Overall

Well, it's been 4 months since this project got started. That seems like both yesterday and forever. Hard to put into words the totals of the time period, but it's been a nice ride. Let's get to the nuts and bolts of it then we can do some reflection. These are the #s by month:

Month/#Games/ITM/ROI
July/89/43.82/17.86
Aug/372/44.89/9.35
Sept/211/47.87/16.48
Oct/150/42.00/1.50
Nov/76/42.11/35.14

Grand Totals of: 898 games/ITM: 44.77%/ ROI:13.08
Overall Profit: $1,088.58

Now for the bad news. That little stint playing PLO8, that actually cost us approximately $600!
So, how could that be? I have come to two conclusions. First and foremost, I suck at the game!!! I know exactly enough to be dangerous only to myself. I won numerous, numerous little pots and lost a good number of very big pots. I guess that sort of sums it up. Secondly, the first time I played, I went up $200 and got 2 gold cards. I thought, "I like gold cards" and the game isn't that hard, right? Yeah, right!! Although my card collection now includes 18 of the shiny bastards, I have yet to see any of them be worth the $600 it cost to get them. There must be something to humans wanting shiny things! Anyway, I believe what was most important was understanding that I was way out of any kind of bankroll requirement. Hell, I didn't even set any parameters for it. Basically, the bad news was created by yours truly being a very large fish( I do prefer ass but that's not nice to say. ass=donkey kapish?)

Although the hit from PLO8 was somewhat severe, between bonus cash and hard nosed sng play, the roll at cake is still well over $1,000 and climbing. I've taken a break from learning PLO and focused a bit more on my sng play. Reading forums, watching Sheet's lecture series again and again, and rereading some of my sng books. Reviewing almost everything from my coaching session with Jennifear. Call it variance, but I've pummeled the $18 turbos the last few days. I will have to put one huge brag in here. 10/20 level and all 10 players seated. I ran AKs into KK and lost. Left me with 40 chips and the blinds ran through, so I'm sitting there with 10 chips. I started thinking about one of Sheet's vids where he says not to ever give up. Well I put my best Nash cards to work and came back for the win. I can also say that I was only behind on 2 flops and only needed to suck out on the river once! GG me, weeeeeeee!!

So let's take a little time to reflect on poker the last four months. Lord knows there has been a lot of it(comparatively). I think, as far as the good things that have come out, my game is becoming much, much better. If I were to compare it to how I was playing 12 months ago, it would be day and night, and I thought I was good then. I would love to run into that guy on the felt now! The things that are probably my forte' at this point are situations. Learning who I'm playing against and what they're likely to do next. I still think my biggest problem to date is the overall math of the thing and also hand reading following a close second. I'm still not sure how to resolve the hand reading part but I'm going to start a project that I think will help with the math. Sheet's created a set of spreadsheets that works all the math for you. I believe, if can that duplicate that work without any outside help, I should know the math pretty well by the time I'm done. I'll probably know my Excel program too. Bonus!!

There is one other thing I'd like to say before I conclude this post. I have found that people do read this and some actually enjoy it. I truly appreciate your words and comments! One of the things that I feel is truly unique about this adventure is being able to share with other people of like mind. Unfortunately, it would seem that I don't get to meet many of you in the flesh. Maybe someday our paths will cross. Until next time. Good luck at the tables everyone!!!

Rodney

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving all!!!!!

Relativity

So I've been trying to get to some of the instructor chats at PXF. Keep missing them due to conflicting schedules. Then, over the weekend, I make one with the topic being PLO8. Outstanding, I think to myself. I'm struggling with the game, so an hour or so of informed education will be good for me. As Fox (Chris Wallace) is going through the lecture part of the presentation, he does a short review of the current books out there on the game. I had just finished reading Capelletti's book on the topic and got what I thought was some fair information and some good story telling. At that point I wouldn't have put it down as suggested reading. Next thing you know, Fox is calling it the most advanced book on the topic that he's seen yet!! Huh?!? Almost everything that was talked about after that is a blur. Most advanced? What in the hell was I missing? Time to go reread another book I didn't seem to absorb very well.

