6/29/11

Video of the Day

6/9/11

Email to FTP Support

Dear helpful customer service representative,
no offense but you're one generic email away from losing my business so think hard before you copy/paste yet another ready-made reply please.

Let me break it down for you pretty simply: I need money to live.
Like, really really badly.
Without it,
I will go hungry
and homeless
and maybe even turn a little homicidal.

Not knowing when I will have access to my own personal funds (weird how there were no delays in depositing), makes it impossible for me to continue playing on your site since my uber-demanding wife thinks I should actually make a contribution towards our cost of living.

I know, Womenz.....amirite?

And telling me my money is safe over and over again is great and all, but my landlord said that he unfortunately can't take your word for it. I told him Howard and Durrrr pinky promised everything will be OK but he just mumbled something about lolinternets and walked away....so no go on that front.

So if you could kindly provide me with at least a ballpark time frame for when us Canadians will have free access to our funds, perhaps I can evade my landlord for a while longer and go back to surviving on white rice and tunafish by pretending I was in university again. Werd?

6/6/11

Monday June 6th

I have yet to officially begin my 100K hands challenge since I still haven't received my cashout from FTP. I've been playing about 2K hands/day so far this month; just enough to continue earning the bonus ironman medals in the hopes that everything turns out OK with Full Tilt.

But the longer this test cashout takes, the more I wonder if I should just throw in the towel and switch sites...because, even if my money finally does comes through after 2+ weeks, I question if I'll have to go through this process every time I need to access life funds. Knowing that FTP has such big issues to deal with right now, I dont know how or when they'll be able to convince me that things are back to normal for us Canadians. And with each passing day it seems more and more unlikely that that will happen before they fix the American cashout problem. So it appears as if we're all in the same ship (The FTPTitanic?) when it comes to Full Tilt Poker...and I think we can all agree that it hasnt been the most pleasant of trips so far.

As far as retaining my loyalty though, Rush Poker was the greatest thing FTP ever did. Every time I think about switching sites I just log on to a couple of other ones and groan at the amount of time I'll have to spend on waiting lists to get my hands/hour number high enough. I think being able to sit down and instantly be playing 1K+ hands/hour is a luxury I've been spoiled by and am having a hard time giving up....so for the time being, I'll continue to be patient with the shitstorm that is FTP right, but I doubt I have much of that left in me, so if you could get your shit sorted ASAP, that would be much appreciated Howie!




6/1/11

Off To A *opposite of roaring* Start

So I didn't end up starting my challenge today after all. Instead, I was up all night listening to QuadJacks discuss the mess FTP finds itself in now that Ivey has sued them and most of the rest of their pros stopped wearing their patches at the WSOP and so my sleep was messed up again and i just felt too tired to play much.

I'm still not 100% sure what this all means for me right now but I think within the next month or two I'm going to start moving my action off of Tilt (if they last that long). I would just switch now but this is the worst time of the year to do that since the midyear ironman bonus comes in at the end of the month, so I'll think I'll just grind that out and then gtfo if things haven't improved dramatically.

In the meantime I'm going to try to get the majority of my money off FTP (been waiting for a moneybookers transfer to go through for 3 days now), and grind with a shorter BR....just in case this FTP cashout nonsense expands beyond just Americans (I've heard rumors it's already spread to places like Brazil and even here in Canada).

I haven't decided fully what to do about my 100K hands/challenge since I no longer feel confident that when I wake each morning FTP and, more importantly, my money will still be there waiting for me. So I think what I'll do is just grind like usual for a couple of days and see if anything develops. If I can get most of my funds into my MB account this week, I'll feel more comfortable letting this thing sort itself out while I grind but otherwise it seems silly to bust my ass all month and in the end find out I have nothing to show for it.

Either way, it seems as if Black Friday has affected all of us on an even deeper level than we had originally realized. Of course, the silver lining here is that if FTP really was doing even a fraction of the shady stuff that they've been accused of (hard to imagine an alternative at this point), then Black Friday might end up being the day that saved Internet poker as opposed to the one that crippled it.

'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one'

5/30/11

And So It Begins. Again. Again.

So I managed to find a partial backer/co-investor quickly on parttimepoker.com and have been slowly getting back into the flow of 200nl. Instead of playing on my own vs playing backed, I decided to chop the difference and sell my action @ 60/40 and take about a third of it myself, effectively making my cut 72% while still permitting me the luxury of not having to keep a big roll online. I think having a backer is also going to help keep me accountable as far as volume is concerned; which is definitely something I could use going into my next challenge.

