February summary

Ok, it looks like I have hit my targets, but not before taking a bit of a bruising in the last couple of sessions. I tend to tilt a bit when my sessions start badly, reacting by getting looser and more aggressive (i.e the opposite of what I should do).

Nevertheless, it was another strong month, with a net profit of $2236 , consisting of $450 from a RedStar rake chase, $150 from a deposit bonus and nearly $1000 in rakeback. As you might gather, it's been a pretty heavy month at fairly high stakes (for me), and positive in that play came out in the black to the tune of around $636 - that was hammered by a loss of nearly $700 in the last couple of sessions.

The month was also marked by another of my horriffic $1000 coolers mid-month, but compensated by a $1000 heater the next day and a pile of rakeback.

RedStar is great value for me right now. Between the bonus, rake chase and rakeback, I am netting nearly 70% of my rake back. That's pretty great value.

I have a pretty busy few weeks coming up, with the start of semester and all that jazz, so I'm expecting to take some time off from the pokers. Except for a live tilt or two at the ANZPT in Perth, I might even try to take two or three weeks off from poker completely. Now that is a real challenge!

January summary

January turned out to be a pretty tidy month, despite a week's holiday and a couple of really nasty cooler sessions.

The net result was $2216 profit, including about $670 from rakeback and the RedStar rake chase (turning into a nice extra bankroll boost). It was actually pure coincidence that I just made the $1000 rake target to get the $150 rake chase prize (otherwise would have been just $50).

Of note is that I busted out on Purple Lounge and had to rebuy, and am continuing to take shots at the fishy 5/10EUR game but without stellar results. My first choice limits now are probably 3/6 and 6/12 in dollars and 2/4 to 5/10 in Euro. Also I played some PLO100 with pretty good results over a few sessions. PLO is definitely something I will be adding to my regular mix - time to fork out on the Holdem Manager Omaha plugin.

End of year summary

After the fairly amazing November result, December was a bit of a downer with a net loss of nearly $900. This set back my bankroll back below the $10,000 target I had set at the start of the year. However with my overall profit sitting at around $11k, I am not too concerned.

2009 goals:

• $10k bankroll: hit, then dropped below. I'm very happy with the result, considering my roll started the year on just over $2k.
• Play more tournaments: not really - I'm finding it hard to set aside enough time to play online tourneys
• Play more big live events: the APPT teams was the biggest event I've played and provided a lot of great experience. It was good to mix it with (and outlast) some of Australia's top pros.
• Get back to 3/6 and 5/10 limit: definitely achieved. These are my staple levels in FL, including Euros on Purple Lounge.
• Get into cash NLH: Not really achieved. I've had a few shots at NLH and PLO, but not enough to be confident of beating these games.

Overall year result: net profit of around $8600. Not bad pocket money for a hobby.

November summary

The month began with a bankroll of $7565. Closing balance is $10664, for a massive monthly profit of $3109. This just eclipses my previous best monthly result of $3090 achieved in May this year. The most remarkable thing about this result, is that it was achieved in a month which included my worst ever one day downswing of -$1500.

I put in a lot of volume at Purple Lounge and Red Star, and I would estimate that at least $1300 of the net result comes from rakeback, bonuses, and a little rake chase on Red Star. Those 3/6 and 5/10 tables certainly generate a hell of a lot of rake.

December's goals? I'm not quite sure. Obviously I'd like to to well on Friday at the APPT, but I'd also like to take a couple of shots at qualifying for the Aussie Millions. I'd also like to stay profitable, and keep that bankroll well above the $10k mark.

A very belated update

Ok, so I haven't posted now for nearly six weeks. To be honest, I've been running so badly that I didn't want to bore everybody with a litany of bad beats, coolers and tilt.

My worst day (ever) was just last week, when I somehow managed to dump 200 big bets (over $1000) in a couple of hours playing 2/4 and 3/6. This pretty well puts paid to the notion that 300BB is a big enough bankroll for limit.

As for the missing months: September was a net -$300, and October was a net -$500.

You would think that November was going the same way after that $1000 turdball, but you would be wrong. Somehow I managed to turn it around with a $1000 winner yesterday on Purple Lounge. That was around 100 big bets playing between 2/4 and 5/10 Euro.

