Finally Back!!!

I am back in the swing of things...FINALLY...and deposited $50 to start with on PS. I know...i know...this is a low amount of starting $$, but I will be putting in ~$50 every couple of weeks until I get a decent bankroll ($500 - $1000)....this will give me a chance to actually earn some $$ (or lose, depending on play) and not just throw in $1000 at one time.
Anyways, here are my stats (that I will keep updated):
Day 0: (100%) $50 - deposited $50 to PS via MoneyGram (which is excellent btw)
Day 1: (106.34%) $53.17 - ~400 hands
Day 2: (113.52%) $56.76 - ~250 hands
Day 3: (120.82%) $60.41 - ~170 hands
Day 4: (99.56%) $49.78 - ~80 hands - lost $4.63 + ~$6.00 lost in SnG's... I seem to not be that great at these, so if anyone can give me any pointers...that would be great (*willing to send in HHF for anyone interested*) I seem to make most of my money in ring games and then lose some in SnG's / tournies all the time.
Day 5: (141.50%) $70.75 - ~430 hands
Day 6: (150.04%) $75.02 - ~89 hands

This is where I currently stand with my bankroll. I am going to try as hard as possible to get a nice size bankroll within the next half year (whenever I have time from work).

Also...great news about the job. I am going to Vegas for 5 days and 4 nights to get trained for a certain program we use at our job (TestComplete - has to do with regression testing, which will be used substantially in our company). After sessions, Dustin (co-worker) and I will be hitting up Vegas, playing poker and watching all the people betting for the Final Four.

I am going to try to update this as much as possible.

-MavsFan

Where did October go???

Well, it has been a few days since the last post and a lot has changed in my life. I have gone to a few job interviews, received a job offer when I graduate, taken this job offer, and finally (back to poker) donked off my bankroll being idiotic and stubborn.

The job offer that I took came from a software development company called Microfour (www.micro4.com). Microfour also handles www.strataframe.net and www.practicestudio.net. The office where I will be working is located in Amarillo, TX, but the company is world-wide (25 countries). I am ready for this next stage of life and for sure am ready to be leaving the college / low pay job aspect.

Basketball season has finally came, so I will be devotedly following the Mavericks during the long season (Game opener was won @ Cleveland). I will put up some pictures of me as Dirk Nowitzki for halloween later.

I am also a football fan and am enjoying watching the Cowboys kick some ass. They play Philly this sunday.

I'll try to post more often and not leave out entire months (October).

-MavsFan

PokerStars

It has been a while since I have posted how I have been doing @ PokerStars. I have been on a teeter-totter ride for a few weeks now....down $10 up $10.....but I guess thats the way it goes. I have moved on from $0.01/$0.02 because it is soooo damn slow gaining money and there are alot of ppl that play to the river and suck out on you all the damn time. So now, I am playing $0.02/$0.05 6 max NLHE where I only buyin for $6, so this means that I am a little under 10 buyins. I think I can play well enought that I do not have to worry about the change.

Here are some stats from PokerTracker (click on the pictures to get a better picture):

I'll Start off with the Bad first. Here is a graph of my tourney play (yah, I know its shitty).

Here is how much I am down ($5.60):

And now, it's time for the GOOD.

I am up quite a bit on 6-max and 9-max tables. Here is exactly how I am doing in each level (I have only been playing $0.02/$0.05 6-max $6 buyin for about a week and a half, but only for 11 hours). Overall, I am pleased with my play so far.

Here is a graph of my play vs. each level ($0.02 6-max and $0.05 6-max and $0.02 9-max):

So, I am up $23.27 on NLHE 6-max and 9-max tables so far. This is going great, but I am only sitting up $7.04 in my bank. This is due to me playing Sit and Go's, Head's up SnG, and a recent $5 give-away at http://www.cardschat.com/ that I held because they have helped me so much with my game. I am winning (a little right now) and I am having fun doing it. I guess if I keep playing my game and not donking away so much on SnG's, then I will continue to keep going up. I will keep posting my sessions every once in a while. My previous commitment to posting on here after every session was a little too much to handle, but at least I'm trying.

-MavsFan

Vegas!!!!!!

I just got back from a trip to Vegas and it was a badass experiecnce. I left on a Saturday, was supposed to return on Monday, but ended up staying an extra day (which put me in the + region instead of the -$500). It started out at noon on Saturday with a 12:00 flight to Las Vegas.

