So I spent the past few days listening to Bluff Magazine's life audio broadcast of the WSOP Main Event final table and I have to say that this has been one of the craziest (if not the craziest) final table of all-time. I won't get into any specifics for anyone who doesn't know how it played out, but suffice to say it is going to make for some great television. From nine players all the way down to the final hand of heads-up, there were plenty of good plays, spews, and bad beats. I'm anxious to see how ESPN edits the coverage to fit into the 2-hour time slot they have planned. I honestly feel like they could find 3-4 hours of solid coverage and it would still be great TV. That's how many interesting spots there were.

On a poker front, I've been grinding away at 50NL. I've had to cash out a good portion of my bankroll, which has kept me from moving up at all. I feel very comfortable at 50NL and I've won about 4 bb/100 over 260k hands, so as long as I put in the hands I should show a decent profit.

I'm getting to that point in my life where I am at a crossroads as far as poker goes. I really enjoy playing, but I'll be starting my real-life job in January and won't have nearly the amount of time to play as I do now. I'm hoping to be able to keep money in my accounts so I can play during my free time and and weekends and stuff, but we'll see.

Anyways, I highly recommend watching the Main Event coverage tonight on ESPN. It should be pretty good stuff.

The NFL preseason is way too long. I'm already sick of it after one week. It's so much more intense when the games actually start counting for something. I think part of it is that I'm getting sick of baseball season as well. I'm a Brewers fan, and they're just terrible right now. They were only 6 games out of the wildcard/division lead a couple weeks ago, with series against the Pirates, Padres, Nationals, Astros, and Pirates (not in that order) ahead. Good opportunity to shrink the gap between them and the Cardinals and/or Rockies/Giants, right? Wrong. The aforementioned series have proved too tough for them and their nonexistent pitching rotation. Oh well.

I also wanted to comment on the Brett Favre situation. I want to start out by saying that I grew up in the Green Bay area and have been a huge Packer/Favre fan since I can remember. He started at quarterback for the Packers since I was 6, up until last year when he was with the Jets. I have tremendous respect for everything he's done for the Packers and the city of Green Bay. I also respected his decision to continue playing and respected the Packers' decision to move on without him (since he was waffling so much about retiring/not retiring, as he did every year since 2001 or so). However, I cannot find it in my heart to cheer for him as a member of the Vikings. I'm glad that the whole situation is finally resolved (I was getting sick of watching ESPN and hearing "rumors" about him), and I think the two Packers/Vikings games will be intense.

Looking at it now, as a Packer fan I am more comfortable with a 25-year-old Aaron Rodgers than I would be with a 39-year-old Brett Favre (40 in October) as my QB. Rodgers is arguably (not definitely, not undoubtedly) the best QB in the NFC North, and the Packers have an explosive offense that can put points on the board in a hurry. As long as our defense is average or better, there is a good chance of us returning to the playoffs.

One final thought, and I can only speak based on experience I have with certain individuals who are Vikings fans, so I'm not generalizing or anything, but I think it's funny how over the years people that I know (who are Vikings fans) have trash-talked Favre, saying he was "overrated" and "not even among the top 10 QBs of all time" and "washed up", etc. Two years ago he puts up one of the best seasons in his career (statistically speaking), and that is considered a "fluke" or "his receivers deserve all the credit for that". That's fine. People have their opinions, and I obviously had a biased opinion about how great I thought Favre was because I was such a huge fan. But what I can't understand now is how years later, after multiple retirements/fake retirements, after injuries and shoulder surgeries and a partially torn rotator cuff, now, the QB who was so overrated throughout his career is the "missing link" that will lead the Vikings to the Superbowl. I don't understand that logic.

Sorry for the semi rant.

Go Pack Go!

Take care,

Seth

It's been over a year since I've last blogged. At the time, I was playing a bunch of MTTs, trying to hit it big. Instead, I had a handful of final tables without ever achieving that big score.

