always be posting my winning week's graphs. I don't really want full disclosure here and I don't feel any need to always post graphs or exact numbers of winning weeks, it does nothing but boost my "image" to others and I feel that is useless. Other than that, I will be doing weekly updates still for February and hopefully I can have a couple big weeks and wipe out this downswing and more.

Thanks everyone for the support, and gl.

Week 4: T. Jan. 22 - M. Jan. 28

2008-01-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Well the review went over OK. I definitely missed some things and could've improved some things, but for the time being I can say that most people were satisfied with the quick review over the simple and core parts of both the programs.

As for poker:

I took some time off, and have been studying the game some. I made some conservative changes to my game and found a couple more leaks that I had. I still have a long ways to go, but I must say that this downswing could end up being the best thing that has ever happened to me. Just from all the studying I am learning so much more about the game and I plan to continue doing a lot more to help my game. I don't think I would've done as much as I am doing if I was winning consistently like I had been doing for 2007. I can only hope February can be a completely different story for my results. As for the days it has on the graph, I took a couple off and I assume PT3 probably checks and doesn't count when I don't play, so that would account for the low # of days.

Hold'em Manager vs Poker Tracker

2008-01-24T15:44:00.001-08:00

Hey, and welcome to http://schwallie4.blogspot.com. Today I will be reviewing Hold'em Manager's first installment and the industry leading Poker Tracker 2's replacement, Poker Tracker 3. At first, both seem like powerful products destined for greatness, and I don't want to take that away from either product. I feel both have their pro's and their con's, and I feel any serious player should consider buying both of these products. As for the review, some may say that HM has been in beta for a long time and PT3 is just starting in beta so it isn't a fair comparison, but I feel like I skipped the parts that HM has an advantage in while trying to make sure I cover the core parts of both.

In the red corner, we have Hold'em Manager, the new guy to the game. In the blue corner is Poker Tracker 3, the reigning heavyweight champ. Good luck to both :)

*I am happy to announce most of the images used are from the biggest downswing of my career(this January). I actually might've just finally got off my year-long heater and now I am running normal :)

**Also, please realize this is mostly a CORE FEATURES review. When PT3 gets further along and HM fixes some bugs and adds some features, I will do another review

Design:

Hold'em Manager - 7

Hold'em Manager is a well designed program overall. Although it doesn't have the sleek Vista-like colors, it is well done and to the point. Everything has nice animations and roll-over actions for each button, as well as being correctly laid out. I can get to each section well and each section is divided and thought out. I know where to look if I want to see preflop actions, hands vs other players, et cetera. Overall, the design is well thought out and the functionality of the program is pretty flawless.

(Click to enlarge)

Poker Tracker 3 - 9

Very seamless design. I can't complain at all about the design, and everything is where it should be. PT3 seems to show a lot more data without having to push any extra buttons, which is a plus for me. I personally enjoy having the extra details available right when I start the program. Both products are well designed, but PT3 looks a bit sleeker and more up to date. This is in my opinion, so in some people's view this could go either way.

(Click to Enlarge)

Import Speeds:
For this experiment I started a new database, restarted my computer, then ran the import of my big database afterwards. The files I imported are 8 files Stars gave me when I requested all my HH for the year, and then also I exported hands from PT2 and put those into the folder. This just made sure I didn't miss any hands, and it also added a bunch of duplicates which hurts the H/S import speed of the programs, but is good since they have to go through a lot of extra hands. I then did a small import to test speeds of small imports on a big database.

Hold'em Manager - 7

In the big file, I got 124.5 h/s. I was very surprised by this, because in all the other imports HM was getting beat. I looked around, and it seems that HM is counting duplicates as well in his h/s count. I did another import of 80,000 FTP hands between HM and PT3 and although HM shows a higher h/s, PT3 finished in about 2/3 of the time. In my small import, I got speeds ranging from 95-100 almost always. Very consistently in that range, but slightly slower than PT3 as their imports ranged a bit lower occasionally but were considerably higher most of the time.

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

In the big file, I got 1,015,248 files imported and 19,738 errors. I got import speeds of 72.2 h/s, but this is obviously low because of the duplicates. In my small import, I got up to 140h/s, but ended at 105.6 h/s. I did a couple other small imports and one ended at 82h/s, and one also ended at 126h/s, so the ranges are wide according to each import.

Edit for clarity: PT3 seems to slow down quite a bit when I do an import with duplicates included. At the same time, HM seems to speed up. The actual speeds of the two when you import without duplicates sometimes can be quite lopsided, but I simply rated and reviewed based on the imports I had, and this particular import had duplicates in it :)

CPU Process:
In this section I simply ran the programs during a session and looked at the processes tab of my Task Manager. I tried to screenshot when the program had a level of activity indicative of normal activity. I did not use the HM Hud as PT3 doesn't have one and it would likely increase the CPU Processing if I had it running.

Hold'em Manager - 6

HM had two processes running when it did imports -- HMImport and HoldeManager.exe. Overall, the two came out to 50,028K of memory used, and generally ran right in that area throughout the session.

Poker Tracker 3 - 7

In PT3, I only found one process running when I started up the program. It ran at or around 40,000 throughout the trials.

Tabs:
Both programs have different tabs where you can view specific details about yours and others stats. I'm just going to go through the main tabs and compare the two products and the layouts and information available in the tabs.

Sessions:
Both programs have sessions tabs, where they

Hold'em Manager - 8

HM has some advantages and some disadvantages on PT3 in the sessions tab. I like how they list the VPIP and PFR on each session, and I like the Session view. The downfalls are that they don't have any graphs on there and they don't seem to have a table view for the tab.

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

Once again, some of this tab is better and some of it is worse. I would really like to see VPIP/PFR on the tab, but the overall layout is better on PT3 and the graphs are very nice. Also having a MT Ratio as well as having a table view are pluses. This tab is a push.

Vs Player:

Hold'em Manager - 9

This tab of HM is very nice. I really like how they list the 50bb losses and other big pots, so you can see how and why you are losing to certain players. Unfortunately they don't have Money Won and Money Lost on there(by that I mean "Money Won - $800, Money Lost - $300, Total Won/Loss $500" They have the final part but not the first two).

Poker Tracker 3 - 7

Still a very nice tab, but not many improvements over PT2. They need to include the biggest wins and biggest losses and any other stats that would be important here. I think they will eventually get to this as they haven't done any changes here yet, but we will wait and see.

Hands:

Hold'em Manager - 7

This tab looks a lot like the tab where one could get all hands on PT2. Very rudimentary, but it does get the job done. I don't even see a tab where you can view starting hands, which seems like a huge oversight. I know you can do a "report" with it, but clicking 6 buttons each time you want to view some of the essential stats isn't fun. I would like to have these type of things in their own tab.

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

Only problem with this tab is that there is no "Get All Hands" option. It is very well set up, and I really like everything about this tab. Once the "Get All Hands" option gets put into there I think it will probably be a '10' on my ratings.

Graphs:
This is more of a fun part of the review than anything. Basically, what looks the best for posting on 2+2 to show off, etc. I don't feel it is as important as other parts, and I feel both will improve their graphing system probably within days of release since it will be last on the list. Regardless, I have to put it in there!

Hold'em Manager - 3

The graphs on this program are not up to par with the graphs in PT3. Luckily for HM, graphs aren't very important in a product like this. I think the graph interface needs to be improved and the graphs need to be more powerful, but as of now the graphing system does get the job done but isn't all that visually inspiring. I have suggested that he include a box for details at least 5 times and he never has. The graph hasn't improved any, even in the released product. Although there is none entered on my screenshot, you also have the option to enter rakeback which will show up as a new line on the graph.

Poker Tracker 3 - 5

No complaints about the graphing in PT3. The graphs are well done, and they look great. Major improvement over their last product, but it still has some room for improvement. Have heard that the final product will be updated and be more powerful graphing wise. I would like to see some 3d Graphs and abilities to graph any and all filters included in the program.

Support:

Hold'em Manager - 9

I cannot say enough about the support of Hold'em Manager. Roy, the developer, had a well thought out product when he introduced it a couple months ago. Since then, he has literally doubled the improvements of the program. He didn't come and fix bugs, he added different things. He listened to everyone in the forum, and he worked on the product. I can't give the designer a 10 only because I have yet to see how he will improve and help the people with his product after it is actually release, and I feel it would be unfair to give a 10 based on only the beta product. He has said that after the release he still plans on improving the product, even with big changes, which leads me to the ranking of PT3.

Poker Tracker 3 - 9

Conclusion:

Hold'em Manager -56

Overall, this is a great product. Great support team, and a great idea. The program is well thought out and much more polished than PT3 right now. I had to ignore the HUD(which is A+), the Player Details tab, the preflop cards tab, and some other intricate features of the program. I think with those added HM would have had a better showing. Unfortunately with the core features that PT3 has compared to HM, PT3 is slightly ahead. Don't forget PT2 gave the PT3 developers a great start, and HM was rushed to release before PT3. I think the future of this program will lead to a lot of new and exciting things as well as complete overhauls of the features.

Poker Tracker 3 - 61

The core functionality of this program is simply awesome. The GUI is so nice to look at, and everything is so well laid out. It doesn't have all the features yet, and if they don't include some of the new features that HM has, then they will lose the review when I do the next review when PT3 releases their actual product. As of now, the core features of PT3 are slightly ahead of those same features in Hold'em Manager. I feel that the finished PT3 product will likely continue to be the industry leader much like PT2 has always been.

Week 3: T. Jan. 15 - M. Jan. 21

2008-01-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

Well...

