All things must come to an end, for online poker players this was a reality that took place on Friday April 15th. With the department of justice opening cases on the 3 major poker sites (Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute). The sites quickly each decided to stop letting players from the United States play for money on their sites. Out of nowhere it seemed, online poker for Americans was over.
I'm not going to focus much on how I feel about what took place. I'm sure this is a rant that can easily found in any numerous online players: blog, facebook, twitter, etc. I try and worry about things that are outside my control and this is clearly one of them.
What I do know is this unexpected change will impact me. As much time as I've spent playing poker online recently this change will indeed be major. I can't control the circumstances that lead to me needing to make this decision, but I can control my reaction.
So what's my plan? Play on sites that are outside of the big 3? Try and play more live? Give up poker all together? Sit and complain about how I got screwed out of 1000 dollars (money that was on poker sites that I'll probably never see)? Hmmm...
To be honest I'm glad it's over. I'm sure I'll have days I miss playing and the next couple of weeks will be somewhat difficult. Anytime we get into the habit of doing something and you take it away it is difficult. But these difficulties are what leads to growth.
I've come to realize I want to change and I want to grow. Sitting behind a computer for hours upon end behind the ID MNPuck was stunting my growth. After awhile it becomes to comfortable and a habit. Not saying this is good or bad, it is what it is. So for me finding somewhere else to play online poker would limit my growth.
I need to find things that are uncomfortable to me. This is where I will be challenged and can learn. Will I make mistakes along the way? Sure, but that's what life is about.
Do I regret all the time I have spent playing poker online? Not at all, I've learned so many things from playing. About poker, but more importantly about myself. It's given me the confidence that I can do anything in life I want. Given I put in enough time and effort.
Basically for me it's time to stop being MNPuck and start being Brian. I'm not sure exactly what route I'll take yet, but I know it will work out. I'll have scrapes and bruises along the way, but in the end things are going to be ok.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
March update
Hey everyone, just thought I'd update this with how this have been going. Since my last my I have pretty much been focusing on mtt's. Things were going kinda blah until I took down a 3 rebuy PLO tourney for 1075 on stars. Certainly nice to catch a win, thanks to all those who were on the rail!
I'm going to stick with playing 4 to 6 mtt's at a time for the near future. I'm really excited about the scoop schedule coming in May, and will play in as many of the low events (they have 3 buyin levels) as I can. Maybe another score is around the corner? Time will tell.
I haven't been doing as much studying of just poker lately, but have been reading some excellent books that have made me rethink how to play. I'm going to start trying to do some strategy posts, with some of my ideas. I would really like to have some feedbacks on these.
MNPuck
I'm going to stick with playing 4 to 6 mtt's at a time for the near future. I'm really excited about the scoop schedule coming in May, and will play in as many of the low events (they have 3 buyin levels) as I can. Maybe another score is around the corner? Time will tell.
I haven't been doing as much studying of just poker lately, but have been reading some excellent books that have made me rethink how to play. I'm going to start trying to do some strategy posts, with some of my ideas. I would really like to have some feedbacks on these.
MNPuck
Monday, February 14, 2011
A new direction
So after my big score last week, I've moved up to the 6.50 45 turbos. Things haven't been going very well. I'm stuck 180 in 96 games. I don't think the competition isn't beatable, I've been running very bad. So I've been doing some thinking about what direction I would like to take next.
My answer is to focus solely on regualr MTT's. Targets are 11 dollar freezeouts and below and 3 dollar rebuys and below. I'm sure variance in these will be huge, but I really want to transition solely to these. I guess if things go terrible I can always come back to the 3.25/45s and 2.20/180s. But right now I really feel confident and have the bankroll to make this step.
I believe the turbo sngs were a great learning tool for me. I've learned so much about pushing and calling ranges when the stacks are short. I believe this tool is a must for any MTT player. However MTTs present a whole new challenge. In turbo sngs you are often faced with decisions with under 10BBs in your stack. In MTTs the stacks are often deeper and decisions are much different. With short stacks decisons are often mostly math based. With deeper stacks this is less true. Math still plays a part, but other factors come into play.
