Ain't variance great ?!?

I'm in the middle of a very rough streak. I seem to have been on the wrong side of variance for quite a while. I make second best hands a lot, my sets are cracked at an absurd rate and I can't hit a draw to save my life. And all that and the frustration that comes with it makes me play way worse than I should.

The good point is that I am definitly playing a lot of hands and should hit my volume goal for January. the bad point is that I stuck being slightly in the red.

I have a few things planned to get my focus back, while I can't control variance, I know for a fact that I am making things worse by being frustrated, playing a bit impatiently or scared. So what's the plan?

- More game studying. I need to start to study my own play and the other regs play more regularly. About 6 months ago, when I was in my best poker period, I was doing that a lot. That includes session reviews, posting hands on 2+2, discussing specific hands a lot with Alex, Joff and whoever else wants to discuss poker.

- Spend time just "focusing". I realised a few days ago that if I take time to just close my eyes, try to relax and take a few deep breath (even if only for a few seconds) it helps putting me back in a calm and positive state of mind. Gotta do more of that, especially when I feel myself becoming frustrated at the tables.

- Keep on playing. I cannot let that rough patch sidetrack me. If I do the two other things I've mentionned and just keep on playing I know the results will come back.

January goals

Well now that we're halfway through January, it's about damn time I post my goals for the month don't you think?

So here they are :
- Play 15,000 hands of online poker
- Have a winning month
- Review my play in depth once a week

2009 goals

We're almost at the halfway point of January and I still haven't posted my yearly and monthly so I figure I'm way overdue. I'll start off by the goals for the year, goals for January will come up shortly...

Move up to NL100 before the end of the year

But, Nic, you're not even at NL50 yet?

I know but since my goal for NL50 is ASAP I didn't think it was worth mentioning. So NL100 before the end of the year it is! To move up to NL100 I want to have 30 buy ins. This might seem like a lot, but I put a bigger guideline than usual for 2 reasons.

First, I think bonus clearing might make me increase my bankroll a lot faster than it has in the past. Second, NL100 kinda intimidates me. So I now need a $3000 bankroll before the end of the year.

Play 250,000 hands of online poker

I did some math and this would be a pretty big increase in volume. I know a lot of people put this kind of volume in just a few months, but for me it is a realistic yet challenging goal to achieve. In my wildest dreams I'll crush this one...

Start playing more PLO and add it in my regular playing time

A few reasons for this. One, I think Omaha is a really fun game. Two, the fields in Omaha are much softer than in No Limit Hold'Em. Three, when I started focusing on Omaha a bit last year, it also forced me to think about poker outside of the Hold'Em frame, which in turn improved my play even at hold'em tables.

Visit the Charlevoix casino and go to Atlantic City at least once

There is only one casino in the province I have not visited and I plan on changing this. I also think it's ridiculous that I have not paid Atlantic City a visit yet.

Keep updating that blog even more frequently

I want more posts at the end of 2009 than I had at the end of 2008.

So there you have it. This is where I will stand at the end of 2009.

2008 recap : falling short

Well 2008 has come and passed, it had it's big ups and down both in poker and in life and now is the time to take a good hard look at the year and think about the future.

At the beginning of 2008 I set a few goals for myself.

Move to NL25 before this summer and to NL50 before the end of 2008

Well I did manage to move up to NL25 around May, but as the clock hit midnight and 2008 was a thing of the past, I am still an NL20/NL25 player, my bankroll being a few buy ins short of moving up. Part of me is telling me that I should cut myself some slack. My father's sickness, moving to a new condo and having my laptop stolen sure took their toll on my playing time and who knows if I would have made it if not for these events.

I still managed to take a few shots at NL50, and bonus whoring combined with the renewed motivation I have should put me back there pretty soon.

Play live games on a more regular basis

That one I just let go. Went to the casino a few times and quickly grew tired of the electronic tables the Montreal and Gatineau casino spread (yeah, I know, the Gatineau casino is now spreading real tables and the Montreal one should be doing so soon too). I frequented a few poker rooms in Montreal and had fun, but it's my feeling that "poker rooms" attract poker players, while casinos attract, well, anybody. Hence I don't feel that playing in poker room is as +EV as playing at the casino.

So with all this I just decided to let that one go.

Develop a game studying routine

Did I manage to do that? Yes and no. For quite a while I was participating in frequent session reviews, posting hands on forums, reviewing my own play and the play of the regulars I meet often. Then I just stopped. Right now I'm trying to get back into it all but I have to list that one as a fail.

Put more serious time in another game than NL Hold'Em

Again that's a mixed one. I spent some time on the Pot Limit Omaha tables and read a great book on that game. I still love that game and I'm pretty sure I'll keep going back to it from time to time. That said, if I want to be honest with myself, I did not play as much as I intended when I stated that goal. I guess that's one of the good things about setting goals, with hindsight it helps reassess your priorities and where you're really at.

