One Month Down

Well Friday Aug 27 was one month since a started with my $50.
Overall I am please with where I am sitting at $2000 even though it was all made in the first week and I have been moving sideways ever since.  Poker can be a streaky game, and you have to profit when the cards are going your way and keep the losses to a minimum when things are not going well, and I think I have done that.  Below is a graph plotting my first month of play, and hopefully I will soon be able to mvoe forward to a new high.

Moving Sideways

Aug 18-22
I have not posted in a couple days because I have not had much to write about.  I have not had a chance to play much and have not seen much movement when I have.  I have been moving between $2000 and $2300 back and forth.  I had one chance to break though the $2300 mark when I played a AK in hold'em.
It was $0.5-$1 no limit and I had raised to $3 preflop with about $100 at the table and go one caller from the BB.  The flop was K 9 K and I had a set with a A kicker.  I went ahead a bet $4 and was raised to $12.
The only hand that could beat me was 9 9 or K 9.  I figure one of two things was happening, either he was thinking I was making a continuation bet and trying to bluff me off the pot or he could have a hand like KQ or KJ and thinks he has the best hand.  I thought maybe he could have a pair, including the 99 that would have me beat, but I thought he most likely would have raised with pocket pair pre flop so thought the other two options were more likely.  I decided to call, then check the turn which was a 8 to try to get him to make another bet.
The pot had about $30 in it and he bet $20.  If I called I would have $60 left.  I decided to re-raise all in thinking if he had a K I was getting called, if the 8 gave him a straight draw then I would most likely fold and if he happened to have 9 9 then I had 7 outs to hit a better full house.  He called and flipped over the 99 taking then $200 pot.  Winning would have put me up to $2350 but instead I was down to $2150 yet again.
As of right now I sit at $2050 and have made no progress in Since breaking though the $2000 mark on Aug 2.  So I made $2000 in the first week and have broke even the last 3 weeks.  I played pretty much only Omaha during that first week so maybe that is the cash game I should be playing.  Might as well go back to what worked that first week and play $1-$2 pot limit Omaha at Doyle's Room and see what happens.

Royal Flush

Aug 17
Hitting a Royal Flush in Texas Hold’em is a very rare thing. Flopping the Royal Flush is even harder. On average hitting a royal flush on your first five cards will happen 1 in 649,740 hands, but assuming you are starting off with two of the cards needed then the odds are 1 in 19,600 of hitting the royal flush on the flop, something I saw for the first time yesterday after playing online poker for about 6 years. As luck would have it, I was on the wrong end of the hand. I started with AK and after a player raised to $6, I re-raised to $15 and got called. The flop was A K 10 all diamonds. I had hit top two pair and my opponent bet $15. My thought was that if he hit a flush he most likely would have checked not wanting me to fold, but his bet was not so big that I thought he was trying to get me to fold, so I figured he thought he had the best hand. Since he only called my re-raise pre-flop I figured he could have the straight with no diamond but AQ or AJ seemed the most likely possibility perhaps with the Q or J being a diamonds. If the was the case then he would have 9 outs for a flush and 3 more for a straight for a total of 12 outs giving him about a 45% chance of winning, so I went all in and he called flipping over the Q J diamonds for the Royal Flush.




Things did not get much better after that. A few hand later I had AA. From early position a guy raised to $4, I then re-raised to $10, the BB called and the original raiser called. The Flop came 10 J 2. The BB checked the original raiser but $10 into a $30 pot and I raised to $30, BB folded and the other guy called. I was fairly certain I had him beat at this point and thought he either had KQ hoping to hit and overcard or a straight, or he had A J. The turn was a 7 he checked and I put my last $60 in and he called flipping over 8 9 for a straight on the other end. I never really thought of this as a possible hand for him because of the early position raise and then calling a re-raise pre flop.


The next time I had AA I raised to $6 and had one caller. The flop had three unconnected low cards with two diamonds. I bet $10 and he went all in and I called. He flipped over AQ diamonds and hit the flush to beat me.


Then I had two similar hands once with 4 4 and once with 6 6, both times I flopped a set ended up all in after the flop and ended up against someone who flopped a bigger set.