It started with a pretty long heads up session against a loose/weak fish. I must have been running good, but this guy was so bad I don't think I could have lost even with bad cards. He was seeing about 70% of flops, but with only 25% WTSD. He was folding about 40% of the time to Cbets, and frequently limped his button letting me see free flops with rags. He also failed to Cbet when he missed on scary boards, letting me take down lots of pots with nothing. This stuff is suicide heads up, and I took him to the cleaners (even though HU is not my best game). I felt that I couldn't lose even if I ran bad. There is something very primal about playing heads up until one of you goes busto. This wasn't durrrr vs Isildur1, but it felt like it to me with my tiny little roll.

Shortly after that, I ran into my old friend johnoda, a 75/10 fish who took me to the cleaners at a HU 10/20 Euro game some time ago (which I then recovered from him the next day at 5/10 6max). Found the Jesus seat on a 5/10 table, with a couple of nits on my left - just how I like it. I continued to run good there, and on a couple of other tables (again, well placed with nits on the left and fish on the right). I even managed to survive a huge cooler, when I ran my AK into QQ on a flop of QKK. That wasn't very pretty, but about three hands later I ran my A7cc into the same guy's KQcd on a flop of JT6ccc with the fourth club on the turn.

The win is my biggest ever one day total on cash tables. And boy did I need it after the worst day only last week. As an added bonus, I should have a huge bonus coming in as a result of my VIP deal with Purple Lounge.

Belated August summary

Usual story, really. Started the month with a horrific cooler, recovered late to be well ahead and finished a little bit on the cool side.

Bankroll started at $8286, and finished on $8333. That takes into account the fact that I had to transfer $253 from my bankroll to a new "losses" column owing to the collapse of Eurolinx. It's possible I will one day see some of that money, but I somehow doubt it.

The gain in "total profit" was a pretty measly $301. Most of that probably came from bonuses and rakeback.

My biggest problem at the moment is that my lucrative sites have dried up. The NoiQ rake races which once were fantastic have turned into wimpy weekly bonuses worth 10% at best (for me). The RedStar rake race turned into a "rake chase" which is a complete waste of time. Eurolinx, of course, has died completely, taking with it a rake race which has paid amazing dividends for most of the last year.

My main objective for this month, then is to find a new decent long term room with decent rakeback and something extra like a race or regular bonus. In the meantime, I might also look for a quick kickback or two.

Mid-September update:

I now have a pretty good rakeback deal on Purple Lounge, which allows me to continue cashing in on the Microgaming fish. Continuing to play on Microgaming sites is a bit risky, since they obviously do not have adequate protection for punters. I will protect myself as much as I can by minimizing my roll on the site as much as I can. On the whole I think it's worth the risk. Just.

I also decided to do the Regalos PokerTime kickback bonus. This bonus looks very attractive, at around $200 and 200%RB equivalent. The problem is that PokerTime (previously on the Microgaming network) is now a stand-alone room - a fact I was unaware of when I signed up. They now have barely twenty tables running at any one time, all no-limit holdem, and only 3-4 at NL50 or above. I am still going to finish the kickback, as it is very easy and the players on the site are laughably bad. The biggest downside is that almost everyone on the site is short stacking - probably because they're all doing kickbacks at >100% rakeback. This site is going nowhere fast, and I am going to finish the deal and cash out as soon as humanly possible.

In other news, I have burned a whole stack of cash on Full Tilt attempting to do their "take 2" promotion. Yuk.

June summary: rakeback FTW!

In something of a miracle, I have ended June in (marginal) profit. I started the month with a BR of $7909 and finished with $7964 for a princely profit of $45. I actually owe myself some dividend from last month so that will probably drop a little bit.

That result is actually pretty good, considering that I found myself in a $1500 hole at one point. It was, of course, rakeback that saved me - I have a policy of only adding rakeback to my account at the end of each month. I made about $470 in rakeback and another $400 in rake races, along with $100 of the RedStar signup bonus. That means that I lost over ($900) on the tables, which is not a very marvellous result.

I had a nice short shot at 5/10Euro the other night with one of my favourite fish which provided something of a boost. I resisted the temptation to join a very juicy looking 10/20Euro table yesterday. I think I want to get the BR to $10k before I get too deep in those kinds of games.

