WCOOP Schedule

FTOPS is over and it couldn't have been worse. I literally didn't cash anything. Quite disappointing after the couple deep runs I had last FTOPS.

But now I turn my focus toward the future.

This Saturday I'm playing the $1,650 Heartland Poker Tour Event in Michigan. Then in September I'm playing two of the $1,050 WCOOP Events.

I've been hungry lately to break out of the "midstakes shell" I seem to be stuck in. But since I don't play backed I have to be careful about what shots I take.

Anyway here's the WCOOP tourneys I'm registered for so far:

Event #1 $215 6max
Event #6 $109
Event #9 $215
Event #11 $530 (2-day)
Event #16 $1,050
Event #26 $215
Event #28 $1,050 (2-day)
----------------------
$3,384 in buyins

And I actually have enough FPPs (130,000) to buy two 1K WCOOP tickets from the VIP Store. Glad I was saving those up ha. So buying into the other five events will only cost me $1,284 from my actual roll.

And speaking of the Stars roll, the 25K Project has been slow-going. I've only been playing a few Stars MTTs here and there (with no success) while playing FTOPS.

Its been four months now on the 25K Project and I've been stuck at break-even for what feels like an eternity. Eventually I'll get pushed through tho, no worries.

Anyway, I'll be settled into my new place within ten days or so. I'm looking forward to a different environment and hoping it will help me take my success in poker to a level beyond midstakes.

Gl out there.

Michigan

I'm leaving in less than a week for Michigan to play the Heartland Poker Tour event at The Soaring Eagle Casino. I have friends up there I'm staying with.

While looking at the HPT website and their upcoming tournaments I noticed the Championship Event (in November) is also at the Soaring Eagle Casino.

I thought it might be perfect if I just stayed up there for a while and my friends said it was cool.

So I've been busy this week getting some things sold and getting ready to move up there.

I don't have a ton of stuff. I think I'm pretty mobile but a few things have to go and I have to sell my car since I bought a truck earlier this year. Good thing I bought a truck too cuz the winters in Michigan aren't too friendly. Last time I was there my friend Del had to pull a few ppl out of the snow.

Anyway I haven't been playing online too much and prbly won't be until I'm settled in up there. This weekend, however, I'm playing FTOPS 20, 24, Ante Up for Africa, and of course the main event. Then next Tuesday I'm leaving for Michigan and hopefully a Heartland Poker Tour Final Table.

Over the next few months there are some other HPT events within decent proximity to where I'll be living so I might be playing several of those this fall... Televised FT anyone...?!?!?!?!? :)

More updates to come.

dddddownswing

-$2,500 on Stars since my last post.

Been playing my ass off.

-$1,500 on full tilt too.

Neat.

Pretty nasty considering I'm playing within my bankroll and only playing midstakes tourneys.

Feels like its always one step forward, two steps backward.

It's tough to gain traction in this game, especially tournament poker.

It's a constant struggle that can last a long time.

Sometimes you feel like you're finally making progress only to be pushed down even harder...

This is when things are the most difficult and you are most tempted to give up...




But the reward is far greater than you can imagine.

This is a war worth fighting.

Few More FTs

Since my last post I played about 30 MTTs w/o a FT. Tonight I made up for it with three FTs, two on stars, one on full tilt.

I got 4th again in the 20r 6max on full tilt for $1,250. I ran AQo into 77 on a Ax7 flop 4-handed and gg me. Neat.



At the same time I was at the FT of the first $55 6max on stars. There was one huge fish and he paid me off a few times but finally bested me on the final hand when his KQo outdrew my AJo aipf. I ended up 3rd and picked up $1,250 in that one too.



Then an hour or so later I came into the FT of the $27.50 (25K guarantee) 1/9 in chips. Sexy spot. Tons of fish, only ICuRaRook to contend with. He went busto about a half hour in and it was just me and the fishes. I was loving it.

I played my heart out and got the money in good several times against some unbelievably awful players only to get drawn out on. I finally busted 3rd when my 66 lost KJo xxxxJ. Whatever. This one pissed me off quite a bit cuz 1st was almost 6K and I had to get real unlucky not to ship it. Oh well, such is poker.



Overall it was obv a fantastic night. I have zero regrets about how I played. Still tho I haven't shipped anything in quite a while and its been a little frustrating.

So the Stars Project roll is just under 15K now. I've been running so awful on stars the last few weeks that I really needed tonight's two FTs.