The last hand of the day I had JJ. The first guy to act raised to $4 I re-raised to $10 two guys called the $10 then the original raiser went all in for over $100. I figured he was trying to take the pot right there with out seeing the flop so most likely had a middle pair or maybe AK, either way the right move was to call unless I thought one of the two other guys had me beat which I did not, so I called the other two folded and he flipped over 8 8 making me a huge favorite to win, but it was not to be, he hit a 8 on the flop and I lost yet another big pot.


At the end of the day I was back down to $2125 and I can not believe the number of times I have lost starting with AA over the last week. The last 20 times I have been dealt AA I think I have won the blinds about five times won small pots about five time and lost about 10 times.


I should be winning about 80% of the time I see the flop but instead I have been losing about 60% and usually the losses are bigger pots then the wins.


I think I will take a day off and then move back to Doyle’s Room for a couple days because my luck at the Rush tables has not been good and I do not want to keeping playing there feeling frustrated because it could have a negative impact on my play and I do not want to compound the losses with bad play.

Back on Track

Aug 16
Only played for about an hour all at $1-$2 no limit hold'em Rush Poker.
Although I once again lost with AA vs 88, I also got a few cards fall my way including hitting a set of Js vs KK on the turn after calling a bet on the flop.  I was suspicious pre-flop that he had a big hand which is why I only called after three under cards came on the flop and I probably  would have folded to another bet if I did not hit the set, but hitting that J allowed me to reraise all in after his bet and take down a $250 pot.  At the end of the hour I was ahead $350 and sitting at about $2725 overall, just shy of high high point of $2800.  I have survived my run of terrible luck and am right back on track, and hopefully later today I will be able to get to a new high and maybe cross the $3000 mark for the first time.

I should have time to play in another tournament of two this weekend, so I may try to play in a couple of satellites to see if I can win a seat to a bigger tournament on Saturday or Sunday.

Final Table Action

Well the two tournaments I entered could not have gone more differently.  In the HORSE tourney I was out after about 1.5 hours of play.  It is much my quickest exit from a fixed limit tournament that I can recall.  The hand the really killed came in Stud Hi/Lo.  I had a great drawing hand during a five player pot that I could not get away from and did not hit.  I started with 2 5 6 with two clubs and I called a two bet with three of my opponents having a low door card and one guy showing a 10.  4th street gave me a Qc, which was not a great card, but I still had three to a low and now three to a flush as well so I ended up call a bet.  5th street was a great card for me, the 4c.  I now had four to a 6 low a gut shot straight draw and a Q high flush draw.  This is where the raises started.  Two guys had three low cards up one was showing a pair of 10s and I figured he either had a big pair down or a third 10 and the other guy had three spades J high.  6th was a blank and I called four bets and 7th was antoher blank which forced me to fold.  The one guy had three 10s the other hit his flush on 7th and a seven low took the low side.  That hand cost me over half my chips and I never recovered.

On the other hand in the 292 player Pot Limit Omaha tournament I have just made the final table.
9th place will get $147.17 and 1st $1822.08
I have been playing for about five hours so far, and I sit in 3rd place with 156,974 chips.
One guy eliminated on the first hand, down to 8 and the chip leader has 233, 274 chips.
Have not played a hand yet, but we are down to 7 players.  I am in 4th 70,000 behind the leader.
I have not had many playable hands and have missed the flop the two time I have seen it.  I am down to 5 of 7 with 114,474 chips.  With 9 10 J A, I call the blinds and see a flop of 2 3 10, it checks a 2nd 2 hits and it checks around again.  with a J on the river I think I have the best hand and call a min bet and win the 39,000 pot. and puts me back in 4 of 7.
Samll stack goes all in with AAxx hand and loses to a flush down to 6.
With the blinds 3000/6000 I have 8 9 J J in the BB and call a 18,000 bet.  Flop A 8 A check check, turn is another 8 check check and river a 6 he bets 21,000 I call and take the 96,000 pot.
20,000 small stack goes all in and I call with K Q 8 8, he has Q Q J 5.  I hit a K and win bring my stack to about 230,000 and I sit in 2 of 4.
I tried to make a deal to get $1200 but the big stack was not willing to deal.
Down to 3 but my stack is getting low after calling a river bet with QQ in my hand and 555 on board and lost to a KK I sit at 130,000 with 1st at 500,000 and 2nd 250,000 about.
I am out in 3rd after hitting a full house and getting beat by a better full house.
I win $876  which brings me back up to a total of $2376 and feeling a little better.

