ITH Poker Forum

[Piscivorous]

My goals for 2009:
1. Increase my online bankroll across all my sites.
2. Play within conservative bankroll guidelines at each site.
3. Play at least 4 cash table hours on each of my 10 poker sites each week.
4. Play two SnGs at each site that I can afford to play SnGs at each week.
5. Play 5 MTTs each week within bankroll limits.
6. Add two new sites to my arsenal by freerolling bankrolls at them.
7. Learn and add NL cash games to my repertoire.
8. Open a eWalletXpress account to facilitate money movement.
9. Add $30 each week from non-poker income into my poker bank account.

Sub-Goals:
1. Play only one MTT at a time unless my ROI is positive.
2. Watch five PokerXFactor videos each week.
3. Take copious notes on my opponents.
4. Read six new poker books.

Breakdown of my goals
It’s getting more difficult to move money around for American players like myself. Certainly PokerStars and Full Tilt have eChecks which makes depositing easy, but it still requires effort to get the money out in a timely fashion to hit another reload elsewhere. I currently use PIC-Club for PDC Poker [Carbon Poker], Poker4Ever and Poker Host. However, the rest of my sites will require use of eWalletXpress to load and withdraw. Due to these difficulties, I have set aside $600 in non-playable cash for reloads. By adding $30 each week to my poker bank account I hope to have around $1800 at year’s end to target live play for 2010.

I’ll be playing fullring limit cashgames, MTTs and SnGs with the hope of adding fullring NL on a few of my sites.

I’ll be playing within my own somewhat conservative bankroll guidelines:
• 100 Buy-ins for MTTs and Multi-table SnGs
• 35 Buy-ins for Single table SNGs
• 300BB for fullring limit cashgames
• 25 Buy-ins for fullring NL cashgames

These guidelines will be per site. My guidelines are further broken down by game type. So even though I have say $600 at PokerStars, I may only have $300 set aside for limit cashgames, with the other $300 set aside for SnGs and MTTs. The reason I am doing it this way is because my cashcow is LHE. I find myself way too often playing only MTTs and devastating my bankroll and then trying to repair a site’s bankroll by infusing more cash in or dropping my cash game limits. By focusing on each different game/style, I’ll force myself to improve across the board in order to move up. The only exceptions are the sites where I do no currently have enough bankroll to do it all and when I start adding NL games. The seed money, most likely, will come from limit cash unless I hit a roll in SnGs and MTTs.

Playing Time Goals
When I was looking at my goals of last year, I had planned on playing 200 SnGs, 100 MTTs and about 1,000 hours of cash games. Instead, I overdid MTTs and played a whopping 459 MTTs and a dismal 50 SnGs. I’m uncertain about my cash game time, but I don’t think that was too far off. I tend to 4-table limit cash and 2-table SnGs. Since MTTs can run anywhere from 30 minutes to 5-6 hours [not playing the majors], I figure I’ll invest around 40 table hours per week playing poker. This may seem a bit unrealistic and if so, I’ll adjust my cash game play down to compensate for hours missed. Hopefully, I’ll get a well-rounded diversity in play and build up my bankrolls.

Adding Sites to My Arsenal
If I do add a site or two, I’ll adjust my playing time goals. I’d really like to Ferguson a couple of new sites [start with $0 and build a bankroll at them], but I won’t make this a top priority unless a new site on an old skin catches my attention or a new independent catering to Americans pops up. Or, better yet, our new President and Congress tosses the UIGEA out the window at which ALL BETS ARE OFF!

Learning No Limit Cash Games
I’ve needed to do this for awhile. For Americans with very few big sites to choose from, I’ve always looked to see where I could get a good initial deposit bonus at some of the smaller sites and always been thwarted because they’d have 1500 players and a bunch of NL tables but one dinky, little $0.10/$02.0 with 9 of 10 players and a $0.50/$1 table with 4 of 10 seats filled. So, I wouldn’t download or open an account for deposit because there was no way playing limit cash games I could ever get a bonus. If I played NL, I would have the wherewithal to chase and clear the new initial deposit bonuses. Add to this the realization that traffic in NL is almost always better than limit and the fact that a decent NL player will generally make more than his limit counterpart and it make it a no-brainer to start my training in NL holdem.

Site Specific Bankrolls
My pokerweek runs from Sunday to Saturday just like most calendars, so I’ll be updating these numbers each Sunday. I’ll also strive to do a weekly update post where I’ll mention things that caught my attention throughout the week. One thing to mention. Bonuses, initially, will get added to my limit cash game bankroll on each site since it is generally the limit cash games that will ultimately seed the other venues.

