January, 2010 - A new year & a new outlook

I began the month playing $25NL, continuing from last month's cash out & playing the stakes that were affordable to my bankroll. However, I realized that given my bankroll, I can begin going back to the $50NL tables, which is what I did from the 2nd day of the month, onward. I began to crush the games again, not because I was playing particularly well, but because my hands held up for the most part. As the month wore on, I began to CRUSH the $50NL competition, and I have started to take shots at $100NL. The $100NL tables provided a small loss this month, but nothing that I am concerned about (I finished the month down about $30 at $100NL in approx. 800 hands). In part thanks to Rush poker, my attempt to steal remains astounding, north of 70%! I cannot describe the relief I feel that I am actually adding to my bankroll, and also feel like I am playing the best poker of my life. On to the rest of the recap:

I made Iron Man status in the Iron Man challenge / bonus. I was able to convert all of my mid year bonus ($400) and convert a $75 token from the Iron Man challenge into a $69 cash out. Achieving Iron Man status allows me:

1. I am eligible for $100 in the mid year bonus.
2. I can continue to convert medals to dollars.
3. All of the poker played allowed me to qualify for free CardRunners and Stoxpoker training through totallyfreepokertraining.com.

Full Tilt poker profits: $1251
Poker Stars poker profits: $0.00 - With Rush poker, the mid year bonus, and rakeback, there has been very little incentive to play at Poker Stars.
Live poker profits: $-131.50 - DAMN GARDEN CITY DONKEYS!
Rakeback bonus profits: $327.45
Full Tilt bonus profits: $469.00
Total: $1915.95

A quick rundown of my stats: 38.7K hands played on Tilt in 106 hours. My hold'em All In Luck calculator says that since the beginning of the month, I've run $-222, which says that I've overcome my negative expected value in all in situations.

Looking forward to February, I am properly rolled to play the $100NL tables, which I have already started doing. The game seems to be a bit more difficult; much less betting and much more checking. The betting seems to take place on the turn and the river, with WAY more floating - both in and out of position. The $100NL players pick up instantly on lines that don't make sense, and they'll raise you right off the hand if they sense a moment's hesitation or weakness. As soon as I get enough history, I will put a post together on comparing $50NL and $100NL. I do not intend to play $100NL Rush, though, at the current time. I want to become acclimated to the full ring tables first, in order to establish that I truly belong playing at that level.

Also, I'm committed to moving to HEM. I am converting as I write this post.