March wrap-up: Impressions of the STT scene

Current Bankroll: $1,135.94

Since my switch to tournaments from RUSH poker, I've had a very good run of luck at the STTs. I call it luck because I've only played 119 of them, and my ROI is at 37.34% (thinly veiled brag) which is ridiculously far above what is supposed to be sustainable: 15% for the best of the best.

After a really rough February, I'm loving poker again. I've learned another poker skill, too! The ability to really multi-table. I'm up to 8 at a time!

Observations on Multi-tabling:

1. Full Tilt has an "auto-tile" function if you are playing multiple tables. So long as your monitor resolution is high enough, if you select a table and push CTRL+9, it will arrange them all in a nice little series of boxes net to one another so that you can see all the tables at once, like so. This is me pretending I'm good enough to 9-table NL 5/10.

2. Eight tables is definitely my limit, and even then it gets a little crazy if I end up surviving late in 6 or more of them. I tried playing 9 once, and had the good fortune of cashing in 7. That was a little ridiculous.

3. Above the $11 level, it looks like the STTs on Full Tilt really don't run too often. While they fill and go every 45-60 seconds at the $11s, the $22s looked incredibly slow by comparison. I guess that's a price that's too high for your average Full Tilt donkey. Definitely not my friend if I want to move up and multi-table them. If my success continues, I very well might put a part of my roll on Poker Stars again because their games actually do run fairly often at the $22 level.

4. I'm seriously considering getting TableNinja to help me multitable better in the future. What it does is use AHK scripts so I can fold, raise, bet, or open a new tournament with the click of a button. A whole lot less mouse clicking, but a whole lot easier for me to mistype and screw things up. Also, on their website, it explicitly says their software doesn't work with PokerTracker 3, which is what I use. That would be a problem since I would need to buy Hold Em Manager, but I've seen posts on forums, etc. that it actually DOES work with PT3. Not to mention, I can always just try the free trial first.

Does anyone out there use TableNinja (hopefully with PT3)? Thoughts? Anything I should know before TableNinja is my undoing?

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

DAMMIT! I'm done with you, RUSH poker cash games! I've injected you into my veins one too many times, enduring your hellish swings and illusions of riches. GET OUT, I SAY!!!

I'm sorry, honey. It isn't you. It's me. And it's tough for me to say that.

I'll remember you fondly for teaching me better preflop and postflop skills, the ability to mass multi-table, for bringing me out of being a losing player at NL5 and NL10, and for building up my roll.

I'm not sure you're going to want to hear this next part. There's... another game. I've been playing you both, baby, and I want you to know the truth. That's right, I'm going back to my first love: the tournaments. They know how to treat a man right. And it's partly about the money.

Cliff Notes: Lost more at RUSH cash games, bringing me down to ~$650. Tourneys brought me all the way back to $994. So long, cash games!

The Humbler: PokerTracker 3

I finally caved and bought PokerTracker so that I could keep track of my results. It's really interesting, actually; I'm still a very marginal winner. The only reason I've won up to this point, actually, is because of rakeback and bonuses, but it's still been good enough to roll my $110 deposit up to $366.15.

PokerTracker reveals that in cash games, I'm down $21.87. My losses are mostly due to getting destroyed at NL 25 Rush, losing $161.55 over 3,290 hands. Meh. I'm going to be bringing my PokerStars roll ($260) over to Full Tilt because of Rush, and the fact that PokerStars cash games have a slightly higher rake, after rakeback. The bankroll will be $526.15, rolled enough for NL25 again at 20 buy-ins, but this time I'm going to wait for 30 buy-ins and make sure I'm beating NL 10 at a good clip. I've also definitely overestimated my win rate; my total win rate for all stakes only stands at 2.32 bb/100, a pretty marginal rate, really. I've gotten much better since my hand history began, though, so I'm going to optimistically peg myself at 3bb/100 for right now.

I'm planning on switching entirely to cash games, specifically Rush Poker; I was very slightly up at tournaments until a month or so ago when I decided to try and mass multitable KO tourneys, and that's what knocked me negative there. So no more tournaments.

I'll try and do a weekly/monthly/yearly update so I can keep better track of my progress. Here's the first one:

Lifetime Summary:

Deposited: $110
Cash Game Winnings: -$21.87
Tournament Winnings: -$65.07
Bonuses won: $115
Rakeback: $228.09

Total Winnings: $255.15