FTP’s best month ever
May was a record-breaking month for me in terms of volume, total buy-ins and most importantly in profits.
6.69% ROI over 1180 games for $2,886.65
$30.15 BB/100 over 889 hands (50nl & 100nl 6-max) for $268
27% Rakeback applied to $3128.70 in rake (less MGR deductions) for $713.33
Total May Profits = $3,867.98
Here is the SS graph:
The beginning of the month started out very frustrating. Playing a lot and pretty much getting nowhere. The giant upward leap mid-month was when I took a break from playing Super Turbos to Regular games and ran like a sick animal in the $110+$9 Turbos. I then when back to my super turbo grind, ran like shit, and promptly switched back to regular turbos and went right back to soul owning.
Here is my Super Turbo SS Graph:
Pretty annoying, ran bad in the $70+$5s and the $28+$2s, still doing well in the $42+$2s and $14+$1s. Basically I had a really bad run during one Triple Points Happy hour. To be totally honest, it started out with me playing very well and getting unlucky all over the place, which is pretty standard. Usually I stop playing when I’m running like shit, but I think since I had set the time out to play, and it was 3x FTPs, I tried to tough it out, and I think I started getting results oriented and playing sub-optimally. As Jared Tendler, an excellent mental game coach might say, I started playing my ‘C’ game, not my A game. You can find his videos at Stoxpoker, and they’re worth the sign-up by themselves.
My overall Super Turbo Stats (all-time, not just May) are as follows:
2% ROI over 1849 games for -$86
By stake:
$3.5+.3 = 8.33% ROI over 189 games
$7+.5 = -1.61% ROI over 321 games
$14+1 = 10.08% ROI over 451 games
$28+2 = -1.29% ROI over 531 games
$42+3 = 2.35% ROI over 238 games
$70+5 = -9.65% ROI over 119 games
The samples are all retardedly small, but they’re not that encouraging. I know that if I continue playing, I should end up with a slightly positive (3-5%) ROI overall, with ROIs getting closer to 2-3% at the higher limits. It just frustrating to put in the time and not be making money, and the swings are hard to take mentally, even though I am properly bankrolled for them. It’s just hard to drop $1200 in 4 hours and keep smiling.
I’m going to be focusing mainly on the $55+5 and $110+9 Regular Turbos on Full Tilt for the month of June. My goal is to play 50 games a day, 25 days of the month for a total of 1250 games. With an avg. rake of $7 I should end up raking $8750 for a guaranteed $2,362.5 in rakeback. In my experiences playing the $55+5 and $110+9 limits on Tilt this month, the games are fairly soft, and I find myself to best the best player at the table over 90% of the games I play. The $110+9s do often have a lot of breakeven/slightly-winning regs, and I’d be retarded not to acknowledge that they will drop my ROI somewhat, but I try to play a ton of them when the games are devoid of regs, and just maybe play more $55+5s and avoid the $110+9s when they’re full of decent players who are less likely to make mistakes.
At the moment:
ROI at the $55+5s is -1.06% over 256 games for -$163.50
ROI at the $110+9s is 63.79% over 32 games for +$2429
I know I’m a loser at the 55s at the moment, but the sample is tiny and I’m basically break even. I have significant samples at the $22s and $33s and have 9.61% and 9.8% ROIs respectively, and I’ve remember running really poor in the 55s when I first started, losing with the best hand on the bubble like it was my job. As far as the $110+9s go, I’ve been running super well obviously.
Looks like June is gonna be make or break. Wish me luck 
Posted in Uncategorized
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Just read every post from the beginning and it’s good stuff. I’m trying to build up a bankroll and have been reading like a madman lately. (SNG WIZ, books, etc.) Guess you’re saying that the Super’s are kinda hard to start out on and build a bankroll with but that’s what I’m working on. Do you think Turbo’s would be better than Super’s or just your individual experience??
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Well, the Supers are VERY soft at the 3.5 level, so if you’re just starting out, I think that’s fine so long as you have about $400 in your bankroll. The 7s, 14s, 28s and 42s are all reasonably beatable (although they do get progressively harder.) A friend of mine who learned how to play SNGs from me directly built his roll from a couple hundred to about $1500 playing nothing but low stakes supers, mostly $7s.
The only caveat to that is that you need a solid understanding of ICM to do well in supers, so if you’re still learning the basics, it might be best to start out in regular speed turbos. In supers you are put to a ton of marginal decisions, and since the games go by so quick, leaks in your strategy get exploited must faster. It’s pretty much an ICM math quiz w/ prizes. I personally built my roll playing regulars, and moved up from 4-tabling $2 games to where I’m at now, 12-tabling $119s. You can build up you roll with either, but you’ll need more $ relative to the stake to handle the sick variance in supers. I would probably play regulars, at either the $2 or $5 level depending on your roll, and just play how ever many tables your comfortable with (2-6) and play a session, then log out and review in wiz, then play another session, then review. The variance in supers can just be so sick that you might lose a lot when you play ok, and it might make you think you’re playing bad, and I just wouldn’t think it’s the best roller coaster to be on when you’re trying to learn.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Yeah I have been playing a while but just now have went back and started to get more into it. I was playing the turbo’s at $6 and tried to move up to $11 after getting the bankroll to about $600 but realized I shouldn’t have been playing that high in the first place. Now I’m starting at $3.50 Supers and have played about 200+ games and am about +$70 with bankroll around $350. Was wondering how you have found to effectively use Wiz? Do you have hand ranges memorized and pull from that on each situation determining what you think call percentages are?? Or do you go back and look at previous hands to determine call range? Just looking for some tips to be ahead of the curve.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:02 am
I think 100 buyins is good for the supers. I wouldn’t move up to 14s until you have $1400. As for the wiz, I review my games afterward. When making a decision in game, I consider the blind lever, the number of remaining players, the stack ratio of the other players at the table (are there dead stacks, even stack, one player with all the chips, ect,) my hand, my position, and what I think I’ll get called by and how well I fair against that range. I then make my decision, and if I was unsure, I make down the hand and the tournament ID and review it in wiz after the game. Wiz is best used for review, although you can also use the quiz feature when you’re learning. Make sure you set the edge to 0 so you can learn where the break even spots are and then you can make decisions to take or not take them in game based on other factors.
For assigning opponents ranges, I consider their stack, their position in the tournament, how good I think they are (fish,losing player, break even, winning player or shark,) their HUD stats, and what I’ve seen them do so far, and any notes I’ve taken.
I wouldn’t worry about memorizing anything, I would try to learn, and that just takes trail, error, and looking for understanding when you get the answer.