In order to help me with this learning process, I will be putting in alot of study times. Most of this will take place on the 3 days a week I work. The other 4 days will mostly be devoted to playing. On the to do list for studying is: reviewing each tourney hand history, re-reading Harrington on Hold'em volumns 1-3, and watching videos on Tournament Poker Edge. Also I will be asking some of you for your input in certain spots.
My ultimate goal has really always to become a great player, and feel this is the next logical step. Trying to become a great tournament player has both positives and negatives vs focusing on becoming a great cash player. I feel tournaments will always have some 'dead money' because weak players see the huge first place prize and dream of taking it down. However, in order to make some nice scores in tournaments, you must be lucky in some spots. I've heard it described like the lottery. Being a great tourney player doesn't guarentee that you'll ever win a big tournament, it basically gives you more 'tickets' then most players.
We will see what the future has in store for me. I would love to be able to afford to play in some of the bigger live tournaments around here. Hopefully one step at a time, I can get closer to this goal. The possibilities with tournaments are limitless. We shall see what happens....
MNPuck
My answer is to focus solely on regualr MTT's. Targets are 11 dollar freezeouts and below and 3 dollar rebuys and below. I'm sure variance in these will be huge, but I really want to transition solely to these. I guess if things go terrible I can always come back to the 3.25/45s and 2.20/180s. But right now I really feel confident and have the bankroll to make this step.
I believe the turbo sngs were a great learning tool for me. I've learned so much about pushing and calling ranges when the stacks are short. I believe this tool is a must for any MTT player. However MTTs present a whole new challenge. In turbo sngs you are often faced with decisions with under 10BBs in your stack. In MTTs the stacks are often deeper and decisions are much different. With short stacks decisons are often mostly math based. With deeper stacks this is less true. Math still plays a part, but other factors come into play.
In order to help me with this learning process, I will be putting in alot of study times. Most of this will take place on the 3 days a week I work. The other 4 days will mostly be devoted to playing. On the to do list for studying is: reviewing each tourney hand history, re-reading Harrington on Hold'em volumns 1-3, and watching videos on Tournament Poker Edge. Also I will be asking some of you for your input in certain spots.
My ultimate goal has really always to become a great player, and feel this is the next logical step. Trying to become a great tournament player has both positives and negatives vs focusing on becoming a great cash player. I feel tournaments will always have some 'dead money' because weak players see the huge first place prize and dream of taking it down. However, in order to make some nice scores in tournaments, you must be lucky in some spots. I've heard it described like the lottery. Being a great tourney player doesn't guarentee that you'll ever win a big tournament, it basically gives you more 'tickets' then most players.
We will see what the future has in store for me. I would love to be able to afford to play in some of the bigger live tournaments around here. Hopefully one step at a time, I can get closer to this goal. The possibilities with tournaments are limitless. We shall see what happens....
MNPuck
Monday, February 7, 2011
Reaction to my big score today
Let me begin this story yesterday. I had a rough day to say the least. Not only did I have a steady losing day at poker, but the team I wanted least to win the super bowl did. So frustrated I was with poker, I really thought about taking today off. I slept a ton, from about 11 PM last night to noon today. I didnt exactly pop out of bed.
So today began with me being very sluggish. Thought about not playing today at all. However after a short workout on the total gym I decided to give a session a shot. I late reg'd for 5.50 20k and got into the 11 40k on time. Also played some sng's in which I broke about even.
So the 40k started off pretty good and I had a decent stack from the get go. There were 6990 players entered. I just kept grinding away and got good cards in key spots. I was very lucky twice when my AK and AQ beat KK all in b4 the flop. When I had AK I was drawing to an ace on the river, when it hit I thought this time could be different.
With around 400 or 500 left I started looking at the payouts. 7th and above was at least 1k with 8.5k for 1st. But, really I just wanted to make a final table in a big tournament. I just kept on playing tight. My goal was to make plays before the flop were I felt more comforatable then playing post flop. Soon we were down to 100 players. They kept falling and I was still alive. Pay jumps happened when we dropped down in the number of tables left. With 18 players left on 2 tables, making a final table became a real possibility.
My friend Scott was counting down the number of players 14, 13, 12. Wow I cant believe I'm still in! Then finally the final table, what a great feeling. I fought as hard as I could. With 7 or 8 to play there were 2 big stacks that kept fighting each other, so my chances of winning were always slim. I hung on and finished 4th for 3200 dollars.
