Project Reload(ed): Day10

It is now 3:22 AM and I've been playing Poker for 3+ hour straight. At one point I was down 100 and up 120 another. I finished being up about 25 for the session. I made some bad plays and some questionable ones... played kinda noobish at times... I must concentrate more in the future.

I finished clearing the FPPs to get Silverstar Status.
Here are my stats:

Pokerstars BR: 3912 (+1421)
Silverstar Status Reached

This has been a very successful project. I have proven myself as a solid Cash Gamer.
I am now going to cash out 600 and move onto Pokeroom... going to try to clear the 500 Bonus there. In the meanwhile I'm just gonna dick around and play some SNGs until October comes around.
October is going to be a hard-working month for me... I'll update with goals and expectation soon.

*This is added right before midnight of the same day. I played for about 3 hours during the day today and made 150 for my efforts. I cashed out another 500. I am gonna deposit that into PartyPoker and clear their 20% up to 100 in the following week.

Project Reload(ed): Day9

It must be because I played so much yesterday... But today I was very tired for most of the day and only managed to get in about 20 min. of Poker play. Fortunately I made about 80 for my effort.
Here's my status on Pokerstars:

Pokerstars BR: 3888 (+1397)
164 FPPs needed to reach Silverstar Status

Tomorrow I plan to Finish clearing the 164 Fpps so I can cash out and start the Pokeroom Reload.

Project Reload(ed): Day8

Today was a long hardworking day. The pay was meager, but I'll take it.
I played about 4 hours in the mornign and 1 hour in the evening for a total of 5 hours. I am up just over 100 for the day. This is not bad considering at one point I was down 100.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get in at least another 4 to 5 hours of play and try to finish clearing the rest of the FPPs.
I need 174 more FPPs to get Silverstatus.

...The Turning Point

This is a very important post. It marks the turning point in my Poker Career. In the past couple of days I have had Poker on my mind. I have been thinking a lot about my relationship with Poker and how it's going to affect my life.
I started playing Poker about two years ago. It wasn't until May this year (4 months ago) that I started to take it more seriously and started this blog. I started the blog with a 450 BR on Pokerstars only, and as of today I have increased it to a 4500+ overall BR, and have cashed out at least 1500 in between.
In this process, I have shown glimpses of greatness: Starting as a player who sticks to the 9man SNG because I couldn't handle the cash games, I conquered my fear and made my run at .25/.50 cash games to make 2000. When I signed up with Pokeroom, I made an amazing run at SNGs, after 67 games my ROI is still 63% with a total profit of 856. I faced a serious slump following the end of my Bonuswhore project with Pokeroom. But in the past two weeks, I had bounced back furiously. I made over 1000 this week, and over 2000 for the last two weeks. I have shown that I can consistantly beat the .50/1 NL tables on Stars.
I played without fear...like a true champion.

So why all this talk?
I have discovered something...
I am on the verge of greatness, the only thing standing in between me and greatness is my fear for failure. It is this little guy in me that hesitates before the start of each session.... that still gets a little nervous about ending in the red... the little guy that decides to play video games because he feels that he isn't quite ready to play poker.
I have been in constant battle with this little guy. But lets be fair, the little guy isn't a bad guy... he is smart... he would rather be safe then sorry... he keeps me from blowing my BR... he makes me look both ways twice before crossing the street.
However, there is a fine line between being a scared and being safe. There is also a fine line between being reckless and being a genius. True genius has no fear... and true passion has no hesitation.
What am I talking about?
I am talking about young people who dropped out of college to play Poker full time... They KNEW they could beat the game, and wasn't affraid to make that leap... wasn't affraid of accepting their destiny.
I am talking about the people who pounds in those hands day and night, playign as many tables as they can, as many hours as they can... They knew that they had a gift for beating the game, and that gift would help make their life more secure. So they didn't repress this talent, but they allowed it to flourish... pushed their limit... and reached as high as they could.
They knew that the only way to realize their potential was to give their all in being a poker pro.
This is not gambling... this is hardwork, and passion, and greatness.
I am no longer going to hesitate. I am going to go about this full-heartedly. I am going to be GREAT. I am going to ride This Online-Poker phenomenon as long as it is available to me. And I'm gonna RIDE it HARD.
Sure I am going to lose some, but I'm no longer going to let a bad streak make me pussy out. Greatness has no hesitation... and from now on there is no looking back.
Starting tomorrow I am going to pound in these hands and hours... a lot lot more then I have ever done before.
I'm bringing the HARDCORE back into HardcoreBO. HardcoreBo knows no fear.

