Ok, time for the first update of the year!  I’ve already made some realizations as to my time schedule and will be making some slight adjustments.  It’s going to be unrealistic for me to put in the volume I was hoping to originally with my class schedule, as well as the amount of time I wish to be spending at the tables.  

Week 1, however, was a pretty great success!  Stats below!

1.10 SNG’s – 55 played, $60.50 buyin, $60.30 winnings, -.20 loss, -0.33% ROI  7 1st’s, 6 2nd’s, 7 3rd’s, 5 bubbles, 30 busts

3.30 SNG’s – 46 played, $151.80 buyin, $183.60 winnings, $31.80 profit, 20.95% ROI, 7 1st’s, 7 2nd’s, 6 3rd’s, 6 bubbles, 20 busts

Total Profit – $31.60

Total ROI – 14.88%

ITM% – 39.60%

Current Bankroll – $204.33

I also played in 3 1.10 MTT’s, with a loss of .13 (1 cash).  

Overall, lots of positive happenings in this first week!  I can steadily play 3.30’s a little more now, currently sitting at 62 buyin’s.  That, coupled with my schedule, will see me making some alterations to my goals.  I think I will eventually stay well above the 8% ROI I originally stated, however, for now to keep expectations a little lower, we will stick with that number.  Here’s the modified goals for Week 2!  If we can get ahead of schedule in Week 2, I may possibly continue up by adding in a small amount of 5.50’s (provided I can get above 40 buyins)

Volume – 60 3.30’s, 40 1.10’s (100 total, down from 160)

Goal Profit at 8% ROI – $19.36

Goal Bankroll End of Week 2 – $223.69

MTT Goals – continue to dabble in the 1.10’s (I do not intend to really start to grind MTT’s until I get around 200-300 buyin’s (for $2 tourneys, around $400-$600)

See you guys next week!

A little late with this update, but it’s been a pretty busy week for me!  We met with our first losing week in the STT’s, but we didn’t fall far off pace.  We came close but didn’t quite get to our volume goals, but will stick with everything the same for this week, as I wasn’t far off from meeting what I wanted to hit volume wise.  Also will condense the 1.10 hyper STT stats, as we will not be playing them going forward unless bankroll situations dictate a dropdown, I’m comfortable enough with the small sample size of 3.30 stats that I’m playing winning poker there.  Losing in the $5.50’s still, but it is a very small sample size so far, won’t be paying much attention to that level until I get more volume for those stats.  Adding to the losses are the fact that I played in a few more MTT’s than I expected to, and only min cashed one.  Will be scaling back volume to 2-3 a week until bankroll is bigger.

1.10 STT’s – 63 games, loss of $6.30, ROI -9.09%

3.30 turbo’s – 149 total (49 this week), $72.60 profit, ROI 14.77%, weekly profit of $11.10

5.50 turbo’s – 13 total (6 this week), loss of $22.00, ROI -30.77%, weekly loss of -$20.00

MTT’s – total of 13 tourneys played, ITM of 15.38% (2 cashes), loss of -$17.73 total

Overall Stats to Date

Current Bankroll – $213.23

Current Profit – $40.37 (loss of $16.83 this week)

Week 4 Goals and Outlook

Will not be very much change from last week’s goals.  Will be keeping the goal ROI of 10% again this week, and will maybe look to readjust as we see results, if it looks consistent after this week, will be shooting for 12% ROI in the 3.30’s.  As stated above, will be scaling back MTT play quite a bit, and will be trying to stay consistent at around 2-4 $2.20 buyins this week.

Volume Goals – 60 $3.30’s, 15 $5.50’s, 3 MTT’s

Goal Profit at 10% ROI for the week – $28.05 in the STT’s

Goal Bankroll for the end of the week – $241.28

I pulled a spreadsheet from online, added a few small tweaks, and track every session.  Anyone can create a simplistic tracking sheet on Excel for the info I track, I don’t currently use any HUD’s or PokerTracker because 1) The buyins I’m playing are beatable for my bankroll, and it wouldn’t currently be worth gouging it for the purchase, and 2) getting them isn’t going to create a huge swing for me in ROI…..if I can beat the 3.30’s on Bovada at 15% ROI like I’m doing, a HUD probably isn’t going to push that much higher.  Now, as I push this bankroll higher, I will likely invest in HM and PT4 (unless I feel Bovada’s current update is going to mess with it).  Here’s what I’d recommend…..

Create a spreadsheet (or pull one from Google, there are several), but keep it simple.  All you need is one that can track buyins to STT’s and MTT’s.  If STT’s are your game, it’s super easy, you just need 9 spots.  If MTT’s are more your style, you just need to track total buyin, total winnings, and the rest are formulas.  I don’t remember where I pulled my spreadsheet from (twoplustwo forums??), but there are a few good premade ones if you google “poker stat tracking Excel”

Hope this helps!