Absolute Poker
• Starting total: $92.49
• Current total: $68.46
• Limit cash bankroll: $38.91
• Current limit: $0.02/$0.04
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: None
• Current MTT level: Freerolls
• SnG Bankroll: $29.55
• Current SnG level: $0.50+$0.10

I have a small bankroll at Absolute forged from free money they seeded my account with throughout 2008. I’m uncertain if I will target a reload her in 2009, but if I manage to play up my ultra low bankroll to where I feel I have a legitimate shot at reload clearing, then I’ll give it a shot.

Bodog Poker
• Starting totals: $312.24
• Current totals: $311.43
• Limit cash bankroll: $115.53
• Current limit: $0.05/$0.10
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $80.30
• Current MTT level: $1+$0.10
• SnG Bankroll: $115.60
• Current SnG level: $2+$0.20

My bankroll at Bodog is decent. I decided to downplay the cash game level here so that I could get another site where I could play micro-level MTTs and SnGs. The limit cash game play here is super-soft due in large part to the extra cost of third-party software to get PAHUD running. Bodog has decent micro-traffic and usually a few games as high as $3/$6 LHE daily. My goal at Bodog on the cash game side is to get up to $1/2 at LHE and build up to around $1100 at fixed limit and then use $500 of that to seed NL10.

Cake Poker
• Starting totals: $281.79
• Current totals: $291.92
• Limit cash bankroll: $184.33
• Current limit: $0.10/$0.20
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $40.99
• Current MTT level: $0.25+$0.10 rebuys
• SnG Bankroll: $66.60
• Current SnG level: $1+$0.20

I am on the verge, starting out, of moving up limits at Cake. This is a good thing as I have plenty of notes on the $0.25/$0.50 crowd and was crushing this limit before I set these goals up. Cake is the only place I currently have rakeback. This, coupled with monthly SHAREPAY of around $10, will help fuel my rise in limits. I will be adding NL cash games sometime after hitting the $1/$2 LHE plateau and when I get around $200 to seed NL4 here.

Full Tilt
• Starting totals: $745.85
• Current totals: $428.50
• Limit cash bankroll: $337.41
• Current limit: $0.50/$1
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $41.39
• Current MTT level: $1+$0
• SnG Bankroll: $49.70
• Current SnG level: $1+$0.25

Full Tilt was the recipient of Matthew’s Holiday $100K slug-win. I was playing $0.25/$0.50 here when that happened and decided not to plunk the $500 all into cashgames, because I didn’t want to skip the $0.50/$1 level too soon. With $560 at $0.50/$1, I will be able to move up after winning 40 more BBs, but I think I’ll wait even then until I have 300BB at $1/$2 + one buy-in.

Lock Poker
• Starting totals: $0.00
• Current totals: $105.40
• Limit cash bankroll: $105.40
• Current limit: $0.50/$1
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: None
• Current MTT level: None
• SnG Bankroll: None
• Current SnG level: None

Edit: ITH added Lock to our growing list of affiliates. During the review process, Lock Poker added $100 to my playable account so I have added that to my bankroll and I am currently enjoying Lock Poker. I'll load my account when I finish my current PokerStars bonus and chase their initial deposit bonus.

Poker Host [Microgaming]
• Starting totals: $507.36
• Current totals: $526.58
• Limit cash bankroll: $380.28
• Current limit: $0.50/$1
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $82.70
• Current MTT level: $1+$0.10
• SnG Bankroll: $63.60
• Current SnG level: $0.90+$0.15

Poker Host is one of those sites where I really need to learn NL because they have very little traffic in LHE above $0.50/$1. I doubt I will go beyond this limit. If I can get the limit cashgame bankroll up to $500, I’ll seed NL4 here.

PDC Poker [Poker.com/Carbon]
• Starting totals: $404.43
• Current totals: $402.91
• Limit cash bankroll: $254.81
• Current limit: $0.25/$0.50
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $36.50
• Current MTT level: Freerolls
• SnG Bankroll: $111.60
• Current SnG level: $2+$02.0

PDC Poker is another site where Poker Tracker and HUDs are not allowed. This makes it like Party in its heyday. They run very hard to clear bonuses which never expire and the best freerolls in online poker. They run a $1,000 freeroll Monday through Friday, a $2,000 freeroll on Saturday and a $10,000 Freeroll on Sunday. On the last Sunday of each month the $10,000 is replaced by a $50,000 freeroll. If you can earn 334 Comp Points each day, then in a month with 4 weekends and 30 days, the freerolls will add up to $110,000 each month. That’s where the MTT bankroll above is seeded from.

