Silver VIP - A grind upwards

Just rounded out my session. Which allowed me to realize that my HEM demo has expired, and that PTR did not come close to tracking my table play today. Damn. Pretty sure I played close to 1000 hands, but I'll have to install my PT3 demo to know for sure.

My ending amount was 286, but this also includes my $10 stellar reward bonus. This means that I am up 42 through cash play today. $40 of that 286 is from my deposit bonus, and $10 is from stellar rewards. That means I am still down $74 from cash and tournament play. Not a good number, and I intend to work on that so it goes up.

Overall I felt like my play was a lot cleaner. It was suggested to me by Daniel Betancourt, a friend of mine from WoW TCG with a poker obsession and a cousin who makes quite a nice living through MTT play, to lower my aggression bets to 30%, as most players at my limit will fold to a c-bet of any size anyway. I couldn't quite get myself to do that, as I don't want people chasing and hitting against me, but I made it a habit of only betting at most half the pot. And, as he said, people still folded when they weren't comfortable at calling. I think I stole a number of hands this way, which helped in keeping my stacks secure.

My big swings today was a flopped straight when I called the button at $.25 with 7 9 suited. My first one, which started the day right, was with pocket aces. He called my 3-bet pre-flop which had me worried, especially when he led with a pot-sized bet on the flop. I thought he may have had jacks since one flopped, but I PTR'd him and his stats said he probably wouldn't have called a 3-bet with anything but a big hand. I figured I would just push him in at this point, as no real draw was out there and he could also have queens or kings (if he has the jacks, oh well. the other cards were little, and his stats showed that he wouldn't have called with these as he was overly tight). Turns out he had queens, and was promptly stacked after 2 blanks hit on the turn and river.

My worst played hand today, I felt, was heads-up with my pocket nines. The flop came 3 3 9, giving me the nuts right now (I don't put my opponent on 3s here). There was a flush possibility, and when he checks, I decide to give him a free card. I think that was correct here.

The turn came an Ace. No flush yet. He checks. I misplay here and check, when I should have bet half the pot. If he calls, cool. If he doesn't, I take the pot and claim my small bounty with the best hand. His positioning meant I didn't put him on A-3, and I still don't think he has the 3s.

The river comes another Ace. Well....shit. He bets around half of the pot, and I just call, pretty sure he has A-X. He does, revealing A Q. There is definitely part of this where I was unlucky, as he probably would have called a half-pot bet if he hit his ace on the turn. Then, if the ace came on the river I think I could get away from the hand, losing the same amount. It was absurdly greedy of me to give him another card. If he calls and hits a potential flush, I could cash in with my nut-full house at that point. Oh well, live and learn, and learn to know when to bet with the goods when they're still the best hand. Also, as this is pot-limit, I shorten my profit margin by not half-pot betting the turn, as I'd be getting more money in on the river, especially if he opens with his Aces and threes two pair.

All in all I learned a great detail from these games. I hope to make a final $300 deposit late June/early July to take advantage of my deposit bonus, assuming my rate of play in June lets me claim the bulk of my bonuses (it seems like it will, as I've been close to earning $10 every 2 days, and my rate of play plan for June should have me earning most of my bonus as is). I hit one of my milestones for May, which was to achieve Silver VIP Status. This will let me make the most of my FPP gain in June!

My goals are as follows for June, as I won't have much time to play until after WoW TCG Nationals next week:

-Earn Gold VIP Status
-Work my bankroll (via bonuses or whatever) to a level where I feel I can play 40-100bb .10/.25 NL/PL at 8-12 tables. I will be happy with 8 tables. 12 is a lofty goal if I feel I can manage it, and I don't intend to try it until the end of June.
-Reach $1.2k in my bankroll (not unfeasable through deposit and stellar bonuses), assuming I make my final deposit.
-Consistently have higher than a 2% ratio on BB/100.
-I would like to have a $400 profit via cash play by the end of June, an average of $100 a week. This is not unreasonable if I play 30 hours a week minimum, and I will be fairly disappointed if I can't achieve this one with the number of hours I intend to play.

Looking forward to next month!