By the way, my Eurolinx withdrawal finally came through after nearly a month of waiting. I'm really hoping they have sorted out their problems, because it is still one of my favourite sites to play with some great races and promotions. I've just requested another withdrawal to keep a minimum bankroll on the site, and am hoping this one comes through much more quickly.

Diary of a sick heater (AKA May summary)

As much as I'd like to believe that I am just a fantastic poker player, I cannot deny that the last month (or two) has been a bit of a sick heater for me.

Since mid February (the low point after the highs of Oct-Nov), I have nearly quintupled the bankroll. Since the end of March, I have more than tripled the bankroll. The last week has been pretty flat though, due to some rollercoasters.

The newly solidified bankroll puts me in a pretty good position to play up to 5/10 fairly comfortably. I have done so on Cake, Pacific and Eurolinx (Euros) and been fairly successful at all three. I also took the documented shots at 10/20, which netted a slight positive result despite the sick cooler at the first shot. I don't think I can stomach the swings of 10/20 Euros HU just yet. But I will probably continue to look at the 10/20 6max games when it runs and jump in when it looks tasty.

The month began with a bankroll of $5133, from which I took dividends of approximately $310. The month has finished with a bankroll of $7910, which is a net profit of $3123 (and another new record). This win comprised approximately $460 in rakeback, $350 in rake races, $110 of the RedStar signup bonus, a $300 tournament prize (4th $5 R&A). The remainder of nearly $1900 was made up of cash table wins at mainly 3/6 and 5/10. I'll take a pretty sizable dividend out of that and take my wife out for a really nice night out.

Holdem manager is due to add the ability to import Cake HHs very soon. I am looking forward to this, as I'd really like to be able to track my progress on RedStar. Once I have that, I will post some hand stats for the last couple of months.

I also have every intention of going back to playing some NL. The thing is the fish at FL have been everywhere recently, and at quite high stakes. Also I have been rake racing (which is way faster at the FL limits I play compared to 50 or 100NL).

April summary

Looking back, I don't think I ever posted a summary for March. Maybe that's because I finished March down $300 after my PLO disaster and a couple of bad sessions.

Anyways, I started this month with a bankroll of $2495. I finished with a bankroll of $5133. That's an incredible 106% return. The net profit of $2638 was made up of $310 in rakeback, $250 in rake races, a $150 reload bonus on Euro, and about $120 of the RedStar signup bonus, and then about $1808 in poker profit (including $700 in tournament profit from Wednesday's second place).

Just reading that last paragraph, I can hardly believe it - especially with the relatively tough run I have had over recent months.

I actually went back to fixed limit for most of this month. Initially this was because the fishiness level on Eurolinx was very high, especially at the EUR3/6 level. My first sampling of the Cake (RedStar) waters was also very profitable on the limit tables. I wish I had tracker stats on RedStar, because I'd really like to know how hot I am running (apart from *very*) and how bad the fish are (some of them, also *very*).

The rake races on Eurolinx and RedStar were also great value this month, although RedStar got suddenly tougher in the last week when RTR emailed everyone to point out that there were 21 unclaimed prizes. I could have made it up to a $150 prize on Euro (rather than the $100 I ended up with), but I was tired after the tournament and needed a break so didn't play the last day.

One extra bonus showed up on Wednesday - I bought the Harrington tournament books as a set using my Eurolinx points. So that's an extra $100 or so of value right there.

For May, I plan to play a couple of live WSOP super sats and hopefully a bit of cash too. I will continue with the EL and RS races, and try to play some more no-limit. I will also aim to play a few more tournaments - maybe one or two a week, and maybe at slightly higher buyins.

Finally, here are a couple of hands from the tournament. I tried this overpot value bet on the river a couple of times and got paid off well by weak hands (gotta love the hero call with ace high).



Landmark of the month: I have now won more money playing poker in the last year than I lost on the stock market :)

February summary

Well I spent a long time in the dog house, but I'm finally back in the black. Having started the month on $1911, and sinking as low as $1650 during the month, I finished on approximately $2893. This is up from my previous high of $2710, and means my first dividend since November.

The result is due in very large part to the NoiQ rake races. I scored $300 from the Jan-Feb main race, and $400 from the RTR exclusive race. I also made $100 on the monthly race at Eurolinx, and $150 in rakeback ($100 from NoiQ and $50 from Euro).