Ok thats it... no more talk... from now on its strictly business.

Project Reload(ed): Day6

Midnight last night I played one table just for fun and ended up running super cold and losing 100 bucks. Lost to small stacks when I tried to take em out: 77 vs 88 then a8 vs 57, then had this huge hand with pair and flush draw and didnt hit. I made a bad call also on a flush board with just a straight draw... that was horrible. I think part of the reason why i didnt do well was because my friend was sitting next to me using my laptop and we had the tv on loud... I wasnt able to be in the zone.
So like usual I cashed out a little bit (130). My BR is at 3700 right now. I'm gonna take a break from this blog for the rest of the month and just play poker. Hopefully I'll have a higher BR by then =).
Happy Gaming!

Project Reload: Day5

The bonus is cleared!
I played two sessions today. Pretty Routine. Won about 100 on the first session and up 185 for the second session.
Overall this has been my most efficient Project. I had a certain rhythm when I play. Nothing upsets me much and notthing got me too excited... it was just business-like... which is how it should be. I feel like I am in the zone as of late, and I will just continue to do what I do and hope it keeps working.
Here are my updated stats.

Pokerstars BR: 3939 (+1198 +120 Bonus)
Bonus Status: CLEARED
VIP Status: 505 VPP to reach Silverstar

This project should be over, but since things are going well, I am going to continue with the project (playing on Stars) until I reach Silverstar Status. Hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of September.

Project Reload: Day4

Today has been a weird day. I played two sessions during the day. I got stacked at a table both times, yet still were positive each time because I did well on my other tables. Overall I am proud of my play. Generally very disciplined and still making good agressive plays when I sense weakness. I'm up about 150 for the day. I also managed to put myself in position to finish clearing the bonus by tomorrow, which I definitely will, unless some freak incident prevents me from doing so.

Pokerstars BR: 3535 (+914)
Bonus Status: 720 FPPs cleared 120 FPPs needed to claim 120

Project Reload: Day3

I have discovered a new leak in my game. I would call this the Charity Leak.
So lately I've been havign pretty good positive sessions at the ring games, playing solid poker. However, near the end phase of my session, I tend to leak about 30% of my winnings... by being overly agressive and overbettign the continuation bets. The psychology behind this is simple... I'm prolly thinking "I can afford to lose this". But that is just retarded because money is still money and it doesnt matter if its money I've won or not.
In the future I would have to pay more attention to this kind of leak, and make sure my money stays on my stack and doesn't trickle off into some noobs stack who is willing to call me down with mid pair.
On the plus side, I did have a positive day, up about 150. Plus I managed to clear 150 FPPs towards the bonus.

Pokerstars BR 3374 (+753)
Bonus Status: 552 FPPs cleared 288 more FPPs to claim 120

Project Reload: Day2

I've been running well on Pokerstars... making really good reads.
I'm being more patient also, folding more and more trap hands (but not all of them).
But the most important thing is... I've been banging them hands in... its the only way to make good money playing poker, long sessions and playing many hands.

For today I 4 tabled .50/1 Shorthanded. Many big pots, scary shit. Lost a few but also won a few. Up about 100 one one session and another 200 on my night session.

Here are my up to date results:

Pokerstars BR: 3233.75 (+612)
Bonus Status: 402 FPPs cleared, 438 more FPPs to claim 120

I hope to clear at least another 150 FPPs tomorrow. Hopefully I can play well and bang in more hands then expected.

Project Reload: Day1

I 2 tabled .50/1 NL late last night. Won about 100.
Played RAZZ in the morning, broke even. But this helped me clear a lot of the bonus.
Then I 4 tabled .25/.50 NL around noon and won another 100.
Overall it has been a solid start to my Reload Project.

