Author: glyphic

My bankroll reached a high somewhere around tax day. Two and a half weeks later, it was gone. Vanished. I don’t even know who to call.

There’s some consolation in the fact that this wasn’t even my money. I’d withdrawn my original deposit long ago. It was about half winnings, half bonuses.

But now that I’ve hit bottom, I should figure out what happened before I even think about spending another dollar of student loans on poker.

Losses:

$163.88 on 1/2, $50 on 1/2 (6 max), $101.17 on .50/1, $38 on $10 SNGs. 4128 hands of limit at a rate of -5.04BB/100 hands.

Yikes. I mean, that’s just terrible. Prior to the 15th I was making +3.07BB/100 hands.

So am I playing too many cards? I don’t think so.

	Up to April 15 7017 hands	April 15 and after 4128 hands
VP$IP	18.11%	19.5%

Chasing too much? Not sure.

	Up to April 15 7017 hands	April 15 and after 4128 hands
Went to SD	29.22%	25.78%

Not playing winners? I don’t know.

	Up to April 15 7017 hands	April 15 and after 4128 hands
Won$@SD	60.95%	51.9%

Okay, well… how about the cards I’m playing?

	Up to April 15 7017 hands			April 15 and after 4128 hands
Starting Hand	# Times	Win %	Avg Win @ SD	# Times	Win %	Avg Win @ SD
AA	32	78%	+8.47BB	23	56.5%	+6.42BB
AKs	35	54%	+6.49BB	16	43%	+6.13BB
KK	22	54.5%	+6.25BB	14	57%	+9.00BB
QQ	37	62%	+5.48BB	28	50%	+7.52BB
JJ	35	40%	+5.73BB	15	60%	+5.21BB
All Group 1 Hands	161	58%		96	53%

About 2% of my cards are Group 1 cards both before and after tax day. But as you can see, my rockets have been having severe problems holding up. They’re also not winning as much at the showdown when they do win.

Here’s another interesting sight:

Pre-tax day results:

Post-tax day results:

Lots of red on that post-tax day graphic.

Final conclusions

I really don’t know. I’m either a lousy player that had a good start, or I’m a good player that had a lousy end. I think I’ll hold off on playing any more poker until I read and digest some theory books and get a reload bonus offer.

Not sure what happened, but I only ended up $42 according to PokerTracker. In fact, my game time numbers have been revised downward to 8.27 hours. Very bizarre.

Lost $70 today. Yeesh. I chased hands I shouldn’t have chased. I let other players scare me out of pots. Overall, I saw the pot stealers lose money to the tight-aggressive players. I should have been one of them.

So this leaves me with just a little over half my profits at Party. Still not bad, but it makes me feel like an idiot blowing through half my bankroll. I think I’ll try playing two tables simultaneously and folding everything but the best hands. Hopefully that’ll increase my chances of getting good cards, and give me enough action to prevent me from playing a hand out of boredom. I’ll also step up the aggression on the hands I do play.

Check back in a couple nights for an update.

After taking advantage of a PokerStars deposit bonus of a measley 15% back in February, I basically ran through my bank, leaving me with a dollar or so. It’s enough to play at the nickel or penny tables, but seriously, that’s a freaking waste of time. I’ll go back from time to time for the freeroll or frequent player point tourneys to get some NL practice in, but I don’t think I’ll be doing much more than that.

Ten days ago I bought in for $50 at PartyPoker. Party rocks. If you play well, you’ll catch lots of wins against the fish. 6 days later I had doubled up and cashed out my initial $50. Nice. Nothing better than playing with Other People’s Money.

A couple days ago I switched over to the 1/2 tables from the .50/1 tables. It’s more expensive, but provided I play well enough to minimize my losses and win enough medium and big pots, I tend to come out on top. I’ve gotten some great hands: Royal Flush, four Kings (twice), Aces full of eights, etc. Gotten some good winning flops, too.

Today I started with $122 in the bank. I ended the day with $155 (low – $100, high – $175). I cashed out $50 to Neteller (by accident) and another $50 to my bank account. I’d prefer to have $100 in my bank on Party, but I can wait for a promotion to give me a little extra. Actually, a friend of mine was watching me play earlier and liked what he saw. He may put in some real money and get me a referral bonus.

But even with all this money floating around, I’m still down $150 since June. $250 of all money I’ve spent was wasted on PokerStars, so that’s not too bad. Now that school’s back in session and I’m hip-deep in work, I think I’ll cut back on my play a bit. Hopefully I can keep up this run when I do play and get into the black overall. I have some poker purchases I want to make with my poker money: Books, software, etc.