Collusion

I got some money back from pokerstars because they found out some players were colluding in a SNG. This is the second time it has happened in the past few months. I wonder how often they catch people cheating or "colluding?"

Let me say that I think pokerstars runs a tight ship and I am sure they have the problem under control. However, I understand why people try to cheat. If you have enough people colluding, it could be hard to track. Plus, since Pokerstars operates in the Isle of Man and is technically "illegal" in the US, I doubt there are any repercussions other than pokerstars suspeding your account and taking the money.

Thanks for the money back pokerstars. I'm always glad to hear when you catch cheaters.

Bigger is Better

I play on a 23 inch screen. I also use my laptop monitor (15 inch) as a secondary screen. However, I find it very annoying to use both screens for poker. I primarily play on the 23 inch, then run lobbies and iTunes on the laptop. I play 6 games at a time, but I want to do more. The problem is that if I go up past 6 games, the size of the games shrink considerably... to the point where it is annoying and I'm constantly squinting. I'd be curious to know what monitors people use and how many games they multitable on those screens. After staring at a computer monitor at work all day, it's hard for me to squint at tiny poker tables...

Poker Now

I'm still just plugging away at the bonus grinding. Haven't played too much, but hoping to pick it up until the end of March.

Last weekend I tested out some cash games. The outcome was fine, but the VPP clearing rate was drastically lower. I hope to garner some more cash game experience in the future.

February Results

I'm going to start doing monthly results.

BR on Feb 1 - $320
BR on Feb 28 - $607

These numbers include bonuses... I should start taking the bonuses out. I probably cleared like 70 in bonus...? I felt like it was a bad month, but I actually did pretty decent. I've been playing less lately, but still on track to get my bonuses, which is the main goal.

I wanted to start playing cash games this weekend, but I got busy drinking, watching hockey, eating, and playing Modern Warfare 2.

I'm also finding that weekend nights are fishy, but weekend days are much less so. I get killed on weekend days but crush it on the nights... My worst days have been when I put in long weekend days. That is going to change.

Cash Games

Bank Roll - $606

I'm going to test out playing cash games this weekend. I like Double-Or-Nothings when clearing bonuses, but I need to become a cash game player if I'm going to really make money. I like that I can leave whenever I want to.

I'm going to start low, just to get a feel for it and take it from there.

Free Fall

I feel like I'm in complete free fall. I got a 50$ bonus today or else my situation would be even worse.

I may have a bit of fatigue because I play every day. I think a bigger problem is that I noticed the games have been very reg filled, which makes it very difficult to win. When I recognize every icon at the table and cannot spot a single fish, that's a problem. I'm a decent player, but not great. My solution is to go down to $5.2 for a little bit. Maybe they will not be as reg filled. It'll limit my losses.

It's very frustrating to lose so much so quickly, especially when my play hasn't changed dramatically.

On the plus side, I'm up for the month.

My super long term goal is just to climb the stakes to a high enough level and become a break even player (profit will come from the bonuses). I'm very far away from this goal.

Bank roll - $513.

Great Week, Worse Day

I had been playing really well and was up to above 700, then yesterday I had teh worst losing day I've ever had. Nothing could go right. I lost about 130. I had been doing so well that I'm still up and doing okay, but it's still frustrating.

On the plus side I'll clear 50 in bonus today or tomorrow which will pad the loss.