So, what to make of all that? 2008 was mostly a good year for me poker-wise. Reading back my archives I see how far I've come (and how far I still have to go!). Sure I fell short a bit, but one year ago I was barely playing NL10, now I'm on the verge of playing NL50 and that is despite everything that life threw at me.

I am proud of what I've achieved, thrilled about what's to come and ready to face the challenges of 2009.

December 2008 online results

Happy Holidays!

Just want to wish everyone happy holidays!

Enjoy the time with your family & friends.

I'll be back to you in 2009!

A quick overdue update

Since the start of December I've been focused on playing as much as possible and that has taken a toll on how often that blog is updated. So since I wouldn't want to let you down so close to Christmas, here I am!

Other than the last few days, I've been playing with the same routine since the start of December. Log on in the morning and play for about an hour before going to work, then play a few more hours in the evening when I get back home. The results have been less than stelar as I'm currently down about 2 buy ins, but I've been putting up a lot of hands which was one of my goals.

After not playing for so long, I felt that getting back into it was important and I felt that playing a lot (for me anyway... pretty sure some readers play my monthly amount of hands every day!) would help me shake the rust faster and get my mind back to think about poker a lot.

The good thing about shaking the rust off now is that bonus clearing is keeping me in the green. I most likely won't reach my goal of playing NL50 before the end of the year, but I should end up relatively close. Especially if I can start winning friggin coinflips!

I'm back!

At last! Got my new laptop last friday so what do you guys think I did this week end?
To use SplitSuit's expression, this week end it was back to grindcore!

Played quite a bit and managed to fight through a day filled with coolers AND a major leak I have right now (just due to me not playing much in so long... easily fixable) and still managed to stay about breakeven.

So, how does that forced hiatus influences my yearly goals and expectations? Well, it doesn't. Sure, it will be harder to reach all the goals I had set to myself, but it is still possible. And as long as it's possible, I will push hard to reach these goals.

So here they are, my goals for December :
- Play 15K hands of online NLHE
- Get my BR to a point where I can take another shot at NL50

That's it. Only 2 goals for December.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Being a french Canadian, Thanksgiving has never been big for me and my family. That said, I know how huge it is in the US, so I wish a happy Thanksgiving to any US reader I might have.

Enjoy the time off with family and friends. Remember everything that happened this year that you are thankful for, eat lots of good food in good company, drink (but don't drive!) and most definitly do NOT... I repeat do NOT bet on the Lions to beat the Titans!

The return of the home game!

After 6 months of absence, last night saw the return of our homegame! Nothing like playing micro-stakes poker live with a bunch of people who don't really care about anything except than trying to have a good time while playing cards.

That game has always been -EV money wise (lol at spending 15$ in beer and winning 10$ at poker) but so much +EV fun wise!

I guess if anything, my poker goal when it comes to the home game is to spread the love of poker. I want people to have a good time (and of course, I'd rather they have a good time while sending their chips my way!) and discover the subtelties that make poker such a great game. I am by no means an expert, but I definitly know tons more than our average homegame player so I offered to make small "strategy segments" in our home game where I will share what knowledge I can. (starting by teaching Alex not to go all-in vs me... like... ever).

Anybody has an idea of what aspect of the game I should bring up to a mostly noobish crowd, just leave a suggestion in the comments section please.

On a sad note though, a nice streak was broken last night. As far as I can remember, it's the first time the Montreal Canadiens lost a game while we were playing poker at my place... must be the new condo!

Free beer!

Ok now that I have your attention... I know the reach of this blog is probably limited... but still.

If you are an American, online poker player you NEED to read this.

Basically, the Bush administration is trying hard to finalize the UIGEA before their reign is over effectively banning any US citizen from depositting or withdrawing money from online gambling sites.

It takes only a minute or two of your time to send an email and make a phone call and voice your opinion. Will it change things? Who knows, but it's such a little effort that even if these emails and calls are a 1000 to 1 shot to change anything you HAVE to do it.

Stepping back down

NL50 has been brutal to me. I feel like I'm playing well enough, but man the beats have been coming!

The losses I've had are not even that impressive really, but when you just stepped up to a new stake, losing a few buy-ins hurts a lot. So I decided to step back down for a while, lick my wounds, regroup and grind some more before I take another shot at NL50.

No computer, no recap, no goals...

Normally this would be the time where I reflect on last month's goals and set new goals for myself for the coming month. Well still being without a computer at home, no goals for me right now other than try to squeeze as much poker as I can.

In the last month I've started clearing a bonus on CD poker and took my first shot at NL50. Things went OK at NL50 and as soon as I get a computer at home this is where I will still try to play. I lost a bit of money but nothing worth panicking yet. I think the little I played at NL50, I played pretty well. Hopefully as soon as I can start playing again things will settle. Worst case I'll step back down for a while at NL20.