Variance = Frusteration

Aug 14-15
Variance is a word you will hear from pro poker player often.  It refers to the fluctuations that your bankroll will go though and it does not matter how well you may be playing there will still be times when you take a large swing downwards.  This pretty much explains my last couple days.  My bankroll sits at about $1750 over $1000 down from my high of $2800.  I have lost so many hands where I was ahead when the money went all in that I fell like I am going to lose as soon and the cards are flipped and he has more then one out.
If they have a flush draw or a straight draw they hit every time.  I lost AA vs 88 all in pre flop by them catching a straight.  I had top set vs middle pair after the flop and hand him catch runner runner diamonds to hit a flush and many more that are just blurring together into one big frustrating mess.  I have to admit that after several hands it started to affect my play and I had a couple ill timed bluffs which compounded the loses.
Since I was not able to play in the razz tournament on Friday night due I have tournament dollars to use and I have decided to play in the $30,000 Guaranteed Sunday Night HORSE tournament with a $216 buy in, where I have managed to make the final table twice in the past including a 2nd place finish worth $6000, and a PLO tourney with a $26 buy in. If I come up short in those two tournaments I will be down to $1500 and I am going to stay away from full tilt for a few days and go back to Doyles Room and cut my stakes back down until I can get my bankroll back over $2000.

FTSOP Part 2 may be cancelled

Something has come up and I may not be able to pay in Event 28 after all tonight, I am still going to try, but it does not look good, I will blog about it if I can play.
I did manage to sneak a couple hundred hands in this morning by playing at two $1-$2 NL Hold'em tables at once.  overall I made a couple hundred dollars and actually got lucky once winning a hand I should have lost.
Had QQ on the button and it folded to me and I raised to $6.  SB folded and BB raised to $18.  I figured that he thought I was trying to steal the blinds and was defending, hoping to get me to fold with a weak A or smaller pair.  I decided to push all in for $130 and was quickly called by AA.  Four clubs ended up coming on board and I had one and he did not giving me the $260 pot.
Overall I am back up to $2650.

FTSOP Part One (I hope)

The FTSOP XVII runs from Aug 4-15 is near an end.  I have played in several past events but have not taken part in any this time around so far.  These tournament can last 8+ hours so I have not had a chance to play, although with my bankroll management strategy that I am sticking to I do not have enough funds for the large buy-ins either.  I do think I will have a chance this weekend time wise but that still leaves the large buy-in issue.  Taking a look at the events left, the $300 +$22 Limit Razz tourney would be the most interesting to me Friday at 9:00pm EST and there is a satellite to that tourney going on right now with a $50 buy-in and 66 people registered which is in my price range, that gives the top ten an entry.  I am going to play and will post during the tourney with key hands and my thoughts.  Hopefully I am able to win a seat and will do the same tomorrow in Part 2.
If I can not win a seat then I will have to find a smaller tourney to play in.
$55 buy-in Limit Razz Satellite to FTSOP $322 buy-in Limit Razz Event 28 on Friday Aug 13

