Toast Talking Turkey: January 2010

I'm going to discuss monetary details in this post since I think it helps motivate people -- it certainly motivates me.

December Results

Last month I never really recapped the poker results but I will say that I had a major leak that was affecting my non-showdown winnings quite a bit. It's best described in poker results graphs with a highly negative red line. Middle to late December I fixed that leak and pulled out of my breakeven stretch, eventually finishing $885 to the good plus $500+ in rakeback. I did have my best single day of cards ever, winning over $1k during the session right at the end of the month. I celebrated the next morning at work by pounding LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock U Out over and over through my headphones. "Don't call it a comeback..."

Total Poker Profit: +$885
Total Rakeback: +$530

Total Profit: +$1415
Hourly Rate: $17.80 (beat's a McD's job!)



January Results

I started the month by taking a shot at 200NL (moving up), and ran pretty badly. I lost my largest pot ever here and then moved back down and lost a lot more. About 5 days into the month I was stuck $1500+, which, considering I had a bankroll of $500 a year ago is quite a bit of money to my bankroll.

Eventually, I crawled forth from the hole at 100NL and some 200NL, and finished the month a small winner (+$443). I want to stress again, if you don't have rakeback, you are an idiot! I, like so many breakeven poker players, made more money at rakeback than the tables this month (little over $500). Email me for a referral. I also got a nice $225 bonus from Full Tilt for last year's Ironman play.

This last week I didn't really play much at all, got turned off by a bad session of RUSH and generally felt burnt on the game -- haven't taken up the obsession again yet either but I'm sure I will.

So, poker made me ~$1185 in January for 66 hours of play, or, about $18 per hour which is far better than McDonalds pays.

Total Poker Profit: +$443
Total Rakeback: +$517
Total Bonuses: +$225

Total Profit: +$1185
Hourly Rate: $17.95 (beat's a McD's job again!)



WBCOOP

In my last post, I mentioned that I was planning to play the WBCOOP. Pokerstars put up a bunch of entries to the world cup of online poker (WCOOP) to winners of various events, and it was a freeroll. Unfortunately, I only made it to play in ONE event, and it wasn't the main event.

I busted when I 3-bet queens pre, two donkeys called. Flop was 56J rainbow, I get checkraised all in by 78 and he binks his card. Oh well! Did I mentioned I hate tournaments? I have to admit they have tonnes of bad players though.

RUSH Poker

Obviously a lot of talk in the poker world this past week or two has been RUSH poker, full tilt's sick new game that automatically moves you to new tables after every fold. It's an evil, evil game that isn't REALLY poker but it certainly is gambling and that should appeal to tonnes of the fish. It's having a serious effect on the Small Stakes No-Limit games so far, but we'll see what happens long term. I think you'll see a lot of nittery take over so it won't be really fun after a while.

But, if you don't have a full tilt account, you should really try it -- it's like nothing i've ever played before. I actually tilted this month playing rush after a few bad suckouts/coolers -- that's rare for me. The session only cost me $500 and the tilt actually won me money (AJ > QQ preflop) but the money moves super-fast. I think overall I'm a winner at rush but it won't be my game of choice.

PokerStars Blog Tournament Thingy

So, I've decided I might give this a shot, just for fun obv.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 459449

Another Month, Another Downswing

Long ago I played a variance free form of cards called Texas Hold-Them at a site operated by an Indian man named Dikshit. That site was called PartyPoker, and a fun party was had by some. The players were awful, and even though I myself wasn't that great, I could still beat them and win I did. There were never huge swings, just a constant generation of small amounts of money at small stakes poker. Play under 20% of your hands, keep betting until they push back, and win money.

Now, the problem is, only playing against donks will only make you good enough to beat donks. Good or even decent players, just avoid them

"Holy crap, that player just 3-bet preflop, he must have aces or kings!"

