Testing Out the Cashout Process

It's been a while since I've read the thread on 2+2 about carbon poker cashout issues, so in the back of my mind I was hoping they would have some of the issues resolved by now.  As it turns out, there are still the same complaints as a few months ago- players waiting up to 6 weeks, sometimes longer, to get their checks.  After reading this, I decided to test the waters and cash out $200 and see how long it takes.  There have also been concerns about the checks not clearing once received, so I hope that isn't the case either.  Seeing how players are still having such huge issues with cashout was a big discouragement to even play.  I didn't feel in the mood to put in any significant volume today.  I almost feel as if I'm wasting my time I suppose (if the cashout system is really this shitty, then it is a waste of time).  However, when online poker returns big to the US market, which I strongly feel it will, then the hours I put in here learning and becoming a better player will pay off enormously when that happens.  I'm still going to play a lot, don't get me wrong.  It's just got me bummed for the time being- tomorrow I'll be back in action.  

Quick side note- a few months ago I put in a withdrawal request for $300, but ended up canceling it because I had no other money left on the site to play around with.  This time I left myself more than enough to keep building.  

Withdrawal amount: $200 ($185 with the $15 carbon fee...bullshit, but what can you do)

Request date:  1/7/2012

Estimated arrival:  2/4/2012 - 2/18/2012

On A Heater

Just put in a power session after a long day of working and driving all over the place.  Went 8 for 8 at the 11.50s.  Carbon bankroll up to $621.  I've decided that when I get to $690 that I'm going to take a 5 buy-in shot at the 23s.  If I lose all 5, I'll be comfortable with $575 to drop back to the 11.50s and rebuild. 

It felt good to have a nice session like this.  Last night started out well, but toward the end of the night I was playing tired and not really focusing, and that ended up costing me ending the night down 3 buyins.  

Today was a new day and I came out strong and focused, and didn't let a single detail of a single hand go autopiloted.  Need to keep maintaining this mental game.  

Good luck at the tables.

Back in the Black!

Finally, after months of climbing my way back up from the bottom, I have made it back into the black on Carbon.  I'm pumped and can't wait to start grinding a profit now.  Gotta keep it up!

Villain's bluff attempt goes awry.  Fourth hand of the match.  I have beaten him 8x in a row up to this game. 

***** Hand History for Game 463539164 ***** (Merge)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, January 02, 08:19:30 ET 2012
Table Turkey Room  Heads Up Turbo (46353897) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: AreDubz ( $1560.00 USD )
Seat 2: RockForever7 ( $1440.00 USD )
AreDubz posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
RockForever7 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to AreDubz [  3d Ad ]
AreDubz raises [$50.00 USD]
RockForever7 calls [$40.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, 6s, As ]
RockForever7 checks
AreDubz bets [$90.00 USD]
RockForever7 calls [$90.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
RockForever7 checks
AreDubz bets [$165.00 USD]
RockForever7 calls [$165.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]
RockForever7 checks
AreDubz bets [$225.00 USD]
RockForever7 raises [$1125.00 USD]
AreDubz calls [$900.00 USD]
RockForever7 shows [Jh, Ks ]
AreDubz shows [3d, Ad ]
AreDubz wins $2880.00 USD from main pot

 

My HEM has been off on my win/loss amounts, the bottom should be -$525, not  -$390.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year all!  As the year has come to an end and I reflect back on the past 12 months, I just have a big smile on my face.  Like everyone else, I've had my share of downswings (poker, as well as life), but at the end of it all I turned out to be ahead.  Here's a quick recap of my 2011:

-started volunteering at what I hoped would become my dream job

-had some palpitations and PVC's going on with my heart that required multiple EKG's, holter monitors, echocardiograms, and all types of visits to cardiac specialists (scariest times of my life, it really felt like I was going to die.  As of writing this, the PVC's have basically disappeared and I couldn't be happier!)

-competed in several CrossFit events (so much fun)

-the volunteering I was doing DID turn into a dream job!

-I proposed to my girlfriend of 5 years and she said yes!

-completed all but 3 credits to finish my masters degree (Spring 2012 here we come!)

Aside from those bullet points, this year also had the creation of friendships that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.  My network of awesome people definitely expanded.

As for poker, it has been the learning experience of a lifetime.  I started playing back in 2007, and I learned more in the last 3 months of this year than previous 4 years combined.  I had a lot of swings and just some straight up bad playing that cost me a good amount of money (to me).  I've really buckled down and fixed some aspects of my game that needed improvement big time.  One of which was to move up in stakes to try and recoup losses quicker.  That just led to bigger and bigger losses.  The big downswings of the past few months are solely due to playing beyond my means.  I've learned to control myself better and now only grind the stakes my bankroll can afford.  From my $600 that I deposited on Carbon, I was at an all time low of $75 in mid/late November.  Being down $525 really messed up my confidence because I thought I knew what I was doing.  I didn't reload.  I studied my ass off, took notes on videos, got some coaching from PHMERC, did some more studying, and grinded the 11.50's until I built myself back up.  As of last night, my bankroll is up to $500.  It took a while to get back to near my starting point, but everything I've learned along the way is worth it all.  I feel like a much more solid player at these stakes because of it.  I'm going to continue to get coaching throughout 2012 and hopefully keep up the hard work I've been doing.  

Here are some numbers from HEM from September to December 31st at the $11.50s:

Stakes:  $11.50

# played: 372

ROI: 7.5%

ITM: 58.2%

Winnings: $320

I'm really happy with those results.  I'm going to stay at the 11.50s until I feel comfortable to move up, maybe when my account is up to $700 or so. 

