Operation Break Evens

[JeffreyGB]

Last weekend, I completed Operation Count around three weeks ahead of schedule. $1234 by 5/6 was achieved on 4/16.

So I've been thinking about my next goal. Someone suggested I go for the same amount in half the time. Since the goal is likely to span over the entire summer, while possible, that doesn't fit my schedule as well as making it the same time frame. So instead, I'm going to go with about the same time frame, but with double the amount.

I want to make an additional $2468 by the end of the summer. Officially, this can be regarded as running from the time I graduate (5/7) to the time I start grad school (8/20ish...a more firm date will be provided once I have it).

I'm calling this Operation Break Evens because, well, it sounds kinda cool and because I'll infact be conquering every even number (0 2 4 6 8) in the time span allotted. As before, I'll post updates here on a weekly (or so) basis. I'm starting off slightly in the red, as I lost money after achieving my goal.

Progress as of 4/19: ($27)
Total BR: $1206

[Bmxicle]

good luck on your goal, for most people the first $1000 or $1234 is probably the hardest.

I created my own goal, but i don't have any fancy operation names haha, just to make $7000 by the end of the summer.

[alias2211]

Jeff-

Sounds good, can't wait to see you smash this one, too. Next operation: Operation Tuition. I want to see you make as much money in grad school as it costs you to attend (just tuition will be fine).

Go.

[vqc]

good luck on breaking those evens.

[JeffreyGB]

Jeff-

Sounds good, can't wait to see you smash this one, too. Next operation: Operation Tuition. I want to see you make as much money in grad school as it costs you to attend (just tuition will be fine).

Go.

I actually got a full ride to grad school, so that's accomplished already . Operation College Loans is in store for the long term, however...would be nice to pay off my loans ($14k or so) by the time I graduate, and if I can do that through poker instead of savings, all the better.

[stewartkev]

Good luck. At the moment I'm planning "Operation Paris". Planning on taking the girlfriend to Paris through my winning to make up for ignoring her making the winnings!

So far...started playing NLHE on 16 Feb (1st ever hand) with a bankroll of $20. As of yesterday, I have $247.15. Thank you FTR!

[LeFou]

Jeff,
logically, a good sequel to Operation Count would be $2468 by 10/12

Might not be ambitious enough, but hey it's $400/mo.

Me, I think I'm all about Operation 1000% bonus. Geez.

[gabe]

I actually got a full ride to grad school, so that's accomplished already . Operation College Loans is in store for the long term, however...would be nice to pay off my loans ($14k or so) by the time I graduate, and if I can do that through poker instead of savings, all the better.

That operation name is neither clever nor witty, so you are not allowed to use it!

[LeFou]

clever != witty?

How about this one: Operation $99,944

Do you see why?

[JeffreyGB]

Jeff,
logically, a good sequel to Operation Count would be $2468 by 10/12

Might not be ambitious enough, but hey it's $400/mo.

Me, I think I'm all about Operation 1000% bonus. Geez.

Sounds like a good fallback, should things not fall in line with the end-of-the-summer goal. I like the idea of making double the amount in the same time frame though, so currently it's staying the same.

[evman150]

The name really annoys me.

The whole "operation" thing annoys me. Not the goal itself, just the labelling of it.

As for my goal, I want to have this summer's and all next year's tuition payed for by September. Haven't crunched the numbers and don't really know how many classes I'm taking or anything but I figure it'll be about $6000-7000. Right now I'm standing at about $3000 made since the new year. It shouldn't be too too difficult.

[a500lbgorilla]

The name really annoys me.

The whole "operation" thing annoys me. Not the goal itself, just the labelling of it.

Before your time buddy.

-'rilla

[JeffreyGB]

Barely played this week, but I had a sweet session last night, including my biggest pot ever won (and my first over $100). Click here for details.

I'm pretty much on schedule after the good results yesterday. Will hit up Interpoker a bit more this weekend to clear a 300 hand => $30 (in addition to the 300 counting toward my 800 => $100). I've also started whoring at the Gaming Club, though their structure seems bizzare and may well result in the whoring only lasting 1/5 as long as it could.

