My Low Stakes SNG Grind Diary £2--->£107.98 so far

mj8bs

This is mainly for my benefit so that i can track my progress. But I thought I would post it up on here if anyone is interested to read about it. I have been set a challenge to see how much I can make from low stake Sit N Gos on this site. I started with £2 in my account which was left over from when I played a couple of MTTs. 

The main reason I'm doing this is two fold. Firstly I want to step away from MTTs as I'm losing money on these. My sharkscope shows a loss for all games but in SNGs, I'm in profit. If anyone sees me in a MTT online, please feel free to verbally berate me and call me a loser etc. Also it gives me something to do in between cash hands at the Vic which helps me stay focused. 

Eligible games: Any game from the Sit and Go section of the site. Primarily I will stick to Scarys and Regular SNGs. I *may* venture into the odd DYM if I get tired of the more aggressive Scarys and a few Heads up games just to practice my HU game. Buy in no more than £5.50 but predominantly these will be £3.30 and below.

I started this challenge on 8th August.

Since then I have played 114 SNGs. 

85% of these have been Scarys which are definitely my most profitable game.

8% of these were DYMs which are showing a small loss. 

Starting Balance: £2

Current Acc Balance after 114 games (15/08/12 - 1300hrs) £69.53

This would actually be a touch more if I hadnt lost discipline and attempted to satellite into the 4k BH last night for £4.80  

Main things I would recommend for anyone playing lower stake Scarys is be aggressive. You really can put a heap of pressure on opponents  even early doors. Late stages it does reduce to a lot of shoving. Also dont slow play your big hands especially not later on. You can get a lot of value as players widen their ranges.

I haven't really decided if there is a peak at which I will end the challenge. I might see where I am one week before the SPT Grand Final and use the money to pay for Hotels and drinks and maybe side event entries depending on how much Ive got. Or maybe if I can grind it up to £150, ill withdraw it and use the money to buy a new pair of Jeans. Ill update this as and when I get the chance. 

Hope no one minds this being here. 

devonfish5

     GOOD LUCK

          (* *)
             ^
   dev

Tikay10

£8 up to £69?

Great start!

Hope you can make it to the SPT Grand Final, even if only the Sideys, though the Main would be the nut idea.

Just one thing - £150 for a pair of jeans? What? WHAT? I can get a three piece whistle for that, and a shirt & tie!

£150 for a pair of jeans? Sheesh! £13 in M & S, you know, elasticated waistband & everything. Just saying.   

mj8bs

Cheers guys. Its £2 up to £69 (would have been 73 if I didnt play a satellite last night)!!! Im quite happy with how its gone thus far!

I managed to satellite into the SPT final at my first attempt thru one of the 1/10 sats (probably because it got 12 runners and basically played like a SNG which is my strong point)

When youre my build (5ft 7 - 55kg), you need Jeans that are cut properly otherwise theyre either too skinny, too loose, grim colours or have an elasticated waistband!

Lambert180

Good Luck Mj8bs. At the start, I've have said you're gonna need some SERIOUS rungood to not go bust, but now you're up to £70, you should be pretty safe if you stick to good BRM.

P.S. Definitely agree with Tikay... don't think I've ever paid more than £20 for a pair of jeans in my life.

mj8bs

Well thats been a rollercoaster two days. Its like Ive had a target on my back. Ran pretty badly and took a fair few beats. Actually started tilting this morning. Managed to go down to £40 before I won a couple of Scaries and managed to getback up to £69 again. I never said it would be easy but I didnt think I would run quite that badly! 

Thanks for the messages of support I get in the rail btw...nice touch.

Ive learnt a few things along the way though to help my game and used a couple in a live game last night. Eventually tried it one time too many and got found out so needs a bit of fine tuning but I think the idea is fundamentally sound. Ive also started treating MTTs more like a lot of small STT and you need to win each one. If you get moved and stack sizes arent equal then Ill find a way to manage that (however agricultural it looks...anyone who has watched me will know its not a pretty style of play!!)

Current total lies at:

140 games in total.

Current BR: £69.03

lennyh

Hi mate,played with you earlier was tilting so bad at connection problems but managed 2nd :)really like your aggression,and if your out to win these sngs,i think its optimal to play this way gl.

lenny

profman15

Hi mj

All the best fella 'cept when your on my table obviously(joking). So gold thread jeans is it then?
I really would give myself a few goal rewards(sat entries etc otherwise it can be boring to just grind the same form of game). After all poker is there to be enjoyed. Why not join a team(see Team Talk in forum) and play the DTD on a monday. Its a good cheap, fun night with no pressure.
Poker is not meant to be a grind unless financial considerations are paramount. THANK GOD THAT'S NOT TRUE IN MY CASE AS I COULD SEE IT BEING VERY DISPIRITING. I hope you enjoy yourselfplaying.

mj8bs

Hi Lenny - yeh I remember I think I went out on the bubble calling the big stacks shove with 33 (vs 77)...Dont think I did anything wrong with 4BB. Youre right, Im not interesting in coming 2nd. Id rather go out 3rd everytime knowing I gave myself the best shot. Some people call it aggressive...others call it being a **** (insert your own expletive). Its amusing because I think it tilts a fair few players at that level. Also you prob saw some of the hands that get shown down but tbh most of the time Im still going to have 40% (like the small on big shove that gave me my first double up). Ive got notes on a lot of the regs at these games so its getting better. 

