2009 was my first year as a amateur poker player. I started playing online poker at March on cash games without knowing nothing but the cards ranking value. I started to take more seriously this Summer and when I joined a training site on August I started to think more about poker. After reading and rereading 2 poker books and play a lot of hands I started to realize that poker is more than just the cards you hold on your hands. Made Silverstar on Pokerstars on August and maintained during September. October was the month where I decided to specialize in SNG and play more MTT's instead of cash games.
I figure out the 2 main factors in becoming a good poker player:
- Bankroll Management
- Tilt Control
You can learn to play good poker by reading books, watching videos, posting hands on a forum or play a lot more. But you cannot become a good poker player if you do not master bankroll management and tilt control.
By bankroll management I mean you have to play the games that suits your bankroll, you should have a strict and disciplined control over your bankroll.
By Tilt control I mean emotional control, you should put emotions outside of the table and always think logical about every decision that you make at the table.
Here are the poker goals for 2010:
1. Educational goals:
- Read 4 new poker books;
- Watch more MTT/SNG videos during the year;
2. Pokerstars goals:
- Becoming Silverstar more than once a year;
- Qualify for a live tournament;
- Increase my bankroll in 300%
- Reach a final table on a online MTT;
In general will try to play more games per month (average of 125 SNG's), specialize in one or two SNG structures and build my roll from there. Will also play some online MTT's and try to reach a final table. I will try to qualify for a live tournament on Pokerstars.
I hope I can post more here on the blog and give some profit numbers every month, will try to do that. 2010 will be a great year to play poker online, specially at Pokerstars because there will be some major positive changes to all Pokerstars members.
Happy new 2010 year!
The Mathematical Path To +EV Decisions.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Pokerstars, the Greatest Online Poker Room
Will play today on the World Guiness Record Tournament Poker at Pokerstars, there are already more than 140,000 players signed up. I will post here the final number with a picture.
Pokerstars made a huge improvement for the next year on they VIP club, so 2010 will be a profitable year. I can make silverstar with only 750 VPPs and there are going to be milestones cash to all players, for more information checkout: http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/2010changes/
I have been grinding some DoNs and I am very happy with my results, on the last 73 games I have a 22% ROI. I invested $73 on those games and not only I received that amount back, but I also made some more than 20% profit on them. I have $50 bonus to release until February, I am sure I will release that bonus with more profit on these DoNs games.
I am playing right now and there are 149,196 players on this MTT, Guiness World Record for Pokerstars!!
You can also look on this picture and see the numbers of total players current playing on Pokerstars (not necessary on this MTT of course):
One more thing, just started 2 more blogs, one of them is in Portuguese, you can checkout on my profile section.
Pokerstars made a huge improvement for the next year on they VIP club, so 2010 will be a profitable year. I can make silverstar with only 750 VPPs and there are going to be milestones cash to all players, for more information checkout: http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/2010changes/
I have been grinding some DoNs and I am very happy with my results, on the last 73 games I have a 22% ROI. I invested $73 on those games and not only I received that amount back, but I also made some more than 20% profit on them. I have $50 bonus to release until February, I am sure I will release that bonus with more profit on these DoNs games.
I am playing right now and there are 149,196 players on this MTT, Guiness World Record for Pokerstars!!
You can also look on this picture and see the numbers of total players current playing on Pokerstars (not necessary on this MTT of course):
One more thing, just started 2 more blogs, one of them is in Portuguese, you can checkout on my profile section.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
How things going?
This weekend was a very cold one outside but very warm at the poker tables. I have been playing one type of SNG where there are 10 players at the table and 5 players receive a prize and the other 5 dont. The prize is the double of the buy in (the amount you pay to play a SNG or tournament).
After 40 games of playing this type of SNG on the last 90 days, I am very happy with my results. I am having a ROI of 27% and my bankroll is building slowly but in the right direction. My perception about these type of SNG is that they are more secure to play, but the reward is not so higher like the 9s SNG type.
I wish I Merry Christmas to all the readers.
