I definitely have some catching up to do in this blog, so I thought I’d write a post to update my progress for the year so far.
It’s Tuesday night and I should be grinding, but games are dead so I have some extra time.
I started the year where I left off in 2011, playing 18 man sit-and-gos. It wasn’t very much fun, though, since I basically just broke even in both January and February. This got me thinking about my potential for making money this year.
My biggest problem is my inability to mass multi-table. Most SnG regulars play tons of tables, usually between 15 and 20 or even more. I cannot do that.
If I’m continuously loading tables (as opposed to playing SnGs in sets), I can probably only play 12 full-ring tables at once, assuming that some of the tables have become short-handed.
I think that I probably play optimally with 8-10 tables, though, and this number is not a recipe for making money at SnGs.
I am sure that I could eventually increase my table count if I kept at it for a few months, but the idea of it doesn’t really appeal to me. Grinding like a robot isn’t my style. While I’m not super loose or aggro by any means, I would rather play more hands and think about what I’m doing rather than nit it up and do the same thing over and over again.
Shorthanded at Higher Stakes
A friend of mine suggested I switch to 6-max SnGs instead. The good thing (for me) about 6m SnGs compared to 18m is that I can play higher stakes, and higher stakes means that I can still make money despite playing a low number of tables.
There was definitely a significant transition period when I first started playing 6-max. This is actually code for “many stacks were punted.”
I think a lot of players get into a 6-max game thinking that they have to play super loose all of a sudden because it’s short-handed, but then they just pick all the wrong spots and adjust badly.
It took a week or two of stacking off in places I shouldn’t before I started to figure things out a little. (I still lose stacks in dumb places daily, just less often now)
I started playing a lot of 6-max in March. I played (or rather, punted) mostly $60s at first, and then I added higher stakes as the month went on. At this point I am playing $60s to $500s, although I currently sell some of my action in $300s and $500s.
My bankroll can probably support the higher buy-ins, but I’m looking to minimize the variance right now for psychological reasons.
Selling Action and an April Volume Bet
At the moment I only play a handful of $500s per day, and I don’t want my results for the entire month to be dictated by 45 (or whatever) $500s. This is possibly a stupid reason to give up equity, and I don’t intend to sell action forever. Probably just for another month or two until I feel like I can play a higher volume of high stakes.
I ran pretty hot at the start of March, but then I went on an $8k downswing and pretty much lost it all back. After feeling like I ran pretty badly to start this month, though, I’m on the upswing again.
Hopefully it stays this way because I really prefer winning! There is A LOT of variance in these games, though, so I am trying to stay mentally ready to lose quite a bit of money (should it come to that).
In my last entry, I briefly mentioned a volume prop bet I have this month with someone. I won’t go into details since this entry has become too long already, but I think I have to play around 1,500 games in April to have a chance. This is pretty tough since I’ve never played more than 1,100 games in a month before, and 400 more games is a lot for me!
So wish me luck. I’ll be back soon to let you know how it’s all going. I would really love to write an entry called “Running Hotter than the Sun.” Sounds good, right? Fingers crossed!
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