Profman - Its not a financial thing. I play live cash 1/2 and I do this literally at the same time on the laptop. Its more a way to fill time between hands. Ill have a look in the teams section but I think im destined to be a lone ranger.

profman15

In Response to Re: My Low Stakes SNG Grind Diary:

Hi Lenny - yeh I remember I think I went out on the bubble calling the big stacks shove with 33 (vs 77)...Dont think I did anything wrong with 4BB. Youre right, Im not interesting in coming 2nd. Id rather go out 3rd everytime knowing I gave myself the best shot. Some people call it aggressive...others call it being a **** (insert your own expletive). Its amusing because I think it tilts a fair few players at that level. Also you prob saw some of the hands that get shown down but tbh most of the time Im still going to have 40% (like the small on big shove that gave me my first double up). Ive got notes on a lot of the regs at these games so its getting better.  Profman - Its not a financial thing. I play live cash 1/2 and I do this literally at the same time on the laptop. Its more a way to fill time between hands. Ill have a look in the teams section but I think im destined to be a lone ranger.
Posted by mj8bs

HI mj
Fine, i just thought you may get something from variety but i've only be playing a year anyway...cheers

mj8bs

Ive only been playing a year too! In that time Ive decided that I suck at MTTs!! I just haemorrhage money in those as my sharkscope graph for all tournaments shows. The SNGs is what pulls it back up to semi respectable

Anyhoo...Ill post where Im at now as a sort of clocking off for the night. Went down to £40 ish at one point but my tilt sent me into £5.50 scary which I won and managed to claw it back

Soooo at the end of the day Im up a touch more to £77.03. Bang on half way to a new pair of Jeans. Might see if I can make £163 and ill buy Tikay a pair too.

Ive included a link to screenshot of how my sharkscope graph looks for SNGs for the last 180 or so games so you can see how Im getting on

http://s1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/mj8bspoker/?action=view&current=6e36afda.png

Below is a screenshot of my overall SNG progress since I started on Sky. The dip in the middle is from when I played DYMs for a bit. I think I just lack the patience and want to try and "play" so DYMs just dont work for me

http://s1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/mj8bspoker/?action=view&current=5ec5c7be.png

Tikay10

In Response to Re: My Low Stakes SNG Grind Diary:

Well thats been a rollercoaster two days. Its like Ive had a target on my back. Ran pretty badly and took a fair few beats. Actually started tilting this morning. Managed to go down to £40 before I won a couple of Scaries and managed to getback up to £69 again. I never said it would be easy but I didnt think I would run quite that badly!  Thanks for the messages of support I get in the rail btw...nice touch. Ive learnt a few things along the way though to help my game and used a couple in a live game last night. Eventually tried it one time too many and got found out so needs a bit of fine tuning but I think the idea is fundamentally sound. Ive also started treating MTTs more like a lot of small STT and you need to win each one. If you get moved and stack sizes arent equal then Ill find a way to manage that (however agricultural it looks...anyone who has watched me will know its not a pretty style of play!!) Current total lies at: 140 games in total. Current BR: £69.03
Posted by mj8bs

Morning.

1) If it were "easy", it would not be any fun at all! The whole beauty of poker is that it challenges your heart, soul, character, backbone. Some pass the test, some don't. It is the bad sessions that are the satisfying ones in some respects, because it means we handled the adversity. And that is very satisfying.
 
2) "not pretty" (style of play). Don't worry about that, it's yoir money, play however you so desire. You know what they say about ugly racehorses that win - handsome is as handsome does. It's a Yorkshire expression I believe, & if it is not, it should be.

Glad to see you are still going along nicely, keep it going, right?

lennyh

What i absolutely love about this site is the community,yes we get the trolls/abuse in chat,but on the whole the community is always trying to help you.

Tikay lets face it,is probably the most well known and liked poker player/ambassador in this country and dare i say further,but still he takes time out to reply and advise a small stakes player,well done that man.


As for the expletives you get for shoving with 89 off so what,its our money we do what we want with it.

lenny

mj8bs

Cheers for the comments

Not really played too many games since the last time I posted anything. The ones I did play on saturday and sunday werent my best. Its only really been today that I managed a few wins; the last of which I got VERY lucky (AI HU with some very mediocre hands originally looking for a double up as I had a 5-1 chip deficit with 6BB) and eventually lucking out with A2 AIPF with 55 and the board running out to counterfeit his 55. I have tried to mix in a few DYMs as well just so I dont forget where the fold button is and some HU games just for some jokes really.

After all that though, current acc balance is sitting at £82.63 having been down to about £65 earlier this morning.