Definitely better than last week :)

I have come into finding a couple big leaks, and the way things have gone this month has led me to have a whole new approach to the game. I'm kind of tired of just sitting around playing a bunch and trying to learn from volume. I am still playing a lot, but I'm spending a lot of time working on my game. I'm doing a bunch of new stuff which is going to lead me the right way. I still feel I will be beating 5/10 for a very good clip by 1/2 to 2/3 through the year, and would like to be a regular 10/20 player when it runs.

I also still plan on working on 6m games and Tourneys, but since I have been losing so bad at FR I am working on my main game first and foremost. Still happy with where I'm at and I feel like I'll really turn things around soon enough.

GL guys,
Chase

Week 2: T. Jan. 8 - M. Jan. 14

2008-01-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I must say I am quite embarrassed about my first two weeks. It has been literally my worst downswing ever, and lucky enough it happened to come when I started making my results public.

I can't say I am down on myself, I feel that I am playing really well still and I think I will turn things around pretty quickly. I hope that somehow I get on a heater and really pump out some crazy results in the next couple weeks(and next 11 months).

Good luck guys, or at least I hope you have better luck than me ;)

What? A helpful post!

2008-01-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

I know, I know.

I was starting to think the same thing: This guy is just using this blog to attention whore and not going to help out anyone reading it. Well, you are partially right. But I am actually going to occasionally give some helpful insight into the game (hopefully).

Specific Player and Table Dynamics

In most 1/2NL and below games, I was playing a certain style. I play 14/10/2, all day, every day. I feel like my game has evolved so much recently, and I am practicing and learning so much about this game it is crazy. One thing I learned quite a while ago but haven't mentioned yet is adapting to tables and players. At the higher limits, players will exploit your tendencies so much, especially if you don't show them any reason to stop. When you raise in late position, do you fold to 3bets out of the blinds constantly? They will 3-bet you. Do you call 3-bets with small pocket pairs even when the player is too good to even stack off to your nitty play when you hit? They will make the sizes of their 3-bets larger to exploit your calling.

These are actually leaks of mine which I've had all the way up to 2/4. I'm not sure if many found them or exploited them, because at those levels you can feed on the fish and have a lot less variance. But once you get up to mid-stakes, I think you need to start working on the "leaks" you have. I put leaks in quotes because, sometimes, the leak that a player thinks you have isn't even a leak. You have to remember the image you have. If you 3-bet the same player two, three, or four times with QQ and each flop has an ace in it and you check/fold each, he is going to exploit your "leak" of 3-betting too light. Do you see where I'm going? Not only do you have to identify actual leaks, you have to find "leaks." Also, think for a while away from the tables about the perceived leak. How do you combat someone who squeezes too often? How about someone who check-raises flops because he knows you c-bet too hard? How about the guy that c-bets too hard because you've folded off a lot of flops to him?

All of these things are things that you need to solve on your own time. Think about your leaks, fix them, and then exploit the players that previously exploited you. Also, be careful not to give it away that you have adjusted. For as long as you can, try to make the player think he is still exploiting your pseudo-leaks.

<-- This guy is getting exploited at the tables as I write this.

Tables:

This one is so simple yet so often overlooked. I've seen so many people complaining about the tight games now-a-days it is funny. Yes, in tight games you aren't going to show the profits you could in a loose game with more fish. But it doesn't mean that you can't show a profit. AceCR9 talked about this the other day, but it is something most decent players should know. Playing the same as everyone else is likely to get you nowhere. When a guy has played 12/9 his whole life, if you start playing 12/9 with him he is likely to be better at it than you. Each table is a different environment, with different players and different positions. If you want to improve your game, play less tables and look at your table's "ecosystem." Do you have a tight player to your left? Punish the blinds. A very good and aggressive regular? If he views you as aggressive, sit back and wait for the nuts to raise on the button. If he views you as tight, take his blinds with regularity. Is there a weak player to your right? Isolate him. How about if there are two weak players in the blind and your are in middle position? Do you realized how often you should open when it is folded to you? YOU WANT TO PLAY HANDS VERSUS THESE PLAYERS.

Most people just want to look at the players around them, and the action in front of them when identifying what to do. You need to view the whole table and every player in it when you are making almost all of the decisions you make at the tables.

Week 1: Tuesday Jan 01-Monday Jan 07

2008-01-08T10:31:00.001-08:00

Well, what can I say?

The year started off like, well, crap. I can't seem to get a winning streak going, and once again am starting a month on a downswing. I actually can't say I am unhappy with my play, as I think it has been quite good so far. I'm not sure what there is to come for me, but I am still excited for the year ahead. I'm not sure if I will keep this format or not, but hopefully if I turn things around I will be glad to post weekly results :)

Welp, I'm going to go through Pokertracker now to see why things are going like they are, and hopefully I can write something this week but if not I'll post next Tuesday.

LeBron eats 5 steaks during game

2008-01-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

Between all the dunking and passing, LeBron James had time to eat 5 steaks. I don't know how he managed to put up 24pts/10assists/8reb after eating all that, but I am amazed.

Tuesday, Jan 01 2007

2008-01-01T20:38:00.001-08:00

Ok guys,

So I am going to try to do weekly updates of this blog when it comes to my play. So basically since the year starts on Tuesday, Tuesday will be when I update the blog with my play. If I feel like commenting I can, but probably just will do a graph and maybe some short comments.

I will make other posts about random topics and subjects when something hits me, so those won't be only on Tuesdays. I don't know what all I'm going to talk about, but I think I can think of a lot of interesting subjects.

Decided to do my first post for the first day I played, and, uh, well...You can see how the day went :) At this pace I will finish the year at -$536,000. God I am going to be in huuuugee debt :(

GL to all!

2007 -Year In Review

2008-01-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

2007: What a crazy year!

Jan. 03, 2007: At this point, I have a bit of poker background. I know the ins and outs. I played some LHE, bonuswhoring to make some extra cash for my coke and heroin addictions :) . I'm thinking it is time to be serious about this now that I'm bout to graduate. Deposit $300 onto a site called Pokerstars, start playing 25nl

Feb 07: I think I'm playing 50nl by this time. I tried some 100nl here too, but finish -150 for the month total. Ghey. I hated poker ;)

March 07: Played a lot of 100nl now, as well as 50nl. Back to my winning ways, but only 1.5ptbb

April 07: Another mediocre month. Just grinding 100nl to build up a roll. Plus I'm scared of 1/2..

May 07: Better month, still at 100nl, but ran at like 6ptbb.

June 07: 1/2 NL!!!!! I proceed to drop 17 buyins, and finish this month -2500 after battling back some of my losses.

July 07: Screw 1/2. I drop back down to 100nl, and take some shots at 200nl..Drop more money at 1/2, and win at 100nl. I was very frustrated back then and figured I was stuck at 100nl for life.

August 07: 200nl is finally a success for me. I win about 8k at 200nl, playing there after playing only 1 100nl sesh before moving up for the month. I drop about 600 taking shots at 400nl

September 07: Another horrible month. Finish down for the month again. 1/2nl kills me, as does 2/4nl. Luckily I have a bunch of bonuses that month and still finish up net.

October- December 07: Three straight 10k months, 20k in Dec.

So, how would I sum up 2007? I'm just getting started. Hold on for a (hopefully) great ride in 2008.

2008 New Year's Resolution

2007-12-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I wrote this some night a couple weeks ago after being told once again that I had no chance of making it playing poker and that my "goals" were just "crazy dreams" and I should be more realistic.

* Get in shape. Start a steady workout plan. Consider hiring someone once summer comes along.
* Poker goals:

Start playing Tournaments.

Start playing 6max and HU

Really work on my game. No more grinding.

Modest goal is set for $150k

Realistic goal to make me happy: $200k

Don't settle for 2nd best.

Balance work and play. Have more fun. Don't be afraid to go and act young. I only get this chance once.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. Prove everyone wrong.

* Stocks -- Learn the market. Don't shit around. Don't be a lazy ass. Work hard to learn about this.
* Real Estate -- Look into real estate. Not sure about buying apartments or anything, but learn about real estate for future purchases.
* Life -- Keep my same lifestyle. Don't start any horrible habits. Don't get stressful, continue to be laid back.
* School -- I have to keep a 3.6 GPA to keep my full ride. I will shoot for a 3.7 to be an over achiever, but a goal of mine is to actually spend less time thinking about school. I want to put as minimal effort as I can in school to get by, while working hardest on things that are more important.

20k Month, yo.

2007-12-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I think this is just the start of things to come for me. This month was nice, and it was a 20k month, but a lot was due to bonuses. I think I can pull in a couple 20k, 30k, 40k+ months next year. Regardless I'm happy with this month. I'm going to do a write up of maybe a year review, a next year goals, and a New Year's Resolution

Breakdown:

In Play: +$12,945
Stars Bonuses: +$8,000
Tilt Bonus: +$305

Total: +$21,250

So Excited. Also, 500k VPP.

2007-12-28T01:33:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

First off: My name on Stars is "lifegoezon." If you have any comments on my game, please leave them here. Good or bad is fine, I'm hard skinned. Second, I need ideas on how I should run this blog next year. I think big things are going to come from me, but need to know how to update this. I don't mind showing winnings(I think), so I don't care to update this, if only for winnings graphs. Should I do it weekly on sundays? Update it twice a week? I don't think I would want to do more than that, and I don't want to over-saturate the blog. So which do you think? Just leave a comment.*

*This is not including general tips and hints, just updates on my wins/losses.

