So I went to Windsor this morning to meet with my re-estate agent and look at some houses. After viewing about eight homes I had to call it quits as it was just one train wreck after another. All of the homes were occupied by tenants and were filthy and smelly. On the way back to the office she suggested that I consider buying a condo instead (naive of me but I didn't even think Windsor had those) which is something I had not even considered. The ones she showed me are very nice and big (averaging 1k sq ft) but a little bit more expensive. This past school year living with a bunch of strangers that I had nothing in common with has been a challenge as they were very noisy and dirty so the idea of a condo is very appealing. My brother (who currently owns five homes) thinks buying a condo is a pretty bad idea for me as it will not pull in any money which I can not dissagree with. I obviously have not had much time to think about this as I just got home but I would definately appecriate some input on poker players who have bought homes or any home owners in general.

My total pokerstars tourny graph. Do I get points for still being in the black after losing consistantly for over 500 tournies?
This month I will be playing sattelites for scoop events and maybe i'll cash in one but so far after 6 events no cashes. I realize I am a tourny fish as I don't even know what icm stands for and pretty much once I have less than say 70bb I get pretty lost but hey if Darvin Moon can final table the ME...

Gl at scoop and everything

Bryan

2011 Goals

-Make 15k

-Be a regular at 100nl

How I did

-Made 9k

-Became a regular at 100nl

Along the way

-Roughly $100 bankroll on Fulltilt in Jan

-$3500 bankroll when it shut down May 28th

-$10 bankroll on Cake June 1st

-$2000 bankroll on Cake June 30th

-Bonus whore Ipoker from early July until late July and made $1000

-Put $50 on Poker stars July 27th (need previous profit to pay bills)

-Made $1500 in my first couple mtts but have not made any money in my last 300 games

-Bankroll on Stars was around $7500 by late October

-Withdrew 2k for bills

-Bankroll on Stars was around $2500 by end of December

-Win rate pre Black Friday 2 was 3bb/100

-Post Black Friday win rate 10bb/100 Cake, 8bb/100 Ipoker, 6bb/100 Stars

Even after dropping 3k at 100nl and my 200nl shot I still have over 5bb/100 win rate at 100nl so I guess I can take some solace in that. I feel like every month I got a little better and even in my current downswing I feel I am a better player than I previously was. I started the year at $10nl and did very well right away and whenever I took shots they went really well; however, once my roll was big enough to take shots my win rates at my current stakes always dropped dramatically. I think it had a lot to do with an overconfidence I had when trying to move up and is something I have to work on.

As I have struggled at 100nl over the past couple months I have been contemplating getting a coach in order to breakthrough. My hesitation has been that because my win rate is high, I will have a hard time finding a coach with a better win rate than me but I think I'm looking at it the wrong way. When I played football the coaches were able to give insight into what I was doing wrong and help me correct mistakes without necessarily being able to perform better. There are things that I don't understand in poker which at some point to move forward I will have to learn.

Believe it or not I don't know how to calculate pot odds or implied odds. MasterLJ said in one of his videos that if you can't figure it out it is because you are lazy but I disagree. I failed math six times in high school but managed to get a full academic scholarship to a prestigious university. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I'm not lazy. Understanding math is like reading Chinese to me, I just don't get it. Another weakness I have is I'm a terrible turn player. I think I am pretty good pre flop and it doesn't hurt that my two most common pairs are KK and AA which might explain some things;)

I have decided to play 50nl for a while to try and get things back on track and I hope this year goes well. I planned on having pretty steep goals for this year but I didn't know I'd be back at school. I went back to school in September taking a double major in drama/communications, media, and film and have decided to try out for the football team as well. Since I have a lot on my plate, poker is going to be a casual activity until the summer. My advice to other low limit players is to watch every video by irock, nikolak, and nutedawg as they have the best fundamental game amongst the pros. I also encourage you to study significantly more than you play. I only played around 300k hands in 2011 but I spent loads of time studying. I also encourage you to add me as a friend through CR and try to make friends with players of similar skill level.