Since then, a lot has happened. I'm done with school, as I just completed my 5th year and graduated with my Masters in Accounting. I'm currently trying to study for the CPA exam, but it's really not fun, and it's hard to study when I am currently in the process of moving. Our lease ends on the 14th, at which point I'll be moving out of Madison and back to my parents for a bit.

As far as poker goes, things kind of took off for me over the past year. My Full Tilt bankroll hovered around $3k for awhile while I played 50NL and beat it pretty regularly. However, every time I took a shot at 100NL I would run/play bad (usually the former would cause the latter) and have to drop down and do it all over again. Over the past 3 or 4 months, however, I was finally able to start crushing 50NL (7.7 hmbb/100 over 17k hands) enough to take shots at 100NL without being too nervous about how losing a hand would affect my bankroll. At first, it was hard to adjust to the new stakes, but after awhile I started to get the hang of it. I'm still trying to adjust some characteristics of my game and plug some leaks.

Also, I am a bit of a bankroll nit, and I have a tendency to look at bankroll milestones and let them affect my game too much. For example, if I cross over $6k I will start playing more passive so as to not let me bankroll dip back below the $6k mark. Because of this, I am still playing mostly 50NL and 100NL, even though I am rolled to play 200NL. I want to be comfortable / confident at the stakes I am playing, so that may mean playing overrolled for certain stakes. Furthermore, I don't have a job until January, when I am moving out to San Francisco. Therefore, I've decided to start cashing out a set amount every couple of weeks (to act as some sort of "income"). I have never really been able to enjoy my poker winnings, as I always seem to want to build my bankroll higher and higher, when in reality the money is just a number on a computer until it is cashed out, transferred, etc.

So where do I go from here? I'm not really sure. In the short term, I'm sure I'll still play mostly 50NL cash games with some 100NL when the games are good. I would like to keep up my Iron Man streak, as I've qualified in 6 consecutive months, so even getting the bronze status would be alright. I also have about $235 in my Pokerstars account from a while back, so I might start grinding out the SNGs and try to build that bankroll back up. I will be busy with CPA studying, so hopefully I'll be able to do all of these things and still pass my exams, because I would like to ideally get those out of the way as soon as possible.

Anyhow, I apologize for the long-winded blog. In the future I will cut down on the length for the most part, but it feels good to be back. Hopefully becoming more involved in the CR community will help me stay in contact with poker even when I can't play as much as I'd like, as well as help improve my game for when I can.

Take care,

Seth

So lately I've been playing strictly MTTs on Full Tilt, ranging from $3 rebuys to $24+2. My results have been pretty good. Over the past two weeks or so I am up over $500, with three final tables (6th, 6th, and 8th). I feel like I have been playing very well, although I haven't been able to break through for a big score (I think my largest thus far has only been like $262 or so). I feel like the cash games have gotten tougher over the past few months, and to be honest I just haven't had the right mindsight to sit down and grind out 4-6 tables the way I used to. Hopefully, I can make a few big tournament scores and start grinding the .50/1.00 cash games. At least that's the plan.

I also wanted to comment on the whole Brett Favre situation. I was raised in a small town just outside of Green Bay, so I have been a Packer fan - and obviously a Brett Favre fan - ever since I can remember watching football. Whether you love him or you hate him, you have to admit that Brett Favre is arguably one of the best QBs to ever play in the NFL. It saddens me greatly to see how messy the situation has gotten between him and the Packers organization. It would make a ton of sense for the Packers to just welcome him back and make him their starter. Obviously, it would be a dick move to just tell Aaron Rodgers he's going to sit another year, especially after they named him the starter and "moved on" after Favre retired in March. I like Aaron Rodgers and I think he will be a solid QB in the future. I just think the Packers are being selfish by pretty much hoping that Favre will "go away". I don't want to see number 4 play somewhere else, but I feel like he should be able to play if he wants to play, instead of being held hostage by the Packers. If they are moving on w/ Rodgers, fine. But deal Favre elsewhere or let him at least compete for the starting job. I think his work in the last 16 years as Green Bay's starter has earned him that much.