Well, the first month ended with very nice results!  I profited in both STT play, and also managed a nice score, taking down 4th in a $2 $1k guaranteed for $84!  This was a nice healthy boost to the bankroll, and should allow me to start playing a few more MTT’s a little more comfortably now going forward!  On the STT’s, I did a better job of coming close to hitting my volume goals this week!  I am still down in the $5.50 turbo’s, am curious to see if that’s because it’s just a small sample, or because the play’s gotten tougher there.  The other issue I’ve noticed that I’ll be running into is that the $5.50 turbos don’t seem to fill as fast on Bovada as the $3.30’s.  This could create a problem as I start to move up stakes, because it may be worth more per hour to me to stay on the 3.30’s when the 5.50’s aren’t filling.  I will also have to watch and see if there is a different level that is filling, like the $6’s.  I also will have to look at the regular STT’s vs the turbo’s.  Will be making a decision in the next few weeks which level I’ll be concentrating on getting to.  I’m not putting too much stock into losing at the $5.50’s yet, I simply don’t have enough history to determine a proper win rate yet.  I know I’m safe, because I’m consistently beating the $3.30’s right now, so I’ve effectively established a safe floor if I move up a level and get hit on the head once or twice!  

Week 4 Stats

$3.30 STT turbo’s – 54 total this week, $24.30 profit, ROI this week of 13.6%

$5.50 STT turbo’s – 16 total this week, $7.00 loss, ROI this week of -8.0%

4 MTT’s played this week, 1 cash, total profit of $74.34

Overall 2016 Stats

$1.10 hyper turbo’s – 63 games, loss of $6.30, ROI of -9.09%, ITM% of 33.33%

$3.30 turbo’s – 203 games, profit of $96.90,  ROI of 14.46%, ITM% of 43.35%

$5.50 turbo’s – 29 games, loss of $29.00, ROI of -18.18%, ITM% of 31.03%

MTT’s – 17 tournaments, profit of $56.61, ROI of 160.82%, ITM% of 17.65%

Current Profit – $118.21 (gain of $77.84 this week)

Current Bankroll – $291.07

February Outlook and Weekly Goals

Ok, looking back, after the first month, I actually beat my stated goals across the board!  Pretty awesome start, and it puts me a little ahead of schedule for the month of Feburary!  I have to come to some decisions in the next week or so about where I’m going to be putting my volume of STT’s.  We have 52 effective buyins at the $5.50 level, which is pretty safe to start focusing our efforts there.  The issue may be getting enough volume to consistently get it going.  I may focus 3.30s a little during the week, and save the 5.50’s for the weekend, when the traffic is a little heavier, and see where that gets me.  On the MTT side of things, with over 130 BI’s for the $2.20, we are safe to play those, although I will likely still keep it to 2-4 a week.  Once I get the bankroll past the $300 mark, I will add a $3.30 guaranteed in there once a week as well (I actually played one $3.30 Saturday as my roll was close to $300 and it wasn’t breaking the constraints of my personal BR management).  Volume goals will be more fluid this week, as I want to play and see what is reasonable volume at $5.50 STT’s before I commit to a schedule this month.  A rough idea of what I’m attempting will be below.  Have a great week!

Volume Goals – 40 $5.50 STT’s, 30 $3.30 STT’s, 4 MTT’s (1 $3.30, 3 $2.20’s)

Profit at 10% ROI – $31.90

Bankroll Goal – $322.97

Edit:  So after posting this, I noticed that the $5.30 hyper STT’s fill quickly, so the volume goals will be changing drastically!  I will be taking some swings at the $5 hypers, and if variance starts bad (or I’m struggling early), intent is to drop back down to $3.30’s and build back up a bit and try again!

New Volume Goals – 100 $5.30 hyper turbos, 30 $3.30 turbos, 4 MTT’s (1 3.30, 3 2.20’s)

Profit at 10% ROI – $62.90

Bankroll Goal – $353.97

Good evening!  I’m very happy with this week, I beat my volume and bankroll goals, and so far the transition to the $5 SNG level looks like it’s going pretty smooth, as I managed to stay cleanly above my bankroll goals for the $5.30’s!  Early in the week was very frustrating, I hit one of those points where I was getting it in in good situations, but the negative side of variance was kicking me down a lot.  Found myself losing a good chunk of 70/30 hands I had dominated, as well as the 80/20 pair over pair hands.  Today, however was a short day, played just 5 games, but won 3 of them and hit a 3rd in a 4th to shoot the bankroll up another $50 and get it over my goal!  I am comfortably into the $5.30 hyper turbos now, will be focusing exclusively on them this week and next week for sure.  If my goals for next week get hit, I will then be looking to see what the $10 turbos/hypers look like on Bovada!  I didn’t expect to be saying that just two months into the new year, but we will take the hot start!  Stats are below, enjoy!  Thanks to joel for the helpful tip above!!