No more poker talks for the rest of this entry so feel free to skip the rest.

I spoke with the head coach of the football team a little while back and he told me that if I can make it through off season workouts he'd let me try out for the team. Off season workouts started Jan 9th and the workouts are Monday to Saturday and last approximately 2hrs. After my first week I can barely move as the workouts are very intense. These workouts are not for normal men and I am having a hard time getting through them.

I bought a bike when I moved here (I live very close to campus) which I planned to use to get around but it was stolen. I bought a used one online after the first one was stolen but when I returned from Christmas break my second bike was gone. I gave one of my roommates the combination both times and I'm pretty sure he had something to do with my bikes being stolen. The reason I mention this is because the gym is a 30 minute walk from my house and after a 2hr workout the last thing I want to do is walk home. I am pretty sure I need a new bike and will get a U-lock this time.

I tried out for the field receiver spot the first time I was in university and competed with another freshman for the position. I was a more athletic player but he was a more consistent route runner and ball catcher which earned him the starting spot. The inside or slot receivers were not very good but there is kind of a stigma about playing that position so they didn't have much competition. Later in the season I started practicing at the slots and started getting some playing time towards the end of the season.

This time around I realize that I rather start at slot than ride the bench as a wide receiver so when the coach asked which position I play I told him slot. This past season the team had two outstanding receivers, one of which is a senior and won't be returning and the other has been invited to the combine. If he does well at the combine and gets drafted I assume he won't be returning. If I can get into shape by training camp in August I should have an opportunity to be a starter. I know it's ambitious to try out for a starter spot but when you play sports at a competitive level you don't aim for mediocrity.

When I played before I was 6"0, 205lbs and tested at training camp 16 reps, (225lbs bench press) had a 35 inch vertical, and ran in the high 4.4s in the 40. Currently I am around 215lbs and surprisingly after 4 years of not working out I was able to put up 5 reps on the bench. I don't even want to do any other testing at the moment as I'm sure the numbers will be embarrassing. I'm a pretty fat guy atm and I estimate I have to lose around 45lbs of fat and gain 15lbs of muscle to be in top shape by August. I don't think I can realistically aim higher unless I go on the juice so these are the numbers I have set for myself.

I estimate there will be anywhere from 20-30 receivers on the team and they usually fall into three categories. There are the 6"4, guys who always make the team, the 5"9, guys who usually make up most of the practice roster, and the 6"0, guys which make up most of the receivers. Although in the past I have been an athletic player there are usually a bunch of guys with the exact same skill sets. If I were to compare it to poker I would say it's like being at a table with no fish. I am not going to have an edge on most players so I will have to think of ways to create small edges.

There is somewhat of a loop whole in collegiate sports where you have 7yrs from the time you graduate high school to use your years of eligibility which for me is the closest thing there is to turning back time. Having graduated in 2007, I am so fortunate to have another opportunity to play football again and I will do my best to take advantage of this. If all this football talk was boring you to death let me know and I won't include it in future entries. I probably won't have anything relevant to discuss regarding poker until the summer so if you don't hear from me then good luck at the tables.

I almost forgot, thanks to everyone who commented on my hands throughout 2011 it really helped!

C'ya

Bryan

So far this year I would say my mount micro climb has gone pretty well. I've turned roughly $100 from January into around 9k. My goal however, was to make 15k by the end of the year and I was on pace needing a little over 2.5k for November and December. I am currently on a losing month and don't feel like playing much at the moment. I don't like to make the excuse about below ev or what ever and the reason I am losing is almost entirely bad play. I took a somewhat short shot at 200nl this month which resulted in me losing around $300. Normally I planned on taking a 4bi shot but I was playing 100nl as well and went on a downswing there also which meant cutting my shot short. Anyway, this is how it goes sometimes and I probably ran better than I should have to begin with.


http://imageshack.us/f/208/thismonth.png/

Since my $54.61 (the totality of money I had left in my bank account) deposit on stars. Hopefully I will get some monies back from full tilt as well as the money I had on cake (which they still haven't sent me btw). I tried to follow bankroll management this time but still moved up a little quick. Plan to atleast have 20bi from here on out.