[jmontis]

I've noticed that too about 50 NL games, on different sites. A lot of the players won't play anything less than premium, and it's very tough to play any kinds of hands with implied odds other than pocket pairs due to lack of action.

So if you have a session without anything better than AA/KK, its probably going to be a boring/losing one.

I'm not in the range for 100 NL yet, but it probably is much better than 50. I actually prefer 25 NL anyways.

[JeffreyGB]

eh? I have no idea what you're responding to...though I'll not that my downswings were all at NL$50, so it's definitely applicable.

[jmontis]

Didn't quote it, but was referring to your above post about seeing swings at 50 NL.... i have as well

[JeffreyGB]

Had a slight losing session yesterday night, then another awesome one this morning (50 hands @ NL$100 buying in with $20 => $120 in profit). Then another sucky one tonight. In the end I pulled about 18BB/100 this weekend, so that's pretty nice...just not as nice as the 30 I was looking at before the pain tonight.

With everything figured in (i.e. IP bonus for this weekend), I'm sitting at almost 1.5k now, and already ahead of schedule. Things may be slow with finals around the corner, but this was a great way to start it off.

[JeffreyGB]

This week's been shitty. Should have followed my lead last week and not played while school was stressing me, I think. That said, I also took a lot of bad beats. All-in-all, Wednesday was a -$200 day, after Monday had raised me up to $1500.

Tonight was straight up aweful though...after doing ok at NL$100 @ UB for my first attempt, people came over and distracted me while I played. -$60. Then I tried some of the SnGs I've been doing well with lately. A couple of $20s and my first $30. Bubbled out of the first 3. Flat out lost the next 3. Now I'm back below $1200 again. Gonna have to make some adjustments...

[JeffreyGB]

Adjustments:
Playing some lower SnGs, just to rebuild my UB roll without redepositing. Plus, I'm finding I'm capable even when tired/stressed.

Playing some limit on Prima. The idea being, basically, to bonus whore more effectively, because of their crazy stupid way of counting NL stakes. To get the bonus, I can either play at 1/2 FL or 1/2 NL. For FL, I'm over bankrolled. For NL, I can barely play short stack. And that says nothing about the difference in competition. I did both, a little. After a session of 1/2 NL, I doubled up, but only after previously busting. Net profit: $2. After a session of 1/2 FL, I was up $20 and finding myself astonished at how bad the players were. So yeah...I'll do that.

On a side note: does anyone know if UB's requirement for a hand to count is for you to be involved in a pot, or just dealt in a hand? At some point this summer I may want to start cranking through the couple hundred I have left there.

[JeffreyGB]

Alrighty...I'm all graduated and preparing for my summer internship. Haven't been playing a lot, because I had so much to do, between graduation and moving out and packing for the summer (and gathering info for the upcoming Bonus guide).

The two sessions I've had time for have been decent winners - banking $50 or more each time. I'm now back up to $1400. I've been doing the normal short-stack thing at CRL's NL$100, since that's what I'm comfortable with.

Once things settle down a bit more, I may make changes to that...I'm considering short-stacking NL$200 at Prima while whoring; I'm also considering working on my full-stack play...it's just hard for me to justify doing that when I can pull 10BB/100 or more from short-stack play; still seems I'd do better short-stacking the next level.

[UG]

Jeff, do you have any posts on your short-stacking theory/technique? Point me in it's direction if you can, I'd like to check that out.


Thanks.

[JeffreyGB]

Jeff, do you have any posts on your short-stacking theory/technique? Point me in it's direction if you can, I'd like to check that out.


Thanks.

I don't have anything explaining the technique...basically, I try to play solid poker - perhaps pushing more often than I would with a big stack, but otherwise playing similarly. You have to be able to spot the players that are just pushing you around because of your stack size, and in the end, you can make that work for you instead of against you.