Grand Canyon Lake Mead

Once we landed, we took a taxi to our hotel - Treasure Island and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Our first stop was Margaritaville where we got liquored up and ready for our first day.

After Margaritaville, we went to the Venetian shops and me and my girlfriend took a gondola ride, where I proposed to her.

She had no clue and was extremely excited. From here we just celebrated, ate at a restaurant at TI and went and gambled - playing video poker at the bar, blackjack and pretty much just losing money, but having fun doing it.

The next day, a few of us got up fairly early and went and played at the $5 minimum blackjack tables and left about even. We went and ate breakfast and then I went and played at a $70 Sit-and-Go at the Mirage. Out of 10 people, I was the 6th one out. I was not playing well at all - maybe it was my nerves or something, but I felt I was getting shitty hands, then when I did have nice starting hands, nothing hit. There were a couple of new people that had really never played before that sucked me out a couple of times, but I did play crappy. There was a time early on that I would have about trippled up, but I did not want to risk my whole chipstack on a draw. It was 2 people before me that went all in - one had 66, other had QQ. I would have hit the river with an A, but I didn't feel like risking my chips that early on so I folded. From here, I was pretty bummed with my play and left the Mirage Poker Room and went and played blackjack and video poker - did OK on blackjack, but video poker was just eating $20's like it was nothing. After a few hours of gambling, we went to the Mirage and then Ceasars Palace and went through some of the shops there until we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. This place is one of my favorite places to eat in Vegas....it is soo damn good. If you haven't eaten there, I recommend doing it. After the Cheesecake Factory, me and my dad went back and played blackjack for hours. I ended the night doubling up what I put in (won $80) and I played for about 3 hours, where I had 13 blackjacks. Blackjack is alot of fun....it has its ups and downs, but what doesn't. I played more blackjack than I thought I would and I was alright with it.

The next morning was another round of blackjack and I ended up losing $110 because of a dealer named Pearl. If you are ever at TI and Pearl walks up, do not play with her....leave immediately!!! Haha...for some reason she was just lucky as hell. Im not sure how many times she hit blackjacks....but it was a ton. After the Pearl incident, some of our crew were staying later than we were and one changed her flight to a later time. So, I called my boss and asked him if there was any chance that I could stay later and I was told no because there was an hour and a half hole where noone was going to be around. So I was desperately calling my coworkers and asking them to cover my shift and I finally got a hold of one that was able to. So, since I was bummed about my Poker play earlier, I went to the Mirage again and played the $1/$2 NL Hold'em table. The minimum was $60 buyin...and since I had not seen the table yet, I just put in $60 and when I arrived, I was extremely short stacked. I watched for a while, not really putting chips in and not getting a decent hand for about 30 mins, just trying to see how everyone played. There were about 4 people out of 9 that had about $300-$400 in chips. I played for about an hour on this until I got down pretty short and I just put in $40 more. Now, with about $60 in chips, I was tired of getting bullied around by the big stacks until I finally got the cowboys - K K. I shoved all in pre-flop and had 1 caller with an A - 3. This guy was a donk that got lucky on the flop....he hit two damn pair....flop came 7 A 3 rainbow. The turn and river were blanks for me and he got a nice little paycheck. Now I was pretty down on my play and decided to meet back up with everyone else. I called everyone and they were a few casinos down. I did not feel like walking forever, so I said what the hell, I'll put in $100 and see how I do.