Week 5 Stats

$5.30 hyper turbos – 164 total this week, $80.30 profit, ROI of 9.24%

MTT’s – 3 tourneys, 0 cashes, loss of $7.70

Overall 2016 Stats

$1.10 hyper turbo’s – 63 games, loss of $6.30, ROI of -9.09%, ITM% of 33.33%, win rate of 11.1%

$3.30 turbo’s – 203 games, profit of $96.90,  ROI of 14.46%, ITM% of 43.35%, win rate of 12.8%

$5.50 turbo’s – 29 games, loss of $29.00, ROI of -18.18%, ITM% of 31.03%, win rate of 10.3%

$5.30 hyper turbo’s – 164 games, profit of $80.30, ROI of 9.24%, ITM% of 40.85%, win rate of 12.2%

MTT’s – 20 tournaments, profit of $48.91, ROI of 114.01%, ITM% of 15.00%

Current Profit – $190.81 (gain of $72.60 this week)

Current Bankroll – $363.67

Week 6 Volume Goals

150 $5.30 hyper’s, 3 MTT’s (we have 110.2 buyins for $3.30 and 68.6 buyins for $5.30, we are comfortably able to play $5.30’s exclusively)

Profit Goal at 10% ROI – $79.50

Bankroll Goal at end of Week 6 – $443.17

Alright, let’s get caught up!  I normally don’t include Sunday results, but I will this week due to my slacking over Valentine’s Day, I was out all day in the evening, and had a happy excuse not to be blogging, as I will get to!  For fairness sake, I will state that I would have had a losing week if I did not include Sunday, so this is my effort at being semi-transparent with result posting ……  I started the week well, enough that I broke into the $400 range fairly early on in the week, and so I decided to do what I had been planning, which was to start trying to break into the $10.60 super turbos.  I did this on Saturday, and got off to a pretty rocky start, which eliminated most of my gains of the week.  I backed down into the 5.30’s again after that and mostly ran even over a few games.  

The big news is on the MTT side this week.  Saturday evening and Sunday morning after contemplating a bit from my losing session at the $10.60’s, I decided to take a day off and focus on a few MTT’s.  I bubble cashed a satellite into a $10+1 for $5 Saturday evening, then after just missing another Sunday morning, I won a sat ticket to a $10+1.  Finally, I entered a $500 guaranteed $5 DS tourney, and binked it for $182.91, my biggest cash of the year to date, obviously, but also my first MTT tournament win on any site!!!!  I’m entering this week on a pretty nice high, that cash makes my continuation into the $10.60’s safer from a bankroll perspective, and best yet, I’m well ahead of schedule for my bankroll growth!  Stats below, and then the plan for the week as usual!

Week 6 Stats

$5.30 hyper turbos – 25 total this week, $11.50 profit, ROI of 8.68%

$10.60 hyper turbos – 34 total this week, $36.40 loss, ROI of -10.10%

MTT’s/satellites – 7 tourneys, 4 cashes, 1 win, $185.48 profit

Overall 2016 Stats

$1.10 hyper turbo’s – 63 games, loss of $6.30, ROI of -9.09%, ITM% of 33.33%, win rate of 11.1%

$3.30 turbo’s – 203 games, profit of $96.90,  ROI of 14.46%, ITM% of 43.35%, win rate of 12.8%

$5.50 turbo’s – 29 games, loss of $29.00, ROI of -18.18%, ITM% of 31.03%, win rate of 10.3%

$5.30 super turbo’s – 189 games, profit of $91.80, ROI of 9.16%, ITM% of 40.21%, win rate of 12.7%

$10.60 super turbo’s – 34 games, loss of $36.40, ROI of -10.10%, ITM% of 38.24%, win rate of 2.9%

MTT’s/satellites – 27 tournaments, profit of $234.39, ROI of 367.38%, ITM% of 25.93%, 1 win, 2 final tables (100+ players)

Current Profit – $351.39 (gain of $160.58 this week)

Current Bankroll – $513.25 + 1 $11 ticket

Week 7 Volume Goals

As stated above, with the nice score, my bankroll can now absorb a bit of downside variance, so I will be leaning a little heavier on $10.60 MTT’s this week.  I will be trying really hard to hit 150 STT’s this week, and while I’m going to leave my ROI goal at 10%, I expect that the skill level to be better, so after this week I may start to consider lowering my expectations on ROI depending on what I’m seeing as far as differences in the play given the levels.  I’m going to shoot for a rough goal of an 80/20 split between $10 and $5 SNGs, using the $5 SNG’s to fill in when I’m having difficulty getting 4 consistent tables going at the $10 level.  On the MTT side, I’m going to slowly loosen up my bankroll restrictions a bit, lowering down to 100 buyin’s.  If I can stay above $500 in bankroll, I’ll take a few shots at some $5 GPP tourneys, but I’m also going to start playing a few more of the sat’s into the $11.  Hopefully by doing this, I can afford to take a shot or two a week at the $10,000 guaranteed, and try to give myself a shot at really exploding my bankroll upward!  Have a great week guys!

$10.60 super turbos – 120 tournaments, goal of 10% ROI (48.4 buyin cushion)

$5.30 super turbos – 30 tournaments, goal of 10% ROI (96.8 buyin cushion)

5 $11 satellites, 6 MTT’s (no ROI goal, do my best)

Profit Goal for Week – $143.10

Bankroll Goal for Week – $650.00