Here are my Stats

Pokerstars BR: 2857.35 (+236.35)
Bonus Status: 150 FPPs cleared 690 FPPs more to claim 120

My goal for tomorrow is to clear another 150 FPPs... just going to stick to .25/.50 4 tabling.

Project Reload: Intro

The 931 from Sunpoker went through Neteller promptly, I deposited 600 of it into Stars (that was the max).
Now I have 2621 to Start this project with... And 331 in Neteller, which will be ready to be used toward some other bonus shortly.
I need to get 840 FPPs on Pokerstars to clear the 120 Bonus.
I plan to finish clearing 840 FPPs by Sunday. This means on average I need to clear 140 FPPs a day. I will do this by playing .50/1 NL Cash Games 3 tabling. I will move up to 4 Table if I am running well.
I plan to play mainly in the morning and in the late evening, when I get the least distraction from everybody.
Wish me luck.

Goodbye to SNGs

Here's the deal.
I went back to Pokerstars and tested out my luck at the good'ol SNGs. Signed up for 2 22s and one 27 turbo.

For the 27 I ended up losing with QQ vs KK
For the 22 I lost one with AK vs AA
and the other with KK vs A6
all this was all in preflop when blinds were about 150 or 200

Normally I wouldn't be complaining... but it seems like my luck just picked up right where it left off... I can't seem to catch a break.
My luck may turn around but I really really don't like the feelign of countin on "Luck" as it seems to depend on it soo much.

I definitely do have an edge in SNGs but I do not think its that much anymore... a short run of bad cards can put me on tilt even more then in cash games... at least in cash games I can blame myself for losing... in SNGs it's blaming Luck... which is so so stupid.

So that's why I'm saying Goodbye to SNGs... at least for a long long time. I'm not going to play SNGs until I break 10,000 overall BR (which will take awhile, since I'm still a small stake grinder).

I will allow myself to play 3 SNGs a week, for entertainment values... but no more then 3.

Right now my Pokerstars BR is 2048.80
I'm going to deposit 601.20 into Stars from Neteller.
Which makes it 2650. Then imma grind the small stakes Cash until I clear the bonus.

Project Sun: Day 6 (Final)

I finished claiming the bonus today...
Unfortunately I lost a lot today.
People kept hitting gutshots and flush draws on me.. Caused me to tilt off a bit of money. The worse pot I played was going all in at a 3 diamond board vs. a big stack on the turn (with only the original top pair on the flop). I bet strong on the turn and he raised me... which gave me a chance to fold and I didnt. Instead I put him on Straight Draw and pushed all in (awful Read). I officially blew off my whole stack which was near 100 after he calls with a made flush. This is all my fault. After losing to a bunch of people that suckout on me, I say to myself.. they cant catch it everytime... then thats the beginning of tilt... denial of defeat in defeated situations.
Overall however, this was still a moderately successful project. Within 6 Days I made over 500 bucks. Coulda been better, but still... not too bad.

Sunpoker BR: 914.67 (including 100 Bonus Cleared)
Overall Profit: 514.67

Next Project is going to be Project Reload...
I will Redeposit into Pokerstars and Pokeroom and try to clear their bonus. I had hoped to have an amoung that I can max deposit into both (1200). But apparantly I fell way short of my goal. So I'm just going to have do one first and then the other.
Wish me luck. The project will begin as soon as my Sunpoker Cashout goes through neteller.

Project Sun: Day5b

I crapped out a few more hands and finished in the red today.
My friends wanted me to go to Casino with them tonight... but I declined... I really don't like Casino playing... Vegas yeah but not local Casinos.
Plus I'm broke right now haha.

Anyway, only a little bit more to go before the Bonus is cleared... but I gotta finish strong.
Here are my stats.