This is where my luck changed for the night. I was down to about $200 in the safe in my room and $100 in chips in front of me and about $30 in my pocket. I played for about 2 and a half more hours with this when my family came up, some ready to go eat, and some about to go to a show. I told them wait a few, because I was up about to $140 and I wanted to see what I could do. So I had an entourage watching me play. I was playing pretty well and now had enough chips where I could bully some. I ended up bluffing the guy that kept bullying me earlier on a few times, taking about $80 worth of his chips. The funny thing is that the guy that had the most money on the table lost about half of it in 10 hands or less. He had just got off the phone with his wife telling her he was up alot and about to put $200 in a Sit-and-Go...I don't know what happened, but after that phone call he did not win a hand while I was there. He went from about $500 - $600 to around $250. Meanwhile, I was getting a good run of cards, most were the top 10 hands from PH's book. The last hand I played, I was at $210 and got dealt As Ks. I raised $20 and a couple of people sat and looked at me thinking what the hell do you have. One lady stared at me for about 30 seconds until she folded. I had one caller and the flop came out 10d Kc 3h rainbow. I had TPTK. I bet $30 and the guy looked at me and said "Do you have a king?" I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. Out came the turn 8c, I checked to see what he would do, he checked - river was a 2s. I bet $40 and he sat there for a while and said "I have to see what you have." I showed a TPTK and he showed K 6 off. I ended up leaving after that hand after saying "I hate to win and run, but I gotta go eat." Finally, I was ahead on poker. After this me, my fiancee and my cousin went and ate at Kahunaville at TI. There was a chance to win an IPod shuffle if you ordered a Fosters. I figured what the hell and ordered one. An hour later, after free shots and some badass bartenders, they called the number for the IPod and the first number they called was not there, then they called my number and I won the IPod shuffle!!! After getting liqoured up again, we went to the bar and played video poker while waiting on the rest of the crew to get finished with their show. I put in another $20 and was chatting it up with the bartender when I asked him "what the hell do you have to do to win on these damn things." He laughed and suggested to not play in one spot. A couple mins later, I was down to $4.00, where it takes $1.25 every pull, when I hit four Aces with a 4 kicker. As Ac Ad Ah 4s. The prize was $500 for a 2, 3, 4 kicker, 250 for an 5-9 kicker and $100 for a 10 - K kicker. I hit it and the bartender came up and congratulated me. I gave the bartender a $20 tip because it was awesome asking him how do I win, then I won. When the crew came back, I showed them what I won, and the $503.75 voucher to cash in. I am damn sure glad I stayed an extra night.... After that, I played blackjack and won $100 from Suki and Linda.

What a trip!!!! I ended up getting engaged, left with positive $$ for the trip, and had a fantastic time.

$1013

The Crew: (left to right)

Don(Grandpa), Marlene(Grandma), Brit(Uncle), Ashley(cousin),

Cheryll(Aunt), Shawn(Cousin), Sandra(Mom), Nat(Fiancee), Cory(Me), Steve(Dad)

Busy Busy

I havent had time to really update my blog for my sessions this week. I have had a crappy run of cards and am back down to $50.82. I will post SnG and 0.01/0.02 $5 buyin NLHE graphs tomorrow. I havent had any luck at all so far with SnG's....seems like alot of donks (bad players) play till the river card and luck out on me. My 6 max NLHE $5 buyin tables havent been going well either. Hopefully my luck will swing this week before going to Vegas :D.

-MavsFan

Vegas

I will be in Las Vegas from the 15th to the 17th of this month. I am going to be entering a tourney and some NL tables as well. I am currently looking on LasVegasVegas.com to enter a tourney. There are alot of them that range from $20 to thousands of dollar buy-ins. Im thinking around $60 buy-in or so, with around 300 people. Im taking about $700 for gambling and will enter probably a $1/$2 NL table or so to get a feel for live (high stakes for me) poker.

-MavsFan

Bankroll Management

I deposited $50 on PokerStars and I am going to be trying to use a Bankroll Management guide from CardsChat.com. I am also going to be trying to use tips from Chris Ferguson's $0 to $10,000 bankroll management guide as well. I deposited and started playing on the 29th of August and am currently up $8.28 playing $0.01 / $0.02 NL Holdem and $1.20 9-person SnG's. I am 1 for 4 on SnG's - making a total of (-$3.00). I placed 3rd in the 1st one I played. The 2nd SnG, I was out 8th. On the 3rd SnG, I had chip lead (about 8,000 in chips) with 4 people left and made many mistakes (not aggresive enough and just getting sucked out on the river many times). On the 4th SnG, I was out in 7th due to bad play. My run on the $0.01 / $0.02 NL is going pretty well though. I am up$ 11.28 on these. Once I get to $100 I will go up limits. I am currently only playin one table - buying in with $5. This is also my first blog, so I will try to keep this updated after every session of play (even if I am up or down for the day / month / year). I will post a picture of PokerTracker stats once I receive my SnG games.



Edit: Attached a picture of $0.01 / $0.02 NL and $1.00 + $0.20 9 person SnG.
-MavsFan