After 40 games of playing this type of SNG on the last 90 days, I am very happy with my results. I am having a ROI of 27% and my bankroll is building slowly but in the right direction. My perception about these type of SNG is that they are more secure to play, but the reward is not so higher like the 9s SNG type.
I wish I Merry Christmas to all the readers.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Weekend Feedback
This weekend I played 4 MTT's, I cashed in one. On the one that I cashed there were 5000 entrants and I placed 143. I ended busted with my pocket eights against the chip leader that was holding pocket aces.
I do not regret pushing with my pocket eights because I was geting shortstacked and need to double up. In overall the MTT's are going reasonable, on the others I faced some suck outs but in genereal I think my performance is ok, still need that final table and specially that top 3 place to boost my bankroll.
As SNG concerned, it was a disaster weekend, at least on Pokerstars. I played more than 10 games and I lost more than a half. Some of them were sick bad beats, like holding KK and push to a AA hand or having AA and busted for a KKK hand, some damn things like that. I played most of the time the shorthanded turbo mode $3 SNG, they are soft but the variance sucks.
On the other hand I won 2 SNG's on other rooms, one on Betclick and the other on Diamonbet, the last was a private SNG.
My strategy will change a bit for the rest of the year. To maintain my bankroll in a healthy mode, I will continue to play the MTT's on weekend because I feel I can make a final table sonner or later. On the SNG I will leave the $3 and return to the $1 but more important I will return to play some DoN's (Double or Nothing SNG, where half the field gets paid). I do not like so much the DoN's but they are safer to build bankroll.
My main goal is very soon play the steps system on Pokerstars so I can climb the steps and reach a live event package.
I do not regret pushing with my pocket eights because I was geting shortstacked and need to double up. In overall the MTT's are going reasonable, on the others I faced some suck outs but in genereal I think my performance is ok, still need that final table and specially that top 3 place to boost my bankroll.
As SNG concerned, it was a disaster weekend, at least on Pokerstars. I played more than 10 games and I lost more than a half. Some of them were sick bad beats, like holding KK and push to a AA hand or having AA and busted for a KKK hand, some damn things like that. I played most of the time the shorthanded turbo mode $3 SNG, they are soft but the variance sucks.
On the other hand I won 2 SNG's on other rooms, one on Betclick and the other on Diamonbet, the last was a private SNG.
My strategy will change a bit for the rest of the year. To maintain my bankroll in a healthy mode, I will continue to play the MTT's on weekend because I feel I can make a final table sonner or later. On the SNG I will leave the $3 and return to the $1 but more important I will return to play some DoN's (Double or Nothing SNG, where half the field gets paid). I do not like so much the DoN's but they are safer to build bankroll.
My main goal is very soon play the steps system on Pokerstars so I can climb the steps and reach a live event package.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Bankroll Management, the 5% Rule
Hi readed today one article from professional Pokerstars player Vicky Coren. She said that one golden bankroll management rule is to invest no more than 5% of your bankroll on a buy in tournament.
I am a true follower of this rule, ever single game whatever it is a MTT or SNG, I never invest more than 5% of my bankroll. I played the $1.10 buy in MTT's and I could play a little more higher buy in, but I prefer this buy in level right now because MTT's are high variance games. On SNG's I started to play the $3 and it is still under 5% of my bankroll.
The $3 single tables SNG's are soft but I still did not reached ITM, I had 2 bubbles places and on 9 place where my AKs was busted against KK. The bubble is thougher on these games but I know I can make it and crush these $3 SNG's. Just need to continue to play them.
This weekend I will play my usual MTT's today and tomorrow and some $3 stt SNG's. I will try to satelite for the Sunday 1/4 million on pokerstars.
I am a true follower of this rule, ever single game whatever it is a MTT or SNG, I never invest more than 5% of my bankroll. I played the $1.10 buy in MTT's and I could play a little more higher buy in, but I prefer this buy in level right now because MTT's are high variance games. On SNG's I started to play the $3 and it is still under 5% of my bankroll.
The $3 single tables SNG's are soft but I still did not reached ITM, I had 2 bubbles places and on 9 place where my AKs was busted against KK. The bubble is thougher on these games but I know I can make it and crush these $3 SNG's. Just need to continue to play them.