Here are my overall numbers for every game the past 3 months:

# played:  673

ROI: -1.1%

ITM: 52.6%

Winnings: -$92.69

There it is, my poker year in a nutshell.  From being down $525 to being down $92, although there was no profit whatsoever, it's heading in the right direction.

So, 2011, I bid you farewell.  It's been a hell of a year. 

Bad run

first hand of the match:

***** Hand History for Game 446954781 ***** (Merge)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, December 04, 11:08:24 ET 2011
Table Turkey Room  Heads Up Turbo (44695227) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: AreDubz ( $1500.00 USD )
Seat 2: kaocs219 ( $1500.00 USD )
AreDubz posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
kaocs219 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to AreDubz [  4d 4s ]
AreDubz raises [$50.00 USD]
kaocs219 calls [$40.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Td, 4c, Th ]
kaocs219 checks
AreDubz bets [$80.00 USD]
kaocs219 calls [$80.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
kaocs219 bets [$1360.00 USD]
AreDubz calls [$1360.00 USD]
AreDubz shows [4d, 4s ]
kaocs219 shows [Tc, 6c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 8c ]
kaocs219 wins $3000.00 USD from main pot

So that was unfortunate.  And even more annoying is that it happened over, and over, and over again over 20 games at the 11.50's.   Here are some HEM numbers:


-games played: 20
-roi: -52.5%
-winnings: -$120


EV adjusted-
-roi: -1.7%
-winnings: -$3.83

Fuck you negative variance.  

goodnight. 

November 30th 2011 Update

Wow, sorry for the infrequency of these posts.  Life has gotten busy- midterms, extra hours at work (+ev), etc.  My hours at the tables have been less than ideal.  It wasn't until the past few days that I really got to put in some decent volume considering the lack of free time I've had.  I had another pretty tilting session.  I was on my way back from my last spill, and I decided again to shoot for some higher games.  I ended up losing $277 I think in 23's and 34's.  My ev had me at about -$25, so variance was somewhat on my side.  Still, it was no excuse to take foolish risks while trying to rebuild.

Since that day, I've spoken to jackstack and straightened myself out a bit.  I started using my HUD.  I've used it before, but never really understood how to fully apply it.  I still don't, but I'm learning not to let all of the data overwhelm me and take my focus off the game at hand.  I've crawled back the past few days with some decent sessions only at the $11.50's.  I'm still down a healthy amount, but I seem to be on the right track.

I've been trying to immerse myself in poker as much as I can.  I put videos on my phone from husng.com so I can watch during breaks at work and/or just listen to the coaches while I'm driving.  

I have another midterm tomorrow, a big project due in almost two weeks, and a final after that.  With all this on my plate, getting some games in might be tough.  If I can squeeze some games in here and there I can.  

Some quick numbers before I go (from HEM):

Loss as of 11/20/2011-  -$581.95

Loss as of 11/30/2011-  -$406.70

It's important to note that these numbers don't include my 35% rakeback, and even more importantly, when I got my new laptop and imported all the data from my previous computer, HEM was all screwed up and had my wins/losses incorrect.  I couldn't figure out how to get it to be accurate, so I just left it.  On my carbon account, I'm -$315, so HEM is off by about $100.  

That's all for tonight.  Good luck at the tables!

One of those days

Just a couple of hands to show how my entire session went today...

***** Hand History for Game 4328895366 ***** (Merge)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 09, 08:12:08 ET 2011
Table Cougar Room  Turbo Heads Up (43288170) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: MrJorge7 ( $1825.00 USD )
Seat 2: AreDubz ( $1175.00 USD )
MrJorge7 posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
AreDubz posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to AreDubz [  Ah As ]
MrJorge7 calls [$25.00 USD]
AreDubz raises [$100.00 USD]
MrJorge7 raises [$1775.00 USD]
AreDubz calls [$1025.00 USD]
MrJorge7 shows [Kd, 3d ]
AreDubz shows [Ah, As ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Td, 7d, 9s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
** Dealing River ** [ Th ]
MrJorge7 wins $650.00 USD
MrJorge7 wins $2350.00 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 4328816021 ***** (Merge)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 09, 07:49:37 ET 2011
Table Cougar Room  Turbo Heads Up (43287802) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: AreDubz ( $2445.00 USD )
Seat 2: waldie191 ( $555.00 USD )
AreDubz posts small blind [$10.00 USD].
waldie191 posts big blind [$20.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to AreDubz [  Kc Ad ]
AreDubz raises [$30.00 USD]
waldie191 raises [$535.00 USD]
AreDubz calls [$515.00 USD]
AreDubz shows [Kc, Ad ]
waldie191 shows [As, 6d ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Ah, 7h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 6c ]
waldie191 wins $1110.00 USD from main pot

***** Hand History for Game 4328601735 ***** (Merge)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, November 09, 07:11:10 ET 2011
Table Cougar Room  Turbo Heads Up (43286003) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: resultsoriented ( $1936.00 USD )
Seat 2: AreDubz ( $1064.00 USD )
resultsoriented posts small blind [$15.00 USD].
AreDubz posts big blind [$30.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to AreDubz [  Ks Kc ]
resultsoriented raises [$55.00 USD]
AreDubz raises [$180.00 USD]
resultsoriented raises [$1866.00 USD]
AreDubz calls [$854.00 USD]
resultsoriented shows [5c, 5d ]
AreDubz shows [Ks, Kc ]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, Qc, 5s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
resultsoriented wins $872.00 USD
resultsoriented wins $2128.00 USD from main pot

I don't want to go on a rant with the dozen or so other hands that are nearly identical to those.  I'll just leave it where it is.

It's just one of those days.