Quick Update

It's been a while.

The Good:
Had my first, hopefully of many, 6 figure score. 7 way chop of the Feb. 2010 FTOPS ME. Was pretty exciting, but disappointed that I didn't win. I was open for chopping because we didn't reach the final table until about 8am EST. I was beyond tired. The frustrating part of the situation was that after the chop, I didn't realize that there was still money on the table to play for. This was my first chop on FTP since they released the automatic chop tool. So, I played half-heartedly thinking that all of the money was accounted for. Oh well, I expect to be back at a major final table in the near future. I'll TID then.

Also, won a Bracelet Race package on FTP. These are pretty cool. My third year winning a package. Hopefully, I can win the "real" package, a WSOP ME seat.

The Bad:
Running like shit on FTP. The doomswitch is on full blast right now. Killing my drive and confidence. Haven't done much of anything since the FTOPS final table.

The Ugly:
After chopping the 10re in Jan., don't think I've come close to even sniffing a final table. Running horribly on there like it's 2007. That resulted in me not playing on Stars on even a semi-semi-regular basis util January 2009. Hasn't gotton to that point, but it's getting close.

That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.

2009 Wrap-up and 2010 Resolutions

Well, this is a bit late, but better late than never.

I ended 2009 on a sour note. Nothing like the end of 2008. But 2010 has started off pretty good. I've have my 5th winningest month since January 2009.

Now on to the 2009 wrap-up. Here are my 2009 resolutions and my thoughts about each, a year later.

1) Continue to maintain solid Bankroll Management rules
I was able to play well within my bankroll limitations. Even though I am just a part time poker player, I manage to not blow my roll by playing MTTs that I'm not rolled for. Spending my money on "toys" is a different story.

2) Grow my bankroll to $100k
Due to some life issues, I had to regularly take money out of my poker accounts to pay bills and such. Even without that, I wouldn't have hit this goal, but woulda been a helluva lot closer than I am now.

3) Win a seat into the WSOP ME
Although I didn't directly win a seat into the WSOP ME, I still was fortunate to play in it. I hit a $6k score in Vegas and was back by a few friends. I didn't cash, but definitely want to play again this year.

4) Win a 5-figure score
Technically, I had 2 5-fig scores, but one was for 19k and another score was just short, $9400.

5) Play 1000 MTTs
Hit this. Kinda hard to know the exact number because all of my databases include sats, but even if I take out 30% of that total, I exceeded 1000 MTTs.

6) Play 60,000 cash game hands
What's a cash game?

7) Climb up to $5/$10 6max
See #6 above.

8) Reach the Pocket 5s Top 15 MTT players for North Carolina.
I was at 15 for a couple of weeks at one point. Finished #17.

9) Develop a regular MTT and Cash Game training regiment
I had a few coaches and went through spurts of a decent training regiment, but this is definitely something that I need to continue to work on.

10) Win 10 MTTs
Only won 4.

Here goes my 2010 list (see any similarities?):
1) Continue to maintain solid Bankroll Management rules
2) Cash in the WSOP ME
3) Win a 6-figure score
4) Play 2000 MTTs
5) Finish in the Pocket 5s Top 10 ranking for North Carolina.
6) Develop a regular MTT training regiment
7) Make some online buddies that can help improve my game.
8) Win 10 MTTs
9) Play in a $5k+ buy-in non-WSOP live tournament.
10) Play in 10 PokerStars Big Sunday tourneys
11) Play in 10 FTP Big Sunday tourneys
12) Play in at least 10 FTOPS and 2 WCOOP events.

Most of all I want to dramatically improve my game. Good Luck to all!

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 505235

Crunchtime

My holiday vacation away from my full time job began today. This time last year is when I kick started my nice 2009 poker run. I made over $10k during that break. Hopefully, I can have a similar, if not better run over this year's break to kickoff a huge 2010.

Happy Holidays!

The Collapse

Well, I've finally completed my collapse on Full Tilt. This year started out so promising on that site. I was up $11k to start the year, after January. Now, I'm down for the year. Shit sucks. Just gotta keep trying to improve and hopefully my hard work will pay off.