This weekend I will play my usual MTT's today and tomorrow and some $3 stt SNG's. I will try to satelite for the Sunday 1/4 million on pokerstars.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
November Review, December Goals
I dedicate the whole November to SNG of 90 players and some MTT's. Here are the main stats for November:
Type of Game: SNG - 90 players
Played: 47 games
ROI: 13%
Best rank: 3rd place.
Best cashing streak: 2 games in a row
I am current on a stretch of 10 games without cashing, my worst stretch on them until now, facing some bad beats along the way. The variance on multitable SNG's are very high. My goals for December is to play at least 50 games of single table SNG's on $3 buy in at, lets see how is it going to be.
Type of Game: MTT's
Played: 20 games
ROI: -56%
Best rank: 366 place.
Best cashing streak: 2 games in a row
On the MTT's side I will try to play at least 20 games, but I hope I can play more. Of course my main goal on MTT's is to have a positive ROI on December and try to reach a 2 digits rank. Reaching the final table is always a goal but lets see my performance on these games.
So, December will be plenty og SNG's at and MTT's, specially the 2K GTD on pokerstars (23:00 PM GMT time).
Type of Game: SNG - 90 players
Played: 47 games
ROI: 13%
Best rank: 3rd place.
Best cashing streak: 2 games in a row
I am current on a stretch of 10 games without cashing, my worst stretch on them until now, facing some bad beats along the way. The variance on multitable SNG's are very high. My goals for December is to play at least 50 games of single table SNG's on $3 buy in at, lets see how is it going to be.
Type of Game: MTT's
Played: 20 games
ROI: -56%
Best rank: 366 place.
Best cashing streak: 2 games in a row
On the MTT's side I will try to play at least 20 games, but I hope I can play more. Of course my main goal on MTT's is to have a positive ROI on December and try to reach a 2 digits rank. Reaching the final table is always a goal but lets see my performance on these games.
So, December will be plenty og SNG's at and MTT's, specially the 2K GTD on pokerstars (23:00 PM GMT time).
Monday, November 30, 2009
Hands Pictures
Just to show you guys some great hands and a bad beat hand from my last tournaments. I have been playing the SNG of 90 players and also some MTT's.
This is my worst bad beat of this month on the final table of the SNG 90 players:
Tripling up my stack with pocket kings:
Playing small and medium pocket pairs is a fundamental play in NL Holdem. When you hit a set and opponents hits something from the board be prepared to take down a big pot:
A flush ace high is always the nuts, the best way to take down a huge pot is when your opponent has also a strong hand like 2 top pairs but you manage to have some luck on the river and make the flush:
Well, sometimes we can face that against us. On this hand I pushed with my 2 pairs and opponent calls and hits trips of deuces on the river:
This is my worst bad beat of this month on the final table of the SNG 90 players:
Tripling up my stack with pocket kings:
Playing small and medium pocket pairs is a fundamental play in NL Holdem. When you hit a set and opponents hits something from the board be prepared to take down a big pot:
A flush ace high is always the nuts, the best way to take down a huge pot is when your opponent has also a strong hand like 2 top pairs but you manage to have some luck on the river and make the flush:
Well, sometimes we can face that against us. On this hand I pushed with my 2 pairs and opponent calls and hits trips of deuces on the river:
Friday, November 20, 2009
EPT Vilamoura 2009 - Portugal
European Poker Tour is on Vilamoura until Sunday 22 of November.
You can watch all the updates on http://pokerpt.com/ and/or http://www.pokerstarsblog.com
You can watch all the updates on http://pokerpt.com/ and/or http://www.pokerstarsblog.com
Pointing out some issues
Been playing the SNG's of 90 players. I had lost some races on some of them when I push my stack to the table. There was this hand that I pushed with pocket sevens against AKo from the opponent and the ace cames on the river. On another game I pushed with AQs against pocket teens from the big stack opponent and I lost.
I am hitting a downswing on my current results on the 90s after a good period of cashing. I think volume is the key and willing to identify some leaks and pushing ranges to improve the game are also important.