Also, the Cubs are making the Brewers look like little leaguers, and it's really annoying. It would be nice if that stopped immediately. That is all.

Peace.

So I haven't updated this blog in a long time. I've actually been really busy with summer class and all that fun stuff. I haven't really played a ton of poker, mainly because I was running bad in cash games and took a break from them for awhile. Lately, I have started playing more MTTs. My roommate just recently took down a tourney on Full Tilt for $1,350. It as neat sweating him at the final table and offerring insight/advice when he asked. I am pretty happy for him. Of course, after he did that, I went upstairs to my room and played in the Midnight Madness tournament (I guess inspired by his performance to go and win a large chunk of money of my own). I played amazing poker for about 4.5 hours and ended up finishing 45th out of 1677 when my AK lost a flip to QQ.

Anyhow, I have decided to dedicate more time and energy to MTTs. I know they are high variance, but I have been playing really well lately and getting deep in a large number of tournaments. I have also decided to grind away at the cash games to continue to build my roll. I guess I will post my MTT results / any major scores.

For now, I am going to go sit in front of my fan, considering it's ridiculously hot and humid in Madison right now. Anyone who is from the midwest knows what I'm talking about.

Take it easy.

I have completed about half of my 50 sng challenge and have only a $29 profit to show for it. I've kinda been running pretty crappy, but I guess things could always be worse. Hopefully the second half will be full of some heaters. I think when I am done w/ this challenge I am going to start playing some 50NL cash games again. I was doing really well in them during February, March, and April and have recently been on a bit of downswing. I think if I can commit to really focusing and playing well I should be alright. I feel I need to dedicate myself to cash games again because the tournaments just aren't cutting it. I've been getting my money in way to good way too often to have almost nothing to show for it except a few final tables and no "big scores". I'm sure I'll still dabble in MTTs, but I feel I can really build my bankroll playing cash games.

I was killing time on pokerroad.com and I came across Jeff Madsen's sweet video blog. Instead of just straight up blogging, he freestyle raps his blogs, and he's actually pretty good. He only has two so far, but they're pretty sweet so I would recommend them. Check it out:

pokerroad.com/blogfessional/jeff_madsen/2/

So it's been an extremely long time since I last blogged. I haven't really been up to much, just finished up my undergraduate studies at the University of Wisonsin. It makes me feel pretty old, especially since a bunch of my closest friends will be leaving next year to start their real lives. I have one more year left of "grad" school and then I head out to San Francisco to start a job out there.

Pokerwise, I haven't been running very well for a few weeks. I've attempted to play some 50NL cash games numerous tmes and always seem to run big hands into bigger ones, not hit draws, etc. It happens to everyone, so I'm not really that worried. I'm just trying to take it in stride and continue to play my best.

One of my roommates just recently won one of the Early Doubles on Full Tilt for like $955. It was pretty sweet because I sweated him the whole way from about 40 players until the end, and sat next to him for the final table. It was pretty cool having him ask me what I thought about certain situations and having him actually take my advice. I play a lot more poker than he does, but it was exciting to be a part of a big win like that. I think he is going to play a lot more online now since his bankroll received a pretty nice boost. Ever since he won, I have been playing a lot of MTTs with mixed results. I seem to play well and get outdrawn a ridiculous amount of the time. I realized why MTTs are so frustrating, in that you can play well and make it deep, only to lose that one huge pot that cripples you or knocks you out, while the REAL money to be made is the final table and usually the top 5. I think I'm going to continue to play MTTs for a few weeks and see if I can't hit it big.

He and I are also starting a sit n go challenge, where we agreed to play 50 sit n gos each and keep track of our results. We're using it mostly as a motivational tool to help us steadily increase our rolls (and for me to gain some confidence). Hopefully it works out, although I haven't played any SNGs yet.