Hour One
Start with 2000 chips
After 17 hands dealt I have been dealt three cards under 6 to start three times and have raised with it.  So far no luck connecting on anything and I have ended up having to fold each on 5th or 6th street.
I am down to 1558.
Got dealt A 4 5 and very good starting hand in was raised before me, and I decided just to call.  I would often raise there but the was a 2, 3 and 6 on board, all cards I want and no A, 4 or 5 out other then mine so I am a little less likely to hit my outs with my opponents being a little more likely to hit thiers.
Four players see 4th and I hit a K with the other three hitting a low card so I fold.
Down to 1461.
I am dealt 2 4 7, a guy with 6 showing raises there are three players to act behind me two have 4s and the other an 8.  I call and one of the 4s re-raises it folds back to the original raiser who three bets it.  The 4 only has enough chips to call so I decide to call.  On 4th the small stack gets a K I get a 6 and the other guy a 5, so I check call.  On 5th the small stack paired his 4 and with a board of 4K4 is pretty much out of the running.  I hit a 3 which completes a 7 low and the other guy hits a 9 I bet he calls  after I hit a 9 and he hits a 10 on 6th I am feeling pretty good and bet again with him calling and 7th gave me a 5 giving me 2 3 4 5 6 so I bet again and get call and win the pot against a 2 3 5 6 9 which bring me up to 2510.
Stakes are going up every 10 minutes so me are now at 100/200 and 15 ante and we have 52 of 66 players left.
I was first to act with 2 5 A.  There were three low cards showing after me, two 5s and a 6.  Only one card I want showing makes my hand even stronger so I raise to 100 and get one caller with a 6 on board.
We both hit 7s on 4th, I bet he calls.  5th give me a 3 completing a 7 low and he hits a 8, an excellent card for him to hit, gives him a low card which mean he will probably call, but I know the 8 does him now good since I have a 7 low already.  we both hit blanks on 6th, and it is me bet him call again.  On 7th I pair my A and bet out again and he raised and I called to win the pot and bring my stack to 3375.
When I called my though was another 200 chips if I win the pot will not mean as much and the 200 chips I would save if I happen to be behind.  As soon as I called I realized that I can not be behind and should have raised again.  I had a 5 7 low and he had 6 7 8 6 on board so even if he had A 2 3 (which is what he actually had) I still have him beat.  I small error and hopefully the 200 chips does not come back to haunt me at the end.
The first break has arrived and after some antes and a bring-in I sit at 3040 chips which puts me in 18 of 46 remaining.

Hour Two.
With the stakes now at 150/300 ante 25 the betting is high relative to chip stacks and you can not afford to lose many hands.  First I am paying almost 1% towards the ante each hand but also just calling bets on one hand to the end would be 40% of my stack.  It is rare for me to try to bluff or steal antes at this point, but if the opportunity arises then I will still try, after all stealing the antes increase my chip stack by almost 10%.
After taking a couple uncontested pots by betting out with good hands I am up to 3700.
Win a small pot on 4th when I hit a low card and my opponent hits a hit card.  I am at 4105. in 20th of 30.
Stakes are about to go up to 300/600 ante 50.  The ante is now over 1% of my stack and calling one hand to the end would cost me 60% of my stack.  Basically losing one hand could end your tournament.  It is important to get out of hands early unless you are confident you are either ahead or can get others to fold.
I called a raise from a relatively small stack.  He had a 6 showing and I had 4 3 6.  When he hit a K and I hit a J on 4th I bet thinking he may fold right there because calling would pretty much commit him to the pot with what he knows is the worst hand, but he did call.  5th gave me a 7 and him a 10 giving him reason to fold when I bet, but he felt he had no choice but to raise which put him all in.  On 6th he hit a 2 and I paired my 4 which made me sweat a little, but I hung on by hitting a 8 on the last card while he paired up meaning my 3 4 6 7 8 beat his 2 3 6 7 10 and I had 6433 chips.  I now sit in 10 of 24 with top ten getting an entry I just need to maintain my position.
With antes of 100 my stack is being eaten away while I sit and wait for a playable hand I am down 1200 to 5233 without even seeing 4th street.
After playing one hand and folding on 4th I am down to 4458 in 16 of 22.
2nd Break
I sit at 4358 in 16 of 21
There is 850 in the pot after antes and the bring in, and many players on going to start playing tight trying to just hang on till the end I am going to have to start looking for chances to steal pots with a good door card in late position.
The stakes will be at 600/1200 shortly after the break which means I do not even have enough chips to complete one hand worth of bets so I can not sit and wait very long but one losing hand and I am gone.
Took out a small stack after reraising him all in prior to 4th street and moved up to 4978 and 14 of 17 left.
Down to 3478 with out playing a hand and in 15 of 17.  I need a double up if I am going to make it.
Have 5 2 A and call a raise with a A showing, hit a couple good cards and he folds on 6th giving me the pot and a total of 6828 good for 12 of 14.  Still need at least one more good hand, but I am getting close.
down to 5428, I have stole the antes once, but I am getting the bring in every 2nd hand which is hurting me and I sit in 11 of 13.  Both smaller stakes then me are at the other table.
up to 7178 after I raised with 7 9 4 when it folded to me with only two 10s a 9 and a K on board behind me.  The 9 ended up calling but folded when he hit a K on 4th.
Dealt a A 7 2 and bet out and everyone folded bring me up to 7928 and 10 of 13.
We are now down to 12 which puts us hand for hand until the end now.  11th place does get $80 then 1-10 the $322 entry.
Down to 11 people and I sit in 10th place with 4978, all I need is for one guy with 3161 chips to get knocked out.
I fold a 3 4 5 to a raise hoping I do not have to play a hand.
I have have 3 bring ins in a row dropping me down to 2578 ahead of last place by less then 100 chips.
With 2 3 6 I raise and everyone folds bring me back up to 3378 and a little breathing room.
Last place is down to 1161 with 200 antes it should not last long.
small stake is all in on a bring in with a Q up and he is out and I am in winning my entry to tomorrows FTSOP event 28.$150,000 guaranteed Razz.
Including the value of my tournament entry I sit at $2222 overall.

