Well its been a while since my last update, but that is because I havent had much to add.  Unfortunately I did not reach my $500 goal by last week, so I am pushing that back to this week. So basically I plan on having $500 in my account on FTP by Sunday.  I got up to $320 last Friday, then went on a sick downswing to $275 the next day.  During that time period I had pocket aces cracked twice in like 20 hands playing 10nl, as well as failing to cash in all 15 tournaments.  Luckily now I've gotten back up to $344 playing mostly $2 tournaments, and I hope to break the $400 mark in the next 2 days.  That will give me another 2 days to make the last $100 to reach my goal.

New Weekly Goal

So since my last update, I've brought my bankroll up to $259.44.  While I am pretty happy with my success so far, I don't think this pace is going to work; $50 a week is not going to cut it.  Therefore my goal for this week is going to be $500.  It's definitely kind of extreme, but definitely doable since this should be a pretty easy week schoolwise.  This will encourage me to put in more volume and work towards building my bankroll faster.

I'm registered for the Daily Dollar and a tournament to win a $26 dollar token.  I'll also play a few $2 tournaments and maybe some 10nl before the nights over.  Heres a hand I just played and got really lucky on.  It helped me take 9th in a $2-180 man tourney, but I felt bad for this guy since he lost the rest of his stack with KK to Q-8o all in preflop:


Full Tilt Poker $2 + $0.25 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t200/t400 Blinds + t50 - 7 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: t19070 M = 20.07
UTG+1: t2356 M = 2.48
MP: t56 M = 0.06
CO: t18016 M = 18.96
BTN: t19885 M = 20.93
SB: t10564 M = 11.12
Hero (BB): t8437 M = 8.88

Pre Flop: (t950) Hero is BB with 4 4
2 folds, MP calls t6 all in, CO calls t400, 1 fold, SB raises to t1200, Hero calls t800, CO calls t800

Flop: (t3956) 4 8 A (4 players - 1 is all in)
SB bets t9314 all in, Hero calls t7187 all in, CO folds

Turn: (t18330) 4 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t18330) T (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t18330
MP shows 2 6 (a pair of Fours)
SB shows A A (a full house, Aces full of Fours)
Hero shows 4 4 (four of a kind, Fours)
Hero wins t17956
Hero wins t374

The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One

Quick update: $226 bankroll
Playing mostly 5nl and $1 tourneys still, running really well in the cash games but basically break-even in the tournaments unfortunately.  I'll probably move up when I start running better in the tournaments, but Im happy because I haven't ran into any real downswings.  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself lol.  I'll update more later and hopefully put some more interesting hands up as well.

Back from a break..

Well its been over a week since I posted since I have been in Florida for spring break.  In regards to my last post, I did bring my bankroll on FTP to $202, so I have reached that milestone.  Reaching this level is important because I now have an adequate bankroll to begin playing 10nl($0.05/0.10 blinds) and $2 tournaments.  Hopefully I do as well in those games, although I'm sure the competition will be much tougher.

So I am now at 10% of my overall goal of $2000, which isnt bad although I think I will probably have to step it up if I want to make it.  With just about 2 months left, it would be ideal to get to $500 within the next two weeks.  This will require a lot of playing, but it would put me in a good position to move up in levels at a comfortable pace.  I've really been enjoying playing tournaments instead of cash games lately, so that's probably what I'll stick with for a while.

Well just busted out in 119th place for $11 after I got sucked out on.  Ohs well, my new tournament strategy has been working out pretty well, so if I keep getting this deep in these tournaments I'll be pretty happy.  Basically I've just been playing really aggressive and playing a lot of hands.  This strategy means I'll may not cash in as many tournaments, but I will go deeper when i do and have bigger payouts.  I'll be playing a few more tourneys tonight, so I'm looking to break $200 tonight.

This was such a teaser hand. Woulda put me in the top 20 if I held:


Full Tilt Poker Daily Dollar Rebuy No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t800/t1600 Blinds + t200 - 9 players - View hand 569724
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: t17951 M = 4.27
SB: t95909 M = 22.84
Hero (BB): t130540 M = 31.08
UTG: t2300 M = 0.55
UTG+1: t8400 M = 2
UTG+2: t47074 M = 11.21
MP1: t11238 M = 2.68
MP2: t51493 M = 12.26
CO: t10386 M = 2.47

Pre Flop: (t4200) Hero is BB with 8 5
6 folds, BTN raises to t17751 all in, 1 fold, Hero calls t16151

Flop: (t38102) 7 4 6

Turn: (t38102) 8

River: (t38102) 5

Final Pot: t38102
BTN shows Q J (a straight, Eight high)
Hero shows 8 5 (a straight, Eight high)
Hero wins t19051
BTN wins t19051



Oh, well at least what can ya do...

Daily Dollar Update

Well I haven't been able to update much lately, had a pretty busy week, but I just wanted to post a quick update that I am currently in 27th place in the Daily Double Tournament.

Starting no. of players: 4,906
Current no. of players: 555
Current chip count: $110,000
Chip leader: $242,000
Average chip stack: $50,000
First Place = $3,100

Wish me luck!

Well, I wasn't able to play much this weekend, as I had a lot of homework and studying to do for this upcoming week.  I was able to move up my bankroll a bit in the past two days though, mostly through $1 sit-n-go tournaments and unlocking my bonus.  So at this point my bankroll stands at $176.96 on Full Tilt and I plan to be at $200 in the next couple of days.  Ideally I would like to be at $300 before I leave for spring break next weekend.

After this weekend I'll  be able to move up to 10nl(0.05/0.10 blinds) and $2-3 tournaments.  I also have Ironman medals and Full Tilt Academy points I can exchange for 2 $26 tournament tokens.  So just for fun I'll purchase those and play a couple of $26 tournaments.  If I win, I can get nice couple hundred dollar score, and if not, ohs well, I didnt have to use any money to play.  

Here's my PokerTracker graph for the past week.  It only includes cash games though, the tournament stats are different.  The only thing I'm not too happy about is the 5BB/100 winrate.  I think I should be able to be winning more around 8BB/100 at these levels, but atleast its a positive winrate!

Also, PokerStars account = $6.22 after a couple of 10 cent tourneys.  Its going slow but hopefully I can have a decent bankroll on stars soon.