Lastly, I went to see The Kooks in Milwaukee last weekend, and they were awesome! If you haven't heard of them I suggest you really give them a try. I have been a big fan ever since I heard them last summer, and they re absolutely amazing live.

Alright, well that's about all I have for now. I think we're going to get a little home game going tonight, which doesn't happen often so I'm excited for that. I will try to keep updating this thing throughout the summer. Good luck everyone.

Hi all,

I haven't blogged since April 12th, pretty much because I haven't played much since then. After one horrendous day, I took a few days off, which turned into 3 weeks because of a 3 week class I started after my internship. I have only one week left of the class, and I've been able to put in a few sessions as of late. I'm up about 2 buyins so far, so hopefully that keeps up.

Once my class is done and summer "starts" I'll be able to put in quite a few more hours of poker. I feel like I am more focused on playing well and building my roll, and I have gotten my bad/unlucky play of last month out of my head. I also want to start working out more and being more active, mainly just to live a healthier lifestyle and to help me focus and keep some kind of routine. I'm not working at all this summer, and only taking one class which doesn't start for over a month, so I don't want to fall into the habit of waking up at noon and sitting around doing nothing.

That's about all I have for now. I don't really have any hands or sessions to blog about, so I will write again once I do. Good luck everyone and have a good weekend. Later.

Played quite a bit today. Didn't run well at all and it eventually starte to affect my level of play so I quit. I transferred some money from Stars to lessen the impact of my downswing today, but let's just say it wasn't too pretty. I'm still in good shape overall and am confident that I can bounce back as long as I stay focused on just playing solid and not being results oriented. I might take tomorrow off since I'm going to the Giants vs. Cardinals game and I have a paper due for my accounting program by Wednesday that I wanted to get a good start on tomorrow. After that, it's back to grinding I guess. Wish me luck.

I gotta run right now though because I'm having some people over tonight. It should be a good time, and should help take my mind off what a terrible day of poker I had.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

When I first started playing online poker, I had no sense of what it meant to have good bankroll management. I deposited like $75 on Pokerstars and started playing SNGs, eventually working my way up. However, every now and then I would play cash games and run bad, lose a couple buyins, and take a severe hit to my roll. For example, a couple summers ago I had $1400 in my Stars account, mostly from playing MTTs and SNGs and such. I started to run bad and decided to play some 100NL to "try to make it back right away". Well, naturally, I lost a couple buyins which compounded my make-it-all-back attitude. Within the next few months or so, my Pokerstars account was at $0, and I had only cashed out about $300 from that $1400.

Anyways, I've obviously learned from that experience. I am also a much better poker player than I was then, and I have since implemented a pretty strict bankroll management policy. When I started making money on Full Tilt during last summer, I decided I wasn't going to play cash games until I had $1000, at which point I would start playing 50NL. I have since made a decent amount (by 50NL standards) and am now quite adequately rolled to play 100NL if I choose to do so. I keep telling myself I'll move up to 100NL when my bankroll reaches X-amount, then I hit that amount and decide I want to have more before I move up. I'm not sure why this is, but I have currently told myself I will just grind out 50NL until the end of April and move to 100NL in May.

I guess this brings me to the point of this blog. What is an optimal bankroll management strategy? I've heard some people say you should have 100 buyins for the level you play. I've heard some say 30 is more than enough. I've even read about people who are playing with 12 buyins. I guess in ithe end it all depends on your own personal comfort level in moving up. I am far from a great poker player, but I have always been a winning player. I am confident in my ability to grind 50NL and consistently beat it. I just wonder sometimes if I am losing out on possible profits by playing lower than I have to. Like I said, I guess it's all a personal feel/confidence thing.

Those are my random thoughts on bankroll management. I guess for now I'll just keep Grind-ING!