How to Play AA in no limit hold'em and lose

Aug 11-12
I have apparently become an expert at losing with AA over the past two days.
I sat down at a $1-$2 rush lo limit hold'em table on full tilt poker with $100.
The first hand I got dealt was AA in the BB.  A guy in early position made a large then average raise of $10 with a guy in middle position calling, then the SB who was short stacked went all in for $38.  I figured with $60 already in the pot I was happy to just play heads up for the pot so I went all in.  The original raiser folded but the guy in middle position called, he had 8 8 and the SB flipped over KK.  I am an 65% favorite to win the $250 pot and a 80% favorite to at least beat the 88 and walk away with the $124 side pot.
The flop had an 8, the turn another 8 and I lose $100 on the first hand of the day. 
Over the course of the rest of the day and play this morning I have lost 4 more hands with AA.  Two times all in preflop once having a smaller pair hit a set and the other time hitting a flush.  The other two the money went all in during post flop play once with a guy calling me with a flush draw and hitting and the most recent hand the flop came 3 6 7 with two diamonds, I bet he called, then a 10d hit and I wanted to end it right there so I went all in and was called by a set of 3s to lose again.  I lost about $500 on those four hands.  But that was not enough losing for me.  I figured I should be on the losing end a couple times with the other guy having AA with me a big pair.  All in all I lost $800 and sit at an even $2000.
If you told me two weeks ago this is where I would be sitting I would have been very happy, but hard to be happy after a stretch like that.

Rush Poker

Aug 9-10
For the first time I moved some money to my account with Full Tilt Poker.  The main reason I did this at this time was to play Rush Poker.  This is a fairly new innovative way to play poker online.  Instead of sitting at a table with nine other players you join a pool of players that could have several hundred players in it.  You get place at a table and are dealt a hand.  As soon as you decide to fold your hand you are automatically moved to a new table with a new hand being dealt.  You do not even have to wait for your turn, if you know you want to fold then you have a quick fold button.  The other players at the table will not know you hit it, and when action reaches you at that table then your hand will be folded for you, but in the mean time you are playing another hand at another table.  Playing Rush Poker allows you to play far more hands then a conventional ring game.  200-300 hands per hour is the range I normally would play.  If you are a profitable player then the more hands you play the better over the long run.  I have avoided the Rush Poker table up until now because I wanted to make sure I built up my bankroll first.  Since you are going though so many hands so quickly the ups and downs of poker and even more pronounced.  You play about 4 times more hands per hours so the swings can happen very quickly.
My time at the Rush tables over the past two days has turned out to be very profitable.  I have only managed to play about 5 hours over two days, but by playing at two rush tables at the same time I saw about 2000 hands in that short period of time, mostly $1-$2 no limit hold'em, and turned in a profit of about $800. 
with 2000 hands I had several hands like AA, KK, QQ and AK to play and ended up getting good action from other when I got them so most of my profits came from situations like that.
One hand I played with 10 10 stands out because of the terrible play from my opponent.
I was on the button one guy raised to $6 from middle position, another called and everyone else folded.  With a  hand like 10 10 I did not want to see the flop three handed so I re-raised to $18.  I could be happy taking the $14 the was already in the pot if they both folded, but the original raiser called me with the other player folding.  The flop was 2 5 7 rainbow, an great flop for my 10's.  He checked and I bet $20 which he called.  The turn was another 7 which also put two clubs on board.  The pot had $80 and my opponent only had another $65 and checked to me again.  I figured if he had an overpair higher than mine then he most likely would have re-raised me preflop and again after the flop, I could not see him calling my preflop raise with any hand containing a 7 so that left a hand like AK, AQ or maybe 88 or 99.  I did not want to risk him hitting a lucky river if he had AK or AQ and thought I would get called by 88 or 99 given the chips he had left so I pushed all in.  He though for about 2 seconds and called, flipping over A 2 off suite and with a blank on the river I won a $210 pot.
With A2 I am not sure why he would raise from early position in the first place, but how he would ever call a good size re-raise, especially when he had another player call his first bet who was still to act behind him.
After the flop he did have bottom pair so I suppose there is some justification for him calling my $20 bet which was only about 1/2 the pot because if I had a big hand and he hit a A or 2 then he would probably win a big pot, but not a move I would make.  How he put another $65 in at the end on with that hand in beyond me.  I am not complaining mind you.  Play like that will help me reach my goal that much quicker.
As of the end of day Aug 10 I sit at $2800 a profit of $2750 in 13 days playing about 2 hours per day means I am getting about $100 per hour playing most at $1-$2 tables.