Pokerwise, I made a princely profit of about $30. But I am actually really pleased with how the poker is going, especially considering that the month started on a continuation of a massive cooler. I am still in a transition phase to NL, and am running incredibly well at the 20EUR NL tables, up over 30bb/100. I *was* running well at 50EUR NL until a nasty session a couple of days ago where I lost three buyins to a mix of bad play and bad beat.

I probably won't play as much in March. I overdid it in Feb a little, due to the races and need to slow down. The NoiQ races are much tougher now, and I think the best I can hope for is a small score in the RTR exculsive race (maybe $50-$100). I'll aim to repeat the $100 win on Eurolinx, as that is pretty easy. I also aim to continue playing predominantly NL - $50 6max tables for preference, or else a mix of 20 and 50 Euro.

I may look for a new kickback this month, and might also attempt to sort out RTR VIP on Littlewoods (which I have tried and failed a few times). I still havent played that live session, but will try again this month - though perhaps it will be 200NL (2/3 blinds) rather than 10/20 limit.

January Summary

Hi All,

I have been offline for a few days due to moving into a new house - our first "owned" house as it happens. I was impressed to be online with a 14Mbit ADSL connection within two days of moving in, so props to iiNet.

There's not a lot to report about January. It was another bad month. I sStarted at $2056, and finished at $1910, for a net loss of ($146). This included $100 from a Eurolinx/RTR race, and about $225 in rakeback - meaning poker was played at a considerable loss once again.

The bottom line at the end of February should not be as bad as that however, as I am due to cash $300 in the NoiQ race which finishes in a few days, and a further $300-$400 at the end of the month for the RTR exclusive NoiQ race, plus another $100 at Eurolinx. Hopefully these races will restore a bit of sorely needed decency to the bankroll.

The big positive to come out of January was that I am feeling increasingly confident about my shorthanded no-limit play. I booked a number of wins, and finished up a few buyins in NL play (albeit at tiny stakes for now).

For February, I aim to firstly maintain my race positions. I don't aim to shoot for higher positions, since they require a considerably higher level of play proportionally to the return. I am continuing to play a fair bit of limit holdem, especially where I am racing - it makes sense to play the higher rake games when you are getting >100% effective rakeback. Otherwise, I am planning to ramp down the limit and play more no limit. I also want to keep up with the training videos from Stoxpoker, which I feel have helped my NL play enormously. I also want to play that live game that I have been putting off for months.

Year end summary

Well December has ended the year in pretty disastrous fashion. From an opening balance of $2710, the month ended with a deficit of $665 to end on $2045. The stats suggest that there was a significant cooler going on at 2/4, with W$SD of under 40%. But I suspect I have not been playing my best at times, with VPIP and PFR creeping a little too high at 34 and 22 respectively.

Unfortunately I missed my year-end target of $3000, but on the upside I had another successful live satellite and played well in the $1100 buyin Aussie Millions satellite, finishing pretty close to the big package places at 33rd.

Overall the year has been quite a ride, and pretty successful given my modest beginning. I started on about January 10th, with a $10 no-deposit bonus at VCpoker. The first week I must have hit quite a heater, as I managed to turn the $10 into $70 playing 0.1/0.2 and 0.25/0.5 limit. i broke $100 within three weeks, but then went through some crazy swings after joining Tower poker: down to $30, back up to $100, down to $17, up to $50, down to $20. Finally I managed another upswing, followed by cashing (just in time) a $96 bonus on Tower along with a couple of quads promotion bonuses ($50 each).

By early March, I had a BR over $250. By mid-April I cracked $400, and bought into Pacific via Pokerlistings for the 50% $150 bonus. Pacific was another rollercoaster, where I started with a huge run of bad beats. On one day in particular, I had a huge succession of big pairs from JJ through to AA cracked time after time. I hit a low of $150, before recovering via a couple of heaters and finishing the bonus. By the end of April, I was close to $600 and feeling pretty confident.

May was something of a landmark month, where I had quite a bit of tournament success. My first foray to the casino was a $60 satellite for the $100,000 Sapphire series final ($1100 buyin). I won through to the top four places out of 100 to make the final. Also in May, I came second in a 100 player tournament for a $200 cash, won a 94 player freeroll and cashed in a few SNGs. May was also when I cracked $1000 for the first time.