The theory is, quite simply, that I'm better than the people I'm playing against. As such, it's profitable to play against them. Because I buy in with a short stack, I can often double or triple my stack in a very short run of winning hands because people are more inclined to call the bets I'm making than at lower stakes. I've had many sessions in which I left with 5x+ my buy-in.

I'll post something more in depth about it at some point.

[JeffreyGB]

Well, this weekend has been a not-quite-break-even week. That is, until I hit my third $100+ pot. This time it was AJs. Flop came 7JJ. Ended up all-in v QQ for a pot of $124. That hand bumped this run up to my usual 10BB/100.

And I'm still awaiting my $50 bonus from Golden Riviera, which I should recieve any time (assuming they grant it after playing in 100 raked hands...the site says betting in 100 raked hands, so I'm a tad concerned). Once I get that, I'll hit $1500; currently I'm at $1456 - slightly behind schedule, but gaining ground.

[SmackinYaUp]

I think you would be quite impressed with your full stack play and winrate. I mean, shit, if you're outplaying your opponents with the disadvantage of a shortstack then do it with a fullstack. Then see how fun it is being the monster stack. I know that there is nothing I can say to convince you so good job on your recent sucesses. Keep up the good work!

[JeffreyGB]

Still dealing with the bonus issues listed above. Apparently (though nothing is stated on their site), none of your hands count toward the bonus until after they credit your account. Add to that the fact that they were over a week late crediting my account and you reach the point we're at now. I emailed + called cust service, and they were basically of the attitude "f-off. We made a mistake, but you're the one who's paying for it. Sorry."

Aside from that, I'm having a decent week. I'm concluding that I can't play at Prima .5/1; the maniacs just drive me crazy with their catching (ex: I reraise all-in preflop vs a guy that's been raising nearly every pot. He calls. I hold AhKh. He holds Qd7d. Catches both a Q and a 7.) I know that long term I should be ahead on plays like that, but that kind of idiot-based variance has eaten a huge hole into my BR; w/o it, I'd be over 2k now.

Anyway, I passed $1600 last night when I cleared a small PP bonus. My play lately has been just over break-even (both IP and PP are showing just over 3BB/100 for this month...not bad, I suppose, but way below the profits I'd gotten used to), but bonuses are keeping me moving along. I'm still debating moving to 1/2. I want to play against people with some intelligence - I keep making the mistake of thinking my opponents will have a clue about things like position and in some cases even basic starting hand selection. I definitely prefer to play against weak-tight players than maniacs, the latter being where my iffy results lately have been coming.

I'm slowly rebuilding my near-busted UB roll. For no good reason, I don't move my funds around much from site to site, so after a bad week and a failed attempt at 30+3 SnG play, I started over with the 5s. Up to running the 10s again there, so that's nice.

Anyway, I imagine I'll finish out the month with $1600 or $1700 - still behind where I should be (timewise for my goal), but once again, making up ground.

[JeffreyGB]

Or I could finish out the month above $1800. Currently at $1835. This month just became my most profitable so far.

This weekend was a weekend of firsts:
1. First time I actually played at stars (half a dozen low stakes SnGs that I played just to try things out; ITM in 3 - 1, 1, and 3)
1b. First time I played a multitable SnG (three of them actually...took first in one)
2. First time I played at Paradise. Figure I'll get that bonus taken care of. The game there was pretty nice.
2b. First (okay, second, technically, but this time I think the move will be permanent) time I played in NL$200. Just a couple of orbits because I've got work tomorrow to prepare for. +$90.
3. First time I've staked another player. No details will be given, so don't ask. But I'm already happy I did.

After the results I saw in the ring this weekend, I don't think I can justify switching to SnGs completely...Then again, the stakes I'm currently playing at for them are pathetically below my bankroll, so maybe correcting that would change my mind...I'm sure we'll find out in the future.

[JeffreyGB]

Basically breaking even with my SnGs this week. Bought in to a NL$500 table as a short stack ($100), then saw it become short handed, and nearly had a heart attack. Down to $65 in a matter of minutes, then ended up allin (had a read...and was right) with J7o...rivered a 7 to make a boat, but even my pair of 7s would have won it. Brought me up to $145 @ that table. I promptly left.