This weekend I will play 2 MTT's, one today and another tomorrow, it will be a big field with more than 4000 players and with a prize pool of more that $4000. I will play my game and lets see how is it going to work out.
Besides the MTT's I have an private invitation for the 2d time for one SNG of 9 players from Cardlovers, I will also play this one on Sunday. On the first one that I played last Sunday I made 2nd place but with some luck because I was sitting out more that 15 minutes due to internet problems.
I will grind some 90s SNG's and I hope I can post some hands on DC forum and also to watch a video from DC that explains how to play on the 180s SNG and extract some ideias and thoughts for the 90s.
My strongest enemy is the time, I had not enough time to do want I want, there is so much to do on the poker world and outside of poker world that sometimes my rest time is afected. I have to manage this better because is very important to have a healthy mind on a healthy body to play good poker and to do all the important things.
I am hitting a downswing on my current results on the 90s after a good period of cashing. I think volume is the key and willing to identify some leaks and pushing ranges to improve the game are also important.
This weekend I will play 2 MTT's, one today and another tomorrow, it will be a big field with more than 4000 players and with a prize pool of more that $4000. I will play my game and lets see how is it going to work out.
Besides the MTT's I have an private invitation for the 2d time for one SNG of 9 players from Cardlovers, I will also play this one on Sunday. On the first one that I played last Sunday I made 2nd place but with some luck because I was sitting out more that 15 minutes due to internet problems.
I will grind some 90s SNG's and I hope I can post some hands on DC forum and also to watch a video from DC that explains how to play on the 180s SNG and extract some ideias and thoughts for the 90s.
My strongest enemy is the time, I had not enough time to do want I want, there is so much to do on the poker world and outside of poker world that sometimes my rest time is afected. I have to manage this better because is very important to have a healthy mind on a healthy body to play good poker and to do all the important things.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tournament Analysis - Critical Hands 1
ITM: means In The Money
When you reach a point on the tourney that more than a 85% of the people were eliminated and you reached the money.
Last days I have been playing the $2K GTD Tournament, simply means a tournament that has a guaranteed prize pool of $2000. Obvious, there are so many entrants that the prize pool is always much, much larger than $2K, usually reach more than $5K.
This tourney is everyday at 23h (11 PM) and I played four on the last days. I reached ITM 50% and only ended really deep in one (has posted before).
On the other tourneys that I did not ended so deep I had some bad luck (I guess) and my strong hands were not so strong that I thought they were and I lost (a bad beat? Maybe in one of them).
I manage to have a decent stack on each of these hands, but ended screwing things up when I thought that I had the best hand on the board.
The goal of this post is to show you those critical hands.
Hand #1 - Tourney ID: #209010746
Final Place/Total Players: 5643/6316
I more than doubled my stack early with pocket aces.
I played this speculative hand with 2 purposes: first to make a flush king high in a cheap way; or 2nd to make top pair, good kicker with Kings; I was not thinking at all in doing a straight.
When you reach a point on the tourney that more than a 85% of the people were eliminated and you reached the money.
Last days I have been playing the $2K GTD Tournament, simply means a tournament that has a guaranteed prize pool of $2000. Obvious, there are so many entrants that the prize pool is always much, much larger than $2K, usually reach more than $5K.
This tourney is everyday at 23h (11 PM) and I played four on the last days. I reached ITM 50% and only ended really deep in one (has posted before).
On the other tourneys that I did not ended so deep I had some bad luck (I guess) and my strong hands were not so strong that I thought they were and I lost (a bad beat? Maybe in one of them).
I manage to have a decent stack on each of these hands, but ended screwing things up when I thought that I had the best hand on the board.
The goal of this post is to show you those critical hands.
Hand #1 - Tourney ID: #209010746
Final Place/Total Players: 5643/6316
I more than doubled my stack early with pocket aces.
I played this speculative hand with 2 purposes: first to make a flush king high in a cheap way; or 2nd to make top pair, good kicker with Kings; I was not thinking at all in doing a straight.