Have fun at the tables

Bryan

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Some great news, I got accepted to university! I first attended university in 2007 and droped out early 2009. The first time around I was not mature or focused enough to succeed in university. The first time around I got into a great school on full acedemic scholarship and also got invited to try out for the football team. I dressed every game as a freshman and the whole university life was amazing. A couple of the issues I had was not being able to balance. I had a new girl friend, a job and was obsessed with football and did not put any time into my school work. By the time the next season rolled around I was ineligible, my girl dumped me and I had quit my job. Life was pretty shitty for a while.

On to the present. Around december I got a new job in a factory and imediately decided it's not for me. The moment I got home from my interview I applied to school. This process of re-applying to school has been a difficult one mostly because of finacial issues of not paying off tuition from my previous school. After fucking up my first year I lost my scholarship and raked up a pretty substancial fee the following year. I had to pay it back before my application would be considered. I got a loan from my mom to pay off my remaining balance and I got accepted!

I emailed the coach of the new school and I actually have 3 more years of eligibility! We talked a bit and I explained that I will not be participating with the team this coming season but that I would be interested in joining them in the off season. I want my main focus this time around to be on my education rather then football and I am really excited about the opportunity.

Update on poker life. The awesome 200% ipoker bonus turned out to be pretty shitty for me. It has been working off at around 30% rb which they tell me the % increases over time. Well they gave me 30 days to get the bonus and I've only worked off 1/4th of it with 7 days to go. I went searching for good deals and found a great deal from an affiliate that offered me 55-60% rb on another ipoker skin. I withdrew my funds and put it on this new skin. I also put some of it on poker stars and will make these my only two sites going forward.

Because I am going back to school I don't feel comfortable playing on a 10bi roll anymore. Doing all this site shifting and having funds on a number of networks I have not been able to move up in limits. I have been stuck at games upto 50nl for the month and have been really comfortable with my rolls being under 1k. In fact I have been making withdrawals at the 1k mark of $500 while continuing to move my roll from site to site.

after this last withdraw I will have a big enough roll for 100nl at both ps and ipoker. I originally planned to be on a 10bi roll upto 200nl then settle in there for a while but I think I will have to settle in at 100nl while I go back to school as risk of ruin is far greater now. Anyhow I am still a newb when it comes to a lot of this stuff and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions regarding school, football and poker.

Thanks for reading

Bryan.

My last update I talked about my hot run with my $25 roll on euro club poker. After one month on the site I have turned that roll into $1960! I must admit I ran extremely well overall however my win rate was not to high at about 5ptbb/100.

I also received funds from a backing deal this week which I deposited on a couple sites. (thanks for suggestions) I put the bulk of it on Ipoker as they have a 200% sign up bonus, then put a small amount on two other sites that have great tournament traffic. (poker stars being one of them) So far things are going well on the new sites, i'm up a bit.

On to my financial situation. I'm still broke! I am currently going on 2 months with out paying any of my bills. I have two maxed out credit cards and an empty bank account. Unfortunately cake has very slow withdraws so who knows when I will have some money on hand. I requested a withdraw July, 8th and my account still says pending. I have sent numerous
e-mails and it does not seem that they are making any effort to mail my check. At this point I would have liked to make a second withdraw but because the cashout is pending I would have to cancel the first cashout to make a second. Out of neccesity I am going to withdraw my entire cake roll when I get the chance.

Thoughts on Ipoker so far is that I do not like the site much. The games seem to be pretty tough so far and I do not like the software one bit. After I work off the bonus I plan on taking out all funds.

