Hiatus

Moving to another state is a time-intensive and lengthy process. I haven't been playing poker for a few weeks and hope to get back on the grind after the move.

Time to Use My Earnings

Having reached about $5k in my bankroll, it's time to start using profits to pay down some debt and accrue some savings. So, you wont see my bankroll climb as sharply from here on, but it doesn't mean I'm not making the profit!

Ok, Steps Kind of Suck

It was fun for a while, but I couldn't make much money at it, given the crazy nature of step play. Decided to go back to what was working before, playing $20, $30 (and now, $50) sit-n-gos tournaments - kind of my bread & butter.

Kat is still playing, by the way, but is having a really hard time making profit. Trying to get her to rock as hard as me, but, well...(narcissistic comment here).

Step Ticket Madness

I've been focusing more and more on Step Tournaments on Full Tilt. These are tournaments where you work your way up toward a bigger prize if you can get up to and through Step 7. Right now, that prize is a seat at the WSOP Main Event. However, you can also take the $12000 in cash, which would be my plan for the first win. I'm a ways away right now, but also moving through the levels fairly well (I've been as far as Level 5 this far).

Because of the focus on Steps, I'm not focusing as much on grinding $20/$30 sit-n-gos to grow my bankroll like I was doing, so it looks like I'm not earning as much, but if I can succeed on the Steps, the bankroll will suddenly boom. Stay tuned.

Stop Loss Implemented

Due to the rough patch I've hit with bad luck lately, I am going to do something I should have done long ago - start using a stop loss limit for losing sessions. I have a tendency to let my ego get the best of me and chase losses, and 1) it leads to long, long hours playing, which isn't healthy, and 2) sometimes it leads to even bigger losses.

So, starting today, I'm going to be using a stop loss daily limit of 8 buy-ins and try to limit all sessions to four hours max. This should help me stay sane and help me avoid some of the big loss days I've been unfortunate enough to run into lately, despite playing my best game.

Tough Times

Had a terrible week a few weeks back and dropped $700, mostly due to losing every coin flip and many situations where I was all-in with the best hand. Oh well, that's poker. It's my first big downswing, and so far, I've recovered about half of the loss. And we continue to grind a bankroll...

When I Reach $10,000...

I've decided that when I reach $10,000 in my bankroll (anticipated by August/September), I will start using half of all earnings from that point on to pay down some debt and help us out financially. Up until now, I've used very little of the money I've earned, while trying to build up the bankroll.

After reaching $10k, I will also be abandoning the goal of trying to double my bankroll within a given timeframe and tracking "levels". I've already proven that I can attain each level thus far, and after $10k, it'll be equally about using the money for good as well as continuing to build the bankroll. Stay tuned.