If anyone is still reading this, where do sharkscope pull their "abiiity" numbers from? Curious as mine has risen 4 points since I started this mini challenge

mj8bs

Clocking off for today; played about 25 games and dropped down to around £70 before hauling it back with a nice series of wins/cashes and finally broke the magical £90 barrier which seemed to be eluding me (had been to £89 a couple of times before dropping back). Sharkscope stats are looking a lot healthier although at some point Ill have to address the MTT bit. 

Have had to play a lot of games to get this far...Id guesstimate a total of 200ish games since I started. Main thing for me though is that Im having fun, improving my game and its not costing me anything which cant be bad. Been railing a lot of DYMs and such games trying to pick up tips...more for pot control....I was a bit worried that my pot control had spiralled a bit out of control with the amount of raising, reraising and shoving I was getting accustomed to.

Going to set myself until the SPT final as a sort of personal target to hit the £150 mark. 

devonfish5

hi mj,
well done on reaching £90
i'm sure you will make the £150 you are after in time for the SPT final.
keep it going m8.
best wishes

dev
ps,
    if it is the w/end 8/9 sept which i think it is,
the 9th is my birthday,so lets hope it turns into a good day all around.  lol

mj8bs

Cheers Dev. Unfortunately I screwed myself over a couple of days ago. Long story short I accidenty regd into an £11 DYM whilst I wasnt concentrating. Missed the first few levels and ended up losing it and then tilted a bit as itd taken me so long to grind up pound by pound that when you lose £11 in one hit it does kind of hurt (along with dropping 2 buys in at the vic). So I backed off, went back to basics and Im nearly back up at £90 again. Currently sitting at £86 which isnt too bad considering how many games I lost while on tilt. 

devonfish5

In Response to Re: My Low Stakes SNG Grind Diary £2--->£86 so far:

Cheers Dev. Unfortunately I screwed myself over a couple of days ago. Long story short I accidenty regd into an £11 DYM whilst I wasnt concentrating. Missed the first few levels and ended up losing it and then tilted a bit as itd taken me so long to grind up pound by pound that when you lose £11 in one hit it does kind of hurt (along with dropping 2 buys in at the vic). So I backed off, went back to basics and Im nearly back up at £90 again. Currently sitting at £86 which isnt too bad considering how many games I lost while on tilt. 
Posted by mj8bs

easy done m8.
try losing £130 in a session like i did not so long ago.  lol
well done on the recovery,you will still get that £150 up in plenty of time.
good luch

dev

mj8bs

Randomly got a PM asking me how this was going; didnt think anyone actually cared! Maybe its just the one. So how is it going? Well at the moment, its not! Since my miserable failings last weekend, i've been on somewhat of a cash binge playing nigh on everyday at the Vic. Its probably the best Ive played/run since I started playing just over a year ago and Im making a really nice profit and more importantly, Im enjoying playing the game. I put a lot of this down to the fact that Im not taking he laptop with me and really concentrating on everything going on around me. I've developed really nice reads and hand ranges for a lot of the regulars who sit there when I do and am getting good at folding hands again (shame I couldnt do this in Nottingham). So with that in mind, Im taking a back seat from online poker atleast until this hot streak ends. I do thik that at one point some of the sit and go play was really affecting my game and I was almost forgetting how to play deep stack poker and just trying to get it in! Who knows maybe if Sky turn the sit and go champ into a league points system then I might give it a crack.

mj8bs

Right, so inspired by Devonfish and GaryQQQ, Ive decided to ressurect this. Just hope it doesnt have a major effect on my cash game. Going to stick to this mainly in the evenings. I actually restarted this today with the grind sitting at £86.45. Add to that the C4P which whilst not being amazing, did add another £4.08 to the total bringing it to a nice round £90.53

Soooo. started off with a couple of scarys (£1.10, £2.20) and going against my rules a £11 DYM. Took down the £2.20 being hyper aggro but then failed miserably in the other and then got donked out of the DYM with TT AIPF against A4 (i shoved and cant quite understand the call if im honest given he wasnt much bigger stacked than I was and certainly didnt need to be tangling with A4). Not he greatest start but serves me right for breaking my own rule of not going above £5.50 games. 

Soooo back to the scarys I went with 2x £5.50, 1x £3.30 and 1x £2.20. Dunno if its me but it does feel like the £5.50 are softer than the £1.10. Definitely feel like people play them quite nitty whereas the £1.10 can sometimes be a donkathon. Anyhow, took down one of the £5.50, came 2nd in the other and 2nd in the £2.20 for a nice overall win and back up on going again Somehow managed to totally destroy my table image in the £3.30 so much so that my shove with K7 got called by Q5 to hand me a very early exit.

All told now, the BR is sitting at £101.73 which is the highest its ever been  

I actually find its quite therapeutic playing Scarys late stage. Kind of gets all the poker aggression out of my system

devonfish5

well done mj
keep it going m8.
it's ok 'taking the odd shot' here & there i guess,but playing with-in your b/r is a sure way to succeed,
if a little boring!!!

best wishes,

dev