This makes it the 2nd biggest score of my poker playing career, my biggest was winning a tournament for 4200. However, I take much more satisfaction in today's score then the other one. The win was in 2008, and I feel that I've made so much progress between then and now.
In 2008 I was using drugs on almost a daily basis. Today I've been clean for over 2 years. When I won the tournament I must have been super lucky(not that I wasnt today), as I never worked on my game the way I do now. Today was the day I've been dreaming of when playing/reading/studying the last year and a half.
I would like to thank anyone and everyone who has helped or supported me in any capacity over the last few years. Without you my dream would have never come true today, and I can't thank you enough.
With this I leave you:
Trust in Him above all things so your dreams may come true, for if you believe in Him all things are possible.
MNPuck
So today began with me being very sluggish. Thought about not playing today at all. However after a short workout on the total gym I decided to give a session a shot. I late reg'd for 5.50 20k and got into the 11 40k on time. Also played some sng's in which I broke about even.
So the 40k started off pretty good and I had a decent stack from the get go. There were 6990 players entered. I just kept grinding away and got good cards in key spots. I was very lucky twice when my AK and AQ beat KK all in b4 the flop. When I had AK I was drawing to an ace on the river, when it hit I thought this time could be different.
With around 400 or 500 left I started looking at the payouts. 7th and above was at least 1k with 8.5k for 1st. But, really I just wanted to make a final table in a big tournament. I just kept on playing tight. My goal was to make plays before the flop were I felt more comforatable then playing post flop. Soon we were down to 100 players. They kept falling and I was still alive. Pay jumps happened when we dropped down in the number of tables left. With 18 players left on 2 tables, making a final table became a real possibility.
My friend Scott was counting down the number of players 14, 13, 12. Wow I cant believe I'm still in! Then finally the final table, what a great feeling. I fought as hard as I could. With 7 or 8 to play there were 2 big stacks that kept fighting each other, so my chances of winning were always slim. I hung on and finished 4th for 3200 dollars.
This makes it the 2nd biggest score of my poker playing career, my biggest was winning a tournament for 4200. However, I take much more satisfaction in today's score then the other one. The win was in 2008, and I feel that I've made so much progress between then and now.
In 2008 I was using drugs on almost a daily basis. Today I've been clean for over 2 years. When I won the tournament I must have been super lucky(not that I wasnt today), as I never worked on my game the way I do now. Today was the day I've been dreaming of when playing/reading/studying the last year and a half.
I would like to thank anyone and everyone who has helped or supported me in any capacity over the last few years. Without you my dream would have never come true today, and I can't thank you enough.
With this I leave you:
Trust in Him above all things so your dreams may come true, for if you believe in Him all things are possible.
MNPuck
Saturday, January 29, 2011
January 2011 Reivew
Hello again to all 2.3 of those who read this. January has been a good month for me on the tables. Things have turned for the better, but we will see how long it lasts. I'm happy with the work I've been putting in on my game, and it's seemed to have paid off.
To start with my once a month poker league went sour for me again. I had been pretty aggressive opening alot of pots. The worst player on the table limped UTG. Everyone folds to the SB who completes, I looked down at KK. I raise to 4x the BB. UTG goes into a rant and pushes on me, SB folds. I really consider laying it down, but just can't do it. I call he has AA, good game.
As for online have been running really good. Overall have played 722 games, up 835.25, with an roi of 50.7%. This is nice and all but isn't really substainable over the long run. An roi of around 20% would make me happy. So I'm expecting to cool off at some point. On fulltilt only have played 43 games, up 55.28, roi of 36.4%.
Have had a couple of deep runs on full tilt in some 1 dollar tournies. They have added a feature that allows you to enter tournies multiple times, in which you can multi table tournaments. For the two I ran deep in you could enter up to 4 times. I finsihed 81 out of 9900 in a dollar rebuy and 27 out of 5225 in a dollar freezeout. Was fun to run deep, have learned at this point that getting deep into tournies of those sizes don't happen every day so I enjoyed them.
I've been reviewing hand histories more then ever this month and I really feel this process is paying off. Have also become a member at tournamentpokeredge.com and have watched many videos, that have helped me out alot. I really feel that I have to do these extra things to keep an edge on the ever changing game of tournament poker.