[JeffreyGB]

Won a $30+3 two table SnG last night.

Lost more than double the profit there playing NL$200 ring today.

Current BR = apx $1600.

[JeffreyGB]

I'm debating between cancelling this operation and simply changing it to a total of 2468 by 8/20. I haven't been playing a lot since the first week of summer...job keeps me busy and schedule keeps me deprived of sleep.

[CrunchyNuts]

It's only going to get worse once you start grad, most likely. In most programs, the first semester avails you minimal free time. I wouldn't make a goal you couldn't abandon if you don't hit the deadline~

[JeffreyGB]

Actually, grad school is gonna be cake compared to my undergrad. I took grad-level classes every year of my undergrad (in one semester, that was ALL I took), but also took 13-18 hours every semester (standard for undergrad; rare for grad). I'll be taking 9 hours and teaching. Last semester I was taking 16 (with a couple of time-demanding labs) and teaching. Grad school will be easy.

[CrunchyNuts]

Doing research, or letting that slide for a while?

[JeffreyGB]

Doing research, or letting that slide for a while?

Either way...whichever I choose, I still end up with a ton more time than I have now. If I do research, I can get it to count as independent study hours, meaning I won't even have to have 3 classes.

[JeffreyGB]

Won a $50+$5 tonight. First one I'd played. That was nice. That brought me just above my pre-swing state, to $1900 and change.

I'm making it official. Operation Break Evens is being downsized to having a total of $2468 by 8/23. At only $80/week, it seems like I should easily reach that. But given the amount of time I have/will commit to playing, I'm ok with having a slightly less lofty goal for the summer.

[JeffreyGB]

Moderate winnings, followed by a week of deciding I wasn't happy with Interpoker's new bonus structure and thus wanted to stick it to them. Withdrew the $700 of my BR that resided there and played Blackjack for bonus. Cleared two months of outstanding bonus, and made over $100 in profit while doing it. Deposited to get the current month's bonus and cleared that as well, again with $100 profit. End result: came away with nearly $500 in completely free money.

Unless I lose a lot, I'm hitting the downsized goal. Probably significantly ahead of time. Not sure how this will affect the end goal. I'm expecting to make a few hundred more blackjack whoring at other sites, just because it's completely free (risk-less) money.

[JeffreyGB]

Passed the $2468 mark today. Trying to decide if I should aim for the original goal afterall, or just play my game and do what ever I do.

[JeffreyGB]

Had a pretty good week playing SnGs and a bit of ring at UB. Got up to $2700 and saw how close to being on track with the original goal that put me and I had hope of hitting it. Then I had some bad luck and some play that I'll review later playing ring at CRL. Brought me back down to $2500. Now I'm slightly questioning if I really could make it, and also questioning if I should still be playing ring.

That question seems to be a reoccurring one for me...

[JeffreyGB]

Pretty decent run at the tables today; won another $50+5 and had my best comeback ever - from 400 chips to chip leader in 10 hands, reaching ITM with 12k out of 15k total on the table. Knocking on the door to $2700. Hopefully this time I'll stay on the other side once I pass the doorway.

[JeffreyGB]

Made $400 this week. That's as much as I used to make in some months! This month is going to be my first month to bring in over $1k. With $2900 (and some ongoing tutleage from both Soupie and Harrington), I'm firmly on track to break the original goal.

I had an interesting SnG tonight. I became chip leader early on. By level two I'd almost doubled up; by level three I'd more than done that. I'd lose a few chips, only to make them back with interest and regain the lead. Here's the great part though: I did it all without showing down a hand. The only hands I showed down during the whole tournament were bluffs where a short stack pushed and I had odds to call (well, that and the final hand for me - my A4s putting me out in 3rd against AKs of another suit). It was crazy, and kinda fun.

I've also noticed that it's fairly frequent for me to be vastly big stack when it gets down to ITM. Had that happen in today's 50+5 victory; played the whole thing smart, made one great play late in the tournament and ended up with 10k chips (of 13k) when we got down to 4 players. By the money I was at nearly 12k and both of the others barely had enough to cover blinds.