I am just so amazingly excited for the things coming up for me. I feel like my winrate should double with the things I am doing with my game and the studying I am doing. Before recent discoveries I was thinking I would play 400nl, 600nl for a couple of months and hope to make 10k a month. I didn't know what my goals for next year would be. I could tentatively set it for 144k, 12k a month. Remember, I would also be moving up, playing tourneys(and reading about them, thus playing them "well" not great, but well), and playing other games. Overall, I thought if I moved up and beat those games my winrate would go up.

Well, I think everything has changed. I have had an epiphany of sorts in this game and feel it might really be good for me soon. I would like to write more about my planned changes, but too many people I play against read this.

Regardless, I think you guys will be seeing a lot more posts about me winning. Thanks for listening!

In another facet of things, I recently hit 500k VPP's. That nets me a $5k bonus to go along with my 2 $1500 bonuses this month. I would like to hit $12k in wins in play, but unfortunately I didn't come to my epiphany soon enough in the month. :) I'm up $10k right now in play, so maybe if I get hot I can win a bit over the weekend and pull in my first $20k month.

Updates

2007-12-22T00:45:00.000-08:00

First of all, sweet ass screenshot from the new program, PokerTracker3.

Second, I am just grinding a bit as of right now. I am at 495k VPP for the year, and am just grinding away trying to get the last 5k so I can just take it easy. I'm going to play on Full Tilt some to see how that goes, and I am going to just take a little break. I would like to hit 12k in play this month to go with the 8k in bonuses to bump me to 20k overall, but I dunno if I will want to do it with how much I just want to have some fun while being home and having stuff to actually do. So probably not going to happen.

Anyways, this was just a crazy session from 3/6nl, where people were stacking off like crazy. Make sure to look at the number of hands. That is 94 hands, which equates to like 10 minutes or less of playing time. So if I can continue this rate of 12k per hour for the next year, I will be able to retire next year ;)

Anyways I have been writing and thinking of what my plans for next year are. Also going to write a review of this year. Also will publish my New Year's Resolution and what-not. If anyone wants me to address anything or write about anything feel free to leave a comment.

Downswings: It CAN get worse!

2007-12-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

So I was talking to GrandMelon, and we were talking about a couple things, among them was downswings.

He has recently been in a slump over the last week, and with his recent success in the last couple months, is completely out of whack when going through this downswing. Since I ran bad for about 110k hands last month, it is going to take me another 200k hands to get out of the "downswings suck but I'm used to them" mode. Sometimes your perspective of a downswing shifts big time when you have won so much recently, as well as the other way around. When you are winning, you start thinking "how do I ever lose? This game is so easy, I should never have a losing day" etc. etc. When you are running bad you are thinking "This can never get worse." The thing is, they CAN get worse. Last month I started turning into a nit, playing nearly no hands, because of my sky is falling attitude. This compounded on itself, added to my bad luck, and then the downswing got worse and worse. The thing is, any one month a good player can become a player that never wins again because of this type of attitude. If you can't fix it and forget the downswing, you may never get out of the downswing.

That gets me to my point of this post: You have to be a special person to want or have the ability to play poker as a pivotal part of your income. It is simple when you play 2 hours a day for supplemental income, but when you rely on poker to bring in 50k a year, you have to be different. Take some of the people I talk to, for example. I talked to one guy when I was still playing 100nl, he was playing 400nl. He was pulling in $10k months and I was barely reaching $1,000. But our mindsets were completely different. His was "I'm about to get out of college and get a real job, let some of this stress go." Mine was: "I'm just starting but I know what I'm going to do already. I am made for this, and I am going to do everything in my power to make myself the best I can and succeed at this." He had no intentions of keeping this as a long-term thing, whereas I did. I was OK with making 3k/mnth and if I could've done it consistently, I would've still kept playing. I knew I could do better, and I have, but I still knew that even at 3k/mnth I was good to go. So I am going to make out a short list of things that first come to my head when thinking of what it takes to make a good long-term player:

Self-control. 99% of long-term winners are not going to be like aba or cts. You need to be able to have enough self-control that you can make 20k 8 months in a row but still play low enough limits to keep winning big. Sometimes beating the higher levels isn't possible, but being able to continue grinding 2/4 when you have ~300k to your name instead of being a losing player at 5/10 is a special thing.
Determination. In bad months, you have to be able to battle through. Unless you play the highest stakes, being able to grind and get some good amounts in bonuses is a must when trying to make a living. Also, what about when you have 50k in the bank and have no expenses? Are you going to keep grinding or are you going to say "omfg I have so much money I'm taking a cpl months off." It takes a different person to keep playing when you have enough money to make you happy.
Self-Actualization. This is a term used in the image I'm going to discuss later(Maslow's Hierarchy). It means trying to reach ones potential. You have to always want to reach your potential, you have to always want to improve.
Patience. The downswings are going to come. Can you put your ego aside and fix your game? Ask for help? Move down? All of these things require patience and time to get through it.
Financial awareness. You need to be able to invest your money, use it wisely, and always have a lot of extra cash in the bank. You need to be able to watch your bankroll, and always play within your limits. Are you making a living off this? You better have 100 buy-ins at hand. Not only for downswings, but for comfort.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs for a worker is the image above. Basically, Maslow made these things for managers to keep their employees happy. In poker, you have to fulfill these yourself. To be able to meet your self-actualization needs, you have to meet the other needs. You have to do this for yourself, because you have no boss to help you out. So basically, if you want to improve your game and get to the top of the "pyramid" of poker(yea, I know, I am clever), then you have to get the rest of your life straight as well. Some people are NOT made to play poker. If you are one of the few that are, then consider yourself lucky and don't just let this opportunity pass by you. You are one of the very few people that has a chance to make this kind've money with no boss. It is stressful and hard, but if you have the abilities and mindset for it, then you have a chance of a lifetime.

December 15, Mid month recap, PT3+HM

2007-12-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So far the month has gone pretty well. I am not going to say great, but it has gone well. As it stands, my goal for the month is $20,000 pre bonuses. I will have to genuinely run good to get there, so my other goal is just $20,000 period, incl. bonus. I am getting my $5,000 VPP Milestone bonus, and I should get two $1500 bonuses as well(already had one). That is $8,000 total in bonuses, which leaves a measly $12,000 for play. I think I can do better than this, and would like to get to 15k at least, but I am not going to complain if I hit 20 regardless. (This is a lie, I'm going to complain regardless of what happens :) :) ).

Anyways, month started off with some break-even, bad play carrying over from last month. I have gone back to my old game now, much more aggressive, as I am leaving the grinding stage since I am close to the $5k bonus now. So now I am back to playing my A-game, and it has been going well. The downswing within the last couple of days was just some really bad coolers, but I was playing well throughout and as you can see it paid off for me. Here is to running like I have the last two days for the rest of the month!

****HM AND PT3 UPDATE****

I am currently beta testing HM's HUD,and I am alpha testing PT3. I can't comment about PT3, as we have a non disclosure agreement, but I am very excited about both. I am mostly working with PT3 to try to work out bugs right now so that it can be bug free and then when they get one or two releases for optimization(like HM has done), then I will do some speed comparisons and things. Regardless, I think both are absolutely amazing products.

Good luck to everyone!

Another good day

2007-12-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

(Last 2 days)

(Tonight)

Hey guys,

All 2/4nl today, and a quick quick push upwards. I feel great right now, and am at the highpoint of my month.

Unfortunately, my Cavaliers lost tonight, which sucks because I want to see them get in a groove now that TheBron is back.

Shot Takeaments

2007-12-13T23:31:00.000-08:00

Played some afternoon 3/6($600NL) today, this is about 20mins of play.

Running Better

2007-12-10T08:45:00.001-08:00

Running better :)

Hopefully I can turn this month into a big one, I would like to clear 20k in play to end out my year. I like the new strategy I am trying(outline in my last post), where I am trying to keep wins and quit when I hit a good spot, as to reduce boredom and so I don't get uninterested after I have a big win. My downfall before was getting up big, getting bored, and then losing a bunch because I would keep grinding towards the 5k bonus.

Hopefully this is a turn for the good for the next couple months, but I doubt it :)

December 01-09

2007-12-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

(Click to Enlarge)

Hey guys,

Just giving an update on the month. I started off well and then things kinda went to hell there for a bit. I am going to try to change my method and quit while up. I usually keep playing constantly, but since I am closing in on my 5k bonus, from now on when I have a big winning session I am just going to book it and take at least an hour off if I have to play another one after. So far it has worked well and I recovered from my downswing nicely. Hopefully I can really start working on my game now that I don't have to play so much volume.

Barebone of the review

2007-12-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Here is the barebone of the review I am going to do. I have actually written some of the HM review already, so that I can get it out ASAP when PT3 comes out. I will obv. re-write any parts if HM changes anything in new updates before PT3 comes out, but if not then I will have part of HM already reviewed. So here is the set-up, please leave comments on if/how I could improve it if you don't care. After each rating will be a paragraph explaining the rating and explaining features, as well as pictures of each part. Sorry for the crappy pic at the top, I just imported it forgetting I had a black background. Will fix that in the review :P

Hey, and welcome to http://schwallie4.blogspot.com. Today I will be reviewing Hold'em Manager's first installment and the industry leading Poker Tracker 2's replacement, Poker Tracker 3. At first, both seem like powerful products destined for greatness, and I don't want to take that away from either product. I feel both have their pro's and their con's, and I feel any serious player should consider buying both of these products. As for the review, some may say that HM has been in beta for a long time and PT3 is just starting in beta so it isn't a fair comparison, but I feel the release dates of both are close so both should be close to each other in how polished they are. I will also most likely do a re-write review when they are released if they both have huge changes(which I hope they do). Enough chit-chat, let's get started!

