BR target achieved

At the risk of offending the poker Gods and triggering another 100BB downer, I am going to post about hitting targets again!!

At the beginning of 2009, with my bankroll sitting on $2k, I set a target to build the bankroll to $10k by the end of the year. I have now officially achieved that goal (as distinct from getting my total profit above $10k).

Today, my bankroll is sitting on $10200, with perhaps another $300 or so due in rakeback payments. It is interesting to note that the bankroll build has come almost entirely in three 'heater' month - April, May and November.

My reason for wanting a $10k bankroll, apart from the obvious, was to be able to play tournaments more freely (especially live). To this end, I will be celebrating hitting my target by joining a fellow Blogger in the Teams Holdem event this Friday at the APPT in Sydney. With a $1100 buyin and hopefully a field of around 100, this should be a good opportunity to test our mettle against some good players. It comes at the end of the penultimate day of the Main Event, so there should be a good atmosphere and some top class players around aiming to avenge their elimination.

After this, chances are the bankroll will dip back below the $10k mark, but this is an investment in good experience as much as anything. And once you hit the felt, anything can happen!

Head back above water

The recovery is complete, with another very nice session on RedStar last night: +60BB or so.

At this point, I thought I would reflect on my graph (total profit), going back to about the beginning of the year:

As you can see, I am a very swingy player. The two red lines show some nice upward trends (well the first was really a two month heater), but there are also some very long flat spots. I wonder how other players seem to manage a much more consistent and less volatile trend (yes, I'm looking at you Bonus Chasing Grinder)? I think I am probably now playing slightly higher stakes on average, but I also suspect that I am a much LAGgier player and am undecided as to whether that's a good thing or not. It certainly makes for some excitement!

And to finish up, here is the funniest hand I have played in a long time (on the crazienst table I have played in a long time). TT is not a hand I expect to hold up in a six way capped pot preflop. Even less so when a king and queen appear on the board.

Apologies for the crappy formatting - anyone know of a hand converter which works for Cake histories?

Hand#2059012067000707 - Lillehammer (Turbo, 6-max) 12067 -- $2/$4 FL Hold'em -- 2009/11/24 - 17:57:41
Seat 1: Rabi***1 ($108 in chips)
Seat 2: sick***2 ($99.50 in chips)
Seat 3: 2iti***3 ($13.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Hero ($60 in chips)
Seat 9: PUTA***9 ($112 in chips) DEALER
Seat 10: flir***10 ($65 in chips)
flir***10: posts small blind $1
Rabi***1: posts big blind $2
Dealt to Hero [Ts,Th]
sick***2: raises to $4
2iti***3: raises to $6
Hero: raises to $8
PUTA***9: calls $8
flir***10: calls $7
Rabi***1: calls $6
sick***2: calls $4
2iti***3: calls $2
*** FLOP *** [3h,Kc,7s]
flir***10: checks
Rabi***1: checks
sick***2: bets $2
2iti***3: raises to $4
Hero: calls $4
PUTA***9: calls $4
flir***10: folds
Rabi***1: folds
sick***2: calls $2
*** TURN *** [Qs]
sick***2: checks
2iti***3: is all in 1.2500
Hero: calls $1.25
PUTA***9: folds
sick***2: calls $1.25
*** RIVER *** [ Ks ]
sick***2: checks
Hero: checks
***SHOW DOWN***
2iti***3: shows [4s 4c] (Two Pairs, Kings and Fours )
Hero: shows [Ts Th] (Two Pairs, Kings and Tens )
sick***2: mucks
Hero: wins $64.75 with Two Pairs, Kings and Tens
sick***2: mucks [ 7c, Ad ] (TwoPair)

And a little bit more

Another +50BB on RedStar 3/6 tonight and I am back above the $10k profit line for the third time. Cue the next massive cooler?

Swing swong

This is getting a little bit insane.

I redeposited on RedStar the other day to take up a reload bonus, and managed to win nearly 70BB in the space of about 150 hands of $3/6 yesterday. It's not quite the same as E5/10, but it was a welcome recovery after my horror session on PL.

I am now looking forward to a work trip to Sydney and the opportunity to play in one of the APPT lead up events.

Do the poker gods read my blog?

God know few others do.

I need to stop posting my wins. Seriously. I just took a massive reaming on some seriously fishy 5/10 Euro tables on Purple. $1200, or about 80BB in the space of about 90 minutes. Standard stuff, but just hand after hand - my AJ < AK on A high board. My AJ < AQ on A high board . My tptk crushed by turned 2 pair. My flopped set crushed by the paired turn(bigger boat) . Second pairs losing to top pairs. Huge draws (str8flush+overs) not getting there.

Just Ugh.

Variance insanity

I have had an upswing of $3k in the last week, nearly all of it at the fish tank which is Purple Lounge. That's just crazy stuff - the equivalent of at least 300BB at the stakes I usually play. It follows a nearly $1k downswing over the week previous to that, so it's not entirely plain sailing.

Of course all of this is raindrops compared to the utter insanity of the high stakes action at Full Tilt of the last week or so. Unknown newcomer 'Isidur1' has been wreaking absolute havoc - yesterday he was playing eight simultaneous tables ($500/$1000 blinds NLH) against the three best players in the world: Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom 'durrrr' Dwan. The new guy is up overall to the tune of about 4 million, mainly thanks to crushing durrrr in some insane six table matches, but all these guys have seen million dollar swings over the last few days.

Shot taking WIN

Fishy table, 10/20 Euro, 4-5 handed. Insanity right?

I decided to have a shot based on running good the last few days (great strategy amirite?) and I have to say this: Winning a humungous pot with AA on the second hand does great things for your ability to play poker properly (and not like some nitty shot taker).

End result: back over the $10k profit mark at last (only took two months)