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!

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!!