In the red corner, we have Hold'em Manager, the new guy to the game. In the blue corner is Poker Tracker 3, the reigning heavyweight champ. Good luck to both :)

Design:

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Import Speeds:
For this experiment I started a new database, restarted my computer, then ran the import of my big database afterwards. I then did a small import to test speeds of small imports on a big database.

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Report Speeds:
I had to do the report speeds manually. I had no other way to time them other than my own timer, so if you want milliseconds or anything and rely on perfection, then ignore this section.

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Hud Display:

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Report Options:
This is for viewing different types of reports on your game. Looking up 3betting stats, street by street action, etc.

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Game Improvement:
The most important aspect of both products. This part is out of 20 points, as it should definitely be on the top of the list of importance.

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Graphs:
This is more of a fun part of the review than anything. Basically, what looks the best for posting on 2+2 to show off, etc. I don't feel it is as important as other parts, and I feel both will improve their graphing system probably within days of release since it will be last on the list. Regardless, I have to put it in there!

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Support:

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Other:
In sports, we would call these things the intangibles. The small things that don't always show up but make our life so much easier.

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

Conclusion:

Hold'em Manager -

Poker Tracker 3 -

December

2007-12-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I had one of the craziest months I have ever had last month. Suffice to say, it did not go well. I hit my monthly goal in terms of money won total, but it was mostly due to bonuses.

I have had the craziest swings lately, and can't put together a winning streak. I don't play a high variance style, but I apparently have high variance in my game. I assume it was because I changed my game a bit last month, and it led to problems in my winning ways. Well, good news for December: I'm changing it again. :) I took a couple days off and re-evaluated things and have made a pretty big change for the better in my game once again. So what happens in my first two sessions of December? Big swings, of course :) I genuinely think this is the last time I retool my game for a while and I hope things work out and I can pull together a really good month.

As for the review; I have been reviewing HM some. I talked to the maker, and he said he will be releasing a big upgrade to the HUD(which is needed, it isn't quite there yet), and I will include that in the review if PT3 isn't released before then. I think mainly my review will go on a day or two after PT3's release so I can test it, which may or may not be unfair to HM so if he got it out within the couple days I would give that consideration as well. Regardless I have been very impressed with HM so far, and feel I will have the same feelings about PT3(From what I have seen from the screenshots, it looks crazy polished). I will explain more in the review which I hope I can do within a day or two after the release of PT3.

Some thoughts; and HM vs PT3 delayed

2007-11-29T19:23:00.001-08:00

Ok,

So since this discussion came up on 2+2, I decided to bring it to my blog.

"I think you are going to realize how much you wasted your first semester at college when you look back on it. I mean, grinding 8 hours a day can't have left you much time to meet new people anyways [sic]. I regret not going to enough parties my freshman year and not meeting too many people outside my dorm and I went out 2-3 times a week every single week. There is just so much stuff to do, people to hang out with, girls to bang that you are missing."

This was what was stated to me. I want to give a quick overview of why I do what I do as to not give the wrong assumptions.

I am not anti-social, but most likely the exact opposite. I don't do much now because this school doesn't have parties or anything during the week. I can either sit in my room and drink(I don't even drink), or I can make money and set myself up financially. I choose to make money and start to set myself up to where I'm not going to have to worry about money at any point in my life. I don't party much because I just don't see any use in it right now, as I am not interested in getting drunk and losing my scholarship or anything else by not concentrating on certain goals I have set for myself.

I choose to do this because I want to make some good money and then when I am a "made" man later in life I will have some fun. I would rather be partying in Hawaii in my suite than partying at a college frat house with natty light. I am a motivated person and I am very determined to never have to live in any type of poverty. I want to succeed in life and part of that success is money for me. Although it by far isn't the only thing, it is one of the things, and right now I have been very fortunate to find an avenue that can make me financially secure in a quick way.

On other things;
Poker is going crappy :). I have been playing too much actually and want to just clear this $5,000 bonus I am going to get on Stars soon. After that I will be moving down to playing 8 tables on a couple sites and working on moving up and simply improving my game. I think this will lead to a lot more success than the "volume" method I am doing right now.

HM vs PT3: Pt3 is delayed again and I will do the review when it comes out. I want to do my review of HM but I also want to wait for some parts for when I can compare them to PT3(as in, import speed may seem like a 10/10 compared to pt2, but compared to pt3 the HM product may only be a 7/10 on a scale.)

Anyways, I am happy to get this month over with and I am happy that soon I will be able to take a couple weeks off to end this year. I think I need it as I have had a very successful year financially and when I get home with Britt and when my dad comes into town I will be a lot happier spending time with them than I would be playing cards.

Hold'em Manager vs Pokertracker3

2007-11-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Whenever PT3 is released(should be within a week now), I am going to do a review on both of these products. I have a brand new(2.2ghz,3gb RAM,7200rpm HD) laptop that I am going to test both on for speeds. I will also do:

Design
Functionality
HUD design/usability
Support
Ability to improve game(weighted 2x other things)
Reports
Graphs(I love pretty graphs, but dunno if this will make the final cut in my review)
I'm sure I'm missing a couple more things

Anything else you guys would want to see in a review of both the products?

Crazy Day

2007-11-26T19:24:00.000-08:00

(Click to enlarge)

Well the graph speaks for itself. I played a bunch and this is the result. I bout died the two times I had the huge drops

Stocks, and working on the future

2007-11-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

So I am starting a couple new things in my life soon, and one of them is an aggressive long-term portfolio in the stock market. As of now I have a couple of accounts; U.S. Bank, hometown bank with way too much money currently in there. E*Trade, online checking account with a 4% interest, and way too little in there. Zecco.com, free trading(only until the end of the year), and up to 10 free trades per month after the end of the year. Sharebuilder, my first place I bought stocks where I quit once I got the no commisions. Now Sharebuilder is teaming up with ING Direct, an online bank that has good rates like E*Trade. They also have some beginners things where they can help you invest your money. I am going to put a lot of money into there with a long-term goal in mind. I am going to start with the list of stocks below, which is an aggressive portfolio. Each month I will put $2-5k in the account and it will automatically rebalance my portfolio.

So I think I am going to reasset my uhh, assets, like this:
Stars: 20-40%
U.S. Bank: 5-10%(Still would like to have money at a local bank)
Zecco.com: 15-20%(I will keep an active portfolio here, for short-term trades, but not day trading and not long-term)
Sharebuilder: 20-30%(I will start with this, and add the 2-5k per month)
E*Trade: 15-25%(Good interest rate and want to keep a cpl months living expenses in liquid funds, although the stocks are basically liquid as well. Also a 5k min. balance so obviously have to keep at least that in there, but I think keeping more than that is a good idea as well, it is FDIC Insured).

So here is the aggressive portfolio, please comment on it if you have any ideas:
EFA EURO-ASIA INDX (MSCI-ISHARES) 15.00%
IWD RUSSELL 1000 VALUE (ISHARES) 40.00%
IWF RUSSELL 1000 GROWTH (ISHARES) 35.00%
IWM RUSSELL 2000 INDEX (ISHARES) 7.00%
TIP LEH US TREAS INF FD (ISHARES) 3.00%

Black Friday!

2007-11-23T04:58:00.000-08:00

Hey,

So I actually took a night off, and on a holiday too. It kind've sucked because I ran good last night and know the games would've been great :(. Anyways, so my friend is in from Ohio State for Thanksgiving and I had to hang with him. He gets ahold of me and we decide it is time to pull an all-nighter to see the chaos known as Black Friday(If you're not from USA, it is apparently the biggest sale day of the year and everyone goes nuts to go shopping at like 5am). The girlfriend decides to come with us, so we all chill at my house till 5am. We watched Zeitgeist and then Family Guy, which is probably my favorite show right now(family guy, I mean). When 4am rolls around, we take off in my car to the mall. It is about a 20 minute drive, and I'm drifting in and out by then, even though I am usually awake at that time anyways.

Once we get there, I realize how crazy this shit is. Not only are people here already, some are done shopping, and most of the parking spots are taken. I cannot believe people are this desperate that they need these sales. Thank God for poker and planning finances ahead of time. Also, let me take back the last statement about others. It is actually amazing that people do this, and from a financial standpoint it is a great idea, especially for those tight on money. Anyways we walk in about 4am to JC Penny's and I realize the actual mall isn't open. Well, the only store I want to go to is Pac Sun(it is my new style, I'm gonna take some pics of sweet ass shirts I've been getting lately), and the others don't care about JC Penny's either. So we ask when the mall opens, and they say 6am. So we say screw that, and jump back in the car and go back to sleep for an hour and a half(in which time I didn't sleep at all). Around 5:30 my mom calls and asks where I'm at(whoops, I knew I forgot to tell someone), and we decide to wake-up and go in. The place is complete chaos, and I am amazed at how big of a day this actually is for people. I got a hoody and some sweatpants(I now have my first pair of sweatpants) from Pac Sun, and Trevor(friend) got his girl her Xmas present($230 necklace) and mine turned down my offer to buy her something from Victoria's Secret. Although she knows about the money I make, she still doesn't abuse it and that is a great thing.

Anyways, we eat some Chic-Fil-A and I drive us back home by 7:45 or so. And it is time to sleep.

Good Night

2007-11-22T00:32:00.000-08:00

God I needed this so bad.

