Lessons this week:

• If you ever hear yourself say "Fuck it I'll call / go all-in / re-raise” you are going to lose. The first part is important, the fuck it attitude is that of someone not thinking about their game. If you call/all-in/re-raise with the fuck it attitude and lose turn the PC off, go for a run and come back with a fresh head. If by chance you win...count yourself lucky.
• Leave yourself enough time to play in a large Tournament. Just because in the past you have rarely made it to the 2nd break does not mean that you will never. I sat down on Sunday playing a $3.30 tournament with 1800+ others and well into it I was 62nd with 142 left. It had been going for 2.5 hours, first place $1k. and held well above average chips. I was looking good, playing well and thinking final table. Except of course this was impossible, I had to be at a 30th birthday party in 20 minutes. The thought crossed my mind of just sit out and check/fold your way further into the money, but this is poor sport (but does happen!). So this hand comes along, TJs I raise and gets the SB calling. flop J48 I bet $4k, he calls. Turn comes with a Q diamonds, four into my flush, but no longer have top card. I was pretty sure he hit his Q, knew what he was looking for, lets test it $4k bet...straight back at me all-in...yep guess he just hit is Q...so now here it comes, 15 minutes to be at the Australian Hotel in the rocks for a birthday party...fuck it I'm all-in....he has AQos...7 spades...out.
• It takes particular talent and skill to multi table...I've done it twice both times playing a SnG while a tourney starts up...both times at the heads up stage both times finishing 2nd. But this is not true multi tabling, is that more ring games where people have 2-3 tables going...anyway this puppy will concentrate on one game at a time.

This week did prove profitable, up $33.50 again playing SnG $5.50 with a few tournaments thrown in. As far as a summary - 18 x $5.50 SnG at Poker Stars. In the money, 55% of the time, ROI 35%

1 = 2
2 = 4
3 = 4
4 = 1
5 = 0
6 = 3
7 = 1
8 = 2
9 = 1

The good aspect is that I converted my 4ths into money positions, the bad aspect is the amount of lower place finishing’s 7, 8 & 9 they were a result of the first lesson above...the other great news is that I have doubled my bank role, now up to a healthy $113! I think that this is a milestone worth celebrating, so I enjoyed some Little Creatures...a great beer.

So my goal for the rest of this month is to double my bank role to $200, again playing SnGs with the odd tournament...nothing spectacular, but little steps to bigger things...I have to keep reminding myself of the title of this blog.

I have also been thinking about Full Tilt and adding $50 and getting the bonus, and using that bonus to play purely ring games on Full Tilt as I have never really gotten into ring games. This I think could be a good way to get my head around ring play and learn. I'll use the bonus as a base and if I lose it, then I'll be a little wiser, if I can build then great!

¶ Monday, January 09, 2006