January 4th 2012

So January 4th, back to the table grind that is SNG play. It started off very much like the days before, playing 4 tables of $3.50 games. I had adjusted my play and strategy based on previous days results but for some reason I kept on running up against the same old problems, people at this level just don't know how to fold! And that is the single biggest problem at this level, players don't understand how the SNG strategy works and how to make money, therefore a shove will be insta called by JQ off and will outdraw the A10 or what not that has been shoved with.

Well, after 15 games at the $3.50 I thought about what would increase my chances, so following my same Bankroll Management system I set up for myself, I decided I was going to play 2 $7 games at a time instead of 4 $3.50 games. Well let me tell you how this made all the difference in the world, it was night and day in terms of players skill and understanding of the game, and of course also helps when the better hand holds up, but what a difference. I will break it down like this:

I played 15 games at the $3.50 level and out of those 15 games I managed to cash in 4 of them =( which is only a 27% cashing rate which is well below my goal and what I will need in order to complete this challenge. So after making the decision to move up to the $7 games here is how it breaks down. I played a total of 20 $7 games and cashed in 13 of them. That is a 65% cashing rate, exactly what I would expect from myself and what I will need to achieve my goal.

Now to break it down so that you understand just how much I crushed the games today, my results for all 35 games I played are:

1st - 7
2nd - 7
3rd - 3

Now that's a total of 17 cashes out of 35 games, an average cashing rate of 49%. Which is back on target for my goal. To break it down even further, I started the day with a bankroll of $277 and turned that into $406. That makes my ROI for the day 67%!!!! That is a huge number and can you imagine I kept that same ROI through all the levels I moved up through, OMG it would take me no time, but that's unlikely and slightly far fetched, but hey I can dream can't I?

To top it off, today's one session at the $7 level was soo good that I made it onto the weeks SNG leader board and am currently ranked 20th overall for all the players on PokerStars this week at the Venus level which is $5 to $9.99.

Now, there is something that I do that helps me get back into a good rhythm when I have had a losing session, and this is a good tip for anyone reading this to help improve your game as well. So, what I like to do is search up the highest level turbo SNG that are being played while I am online, see who is playing in these games, sharkscope them and see their statistics. If I see someone that has played 1,000's of games and is making good money, I will stop and watch a game or two of theirs and see how they play it. By watching better players, or players that can demonstrate how to win, you will pick up good habits, and those combined with your own personal strategies should help improve your game and turn you into a winning player.

I was on the forum I am apart of and something was brought up that I would like to touch on here. So basically a person was brand new to the forum, introduced himself and stated he was a losing player overall and was hoping for help to try to turn things around and become a winning player. He stated his own problem first and foremost, and that is good that he recognized it. He stated the following, I start to play, win a little and start to play 12 games at a time, to which turns into losing, then tilts and there goes the bankroll.

You should by now if your reading this know how I feel about Bankroll Management and how it is crucial to playing online successfully for a long time. So great I thought, he has recognized the problem and is going to fix it by concentrating on 1 or 2 games at a times. However, he then went on to say that he is buying a HUD or Heads Up Display for those who aren't sure and Table Ninja software as well. Allow me to touch on this for a moment. HUD and Table Ninja are tools, and are very powerful in the hands of someone who can utilise what they have to offer. BUT, to someone who is still not a winning player yet, is an overload to the senses.

A HUD offers real time statistics of all kinds right beside the players name in the game you are playing. It becomes slightly overwhelming to have soo many numbers, acronyms and colours on your screen while you try to focus on your game. It then becomes an information overload, so much at once, and even with this information, if your fundamentals of how to win aren't there, they you will never fully learn how to utilise them. Table Ninja is a software that allows you to use hot keys to make bets, calls, folds, standard raise amount, continuation bets as well as easily buying in to multiple games at a time. It is a great tool for someone who can multi table more than 4 games at a time.

But that's just it, he is only doing 2 at a time right now. So let me help you all reading this by telling you, if you wanna be a winning player, do your research, there is lots of great free information online, and with the proper time spent reading and understanding what is out there it will exponentially increase your odds at the table. Then, by doing this and playing within a proper bankroll you can begin your poker journey to making money. Start off with the fundamentals of the game, start to learn to play winning poker, and then and only then can you add the tools to help you become better, like the saying always goes, gotta walk before you can run.

Good luck!