[JeffreyGB]

Between being sick last weekend and being extremely tired this week, I didn't get much playing in. I did take Wednesday off from work and played a decent amount then, but one day can't replace an entire week. I'm still pretty much on track for meeting the goal, sitting at 3074 currently.

[JeffreyGB]

Wow. Last week was a roller coaster ride. I made about $400 in the first couple days, then lost all of that and a couple hundred more over the span of three days in which I actually came close to hitting the 10% rule. Won a big chunk of it back yesterday (I moneyed all 4 of the SnGs I played), and then a bit more today. Sitting at $3250 currently. It's coming down to the wire for whether or not I'll hit it. Assuming I can go on a couple good runs, I should be fine though.

[JeffreyGB]

Up to $3538. Nothing out of the ordinary, save limited playing due to time constraints. Need to make another $160 in the next week. Should be relatively easy, hopefully.

[JeffreyGB]

Operation Break Evens complete (8/19/05).

Over half of this came from playing $50+5 SnGs. The win came here as well, but with a hat tip back to my days playing short stack. I got to the money of my last tourney with around 2k, along with a fellow short stack. He goes out and the next thing I know, we're headsup, me with 1700, him with 12k. I caught a hand, doubled up, and my opp becomes push happy. Reached 10k and then he sucked out on me to bring us back to about even. Final hand he pushes Q9 vs my QJ on a J high board (even his draws were only backdoor longshots). And with that I was well over my goal.

I'm not sure what's next yet. A mini-goal is to hit $5k, take 10% ($500) to a casino w/ Okietalker, and have a ball. Long term goal...I don't know yet.

I figure, the next winning day I have, I'll try a $100+9 and just go with it...may move up soon, or at least start mixing them in regularly.

[Jeebus Kliest]

Congrats Bud, I was sad to see that you were downgrading the operation before but glad to see you made it afterall. Nothing like the profitability of SNG's.

I don't see why you shouldn't move up into the 109's now...

[Aces]

Operation Break Evens complete (8/19/05).
I figure, the next winning day I have, I'll try a $100+9 and just go with it...may move up soon, or at least start mixing them in regularly.

I'm pretty close to where you're at. My BR is about4.7K playing mostly PP SNGs, I'm mixing in more 100+9 with my normal 50+5. Sounds like you're ready to do the same. I play at PP and am not all that impressed with the talent at the 100+9 SNGs(my sample size is somewhat limited to about 25 at that level).

Congrats on hitting your goal. I'm shooting for 10K in by the end of 2005. I think I could maybe do better but have some time constraints.

[JeffreyGB]

Operation Break Evens complete (8/19/05).
I figure, the next winning day I have, I'll try a $100+9 and just go with it...may move up soon, or at least start mixing them in regularly.

I'm pretty close to where you're at. My BR is about4.7K playing mostly PP SNGs, I'm mixing in more 100+9 with my normal 50+5. Sounds like you're ready to do the same. I play at PP and am not all that impressed with the talent at the 100+9 SNGs(my sample size is somewhat limited to about 25 at that level).

Congrats on hitting your goal. I'm shooting for 10K in by the end of 2005. I think I could maybe do better but have some time constraints.

I have time constraints as well, limiting my play severely (I'm eating my words, as school is taking up far more time than I expected). Thanks for the well wishes. I'm a tad behind you, I think - 10k by 2006 seems pretty out of reach for me currently, but I'm fairly committed to shooting for 25k next year.

In answer to the above poster about moving to the 109s, honestly, I'm not comfortable risking that large a portion of my BR. I'm a strict follower of the 10% rule, and I'd rather be able to play 6 games in a day than 3 (though lately I haven't been able to do either...).

[The_Bankroll]

I've started a similar goal on Aug 1st, to make $1000 by Sept. 1st. going well so far, I was up to $910 at one point and it was looking very reachable, but now I'm not so sure. maybe if I quit busting out on the bubble with my $20+2s.