Sunday, January 15, 2012

Grinding in the Bahamas

As expected I didn't do well in the main event, busting out after about 5 hours. I played one big pot where I lost 2/3 of my stack with aces against a set. After discussing the hand with several people, I'm quite sure I should of only lost about 30-50% of my stack. No regrets though, aside from that I think I played well and didn't run particularly well. I didn't play any of the other side events or cash games while I was there. I played a decent amount of blackjack though and ran pretty well which helped offset the outrageous costs at Atlantis.

The trip itself has been a lot of fun, I had a few poker playing friends that we spent most of our time with. We ended up renting a cabana one day, jet skied, clubbed, and ate a bunch of restaurants. I didn't do a whole lot of playing online but that's about to change. We left Atlantis today and moved into a condo next to the ocean and will be here for about eight days before moving to another condo. The plan is start playing 8 hours a day, six days a week, for the next three to four weeks. I feel motivated to play right now and am really looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. I'm planning on devoting an hour a day to reviewing sessions and studying hands as well. This is something I was doing in the US and I found it extremely beneficial. Somehow I need to squeeze some exercise into these days and there's no gym here so I'll probably be jogging along the road or beach in our neighborhood. I'm not a big runner, I normally use elliptical machines, so it should be interesting.

I should have another update towards the end of the month. Good luck at the tables.

12 comments:

  1. Good to see you enjoying the fruits of your labor! Keep it up Tony!- JG

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    1. Thanks Jeff. Hope you're feeling/doing well. Looking forward to playing some pool when I get back to Cali.

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  2. How many hands do you play on average over a year on a day to day basis?

    I'm working 4 days a week and was thinking about doing poker aside for 2000 hands a day.
    On work days i would like to play 1000-1500 and on free days and make good for what i felt behind.

    I have grinded a small the last two months on 0.25/0.5 FR and winning on 0.5/1 SH (only 10k hands) but want to move up as fast as possible to 2/4.....realistic goal in your opinion with a job on the side?

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    1. I play an average of about 1500 hands per day but I'm earning a lot more VPPs than you'd be earning at those limits.

      I wouldn't want to discourage you but your plan is pretty ambitious. 2,000 hands of fixed limit is a lot, it's not like NL where you can 16 table. At least I can't without sacrificing my win rate. I'd at least give it a try and see what happens but if you see your win rate start dropping off, it may not be worth it.

      Good luck.

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  3. Oops, made a mess of it. Sorry for the bad language.

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  4. Hi Tony. Best of luck in the next few weeks. As a former runner who recently started up again after a long break, I'd recommend starting with some run / walk combos... Your body will thank you. Running puts a lot of new stresses on your body so it's best to eaze into it.

    Start with a brisk walk for 4 minutes / run 1 minute / repeat for 30 minutes or however long you want to work out. Listen to your body and adjust ratios gradually over the course of weeks.

    This method is much better than just going out and running 3 miles cold turkey, getting injured or so sore that you never want to run again. :)

    madscout

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    1. Hey Thanks Ryan and great advice. I didn't end up doing any running mostly due to laziness but I will take your advice if I do start which is quite possible with all this moving around.

      What book did you say you had read on running that was really good?

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  5. That's what I did and it worked very well. I started with the 1:1 walk/run ratio then increased it to 2:2 and 3:3 for the next few weeks before I could finally run for 30 minutes without stopping.

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  6. If you're going to read a book about running, I strongly recommend 'Once a Runner'. All of my old college teamates would agree. We passed that around and when it got back to me I read it again.

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