This is what perseverance does for you kids!

Downswing and Updates

2007-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so there is my recent downswing. I think it might be my worst ever, but it doesn't sting much as I have cleared 4000, 1500, and soon 1300 more in bonuses, so bankroll wise I don't feel any different.

Update on poker plans:

I can't wait to get out of this grind. At the end of the year when I finally get this 5k bonus, I can quit grinding like this and work on my game. That will start by cutting down to ~8 tables for a while. I am also going to table select between a couple sites, so I can find the best games. I am going to revamp a lot and really concentrate on getting better. So until I can do this I am going to have a tiny winrate in the games if I keep running bad. But soon, very very soon, I will be able to really start working on improving and my winrate and hopefully I will be showing off some really sexy graphs.

New Computer!

2007-11-20T13:20:00.001-08:00

First, I'll say that I have dropped 5k in the last 2 weeks, so hopefully I can turn it around with the new computer :)

Woke up this morning to this great box! Thought I was going to get it yesterday, but ended up getting it today which was still OK :)

Some more pics

These are all from my camera phone, so they aren't great. Also, here are some other pics I took today. This is my nephew Carter.

Stuff

2007-11-12T22:05:00.001-08:00

So I guess it is time for some updates..

1) Just bought a new computer. Dell, completely top of the line, $1800. I got a $500 of coupon online so it was only $1300 which was too good of a deal to pass up

With this will begin my real 2/4 play. My plan is this: I should be in the PT3 beta, and HM should be getting better. So I am going to datamine the shit out of FTP. I might actually datamine the shit out of it on this comp if I feel like it, but I don't think I will. I will most likely datamine everything from my new computer. Once I get my $5k bonus from Stars, I will start table selecting 2/4 majorly(If I run good and have some good cash I will do this with 3/6 as well) at Stars and Full Tilt. This should up my winrate considerably, and I think I might cut down to 9 or so tables. I will cut down especially if I play higher stakes, and I won't play as long of sessions to keep my focus.
Also, once I get the $5k bonus I will implement a new strategy. I often play 3k hand sessions where I am up 1.5k and end up even. I am going to change this strategy when I don't have to play as many hands. Nearly every time I get down at the start I can grind my way back to even, but the other way around is always bad. So when I start off with 400 hands and I'm +1.5, I'm going to be done. What this does is make me have a good mindset. When I filter PT for my next session, it will be for a new one. So I will have a +1500 sesh in the books and will view subsequent ones as different sessions, so if I get down $1500 the next session I won't feel like I've lost profit as much as I've lost this sesh and I want to get even for this sesh specifically. I think playing more sessions and less hands per sesh is a great idea and wish I could do it right now.

2) My month:

I am like +1k now. I am running really bad, but am playing bad too. I have found some leaks and have made some bad calls. I got 2 outed for a $1800 pot tonight, but it was mostly my fault for misplaying(somewhat) the hand.

So anyways I am going to hopefully write more if I win some, as I like to write more when I win :)

TR: Lil Wayne Concert

2007-11-10T00:48:00.001-08:00

Heeeyyyooo.

Anyways went to a wayne concert tonight that was offffff the fucking hook. First off we get a late start so we got there like right when it started(it was a 2hr drive). So we get there and some local idiots rap and shit, boring stuff. Then Yo Gotti comes in, plays some sweet shiat, and has some chicks up there dancing n shit with him. It was pretty sweet. After that Lil Boosie comes in and he gets the place pretty pumped. Played a cpl songs including "Bad Bitch" and "Gimme that pussy" which are like alltime favs of everyone.

So then the big show stars. Juelz Santana comes on stage and just sets things off right. We are in the 7th row on the floor, and we have to get on our chairs because everyone else does. There are these two huge wiggers(I am actually not a wigger in any way, I don't wear overly baggy jeans, or look like a skank dumbass with oversized clothes. I just wear blackish clothes sometimes but it actually fits right, it is just I am sometime too stylish to wear all white ppl clothes...yeh digg)..anyways these two wiggers are dancing with this decent girl in front of us. I am confused because the girl is actually decent, and both these guys are all over her and they just look like complete idiots. She must've been drunk as shit or something, I dunno. So I'm not sure what happens, but I just see like two black girls in front of me jump over their seats to my row, everyone starts screaming, and I see this wigger running at a black dude. I dunno I guess he fucked with his girl I guess. Anyways wigger is just swinging away and black dude is basically backing up, prob cause he wanted to watch weezy and not get kicked out. Anyways eventually he has to kinda fight back and then the cops jump through the crowd to get there. Cop grabs wigger and just chokes him out. Guy is literally out for a minute before he realizes he looks like an idiot. Anyways cop carries his ass out and everything continues.

Juelz keeps going, playing "hey ma" "clockwork" "oh yes" etc etc. Then we have a pretty long wait and I hear the familiar sirens. The "fireman" is here. He starts out with fireman, goes through a hot boyz song and ends with "I got two words, Weeee baaccckkkk" so that means he is coming out with some new Hot Boyz/Mannie Fresh shit. Anyways after a while he starts playing sky is the limit, which is an amazing song(look it up if you haven't heard it). Then he goes on to play "Gossip" which he played at the VMAs, "Pussy Monster" which is on youtube and is offffff the chain, and he does a couple freestyles. He did like 12 songs overall but I don't even remember them all but it was soooo sweet.

It ends and we walk out and I see a dude I know from Morehead, Lavelle, who is from a town near my hometown. I talk to him and can't find any of the guys I came with, but eventually I did. Luckily I didn't find them 5 minutes later because we start walking down the street and about 5 minutes down the street I hear like 3 shots go off behind us. I'm not sure what happened but I hear some screams, some black dude came running scared towards us asking if we knew what happened(he was closer to it than us so WTF is he asking this?), anyways we say no but as soon as we did I saw 3 cars, all decked out escalades/etc, and they are absolutely flying. I wonder if it was Tupac type shit where they just pulled up on somebody but hell if I know. Anyways we take off, get lost for an hour in Louisville, finally find our way out, stop at a Waffle House 30 mins down the road, and then we drive on home. I stay awake the whole time while two of the guys slept so I could keep talking to the driver and keep him awake. I somehow did it and am now home and going to sleep.

Gossip:

November: Quarter Month Update

2007-11-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Just was actually going to update on some poker since I haven't recently. I've been running pretty meh this month again. I have had a lot of set over sets and a lot of coolers and I've never remembered having this many. Fortunately I think I have played well and although I really have some leaks to improve on that I have found, I have also fixed some other problems in my game and I think that is why I'm even up this month.

I'm going to a Lil Wayne concert Friday, so not much play for the next couple of days overall, but I am going to try to write up some kind've strat post again for you guys. One hopefully on a topic that has been suggested.

Little Test

2007-11-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so on Holdem Manager you can do some different things that I don't think you can do on PT2.

Anyways, I took all the players that had won $ in my database that I've played over 2,000 hands with at 2/4, and this is their combined stats.

Take from it what you want.

Quick Update

2007-11-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

So far for November I am a very unhappy -1200. I won back about 1k tonight, so I am def. not on the lowpoint of the month. Regardless tonight I played very very well but had sooooo many suckouts. I should've been up ~3k tonight, but lost to three 2 outers, 4 set over sets, 2 flush over flushes, and another set under flush that rivered me. It was such a sick night. On the other nights I must say I have played very bad. I have been calling on the river wayyyy too often and am working to fix this leak that has developed in my game. I have noticed other leaks as well that I am working on.

So some advice:

AVOID THE REGS.

Some people at 1/2(and a few at 2/4, but less than 1/2) had this huge ego thing about them. Every hand they got in they basically thought "Schwallie, you bitch, I'm going to outplay you like you've never been outplayed." The thing is, they never realized how I played 1/2. I AVOIDED the regs. I was up 4+ buyins on nearly every LAG at 1/2 because each one thought I was playing back at them and tried to push over top of me to show me who is boss. There is absolutely no reason for this type of attitude anywhere below 2/4nl. I promise. I played completely straightforward vs regs until they got out of hand 3betting me and then I just floated and/or 4bet a couple times as to where they just wouldn't 3bet as much. The thing is, that got me an image like "don't mess with him too much he will pop you back." The problem with their read was that they assumed I was playing back often. I wasn't. So when I 3bet them, they would 4bet light and I would stack their AQs with AA.

So my advice is very simple. Don't bother the regs at the lower limits unless they force you to. I never messed with certain players because I knew they were good enough that they weren't going to leak off money like any fish I could play, so I avoided them. I understand some regs are going to 3bet you constantly because they are the type that wants to prove their point, but just because they do this does not mean you should be shoving preflop with AJs. Make it noticeable that you are not going to let them run you over, but do it by making small 3bets on them a couple times or other things that don't cost you $100 each time you pull it. Wait for the AA to take all their money, because they don't realize you are waiting for it, as they never realized it is what I was doing.

A couple disclaimers: This is only successful with certain styles. I played 15/12 or 16/13, so the players naturally viewed me as someone that bet a lot and played back at them. They did not realize that I was only getting out of line when it was with people I could beat easily(fish). You cannot just 3bet a couple times when you play 12/8, because they will just assume you have AA, fold, and then 3bet you the next time as well. This is another of the many many many reasons I play how I do.

Also, I don't advocate this style at 2/4+. At these levels you simply have to outplay other regs quite often to show a profit. Still, I don't do this all the time with the good regs. I try to outplay the 12/8/1 reg and the 24/20/5 reg as much as possible, and the 15/12/3 reg as little as possible. I think you can tell I exploit both types in completely different ways, but I still have to exploit these players more than I would at 1/2.

