I probably wont be able to blog everyday but last nights session brought up a very good point that I wanted to share. Talking about bad beats and cold cards has almost become taboo in the poker world, particularly amongst the best players. The problem is an inexperienced player may never hear just how frustrating it can be from those players he looks up to. The poker world is cold enough when your running bad, to feel like your the only one is just not necessary.

Last night I feel like I ran a little below expectation. I fully expected it as for the four days before I ran like Zeus with a little help from Barry Bond's trainer. It basically took all of my knowledge on position, bubble abuse, and push fold poker to limit the losses to what they were. Its not the first time and it wont be the last. In poker how you handle bad runs is almost as important as handling hot streaks, not to worry, this to shall pass.

Ok, on to Multi table vs. Single table SNG's. I'm sure all of you have heard of boku87's bankroll project. While he was accomplishing that unbelievable feat there was a lot of talk about the best method for building a bank roll. I heard many people say that Single table SNG's were the only legit method and I really think that just isn't true. It seems to me that you should play to your strengths and realistically the lower levels are so soft that you can easily maintain a 30%+ ROI. Add the fact that the 45's on tilt only take about 1.5 hours (not that much more than a 9 man) and IMO MTT SNG's certainly seem to be a reasonable option.

Well I'll be back at it tonight I'm sure, GL on the tables and hopefully I'll see you out there.

Sharkscope Stats for 12/28/09 & to date

<table border="1" id="t1"><thead><tr><th width="140">Username</th><th>Games Played</th><th width="45">Av. Profit</th><th width="45">Av. Stake</th><th width="45">Av. ROI</th><th width="50">Total Profit</th></tr></thead></table><table border="1" id="t1"><tbody id="tablerows"><tr id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/28/2009 12/29/2009 SNG Only"><td align="center" id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/28/2009 12/29/2009 SNG Only1">TrippinDG </td><td align="center">21</td><td title="The Av. Profit is the Average Profit Per Game after rake has been subtracted." align="right">$0 </td><td align="right" title="The Av. Stake is the average tournament buy-in amount.">$1 </td><td align="center" title="The Av. ROI is the Average of each game’s Return On Investment. It is the average of each (Payout-(Stake+Rake))/(Stake+Rake). This is not the same as total ROI which is (Total Payouts-(Total Rake+Total Stakes))/(Total Stakes+Total Rake).">-30%</td><td title="The Total Profit is the net profit for this player (and includes rake)." align="right">-$7 </td></tr></tbody></table>

<table border="1" id="t1"><tbody id="tablerows"><tr id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/23/2009 12/29/2009 SNG Only"><td align="center" id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/23/2009 12/29/2009 SNG Only2">TrippinDG </td><td align="center">140</td><td title="The Av. Profit is the Average Profit Per Game after rake has been subtracted." align="right">$0 </td><td align="right" title="The Av. Stake is the average tournament buy-in amount.">$1 </td><td align="center" title="The Av. ROI is the Average of each game’s Return On Investment. It is the average of each (Payout-(Stake+Rake))/(Stake+Rake). This is not the same as total ROI which is (Total Payouts-(Total Rake+Total Stakes))/(Total Stakes+Total Rake).">43%</td><td title="The Total Profit is the net profit for this player (and includes rake)." align="right">$66
</td></tr></tbody></table>

I posted the chart in the in the last entry, but if its not organized correctly bare with me and I'll get it right eventually. For the most part I think people don't pay enough attention to rake in the lower levels, your not making a lot of money per hour so why pay so much rake that it takes you twice as long to get to the next level?

I chose the 45 man's at Full Tilt for many reasons, first off the rake is only 10%, and thats really good for micro stake as I have seen it as high as 25%. The 45's at tilt are also unique in that unlike most online tournaments they don't ante's. This does have an effect on play and most player fail to adjust for them so if your a reg and can adjust in these you have a bit of an edge, every little bit helps right?

In this first level I'm looking for a lot of volume and strictly TAG ABC poker. You may catch a higher than normal amount of bad beats because of the poor play but the volume will more than make up for it.

The first couple of nights I did well and got a good number of tables in on christmas eve. Christmas night however was a different story and by the time holiday festivities were over I wasn't feeling that well. Add that I busted to beats in five of the first six I played and I just decided to shut it down. Better to not play than not play my A game.

Saturday was good and to my disbelief I actually got a pro bounty in a $1 tournament. It was sad considering I had no clue who the pro was and really I didn't even know he\she was at my table. + $1 and a FTP T-shirt.

Sunday night as I'm sure your aware, FTP went down. I got about $7 refunded over all and while it was a pain the guys at FTP do a pretty good job overall and football was on so no worries, took a little break. + $7

Shark scope stats

<table border="1" id="t1"><thead><tr><th width="140">Username</th><th>Games Played</th><th width="45">Av. Profit</th><th width="45">Av. Stake</th><th width="45">Av. ROI</th><th width="50">Total Profit</th></tr></thead></table>

<table border="1" id="t1"><tbody id="tablerows"><tr id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/23/2009 12/27/2009 E45-90 SNG Only"><td align="center" id="TrippinDG#fulltilt&12/23/2009 12/27/2009 E45-90 SNG Only0">TrippinDG </td><td align="center">119</td><td title="The Av. Profit is the Average Profit Per Game after rake has been subtracted." align="right">$1 </td><td align="right" title="The Av. Stake is the average tournament buy-in amount.">$1 </td><td align="center" title="The Av. ROI is the Average of each game’s Return On Investment. It is the average of each (Payout-(Stake+Rake))/(Stake+Rake). This is not the same as total ROI which is (Total Payouts-(Total Rake+Total Stakes))/(Total Stakes+Total Rake).">56%</td><td title="The Total Profit is the net profit for this player (and includes rake)." align="right">$73 </td></tr></tbody></table>

Bankroll

$11 originally

$73 profit

$1 Pro bounty

$7 FTP Refund

$3 rakeback

$95 BR @ 12/27/2009

About a month or so ago my apartment got flooded and I lost thousands of dollars in personal property. No big deal, shit happens the point is I had to blow most of my bankroll replacing stuff.

For a long time my BR was sitting around 3-5K but now its well below 1K, So its time to rebuild. I have a profit only rule with poker so if I get too low I drop all the way down and start over. I usually keep a very small percentage of my BR online so when ever this happens I will make min. deposits and play small SNG MTT's until I hit and restart the climb. I don't rely on poker as an income so I am prone to taking shots, in other words bank roll rebuilding is old friend of mine.

After reading another of the many "what are good bank roll builders" posts that show up every few days, I got an idea. I am going to chronicle my rebuilding so that everyone that might be wondering how to go about building a bank roll has a step by step guide. It also occurred to me that the average everyday player may not have or want to start with $100. While that is certainly within my BR at the moment, it just wouldn't be as fun so its min deposits for me until I get it moving.

In each step I am going to share my opinion on what is important in game selection, bank roll management, adjusting to the play at our current level, and of course I'll give charts to show how I'm doing. At any point I am happy to answer as many questions as possible, though I do have a 9-5 and play a lot so please be patient!

I started my Journey on 12/23/2009 and had roughly $11 in my FTP account. I chose to do this on Full Tilt for many reasons, the main one is rakeback. I will get in to that in more detail tonight when I post the results so far. If I haven't already said this, questions are always welcome for any level, particularly the ones I am or have been on.

The graph so far 12/23 - 12/27