November Month Review

Poker Stars

Days played: 18

Cash game hands played: 11,566

Hours Played: 30.20

Winning days: 11
Losing days: 7
Most profitable day: +$232.80

Least profitable day: -$172.65

Amount Won: +$295.66

Bonuses Earned: +$120.00

Total Monthly Profit: +$415.66

Goal Evaluation :

- Play 25%+ of my volume at 50NL. - ACHIEVED (91% hands played at 50NL)

- Achieve Gold Star VIP level FAILED (1,951.27/3000 VPPs)

- $600+ in monthly profit - FAILED ($415.66/600)

- Play 20K+ hands - FAILED (11,566/20,000)

December Goals:

-Play 20K+ hands

-$600+ in monthly profit

-Achieve Gold Star VIP level

-Achieve Platinum VIP level

Reflection:

This month was a rough month and I did not have the time to put in at the tables that I hoped for. My motivation all around is lacking and that combined with a short downswing just did not help my results for the month. These next two weeks are going to be very busy with school work, but once the 18th hits I'll be putting in some serious time at the tables. I plan on achieving a MINIMUM of Gold Star in December to set me up for more rake back as I venture into my supernova run in January. I'll be willing to prop bet getting Platinum status this December even with finals week just to motivate me (something small like $25-$50) if anyone's interested. This will be tough with finals and all my end of the semester projects rolling around, but I think its doable especially once I'm home for break.

On a non-poker note I've decided to change my major to something else since I've been struggling in my Computer Science and Math classes which pretty much make up my major. I don't see the point in struggling through all this intensive math and programming classes when I want to go into a field other than Programming. Hopefully through my University's create-a-major program I can create a more Information Technology based major to focus on.

I hope with the holidays coming around I will be able to put in the time and run like God cause I'm really looking forward to furthering my poker game. I am also contemplating getting coaching from a seasoned FR coach oldschool from 2+2 and was a former instructor for PokerSavvy. Depending on how my first half of the month goes I may be dropping alittle cash for some sweating and leak plugging.

So long for now! Goodluck at the tables!

November Week 4 Review

November 22th - November 30th

Poker Stars

Days played: 5

Cash game hands played: 2701

Limits Played: 50NL

Winning days: 3
Losing days: 2
Most profitable day: +$113.60

Least profitable day: -$86.30

Amount Won: +$28.80

Bonuses Earned: +$30.00 Deposit Bonus($240/$600) & +$10 Stellar Reward (4000 VPPs on year)

Goal Results:

Total for Above Period: +$68.80

Total/Month: +$415.66

Total Profit: +$1,352.75

Amount remaining to reach goal: $3,647.25

VPPs: 4,166.29

FPPs: 5,892.42 ($94.28)

Carpe Diem

This is a random and useless rant, but I'd like to express how I'm feeling. I'm very far behind pace for the amount of volume I've had for the year and am just downright unmotivated. I always day dream about one day playing high stakes and making a name for myself along with some decent wealth for a kid my age. The problem is I'm day dreaming, I'm not making a good enough effort to even attempt to make it a reality. I'm not treating it like a job like I hoped to, I'm treating it like a recreational hobby. I see kids my age on 2+2 achieving what I've dreamed of why can't I be them? To put it simply it's all about motivation and my all around laziness when it comes to playing poker. I find plenty of time for reading and browsing 2+2, cardrunners, and fellow grinders blogs, but how much of this time could be spent actually putting in hands? A lot of it. From now on besides schoolwork I'm putting poker playing as a high priority. I'm sick of having a month go by and being like damn I really didn't play nearly as much as I thought I might this month. Carpe Diem! If there is any day to seize it is today and starting tomorrow (actually today since it is 12:35am) I'm going to start doing so. I need to keep the grind on my mind. Let's see how this works out and hopefully I can finally make the change that is needed as time is being wasted everyday. That's all for now.

November Week 3 Review

November 15th - November 21th

Poker Stars

Days played: 5

Cash game hands played: 4,193

Hours Played: 9.89

Limits Played: 50NL

Winning days: 3
Losing days: 2
Most profitable day: +$74.75

Least profitable day: -$172.65

Amount Won: +$-65.10

Bonuses Earned: +$30.00 Deposit Bonus($210/$600)

Goal Results:

Total for Above Period: -$35.10

Total/Month: +$346.86

Total Profit: +$1,283.95

Amount remaining to reach goal: $3,716.05

VPPs: 3,3610.88

FPPs: 5,059.78 ($80.96)

So this week I had my first losing week of the challenge. I also had my biggest losing day at -$172.65. I think I played well to the start of the week, played weaker when jake came to sweat me and got into some really sick spots which just caused for a disaster of a session. Luckily I was able to drop the tables and get myself back on track. I plan on keeping 6 -8 tables for the next couple of sessions and possible add a table if I'm feeling comfortable enough.

