Time to refocus

[jmbreslin]

In the spirit of badboy's goals thread, I'm starting a thread of my own to track my journey as I refocus and take my SnG results to the next level (hopefully). Why do I need to refocus? Here's my story:

I started playing the $1 SnGs back in April 2007 and did just fine given the terrible rake at that level. I'm a recreational player and I only have 1.5-2 hours to play in the evenings. Over 329 $1.20 STTs I put up an ROI of 12.6% and then moved to the $1.10, 45-man turbos, where I put up a 51% ROI over 240 tourneys. Some time during that stretch I decided to try the $5 tables to help clear my bonus, but wasn't ready and my roll took a hit before I dropped back down. Eventually I decided to move up one level to the $3.40 STT turbos, where I've basically been playing since September 2007. I'm profitable there, but not nearly as much with an ROI of only 7.8% over 302 tourneys.

The problem is that my chart over the last 2 months is basically flat - there are plenty of jumps and dips, but overall my I'm only slightly profitable during this period. A big factor in my struggle lately has been the launching of the SnG leaderboards on Stars - now I'm squeezing in more turbos and trying to 3-table instead of just 2-table to make my 20/week. Now I'm focusing on quantity rather than quality and it's becoming mind-numbing and much less enjoyable. I'm also concentrating even less, checking my email, reading, surfing the net, etc, while I'm playing.

So here's my plan for refocusing:

1) Play a max of 2 tables at a time

2) Focus on the tables - don't do anything else while I'm playing

3) On evenings when I have a bit more time, avoid the turbos and move up to the $5.50 regular STTs - this will help me break out of the push-bot mentality of the turbos

4) Only play turbos when I have less time, keeping in mind rules 1&2 of the plan

So that's it. Hopefully I'll start to see a steady rise in my chart once more.

[checkmate]

Sounds like a good plan. Im sure your game will improve even more now with your extra focus your putting into the game.

My chart is on a long flatspell/slight downslope and I guess its just part of the variance that comes with the game. If I could learn to deal with it my game would probably show an improvement.

Not sure if you have sngwiz or not but its def worth every cent.

Im looking forward to following your progress. Im wondering if the $3/45 turbos are something you would enjoy grinding out?

Keep us posted.

[jmbreslin]

I've already used up my free trial of SNGWIZ and I've now downloaded SNGEGT, which has helped me. I've also recently downloaded the free beta version of PokerTracker 3, which I'm also finding helpful (though it does clutter up the screen).

I did play a few $3.25, 45-turbos a little while ago and actually won one of them, but I felt I needed a break from the 45-turbo format. I tend to bounce around a bit trying new tourneys as I get sick of the ones I'm playing. Once I feel that I'm back on the winning track I may try some other tourneys. I do plan on trying the $2.20, 180 turbos as I've heard the play is brutally bad.

First night of the plan was a mild success. Played 2 $3.40 turbos tonight, finishing in 2nd and busting out of the other. Actually focused on the two tables the whole time and didn't even open my web browser!

[badboywes]

Jmbreslin, I look forward to hearing about your results and know exactly what your talking about. If I don't have 9 tables running I am surfing the web and not paying much attention. I am still having good results and my Bank Roll is growing but im sure my game is not. I only hope when I move up to the next level i'll take the game more seriously and be able to focus better.

Wes

[jmbreslin]

Making a slight adjustment to my plan: avoid playing turbos as much as possible.

Played a $5.50 regular STT for the first time in a while and finished 2nd, but busted out of a $3.40 and $3.25 6-max turbo. I enjoyed the $5.50 soooo much more than the turbos - it actually feels like playing poker, instead of just waiting for pushing spots and hoping you come out alive.

[doubleup]

jm, I went about a month without winning a turbo SNG and was wondering why cause I dominated SNG's before taking a lil break away from poker. Thought maybe it was cause of the turbo structure, played 1 reg SNG and got 1st. Played 3 more and placed in all 3. I like turbos cause they're quick, but that's also the reason I hate them. Blinds to stacks isn't +EV for me. I stick to good ol reg SNGs now and do fine.

[jmbreslin]

Good to hear. I've heard people say you have to learn to love turbos because they are more +ev than regulars, but it doesn't seem to work that way for me. I think one of my main strengths as a poker player is my patience and discipline, which has very little role to play in turbos. I'm very curious to see how shifting my attention to regulars impacts my bankroll.

