Friday, December 19, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

SNE Quest - Dec 16: Head Above Water

VPP COUNT: 956505

My head is above water in a couple different ways.

1) As of last night, I am ahead of the linear SNE pace for the first time in months! This brings the average number of points I need to earn per day down to about 2.8k, which is chump change.

I'll be continuing the hellgrind, which has consisted of a minimum of 6 hours a day for the past week. I need to do this for 1 more week, and I'll be close enough to finished that I can spend the 24th and 25th with family.

2) I am finally above the incredibly massive soul-crushing breakeven stretch I was experiencing. In $, the stretch lasted somewhere in the ballpark of 800k hands. This sounds incredibly terrible, seeing as most players wouldn't play close to 800k hands of poker in their lifetime. I may post a graph at some point, but I'm not too enthused about that. In BB, the graph is not nearly as harsh, which just means I ran really bad at higher stakes.

The year is coming to an end and I've barely had time to reflect. I'm glad I kept this blog.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

SNE Quest - Dec 11: Looking Up

VPP COUNT: 940621

Since my last post, I've worked out a coaching deal with WCGRider. He is teaching me to play better and make money, since I haven't really been able to do that very well for the past couple months. His blog is at http://dougkpolk.blogspot.com/, and I have included a link on the left.

The results have initially been very good, and I think I'm doing a pretty good job of adapting to the style. Since I am playing so many more hands, and firing at so many more pots, it has been a much more intense experience playing 24 tables.

"On pace" tonight is 945345. I'm closing that gap quickly. The hellgrind has been successful so far.

Sophy is walking for her first times. She's also talking/mimicking quite a bit. Smart baby.

Monday, December 08, 2008

SNE QUEST - Dec 8: 2-Week Hell Grind

VPP COUNT: 920005

I had to take some time away from the quest at the beginning of this month to take care of some other things, so I am moving slightly slower than I would have liked.

I am going to be busting my ass for the next 2 weeks, in attempt to finish, or be close enough, to take the 24th and 25th off.

To get the remaining 80k VPPs in 14 days would require averaging about 8-9h per day. This is incredibly difficult to do for a 2 week period, and would require me to take no days off. I think my average will be closer to 7h/day, hypothetically leaving me at about 990k vpps on the 21st. This is the pace I'd like to maintain.

I call it the "Hell Grind" also because I've been painfully breakeven at 200NL lately, and it really has become a chore to put in the hours. Looking forward to not having my nose to the grindstone.

Off to the tables!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

SNE QUEST - Dec 02: Slow Start

VPP COUNT: 908435

I have averaged about 4.2k points per day for the last 2 days, which is a good enough pace to finish by Christmas.

Unfortunately, I stopped running well in DoNs, and have been only making a little at FRNL.

I'll be trying to put in some late night sessions, as there are supposed to be more vpps/hr, and more fish. Tonights' session was a terrible nightmare of 2 outers and under-boats, and I ended the day even.

I think I'll be able to keep up this pace fairly comfortably...but would really like to run better for the last month of the year.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

SNE QUEST - Nov 30: The Final Stretch

VPP COUNT: 900005

The results in November were MUCH better than October. Oddly enough, I put in more hours in November, but earned slightly less points. This is mostly due to experimenting with different games.

Assuming I complete the last 100K VPPs while breaking even at the tables, I will reach my earnings goal for the year. I could even lose some in December and reach my goal. Despite how frustrating poker can be sometimes, completing this quest has really REALLY boosted my bankroll.

So now there is just 1 more month to go. In the last 2 months I have earned about 108k and 104k VPPs. In December I just need 99995. This thing is in the bag.

I am still undecided as far as next years' plans. It is not TOO incredibly difficult to maintain SNE pace, especially if there aren't any holidays or trips to worry about. I am still very interested in building a nice MTT resume, and the DoNs that I've been crushing are also a nice option. I am very glad to have as many choices as I do, since this past year has pretty much been decided upon, leaving me very restricted.

Hopefully, I'll have a huge energy rush during the first few weeks of December, and finish this thing off before Christmas. I also may just get myself to 999999 vpps, and host a new years party or something where I get that final point... We'll see :)

Monday, November 24, 2008

SNE Quest - Nov 24: Bouncing around

VPP COUNT: 877061

Well, i've been exploring my other options in DoNs and ShortStacking for the past few days. It has been interesting, and fairly difficult to transition to multitabling in each of these styles.

DoNs might actually end up being the most profitable of the 3 for me, but I only make about 400-500 VPPs/hr depending on how many are running.
FRNL is probably my second best option as far as table winnings, and brings me about 600-650 VPPs/hr.
Shortstacking is my last resort, with the lowest expected return, but about 900-950 VPPs/hr.

It really has been discouraging seeing the diminishing returns as the year has gone on. It makes me not want to do SNE next year, because to get the amount of VPPs/hr needed, you need to play either very high stakes, or mass table. All of the mass tabling options are being exhausted by other players, because of how easy it is to make a high $/hr income with a simple strategy. So all of these games will be extremely overrun by competent players, and it will only be worse in 2009.

My game will need to evolve again in 2009 if I want to advance. While SNE is an amazing 110k over the year (and about 135k if I were to repeat in 09) it really hinders my ability to experiment, play less tables, and increase my win rate.

Next year, that is what i'll be focusing on. If it doesnt work out so well, I can always take another shot at SNE, because I know I could do it again. I'll know by February if it is worth it to me.

I expect to be over 900k points by the end of November. I'd love to finish before christmas.