Bad Beats

Aug 7 and 8
Well the weekend did not go very well, I lost a total of $460 almost entirely on bad beats.
These just reinforces the need for proper bankroll management.  In the past I very well may have lost everything I had in the account bring more to the table after a few bad beats to try to win back the losses quickly.  Instead I followed my 10% max buy-in rule and still have $500 in the poker account to keep playing with. 
I was playing mostly $1-$2 pot limit Omaha.
On three occasions I flopped the nut straight with a rainbow board so did not have to worry about a flush.
On three occasions I lost.  The first time I was against a two pair who hit the full house.  The second time I was against a set who hit the full house and the third time I was against a draw to a higher straight who also hit the card he needed.
Then twice I flopped top pair with a nut flush draw and ended up all in to a guy bluffing with middle pair and three random cards.  Both times they hit two pair and I missed everything.
The last big hand lost was a gamble on my part but one I feel was worth it.
I had about $100 starting the hand and had 8 9 10 J.  I called a $6 bet and then the BB raised to $20 which both me and the original raiser called so we had a $60 pot seeing the flop.  The flop was 2 7 10, so I had top pair and 13 out for the nut straight two more outs for a set of 10s.  There was a two clubs on board and I had only one in my hand.  The first guy to act bet $30.  I figured I was behind but the 13 out for a straight was good pot odds especially in a three way pot.  The guys behind me likely had AA in his hand and I was guessing the other guy had a flush draw or maybe a set.  I decided to push all in and got called by both, and I was right.  The raiser and the nut flush draw as well as top pair with over cards and the other had AA 56.
I ended up hitting the straight on the turn only to have the flush hit on the river.  But I think I made the right move and would most likely do the same thing again as I had about a 40% chance of winning that hand and was betting $70 to win $300 getting better tehn 4:1 on my money.
Those six hands cost me on average $75 each or about $450 in total.
Bad beats are a part of poker and they are going to happen.  It can get frusterating when a few of them happen over a shot period of time.  You have to maintain your disapline and either keep playing the same way or if it is affecting your play you need to walk away from the table for a while.  Better to walk away down money then to keep playing and lose more.

I have decided to stop giving a break down of the funds I have withdrawn and which funds are in the poker account and just provide the end result.  I figure the break down is just going to get more complicated as I move money to other poker sites.  Right now I have made $1500 in Withdrawal and have $500 left in my account so I sit at $2000 and will use the end result number going forward.