So far forgetting about the SnG leaderboards has worked wonders for my mindset too. I just play what I want to play, and focus on playing well, instead of rushing to hit my 20/week.

[nsidestrate]

I strongly suspect that if you have trouble with turbos, you are probably making a mistake in regular SNGs. Namely, you may not pushing all-in in enough +EV spots or may be calling all-ins in -EV spots. I'm pretty sure that learning the push/fold rules properly in turbos translates to being a better normal SNG player as well.

[doubleup]

nside, I agree. Turbos are about pushing in +EV positions and I definitely feel this is a part of my game I need to work on. I'm pretty successful in regular SnG's, however anything that takes my game up a bit, I'm up for. I'll occasionally play turbos to force myself to loosen up a bit. I play a TAG game and have been trying to loosen up my starting hand selection a bit and feel these turbos are exactly the format to do so.

[jmbreslin]

[jmbreslin]

Update: I don't think I'm going to play another turbo ever again. Played 3 more $5.50's last night, winning one and finishing in 2nd in another. And enjoyed them so much more than the turbos. I love getting to the money and HU play when stacks are still large enough relative to the blinds to actually play poker. I was particularly fond of my win last night, entering HU play against a very loose-passive player (thanks PT3 beta HUD) with a 4-1 chip deficit and just outplaying him to take it. It's so much more enjoyable playing poker when you don't feel this overwhelming pressure to make things happen. Goodbye turbos!

[ImBetterDude]

JM, we're doing essentially the exact same thing right now, and I wish you all the luck in the world.

I agree, Turbo's are in my rearview mirror for eternity now. I can't stand them. Yes, I understand the logic behind playing more of them due to being able to make more $/hour in theory, even if your ROI takes a slight hit in turbos. Still, they're not as fun because there's too much pushing and coin flipping.

Hope you're doing well. I've built my roll from $20 (after steaming and blowing almost all my money) to almost $500 in the last few months, using very careful BR management. I played $2 heads up games strictly until I got to $60, then played some 6 and 9 handed $2 STT until I got to $150, then started playing $5 STT's until I got to $250, then opened up a bit and started playing 2 table $5 SNG's and the occasional larger MTT for between $2 and $5 a pop. I then got to $350 and have been playing almost all $5 SNG's with the occasional $10 SNG mixed in there. I'm now at $470, and I think I should be playing a 50/50 split of $5 and $10 SNG's.

I'm a bit nervous though, because I haven't dipped into the $10 SNG pool much, and have stuck primarily to $5 throughout my online career. I'm wondering if the skill difference will be notable. So far, even though my sample size is minimal, the skill level seems to be the same, though $10 play seems to be a bit tighter.

On a bright note, I almost went very deep in a $3 rebuy, but took two back to back hits to knock me out 10 players out of the money. =( The bright note is I was steaming, so I joined a $22 + $2 SNG, and took it down for $90. =)

[jmbreslin]

Funny that you've been at $5 for so long because you're reluctant to step up to $10, but then you go on tilt and jump into a $20 one!

I've built my roll from about $175 to about $325 but it's been a slow ride because I'm purely a recreational player. I'm lucky if I can find the time to play 15 STTs in a week. That's probably part of the reason why I was drawn to turbos, to try to make up for the lack of playing time.

This is my second attempt at the $5 level, my first one being a failure when I moved up way too early for bonus-clearing reasons. It's early in my new approach, but so far I'm optimistic that focusing on no more than two $5.50's at a time and forgetting about turbos will help me get over this hump in my bankroll building quest.

Good luck to you too.

[ImBetterDude]

I usually don't play all that often either, but I haven't worked for about a solid week, and 5 of those days my misses was working which gave me 4 or 5 hours to dedicate to poker! It was a great reintroduction to the splendor of playing a couple SNG's with Sportscenter or basketball in the background. And, regardless of how I finish those two SNG's, I can just reload a couple more and continue. It's pure bliss.

For this reason my BR had afterburners attached to its' ass and it lurched forward fairly quickly, but unfortunately work now beckons, and the progress will be slower.

I played in college and whenever I got to $400 I would take out $300 and use it for beer/weed/food, but since I'm working and don't necessarily need to touch my poker funds, I'm going to wait until I get to $2k or $2,500 and get a new comp and a new bed. That's the plan anyway. That, or buy a couple tickets to Maui and chill for a week. We'll see.

[Zenjo]