GL at the tables guys!
Please suggest any other topics you want me to discuss in the comments section.

Month Review: October.

2007-10-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

In-Play: ~$10,400 (Lost some at end of sesh after I graphed this)
Bonuses: $3,000

Total: ~$13,400.

I can't complain, but I'm going to. I really kind've have goals for 15k a month, and would love to see $20k when I play that many hands. Unfortunately I didn't hit either of these, and I'm not exactly happy about it. I am not unhappy at all, and I guess it is good money for a 19 year old, but then again it isn't hitting my goals. I don't know if I will post results every month because I don't like all that insight into my financial status/etc.

Upcoming:

I will be writing a couple theory posts. I will post graphs every once in a while when something big happens(like if I continue my heater). Hopefully you guys can gain something insightful while still seeing frequent updates even if it is just about my play.

October 30. Heater continues.

2007-10-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Just eclipsed 10k in profits for the month not including bonuses. A pretty good month but I would also like to do a lot better. I only had a good month because of this week, and I don't think that is very good. I want to try to improve and become more consistent. I will have a monthly wrap-up tomm. sometime

Some notes:

I have a couple good pieces I am going to write coming up soon, instead of constant results results results. Please comment on the blog and tell me if you think not doing results everyday is a better idea. *The next blog entry about actual topic would be something like avoiding the good players at a table or something like that. I would still include big days but it wouldn't be daily. What do you think?*

Weekend + October 29, 2007. New best day

2007-10-29T00:21:00.001-07:00

UPDATE:
Finished up a bit more today, I think this makes it my best day ever, but I haven't looked into it. Actually I'm pretty sure it is my best day ever

Ok, so a good night tonight.

The big swing at the end is a mixture of Sunday night and now, Monday morning. I will give u Monday's full graph tomm. probably from the play during the day.

The first part is Friday/Saturday, where I was like +240 at the end of it. Then Sunday morning(Sat. Night), I was like -3k lol. Tonight went better and I'm even again.

I am so mentally tired right now that I just wanna rest, so no more typing. GL to all.

An outlook.

2007-10-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

Ok,

First, I am completely pissed. I just cannot go through a good month. I have to lose 4k a couple different times each month. I have to have huge downswings. Every single fucking month. I just want ONE to go up, throughout the month, without huge downswing.

Anyways, an outlook on poker and life: :) :)

I find myself worrying about all these results and looking up things/etc to view each month and see how each month goes etc etc. I realize now after looking at my yearly results how idiotic that approach is. I obviously like having good "months" and I really enjoy that, but poker is so long term that I shouldn't be caring. I mean I started this year with $300 playing 25nl, and now I can go out and buy a Corvette. I don't know many 19 years old that can say that about their "hobby." The thing is, I still am not satisfied. I think this is what may take me to the top one day(This is not meant to be cocky, but a good outlook). I am simply not satisfied with $10k in a month. Why, you may ask. Why would a 19 year old really want to make more than that? Why? Because I know other people have done it. I've seen $30k months via other people's graphs. I've seen a guy make 2.1mill THIS YEAR. I am overly competitive, and I don't think I will be satisfied until I am in the top tier of poker players. If everyone made $5k, then I wouldn't be as upset that I can't put together good months. But since they don't, I am so motivated to beat everyone else.

So, thank you The_Bryce, aba, Ivey, Jmoney and Renton, for the motivation that you give me to continue this quest to hopefully and/or eventually get to the top of this crazy hell of a hobby I call poker.

*Disclaimer: The first part of this post, the second part of this post, and parts of the post within the second part all contradict themselves. I know this and don't care. If you don't like it, get out of my little world cause thats how shit goes down 'round here.

October 25, 2007. Down to earth

2007-10-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, back down to earth here. I can't seem to put together anything recently. I'm completely burnt out and cannot wait until the weekend :) I gets to see the girl and don't have to put up with the swings of cards. I just got another $1500 bonus and am near my $4,000 bonus for Stars, so I am like bot-grinding cards trying to get points so I can get the $5k bonus by December 31. I don't particularly enjoy it, but hey, it is only a couple more months and then once 2008 starts I can just play like 50k hands a month instead of 100k, and actually concentrate on making money. But as of right now, the grind is on and I'm barely above breakeven, as I feel like anyone playing optimal should be able to make >15k at 2/4 each month, and I would set my monthly goal at 20k each month, so hopefully next couple months that will happen for me.

As usual, I won't be updating on the weekend but will update Sunday night or so.

October 24, 2007.

2007-10-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

So a bad day today. I really need to review the session because I have no idea what happened. Most sets came through, I won plenty at showdown, and I didn't have many huge losses. All signs pointed towards me supposed to be winning tonight, but I just don't know what happened.

So anyways I'm not going to go into any details because uhhh I didn't feel like losing today.

Problems today:

I felt invincible. Had won nearly 5k in a cpl days, and thought I was invincible. I played bad, and I played a bit unfocused. I started surfing around the internet/etc, so that definitely could've led to my bad performance. Obviously some bad luck as well, but no bad beat stories here for now :)

October 23, 2007. Up. Down. Up

2007-10-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Crazy day today, I won like 1600 in my 12am-3am sesh, lost 1300 in my 3pm-4pm sesh, and then won 1100 or so more tonight from like 9-11.

My suckout of the day :)

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
http://www.legopoker.com/hh

UTG+2: $154.50
MP1: $195.60
MP2: $502.40
CO: $543.25
Hero (BTN): $545.50
SB: $400.90
BB: $92
UTG: $400
UTG+1: $374.75

Pre-Flop: Kh Ks dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP1 raises to $12, MP2 calls $12, CO folds, Hero raises to $54, 3 folds, MP2 raises to $115, Hero calls $61

Flop: ($248) 6c Ts As (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks

So he checks. Meaning he has AA/TT, and leans towards JJ/QQ in his range. He is very bad, for what it's worth.

Turn: ($248) Ac (2 Players)
MP2 bets $124, Hero calls $124

Ok pretty good turn. He doesn't have AA now. He doesn't have AK because of his flop play. So 1010-QQ, I think he fires like that with all

River: ($496) Ah (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $306.50 and is All-In, MP2 calls $263.40 and is All-In

Awesome river. I might've sucked out lets see, regardless he is a retart, so all-in.

Results: $1,022.80 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP2 mucked Th Td and LOST (-$502.40 NET)
Hero showed Kh Ks (a full house, Aces full of Kings) and WON $1,019.80 (+$517.40 NET)

October 22, 2007. 3k day

2007-10-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: 3K DAY.

Had a good day today.

Actually played like 1k hands last night for a profit of +4.60, and today I have sit here from 2 until 7 playing these hands. It turned out well, to say the least. I am going to continue playing tonight maybe, but I will prob just include that in tomorrow's graph unless I make another 1k or something. I will just put update later on if anything big happens. No extremely big hands, nothing big, a couple big suckouts but those are expected.

GL to everyone else(not playing 2/4) at the tables.

Weekend Update.

2007-10-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Update: This include some of Friday's play but this was the weekend. I started off like -400 Friday Night(actually Sat. Morning), and only played like 200 hands there. Was +800 in like 500 hands on Saturday Night(Sun. Morning), and just played my Sunday night sesh(I get back to the dorm at 8 or so and put in a sesh sometimes), and won maybe 600, I didn't do the math. Here's your graph!

Have played about 1k hands total this weekend, have been with my girl and all so haven't really played much. Have church tomm. so logging off again(Yippeee..). Anyways I will update this post at 12ish Sunday Night with my results from this weekend as well as my sunday night 4hr sesh.

October 19, 2007.

2007-10-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Still a big fuck you to poker.

Tonight was a major turnaround for my game. I really sat and just played my best. Watched the tables constantly, watched everything. I lost some focus at the end(Porn), but as long as I can keep my focus I can play very well. Only reason I lost a bit of focus was because of how shitty the night actually was. I got it in good 5 times against flush draws on the flop. 3 were with sets, and I lose every time I had a set. Another was with tptk and I lost with that as well. I did dodge one flush, though :) Also didn't have nearly any action other than those hands and actually played a really great session. I got AA 3 times and KK 2 times in the session, when I should've gotten them ~10 times a piece. Anyways I won't be playing tomm. as I will be home with my girl, and I dunno how much I'll play on the weekend period. I was definitely heading into the weekend pissed, but fortunately:

My Biggest Hand Ever:

UTG: $816.65
UTG+1: $248
Hero (MP1): $773.85
MP2: $402
CO: $404
BTN: $400
SB: $387.20
BB: $400

Pre-Flop: Th Tc dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG raises to $13, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $13, MP2 calls $13, CO folds, BTN calls $13, 2 folds

Flop: ($58) 7h Qd Td (4 Players)
UTG bets $34, Hero raises to $120, 2 folds, UTG raises to $803.65 and is All-In, Hero calls $640.85 and is All-In

Turn: ($1,579.70) 2h (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,579.70) 8d (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,579.70 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed Ah Qc (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$773.85 NET)
Hero showed Th Tc (three of a kind, Tens) and WON $1,576.70 (+$802.85 NET)

October 18, 2007.

2007-10-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

The bullshit I go through continues.

Ok so let's give the story: 4 days ago I finish +2.8k. Next night I finish -2.4k, and that day I lose with 7 of 7 sets. I finish -1800 with sets. Yesterday was +2.4k or so, whatever I posted. Today was -2.1k. Again, I was negative with sets and barely won anything with the rest of my hands. I have to write a paper now so I might play another sesh later but as of now this might be the end of my night. I might post an update later, but as I said I will post days in the good and the bad.

