Capping off a solid month

PT stats: (for new database)
23239 hands
Won: $2146.65
4.97 PTBB/100
56.48 hrs played
$38.01/hr

Rakeback: $385.72

Profit since 1st nov on old database: $350

Total profit: $ 2882.37


So the end of December caps of with a good run with 9.77PTBB/100 over a 10k 100nl hand sample. Definitely running well, as well as table selecting good tables that helps me to run well. When you have such postflop edge against weaker players, it's paying off even in the very short run.

December started off mehhhhh at 50nl when I came back to the game. Wanted to get my rusty gears started but hit a tilt/badrun in the middle of the month. I guess the turnaround for this month started when I decided to put in more study hours reviewing my plays, cutting down on tables, watching more videos, pokerstoving hand ranges and knowing where I stand in certain spots. I kinda like to review my plays more now as I'm making far fewer mistakes and more importantly, far fewer bigger mistakes.

I'm have subscribed to leggopoker for it's good selection of cash games videos and imho, they are of very high quality and worth the 1 year suscription fee of $299.40. I've also been working on my game by using this technique of thinking reciprocally - how the villian would play his hand given the way I've played. Such analysis allows you to know certain lines that average players would often take aganist a preflop raiser (usually me) and when they do something else, you basically become more aware of where you stand.

Poker has been great for me this year. I've got a sum of rakeback money that I plan to cash out. For 2008, I'm setting my sights on hitting 200nl and crushing it from march onwards, and hopefully be a regular at 400nl by the end of the year. It is a modest goal I suppose, I believe in taking it slow and having a conservative bankroll plan. While at the same time I'm taking coaching lessons to improve and correct any fundamental leaks of mine. I think I've a sound technical game, but there are definitely some spots for improvement.

Jan 08, I have a huge bonus to clear from the Ironmen bonus promotion. However, I'd expect many regulars to do so, as well as avg players. The standard should be slightly higher after the new year, with many players trying to make a fresh start to play better, resolutions of playing tighter etc etc. We will see how this affects things next month. Likewise this could explain my good run on December, with more players spewing off money during this festive month.

Well, thats it for December. Gdluck for the new year and hope everyone starts playing better! See ya at the tables

December updates

PT stats: (for new database)
22128 hands
Won: $1591.20
3.96 PTBB/100
53.92 hrs played
$29.68/hr

Rakeback: $358.06

Profit since 1st nov on old database: $350

Total profit: $ 2299.26


Poker has been going well for me at 100nl. Just like previous posts, I feel I'm playing real solid and always putting my money in when I'm ahead. I'm running at 8 PTBB/100 for past 9k hands of 100nl, small sample no doubt, but encouraging.

Of late, I have not been really motivated to play more poker. Probably just feeling the drain of playing. I remembered posting about playing poker only when I feel the desire to. Right now, theres almost zero desire, which is weird because I loved to play poker when I'm playing well and winning. And right now, I'm doing that, but can't seem to put in the hours and hands to do so. I guess I gonna take a few days break, play some MTTs with Chris, and some other weird forms of poker like 5 card draw just to take away the boringness of grinding NL holdem.

I've also started creating instructional videos, as a means to improve myself as well as helping out starting players at pkaki forums. I hope these videos serves as a good means for discussion, rather than one that is seen and be forgotten. I still think I've lots to improve, in terms of taking different lines with different hands, taking creative lines, making good plays. After reading jman's well in 2+2 especially on his root beer hand, I realise there is still so much for me to learn and pickup. It is quite a humbling experience and its so-called a one-off post in 2+2 that kinda affected me in a huge way. I'm beginning to increase the study hours of my game compared to playing, and I'm seeing the good results of it. I hope the coaching from Greg will elevate my knowledge of poker to a higher level, or at least, solidly build by fundamentals of the game.

Will be posting a year end review of 2007 someone soon, meanwhile, goodluck at the tables as well as for the new year!

