Grindage Report

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So I was looking at my blog today trying to figure out what to write. I mean, there's only so much that can be said about poker... 

Given that I've got no good gossip or scandaliciousness, I guess a poker update will have to do. 

I blogged on February 21st, reporting that I was starting my "program," planning my work and working my plan - playing set MTTs each week (Monday-Wednesdays, and Sundays).

From, February 22 thru today, I've played 186 tournaments on three different sites (Stars, FullTilt, and Bodog).  The end result is that FullTilt apparently hates me, Bodog seems to like me, and Stars is just a damn tease.  Here's the breakdown:

Total Buyins = $1589.00
Wins = $2758.80
Profits = $1169.80 

Stars
108 Tourneys
Buyins = $657
Wins = 1080.30
Profits = 423.30

FullTilt
48 Tourneys
Buyins = $285
Wins = 119.09
Profits = -165.91

Bodog
30 Tourneys
Buyins = $647
Wins = 1678.50
Profits = 1031.50

I started off playing a lot more tourneys per day than I am now, beginning each day at 8:00 a.m.  There are some good tourneys early, but it was too much of a stretch for me to jump out of bed, get my daughter up, breakfasted, and ready for school, drop her off and then immediately hit the grind.  Now, after I drop my girl off, I hit the trail to get the blood flowing and usually hit the grind at about 9:30 a.m.  I'm usually done by 5ish, sometimes earlier if poker hates me that day.

I'm feeling good about my play but I've yet to hit a really big score (none of the above scores include a win in any large field MTT, many top 15s, a few top 2s, but not one WIN!), and obviously that's the goal.  The one thing I do feel improving is my emotional control.  It's an aspect I've just really got to work on and I'm finding it very interesting just what tilts me.  As getting cracked sucks, but I sometimes let little things get to me and I've got to get that under control.  I think volume does help with that because there's nothing to be done other than PLAY ON in the face of bad (and good) beats.  And, since poker is just one long, never ending game, that actually makes perfect sense.

So, I guess this is update No. 1  Now, it's time for NURSE JACKIE and US of TARA (woot!)

Until next time, good luck at the tables!



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Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

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My grinding pad

"Plan your work and work your plan" is a motto my grandfather lived by.  It helped me through law school, it helped me during nearly a decade of law firm life, and it helped me start and succeed at creating and building my own solo practice.  I figure if it worked in those arenas, it will work in poker. 

So, I've got my grinding station set up and I've got my games scheduled. I'll be playing Monday through Wednesday, beginning at 8:00am, and again on Sundays.  Every other week I hope to get in a live local game, and once a month (or every other month as my schedule and bankroll allows), I hope to travel to Vegas to play several cheaper buy-in tourneys.  My current bankroll is still $3000.  I hold some of that in the bank and some of it across three sites: Bodog, PokerStars, and FullTilt.

During the week (Monday through Wednesday), I'll play a maximum of 20 tournaments a day at a cost of $185.30 per day.  I reviewed each site I play on and have the games calendared by start time, type, and buy-in.  All of the tournaments are the micro/low MTT buy-in stakes (with only two $2.20 rebuys in the mix, not to exceed an $11 total buy-in per game), to be played over the three sites I mentioned above.  I begin at 8:00 and my last buy-in of the day is 1:30.

Thursdays and Fridays, depending on my work schedule, are study and review days. I'm also still very much working on my cash game and if I have no luck for the day in tourneys, I put in some time there.  I'm generally playing .10/.25 FR, but I've begun adding in some 6-handed, and some higher buy-ins.  As of yet, I'm not multi-tabling more than three cash games at a time.

I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, good luck at the tables.

My tools

My poker library