On To Level 4!

I've completed level 3 of my plan ($400-800), posting profits in 28 of my last 29 sessions...and am moving on to level 4 ($800-1,600). This level will be more of a challenge to pull of within the two-month timeframe, but I feel confident that I can make it. I only need to average about $20/day profit to get there, playing 20/30 days each month.

Teaching the Wife

My wife Kajtryna, having seen me grow my bankroll steadily over the past few months, has convinced me to teach her how to play and win at online poker - and together, we shall take over the world (or at least, hopefully, make some serious bank). I have to get her over her cautious tendencies and teach her to bring the hammer down on the unsuspecting, timid players, which make up most of the online poker community.

Soon, I'll be adding to this blog a summary of progress for her as well, as she chases me for family bragging rights.

Goodbye Matrix?

As I near level 4 in my plan, I have some decisions to make. I've been playing mostly Matrix tournaments on Fult Tilt, in which you play four tables at once against the same eight opponents, and you get prizes for 1-3 on each table, and 1-3 in overall scoring. They are fun to play, and also cool because their structure helps you offset the variance in poker (you can get unlucky and knocked off 3/4 tables, but if you win the fourth one, make most of your money back).

However, there isn't much Matrix action above the $20 level - not sure why. So I will probably need to start playing regular 9-person SNGs (sit-n-gos) rather than Matrices. The only real differences are 1) Playing mutliple tables would be against different opponents, so a little trickier to track tendencies, and 2) There's no overall prize pool. Yet the 9-person SNGs go up as high as I could ever want to play, so it seems to be the direction I need to go in. Will keep you posted as to how it goes. Thanks for listening.

Winning Streak of 19 Days Snapped

I was on a great run over the past 2-3 weeks, posting 19 winning days in a row until last night broke the streak. Among my many bad beats were KK beat by AK (twice), JJ beat by AK, and QQ beat by KQ, all of them were all-in pre-flop. AK is apparently unbeatable, even when it's only a 30% favorite. I also flopped a set against a bigger set, flopped a straight against a bigger straight, etc. Oh well. As they say, "that's poker".

The good news is that in a short session today, I've already made back half of what I lost. I'm still over $700, and still on track to make my goal for leveling up.

Back on the Horse

Played today for the first time in a week. Been working hard to get my house ready to sell, and it's finally done. $10 profit today put me over $700 for the first time.

Sparse Playing Lately...

We are getting our house ready to sell, so we can move to Oregon, where the poker laws are friendlier. Because of the work involved, I haven't had much time to play lately. Hopefully next week, things will return to normal.