Overall, since I started playing rush approximately 4 months ago, I've averaged about 50K hands/month and so, for my next challenge, I will attempt to double my production and put in 100K hands in June, hopefully all at 200nl. While this may sound like a standard prop bet/challenge that many players make to try to trick themselves into being motivated when other factors are causing the opposite effect, my plan centers around getting back to the tireless grinder I was before the money meant something to me. See, before I had to worry about a wife, a house, or a future child (the one my wife will eventually have, not a child brought back from 2112 to John Connor it up), I used to be able to grind for days on end and pretty much lived in the space between my bed and computer. But, through the help of Jared Tendler's incredible new book The Mental Game of Poker (you can find it here: http://www.mentalgameofpoker.com/), I've come to realize that my irrational fears of failure have been steadily increasing along with my responsibilities. It now makes complete sense that my motivation would wane...why would I want to grind every single day when I was subconsciously going into every session fearing the worst? I've come to learn a ton about this mental stuff over the past week but I'd basically be paraphrasing Jared, so I'll just say that if you have any motivation, fear, tilt, or confidence issues surrounding poker, you will literally never make a better investment than buying his book (and no, I unfortunately do not get a cut of book sales).

So what I will be doing going forward is getting myself back in the grinder's mindset by putting in 5K hands/day, 5 days/week. I plan on generally doing this Mon-Fri so I can finally get my internal clock realigned with the rest of the real world and, if I succeed in keeping to this schedule, I should reach 100K hands on the 28th of June with 2 official playing days to spare.

I am also going to get back to working on my game on a daily basis. Right now I generally only 'study' about once a week; which I don't think is really enough for anyone to stay on top of their game. I mean, professional athletes don't only practice once a week, so why should I?
I think adding a relatively insignificant 15 minute review at the end of each day, in addition to an hour session during one of my off days, will go a long way to ensure I'm playing my A game as often as is possible and that, when I'm not, my D game might instead turn into a B- game. Thanks again Jared for teaching me that equity comes in all shapes and sizes!

I will be celebrating my last day of slackerism tomorrow by watching the Miami Heat beat up on Dirk and then the grind will begin.
I'll try to post lengthier weekly updates here but most of the time I'll just be using twitter so feel free to click that button at the top right and say hello.

For (hopefully) the last time, this is SlackerSentin signing off.

5/24/11

Time Off

Going up to my parents' cabin for a bit of R&R with a couple of buddies tomorrow morning before launching my 100K hands challenge. Also going to be posting a review of Jared Tendler's amazing new book when I get a chance.

Be back in a few. Good luck everyone.

5/14/11

Close Enough?

So after spending the last few days thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that I kind of prefer playing backed...even when I'm sufficiently rolled to play on my own dime.

It's strange and I sort of feel silly about it but I realize now that I've grown accustomed to some of the perks that come with playing backed. Yes, there is that ever-important hourly hit but, with a good backer (or group of backers), there is also the freedom of never having to worry about downswings, bad beats, or money in general. Not only that, but I also find that I miss the comradery that comes with being part of a stable (a group of players all staked by the same person/people). It's nice to be able to vent your frustrations and enjoy your upswings with people who understand and appreciate what you're going through. I think for someone like myself who plays this game for a living and doesn't live in a poker house (I can only imagine my wife's reaction if she walked into a house with 5 of me bumming around), the days can start to feel pretty monotonous and repetitive. Being part of a good stable also helps to keep you interacting with your peers; which I believe is a key element to continually improving your game. I mean, there's a reason most of the high-stakes guys travel in packs, right?

So, for all those reasons (not to mention the joy of never having to have your life funds tied up), I've decided to look for backing once again through 2+2 and/or Parttimepoker. 

As far as my 25nl-200nl challenge goes, my bankroll has now grown from $500 to just under $3000 meaning I am halfway to moving past 100nl entirely and am already adequately rolled for a mix of 100-200nl. About $1500 of my profits have come from direct game-play and the rest was from rakeback + bonuses. I may end up finishing this challenge before I sign on with a new backer but if a good opportunity comes along in the meantime, I may just declare this a moral victory and begin a new volume and/or profit challenge. Besides, spending more than a month on a single task is just too hard on my A.D.D.

Challenge Update:

And overall graph since moving to cash games:


Stay tuned!