Bankroll Management Stratagy

Day 9 Aug 6
Back on the winning side of things today with more winnings playing $1-$2 Pot Limit Omaha.
I also played in a 6 handed holdem sit n go and with a $16 buy in and finished in 1st.
I ended the day with up $325 for a account balance of $960 so including withdrawal made I am up to $2440.
Instead of discussing my table play today, I am going to talk about my bankroll management strategy that I am going to be sticking to going forward.  I may tighten up the rules as my bankroll goes but for now this is it.
First of all any withdrawals made if not deposited into a poker account at another site will not be included in my bankroll balance as the money taken out is money I do not wish to put back in so as of now they are based on $960.
For ring games I am going to bring a maximum of 10% of my bankroll to any table and will leave the table if at any point my table stack represents 25% of my bankroll.  For the most part I will probably stick with bring $75 to a table at a time like I have been doing, but my bring the whole 10% when sitting at a fixed limit table.
For tournament I will follow the following guidelines.
2-10 players  max 7.5%
11-49 players max 5%
50-100 players max 4%
100-300 players max 3%
300+ players max 2%

You can play good poker and fail to cash in several tournaments in a row, especially the bigger ones.  Overspending my bankroll on tournament buyins has been one of my biggest mistakes in the past.
I would win $1000 and then I would enter a couple $200 buy in tournaments and watch my bankroll drop a large amount very quickly.  Then after watching my bankroll drop I would try to get it back up quickly playing stacks higher then I should have been.

First losing Day Aug 5

I only played Pot Limit Omaha today and have lost about $200.  I am not going to go over specific hands because all the hands I lost money on were pretty much the same situation.  Playing AAxx hands preflop.
I think that people in general open raise far to often with any hand that has AA in it and I do not normally do this.  The big problem is you are not very likely to improve your hand on the flop and it is very difficult to tell where you stand.  two pair is fairly common especially if you had more then one person call.
What I normally do, is limp in, and if someone else raises then I have the option to re raise.  The AAxx hand is most often about a 60% favorite to win against most other good hands.  For example As Ad 8s 4h is just under a 58-42 favorite to win against 9h 10d Jc Qc.  Those are good odds if you can get the funds in preflop.  If I can get 70% of my or my opponents money in the pot preflop by re raising then I will most often do just that and put the rest in regardless of how the flop comes up.  Usually this means someone has to pot raise with one other caller, if my re raise gets both to fold then I win a nice pot right there, most often I end up either taking the pot right there or getting only one caller for a bet that size.  I had this situation three times and lost all three about $75 twice and $60 once.  I was the favorite in each case and believe it was the right move, but I do have to loss about 40% of the time and I have had good success winning these until today so I am not going to complain and most likely will keep doing the same thing when to opportunity presents itself.
after 8 days I have $630 in my poker account and have made withdrawals of $1480.

Day 7 Aug 4

I played for about one hour this morning and sat at two $1-$2 no limit holdem tables with $75.
It was a very eventful hour and things did not start off well.
My first big hand I was down to $65 to start and was dealt a AJ suited and raised to $6 from early position.  The BB, a player who had been raiseing pre flop often, reraised to $20 and I felt he was bluffing so pushed all in only to get called by a KQ and having a Q hit on the turn to beat me.
I bought back in for $75 and lost it when I tried to bulff with nothing and got called. So I bought in again for $75 and thing started going a bit better.
I was dealt KK and raised to $6 with two callers.  The folp was all low cards and I was first to act so I checked, the next guy bet $15 and the other guy called him so I decided to try to take the pot there and went all in only to have both players call with lowers pairs and I took the pot for $211.
After stealing some blinds I was up to $215 on the button with Q9 suited and in folded around to me.  I though that was good for a standard raise to $6.  SB folded and BB made it $20.  I thought he must have a decent hand but not a powerhouse since my button raise would not reprecent much streacgth.  I decided to call and the flop was a beauty,  A Q Q, I hit a set.  I checked and he bet $16 which I called, the turn was a 5 so I checked again and he bet $32 and I made the raise to $64 which he called.  At this point I figured he had to have an A in his hand and he is not going to fold it.  The river was a 8 and I moved all in and got called and took a nice $430 pot.
Same table a few hands later I was dealt AQ and raised to $6.  The same guy who had reraised me with KQ earlier reraised again to $20.  this time I just called.  The flop was Q 8 6.  He bet $24 which only left him with anohter $75 so I pushed and he called and flipped over his KK so I lost my third big pot but thanks to the two big pots I had won I ended up with a $84 profit for the only session of the day.