Then yesterday, I was watching a video Rizen had just put out. It's actually a coaching session with another subscriber from PXF. Outstanding stuff. Listening how thier two views can conflict and still be on target to thier individual understanding of the situations as they unfold. So what's the point? RELATIVITY!! The more and more I think about the learning curve in poker, the more I become a little confused. Then a light comes on and it all becomes very simple. Rizen actually said it very well in his video. People, for the most part, aren't going to be thinking at the level of someone who studies the game and it's nuances. Unless they are a regular/grinder, most folks are still playing to have fun.

Maybe it's an ego thing. Because I've have been studying so much over the past 12 months, something tells me I should have a handle on this game. Relatively speaking, I actually have a somewhat infantile understanding of what's really going on. Take for example the book thing. The diffrence between what Fox sees and what I see in the same material is relative to the experience we have with the subject matter. I will have to agree that his opinion is going to make much more sense than my own due to my sheer lack of experience. So don't count out Cappelletti's book yet! I'll try again under new consideration and get back with you.

The BR took a huge beating due to playing PLO8 as a newbee. At one point, I was back down to $725 from $1,450. Taht will look a bit squewed because my first session of PLO8 was huge. I won 6 buy-ins the first time I played and then commenced the downfall. I don't feel there is any reason to panic at this point. I got a chance to play some $20 sngs this weekend and am back up to $947. It seems that my sng play is still my best game for the time being. Hopefully, I'll get more regular play time in at those in the near future.

So, to recap. Knowledge is not an instamatic thing, especially in the ever changing world of the gambler. Baby steps are still necessary when trying anything for the first time. We will all have times when we can't figure out what is wrong, only to find out that in essence there wasn't anything but our own ignorance. It can be hard to swallow sometimes, but if you can hold to the idea that all things will be relative to the view you cast on them, many of the self-abuse sessions can run thier course much more quickly. Rome wasn't built in a day and you're not going to win a braclet in a month of experience. Good luck eveyone!!

Time Constraints

As you could probably tell from my last post, time has become a somewhat exhaustable commodity. Basically, I haven't had much spare time to play or write about poker. The PLO experiment is going fair at this point. I do have mixed feelings about it do to some reading that I've been doing on the game. It would appear that many authors have very diffrent approaches to the best way to dominate at the tables. Which is one thing that I haven't been doing. Bankroll is back down to approx. $1,100. I can say that I haven't got much play time in of late and I may have played a dozen or so sngs in the last three weeks. It does lead to a somewhat meloncholy state of mind. Yet, then again, the small break is giving me time to do a few other things that have been somewhat neglected.

I've been able to take a more acedemic approach towards philosophy. Of course, that in it's own right, can be considered both + and - ev. I had forgotten how long it's been since the material I was reading had some sort of intellectual challenge. Harrington On Holdem isn't exactly a literary masterpiece. A gold mine for the novice poker player- yes, but literature and the pursuit of truth tend to go alittle deeper. I can say that the texts on acedemic logic have been a great source of learning, especially along the subject of poker. Funny how Jung's theory on syncronicity can apply to so many diffrent levels.

Well, just wanted to leave a note to anyone who is following the project. It is alive and well, although in a small state of dormancy for now. Hopefully I'll have more time this month to play or I may have to wait until after the holidays. Guess only time can tell that. Good luck at the tables everyone!! Until next time...

October Review

Unfortunately, life does have it's ups and downs. That heater I was on was quite short lived. Then there was a small downswing and a change in work schedule. On about the 10th of October, work had to start at 9pm until 7am. There aren't many people playing $20 sngs at 7am! Needless to say, I had to start adapting what I was doing to continue the growth pattern. Along comes a few MTTs. Played in 7 tourneys, cashing in 5 and finished 3rd twice. Not incredible amounts of money but enough to take the bankroll over $1,250 at Cake. While all of this was happening, something in the back of my mind asked why I had to stick with Holdem games. Since there was no legitimate reason for not changing, along came PL Omaha!