June through August were a flatline online, though I did play another live sat (busting top 3rd with AA aipf) and then the Sapphire series final (where I scraped into the top half in a pretty dry run).

Finally in September I had a really big $1k month. This coincided with the discovery of William Hill and kickback bonuses. October was also pretty good overall, with over $700 profit. Since then it hasn't been good hunting online, but the sub-satellite win and playing in the Aussie Millions Satellite were probably the highlights of the year. I also had a break-even shot at live 10/20 limti, which I was quite happy about. The year ends with a BR of around $2050, having taken $350 in profit dividends through the year.

On the whole I am pleased with the year, especially the satellite wins. My aim overall was to build up to playing serious stakes poker, and in a sense I have achieved that with the live tournament finals and a few shots at 5/10 online and 10/20 live.

I'll post my New Year's goals in a few days time.

November summary

Opening balance: $2546

Closing : $2708.74

For a rather pathetic monthly profit of $163. Given that this included a big chunk of rakeback (about $250), a couple of decent rake races (about $250), and a massive heater in a shot at 5/10 (about $300) it means (the rest of) my play was utterly dismal (ooh, about -$650). Still, I managed not to go backwards, which has got to be better than nothing eh?

Will carry forward $2295 in the online bankroll, and AUD$550 offline. Exchange rates will make future months a tricky calculation.

Bad things(tm) this month:

• Getting hammered at OPoker (Crypto) and Eurolinx (Micro) for a lot
• 2/4 coming back to earth with a thump (after the early heater, I briefly went negative before recovering a bit
• Losing money from play
  

Good things(tm) this month:

• Pacific fishies
  
• Massive heater at 5/10
• A fair first crack at live 10/20, managing not to lose money
• Rake races at Eurolinx and OPoker
• Rakeback
• Pacific fishies
• Not losing money overall

On the further upside, December has started with a bit of a bang. This was one of those miracle hands that just kept getting better:



On another table, I was playing against a massive, massive maniac. Maybe the biggest I ever saw. This guy raised about 50% of his PF hands, and played them almost all to the river for maximum betting. I don't think I am exaggerating. He hammered me a few times when he hit a set of fours (capped pre), a rivered str8 w J9o (capped pre), and a better pair on the turn.

But finally, revenge was mine:



Postscript: perhaps the funniest thing I ever saw at a poker table.

October Summary

Balance at the end of this month: $2696

Balance at end of previous month: $1970

Profit: $726 (shame about the cooler at the end)

Bonuses: Littlewoods $80, Eurolinx $100, Ladbrokes/Boogster $100
Rakeback: $180
Rake race: $100

Play: $166 (very disappointing, but at least it's in the black)

I will take a $150 dividend this month, and carry forward a bankroll of $2546.

September summary

Balance at the end of the month: $2170

Balance at end of previous month: $1050

Profit: $1120 (woohoo, my first really decent profit)

Bonuses: Captain Cook $230, William Hill $50, Lucky Ace $100, Hollywood $160, Rakeback $15, Rake race $90, PaddyPower $10, Hansa $5. Total $660. Non cash bonuses: 5 books from 2+2, free PokerOffice license from Betsson, free IdleMiner software through LuckyAce.

Expenses: Holdem Manager license ($80)

Play: $560 (ok, I'm still a bonus grinder but it's good to be in solid profit from play)

I will take a $200 dividend this month, and carry forward a bankroll of $1970.

August Summary

August balance: $1050
July balance: $710
Profit: $340

Bonuses: Party: $100, Gnuf/PSO: $120, UB/PSO: $135, WillHill $50.
Rakeback: WillHill/RaketheRake: $15
Play: ($80)

In the end, a disappointing result. Mid-month, I was running hot at William Hill and Party and by the end I had pissed it all away. Bottom line is I'm running like a dog on Microgaming. Once I'm finished that Captain Cook bonus (which is only 200 raked hands away), I'm going to steer clear except for the juiciest bonuses.

I have also bought into Betsson in order to qualify a free license for Poker Office (easy at 100 points). I am testing Poker Office, Poker Tracker and Holdem Manager. HM actually looks very good once I get the HUD working. PT3 is very nice, but development has stalled for the last six months, and it still doesn't support half the sites that PT2 does. PO has a slightly funny set of statistics, and seems a bit flaky under Vista.