Poker4Ever
• Starting totals: $38.95
• Current totals: $41.52
• Limit cash bankroll: $41.52
• Current limit: $0.05/$0.10
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: None
• Current MTT level: None
• SnG Bankroll: None
• Current SnG level: None

Poker4Ever is a small site platform on the Evergreen poker network. Last year they started me out with a free $10 and I took a shot at a small rebuy and finished 4 of 40 for around $25. I tinker here, but will strive to play enough to build up a bit. I’m hoping for traffic to improve somewhat in order to get into NL, which is where most of the cashgame traffic is.

PokerStars
• Starting totals: $434.20
• Current totals: $432.03
• Limit cash bankroll: $305.69
• Current limit: $0.50/$1
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $92.94
• Current MTT level: $1.00+$0.10
• SnG Bankroll: $33.40
• Current SnG level: $1+$0.20

PokerStars is my bread and butter. Obviously the biggest site offers the biggest traffic pool and 24/7 gaming. I also have two bonuses for a combined $310 pending, so I have a increase of cash coming to boost my bankroll here. They also have the limits and buy-ins for cash games as high as online will allow. A side goal here is to get to Platinum level VIP. I’d like Supernova but that may be unattainable unless I go on to increase my limits quickly.

Sportsbook
• Starting totals: $8.53
• Current totals: $12.50
• Limit cash bankroll: $12.50
• Current limit: $0.04/$0.08
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: None
• Current MTT level: None
• SnG Bankroll: None
• Current SnG level: None

Sportsbook shares tables and players with Cake Poker. Traffic is decent and they have a sportsbook and casino to boot. I started here with a deposit but never really took the time to play, wasting my initial bonus. I cash out all I could which left me with a little less than a dollar. I decided in October to see if I could build it up. I’ve played a few freerolls and a little cash and got it where it is. I need a $24 bankroll to play their lowest limit comfortably [$0.04/$0.08], but will continue to play freerolls until I can switch completely over to cash.

Ultimate Bet
• Starting totals: $159.79
• Current totals: $80.48
• Limit cash bankroll: $72.93
• Current limit: $0.10/$20
• NL cash bankroll: None
• Current limit: None
• MTT Bankroll: $22.00
• Current MTT level: Freerolls
• SnG Bankroll: $29.55
• Current SnG level: $0.50+$0.10
• Bonus Earned: $25.00

Ultimate Bet is a site I really need to move up limits at. I have a huge $2700 bonus still sitting here and moving up will facilitate clearing this bonus. I’m close to moving up to $0.25/$0.50 limit cash games which will aid in that process. I hope to be playing in $1/$2 limit cash games, NL25, $5 MTTs and $5 SnGs by end of 2009 here.

Bankroll Start: $2877.71
Bankroll Current: $2701.73
Net Profit/Loss: $175.98

Well there are the goals. As I stated before, I’ll attempt to update the stats each Sunday and post about my poker action of the previous week. Look forward to hitting most of my goals.

Edit: Finally, I plan on donating 10% of my non-bonus earnings to Colombianitos on December 31st , 2009! However, since my last Project Colombianitos blew up with UB, I will donate a minimum of $250 at year's end.

[MacTaiga]

That's some seriously detailed goals, I'm curious what the overall aim is? It strikes me that it's not just "make the most money I can".

Where you're trying to spread play across several sites I figure that must hurt your profits (you're spending time away from the weaker games), I'm actually closing down old unused accounts that haven't been played for months because I spend the hours that I have available at the sites I know are profitable.

GL with 2009.

[krazytxan]

A man with a plan.

I like it!!

[Piscivorous]

That's some seriously detailed goals, I'm curious what the overall aim is? It strikes me that it's not just "make the most money I can".

Certainly not just about the money, although I do have a built-in incentive for trying to make as much as I can for the sake of Colombianitos. My goal is to get back to basics and that is cash game play. By forcing myself to earn my way up the diverse paths of limit cash, NL cash, MTTs and SnGs, I won't play over my bankroll and will move up when I have proven to myself that I can beat these games. I had a very long cash game layoff due to my 2008 over-indulgence in MTT play which was, not surprising, a total disaster for me. I want to make my individual site bankrolls self-sufficient so I don't have to rely on infusing cash for any other reason but for bonus reloads or the possible initial upstart of a new site.

All this said, I do get one "free" MTT weekly at a site of my choice within a total 100 buy-in cost of that site's bankroll. Plus the ITH monthly!

[Scully]

Perhaps it's easier to say this when, as a Euro, it's quick and easy to move money around, but I would have thought that by saying that you have $x in total, which equates to $a for LHE, $b for sngs and $c for MTTs, you would be able to move up limits (esp in cash games) quicker.

