Bankroll Management & Taking Shots

Date: Fri, Feb 8, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

If you are a member of any forum you will see this question asked frequently, "what bankroll do i need to play 'X' buy-in tournaments". The responses usually range from 30 to 100 buy-ins depending on what type of tournament you're planning on playing.I personally use 100 buy-ins as my default bankroll. But I think the bankroll you decide to use also depends on other factors.

Comfort level
Even if you're bankrolled for a higher level, if you're not comfotable playing at that level for whatever reason you will lose. Perhaps the money means too much to you, or you feel that everybody at that level is so much better than you... etc etc.
If you're not comfortable then you should continue to play at you're current level and move up gradually.

Skill Level
This was mentioned above but i feel it needs its own paragraph. Some people have alot of success early and as a result they decide to move up simply because conventional bankroll management wisdom says if you have the buy ins play this level. If you've not played enough to develop the skills necessary to beat that level you will be a fish at that level. Of course, you should also move up to challenge yourself and spur growth in your poker knowledge by playing better(hopefully) opponents.

Just lastnight it dawned on me what a huge bankroll nit i've been. I've had some success early and my bankroll is now +$2k but i still regularly play the $3 45 man turbo sngs on stars. I'm extremely comfortable at this level and the variance is marginal.

In one of my recent entries i posted about how i was crushing this level and i was gonna play more of them until i reached 500 total then move up. But lastnight after thinking about it i realized that i was again falling into a grinder's mentality.

Yes i know the blog is called The Island Grinder but that was mainly from my cash game days, and my bankroll building up to this point. why am i thinking about moving to the $6 45 man turbo sngs and then the $12 turbos? This is the way grinders think, move up methodically through the levels. This is not my goal. My goal this year for poker is to become a good MTT'er! period.

Last month i only played 11 Mtts. I will try to play at least 30 this month. I've been checking the pokerstars lobby and i like the guarenteed tournaments, and some of the regular larger buy-ins that have smaller fields. The $3 & $5 rebuys and the $8 & $16 360 max also look interesting.I will continue playing the $3 turbo sngs and the 180 man sngs as a way to keep my bankroll and confidence stable while playing larger buy-in mtts.


I'm done with the grinding.... i'm taking shots!

Read Full Poker Blog Post

$4 180 sit n go win!

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I went jogging for the first time in years and it felt great. I was really energized and started two tournaments soon after i reached back home. I think i played some of my best poker during this tournament and made some nice plays. My strategy in these small stakes tournaments is really very simple; i wait for hands and then play them very aggressively. I open a wide range if its folded to me

Read Full Poker Blog Post

$4 180 sit n go win!

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I went jogging for the first time in years and it felt great. I was really energized and started two tournaments soon after i reached back home. I think i played some of my best poker during this tournament and made some nice plays.

My strategy in these small stakes tournaments is really very simple; i wait for hands and then play them very aggressively. I open a wide range if its folded to me in HJ to SB including any two. As a result i get played back at often. Most opponents don't seem to be able to adjust to this style. My biggest problems is knowing when to slow down.

Hand 1
Villian in this hand was somewhat loose and i had seen him win a few pots with moves like this. I think he had a weak ace, a busted drw, 2nd pair type hand or air.

Hand 2
Nice chip up before the break... I was among the chip leaders early in this tournament.

Hand 3
Villian had moved to the table about 2 orbits and had been limping alot. I pegged him as a weak player. After just calling my flop bet and checking behind on the turn i thought he was weak and called despite the possible straight out there.

Hand 4
Didn't like this play even though it turned out that i was ahead here. But generally i'd expect to be called by AK and QQ+... still with my aggressive image i guess AQ is not folding...

Hand 5
Push any two. These levels are usually where i seperate from the pack or get busted. people tend to tighten up too much.

Hand 6
Hand 7
My constant pressure usually gets paid off like this

Hand 8
OR had only been at table for about 1.5 orbits and had been opening alot of pots, i had also watched him on another table since we were down to 2 or 3 tables. So i knew he had nothing and the BTN shove likely had a weaker hand also

Hand 9
Short handed at the final table i'm going with A9s vs. a LP raise

Hand 10
A really weak opponent he basically telegraphed what he had all the time

Hand 11
taking advantage of the bigstack

Hand 12
Terrible slow play... still i should've gotten away on the shove

Most opponents seem to be weak at the final table... they just don't play enough hands and i was able to steal with impunity. But sometimes i go overboard and hurt myself.

download entire file here; 1st_20080204.txt

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Small Stakes Grinder: Weekend Update

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Firstly congrats to all NY Giants fans. I'm a Dolphin fan and i was cheering for the Giants all the way. '72 Dolphins remains only perfect team ever! sweet! On Saturday i played 6 $4 180 sngs busting around 40th in 5 and making the final table once, finishing 9th. I also played 2 mtts; a $3 MTT and a $8 MTT. I busted the $3 tournament in the 2nd hr but made it deep in the $8 finishing 83/1876

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Small Stakes Grinder: Weekend Update

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Firstly congrats to all NY Giants fans. I'm a Dolphin fan and i was cheering for the Giants all the way. '72 Dolphins remains only perfect team ever! sweet!

On Saturday i played 6 $4 180 sngs busting around 40th in 5 and making the final table once, finishing 9th. I also played 2 mtts; a $3 MTT and a $8 MTT. I busted the $3 tournament in the 2nd hr but made it deep in the $8 finishing 83/1876 for around $28.00. I really have to make a post with some hands and analysis this week. I will win one of these eventually... hopefully it will all come together in the 100K :)

The Superbowl was yesterday so i didnt get to play any mtts, but i was able to play several $3 45 turbo sit n go's before I headed by a co-worker to watch the game. I finished with 3 1st and a 3rd out of about 13 tournies for a 369% ROI.

