Coming Soon...2004 WSOP Photos!

I remember I shot photos during my time watching the wsop last year. My next blog will have a bit of a trip report interlaced with the best photos I took there.

Building My Bankroll

Playing the SnG's didn't work as nicely as I had thought. As my previous records show, I had an amazing start, finishing in the money in almost every single sng. Then everything turned sour and I could place in the money for quite a while. After thinking things through for for about a month I decided to try and build a roll at the NL cash games at FullTilt. My plan was to deposit $500 and play the .25/.50 nl tables. I've just now started and things are working out great! I've only played about 5 hours so far and made $103.10. I'd like to get as many hours in as I can in, hopefully about 20 hrs/week. It's hard putting in the hours while working two jobs. Basically it's like adding another part-time job to my schedule. The only problem I'm having is consistancy in playing. I only have three days where I have evenings off from my second job to play poker. Most of the time on those three days I'm usually running errands, doing laundry, cooking, or fixing my car (don't ever buy a dodge neon). Usually all of the above.

Once I put in 100 hours at the tables, I'll reduce my work schedule at the theater (my evening job) if I show any significant profit from it. If my bankroll continues to grow after about 800-1000 hours of play (hopefully at a higher limit than .25/.50) I might discontinue my evening/weekend job at the theater and just work my day job. That way I can put in about 30-40 hours a week. Who knows if all this will happen, this is just what is being laid down in my head so far.

When my roll is nursed to $10,000 I plan on switching to live play over at Lucky Chances in Colma. Their 2-3-5 NL games are pretty juicy. I love going there any chance I get, it's pretty much my favorite place to play. Oak's and Artichoke Joe's are pretty nice places as well but I always feel like I'm going to get mugged walking to my car at those places.

Remembering the Luck Factor

I sometimes forget how harsh luck can be in poker. Today was no exception. Having some free time today I decided to put in a few hours online at FullTilt Poker. I figured I would play about 4 hours and make at least 20 to 30 dollars. Well, I played 9 $5 SnG's and only placed in the money once (3rd place). Very disappointing to say the least. When you're running bad, it feels like the whole world is against you. Luck plays mind games with your head. I keep having to tell myself that it is just a game and that bad beats happen all the time. Here is my SnG Record so far. As you can see I started off running very well. I know these results are not very solid and I need a couple hundred more hours to show more consistant results. I will keep posting updates of my records for everyone to go over. Hopefully I can get a few suggestions on how I might improve my results. In the meantime I will practice a bit more on controlling my emotions when I'm running bad. I took Howard Lederer's advice and read Zen in the Art of Archery. I was so impressed with the book that I browsed a bit more over at Borders and found The Method of Zen by the same author. Those books have proven invaluable to me in helping with controlling my game and staying at peace with myself.

Part of my journey right now I hope to throw into my new website I'm developing at www.tiltdoctor.com. My goal is to give poker players tons of resources to help reduce stress, steaming, and tilt both in their game and in their daily lives.