Getting back on track

So I decided to make the changes I felt necessary to revamp my current poker situation and things have actually been going quite well lately. I'm still grinding out the micro limits but to be honest I think it's better for me in the long run. The few changes I've made are the following.

1. Rearranged my room to have a better office/poker playing setup where I could focus solely on playing poker and nothing else.
2. Stuck to strict BR requirements and have not been getting in over my head.
3. Moved some money to Full Tilt so I can receive rakeback to help out with the growth of a new BR.

I wanna say I've logged close to 4K in hands at the .10/.25 6max NL level and have been playing well. I don't have poker tracker up and running on this computer so I don't have exact numbers to show but I would bet over the 4K hands I've had a win rate of close to 7 bb/100 which is great but over way to small of a sample size to really mean anything. The thing I'm happiest about is the rakeback that is filtering in left and right. I want to say on the month of December I have already amassed $30 or so, which given my BR is HUGE! If I'm able to get a buy-in or 2 every month I will be stoked!

So things are going a little better than the last few posts have alluded to. It still sucks to be playing at suck small stakes when I'm use to playing .50/$1 and $1/$2 but ya know....that's what I get for being a dumbass! Some goals I have set for myself here in the next few months are reachable but will take some discipline and hard work.

Currently my BR sits at a little over $200 on Tilt which is just about 8 buy-ins at the level I'm currently playing. Now I know this isn't the proper BR management I've been talking about but I've beat this level before and know I can do it again. I plan on playing at this level until I reach a BR of about $1200 - $1500. That will then give me roughly 25 - 30 buy-ins at the .25/.50 level which would be my next step. I figure with rakeback coming in and how my play has been shaping up I should reach the .25/.50 level by the end of February. That will take some doing, but I think it's feasible if I put my mind to it. A little more of short term goal is to try and play each and everyday so I can keep my skills spot on.

More than anything I'm loving the new setup in my room where there is no distraction. I have been able to completely focus on each and every table I'm sitting at and feel like I'm back to my roots when and where I first began to make money playing this game I love. More updates to come soon.

I'm back on Titl!

So in an attempt to mix things up a little bit and give myself a change of pace I split my BR across Full Tilt and Poker Stars. I now have about $150 - $200 on each site and can now start receiving rake back again from Tilt! I'm excited to be back on Tilt and hope good things come of this. Oh and I also changed my avatar back the the monkey which is what I began with and just feels like home to me on Tilt.

A New Outlook

My recent downswing/bad run on Poker Stars has got me to thinking about what I truly want to get out of the recreational play I submit myself to on a daily basis. I feel as though I have such high expectations for myself and my results that it's hard to feel good about a win if it's not significant. When I say significant I mean winning 10 - 25% of my bankroll in a single session. At times I've had such good fortune in poker that it makes these current times (when the BR is low and grinding is the way) hard to stomach.

Take for example living on Steak and potatoes and top notch sea food for a given time frame in your life and then abruptly having to scale down your lifestyle to ramen noodles and boxed mac and cheese. This is a major lifestyle change and one that doesn't kill you...but definitely slaps you in the face with reality. Not to mention makes you take a step back and question how you got yourself in this current situation.

My story can easily be followed over the duration of this blog but to give you the cliff notes of the tortuga0981 story...I've always had a passion and understanding of the game, made money, used profit to pay for trips and gifts for others and myself, but in times of vulnerability I've shown immaturity in making bad monetary decisions. Decisions like playing over my head or pulling off money and then with a lower BR continuing to play at the limits I am use to. These are obvious red flags in terms proper BR management and I know this. Why then do I make these bad decisions? Well for one, because I've played above my head many times and won money before.

So what then is this sudden epiphany or new outlook that I speak of? Well a few days ago I was reading two different articles on 2+2 that opened my eyes to what I really should be looking at in terms of where I'm at in my poker career. I was down on my luck and thinking nothing could go my way until I read these. The two articles were by Ireguy and Gigabet and can be found in the links below.

Ireguy's Article
Gigabet's Article

Both of these articles really put things into perspective for and gave me this new outlook that I speak of. Yeah times have been bad, both due to my doings and not, but regardless I know I love the game and can win while playing.