Update

PT stats: (for new database)
18317 hands
Won: $1180.10
3.9 PTBB/100
41 hrs played
$28.79/hr

Rakeback: $283.22

Profit since 1st nov on old database: $350

Total profit: $ 1813.32

Havent been playing alot for the past few days cus GF is in town. Poker is going well as usual. I'm making less and fewer bigger mistakes and putting the money in when I'm mostly ahead. On another note, I'm excited to be coached by Greg, co-owner of leggopoker soon. Coaching is one area that I intend to go into next time, tapping onto the growing population in Singapore. I hope this exposure will give me a good experience towards coaching in SSNL. As well as plugging my leaks, strengthen my theory and gaining new insights, I hope this coaching practice will see me into 200nl and 400nl by the end of next year. Can't wait to get it started!

You gotta take the heater when it comes.

For last 6k hands. Guess it's long due. Totally estatic with my play, along with running well. Have been taking some sick sick lines that puts some regulars off-guard. Fishes are donating as well. Gotta attribute this to good table selection at 100nl. Hope it lasts longer and until my next bad stretch occurs, I'm gonna play well and make good decisions.

On Bankroll Management

Bankroll management is probably a key discipline that is highly mentioned but probably the least followed by most aspiring poker players. As new players, we all dream of playing higher stakes and start making a decent clip of change. Yet without proper bankroll management, the journey into higher stakes is often cut short prematurely. The maxim of "You can't go broke with proper bankroll management" is the holy grail in poker. It is probably one of the strongest reasons that I'm still able to play the games I'm playing and making a decent hourly rate.

This article shall briefly describe some management principles in relation to today's cash game. It is common to hear the standard 20x max buyin rule for bankroll management. Eg. to play 100nl comfortably, you should have 20 x 100 = 2000 bucks to start with. In my opinion, a 20x rule is considered a very aggressive approach to your bankroll management. It is probably decent enough to rise through microstakes all the way to 50nl or 100nl, but beyond that, considering the increase in competency and skills in todays game, 20x buyin is just not enough. I personally play with a 100x buyin comfort zone at 100nl. Definitely over-rolled and ready to go to 200nl with a 50x buyin cushion, but I feel I'm still not ready for that yet. Thus in brief, 20x is almost the lowest limit you can practice, but nonetheless, the more the better.

Next, a good bankroll management will always having the consideration of moving down in stakes when you are not doing so well. My 20x buyin drops to 15x buyin at 100nl, I should drop to 50nl and rebuild from there. The key issue here is having the discipline to drop a level and rebuild from there. Most newer players do the opposite instead, playing at higher levels in a bid to make back the money. This is a slippery slope situation. Not before long, they realise their bankroll is gone, and thats it, no more poker. My point is, as long as you still have a bankroll, there will always be an opportunity for you to make your money back (if you play well) as the games are always available, like wise for the fishes and poor players. Manage your discipline, manage your ego, it will do well in your own bankroll management.

Now, we move on to moving up in stakes. The first thing to consider is obviously your bankroll buy-in rule. Do you have the required number of max buyins for you to play in the higher stakes? Secondly and more importantly, is whether you are a real winner at the stakes you are currently playing. You can play for 10k hands at 100nl and win 4000 dollars, and you think you are ready for the next level given that your bankroll satisfy the minimum 20x buyin rule. Yet, many take the plunge at higher levels because they are not really winning and beating the games at their current stakes. 10k hands is not a good measure of your true winrate. People can have and will have breakeven stretches, downswings, poor play, tilt etc etc. Log a decent amount of hands, I'd say 40-50k hands and take it from there. By then, if you are a true winner even at a marginal winrate of 3PTBB/100, you would have been decently rolled for the next level, and would have a better appreciation of where you stand. Get pokertracker to track your results. For aspiring players, it is criminal if you don't use it, or plan to use it.

Another good strategy is to practice frequent cashing out. E.g, for every 5x buyin you won at the end of the month, cash 1x buyin out. Or to cash out your rakeback earned. I think this is one overlooked aspect for newer players because they are constantly wanting to grow their bankroll to move up. But by cashing out, it provides you with a safety net. Psychologically, this has helped me alot because I have cashed out more than my initial investment. My current bankroll is considered a "freeroll" for me to play poker, allowing me not to play with "scared money" and "scared poker" and hence make better decisions. When you are worrying things like "if i go all-in now, my bankroll will suffer if I lose" or "if i make this hero call, im gonna be stuck with 5 buyins left for my stake" during a poker session, then something is seriously wrong. Your decision making is hampered by your bankroll, and that is not helpful to your game at all.