In the meantime I might go take a look at Montreal's various poker rooms and maybe even go back to the casino... We'll see I guess...

Tilt inducing co-worker

I get to work this morning, sporting a head ache and a serious coffee withdrawal. As soon as I open the office door, a wall of noise hits me like a ton of bricks.

A co-worker that I shall leave nameless, is screaming over his cell phone, arguing with god knows who about some money he apperently paid for no good reasons. The way our office is designed, it's a large open space. So when someone makes noise, it bothers everyone.

I sit at my desk, waiting for my PC to boot up so I can at least try to listen to some music to counter this barage of noise when I suddendly realise that all of this is over 35$! Pretty sure a bunch of my co-workers would have chipped in 5$ each to give him his 35$ just so he would shut up.

Guess I should at least tell him how annoying that little tantrum of his was and that the next time he should find a private space to scream through his cell phone.

After my coffee... maybe...

I can smell it...

Well since my laptop was stolen I have not been playing anything near my usual volume. That said, playing HUD-less has forced me to play more focused and while I suffered a bit from fancy play syndrome at first (I often do following a hiatus), my results overall have been pretty good. Add to that the fact that I'm currently clearing a bonus on CD Poker and I've quietly made it very close to my year goal of reaching NL50 by the end of 2008.

It's strange, in the past whenever I was getting close to move up I would get edgy, impatient and kinda nervous about it. Not this time. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm not playing like I'm used to (currently playing HUD less and on less tables), or the fact that I'm not playing as much or that I'm clearing a bonus... Anyway, I don't feel the jitters I had when closing in on NL25.

On another note, I have been talking poker strategy a lot with a good friend of mine who is struggling a bit right now playing on his first online money. I love this! Talking about lots of stuff forces me to think about it all and ask myself why I do certain things. I also tried to come up with a basic strategy that could make him an instant winner from NL2 to NL10 (and most likely even higher). My goal was to come up with an easy to teach playbook that would keep it simple and still be efficient. This has been a recurring theme for me lately. I was discussing a prop bet idea with Alex. The bet was that in 4 hours of coaching I could make someone with just basic poker knowledge (like a flush beats a straight type of knowledge) a winner at NL2. We have not come up with a candidate or the particular details of how this bet would work out but I thought it would be an interesting idea. So if you know someone who would be a nice candidate let me know!

Life tilt

So we're finally getting settled in the new condo. I'm starting to get back into my routine, have a few good sessions to get me back into the game after this short hiatus and then...

Thiefs break into my place and run away with my laptop. So basically another forced hiatus for me. But what pisses me off the most is the loss of my PT database. Oh well... guess I'll start datamining again as soon as I can get my hands on a new laptop.

Russ Hamilton directly implicated in the UB scandal.

If you're sick and tired of hearing about the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal then stop reading this entry (it won't be a big one anyway).

I don't plan on repeating everything that's been said elsewhere since, well, to be honest I don't know all the little details, and that information is already available elsewhere.

Still, I don't want to let this story die so here I am posting you the latest update. Turns out Russ Hamilton was directly implicated.

I think everyone should at least take a look at this. Be aware though, this is a thread in a big forum, so there is a lot of people jumping to conclusion and shit. This is still, however, a great source of information if you can filter out the noise.

Stuck in the stone age

It's done! We're finally in the new condo! Problem is, no internet connection, no phone and no cable until next monday! I could definitly live without phone or cable TV... but no net means I'm in serious poker withdrawal...

Alex has gracefully agreed that we push back our volume bet by one month instead of using this week to take a huge lead. Thanks buddy!

Not much else to say right now so I guess I'll leave it at that for now...

Please oh please! Can September be over now?

Between driving to Quebec city and back to see my father at the hospital (he's doing better everyday btw), packing up my stuff to move to my new condo and organising the 30th birthday of my girlfriend I can't say I've had much time to play poker. Just to make matter worse, I might be without an internet connection for a few days after I moved. Hopefully one of my neighboors has an unsecured WiFi connection I can hijack!

The bit that I did play at the beginning of the month was not very focused and did not bring the best results. Thankfully though, I've been able to play a bit the last few days and things went well. I won back almost everything I had lost in the first few days of September. Hurray!

I am still grinding NL20 on iPoker playing 8 tables at a time. Play there is definitly nittier than it is on stars or party, that said most people are bad nits so it's pretty easy to make decent gains there. Once I go back to having a stable schedule I think it will be relatively easy to get to NL50. Especially considering I will most likely start bonus whoring the various ipoker skins!

I am also looking forward to another coaching session with SplitSuit. Seems like the last one was ages ago!

For October and November, Alex and me are starting another "volume bet". Whoever plays more hands in these 2 months wins. Playing more hands is one of my focus right now so this should help keep me motivated.

August 2008 online results

A bit late due to some family matter... but here it is! The august monthly graph!