I Still Blog, Honest!

Having written a blogpost every week for so much of this year it might seem like I've stopped blogging completely. I assure you I haven't I'm just very busy lately. However no so busy that I couldn't play some of the Spring Championship of Online Poker this year.

SCOOP 2012 didn't go well, in-fact I bricked every event! Thankfully though not due to bad play, and at the end of the day considering the huge fields - not cashing in 10 events isn't al that unlikely. The experience as a whole though reminded me to think further about what and why I'm playing lately. Currently I have a very small bankroll, I withdrew everything last month while I was taking a break. Using the SCOOP reload bonus I stuck $100 back on at the start of May, to grind with. I had to decide what games I was going to play, though my small roll size pretty much decided for me. There are few games that you can play using the kind of BRM I do with $100, so I chose the $1.39 Hyper-Turbo 9max STTs. I've always been quite good with STTs and I suspect it's mostly due to simpler mathematics being involved. With no play at other tables that can affect the outcome of the tournament you've all the information you need - right in front of you.

To state the obvious, Hyper-Turbos are fast and that's perfect for me these at the moment. I don't have the time or patience to sit and grind for hours like I used to. Work is busy in all areas, I'm trying to move house by June and the list goes on. Being able to load 9 tables for 30mins and get around 30 games played in less than an hour is wonderful. I can fit short sessions in around mealtimes, work and the rare social activity. I also get burned out less often and less easily and I earn VPPs quickly from playing a higher number of games per hour. I'm going well in the games, and am slowly but surely building a roll for the next level - although I have a feeling that the $6.30 level will be far less beatable. We will see.

Finish Positions

N.B. All recent graphs on this site update automatically when I play games.

On top of fitting my BRM model, one of the main reasons I chose these games is due to the following points:

• Smaller fields have less natural variance
• Lower stakes typically have worse player pools than at higher stakes
• People care less about lower stakes, generating unexpected calls and increasing variance.
• Smaller fields generally provide a smaller potential average ROI

Not all of these points are good, but some counter each other. For example cashing more often for less, might well be the same long term result as cashing less often for more. In a large field MTT like the Sunday Storm I might only cash 10% of the time, but I may win ~9 buy-ins on average when I do. In these Hyper-Turbo 9max STTs, I cash around 30% of the time but win ~3 buy-ins on average. When I'm playing less, and with a small roll/less confidence than usual. I welcome these games with open arms. Sadly there is a big jump to the next level, and I'll need around a $500 roll before I can play it. Alternatively there are 6max versions of the same game, with a stepping stone at a $3.32 but I'm not sure I have the same edge there. I can't lie, a lot of my strategy is playing tight, while some people spew 25BBs off with a weak ace in the first hand.

I will leave you with the following hand, where I had a very sizeable stack in one SCOOP event and made a very costly mistake based on a player read. While I do have a dollar for every player read I've made it does still irritate me that had I stuck to the logic/mathematics I should have just called on the river. Or better yet bet at least once before the river. I learned a lesson though, and that's the only consolation prize when you lose.