Lastly, to put it all in perspective, have a solid bankroll plan written out, have it printed out in bold and pasted infront of your computer. E.g,

Current Bankroll| Current Stake| Bankroll for next level| Drop down when
500 25nl 1000 350
1000 50nl 2000 750
2000 100nl 4000 1500
4000 200nl 8000 3000

Say you are playing 25nl currently and aiming to hit 50nl. You would want to have a 1000 bankroll to start with. With a good move down plan if you lose, you move back to 25nl when your bankroll is 750. The simple strategy shows why you will never go broke if you practice sound bankroll management. With these tips in mind, I hope newer players can be successful in their quest in their poker endeavors.

Run bad, Tilt, and Comeback

PT stats: (for new database)
15460 hands
Won: $514.75
2.47 PTBB/100
32.73 hrs played
$15.73

Rakeback: $224.89

Profit since 1st nov on old database: $350

Total profit: $ 1089.64


Okay, I ran badly and tilted at around 10k hand mark. It was really silly, considering then, I was putting my money when I'm ahead, and getting out drawn by 2 outers, 5 outers, etc etc. I thought I was playing real bad, and it kinda made me tilted. Obviously the results ain't that good, just look at the graph, it sickens me.

I then decided to revamp my game and work on just 4 tables of 100nl from the 12k hand mark. I decided auto-pilot isn't the best for my own development, and hence playing just 4 tables. I've been developing better reads, and am no longer afraid putting my money in with any two cards given my reads. One of the key improvements I felt was that as a poker player, you really need to trust your own reads on your opponents. This is something I couldn't really have done when I was 8 tabling and on auto-pilot mode. 8-tabling ABC poker still netts a decent winrate for me though, but poker sometimes become a chore 8 tabling. You just feel like a robot going through the rounds. Perhaps when I start playing better, I'll go back to 8 tables and just grind it out.

Lessons learnt:
1) Tilt can be costly and time consuming. You just have to make up your losses with more time and hands.

2) Trust your reads. Results may be slightly off, but it's important to trust your read, and make decisions based on them. Losing a pot while going with your read is okay. I don't normally post hands because most of them dont really merit discussion, but below is one which I would not have normally done if I'm autopiloting.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter



CO: $68.65

BTN: $100

SB: $33.90

BB: $104.30

Hero (UTG): $136.05



Pre-Flop: T T dealt to Hero (UTG)

Hero raises to $3.50, CO calls $3.50, 3 folds



Flop: ($8.50) K K Q (2 Players)

Hero bets $5, CO calls $5



Turn: ($18.50) 3 (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO checks



River: ($18.50) 8 (2 Players)

Hero checks, CO bets $16, Hero calls $16



Results: $50.50 Pot ($2.50 Rake)

CO showed J T (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$24.50 NET)

Hero showed T T (two pair, Kings and Tens) and WON $48 (+$23.50 NET)





Firstly, pair board hardly hits anyone, however there is a flush and straight draw and in reality, this board hits much of villians calling range. My tens have very little equity in this pot here. Initial plan was just to cbet and give up on pot. However villian called my cbet superquickly, a significant tell that villian has either a weak made hand, or on a draw (quick calls is most indicative of draws at these stakes).

Turn goes check, quick-check. On river, none of the draws complete, I can bet out or check-call, check-fold. I decided to check, and villian tanks before making a fairly large bet. Trusted my read and called his bet. Luckily it was spot on and I took down a pot.

3) Swings can be brutal and harmful for your short term game. I had this 2 hands consecutively on the same table, me having KK vs AA preflop all in, on two consecutive hands against the same player. I'm totally fine with losing a 100bb stack preflop aganist the preflop nuts with KK, but to do it twice in consecutive hands can be damaging. The winner of both hands actually told me he felt really bad about it, but likewise I would too if I am in his shoes.

