Today's Results- $281 in 7 hrs

I put in a pretty good session today, no blatant mistakes. I haven't had a losing day at the 2/4 this month. (had a couple losing days at 1/2) I'm not going to post the graph until the end of the month but it's looking sexy. I'm crushing the 2/4 compared to my results in 2011.

Here is a hand I played-

I've got KK first to act in a straddled pot, I open for 25 and get 3 callers including the bb and staddler.

Flop- 1045
sb bets 100 into 97, staddler thinks for a bit then calls. I go into the tank, I've got 220 left and am covered by all. My read was that sb could have flopped a set he was kind of looking away from the table. The call from the straddler move often than not should be 2p+. It was a close desicion but I decide to muck.

The hand gets to showndown and bb ended up rivering the nut straight, straddler didn't show.

February

Total hours played- 78.5
Average hourly winrate- $25
Winnings- $1990

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 220
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $3681

Today's Results- -$379 in 8 hrs

I decided I wanted a change of scenery so I went to check out Lucky Chances Casino in Colma (just south of San Francisco). This place is surrounded by cemeteries which is a little creepy. I played 3/5 nl for the majority of my hrs. I played pretty terrible and bet into stronger hands and gave up on bluffs when I should've followed through.

It is nice card room with comfortable tables and chairs and was more modern than the Oaks in some ways such as a touch screen where you can sign up for games without even talking to the brush. But, they rake an extra dollar and drop 2 dollars for promotions (4+2) and they take 1+1 even if there is no flop which sucks.

I kept a chip for my collection. Overall I was impressed with the place.

February

Total hours played- 86.5
Average hourly winrate- $19
Winnings- $1611

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 228
Average hourly winrate- $14
Winnings- $3302

Good posts man, still catching up...trying to figure out how I am going to be writing mine too, I like your format so far, except you are putting in more hands now, which is good, and pretty much I want to put my hands in too, but seem to get more advice putting them in either LLSNL or Midstakes MTT than in my thread here in this part of the forums...anyway, keep on rolling, you will be out here soon enough...

Right now I am just unfocused and fing off but have not lost a grand yet since being back a week so can't complain I guess...

Today's Results- $65 in 9 hrs

I played at the home game in Berkeley. I think I played decent.

I'm going to get in one more session to finish of the month, leap yr .

Yeah I'm sure I too could get more comments on my hands in LLSNL. Get focused /run better.

February

Total hours played- 95.5
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $1666

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 237
Average hourly winrate- $14
Winnings- $3367

carl?

haha, who is this?

Today's Results- $95 in 3.5 hrs

The month is over. I only put in less that 2/3 of my target hrs , I was feeling a little burnt out. When I did play I played focused and made minmal mistakes so I'm happy with how the month went overall.

Sorry for the bad quality of the graphs you can't really make out the axis but whatever, still doing it the ghetto way. (webcam pic of my phone)

February Graph



2012 Graph



2/4+ Lifetime Graph



I've got the itch to put in a lot of hrs this month and hit my 160 hr target. Let's make it happen! GL in March PG&Cers, time to crush!

I figured out who it was, one of my buddies who is an Oaks reg.

February

Total hours played- 100.5
Average hourly winrate- $18
Winnings- $1771

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 241
Average hourly winrate- $14
Winnings- $3462

Garph looks nice sir.

Hey Pure,

Like ships passing in the night, we haven't actually played together in a bit.

Two thoughts on your end of the month round-up.

1) Congrats on an awesome start to the year! Good to see the hard work really paying off.

2) As you contemplate putting in some insane hours this month I'd caution that a) what you've been doing in 2012 so far in terms of life/poker balance seems to be really working for your and if it 'ain't broke don't fix it and b) have you done any session by session analysis to see if there's a correlation between the number of hours you put in on a given session and the results? Is there a point of diminishing returns?

Good luck!

