Still hovering at around 1600..

I am kinda stuck at around 1600, but that's just fine with me. After all, with the rakeback we get at Cake, staying even (especially in a bigger game like I am buying in for) means making money. I am trying to play less overall poker but make more money doing it. This has been somewhat successful, but the swings and big buy ins make it hard for me to play very much. I have been playing mostly 1-2 PLO8 or NLO8, and if the pot sizes and donks are just right, I will spring for the 2-4 tables, hopefully NL, as there is TONS of action. I buy in for the minimum at both almost every time, (120.00 at the 1-2). This is above my 5%, but not by a ridiculous amount. It is enough that I have to nut peddle for the most part though, which sucks, because I am making sub-optimal plays sometimes in order to protect my stack. I am however willing to gamble with the true donks at the upper levels, and the variance that goes along with that can be kinda sick. I am hoping not to run into some super sick downswing though during this stretch. It is entirely possible, even though I have tuned my game to take on less risk at the expense of less reward (long term).

If I did have a brutal downswing, I would simply have to pack it up at the bigger limits and hit up the lower levels again. The old grind. One thing that is pretty annoying in that the bigger the limits on O8 on cake, the crazier the players. You just rarely see the type of crazy action you see at the big tables down at the .25-.50 tables.

Anyhow, I soldier on, hoping to break hard into the bigger numbers, but wary that it can all go awry in one crap session.. Wish me luck.

O8 madness and other stuff

Over the past couple of weeks I have had some interesting stuff happen. I still haven't quite been playing as much as I would like to, but I still feel like I have been making good progress. One thing that I haven't been making good progress on is my spreadsheet. I basically fell off the wagon last month sometime as far as keeping up on it went. I kept on keeping records for awhile, but even that got spotty. I had been staying in relatively the same place monetarily, going between $800-$1200 or so. Every time I worked my way back into the lower 1k range, I would go on a terrible run and get back down to $800-900.

So then last week sometime I decided to try to take a shot. I have been an advocate of it throughout the challenge and have done it on occasion, although not as often as I had originally planned. Which brings us to last week. I had about an hour to kill and logged onto cake to play some 08. I was browsing the tables looking at my normal limits of .25-.50 or the occasional .50-1. Then I noticed a table at 1-2 that had an average pot size of $168.00. This is a pretty absurd number as the max buy in at this level is 200.00. Now this number can be inflated when there have been a few all ins in the last short period of time, but this is still pretty obscene. So I brought up the table, and right when I did, a seat opened up. I watched for a few hands as two big stacks hammered flops and turns for full pots with less than the nuts. The poker player in me is strong, and I couldn't resist taking a shot at this crazy table. I decided to just play one table, full buy in, and try to really nut peddle. This was a 6 handed table, but I figured if I could just hit some good flops, I would have no problem getting paid off. In the first few orbits, I flopped a couple of low sets on some threatening boards and dumped them to pot bets. My goal was to only play nut or 2nd nut lows, and 5 card high hands or at least a solid combo of both if I had a two way hand.

My first big confrontation went like this. I was on the BB and it was minraised ahead of me, I called and completed the action. I didn't have much of hand at all... until the flop. I flopped a wheel with a 3rd nut flush draw. Not bad lol. So maniac #1 leads for the pot. I am next and decide to just call, really hoping to re raise anyone that raised behind. Also, there aren't too many scary cards for me on the turn, and I am pretty comfortable. To my surprise, it gets called around. The turn is harmless and I am ready to get it in. The aggressor jams the pot again for 80.00 and I raise him, two folds behind and we get it in. He has a set and is drawing dead for the low, and bricks the river. I scoop and take down a big pot. Alright, mission accomplished. I am pretty pumped, and after posting my SB I uncheck the autoblinds to get my ass outta there.

This was the next hand. I limp with AJJ4 and end up calling another minraise. Flop gives me top set (current nuts) and 2nd nut low draw. Original raiser bets 8.00, and the maniac I had just been in the pot with calls. Now I raise to 30.00, and get one call from said maniac. The turn is an 7, making my 2nd nut low, but putting the possibility for one straight out there, 45. I feel good about my hand still overall, and after the check ahead of me, I bet pot again. To be honest, I didn't want to get involved in any more big hands, but the poker player in me just took over and made me bet. I was hoping he would fold, and I could just take down a nice pot on my way out. He didn't. River comes an offsuit Q and again I feel like my hand is best. He checks, and even though I have every reason to just check behind and get out, I pot bet again. I just can't check if I really think my hand is best, even if it is above my bankroll. He lets the timer go down before calling me, and my eyes get huge as both halves of the pot are moved in my direction. Unfortunately we weren't quite all in so I don't get to see what he had. So this puts my bankroll right back up to it's high point. I will also say that it speaks volumes about taking shots. I don't advocate taking one just for the sake of it, but when the right table at the right time comes along, go for it.

I have been playing 08 for the most part this last week, trying to concentrate on improving as much as possible at it. Also I haven't 8 tabled in a while, but will probably get into that swing again soon. Also, I tried to update my spreadsheet as well as I could, but I have a lot of missing entries so I had to adjust it to make it currently correct. Now my graph looks like a mess, but at least the total is current. I shall now attempt to keep it up again. I will also note that I think I am sort of out growing the bankroll challenge aspect of this whole thing, as this is now my entire online bankroll. I have learned a lot and will continue down the path that I have started, but now this is more about my online "career" than just the bankroll challenge.