Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Busted!

Well that was fast.

I placed barely out of the money in four (4) tournaments in a row.   Leaving me with a mere $0.21.      With only $8 to start the month I knew that I was taking a huge risk by playing the $2.00+.25 SNG's rather than the $1.00+.20 buy-in's.     I simply couldn't justify the larger rake they take from the $1 games - 20% vs 12.5%.

Now I'm effectively busted.     $0.21 isn't enough to buy into any SNG at Full Tilt, nor is it enough to buy into a cash game; even the smallest.    They require $0.70.

There are still a few options, though none of them are particularly attractive.     It looks like I'll have to start playing freerolls.    Large mutli-table tournaments that have no buy-in, but still pay cash prizes to the lucky few.     They are long and difficult.  

Nobody said the path to $1,000,000 would be easy.

Here goes...

Sunday, December 5, 2010

November 2010 - Summary

November was the month immediately preceding the creation of this blog.     This is the month in which my goal to become a millionaire playing poker was hatched.
Click image to enlarge
  • Tournaments Played: 39
  • Net Won:  -$4.35
  • $/Tournament: -$0.11
  • Days Played: 7
  • $/Day: -$0.62
  • ROI: -8.66%
I played exclusively SNG's (Sit-N-Go's) with buy-in's ranging between $1 and $2.   As you can clearly see,  my first month playing poker was not a winning one.     In fact I moved further from my goal.

Now I'm backed into a corner.   I don't have a bankroll big enough to practice proper bankroll management,  I've shown no progress toward my goal, there is no evidence at all that I'm a winning poker player and even if I was,  the size of my bankroll means that due to variance,   I have a very high probability of going completely bust.   In fact it's a near certainty.

If I can get a little lucky in December, I might be able to grow my bankroll into an amount that gives me a little breathing room while I practice my game and attempt to become a winning poker player.

Fingers crossed.


Friday, December 3, 2010

The Goal

My goal is really quite simple.

  1. To grow my 'bankroll' to $1,000,000  and
  2. To do it without ever adding new money.
This means that I'll need to build my entire bankroll from the scant winnings I have left in my online poker accounts from my original $100 deposit in 2005.     As I type this my bankroll is $5.81


Ha!  A tall order indeed.

Hello World

 I wish I could start this blog from the beginning.    I can't.

The beginning for me was sometime in 2005.     Online poker was all the rage.  I had probably just finished watching the film Rounders, and on a whim,  deposited $100 to Full Tilt Poker;  played obsessively for a week or two and managed to build my bankroll to $128.96 before becoming distracted, or maybe bored, then promptly leaving my account to languish, forgotten, for nearly 5 years. 

Fast forward to April 2010.   To fend off another bout of boredom, I rediscovered my account.  Did a whole bunch of reading about the game.   Withdrew my original $100.  Then proceeded to lose $18.80 of the winnings that were left over in the account.    At least this time I was more organized;  I used the original deposit to purchase Poker Tracker software.   See below:

April 2010 -  Tournaments Played: 27 Money Lost: -$18.80



Of course losing $18 is no fun, so I left the game again until November of this year (2010).  I'm back and willing to practice proper 'Bankroll Management' and also keep a journal of my progress.   With this shiny new blog.   I'm on a path toward certain riches.  I can't lose.