The Monthly Challenge

So it's been about three weeks. I've only played a total of two tournaments - I cashed in one and busted out very early in the other. I've only played one live game. I've played a lot of online poker. And I'm below what I started with. Things aren't going great, but I'm heading to the casino tonight and I'm confident they'll get better.

I had been doing pretty well (not on track to hit the +50% bankroll mark, but still pretty well) up until a the past few nights where I've just gotten wrecked at some of the online tables. I read an article a while ago that said if you're playing multiple tables online, your bankroll should be at least 25 buy-ins, and now I can see why. It's not common to get unlucky 3, 4, or even 5 times in a row, but it does happen. And if you're bringing too much of your bankroll to the table, you'll go go broke when that bad luck streak comes.

So let's hope I can head down the the Bike tonight and get back on the plus side.

It's been one week since this challenge officially began, and I'm doing OK. Last week I played one tournament (and placed 7 out of 252) and played in one live game at the Bicycle Casino. I forgot how terribly people play at LA casinos = it's insane. If you play online poker and think people make stupid moves there, just try going to the Bicycle or Commerce. I've played a few times in Vegas and the quality of players hasn't been great (probably about the same as online), but almost half of the players I've seen in LA will literally win $100+ on hand, then lose it all back the next. Over and over and over again. The number of terrible suckouts I see (and sometimes lose to) is absurdly high.

Anyways, I missed one tournament last week, but I'm up overall. I'm not even close to being on pace to grow my bankroll by 50% by the end of the month. Plust, this weekend I'm going to Boston so I'll probably lag behind a little bit more - but I'll try to play a few tournaments (and maybe even head down to the casino or find a home game) during the week before I head out.

 Remember when I said that I wasn't good at tournaments? I had forgotten that I won the last tournament I played (in January) and turned $40 into over $400. And today, instead of going to the gym I decided to play a tournament online. I was en route to turn $10 into over $600. But, I managed to blow a huge lead at the final table and finished in 7th place out of 252 players. But I still turned $10 into about $80, which is better than turning it into $0.