Thanks for reading, hopefully this month goes well

Bryan

A little update and what is going on with me lately. My main and only poker site up until June 28th had been fulltilt and has been my sole source of income since I began playing full time in may. Fortunately for a poker player I am very level headed and I don't really think about the money that I have potentially lost. I will not be discussing the current situation nor am I overly interested.

A friend of mine told me about Euro club poker and how they were giving away $25 to play on their site. This was not very enticing at the time he told me (before the fulltilt situation) but since I had no income and no job I decided what the hell. My roll quickly droped to about $11 playing 10nl but I was not overly concerned as it was free money and didn't seem like much worth thinking about. I have been grinding the 6max nl and 6max plo the last 4 days now (as I have nothing better to do) and my bank roll is an impressive $691. I admit I have been playing underrolled (2 buy ins at times) but now with my current bank roll I will practice a bit more brm. Unfortunately the site has very little traffic and there are no games above $50 so I will not be moving up which will put a cap on my ability to earn.

I am fine with the site not having higher limits as it would be very likely I go broke using this bank roll strategy. My plan here is to keep my roll under 1k on this site and just cash out everything above that mark should I reach it. The full tilt situation is somewhat of a blessing in disguise in that I now see the value in having more than one site to play at. I now also have the opportunity to learn plo with out hurting my bank roll. I have played on many sites in the past (to get poker tracker and various bonus') and I have to say that this site has the weakest player pool I have seen yet. The obvious downside would be the lack of higher limits and the innability to use a hud or database.

Here is an update from my games at fulltilt between my last post and the date the site shut down.

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The first one is $50nl 6 max. I think 16 tabling is getting the better of me.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/8459/30days100nl.png

This is $100nl 6max mostly 4 tables

I really am having a lot more fun playing around 4 tables as I can really think about the game rather than auto clicking.

My plan going forward is to try and get an account on poker stars, party poker and possibly Ipoker network as I hear they have good deals. If anyone knows of some good deals out there or just any ideas on what I can do to start building a new roll please let me know.

Thanks Bryan

My shot at 50nl 6max has been turbulent to say the least. I guess for most to have success there is an ah ha moment where you finally figure out what is going on around you and how to make the most of it. Last month I lost my job, which created a situation where no income was coming in. Till this point I have been a slightly losing player but rakeback kept me afloat. The bills have been racking up pretty fast with no income coming in and poker has not been getting any easier.

I decided that I was going to grind my ass off and try to pull in a grand from rakeback. As an overview I normally play around 4 tables and have serious fps. To describe my style as a player, I am your typical laggy spewtard. My strategy that I had going forward was to load up 16 tables and play as solid as possible and not spew. I realize this could hinder my learning curve but it is what I have to do for now.

To my amazement things have really turned around for me and I feel like I am on the right track. My winrate has improved; add to the fact that I am playing 4x as many tables. It feels strange to be doing better now than before because I am thinking a lot less about my decisions while I am playing. I plan on grinding out the rest of the month and trying out 100nl next month but I am unsure of how to approach the new stakes. I am performing much better mass tabling but from a logical standpoint it does not seem like the right way to go about taking a shot. If anybody has any suggestions it would be much appreciated.

Below are my results at 50nl for the year and the last 40k hands are from this month.

I have not been keeping up with my blog but today I have a reason to. I have been grinding all day and today is my best to date in terms of results.I can't say I did anything speacial and was playing the usual cast of players.

6max 50nl

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Sometimes things do not go as planned. After a good start to the year I ran into a break even stretch. Around march I had some financial difficulties in which I had to withdraw almost $2500 and was never able to recover. That hit to my roll coupled with other things going on really set me back. Having to drop considerably lower in stakes and basically start over caused me to lose interest and I played much less poker as a result.

Although his year has not gone the way I hoped it would, I certainly learned a lot from the experience. My goals for next year will be the same for now and thanks to the videos and forums here I am confident that it is attainable.

Bryan.