Uhhh... fail

Bankroll is below 700, which means time to move down in stakes. I'm pretty bummed out, I really think I'm playing well, but it's very hard to stay positive. I asked Bodeye about my awful ROI in the $10 45mans and he said that my current sample size of 400 games doesn't mean much, and that 4,000 would give me meaningful number. Part of me wants to go learn the math behind these numbers for meaningful sample sizes, these huge volume numbers tilt me almost as much as my recent results.

My monthly challenge is also nowhere close to being completed. I haven't played enough because of all the distractions I anticipated initially before I came back home. Parents, job search, and friends being around have all contributed to me not playing. I don't know where to go from here with poker, when I do play I'll be playing $3&$6 90mans and $5 45 mans. I'll have the next month to think about what I want to do with poker and my life, as a graduation gift I'm going on an incredible trip though Europe, meeting some of my friends on the way. Here is the breakdown:
3 days in Barcelona with my college room mate, then in Rome I meet my friend from home I'll call him "Bearjew", then a train to Florence where we meet my other friend from home who speaks italian. Then I think we go back down to southern italy for a bit, then take an overnight ferry to Croatia. We go to Dubrovnek, Split, and other places in Croatia for about a week, then go to Athens. A couple days there then we are still deciding on which greek islands to go to. I think the plan is to do two, then go back to athens, where I will split up with my two home friends and head to London. 5 days in London with some of my former housemates and then back home. It's the first thing I've really had to look forward to this summer and I'm really excited about it.

I won't have any time to play but I'll update the blog as I travel and put pictures and stuff up of all the sick places I'm going.

Strugglin

It's been too long since my last post, it's because I usually post after good things happen, and recently I haven't had a lot of good days at the poker table. I'm down to around $900 and my results have been really swingy. My current downswing is not an abnormal one, I've seen other good players that have had worse runs, what is beginning to worry me though is the gap in my results in the $5 tournies and the $10. I've played over 1,000 at $5 and my ROI is about 23%. I've played about 350 $10s and my ROI is -20%. Since these two tournaments are basically the only ones I play, my bad luck in the $10s is what is holding me back. I do not think the play is better in the $10s although it is a bit tighter. I notice that in the 5s, once the blinds get to 150-300, you are basically at the final table every time. However, in 10s, I think the final table bubble burst a bit later. I find myself placing 15th-7th in the 10s far more than I do in the 5s.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm doing wrong in the 10s, because the answer is probably nothing. The solution is going to be to just play more, which I plan on doing this week, I'm waiting for my new mouse to be delivered, my old one decided to stop working for no reason, and Logitech customer service was EXCELLENT, they're sending me a replacement free of charge and should be here this week.

Big Month

Today was a pretty standard day, very similar to a lot of others I have been living recently. It is however, the end of my first real month of "grinding", as well as my first month of training with Rainman Poker. My bankroll has quadrupled (currently $1,210), my understanding of poker and ability to multi-table have improved a lot as well.

This next month is also going to be equally as important as the last, HUGE decisions are going to be made. I mentioned last blog that I would talk about some of the life decisions I am going to have to make soon. The most pressing and stressful decision is the one regarding my current state of unemployment. Here are the questions I have been asking myself multiple times each day:

1) Should I get a job or try to give poker a real shot?
2) If I do try to get a real job what should it be?
3) If I try to play poker should I get staked or not?

I guess that is the most simple summation of the questions I most frequently ask myself, there are a hundred other questions that are connected to these three questions, which make this decision even more difficult. I have been making steps towards finding a real job mainly in order to keep my parents off my back, I will have interviews and lunches with potential employers starting as soon as this week. Hopefully, by the end of the month I will be able to compare any offers I get to what I envision myself being able to accomplish in poker.

My goal for the month is to play 1,000 tournaments, I'll be sure to keep this number updated as I progress.