January Update

My $500 monthly profit goal is already met, and we still have a week left to play. I’ve been profitable at tourneys and cash games. Good stuff, but still plenty of room for improvement.

Here are my January results to date (Jan 24th):

Improvement
 * I learned the implications of a polarized board
 * My cash gaming experience is finally showing results in my tournament postflop play
 * It seems like I’m improving as a hand analyzer at PSO

Tourneys 
Played 12 tourneys in January to date and have cashed in 7 for a nice 302% ROI
Notable finishes were:
 * 2nd place in two $4 Rush tourneys
 * Cashed in the $27 6-Max TCOOP Event 1

I sure can’t complain about my tourney results. Imagine running +300% ROI for a year LOL! Nonetheless, I am very dissatisfied that I ended both of my heads up battles in 2nd place. I don’t like losing and I don’t like wasting opportunities.

I also wasted another great opportunity in a 12K Guar Rush tourney at Full Tilt. 300 players remaining (top 90 ITM) and I am in the top 20 with a big stack. I get dealt KK on the btn. I Raise and get called by the big blind who has an even larger stack than mine. 88Q on the flop, I c-bet and get called again. K on the turn giving me the nuts, I raise and get reraised – Jackpot!

I’m going to be the tourney chipleader after this hand. I am 100% focused on sizing my bet properly in order to get all in on the river and don’t notice the FullTilt warning sound (it is not the Stars beep beep beep). Before I manage to write in my raise amount, I get autofolded from the hand for using too much time! Rather than doubling up and becoming chipleader, I spewed a large part of my stack and finished outside the bubble. Not my best moment...

Cash Games
Played 18 000 hands total
 * Profitable at all stakes played: 10NL Zoom, 25NL Zoom, 50NL FR and 100FR
 * Avg Daily Profit. $13 (below my daily goal)

All good... but my goal was to average 17 bucks a day running six zoom tables. I have been well under my 17 dollar mark. After a close look at my stats, it is clear that my BB/100 is significantly better when I play fewer tables. So, for February I will cut down to playing only 3 Zoom tables. This gives me time to think rather than running on autopilot.

Apparently I still don’t let go of AA when I’m running on autopilot either. I had 6 hands that weren’t bad beats, but rather simply really bad play on my part. In all six, it was fairly clear on the flop that my TPTK or AA was in trouble, and it was crystal clear on the turn. Yet, I ignored the obvious and gave away my remaining stack. These few hands ate a third of my profit and kept me from my 17 dollar a day mark. 6 hands out of 18 000 cost me nearly 200 dollars...

VIP Status
 * Earned 1100 VPPs in January
 * Earned first $ 10 Stellar Reward
 * Earned Silverstar Status for February

Weekly Plans for February 

Five sessions multitabling Full Ring Zoom
 I have cut down from 6 tables to 3 tables, and play only 25NL Zoom now. This seems to give me better quality, more profit and plenty of FPPs.

1 session single tabling Regular Full Ring 
This is a repeat from January. I’ll be playing either 50NL or 100NL. Also, once I have ensured Silverstar status for March, I will play a bit more here rather than multitabling zoom.

1 session for Tourneys
Hopefully with a 300% ROI again

My game is steadily improving, but I really need to focus on minimizing my losses with ”just a pair” hands. My main improvement goal for February is to have zero spewed stacks from these spots. Getting beat is fine, getting unlucky is fine, but giving it away when I am clearly beat is unacceptable.

All in all january has been a fun month and I am happy with my results. Things are going in the right direction and I have identified a few specific leaks to focus on for February.

I hope you are improving and your bankroll is growing, too!

GL and have fun at the tables!

Roland GTX