5/9/11

Moving On Up

Had a good day today.

Woke up late, put in a quick half hour session and made a little more than a buyin. Then I met up with my brother in law and his aunt and had a nice round of pitch and putt at Stanley Park here in beautiful British Columbia.
I'm pretty terrible at golf still but slowly getting better. No birdies today but we did see a goose chasing a raccoon and Auntie Linda launched a ball off the course within 5 feet of a baby stroller so that was funny in a horrifying sort of way.

After I got back I decided to put in a short session cause I wasn't feeling like playing much but wanted to get my ironman points for the day since it's my birthday in a couple of weeks and I figure I'm bound to miss a few days later this month. So I needed 200ish points which only takes about 20-30 minutes 4tabling 50nl. I started off slow stealing a few blinds and taking down a couple of small 3bet pots...then, all heaven (?) broke loose.

In a span of about 45 minutes, I managed to hit: quads once, 2 overpairs that got me paid off decently, 5 top-pair/top-kickers combinations with AK (none of which got cracked) and 7 sets...2 of which turned into a full-house and one of which allowed me to stack a guy with boat over boat!

I want to say that I played all my big hands really well and extracted max value...but it feels like I'm bragging about winning a gunfight when I was the only one allowed to shoot real bullets so....

Having said that, I did reach another milestone by cracking the $2000 mark which means that I'm now rolled for 100nl!

Moving from 25nl to 100nl took exactly 14 days and just over 36K hands. Not the greatest volume by any means but it's decent and I'm running at 7.3bb/100 so I'm happy with it. I've made 60% of my profits from direct game-play and the other 40% through rakeback and bonus clearing. I also converted some points into a $26 token for the fun of it and turned it into $52ish in a matrix SNG (which is a great way to turn points into cash quickly for anybody who doesn't want to clear the larger bonuses).

So now it's on to 100nl. I may still mix in a couple of 50nl tables depending on the hours I end up playing since people seem to mostly play either 50nl or 200nl and I'm thinking that getting 4 tables running at 100nl (without delays) might be tough at times...but we'll see how it goes.

2 levels down, 1 to go!

RRRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!

5/6/11

May 6th

Still running like garbage but getting (slightly) better. I did lose with the nut-flush vs a straight flush today for the first time (I think?) tho so that kinda sucked.

Bankroll is still down a little from my peak but it could have been much much worse the way things went the last few days so I'm hoping the small downswing has worked it's way out and I can get back on track now.

Playing profits: $400 ($550 EV) in 34K hands.
RB/Bonus: $583
Overall BR: $1483

My hourly right now is about $28/hr which is decent for the lower stakes but I'm ready to get back to 100 & 200nl soon and start making serious money again. 10 BIs to go before we move on up.

5/3/11

First Bad Day

I honestly can't remember ever being coolered as often and as bad as I have been today. Literally every single time I had a big hand against a fish they somehow stumbled onto the nuts. Not to mention that I had about 100 pocket pairs and the only time I flopped a set and got beyond a cbet, my opponent had top set. Sooooo irritating.


Gross.

I've been working a ton on my emotional control lately and I have to say I survived today with minimal damage...especially compared to 6-12 months ago when I would have probably jumped off a roof by now. Definitely very frustrated but I see a pretty massive improvement in my tilt control so I'm going to try to focus on that and come back strong next time.

Nobody said this would be easy...unfortunately.

Overall BR:

5/2/11

May is Underway

Decent start to the month, made about 6 buyins in 2K hands today and that's after running 2BI below expectation so not bad.  1-2 more days like this and I'll already be able to move up to 100nl. Keep your fingers crossed.

Winnings:

Overall Bankroll (Rakeback + Bonuses included)

Graph so far

4/30/11

Final Day of April


Only played a couple of half sessions the last few days and made a couple of buyins at 50nl. Overall BR after Rakeback + Bonus = $1294
Bout $700 to go before we move up again. So far so good.

4/28/11

Day 2

Success!

Put in 5K hands so far today and ran super well, flipping like a pro and binking AK>KK aipf. Also lost with Aces 2-3 times to a couple of headscratcher hands but cant really complain. Thanks to a few of those flips I ended up about $190 above ev.

And after more bonus clearing, my official bankroll is now $1028 meaning I can already move up to 50nl!
Not bad for 2 days, even if it took a bit of rungood to get there.