I am going to disagree with this. Check out the_quiet_assassins thread. He is putting in huge volume with full time job and family.

The volume can/needs to increase if you are to make a good living in the future.

Maybe threat it more as a job, eg have certain set of clothes for poker. Might help you realise and stayed more focused if you had a "uniform".

Best of luck

I'm pretty sure quiet_assassin (who's results make him the hero of all us live small stakes grinders), rarely plays sessions longer than 4-5 hours. This is what I meant by volume. I just don't think there are many people at this level who are profitably playing 8 or 9 hour NL sessions. You can do it in limit, b/c there are a lot more automatic decisions, but I think most people hit decision fatigue if they're playing NL for that long at an optimal level.

Today's Results- -$17 in 2 hrs

I've been pretty busy the last few days but I'm going to have time to grind the next few days.

ty

It seems like some of my longer sessions are losing sessions because in the past if I have won money I don't feel too bad about quiting and going home but if I am down I will tend to stay and try and at least make it back to even.

Since I don't have a real job I feel somewhat obligated to put in about as much time into poker as I would if I had an employer. 160 hrs is not insane hrs considering how little time obligations I have otherwise. Working on my endurance has been a common theme since I started the thread, I've missed my hourly target more than I have hit it which I know I could easily improve on.

It is definitely counterproductive to keeping playing a session when playing bad. I know I won't be able to play my best poker 6 hrs into a session but as long as I still feel I am playing good enough to profit I'll stay. Some things I have found helpful is taking a 15 min break every 2 hrs and 30 min for dinner. I already mentioned hydration a fews days ago but that is also really important to battle fatigue.

I really feel that the most obvious thing that I can do to increase my bottom line is put in more time. Improving my game is another factor as well.

TQA is definitely an inspiration to me, he seems to have a winning formula.

I do treat my poker like a job but I had to wear a uniform for Mc Donalds, I had to wear a uniform in the Army. Since then, I haven't worn a uniform and I wouldn't mind if I never wore a uniform again haha .

March

Total hours played- 2
Average hourly winrate- -$9
Winnings- -$17

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 243
Average hourly winrate- $14
Winnings- $3445

Today's Results- $687 in 8 hrs

I had a pretty good session today, ran good in big pots bad in small pots just the way I like it. I made a straight flush my first hand at 2/4 which was nice it's been awhile.

Here is a hand I played-

1/2 blinds I pick up AK in mp and open for 8, the sb 3bets me to 16 and I make the call.

Flop- 1075
check, check

Turn- K
he checks again I bet 20 into 30 and he c/r to 60 total. I was a little worried about a set of tens or even aces, I also thought he could have AK as well. I took my time but eventually decided to call.

River- A
Villain fires 100 pretty quickly, interesting card as it completes broadway and the backdoor flush. With the time I took to call the turn raise I probably appeared weak and I think villain might bet smaller with a set. I don't think he would likely play a fd or straight draw like this so I made the call. He showed up with AQ

It felt good to play a full 8 hrs too.

March

Total hours played- 10
Average hourly winrate- $67
Winnings- $670

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 251
Average hourly winrate- $16
Winnings- $4130

Today's Results- $230 in 5 hrs

I got in another solid session without any huge mistakes. I wanted to play 8 hrs but was feeling a little tired so just decided to take off early. I feel like I am playing much better recently than I was at the start of the year. My reads have been very reliable and I am virtually never surprised at showndown.

March

Total hours played- 15
Average hourly winrate- $60
Winnings- $900

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 256
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $4360

nice month so far, keep it upppppppppppppppppppppppp

Love your thread. Thanks for sharing!

Keep it rocking...goodness I cannot stop staring at Tryst_ video avatar, omg, lol!!!

Today's Results- $213 in 1.5 hrs

I squeezed in a short night session, the run good continues and I can't complain.

