Quick update

Well I felt like I was due a quick update.

Been settling back into my daily routine after the storm we had a few weeks ago. This means getting back into job hunting and (more interesting to my readers I assume) back to the grind.

Been doing OK so far, and despite all that happened, March is going pretty well so far. I am a slight winner, and on pace to play close to 15K hands. I should also be able to finish clearing the Cake Poker deposit bonus before the end of the month. Which means that I'll move back to the shitty iPoker client to clear more bonuses.

I have quite a few bonuses I want to clear still. Mostly on the iPoker network from bonus whores. Then there are also a few from poker source online including a year long Stox membership.

After months playing 8 tables and never really trying to add some, I finally decided to move up to 10. Even though I can't play with a HUD on Cake, it's been going pretty well. Pretty sure I could play 12 relatively easily with a HUD. This should definitly help a ton for clearing bonuses and just logging tons of hands.

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.

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!

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...

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!

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.

2nd coaching session

Got my second coaching session yesterday. It's crazy how sometimes being told something you already know just helps you grasp it. And by that I don't mean that SplitSuit didn't tell me anything I did no know! We went over some stuff that I had read about, but somehow failed to really integrate in my game. Just hearing him talk about it and asking him a few questions made everything so much clearer! Don't get me wrong, I still need to work a lot on those things, but after that session I feel like I have the tools to do so.

August is going pretty well so far although I'm behind pace for my 15K hands (I blame the Olympics). A good sprint at the end of the month might bring me close though. At least the hands I am actually playing, I feel I play pretty well. My results have been really good so far and while that is partly due to what I call the "SplitSuit trainee karma", I think it is encouraging.

My bankroll growth has been slowed a bit lately due to me actually spending a bit of it on coaching and some datamining/table selection software. Still, I feel pretty confident about my year goal of reaching NL50 before 2009. A few easily clearable bonuses and rakeback should make this relatively easy. Feels good to finally get closer to what seems like meaningful stakes. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about all the time I've invested in playing and beating NL10 and then NL25. But for some reasons, I always kinda felt that it all really started at NL50.

As for the rest of my life, I guess things are pretty good. Been coming back to my guitar more and more lately. Guitar has been a weird mistress for me over the year. I get super hyper motivated for a while and play a lot, and for some reasons then I stop and don't even touch it for months. The weird thing is that it's pretty easy for me to play music. I'm by no mean a pro, but I seem to learn faster than most and don't struggle as much. Guess it would be a waste not to use that and to let my guitar gather dust!

June recap and July goals

Well here we are, it's that time of the month.

June goals were
- Play 12,000 hands of online NL Hold'Em
- Post a winning month
- Deposit on CD Poker and start clearing the 200$ 1st time deposit bonus there
- Keep updating this blog.

I am definitly satisfied with the amount of hands I played (even though I'm a bit short). Month ended up in the red... this is only the second time it happens to me since September so no big deal.

About starting to clear bonuses... I fail on this one. That said, I'll get to it soon. I hope to get to it before the end of July, but July is pretty busy for me so I am not sure it's the right time to start the grind of bonus clearing.

Now on for July. Well as I said, July will be pretty busy for me, so I will set smaller goals for myself.

- Play 10,000 hands of NL Hold'Em
- Post a winning month
- Start reviewing sessions at least once a week.
- Start getting a healthier lifestyle.

Now about the lifestyle thingy... feel I've been letting myself go a lot lately. I eat crap, don't sleep quite enough and don't exercice near as much as I should. So there it is, I want to start improving on at least 2 of these 3 points.
1) I want to start bringing healthier lunches to work.
2) I want to take some time everyday for a bit of exercice.

Sleep? Well.... sleep will come later I guess ;)

May thoughts and June goals... or how Nic failed

I guess I should be happy about having the best monthly results I've ever had. But I fell so short of my goals that I can't spin this in a way to make me feel good.

My May goals were :
- Play 15,000 hands of online NL Hold'Em
- Post a winning month
- Take a shot at NL25
- Keep updating this blog.

Now I definitly managed to achieve 3 of these goals. But 8885 hands in a month?!? This is nowhere near what I need to put out. The last time I played less than 9K hands was in december!

On the good side, I managed to move up to NL25. Actually most of my month was played at that level. One of my yearly goal was to move up to NL25 by this summer and doing so at the beginning of May is definitly satisfying. I also feel that I kept that blog updated pretty well. But I definitly have to play more hands than this. This is especially true since I want to make bonus whoring one of my focus for the next few months.

Now where does that leave me for June. Well, here are my June goals :
- Play 12,000 hands of online NL Hold'Em
- Post a winning month
- Deposit on CD Poker and start clearing the 200$ 1st time deposit bonus there
- Keep updating this blog.

Now about bonuses. Browsing through the bonus whores site I managed to find a few bonuses that are definitly clearable at NL25. This should help me take shots at NL50 earlier than anticipated. The first one I will attack will be the 200$ bonus on CD poker. Seems relatively easy to clear at NL25. Then I might take a shot at the 600$ deposit on FullTilt. Seems clearable at NL25, would also finally release the money I have on FullTilt and won in a freeroll a while ago! Clearing the FullTilt Bonus might be a bit of a stretch at NL25... but I'll evaluate things once I clear the bonus at CD Poker. By then my roll might be enough to take shots at NL50, so who knows...

Anyway, if you're a poker player and haven't checked bonus whores I think you owe it to yourself to take a look at it... unless you hate money

Lesson of the day

When everybody gives you a particular advice, maybe you should follow it.

Last night I finally decided to deposit on PartyPoker, mostly to clear the 5 free books bonus from 2+2. Wow... just wow. First of all, if you have not cleared that bonus yet you owe it to yourself to do it. It's stupid easy. Took me about 350 hands to get a 25$ + 5 free books bonus. And that's playing NL10. Add to that the fact that the games last night were super soft and that makes for a pretty fun evening.

I guess the next few days will tell how much last night I was just running hot (didn't really feel like it) or how much the night games really are soft on party.

Right now I've moved about half of my roll on PartyPoker and I will most likely play a bit on stars AND party for a while. The plan is still to move up to NL25 asap and the way things look, it might be pretty quick doing that on party.

I am currently a bit behind on the pace for 12K hands in april, but I have a few days off scheduled before the end of the month so I'm pretty confident about it. That said, my goal of going 3 times to the casino will probably fall short.