I mean, if you have enough to play $0.02/$0.04 on Absolute and enough to play $0.1/$0.2 on Cake (for example), why would you ever play on Absolute????? Or if you said, right I have $x on Absolute and $y on Cake then I have $z as a LHE BR, therefore I can play ($z/300) limit on either site.

i.e: if you had $1,000 for LHE across all sites then you could play whatever games that BR allows on whatever site you fancied at the time I would have thought.

Incidentally this is what I so with NL 6 max. Holdem Manager tells me how much I have won since I started playing 6 max. I will only play a level once I have won 20 buyins for that level. Where the cash physically lies is irrelevant. For example, lets say I've won $1k at 6 max I can play NL50. This means between sites x.y and z, plus Neteller, I have $1k available. I may only have $300 at FTP, but by my rules I can still play NL50 there.

BTW, separating your BR between cash, sngs and mtts is a great idea imo, and something that EVERYONE who tries to manage their BR should do. Just because a player kills $50 sngs doesn't mean they can kill cash games. So if said player has a $5k BR and can therefore play, and beat, $50 sngs, it doesn't follow that they should therefore play NL200 just because they have 25 buyins. Personally I take this to extremes by only playing MTTs on certain sites and only NL cash on others, and recently (and badly) PLO on another. This way I can't get confused about the levels I should play.

Maybe you could do this wih your multitude of sites to keep the distinction between LHE, NLHE, SNG and MTT bankrolls. Just a thought.

Anyway - good luck!!!!

[MacTaiga]

I can understand building yourself up from scratch on each site and that will be great for forcing control over your cash game. I'm another one who is tempted by the lure of MTTs and like you I've found that allowing myself a limited number of MTTs alongside the cash games works well.

[Piscivorous]

January 1st - 3rd, 2009
Short first week, 3 days. Nearly break-even [down $1.39] only because I got a pittance of Cake rakeback and SHAREPAY. Didn't play here often enough, but also I'm low limit here. Once I start climbing the limits, the rakeback will go up. Spent most of Saturday trying to get even at two-tabling PokerStars $0.50/$1 FR LHE after a horrendous Friday. UB, Poker4Ever and PDC Poker did well.

[Piscivorous]

January 4th - 10th, 2009
First full week and I met my playing goals on everything with the exception that I didn't manage to get two SnGs in at PDC Poker. Overall, I am happy with my results. Although it may sound somewhat miniscule, I managed a $30.72 profit for the week. I ran about +37% in SnGs. MTTs, not as well. I cashed 1 in 5. Cash games were my earners, especially at Stars.

It was hard getting all the time in, not that I didn't want to play, but because I haven't found the sweet spot yet in terms of time-maximization. I suppose when I get to 4-tabling SnGs, time will loosen up.

For the next few weeks, my cash game play will focus on PokerStars. I still have my $160 WCOOP bonus from last year pending and it expires at month's end. I have 867 FPPs to go, meaning I will need to earn around 42 FPPs a day at $0.50/$1. I want to push past this, however, for a few reasons: I want to get SilverStar by month's end and if I run reasonably well and clear the bonus, I should be ready for $1/$2 and on the verge of starting NL play.

[PauliF]

you definately need to be more organise
and you should definately make a more coherent plant with actual goals


brilliant mate
I really wish you all the luck in the world

[Piscivorous]

January 11th - 17th, 2009
Ugly week. Lost $79.08. I concentrated on PokerStars as I'm trying to finish up my $160 WCOOP Bonus from September. I need a scant 600 FPPs to clear it and nearly 900 for SilverStar. That's about 65 FPPs daily which means I will be concentrating almost exclusively on PokerStars cash games [$0.50/$1 FL fullring] until I achieve both goals. I will throw in the occasional SnG/MTT in the next two weeks.

Once the bonus has been earned I'll go back to focusing on the other sites and catch up their time hopefully by end of February. I'm just hoping I can right this horrible downswing this last week [I lost 6.91BB/100]. I would be happy to finish this chase even for the month.

On another note, I continue to do well in SnGs overall. Bodog's beginner SnGs are proving very lucrative. I am having problems cashing at PCD Poker and in 3 SnGs at Cake I can't get past 3rd finish, although I have made 3rd in each.

Here's to a successful 3rd full week!

[Piscivorous]

January 18th - 24th, 2009

Hmm. Seems I lost my post from last week during the ITH server downtime. Quick recap: I played almost exclusively at PokerStars throughout the week and finished my 2008 WCOOP $160 bonus on the 24th. It was a disaster. I lost $87.60 in cash games. On the bright side, because of the WCOOP bonus, I profited by $73.41 for the week.