Dear Full Tilt

Here is an email that I sent to Full Tilts support and this person's response. Apparently, they receive these kind of emails on a regular basis.

SUBJECT: I Love Full Tilt Poker

"Dear Full Tilt Poker,

I am writing to tell you how much I love playing on your site. You have by far the best software in the history of the Computers. I love going to Las Vegas and wearing the Full Tilt merchandise that you send to me. Hopefully, one day I will win a seat into the WSOP Main Event or some other major live event and can proudly wear your gear all the way to the final table. One day, when I grow up, I want to become a Full Tilt Red Pro. That would be the best day of my life. In the meantime, I'd like to apologize for anything that I have done to make you upset. I didn't mean to log into another poker site. Honestly, I didn't. I'd also like to ask that you please turn off the doom switch on my account. I really would love to win money in one of your tournaments. I've heard that it's possible. Again, I apologize and wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Andrew aka TheJunkie"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESPONSE

"Hello Andrew,

Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support.

First of all, thank you for the very positive feedback ragarding Full Tilt Poker. I wish you the best of luck in your quest to be a top professional player.

Some players like to think that there is a button or switch at online poker sites that when flipped gives players terrible cards and horrible bad beats. The doom switch also has developed a counterpart known as the boomswitch which apparently gives players great cards and makes them unstoppable at the tables.

The whole concept of a doomswitch does not make sense for an online poker site. Please understand that a poker site makes its money off of rake which is a small portion of each pot played on the site. A poker site does not want to take your money because once you are broke you can no longer contribute rake. For a poker site, busting players with a doomswitch does not in any way increase revenue. If Full Tilt Poker made players who potentially would have spent many hours of happily playing raked hands on the site go bankrupt to bad beats they would be risking those players trying their luck at another site, or not playing for real money at all.

Conversely, giving great cards to all the players who are close to busting would also negatively affect profits. If the consistent players who play poker for a living were consistently losing to players who were getting fed the winning hands they would take their game to another site. This would cost a site a large percentage of players who play multiple tables forty or more hours a week. These players track their hands very closely and would be the first to recognize if there was a statistical discrepancy. Every high stake game you see being played is a statement by every player at the table that they trust the RNG at Full Tilt Poker.

Some players come up with more devious schemes for how this doom switch might operate in an effort to maximize profits for a poker site. However, these theories are no less speculative than theories about UFO's, secret societies, and mythical creatures. While it is easy to type up a reasonable motive for a poker site to rig action there is simply no evidence to support it.

The fact is that there are thousands of players who record every hand they play, and there has never been a manipulated shuffle discovered over a significant sample size. Players who have recorded a hundred thousand hands or more and taken the time to analyze the statistics simply do not write emails to poker sites accusing them of having a doom switch.

Regards,

Jamie
Poker Specialist
Full Tilt Poker Support"

Good Game Doom switch.

The Comeback of All Comebacks

Well, the streak of venting on this blog leading to a tourney score continues. A couple days after my quick rant, I finally made a final table and closed the deal. This was a decent pickup, financially and emotionally.

I was able to keep my composure after getting pretty short stacked to make the final two tables. Then I sucked out versus a reg to make the final table. When HU came along I started down 3 to 1, but was able to take the chip lead. Then I managed to get down $73k to $1.4M and win the tourney. This was just amazing. Granted there was some luck involved, but a comeback that I'm proud of nonetheless. Hopefully, this will kick start my next upswing.

Note: My downswing on fulltilt is still in effect, so I am free to bitch about that. :-)

Suckout #1 vs PetieBigStacks from FullTilt:



I have shoved over this guys button raises 2 or 3 hands in a row and was counting on him making a tilt call.



I started HU down 3 to 1 and this save on the turn was a sign of things to come.



I was hoping for a hero call since I played my hand pretty weak.



After managing to take the chip lead, I got it in with a draw, only to be drawing dead on the turn. Notice my stack at the end of the hand. I am down to about $73k.



The start of my run.



I win a 60/40.



Suckout #2.



A sick hold.