Sunpoker BR: 952 (+552)
Bonus Status: 91% 9% more to clear 100

Project Sun: DAy 5a

I want to post this real quick before it gets out of my system.
I logged in a pretty Ok session this morning, made liek 30 bucks... until this hand...
This guy and I were both chasing flush. Basically we both made our flush on the river... He's first to act so he pushes all in. Board has no pair and I'm looking at my A4 of clubs, the nut flush. I call immediately and sucker turns over TJ, second best flush (Qc and Kc) was on board.... but unfortunately the club on teh river was a 9. Lost to straightflush for like 160 pot.
After that I hit a few more trap hands... like AK on 8JK board vs 8J. then 9J on 9J7 board vs 99...
I called their value raises on the river... usually i bet 8 and they raise to 16....
I guess thats a small form of tilt... I bet if I didnt lose the straight flush hand I may have folded.

The only good news is I cleared 87% of the bonus.
Most likely going to finish clearing it tonight when I have my mind refreshed.
I dropped back down to 967.. which is not too bad.
My goal is to just break back over 1000 by the time I clear the bonus... but I am shooting for 1100.
Bonus whoring Ain't Easy I tell ya!

Project Sun: Day4

Today was kind of strange. I started out slow. The computer kept disconnecting and so I couldnt play much. Plus Sunpoker has no all-in or disconnect protection, so my hands kept getting folded left and right. I couldn't focus at all.
I did have a good night session though. I played at one of the table with Euro dollars, I bought in 100 euro is worth about 187 U.S. And I doubled it to 200 by the time I was finished. Pretty much broke even everywhere else.
I hardly caught any cards today, I know you are suppose to hit set only 1/7 of the time... I think I was like 1 for 20 today, and the set I hit was AAA... didnt get paid very well haha.
The good thing is...I still finished in the green... and I cleared a lot of the bonus points.

Here are my stats:

SunPoker BR: 1087.44 (+687.44)
Bonus Status: 64% 36% more to clear 100

Tomorrow I plan to clear another 20%. If I'm running well I'll try to just clear the whole thing.
Wish me luck.

Project Sun: Day3

Feels good to be playing again... but not too good cuz I didnt win
But at least I worked towards clearing the SunPoker Bonus. I can't wait til I finish this... there's a ncie Stars Reload Bonus and a Pokeroom Reload bonus waiting to be clear. Hopefully by the time I finish at this gay site I still have mover 800.

SunPoker BR: 776 (+376)
Bonus Status: 18% 82% needed to clear 100

I keep on running against two pairs with top and overpairs... big stacks call my 5x BB raise preflop with 68 and catch trips... I do my best to limit losses, but when you got KK on 663 board... you gotta push some money in before you slow down( I bet flop check turn call river)... Many cases like: I bet out at this limit table with AJ vs this short stack he sucks out a Q on the river on me with JQ. While at anotehr table I reraise a 2 dollar raise from a small stack and push him all in for his 23 dollars with AQ and he calls with TJ and of course catches. The hand that did me in was my 92 on 92T board vs T2... and the only reason Im in the pot is because I'm already BB. Lost about 55 on that hand.
I caught no sets and my draws mostly missed... noone gave me action for my overpairs and when they did they busted me... just one of those nights.
My last hand was AT and I was tempted so much to just shove it in the pot with 24 dollars left... but I decided to just fold and stop for the night.
Despite all the whiny badbeat talk, overall I think it wasn't too bad tonight... coulda been worse. I plan to get the bonus halfway cleared by tomorrow.

By the way... I'm Done with School for Good!!
But I'll dedicate a post to talking about this later.
Peace out

Ads on my Blog = Some Extra $??

I recently browsed a fellow blogger Jordan Lewis's pokerblog and saw that he had recently put up google adsense claiming it makes extra money. It seems like a pretty neat thing to do.
I'm going to try it.
Anyone actually got paid for doing something like this yet? I'm sure some of you have. Is it worth it?
I'm going to have to learn for myself I guess... but if you have any wisdom or advice on this matter please feel free to comment.

Project Sun: Day 2

I finished clearing the 50 dollar bonus. I deposited another 100 from neteller into Sunpoker. So now I have another 100 in Bonus to clear at this site.

Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that I messed up during the Signup Period on SunPoker... and don't think I'm going to get any Rakeback from this site... Which sucks ass because I play a pretty Tight style which means a lot of hands are folded (and w/o rakeback I get nothing for folded hands).