I think I have a serious chance of making some good money, but I just seriously cannot put in a couple good days in a row. I need to really practice some river folds and work on some of my 3bet calling ranges. Regardless running negative with three of a kind is NOT the norm, and it is highly pissing me off. I had 4 set under sets today, and didn't even get stacked once. I am starting to hate small pocket pairs and poker's cycle that it is putting me through. Oh well, I will keep up the grind.

October 17, 2007.

2007-10-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so today was a bit weird..Started the day off crappy and then played a sesh tonight that was just crazy. Something like +2.4k in prob half an hour.

Anyways here is a funny hand. This is from a Pokerstars reg who is just horrid. He does this all the time with the crazy allin raise, but he pays for it. Dunno how he keeps playing the 2/4 game but I feel like I'm taking money from a person with a gambling addiction. Oh well, if I didn't take it someone else would :P

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
http://www.legopoker.com/hh

UTG+1: $417.50
MP: $427
CO: $234.50
BTN: $104.45
SB: $441.25
Hero (BB): $578.10
UTG: $406.70

Pre-Flop: As Ac dealt to Hero (BB)
5 folds, SB calls $2, Hero raises to $20, SB raises to $441.25 and is All-In, Hero calls $421.25

Flop: ($882.50) 7s 9h Qc (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($882.50) Jd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($882.50) Qd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $882.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed Ah Td (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$441.25 NET)
Hero showed As Ac (two pair, Aces and Queens) and WON $879.50 (+$438.25 NET)

New Promise:

2007-10-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Until the end of October I will be posting my day's results at the end of each day.

I want to see if anyone would be interested in this so plz comment on this post and tell me if you would want to see some daily graphs.

* This would not always be true on weekends. I sometimes can't play much on the weekends.

Thanks 2/4 Regs!

2007-10-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

One of my best days ever, the graph speaks for itself.

Bad Run, Some Changes, and a good day

2007-10-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

So I've had a bit of a crappy run lately and decided to change my style and where I play. I am now (anonymously) playing on FTP for a while. I have changed my style to a bit more aggressive and am working better on my positional play and my isolating of limpers.

I dropped a couple k, I think 2k or so, in the last week. I lost like 3.4k in one day which was awesome, and since then I have been up. I finished up 1k today which was nice for once with the new style. Anyways once I get the style down I will put up some screenshots and graphs to see how it is working, because I am wayy to exploitable right now.

Fortunately I will be keeping my name secret now, so no more searching me out to take my monies!

Good run continues

2007-10-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is my last two or so days, this includes my comeback and is a bottom-up graph so it looks amazing! Been running well and playing very well, although suboptimal because I am cutting out some spots where I fold to big bets when I may be slightly ahead to try and limit variance at the new level at first. I know, it's a mistake but right now it is better than the mental anguish.

:)

Revelation

2007-10-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, so I just had a revelation about how I think about the game and moving up in stakes.

I realized I had been staying at certain levels to keep my good months, well, good months. Anytime I move up I've been running bad, like my last two days I have dropped 2k in 2/4. But I keep moving down because I want to keep up a good month. But then I realized something: Why? Why do I care if one month is better than the next, or if I have a negative month? I have had many positive months, and that is why I have such a huge bankroll. I am well bankrolled for the 2/4 game, and I think I can beat it, then I should be playing 2/4.

Apparently I have an ego problem and I guess I need to show off by showing people I don't even know stupid ass graphs from a "good month." I now am going to play 2/4 when I feel I can beat it and am bankrolled for it, because I have no reason to try to make each month good, my goal is to make it to 5/10+. Doing this will take a lot of down months when I learn new levels and etc. This might even make me seem like a bad player to an outsider when I post crappy graph after crappy graph. All that is going to matter to me from now on is playing in +EV games and trying my best to improve.

Disclaimer: I can do this because I do not rely on money in my poker account. I don't need to cashout basically ever, and unless I lose a good amount I should be able to stay bankrolled for 2/4. I may still have a lot of 1/2 ahead of me because I only want to play higher when I feel confident/etc and there are good games, so this is not a "moving up" post by any means and do not take it like that, simply a post saying I am going to try to stop worrying about results.

Update: Had a hell of a turnaround since that post:

Quick Update

2007-10-07T16:40:00.001-07:00

Not much of anything going on lately. I haven't got to play much because of the weekend since I usually go home and visit my family and g/f. Since last time I posted I am about -200 or so, so basically breaking even. I am like +500 at 1/2 and -700 at 2/4 so my shot taking isn't going well.

Anyways I will be back on the grind for the week so more updates if anything goes down.

Stock Market

2007-10-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

One of the best things I have learned over time is that investing your money wisely can lead to so many good things for you. One of the best ways to do this is the stock market(as a matter of fact there was a study where from 1926-now, real estate returned 12% and stocks returned 11%, so seeing as how one you can do on a computer with little research if you do it right I think stocks are the best option).

Now I am definitely not an expert. As a matter of fact I am a huge novice who has caught some decent tips. I look for big news and things like that but cannot distinctly identify a good company on the markets to tell me if I should hold something long-term. Because of this, I keep and hold ETF's. I have done a bit of research but basically: Exchange-traded funds (or ETFs) are open ended mutual funds that can be traded at any time throughout the course of the day. (Wikipedia).

What this means is it is a fund that is managed for you and they do the work for you. They generally follow some market like the s&p 500 and it lets you get a good return with little work(just looking up and following the ETFs isn't nearly as hard as day-trading or anything like that). I personally trade mostly Vanguard's and have never seen anything bad about them.

Anyways saw an early news story about EFUT today and saw it was in China and signed a big deal in Beijing. China has been booming lately so I put a good amount into it and made ~$205 on the stock in one day(very good for me since ETF usually doesn't have huge returns). The other one in the picture is just a tiny one I bought so I could track it and see how things were going. I only bought it because of a random tip and obviously since I only put $80 on it I am just having fun. All of my other stocks are Vanguard etf's and I have a large bulk of money in each one. So FYI do some research and get your money in some ETFs!

Disclaimer: I am literally such a novice at investing that it is silly. I have 0 idea what I am doing and would advise you to look up literally everything yourself. I almost never trade real stocks because of this and usually stick to only ETF's but this particular one paid off nicely. Good luck!

Good Day / Bad Day

2007-10-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Ok so good day/bad day

Good Day:

Poker in general was good. I was up 1600 or so or whatever that little graph says I don't care to look. Click on the pic to enlarge. Anyways it has been a good start to the month, +3k or so.

Bad Day:

Left my backpack in ADUC today. ADUC is like our cafeteria but it has chic-fil-a and stuff like that. Anyways I left it right by my table and I ate around 3pm. Luckily the place closes at 4pm, and it is pretty dead then, so I don't think many people went by so it might still be right there. If not, it might be with one of the cashier's or something iunno, but regardless I have to wake up at 7am when they open(I am writing this at 2:15am), and then I have to redo a 4 page essay and also 6 pages of work on Excel for my computer class. Luckily class starts at 11:30 so I have plenty of time but God I am going to be so dead tomm.

UPDATE:
It is now 8:50. I got the muhhhfuckin backpack from some lunch lady. Anyways she asked me a bunch of questions like I was randomly stealing a lost backpack, which pissed me off. By the end I said "Listen, there are 3 disks in the front. These disks say my name on them." Anyways after the interrogation I got my shit back and am currently working on all the homework I couldn't do last night. Boo-ya!

$1k day, yo

2007-10-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Usually something like this is kinda trivial but with how bad I have ran a 1k day feels awesome.

I am actually not done with the day but I am posting this and will update later if I win more :P

Anyways, I am going to post a hand of mine and then go through the thought process:

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $1/$2 Blinds - 8 Players - (http://www.legopoker.com http://www.legopoker.com/hh)

SB: $239.00
Hero (BB): $453.60
UTG: $274.95
UTG+1: $197.00
MP1: $154.30
MP2: $123.20
CO: $121.55
BTN: $180.95

Preflop: Hero is dealt Qd Qc (8 Players)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $8.00, 5 folds, Hero raises to $24.00, UTG+1 calls $16.00

Ok, so the player I am playing against is very aggressive. This can limit his range some to 22-JJ, AQ, AJs

Flop: ($49) 5h Ts 3h (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Here I am actually going for a check-raise. If he puts me on AK then he will bet out trying to get me to fold and I can get some money from him. With the check behind I lean his range more towards the pocket pairs, 22-JJ, because I think he bets most ace high's here

Turn: ($49) 8c (2 Players)
Hero bets $26.00, UTG+1 calls $26.00

Ok in this spot he is obviously now playing a pocket pair, and it is doubtful he hit a set because he would raise me with two hearts on the board. He also doesn't have the flush draw because he bets it on the flop.
River: ($101) Ah (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $71.00, Hero calls $71.00

Ok now this is where the hand got fun. I checked behind in case he had an ace and I didn't want him to call me there with an ace. Fortunately it seems pretty obvious that he wouldn't bet an ace here because he would not have AK and he may have put me on AK(he would've 4bet preflop with AK). I also check behind so he can bluff. A scary card, the flush and the ace, hit the river. The problem is he didn't play it like he had either of those. So before I call I say "it is so sick that you would bluff here, you got JJ?" and call. Well I guess I was close :)

Pot Size: $243.00 ($3 Rake)

UTG+1 had 7d 7s (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$121.00)
Hero had Qd Qc (a pair of Queens) and WON (+$119.00)

So what is the point of this blog entry? Not to show off, but to make anyone reading this realize that if you are playing it is so crucial that you have to put people on ranges for hands. Did they play it like they had an ace or a flush draw? Does their line make any sense? So what could they have here? You have to think about every action he takes and you can slowly realize what his range of hands is when the player makes certain actions. It is the part of my game I still am developing and it is such a crucial part of high stakes games.

