Missing the Target
This month I finally knuckled down to make a real effort to play effectively on-line. At a decent level ($50 Sit & Go) in the best games (Party) in short spells (usually 3, never more than 4). I was hoping to clear $2,000 but I fell short - played 81, net $1,969. Damn ! I did sneak in a handful of $20 and $30 games, which is why the number ends in 9 and also probably why I didn't quite make it !
Nil desperandum though, that's a solid $45 / hour which isn't the greatest but it's better than most. It's nice to know I can do it as much as anything else. There's no reason to think I can't manage that in any month where I make an effort - it really didn't feel like I was running at all hot, I had good spells and bad ones. For November I'm going to shoot for $2,500 - I may well try some $100s and see how the land lies there.
Nil desperandum though, that's a solid $45 / hour which isn't the greatest but it's better than most. It's nice to know I can do it as much as anything else. There's no reason to think I can't manage that in any month where I make an effort - it really didn't feel like I was running at all hot, I had good spells and bad ones. For November I'm going to shoot for $2,500 - I may well try some $100s and see how the land lies there.
6 Comments:
I wouldn't ordinarily ask a personal question but as you have posted hourly rate info then I guess you won't mind.... :)
Are you still working F/T? Your hourly rate points to 40+ hours in the month - a seemingly ok amount on top of another job, but decidedly pedestrian if not.....
All depends on your outlook on life of course, and I remember your aversion to playing for a living, but the numbers look to be in the right ball park to give you some useful options....
Simon Galloway
Hi Simon,
No, I don't mind at all. You're right, if I do post stuff like hourly rates people have every right to ask me to clarify where necessary.
I work a four day week which is a nice balance for me at the moment. If I can maintain that kind of rate it does give me "outs" :-), but I think I really need to be making it in at least three games which are different to each other, so I would be able to stay fresh and take a break from a particular game if I'm running bad in it (for psychological reasons only, obviously).
Andy.
I would definitely take a 4 day week if I could get it - even if that meant compressing 40 hours into 4 days to do so... 4:3 sounds a much better split than 5:2, so fair play to you for getting a good balance.
I've always been very wary of people telling me how boring playing full time is, but I've probably been booking more hours myself this year than a lot of the "full-time players" and I haven't found it boring at all. Some of those guys should try 40 hours of meetings a week to adjust their definition of boring.
Interestingly, what has kept things fresh for me has been to play different games as you say. In the last month I have switched to PLO and PLO8 as welcome respite from limit holdem and it's quite pleasing to note that my (comparative) play has got a lot better - without playing any attention to that specific game for quite a while. Perhaps it underlines how lots of poker fundamentals hold water for all formats and why some excellent players have been able to enter and win WSOP events like triple draw after 2 minutes with someone beforehand to explain the rules...
I think the bit that I struggle to comprehend with some "internet pros" is what a lazy bunch they really are in general. I will always take my hat off to someone who conscientiously objects to going to work in a suit and tie, taking orders and getting up at 5:30 each morning for a commute, and opts to play poker to maximise free time and to enable them to go and do what they want to do before they die. No problems with that. But when Howard Plant offers a short notice Virgin flight and car to LV for £219 for a week, that's exactly the sort of thing that that freedom should be allowing people to do at the drop of a hat, surely? Instead, it seems £219 (+ X's)is a lot of money to rustle up at short notice (?) and the flight time was a bit early and there wasn't enough time (about 5 days) to adjust properly to make it to the airport in time. I kid you not.
I'm sarting to wonder if some internet pros find it boring because they actually have too much free time on their hands. Working 3 hours in the morning, afternoon and evening 5 times a week seems gentle enough with decent breaks between each session and that would have people on target for best part of $100k. Although I may be overly money-orientated, I would have thought that sort of money would buy them more "freedom" than they currently have, ["extra outs" as you say.]
sorry - that was me too..
Simon Galloway.
Nice results Andy. Are you multi-tabling the SNGs?
Plus are Party SNGs with their small chips to start with and rapidly escalating blinds better than say PokerStars? (In other words the poor play of your foes more than makes up for the structures?)
Hi Simon,
That's playing about 2 S+Gs per hour, with staggered starts. I could squeeze a few more in but I don't like to be say heads up in one and Level 4 or higher in the other.
Party just seems to be what works best for me at the moment. At $50 you get 1000 chips which isn't so bad ; and I quite like a fast structure anyway. If better players (or at least non-fish) are playing elsewhere with "better" structures, then so much the better.
Andy.
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