Plans for the next month are pretty much the same. Continue to play mostly 2.20/180s and 3.25/45s on stars, with some MTT's mixed in. Will be looking to mix in some 6.50/45s and 7.70/180s (hopefully the 7.70s will run more after stars added them to main tourney page) if my bankroll continues to grow. Play the dollar freezeouts and rebuys on fulltilt.
Tomorrow(30th), I will be playing in some sunday events. Qualified for the world blogger championship on stars which should have around 500 entrants. Final table gets like 2k in tourney entries and winner gets like 3k in tourney entries. The entries are for the upcoming SCOOP and Sunday Millions on stars. They also pay down lower with entries. Great value for a tourney that all I had to do was maintain this blog to enter. Will also be playing the 250k guarantee(gonna make this a weekly thing) on stars. Also just registered for 6 entries into the 200k guar little big tourney on fulltilt.
So overall a good month. Hopefully will continue to go well in February. As always can follow MNPuck on twitter for more updates.
MNPuck
To start with my once a month poker league went sour for me again. I had been pretty aggressive opening alot of pots. The worst player on the table limped UTG. Everyone folds to the SB who completes, I looked down at KK. I raise to 4x the BB. UTG goes into a rant and pushes on me, SB folds. I really consider laying it down, but just can't do it. I call he has AA, good game.
As for online have been running really good. Overall have played 722 games, up 835.25, with an roi of 50.7%. This is nice and all but isn't really substainable over the long run. An roi of around 20% would make me happy. So I'm expecting to cool off at some point. On fulltilt only have played 43 games, up 55.28, roi of 36.4%.
Have had a couple of deep runs on full tilt in some 1 dollar tournies. They have added a feature that allows you to enter tournies multiple times, in which you can multi table tournaments. For the two I ran deep in you could enter up to 4 times. I finsihed 81 out of 9900 in a dollar rebuy and 27 out of 5225 in a dollar freezeout. Was fun to run deep, have learned at this point that getting deep into tournies of those sizes don't happen every day so I enjoyed them.
I've been reviewing hand histories more then ever this month and I really feel this process is paying off. Have also become a member at tournamentpokeredge.com and have watched many videos, that have helped me out alot. I really feel that I have to do these extra things to keep an edge on the ever changing game of tournament poker.
Plans for the next month are pretty much the same. Continue to play mostly 2.20/180s and 3.25/45s on stars, with some MTT's mixed in. Will be looking to mix in some 6.50/45s and 7.70/180s (hopefully the 7.70s will run more after stars added them to main tourney page) if my bankroll continues to grow. Play the dollar freezeouts and rebuys on fulltilt.
Tomorrow(30th), I will be playing in some sunday events. Qualified for the world blogger championship on stars which should have around 500 entrants. Final table gets like 2k in tourney entries and winner gets like 3k in tourney entries. The entries are for the upcoming SCOOP and Sunday Millions on stars. They also pay down lower with entries. Great value for a tourney that all I had to do was maintain this blog to enter. Will also be playing the 250k guarantee(gonna make this a weekly thing) on stars. Also just registered for 6 entries into the 200k guar little big tourney on fulltilt.
So overall a good month. Hopefully will continue to go well in February. As always can follow MNPuck on twitter for more updates.
MNPuck
Friday, December 31, 2010
Year End Review
Well it's been an up and down year for sure in terms of playing poker. From winning a good amount of money both live and online in the first 8 months of the year, to losing the last 4 months. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.
Online I finished the year down 20 dollars in tournies/sngs for the year(5k games). Cash games I was up around 185 dollars. Alot of time and energy to make a measly 165 dollars! I did manage to make an additonal 300 or so via a pending bonus and points milestones.
I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but I have learned which games I do well in and which ones I don't. I'm a winner at 1.10 45's, 2.20 180's, and 3.25 45's turbos. I'm down in MTT's and 6.50's (9 man, 18 man, 45 man). The games I'm winning at I've played at least 1000 of each so I'm pretty confident that I can beat these games long term. As for the 6.50's I don't have a large sample number, so it's possible I can also beat these (I think would have to improve my game).
On the cash side I was a winner in .01/.02 PLO. However, they have change the rake in this game to make it much tougher to beat (more on this later).