I've suffered more bad beats, and could have posted all the hands if I wanted. But to be honest, no one is truly interested in your badbeat story. We tell them to make ourselves better. This is the reason why I don't post such hands. In my opinion, bad beats, suck outs are contributors of your winrate. Your winrate (assuming you are a winning player to start) has to account and provide provision for suckouts and badbeats. Until one can learn to accept this idea, one can start accepting badbeats as commonality. It's okay to whine once in a while about your badbeats, but take it from me that no one really seriously care about your badbeat stories.

As promised..

PT stats: (for new database)
7879 hands
Won: $337.85
4.23 PTBB/100
13.53 hrs played
$24.96

Rakeback: $92.19

Profit since 1st nov on old database: $350

Total profit: $ 780.04

Back and running!

My new rig is all set up and ready for more poker action. Finally got my pokerace registered, gotta thank the support for assisting.

I have been playing about 4-5k hands multitabling without the use of PAhud, and it is certainly a software that I can do without. Firstly, its harder to spot the fishes. With the hud, within less than 25 hands, the stats shown can show alot of a player. Secondly, despite playing without a hud, a TAG-ABC style of poker still reaps rewards.

Before my previous rig crashed, I was up for about 350 for the month. Now with new PT database and an additional 6k hands, i'm up a total of 550 for the month. The last 6k hands included poor play as well as many bad beats, but I'm still running at 3.5 PTBB/100. This goes to highlight that winning poker is still somewhat a grind. You can't really force things and win pots when things are not going your way. Just have to log the hands and keep making +ev decisions over and over again.

Shall update soon with graphs

Back!

Apologise in the hiatus of post. Stopped playing much in mid october.
My computer also crashed sometime in mid november and my entire hand history database is wiped out, ouch. I figured I'm down around 1.2K in october. Right now my computer seems to be failing me, crashing and blacking out every hour or so. Fixing it right now, and hope it will be fine and good again.

This month started out quite well at 50nl. Will be playing a significant number of hands to start my gear, then i'll be back to grinding 100nl. Graphs should be up sometime soon, after my com is good and ready to go.

I cant win a pot...lol

PT stats:
4812 hands
Won: $-773.70
-7.44 PTBB/100
8.72 hrs played
$-88.72

Rakeback: $103.13

Total profit: $-670.57


Following a good start to the month, the last 3 k hands have been absolutely horrid to me. In the last 12 buyin drops, I can name only 2 buyins in which I've played badly. The remaining 10 buyins are absolutely coolers in which I believed I played well. In my last sessions, I have ran my Kings into Aces twice, ran AK into Kings and Aces twice, ppl making marginal breakeven calls against my reraises and flopping low sets against overpairs almost everytime, my sets arent holding against calling stations, huge draws not hitting, weak 30% draws from opponents hitting like 100% of the time. Well I could post all the hands that coolered me for this month, yet there is really no point posting them because I myself hate hearing bad beat stories.

won at showdown is at a whopping 45%. I have to thank myself for the great table selection I've practiced, getting seats into high 40% VPIPs players, but constantly getting outdrawn on the river. I know I'm playing well, yet the results seem to have another opinion of its own.

Current plan, drop to 50nl for a day or two and regain some confidence. I have to stop feeling that I'm gonna lose every pot even when I hit a big hand on the flop.

This is definitely the sickest bad run I've ever been put through. I could attribute my previous downswings as those that included a long bout of bad play, but this time, it is really frustrating when you cant stop ppl from outdrawing you when you are playing really well.

September is MeHhhH

PT stats:
20045 hands
Won: $407.90
2.08 PTBB/100
37.05 hrs played
$11.23/hr

Rakeback: $405.05

Net won from Wingows Poker: $297

Total profit: $1109.95


Its a decent result considering a horrible start. Its pleasing to see my winrate for the last 10k hands, in fact I've only played about 13k hands of 6max-100nl this month.

October kicked off to a great start, up about 6 buyins in less than 3 hours of play. Will update once my mid-term tests are over.

ROBUSTO

PT stats:
17864 hands
Won: $590.65
2.84 PTBB/100
33.35 hrs played
$17.71/hr

Rakeback: $346.85

Net won from Wingows Poker: $297

Total profit: $1234.50


Wow I'm totally thrilled by my play and progress. In the last 10k hands I've made about $1900 (from downswing to current profit level), which is $19/100 hands or ~9.5PTBB/100 at 100nl. Its a decent winrate, just a matter of playing well and running good, getting donks and regulars to pay me off due to my laggy image.