So far:

And overall BR:
 

Up we go to 50nl!!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

4/27/11

Day 1

well, couldnt have asked for a much better start. If the play stays as bad as I saw today and I run ok, I should hopefully be able to move up to 50nl within a couple of days.

Also cleared 40ish dollars of my bonus so bankroll is quickly up to $780 from the starting roll of $500.
$220 away from level 2.

Day One:

4/26/11

The Post-Apocalyptic Challenge

After quickly moving up to 200nl since making my transition from MTTs/SNGs to rush cash games with the help of a great backer, I have decided to challenge myself and drop all the way back down to 25nl and make my way back up the limits using some good bankroll management and the experience I've gained over the past decade of play.

I will start with 20 buyins for 25nl and (hopefully) move up in limits quickly whenever I have 20 buyins for the next level. I am not going to set a concrete finish date as I want to really focus on my quality of play rather than putting in mindless volume, but I hope for this to take no longer than 2 months at most. If I finish it by the end of May though, it will give me a bit of time to try to win myself an FTP WSOP Main Event seat for the third year in a row so hopefully I can pull that off. I'm also only about 50K ftp points away from the 3x Blackcard multiplier so hopefully i can hit that next month as well.

So here goes nothing. Wish me luck.

S.

PS: Here is a graph of my last climb from 50nl-200nl over the past couple of months.

And So It Begins. Again.

Hi. My name is Yaniv. I play poker as Sentin. I like short sentences. I have A.D.D. This is my story.

It was nearly a decade ago now that I was first introduced to the world of professional poker grinding through the oft-(over)quoted brilliance that is the movie Rounders. More than the movie itself, it was the sudden realization that there was an 'easy' way to make a living that really captivated my imagination. I use the word easy in quotations because I've since learned just how much work being a successful poker player takes. I suppose in this day and age there is no such thing as an easy ride...whether you're an actor putting in 18 hour days, a musician playing 27 shows in 30 nights, or a writer spending countless sleepless nights rewriting a single sentence fragment, those who succeed at 'other' professions have to earn it (most of the time). The beauty of it all tho is that when you're doing the thing you enjoy most in life, it really shouldn't feel like all that much work to begin with.

As I began my career as a poker player, at first recreationally and eventually full-time, I was constantly switching sites and games, always trying to find the right niche for myself within the poker world. I started off leaking all my money into the cash community before switching to SNGs and MTTs and finding enough success there to continue playing the game I love without having to worry about when I'd have to find a 'real job'.

The only problem was that I was bored. I was soooooo soooooooooo bored. If my ADD and I had to sit through another 12 hour day to outlast 3000 players and finish in 24th or 8th or anythingbutfirst we were ready to just give up the dream and go use the teaching degree collecting dust in my closet....but that would make my parents wayyy too happy for their own good....and so an alternative was desperately needed in order for me to keep my street cred intact.

It was then that I decided to take one last shot at cash games. I decided to take my shot at 6max Rush NL knowing full well that one of my biggest weaknesses as a cash game player was playing too many hands...again, out of boredom. Switching up to a shorthanded rush game allowed me to calm the ADD monsters in my brain and mouseclicker-finger and instead focus all my energy on making the right play on every single hand day in and day out.

The results quickly spoke for themselves. As I shot through the limits from 50nl to 200nl I was studying, adapting and attempting to improve my game with a hunger and determination that had been noticeably absent the previous year. I was excited and eager to play on a daily basis for the first time in a while.

Then Black Friday struck. Within hours the entire US player-base on Full Tilt disappeared, not to mention many of the backers who I had relied on during the previous 3 years to allow me to pursue my career in a relatively variance-free format. When my rush poker backer informed me that he couldn't continue to stake me at this time due to the situation in America, I immediately started thinking about which beach I should take my talents to.

It seemed like a given to me that I would simply look for another backer and resume business as usual but as I explained this to my lovely wife she asked very simply: 'why don't you just play for yourself now?'
I immediately brushed off the idea internally but as I was explaining the reasons against it, I started realizing that many of the fears I had about playing on my own dime when i first started playing poker for a living - bad bankroll management, tilt, lack of confidence in my abilities - were fears that, if not already fully conquered, were at worst just a shadow of their former self.

Suddenly, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

With nearly a quarter of the online poker traffic obliterated overnight by the DOJ, it is a new poker world out there and, with it, comes the silent promise of an 'easy' way to make a living....but only for those willing to give in to The Grind.

S.