Live poker was good overall although it feel off at the end of the year. Just remembered that I was keeping records and found them. I stopped 1/2 way through the year, but have only played a few times since. Also included payment into the poker league. New Years resolution to update this each time I play! Anyway, the year end tally is around +1500. Being I so rarely play live it's such a small sample size to really determine anything from it. Other then I ran good at times.
A final note if you still reading (lol), I've started updating my twitter almost everytime I play. So you can follow me there (MNPuck). To sum it up was a decent year overall, hoping things will turn around for 2011.
MNPuck
Online I finished the year down 20 dollars in tournies/sngs for the year(5k games). Cash games I was up around 185 dollars. Alot of time and energy to make a measly 165 dollars! I did manage to make an additonal 300 or so via a pending bonus and points milestones.
I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but I have learned which games I do well in and which ones I don't. I'm a winner at 1.10 45's, 2.20 180's, and 3.25 45's turbos. I'm down in MTT's and 6.50's (9 man, 18 man, 45 man). The games I'm winning at I've played at least 1000 of each so I'm pretty confident that I can beat these games long term. As for the 6.50's I don't have a large sample number, so it's possible I can also beat these (I think would have to improve my game).
On the cash side I was a winner in .01/.02 PLO. However, they have change the rake in this game to make it much tougher to beat (more on this later).
Live poker was good overall although it feel off at the end of the year. Just remembered that I was keeping records and found them. I stopped 1/2 way through the year, but have only played a few times since. Also included payment into the poker league. New Years resolution to update this each time I play! Anyway, the year end tally is around +1500. Being I so rarely play live it's such a small sample size to really determine anything from it. Other then I ran good at times.
A final note if you still reading (lol), I've started updating my twitter almost everytime I play. So you can follow me there (MNPuck). To sum it up was a decent year overall, hoping things will turn around for 2011.
MNPuck
Monday, November 29, 2010
November Update
Wow it's been forever since I've updated this. So many things have happended that I don't know really where to begin. I guess to be blunt I've went through some very tough times with poker. Have almost quit the game many times for various reasons which I may or may not go into this post. Sorry if this post is sort of out of order and what not, I'm just going to do I mind dump and see what happens.
First thing that comes to mind is my giant 'swoon' since the last post. I hit some rough times in both the 2.20/180's and 3.25/45's. My ROI jumped down from around 25-30% in both games to almost 10%. To be honest I started losing some hands and the started playing bad because of it. Instead of being very aggressive, I started losing faith that I was making the right plays and backed off when I know I should be staying aggressive. It was definately a humbling experience.
My account on pokerstars reached about 1400 dollars at it's peak. After a few months I found myself down to around 700 dollars. I had to ask myself were all the money went. After doing some reasearch I noticed I was down around 300 or so over 3 months in multi table tournaments. Also I swapped 200 for full tilt money to play in some mini ftops events. So I lost about 200 or so in the 45/180 SNGs.
So sometime in October I cashed out my entire 700 roll. I honestly need the money for other things at the time and was really sick of playing anyway. I put 200 some back in a few weeks later and then cashed that out because I wasn't enjoying playing.
I spent most of October and Novmember away from poker, part of me thought it was for good. However, I did miss playing some days. People who know me understand that I've had addiction problems with things in the past. Some would quickly point to poker as another one for me. To be honest I can't say that it's not an addiction for me. However, it's helped me through some times in my life.
I've almost been sober from drugs and alchohol for 2 years. Some of that is because of poker, I really believe this. My 2008 year of losing showed me that I can not play poker while under the influence of drugs or alchohol. It's just not possible for me to be a winning player that way. If I'm sober there are no guarnetees that I'll win, but I have a much better chance.
Do I want to be sitting around playing poker everyday in the future? Not really, I actually want to go back to school. At this point poker is a good trial run for me in that regard. It takes concentration while playing, time to review sessions, and requires me to read books to try and stay ahead of the game. Even things like reading weren't possible for me 2 years ago, I still struggle with it some today. It's getting better and hopefully with time I'll be able to feel comfortable enough to return to school.