I've been playing a semi-lag image, 3betting whenever I feel someone is open raising light. Guess this frustrates alot of regulars as well as donks and often my top pair hands are good enough to play for stacks. Another improvement I've made is to play much more selectively aggresive, basing on reads. Definitely having an edge over regular players who do not adjust well. After a dismal start, things are really looking good. My 2 hours investment to clear a 1 year subscription to stoxpoker has really paid good dividends.

I'm hitting my goals for this month, 20000 hands and a close to 3 PTBB/100 winrate. This would have been much higher if I hadn't played so badly at the beginning of this month.

I'll be off to langkawi for a short holiday and won't be updating much in the next few weeks. So good luck and have fun at the tables!

Recovery from Downswing...Lessons

PT stats:
13441 hands
Won: -$268.30
0.95 PTBB/100 (+ve PTBB/100 won, most probably due to the lower stakes and headsup winrate boost)
25.67 hrs played
-$10.45/hr

Rakeback: $262.62

Net won from Wingows Poker: $297

Total profit: $291.32


Finally in the black after much grinding. It's a great result after a series of bad runs and bad play in the beginning of the month. Well after this downswing (which is my 2nd major one so far), there are a couple of takeaway lessons.

1) Take a complete break from poker when you are running really bad. 2-3 days minimum. Spend the time reviewing your play, watching instructional videos, re-energize your love for poker. Then start logging in hands once you feel the great itch and desire to play.

2) Poker is a long-term enterprise. You will win if you consistently sit with weaker players and stay away from tough regulars. Extreme table selection is key to winning in the long term. You should be happy about getting outdrawn from weaker players because they are the one supplying your major winrate when they play badly.

3) To win in the long-run, 90% of which requires you to play good solid poker. What is good solid poker? Its about the things you can control. Its about playing your cards, your position, taking the best/optimal line, drawing with good odds, betting to protect or for value and offer bad odds, minimal bluffing (yes you dont need to bluff much to win), planning for hands. The 10% is reserved for short-term luck as well as making plays aganist decent thinking players e.g. regulars.

4) Review past achievements to motivate you to start logging in hands. Logging in hands is extremely important because you can't win when you don't play.

5) Take a step down to lower limits and play solid ABC poker again. This is to build your confidence for your step back up. Besides, the lower limits have a bigger pool of weaker players, thus your true win-rate will converge faster (assuming you are a winning player in the first place) and this psychologically gives you an edge when you play back at your normal level.

6) Variance is a bitch, playing badly is even worst. Keep yourself honest as to why you have been losing and take responsibility for it. When you suffer a downswing, you can either 1) accord it entirely to variance and whine about it, 2)Analyse the truth into your downswing and take action against it. You will come out to be a better poker player in the latter choice.



Thats all folks...

Things are looking betta!

PT stats:
10936 hands
Won: -$596.90
-0.86 PTBB/100
21.18 hrs played
-$28.18/hr

Rakeback: $209.43

Net won from Wingows Poker: $297

Total profit: -$90.47


Things are looking up. After much review of stoxpoker videos, my style of play has somewhat changed to a semi-lag 25/22 style, depending on table dynamics and players. I feel I now have a greater edge over regular players at 100nl who do not adjust well to 3bets, PFR of 20+ etc.

For the past 300 hands of so, I've been playing heads-up 100nl with great table selection involved. I see a 20-50bb stack sitting, I'll assume they are weak players, sit in and play patiently till I stack them off. Good players do not sit in with short stacks, and rarely there are good shortstackers who make a decent profit. Most of the time the short-stackers prove me right. I guess I just found another avenue to boost my winrate.

This month ain't pretty

PT stats:
3468 hands
Won: -$964.50
-7.5 PTBB/100
5.95 hrs played
-$162.10/hr

Rakeback: $74.14

Net won from Wingows Poker: $297

Total profit: -$539.36


Well apparently its a horrid start to the new month. Dropped a near 8 full buyins at 100nl, couple of stacks due to coolers and bleeding alot of chips due to bad play in general. Lost 2 buyins at 200nl 4 tabling, getting some nasty beats. Near the end I decided to step back down to 50nl for a few thousand hands to play solid ABC poker again to get my frame of mind right.