So I decided enough was enough and took all of my money off of Full Tilt and transferred it over to stars. I then withdrew $750 to pay myself back from all of my poker deposits in the past and allow myself to play purely on profits alone. This combined bankroll will help me stay rolled very comfortably rolled at 50nl and help me be able to achieve my goal of Supernova 200K through any hard variance.

2011 Yearly Goal/Plan

Next Year Goals:

VPP Goal: 200,000 VPPs

VPPs Per Hands in FR NL(average):

50NL: 0.162 (1,234,567.9 hands)

100NL: 0.286 (699,300.699 hands)

200NL: 0.422 (473,933.649 hands)

Bonus Winnings:

Supernova 200K VPPs:

FPP’s: $7,939.70

Milestones: $5,400.00

Total: $13,399.70

Effective Rakeback Percentage: 40%

Table Winnings:

$15K in pure winnings

Total Combined Profit:

$13,399.70+$15,000.00 = $28,399.70+

Not including any reload bonuses or any other promotions Pokerstars may offer.

I plan on moving up as fast as possible while still beating each limit. I'm going to be putting in 25hrs+ a week during my winter break and summer so that should allow me to get a lot of hands in a short amount of time. My goal is to be at 200NL by September of next year.

Possible plan for staying motivated during school breaks:

• Must play 25hrs a week unless some valid reason is stated prior to the week begins (vacation or other planned obstacles come in the way)
• If I don't break the 25hrs in any week I must pay a minimum of $10 for one hour off plus $2 for every hour after that which caused me to not reach my goal. The payment will be made to the American Red Cross, Diabetes or Cancer Research, or some kind of charitable organization.
• If I don't hit the goal in 2 consecutive weeks I must pay double the amount I owe that week.
  
• It does not seem like a lot of money I know, but to me anything coming out of my profits I'm very nitty about and I think it will motivate me enough to keep it going. I'm going to treat it as much like a real job as possible.

Any thoughts or comments please let me know. I know that I could probably make that bumhunting or something else, but I enjoy playing full ring and would like to continue to progress up the limits.

November Week 2 Review

November 6th - November 14th

Poker Stars

Days played: 5

Cash game hands played: 3,130

Hours Played: 8.2

Limits Played: 25NL, 50NL

Winning days: 3
Losing days: 2
Most profitable day: +$232.80

Least profitable day: -$85.11

Amount Won: +$223.66

Bonuses Earned: +$30.00 Deposit Bonus($170/$600)

Goal Results:

Total for Above Period: $253.66

Total/Month: +$381.96

Total Profit: +$1,319.05

Amount remaining to reach goal: $3,680.85

This week was a very good week. I had my biggest winning day ever and played some real solid poker. Once again I'm slacking very badly on volume and that is mainly because I have been working so much more on school work and the fact that call of duty just came out. It's pretty sick to me that I can play 11 hours of call of duty with no problem and only play 2 hour tops sessions lately so that will have to change in the future. I plan on making a post about my goals for next year like Steve and Jake have and I will be stating now that I will be committing myself to a minimum of 100K Supernova, but realistically going for the 200K mark.

I have a very busy week ahead of me with two tests and a project so I'm not expecting too much playing, thankfully my school break is nearing and I will be putting in major volume during that period to catch up and get me prepared for my supernova run next year.

November Week 1 - $1000 profit towards goal hit.

November 1st - November 5th

Poker Stars

Days played: 3

Cash game hands played: 1,542

Hours Played: 4.58

Limits Played: 25NL, 50NL

Winning days: 2
Losing days: 1
Most profitable day: +$55.00

Least profitable day: -$14.13

Amount Won: +$108.30

Bonuses Earned: +$10.00 Deposit Bonus($140/$600) & +$10.00 Stellar Reward

Goal Results:

Total for Above Period: $128.30

Total/Month: +$128.30

Total Profit: +$1,065.39

Amount remaining to reach goal: $3,934.61

I'm writing this tonight since I'm going home for the weekend and most likely will be too busy to play. With next week having a program, a midterm, and the new call of duty coming out I don't know how much poker I'll be getting in, but I'm determined to do put in as much playing as possible and use my time wisely. I've played more 50NL than 25NL this week and I feel like I'm already much more comfortable over the short sample I played at it so far.

I've also been thinking I plan on clearing my $75 iron man end of the year bonus at FTP then cashing out some of my roll and moving the rest to stars. With the recent FTP changes and really their blatant disregard for keeping their customers happy I will not be supplying them with my business until they fix what they have broken. I plan on going for Supernova next year and am going to try and play full time during my winter break and see if its possible to just play next summer instead of working. I'm very excited for my future in poker and need to keep the motivation up.