I feel like I'm playing fantastic lately and I've been putting in 15+ MTTs per night so I think thats a good combo. Hopefully some good things will happen for me soon.

Gl out there as always and thanks for the railage!

Couple FTs

Played a bunch of MTTs tonight on stars and full tilt. I FTd the $20r 6max on full tilt and finished 4th for about $1,530. Then several hours later I FTd the monster-field $3r on stars and got 6th for about $1,560.





I also ran deep in the 75K guarantee on full tilt (1st = like 26K yum yum) but busted like 20th shortly after my JJ lost to AJo aipf - Kx10Qx obv. I never do anything in this tourney. Oh well.

As I mentioned in my last post (yesterday), I'm basically done with grinding the ridiculous turbo SNGs on stars. So with the extra space on my screens I'm grinding MTTs and 45-mans on full tilt along side my stars MTTs. At the end of the day, poker is my living and I need to make money... and the turbo SNGs on stars are just so swingy and only marginally profitable.

I think its ironic how I've been grinding the hell out of MTTs on stars over the last couple weeks only to be on an ugly downswing and its the 3r of all tourneys that puts a good dent in the downswing ha. Crazy.

Well that's about it I guess. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Trinidad, Colorado to see the boundary line in the rocks from 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs went extinct (via a massive asteroid) and I'm pretty excited. Ya that's right, I'm a total nerd. Anyway, apparently Trinidad is the best place in the world to see the boundary line and its only 100 miles from me. So that will be fun. Gl everyone.

Edit: I'm in love w/ this girl

Update

I haven't posted in several days so I thought I'd give an update.

In addition to Stars, I've been playing a lot on Full Tilt lately. I'm sick of the turbo SNG swings on Stars so I'm running 45-mans and MTTs on Full Tilt along side my Stars MTTs. At this point I don't see myself grinding too many more SNGs on Stars so I'll be finishing up the 25K Project w/ MTTs only most likely.

Well hopefully I'll have some final tables to post here pretty soon.

Gl out there as always.

Day 45

45 Days ago I completed Phase One with an enormous amount of energy and motivation to start off Phase Two. On just the second day of P2 I recorded my first MTT win in the $5 2r1a. Just four nights later I took 2nd in the nightly $10r for a cool $6,500. Then shortly after that I won a 12K main event package on Full Tilt (non project-related). But for some reason after all that I basically lost interest for a while. I had a couple minor personal things come up but my energy for tournaments really trailed off. I ended up taking about 15 days off.

Anyway since all that I've only recorded a 2nd place finish in a $50 6max. Tonight was my last night to turn the 12K roll into 25K but instead it went the opposite way. I dropped about $800 over 12 MTTs and some SNGs. I really couldn't have run much worse. It was standard run-bad BS and I really don't even wanna talk about it.

Ok so what happens now? Well, the roll is at about 11.3K and last time I checked this was called The 25K Project... so obv I need to get to 25K or more!!

The fact that I didn't get the 5K roll up to 25K in 45 days or less isn't really important. It was a goal I set to keep myself motivated but unfortunately the motivation part kinda died out after a few weeks. Oh well.

The important thing is that I finish what I started. And the good news is my motivation is back. I've played 26 MTTs and tons of SNGs over the last two nights. I don't think an unmotivated person does that.

Recent Downswing

Eight days ago the roll was peaked at about 14K. Tonight its at about 11.3K. So I'm on a 2.7K downswing which is just under a 20% bankroll loss in just eight days. Yuck. And believe me I feel it too. I've been playing my ass off and getting completely killed. But the good news is I've been through this before and I know it won't last. Things always eventually turn around if you're making quality decisions and forcing your opponents into mistakes.

Current Schedule

For the last week or so I've been playing pretty much the same schedule. I've been falling asleep at like 8am and waking up at about 5pm ha. Gross sleep cycle I know. Anyway this is the nightly schedule I've been running and will prbly continue to run:

5:00 pm $109
5:15 pm $11 1r1a
6:00 pm $27.50
6:00 pm $3r
6:15 pm $55 6max
7:00 pm $162
7:00 pm $20r
7:30 pm $55
8:00 pm $10r
8:15 pm $55 6max
---------------------
Total ~$663 - $66 Average Buyin

I really like this schedule cuz its got a good mix of large fields, medium fields, and small fields. This helps to even out variance in the long run. Also It allows me to have a solid ten MTTs going in just a 3hr 15min block of time.

Well I guess thats about it. All I can do is continue playing great and eventually I'll hit some FTs and get this roll moving in the right direction.