Up to $11 and back down

I started off 6-3 at the $6s moving my bankroll up to $165 so I could start the $11s. I proceeded to go 3-3 at those and the rake moved me back down to the $6s where I went 3-3 in 6 frustrating games. I don't think the skill level at the $11s is that good, but the players I got in general were much better than the people at the $6s. Small sample size so I bet I just got a harder batch this time. I ended the day at $161.75 I wanted to get up to the $11s again before I stopped for the day but I couldn't quite make it.

Over the past couple days I did a couple of hand history reviews with some people on 2+2. Its very helpful to see their comments and think about hands in a different way. Even if you don't change your game its good to think about all the different lines you could take. It is something I want to keep on doing.

Grinding it Out

Another good day going 8-5 putting me up at $150.50. In 10 days I have 78 sngs (definitely could play a lot more) for a $100 win. It feels really good to be solidly back in the winning column, and this is definitely sustainable.

I ran some numbers for bankroll management (using my probability and computing knowledge (its a class)). Assuming my win rate is 55% (its actually like ~61) and I only play a level if I have 15 buyins for it then my risk of ruin is 0.01% (one time in a thousand) assuming I can only move down two levels. If my win rate is up at 60% then that drops to 0.000001 (one time in 100000000). So I'm feeling pretty safe about my bankroll (I'm planning on formalizing this and then posting a little web app that people can use).

Interesting Day at the Tables

I started the day off up 3-2 but then I went on a 5 game slide. I then dropped three games to the same person. One flop all in preflop, and two games where we went all in on the flop and I had 75% equity. After I win one back from him all of a sudden he wants to quit, even though he got the money in good! After that I was back down to like $90 and was not very happy at all (Bronocos were getting crushed on Sunday Night Football). But I rallied really well in the next 11 games and won ten of them.

The last one was just weird. The guy played like a maniac the first few levels c/r and bluffing a ton. Once we got to 40/80+ he turned into an uber nit. He would call oop and give up every time. I started to cbet 100% and he would always fold every time. When he got short he doubled up a bunch of times (he got the money in way good a bunch), but I could always grind him back down in a few hands. I don't know what that guy was thinking. He also needs a copy of preflop push/fold tables...

I ended the day at 13-8 through 21 games for a profit of $24.75. That puts my online bankroll at $135.75. My confidence is through the roof and I'm excited to start crushing the $11s soon.

Poker Meanderings

I have had trouble with tilt while playing poker and that is what killed me in 6 max games. I was break even at 50NL over a decent sample (25K hands). The number of times I donked off a buyin or a half buyin is amazing. I probably was beating the games when I wasn't monkey tilting. I'm going back to Heads Up Sit in goes where I first built up my bank roll. They seem to be less tilting for me, and a good win rate.

I cashed out of all the poker sites at the start of my tilt problems. Then when I decided to put money back into poker I put the minimum of $50 into full tilt. Since then I have played 44 turbo $6 + $.25 HU sngs. I went 27-17 for a 61.3% win rate and a 17.6% return on investment. That puts my online bank roll up to $111.

My plan for bankroll management is to always have 15 buy ins for the level I want to play. So to play the next level ($11 + $0.5) I will need to have a online roll of $165. I think if I play a lot (and assuming I keep on beating the games at this rate) I can go up a level in 3-4 weeks. From what I can see of higher stakes games up to like $20 sngs is that they aren't too much better, maybe fewer fish compared to regulars, but it doesn't look too bad.