Changing Plans

I discovered a major flaw with my plan of playing an entire month at $0.50/$1.00 full-ring hold'em: it's not possible to maintain this strategy and yet sit down for a quick 5 or 10 minute session. I like to play these short sessions when I have a few free minutes here or there. So, I need the ability to play 6-max tables on occasion.

I also discovered a few minor flaws. First, playing at $0.50/$1.00 stakes means that I clear relatively small numbers of VPPs. These are somewhat important to me because I can now buy $50 bonuses and the like. This essentially becomes a rakeback program, so it's better to play a little bit higher stakes, especially if I have the bankroll to do it. I think that playing with 200 big bets is a sufficient bank roll for me, especially since I am not afraid to drop stakes when I go on a losing streak.

So, my new plan is to play $1/$2 limit hold'em full ring when I have time for a longer session. I can play as many as 4 tables at a time. I discovered that I have trouble playing more than that. This will be my primary game. When I am playing just a short session, I will play something 6-max, preferably limit hold'em.

So far, this new method has been very very good to me. I came up with the revised plan when I donked away $20 playing 6-max PLO. I was playing PLO because I wanted to play a short session but I didn't want to play hold'em. I then played some 6-max hold'em in my subsequent sessions, after I figured out that I needed to revise my plan.

I am playing right now and I am getting killed. Prior to this session, I had my bankroll up to $450. I'll start reporting session stats again.

195 hands, $-50.25, $406.05 (I'm so tilted right now... but I quit)

More Poker Updates

February 5: 276 hands, +$7.35, $404.35 (325 VPPs this month so far)
February 5: 77 hands, +$1.05, $405.50
February 5: 112 hands, +$3.60, $409.10
February 5: 523 hands, -$22.55, $386.55 (bad play + bad beats = big loss)

Poker Updates

I've had three sessions since my last blog; two that had no significant value or loss; the other was a very nice win.

148 Hands, +$0.90, $372.05 (4 tables)
486 Hands, +26.45, $398.50 (6 tables)
300 Hands, -$1.40, $397.10 (6 tables; one misclick that cost me $1)

I'm doing a really good job of simply grinding away and playing hands. I'm re-learning to grind, which is really really good. I'm curious if I can keep this up, playing lots of hands and winning a little bit at a time.

The February Experiment

Poker wise, January was an interesting month. I actually started by taking advantage of a reload bonus. I was playing mostly $0.50/$1.00 limit hold'em (6-max). My bankroll was pretty light, so that's about all I could play. I don't remember exactly, but my bankroll was probably around $200.

Eventually, I started playing really well against bad opponents. In short, I was on a heater. I eventually built my bankroll up as high as $650... but then the inevitable crash hit and my bankroll is now back to $353.30. I did cash out $150 in bonus, though, so I am not incredibly unhappy with the month -- just my bad play of late.

Anyhow, for February, I have decided to try and play $0.50/$1.00 limit hold'em (full ring) to see how I can do against that game. I'll keep track of my stats on here. I'm starting the month with $353.30.

Results for today:
57 hands, -$2.90, $350.40 (completely card dead)
58 hands, +$2.30, $352.70
88 hands, +18.45, $371.15 (4-tabling; 50 VPP for the day)

On the fishing front, things have been interesting. I went to Big Carnelian lake last Saturday before sunrise. We caught a few nice crappies but then went to a different lake around sunrise, which was a big mistake. At that lake, I caught a northern pike on a Ratso in the first three minutes but nothing else of note in the next two hours.

Yesterday, we went to Big Marine Lake, where I have had precisely zero luck in the past (during my pre-flasher life). We were looking for a 25-foot hole, but we didn't find it. Instead, we found a flat in about 13-14 feet of water.

We arrive around 3pm and proceeded to get bites from really small bluegills and perch until dusk. I can't recall the details exactly, but I remember catching a crappie on a Ratso. I then started noticing a mark on my flasher about 7 feet from the bottom. I've never seen a fish so shallow (i.e., closer to the ice than the bottom), but I brought my Ratso up above the flash... and sure enough... he drifted up to it and bit. Nice crappie. I then proceeded to catch 5 more nice crappies over then next 20 minutes or so.

The bite then slowed and it became time for me to leave. As a last-ditch effort, I tried another hole about 50 feet away. I caught another two crappies before I had to leave.