September Setback.

2007-09-30T20:52:00.001-07:00

So September blew pretty hard.

I ended up -2,000 in all-in equity, and -2,00o for the month. Hopefully things go better next month as a 10k month followed by this is pretty horrid.

September:
Play: -$2,063.70
Bonuses: +$4,625

Total: +2,561.30

October Goals:

Play 80,000 hands
Improve immensely
Try to make a profit :)
Move up sometime if the month goes well

Birthday!

2007-09-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday!

I usually hate this day as a lot of bad stuff happens(post below this) but hopefully this one goes better. I am officially 19 years old, only 2 more years till I take the live poker world by storm.

Update: Today was fun. Britt got me a sweet ass hoodie so I can be a gangsta. The rest of the fam just gave me money like I always ask for and I got a new wallet from britt too..No one got killed or anything which is a shock on my bday. Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone

Worst night in a long time, and my birthday woes

2007-09-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

Heh,

WOOOOOWWWW.

Anyways so I run like hell at 1/2, and I see the 2/4 games are really juicy..no reason not to play them..

Anyways you can see how the night went. This will make this my worst month ever now, which is awesome. I'm playing fine(actually great) and just getting coolered bad. As you can see I was down a LOOOOTT with any good hands, and I caught 0 flushes,straights,full houses, and etc.

I personally cannot wait to forget about this month. I start a new database once September ends(I go quarterly), so I can just wipe this baby out of my mind. My birthday is Saturday and I think that is the reason I am running so bad, because everything bad happens around my birthday, ex:

12-I have a party, and someone is outside knocking on my back door. I look through the glass window and his hand goes through the glass. I got glass lodge in my eye and I had to get over 350 stitches directly in my eye. Was a good time

13-Grandpa dies on the night of my party
14-On my way to friends party because I didn't want to hold one that year anymore..so I get called on the way(aunt was driving me)..my sister was in a bad wreck and got life flighted. Like 6 broken ribs, two punctured lungs, lacerated liver, and two broken collarbones. She made it, but barely.

15-18 = GOOD!

19- My step-dad's dad died today. Does the curse begin once again now? I hope not.

Better Night and some stories.

2007-09-26T11:01:00.001-07:00

First, Last night was my first good night in forever. Some things actually went my way etc, and not a big win but a confidence boost regardless

Some good stories:

Heads-up Match

The other day in class a kid I've talked to and told what I do comes up to me and says: "Dude there is this rich kid in my frat that wants to play you Heads-up for $100." I asked some details and apparently the kid isn't any good he just wants to see what it's like to play someone "good" although that detail about my play is definitely debatable. Anyways, I told them to up the bet to $500(ballllllaaaa) and I'll do it. So details to come if this happens.

Chriiiisss Moneymaker!

So the other day when I was playing some 2/4, I get a good hand vs some unkown and take down a big pot:

POKERSTARS GAME #12021902562: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2007/09/12 - 18:20:52 (ET)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Schwallie4 [6h 6d]
Bluff_man79 said, "lol"
Bluff_man79: raises $8 to $12
Money800: calls $12
AQUA RAIDER: folds
DR. GUTTER: folds
Schwallie4: calls $12
3 folds
*** FLOP *** [Kc As 6s]
Bluff_man79: bets $20
Money800: calls $20
Schwallie4: raises $60 to $80
Bluff_man79: calls $56.30 and is all-in
Money800: raises $410.40 to $490.40 and is all-in
Schwallie4: calls $296 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Kc As 6s] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [Kc As 6s Jh] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Money800: shows [Ks Ts] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
Schwallie4: shows [6h 6d] (three of a kind, Sixes)
Schwallie4 collected $599.40 from side pot
Bluff_man79: mucks hand
Bluff_man79 is sitting out
Schwallie4 collected $267.90 from main pot

Anyways, apparently "Money800" is none other than the guy who started the boom(that is what all the observers told me when I won the pot), Chris Moneymaker himself. Well he douched off a bit more money to everyone while playing a 43/18 style or something. I talked to him for a bit and told him to remember my name because I'll be at the top someday(cocky? I think so!). He said he was playing for promotional value and wasn't playing hard, but I assume he just sucks because that is what I've heard from when he plays "hard" too.

September...Ugh.

2007-09-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

So..uhhh..Well I'm not gonna lie.

September has sucked. After a great August(>$10k), September has all but blown. I am down almost $2,000 in equity after my all-ins, but that would only make me like even for the month so what does it even matter. I am in the process of changing and improving my game rapidly, so I think this will be good for me in the future.

So luckily I have almost $5k in bonuses this month from good Ol' Pokerstars. I think I can still turn this month around and make it atleast a month in the green although it can't be a "good" month no matter what I do.

My story

2007-09-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, my story:

Although I claim to have played only a year, it has actually been longer. Around 2 years ago my sister introduced me to a friend of hers, a guy by the name of Jeff Blankenship. He used to play 5/10+ and had a crapload of money at the time(he has since left the game of poker). Anyways he taught me a couple things, we were going to do a staking deal and couldn't come to a good conclusion, and after only a couple meetings with him we split our diff ways. At this time I had $3.28 in a Pacific Poker account from a $25 deposit that I made a month before. I remembered I had this on a trip to Myrtle Beach when I was 16. I logged onto Pacific, and ran it up to $700 within the week of vacation playing an hour at night. I ran that up to $1500 or so once I got home and cashed out $600 before I lost a good amount of it. That was when I realized I couldn't beat the game by myself and I was too lazy to learn to beat it either. So for the next 2 years I bonuswhored when I needed money, probably playing an average of 5 hours a month just to clear a bonus or something.
Anyways, so January of 2007 I decided to teach myself how to play. I started at $25nl with $300 in my Pokerstars account. From there I never moved up with 30 buy-ins and was very risk-averse. I have been playing a crapload this year, and probably have averaged 80k hands per month for the first 9 months of my first year of poker. I have had huge ups and downs in this first year and am learning rapdidly about the game. I am properly rolled for 5/10 with all my poker winnings, and properly rolled for 3/6 with the money actually in my account, but am only playing 1/2. I am a huge pansy :(.

Ok, but my plans for poker:
Dominate. I think I can beat this game for a good clip once I learn. I am a smart kid and have never been unsuccessful in anything I have tried and don't plan on starting now. If anyone wants my credentials for calling myself a "smart kid" please ask and I can tell you but I'm not here to show off pointless test scores unless called out. I am studying the game a lot and trying to learn as much as I can, and I think that is important. I also have very little stress and am very laid back, so that helps at the poker tables. Also, my motivation for money and to be rich and make something of myself is a huge factor in why I think I will be successful at this game. I will use this blog to make myself not hide from my results and to face the facts when I am losing. I will also be parlaying any useful information I deduce on my own about poker to my readers.

Good luck at the tables ya'll, I will be here later with some updates about my month and how horrid it has been.

What the hell

2007-09-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Alright, I guess I will start a blog for all my admirers out there. I am starting this into one of my most mentally taxing months ever and I don't have any reason to do this...I will do a blog post about my poker career soon since I don't feel like doing a research paper I have due.

Just some FYI:
I (poorly) play poker and attend Morehead State University in the hills of Kentucky(yea, really.). I have 4 years of free education and free room+board to become a balla before I leave. I doubt I will make it through all 4 years, but I am going to try my best I guess. This blog will mostly be about poker but may switch from thing to thing about my life throughout the blog.

Warnings:

This blog may be highly sarcastic.

I will do my best not to be cocky about anything although the confidence I have in myself to succeed at anything I do may come off as cocky :)

Hold'em Manager vs Poker Tracker

2007-01-24T18:43:00.000-08:00

Design:

Hold'em Manager - 7

(Click to enlarge)

Poker Tracker 3 - 9

(Click to Enlarge)

Hold'em Manager - 7

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

Hold'em Manager - 6

HM had two processes running when it did imports -- HMImport and HoldeManager.exe. Overall, the two came out to 50,028K of memory used, and generally ran right in that area throughout the session.

Poker Tracker 3 - 7

In PT3, I only found one process running when I started up the program. It ran at or around 40,000 throughout the trials.

Sessions:
Both programs have sessions tabs, where they

Hold'em Manager - 8

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

Hold'em Manager - 9

Poker Tracker 3 - 7

Hold'em Manager - 7

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

Hold'em Manager - 3

Poker Tracker 3 - 5

Hold'em Manager - 9

Poker Tracker 3 - 8

If the PT3 staff was the same as the PT2 staff, this rating would be a 7 or lower. The point that we never got 3bet stats or Cbetting %'s in PT2 is ridiculous. Fortunately for these guys, the support staff is a different set of people this time around. The PT3 staff have been really helpful and extremely nice when talking with me and working on bugs. They would've got a 9 as well, but I think a lot of people have taken offense with their attitude towards the competition. I am taking that into account as well, and since their support team has enraged a couple people I think it would be unfair to give them the same rating as Roy, who seems to have a very loyal following.

Conclusion:

Hold'em Manager -56

Poker Tracker 3 - 60