I think overall this site is not Great, but it's OK. It's worth leaving some money in only because it has the monthly Bonus. After I clear the Bonus I'm going to Cash out and just leave like 200 in here. And Deposit each month to claim their bonus.

SunPoker BR: 911.73 (including 50 Bonus Cleared) +511.73
Bonus Status: 100% needed to clear 100

I gotta put Poker on hold right now and study. I have not studied all weekend. But my goal is still to clear this by the end of the week, since I'm finishing school on Thursday.

RakeBack and Project Sun Day1

After taking a two week break from poker, playing only Video Games... my Bank Account has been slowly dwindling... (cuz no money is flowing in from Poker) lol
With school almost over, and no Job lined up... I've been thinking more and more of ways to make money as a Poker player.
I know of course you may say the only thing a poker player can do is play poker. While that is True, its not telling the whole story. It's all about How he plays Poker, and Where he plays Poker.
In July, I browsed many Pokerlisting sites learning about Deposit Bonuses that Sites offer. But only recently I have discovered the world of RakeBack. Basically Rakeback gives you back some of the rake money at the tables you play at, aprox 27-30%. I know most of you know this but I just wanted to quickly explain in case any of my non-poker-pro friends view my blog. The cool thing is: the RakeBack program Stacks with Deposit and Reload Bonuses for a lot of sites.
Pokerstars is still my main site, but right now i'm playign on Stars without Rakeback, and without bonus claiming. If I spent my time instead playing at these Rakeback site, I would make it more worth my time.
So I think, at least in the next 3 months, I'm going to explore new sites (with RakeBack) and playing mostly there and little or none on Stars.

Here are the sites I've got my eyes on:

Sun Poker: 32% RB, $50 Signup Bonus, $100 Monthly Reloads
Absolute Poker: 28% RB, $750 Signup Bonus, Frequent reloads, good FPP Program
Full Tilt Poker: 27% RB, $$600 Signup Bonus, Good Traffic and Software
Ultimate Bet: 28% RB, $650 Signup Bonus, Good Traffic and Software
123 Poker: 50% RB, dont' know much about the site yet

There are some other Sites that are really good also, but these 5 should keep me plenty busy in the next 3 months.
I may have spoken too soon about how good RB is, because I havent even gotten paid yet through RB. But I know it must be legit because many 2+2ers are discussing about it.

Yesterday I put the spare 300 I had in Neteller into SunPoker. I would say this is a sub-par site. But I'm here for the money unfortunately, and not any aesthetic reasons.

Pokerstars BR 2575

SunPoker BR 595 +295
Bonus Cleared: 33% 77% more to claim $50
I still need: 405

Pokeroom BR: 800

Neteller: 80-something

I think I need to make another deposit on SunPoker to claim another 100 bucks. When the money from Neteller goes through I'm going to do so.
I am seriously considering withdrawing about another 600 from Pokeroom into Neteller as Bonus claiming money. Playing at that site is kind of a waste.
Anyway, my last final is on Thursday, so my goal for this week is to definitely clear the Bonus for SunPoker and move on to Absolute Poker or Full Tilt Poker by next Sunday.
I also plan to make another 400 in this process. So my Target BR is 1000.

Update: School and Stuff

I got 2 more weeks left of school.
Actually less... I will be done next Thursday so technically one more week left.
Then I'm done with UCLA- amazing how I managed to finish in 4 years.
The last two classes I have are pains in my ass though. They are not easy. And so I must study hard this weekend... might as weell ya know it's the last bit of studyign I'll have to do.
Startign next weekend I'll officially be jobless.
At that point my time is going to have to be managed really well.

It has to be split evenly between Job Seeking/ Workign out/ and Poker.

Since my last post I went down 50 bucks but won it back in the past few days with a few short cash sessions. As of right now I have 2460 on Stars.
I think once I start playing seriously again I have to do Cash- only a few SNGs for fun... but mainly it has to be cash.

anyway- wish me luck on my last stretch of school... i'm gonna need it.