Here is a hand I played-

(1/2 blinds) I pick up KQ in mp and open for 8, it folds to bb who makes it 25, vs a typical opponent I will fold but I had seen this guy 4bet ship QJo and call a huge 3bet with 87o so my hand is strong enough to call. I've got 175 left villain covers.

Flop- Q99
He leads for 25 into 47, I take a couple seconds to stare him down. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have much so I decide to call and see if he will keep firing on the turn.

Turn- 5
he fires 40 into 97, I make it 140 and he makes the call

River- 5
he checks, I bet my last 10 he calls with K10

This is just an example of why it is important to pay attention to hands you are not in. I always try and figure out which opponent at the table is the most likely to stack off light and get position on them. This guy was on my immediate left when I got to the table after I noticed those 2 hands play out I took the first open seat available which put me across the table from him with a few big stacks on my right and short stacks on my left.

Thanks!

Hey no prob, I enjoy it.

March

Total hours played- 16.5
Average hourly winrate- $68
Winnings- $1111

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 257.5
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $4573

lol wow, nh

Hey guys, nice discussion about volume/profit and poker/life balance. I think there is something to be said about what Buck is saying. I think it is very important to play optimally when you're at the tables and as humans, I just don't know if our minds can function at an A+ levels at all time when we're playing long sessions. I also think it is very important to have a balanced life. It is very important to balance poker/social life/work life/health/fitness life/family life, not necessarily in any particular order.

good luck...

Today's Results- -$34 in 6 hrs

I'm really dissappointed with the way I played a couple hands tonight. The first hand I paid off with a hand I should have easily folded. The second hand I called down 2 streets then tanked for a long time and folded to a large river bet when I had 2nd pair and then river brought a backdoor flush, villain flashed a missed fd. I managed to over flush someone to get most of the chips I donked off back.

Balance can be really challenging but I'm still working on it. During long sessions it can be hard to firgure out how much my game has deteriorated until I have made a costly mistake.

Thanks!

March

Total hours played- 22.5
Average hourly winrate- $48
Winnings- $1077

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 263.5
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $4539

Today's Results- -$3 in 9 hrs

So it was another meh breakeven session. I got stuck about 300 when I got the chips in good a couple times but was outdrawn. I managed to grind it back. I switched over to a 1/2 game that had more money and more action than the 2/4 game but I never had the cards to get involved I was completely card dead for 4 hrs but the chips were flying and the table stayed good until about 2 am so I sat there folding.

March

Total hours played- 31.5
Average hourly winrate- $34
Winnings- $1074

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 272.5
Average hourly winrate- $17
Winnings- $4536

Today's Results- $421 in 4 hrs

The session was good today, feels nice to book a win after 2 unfruitful sessions. The biggest hand today I flopped a boat out of the bb with Q5 and decided to fast play it I bet flop, bet/3bet the turn and got paid off by KQ.

March

Total hours played- 35.5
Average hourly winrate- $42
Winnings- $1495

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 276.5
Average hourly winrate- $18
Winnings- $4957

Today's Results- $405 in 8.5 hrs

I'm pretty happy about how I played today. There was one small spot where I opened utg for 16 with 99 and got 3bet all in for 69 more. I thought about folding but she is a generally loose drunk player and had just lost a decent sized pot with kings on an A high board so could possibly be tilted. I ended about calling and paying off jacks. A few hands later I end up taking down a big staddled pot with middle set that I fast played, bet/3bet jammed the flop and I think he had tptk.

It is a relatively small group that play the 2/4 game (usually only 1 table runs at the Oaks but ocassionally 2). I feel I have a pretty good read on all of the regs. That means I can focus my attention on really figuring out the 2 or 3 new faces that happen to find their way into it. I've played 74 sessions at this stake and have won the last 20 of those sessions. Obviously I am running good and making hands but I am also playing mostly solid.

March

Total hours played- 44
Average hourly winrate- $43
Winnings- $1900

2012 YTD

Total hours played- 285
Average hourly winrate- $19
Winnings- $5362