LINK EXCHANGE....

If you're viewing this blog and have one of you're own, I'm willing to exchange links, just leave me a comment.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Sharkscope Update

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I made this post some time ago about my sharkscope stats. I did not meet my goal of breaking even by my 2000th sng.But I continued to play and improve my game over the past few months. I have now played 2689 sngs with an avg. buy-in of $6.00 and a 17% ROI. I personally don't use sharkscope anymore because it is really limited in its free form; 5 searches and only the last 10 results showing. In

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Sharkscope Update

Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I made this post some time ago about my sharkscope stats. I did not meet my goal of breaking even by my 2000th sng.But I continued to play and improve my game over the past few months. I have now played 2689 sngs with an avg. buy-in of $6.00 and a 17% ROI.

I personally don't use sharkscope anymore because it is really limited in its free form; 5 searches and only the last 10 results showing. In sngs and mtts 10+ game losing streaks are very common, but go through one of these streaks and sharkscope will have you rated has a fish on supertilt... lol. I find officialpokerrankings.com to be a much better resource.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Poker affiliates: to be or not to be?

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I've been toying with the idea of getting into the poker affiliate game. Mainly as a result of Mark over at planet3gong, that guy is focused and gets alot done. I'm something of a procrastinator but i'm working on that... Over the past few days i've been doing some research on the business and i have to say its daunting. I've gone back and forth a few times now on whether i should do it or not.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Poker affiliates: to be or not to be?

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I've been toying with the idea of getting into the poker affiliate game. Mainly as a result of Mark over at planet3gong, that guy is focused and gets alot done. I'm something of a procrastinator but i'm working on that...

Over the past few days i've been doing some research on the business and i have to say its daunting. I've gone back and forth a few times now on whether i should do it or not. The amount of work involved in amazing... that is if you want to have any chance of success. Just putting up a few banners is not gonna get it done. Right now i'm leaning toward doing it. I will have to decide on the best format for me and exactly what i want to accomplish. I do have some ideas but will try to talk to someone and get their opinion on the best road to take.

It just hit me... I should start a blog about my journy... lol. This blogging is addictive!

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Getting Started

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

SECURITY
So you've decided to explore internet gaming? In today's age of identity theft with 'viruses', 'Trojans' 'worms', etc. etc. the firts thing you want to do is make sure that your PC is secure. Even if you don't plan on gambling online or have already done so with no problems so far, it is still a great idea to protect yourself.

Here are three free utilities that provide your with excellent protection.

1. Avg Anti-virus free edition - This is a very popular free program that has regular updates, and robust protection
   
   
2. Zone Alarm FirewallThis is a free personal version of a highly respected software program with a lot of features. Don't be intimidated if you're not technically inclined, it is very user friendly and has a very good tutorial. If you choose not to use this, windows as its own firewall, although not as robust as zone alarm it can help. Make sure its turned on. Search for "firewall" in windows help and support



3. Ad-Aware & Spybot Search&destroy - I have both of these anti-spyware programs installed on my pc. Downloade them both, update them and scan your pc. Also use the immunize function in Ad-aware that will make your pc immune to certain spyware thats already been detected

Make sure you update and run these programs at least once per week. Also follow the safe internet practices listed below.

• Never open an e-mail attachment sent to you by someone you don’t know, no matter how compelling the message might be; nothing is free.



• Never open an attachment, even from someone you DO know, if the file extensions are EXE, PIF, SCR, VBS, or BAT. While these are a small number of the executable files, they are also the most common. They will all run programs that can infect or even destroy your system.



• When you get pop-up questions on the Internet, no matter what they say, no matter how legitimate they look, no matter whose name is on them (including Microsoft, Amazon, & E-Bay), SAY NO. In particular if it says you have viruses or SpyWare on your system and "click here" to remove them… SAY NO.



• NEVER download and install software from the Internet, especially games, utilities that claim they are going to "help" you, and most especially things that are "free."

Note: all links point to DOWNLOAD.COM which is operated by Cnet; a very reputable company. I also use these programs personally on my own pc.

If you follow these tips and run the utilities as suggested you should have few problems. Now on to Poker!

SELECT POKER CLIENT

SET-UP CLIENT

DEPOSIT METHODS

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Study Guide

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Read any interview with any successful poker player and they will all have 'constant study' and self analysis as one of the keys to becomming a winning poker player. In this section i will go over basic poker concepts and eventually deal with more advance ideas.

Hand Rankings

Starting Hands

Poker Odds

Bankroll Management

Pre-flop Strategy

Post-flop Strategy

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Challenges

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

There are alot of poker challenges all over the internet. They are a great way to stay motivated and to have fun with fellow bloggers. I recently joined RTR forum because they have alot of challenges running all the time. I will record my results from any of those challenges as well as any personal challenges i start on this blog.

Join me or start your own challenges and give me a shout... i will join in if possible.

Poker Stars $4 180 man Sng challenge

Poker Stars $3 45 man Sng Challenge

Poker Stars $6 45 man Sng Challenge

Poker Stars $12 45 man Sng Challenge

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Poker Tools

Date: Fri, Feb 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

SitNGo Wizard

Poker Calculatem

Poker Tracker

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Small Stakes Grinder : : January Results

Date: Tue, Jan 29, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I don't think i will be playing anymore before the end of the month so i will post these results from officialpokerrankings.com I had not set any monetary goal for this month but i am please with the overall result. A +1k month is nothing to laugh at for someone who started out a few month back with $38 bucks in the old poker account. A big chunk of that came from my 3rd place finish in the $5

Read Full Poker Blog Post