Well a near 1k downswing due to coolers and the followup badplay/tilt is not new to me. Its hard to play good solid poker after stretches of nasty beats. I just watched a video posted on 2+2 and one thing the instructor said was to "really enjoy playing poker". I was not really enjoying it when I'm pounded left right center in everypot, big draws not hitting, villian rivering and etc. Guess variance is catching up from me after running so well in the last month.

Well one thing I can take solace from is that I always recover from such swings, and then play much better after that. A few k hands at 50nl should set things right. The last ~600 hands in the graph is at 50nl and it's pleasing to see the graph sloping up, despite playing at the same stats across 100nl. Well, I'm gonna grind my way back into the black because I know I can do it.

Another great thing is that I've completed a short PSO promotion at Wingows poker and earned myself a 1 full year of Stoxpoker membership. There are many great instructional videos in there and I'm gonna take some time to study them. Deposited $300 and made $297 in less than 500 hands (less than a day's play) mostly due to the soft competition.

Well thats it, till next week.

End of Aug Results

PT stats:
27740 hands
Won: $2870.40
5.29 PTBB/100
49.28 hrs played
$58.24/hr

Rakeback: $570.67

Total profit: $3441.07



August been great so far. I'm doing about 6.6 PTBB /100 = 13.2 BB/100 hands for 100nl over 26k hands. Took a shot at 200nl for about 600 hands and dropped 2 buyins. Guess I need to datamine more before taking a dip and table select better.


September is here and school work is catching up. I do hope I can clear my work fast so I can have more time for poker. Yet I'll try to hit my monthly goals for September.

3rd week update

PT stats:
26560 hands
Won: $3303.95
5.96 PTBB/100
47 hrs played
$70.30/hr

Rakeback: $539.43

Total profit: $3843.38


Havent played much poker lately, decided to ease off till the start of new month and catch up with sch work.


Check out Chris's poker blog at http://pokerow.wordpress.com/. Knew him from www.pokerkaki.com, a small online poker community in Singapore. I do hope the poker community in Singapore grows given the limited number of Singaporeans I've met playing online.

Monthly target achieved.

PT stats:
21335 hands
Won: $2735.35
6.08 PTBB
37.22 hours played
$73.50 / hr

Rakeback: $429.46

Total profit: $3164.81



Great month so far. I've been thinking of a cash out plan. I've thought of cashing out all my rakeback money (a measly ~10 bucks per hour) and a certain % of my monthly winnings. Will put into writing when i've decided.

A starting guide for online poker

Now, I'm not writing this short guide to advocate playing online poker. To me, playing poker is "informed" gambling, to the "uninformed" gamblers, discipline issues like poor bankroll management, tilt will seriously get you into trouble with your cash. I'd like to give a simple startup guide based on my personal experience, to help interested players get into the groove of online ASAP, and start building an online bankroll ASAP too.

1. You need an online payment processor.

This online payment processor is like your online bank. You use it as a means to transfer money to and fro sites.
I personally use NETELLER. Neteller was great before the US crackdown on online payment processors. Nonetheless its still great for Singaporeans. Neteller is also great for BONUS HUNTING/WHORING (I'll explain in another section). Right now, most major pokersites who accept US players accept Neteller.

Another common processor is MONEYBOOKERS. However I discourage using it to transfer money to and fro poker sites, because if your MB account is in SGD, there will be exchange rate differences incurred. I use MB to withdraw money back into my local bank account only.



2. Start building your online bankroll by BONUS WHORING.

As said previously, bonus whoring involves the use of different poker sites, thus the use of a speedy online payment processor like Neteller is highly advised.

What is bonus whoring? Poker websites earn by the volume of players playing in their sites. To attract this volume, most pokersites usually give Sign-up bonuses and referral bonuses. When you join a new poker site, you will be given a Sign-up bonuses for you to clear while playing hands in the site. Referral bonuses are given when you refer friends to play in the site.

To better understand how bonuses work, check out BONUSWHORES. Check out the BONUS WHORING 101 tab on the left to see a comprehensive guide of bonus whoring.