July 29 - Aug 3

My first few days have gone very well, a pace I am sure I will not keep up with.
Day one July 29
I decided to start out playing  $1 - $2 Omaha
My first session in the morning was for about one hour.  I sat with my entire $50 bankroll and managed to leave with $117.05, a very good start.  In the future I will be taking some notes and posting some details of key hands but for the first few days I was not doing this so I have nothing more to add.
I sat again later in the day this time slitting my bankroll between two tables $57.50 at one and $59.55 at the other, same game same limits.  I ended up cashing out a total of $188.61 after another hour of play.
Day two July 30
Still playing $1 - $2 Omaha I sat down again at two tables with $60 on each.45 minutes later I was up to $379.55 and decided to leave the tables and and made a withdrawl of $180.
Later in the day I sat back down at two tables $75 each and after 30 minutes I had lost the funds on one table but turned the other table into $203 so I cashed that out and resat again with $75 at two tables.  Another 30 minutes later I was up a good amount at both tables so I left both tables with a total of $372.65 from my original $150. I now have about $540 in my account plus the $180 I withdrew and everything was going great so far. So I sat back down again with $75 at two tables and lost it all, down to $390 still not bad, I brought another $75 and that was quickly lost as well, down to $315 now so I called it a day.
Day three July 31
Played about 4 hours this day and for the first time played a little bit of $3 - $6 Fixed Limit holdem as well as $1-$2 Omaha playing one table of each at the same time most of the time I played.  The end result was a profit on the day of $287.20 so my poker account had just over $600.  I decided to take another $200 withdrawal takeing the poker account balance to $400 and the total withdrawals to $380.
Day four Aug 1
My first session of the day was about three hours once again playing the same combination of games as yesterday.  I very nice session with a profit of $500.
With about $900 in the poker account when I came back to play later in the day I started off by making a withdrawal of $400 to bring the poker account balance to $500 and the total withdrawals to $780.
I played for another 1.5 hours and made anohter $154 and caled it a day with $654 in the account.  Added to the $780 in withdrawals I have turned $50 into $1434 in four days in about 13 hours and have been making about $100 per hour.  Like I said earlier a very good start but I kinow my luck will turn at some point.
Day five Aug 2
I played my first tournament today a $33 holdem tourney with about 75 people and I failed to cash.
The ring games countinued to go well once again playing one table fixed limit holdem and one table pot limit Omaha two session and a total of 4.5 hours lead to a profit of just under $400 and I made another $200 withdrawal.
Day six Aug 3
Played about three hours and in ring game made about $180.
I also tried my luck and anohter tournament a $55 turbo holdem with about 75 people.  I made the final table finishing 6th for a prize of $206 bring the daily profit to $386 and prompting me to make a $500 bring my total withdrawls to $1480 plus a poker balance of about $750.  In six days I have managed to turn $50 into $2230..

The Begining

On July 29, 2010 I made a deposit of $50 to an account I held at DoylesRoom.
My goal is to turn that $50 into $50,000, and I plan to Blog about my experience.  Key hands, bad beats, tournament wins and lessons learned along the way.  I am almost a week in and have been a little tarty setting up the blog so I will be providing a summary of my first week, but will be providing more detail going forward.
I have been playing poker online for about 6 years. I have had some success and some losses.  Overall I am ahead thanks to some decent size tournament wins, but a lack of disciplined bankroll management has hurt my profitability.  Since this is not my only $50 and if I lose it I will just start over again I am going to be a little aggressive to start thing off bringing the whole $50 to the table with me   As my bankroll grows I am going to start implementing bankroll management rules which will restrict the percentage of my bankroll I can sit at a table with, or use as a tournament buy-in.
I do not plan to only use DoylesRoom, but may transfer funds to FullTilt and PokerStars along the way as well.  I did decide to start at DoylesRoom because it is a smaller site and has much smaller tournaments to take part in.  While my bankroll is relatively small I would rather buy into a tournament that has 50-100 people over the larger tournaments at the other sites so the odds of cashing are higher.  Once the bankroll has grow I am sure I will take part in these larger tournaments as well and try for the big payday.
My next post will be a summary of play from July 29 - Aug 3