So my plan is to play the 2.20/180's exclussively from this point forward. No MTT's, except if it's SCOOP or maybe MiniFtops, and I'm only playing 1 or 2 tables of them. My results mixing in 3 or 4 Mtt's with 12 or so SNGs are just terrible. I was playing the 1.10/45's, because my bankroll was low. However I've been working more hours at work then normal so I have some extra money again to give the 2.20/180s a run. This are the games I want to be playing at the moment anyway.
On the live play side I've cooled off considerably from my previous play. I joined a league for 250 and have yet to cash (top 3 of 9 or 10 man table cash), in the first 3 months. There's also a point system which pays out at the end of the year, that I'm not looking so good in either. I also booked two losing sessions. One -80 at Diamond Joes and -130 at a local cash game. The truth is I'd rather take the 200 buyin at Diamond Joes and stretch it over some time and play online.
My Stars account is at 97 from the 110 I put into it. I have about 250 reserved that I can deposit if I need to. So what if I bust this bankroll? Truth is I'm not sure, I'll definately have to reasses things. The total 350 bankroll is almost enough (around 440 is recommend for a winning player to have as a bankroll for 2.20/180s), to know if I'm really a winning player.
Thanks for reading, I'll do an update next month.
MNPuck
First thing that comes to mind is my giant 'swoon' since the last post. I hit some rough times in both the 2.20/180's and 3.25/45's. My ROI jumped down from around 25-30% in both games to almost 10%. To be honest I started losing some hands and the started playing bad because of it. Instead of being very aggressive, I started losing faith that I was making the right plays and backed off when I know I should be staying aggressive. It was definately a humbling experience.
My account on pokerstars reached about 1400 dollars at it's peak. After a few months I found myself down to around 700 dollars. I had to ask myself were all the money went. After doing some reasearch I noticed I was down around 300 or so over 3 months in multi table tournaments. Also I swapped 200 for full tilt money to play in some mini ftops events. So I lost about 200 or so in the 45/180 SNGs.
So sometime in October I cashed out my entire 700 roll. I honestly need the money for other things at the time and was really sick of playing anyway. I put 200 some back in a few weeks later and then cashed that out because I wasn't enjoying playing.
I spent most of October and Novmember away from poker, part of me thought it was for good. However, I did miss playing some days. People who know me understand that I've had addiction problems with things in the past. Some would quickly point to poker as another one for me. To be honest I can't say that it's not an addiction for me. However, it's helped me through some times in my life.
I've almost been sober from drugs and alchohol for 2 years. Some of that is because of poker, I really believe this. My 2008 year of losing showed me that I can not play poker while under the influence of drugs or alchohol. It's just not possible for me to be a winning player that way. If I'm sober there are no guarnetees that I'll win, but I have a much better chance.
Do I want to be sitting around playing poker everyday in the future? Not really, I actually want to go back to school. At this point poker is a good trial run for me in that regard. It takes concentration while playing, time to review sessions, and requires me to read books to try and stay ahead of the game. Even things like reading weren't possible for me 2 years ago, I still struggle with it some today. It's getting better and hopefully with time I'll be able to feel comfortable enough to return to school.
So my plan is to play the 2.20/180's exclussively from this point forward. No MTT's, except if it's SCOOP or maybe MiniFtops, and I'm only playing 1 or 2 tables of them. My results mixing in 3 or 4 Mtt's with 12 or so SNGs are just terrible. I was playing the 1.10/45's, because my bankroll was low. However I've been working more hours at work then normal so I have some extra money again to give the 2.20/180s a run. This are the games I want to be playing at the moment anyway.
On the live play side I've cooled off considerably from my previous play. I joined a league for 250 and have yet to cash (top 3 of 9 or 10 man table cash), in the first 3 months. There's also a point system which pays out at the end of the year, that I'm not looking so good in either. I also booked two losing sessions. One -80 at Diamond Joes and -130 at a local cash game. The truth is I'd rather take the 200 buyin at Diamond Joes and stretch it over some time and play online.
My Stars account is at 97 from the 110 I put into it. I have about 250 reserved that I can deposit if I need to. So what if I bust this bankroll? Truth is I'm not sure, I'll definately have to reasses things. The total 350 bankroll is almost enough (around 440 is recommend for a winning player to have as a bankroll for 2.20/180s), to know if I'm really a winning player.
Thanks for reading, I'll do an update next month.
MNPuck
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