I also highly recommend this site Poker Source online. I used this site alot when I first started, quickly building my bankroll. Sites like PSO are actually affliate sites. They help pokersites to generate traffic, as a result, pokersites pay these affliate sites, and in turn, they give us consumers nifty bonuses and promotions. The best way to grow your bankroll quickly is through such sites. You can sign up thru PSO, and pick a poker site to play. You earn the pokersite sign-up bonuses, as well as the PSO affliate site bonuses! It's killing 2 birds in 1 stone.


3. Start depositing and start playing!

Yes! But if you plan to play online poker seriously and improve along the way, there are 2 tools that are essential (MUST-USE) for an online player.

The first is POKERTRACKER. Pokertracker is a program that tracks all your individual hands that you play on online sites. It also tracks how much you win or lose, how much time you have played, your true winrate. Best is that it also tracks all the hands your opponent plays. This is all the more important because poker is a game of understand your opponent tendencies. Together with another Heads-up-display (HUD) program, you will be able to see the stats of your opponents who are playing on the same table as you.

As for HUDs, I'd recommend Pokerace HUD. Thus HUD gives you stats displayed on poker tables. I personally can't do without pokertracker and pokerace because the stats shown reflect the style of play of your opponents. You can then adjust your style in accordance with their style and act accordingly.

Both programs require a one-time registration fee. However, pokertracker can be earned thru promotions from PokerSource Online. There are also other free HUDs such as Gametime+, simple to use but not as comprehensive as Pokerace HUD.


4. For serious online players, get a RAKEBACK account at a Major Pokersite.

I can't overemphasize this as much. For every pot you play online, a certain % is taken away from the pot (called the rake) and is paid to the poker site. This is how pokersites make money. With a rakeback account, you can get from 27-40% of the rake you've paid to the pokersite back.

For example, I play 7-8 tables of 100nl for 1 hour. I pay about $45 in rake total. At 27% rakeback, I get back $12 dollars. This is infact my basic hourly wage just by playing poker (not inclusive of wins and losses). I recommend signing up a rakeback site via Pokersource Online again. (check out their rakeback tab for better understanding)




Thats all for this starting guide for now. PM me if you have any questions.

Mid-August progress

Above is my profit graph vs number of hands for the month of August. I'll try to post an update on a weekly basis.

Pokertracker stats as of 15 AUG:

16713 Hands
Amount won: $2038.45
5.65 PTBB/100
28.82 hrs played
$70.74 / hr

Rakeback: $335.74

Profits: $2374.19


August has been great for me so far. Reaching a near US $2.4k in mid august. Hope to end the month well.

First!

I've decided to start a poker blog log, after much procrastination. Reasons being:

1) I want to be more accountable for my results, and posting them and reading them will hopefully motivate me to put in more hours and hands. Good poker players are always accountable for their actions, taking responsibility for their wins, losses, mistakes. By tracking my progress in this log, I hope to improve and take my game to the next level.

2) Share with the small online poker community in SG with a good progress chart. Given that school semester has started, I won't be having that much time to post and play. Thus, I'll try my best to give a weekly update and posts some interesting hands.

3) I'd like to have a clearer picture of how viable this semi-part-time job is for a full-time student. Nonetheless, poker remains my lowest priority unless time permits.


Summary of my poker history:
- deposited about USD 250 during July 06, started bonuswhoring to build a bankroll at microstakes.
-now with bankroll of USD 8.5K, 7-8 multitabling 100nl at fulltilt poker.

Biggest accomplishment:
-won an online tournament, taking in USD 6K for first place.
- cashed entire 6k winnings out.
- found myself a decent home-based part time job :)


Current goals:

- Attempt to clock in 20k hands in a month during sch term. Assuming 30 days in a month, I'll have to clock ~666 hands per day, which at the rate I'm multitabling, should take about 1.5 hrs of gameplay each day. Saturdays and Sundays will make up for more time should I miss my weekday sessions.

- Hope to maintain a winrate of 3.0 PTBB/100 at 100nl.

- Make decent pocket change to cover my expenses and some more for savings and investments.


Hope this poker log will be a great motivator for me.