Today, in a post UIGEA (US trade illegal bullshit anti-gambling online act) world, there are less fish but they're not by any means gone at SSNL. Gone however are the days where a 6-max table had 4 fish and 2 decent players, now at my full tilt tables it's hopefully a fish on a table, a couple nits and a bad loose aggressive. I sometimes get a few fish, but it's rare. Often I get no fish, and that's when the variance kicks in.

I'm having some huge swings in my terms. I remember playing PartyPoker back in the day and lost $400 at $100NL one day in a few hours and was just tilted off my rocker. Now I consider 5 buyins to be "stuck" and almost the norm.

It's not the same game it used to be when a man named Dikshit dealt the cards.

2009 Golf And Poker Recap & A Look Ahead

2009 was a productive one on the greens and the green felt. I'll make it short and sweet, since really, who the hell cares what I did but me. :)

The Golf

2009 Recap

I've already recapped my 2009 golf season but here's the short and sweet version in point form.

• Got a new Nike Driver - Fujikura shaft - works way better
• Played awful on Niagara Mens Tour - probably not playing it next season
• Placed 5th in the Club Championship - not bad after T2 last year
• Won my 2nd Langley Cup in 3 years beating both Matt and Harry (woot) - low handicap match play championship
• Yet again did not play Niagara Cup events for the golf club, got asked to play one day but couldn't. Guess I'm not really very good at match play. :)
• Did not improve my golf game much overall, buying new irons next year is the plan.
• Made my 1st hole in one at a local "executive" municipal course. 162 yards, one bounce, little roll, straight in. -- forgot this in my recap somehow?

Goals for 2010 Golf Season

• Fundamentally improve golf swing & focus while playing.
• Run deep for the Langley Cup -- some luck involved for sure.
• Final group of Club Championship -- have a shot at it.
• Play St. Thomas when it doesn't rain (wishful thinking)
• Play Sagebrush
• Consider Ontario Better Ball Qualifier

The Poker

At the beginning of 2009, I had just cashed out (yet again) to focus my time on things I don't like anywhere near as much as poker. It was a recurring event for yours truly, cash out, start over. If I had kept playing poker back in 2005 I believe I would be considerably wealthier at this point.

I admit it now, I like playing cards. I'm also a bit of a weirdo when it comes to money, in real life I'll drive across town to save $20 on a shirt but at the poker table I'll shovel hundreds of dollars into a pot if I think it will win me the most money on average. I'll explain bankroll management at some point in a future blog post -- woo exciting.

At the beginning of 2009, here's what I said:

Then, the last two nights I did the unthinkable. I 4-tabled for a bit over an hour for each. I'm playing down at Matty's level to try and start winning again to build up some steam, but I'm still running horribly so losing. I'm losing a tonne on overpairs and making it up with good play otherwise... either I'm running bad or it's no longer profitable to get it in post-flop with an overpair with 100BB against guys at this limit. I can't imagine the overall play has improved THAT much down here? Blah. Anyway, down 3BI in the last 2 days through about 1300 hands. Sigh.

God forbid I actually ever put my own money into online poker to play real limits -- totally taboo for me. I started with 2 $50 deposits back in the day, and I'm still playing on it after cashing out year after year. Fortunately, I still have 38 buyins for this level in my 'roll, so I can afford the candy even if it tastes like ass currently.

Well, I never did put my own money back into online poker -- I just did it the old fashioned way and played and got lucky. Here's what happened:

Starting at $950 my account as of December 31 was $6905, and in April I cashed out $1k as well. So overall I would say I had a good year. Playing limits of 25NL, 50NL, 100NL and a small shot at 200NL including the all important (seriously) rakeback and bonuses I collected just south of $7k for the year. Lots of guys playing 100NL win that in 2 months, but I have a JOB and am not in school, so im pretty happy with it.

More importantly, I am *NOT* planning on the usual cashout this year, and will be playing 100NL/200NL and moving up as my bankroll grows this year. I guess a good goal to shoot for would be to be deep into mid-stakes games if I can keep playing and work/life doesn't get in the way too much.

Here's to a happy, healthy 2010 for those who read this blog.

May you avoid the yips and drag the chips