[Piscivorous]

January 25th - 31st, 2009

The first month of 2009 is in the books and overall I took it in the shorts for a loss of $13.43, despite clearing a $160 bonus. However, I realize I am in a downswing. I feel like I am playing the best poker of my life. I decided to concentrate a bit more on PokerStars and earn SilverStar. Despite not being able to cash in FPPs for a bonus as I'm already working on a reload bonus of $150. But if I can keep my SilverStar status for when I finish the bonus I can grab a quick $50 bonus. In the meantime, I gain access to 4 SilverStar $20K Weeklies as well as a shot at the monthly $100K if I manage to satellite in.

This last week was as painful as the previous week. I am getting my money in good in my limit games and losing to an odd assortment of gutshots, runner runner flushes and other mayhem. Nothing I can do. I want them to play poorly and eventually it'll have to turn around and I will make the money back with interest. In the meantime, I cashed out $400 of the $600 I reloaded PokerStars with. I designated most of the extra $200 to MTTs so I have access to some $1 and $2 MTTs at Stars in addition to any freerolls.

Outside of PokerStars, I am running very well. I'm running anywhere from 2-20BB/100 dependent on site. I am also doing pretty well at Full Tilt in MTTs. I played a $1 on Sunday, 2/1/09 and despite being at 2.5BB at the 1500/3000 level and 36 of 36, I managed to fight back and I busted on the final table bubble at 10th after my AK failed to win versus a poorly played 33 who was on a steal and couldn't fold to my counterplay. Once again, I feel I am playing well in MTTs. Able to make big stacks, making good moves just coming up short.

February should see me going back to my goals of 4 hours of cash game play per site, 2 SnGs per site and 5 MTTs overall each week. However, I will attempt to catch up on missed goals from January as well.

[Piscivorous]

February 1st - 7th, 2009

I really enjoyed this week. Although I am still playing catch-up on time lost on each site while closing out the bonus at Stars, it added a whole lot of flexibility which I enjoyed. My biggest cash game win of the week was at Poker Host. Poker Host [MicroGaming in general] has gotten away from $ tables of late and most of the cash game players are now playing on the € tables. This basically means that my BB/100 is screwy due to the conversion rates, but despite that I am running well. The MicroGaming software also tells you as you bring money to the table, how much in $ it is. When you leave, it tells you how many dollar the € are being converted to. My first foray of the week was on the €0.25/€0.50 tables as the €0.50/€1 tables had very long waiting lists. I ran very well, and made a bit over $20 in a few hours which is like 40BB/100, although converted is more like 16BB. Since I only played 100 hands at that limit, it was a true 16BB/100. My biggest cash game loss was at Full Tilt where I was running into all kinds of badbeats and lost almost 12BB. Gotta take the bad with the good.

My biggest MTT score was $8.13, which might seem measly, but it was in a $1 MTT in which I bubbled the Final Table in 10th out of 1014 runners. At the time I was pretty angry on bubbling when my QQ < AK, but considering I had lost a huge hand when we were down to 36 which left me with 2 BBs and I managed to rebuild my stack and almost FT this, I have to say it was a huge success. I moneyed 2 of 6 MTTs, so I like the improvement I am making.

SnGs, however are another matter. I failed to money any of the 5 I played.

Finished up $14.88 for the week. Ahh, micro-grinding!

[Piscivorous]

February 8th - 14th, 2009

Bleh. Week was going along quite nicely until I stepped out of my rigid bankroll requirements and dipped into a $5r $50,000 Guarantee at PokerStars on Saturday. I was running quite well, but got snake-bit on a hand when I lost an 80/20 with KK versus 77 for 2/3 of my stack. I also stepped out a bit playing a $10 KO MTT on Full Tilt. I don't feel bad about that one as I was using it as a practice KO MTT for Sunday's FTOPS #24. Overall, I did well in my cashgame play, but I'm having problems in SnGs. I won one out of about 20, with no seconds and about four 3rds. Lots of 4th place finishes suggests I need to hone my skills and start looking at improving. I'm planning on watching at least 5 hours of PXF SnG videos to get me started. If I can't beat the lower buy-in SnGs, I need to find another hobby!

See you next week!

[Piscivorous]

February 15th - 21st, 2009

I did decent this week, despite posting a negative number. My numbers were down because I decided in January to play the FTOPS Event #24, a $120+$9 Knockout that I got half staked in. Other than Saturday [and obviously that Sunday] I posted positive numbers every day. Saturday was a bit dismal as I couldn't get better than three 2nd in 8 SnGs played at my sites. I only managed to get one PXF video in this week, a 30 minute Johnny Bax SnG video.