Fintastic!

One of my aims this year is to achieve a top twenty leaderboard ranking on Sharkscope for my Maui efforts. Yesterday I sneaked into twentieth for total year earnings at the $5 dollar sit n go level. So for now I have cracked it. I will have to continue with good progress to remain there for the rest of the year and retain this as a permanent ranking. That would be quite pleasing if I could. I have found Sharkscope very useful over the years particularly looking at my own stats. The ability to break down statistics into detail really helps understand weaknesses and eliminate mistakes. For example I know starting a session when I should be going to bed loses me money because I have been able to break down my performance by time of day. So I go to bed.   Kartajana   2,172 $0.59   $5   10% $1,278   - N/A iPoker Year2011 SNG Only Good night.

$20,000

It has taken nearly six years but in the last few days my total poker earnings have finally hit $20,000. A decent total for sure but also a long period of time. An average of $3,300 or £2,200 a year is ok for a part timer like myself but I have been genuinely diasppointed with it. Having said that it is nice to hit such a figure. The other good part is that I have never spent any of my bankroll.......until now. Reading Jared Tendlers book has helped me realise that I would benefit (in poker terms) by spending some of my earnings. I will more appreciate what I have achieved which will help with my confidence. So I now have a $8,000 bankroll for Poker and a $12,000 bankroll to spend on things I will enjoy or things I will be told I will enjoy by the missus. Item one: having some rooms professionally painted. Hmmm. Thanks Jared! Please vote in my survey. November is coming soon.

Two Thousand Games

I have just completed two thousand Maui games for the year. In truth the second thousand games were very similar in split and overall performance to the first (see my post in May). In some ways that gives me comfort. Both sets are a mixture of good runs, downswings and stagnation. The top two spots are still first and third which I am obviously happy with. Here is my position split and progress chart for the year to date.

The last five hundred games or so have seen me on a particularly good run which has continued into September. Also like last month I have cashed for $42 in the same VIP freeroll. This one is for high volume players only (VIP silver level) which I have been part of the last couple of months. The other night 117 players competed for a share of $3500. Real good value. I finished seventeenth. The final table which has eluded me so far has serious prizemoney. Shame its only once a month. Things are going well but I must not get complacent, cocky, lazy or unfocused. If I can remain on track I have a real chance to achieve all my challenge goals. I still have a lot of work to do however...... and another thousand games to play.

Hand History 5

A tricky spot six-handed at the 100/200 level where aggression ultimately wins the day. With A4 suited in the big blind I am resigned to folding any raise or shove. However when Siciliano25 calls in the cut off I am ready to go all in. In this spot he often has a hand like KJ or QJ. Not enough for some people to go all in with but they want to see a flop. Often when I go all in here he folds and if he calls I am slightly ahead. Occasionally this would be a trap from a big hand. However when the small blind joins in I have to rethink. Shoving now gives both the two others better odds to call so I check and take the flop which generously gives me the nut flush draw. When the small blind bets out the minimum I have only one intension, getting all my chips in. This gives me plenty of ways to win and sticks with my aggresive late style where I am hoping to double up prior to the bubble. Siciliano25 (my view on his hand holding looking correct) gets out of the way and the small blind calls with a worse flush draw. The flush hits, I become chip leader and go on to win the game. Its easy when you are running good.       saw flop | saw showdown Button martyme1 (1345) SB masha1981 (2610) BB Kartajana (1450) UTG lubeis4wimps (2432.50) MP WilliamJK (990) CO SICILIANO25 (1172.50) Preflop: Kartajana is BB with A 4 2 folds, SICILIANO25 calls 200, 1 fold, masha1981 calls 100, Kartajana checks. Flop (600) T 3 8 masha1981 bets 200, Kartajana raises to 1250, 1 fold, masha1981 calls 1050. Turn (3100) 3 River (3100) K masha1981 shows 9 6 Kartajana shows A 4 Kartajana wins 3100 with Flush (Spades) with Ace high   I quite like how these hand histories are represented but I think there is probably a better option (perhaps more graphical out there) which I will try out if I can source a good one. Also sometimes the positional data gets mixed up. If anyone knows a good I-Poker hand converter let me know via e-mail or post a comment. Thanks. Meanwhile please vote in my latest survey. I am really hoping Sam Holden can put together a strong run for the big prize but being short stack is a significant obstacle. I wish I had that problem though!

August Result (Tendler Style): I Played Well

August saw me playing well, with a balanced confidence level and running good in terms of variance. When faced with bad fortune I handled it well. However, I am still making more money from poor players mistakes rather than my own skill. I still need to very much work on my game to improve this to compensate for when the cards do not favour me so much. Incidentally I made around $400.

August Result: +$423, Overall: +$2149

A much better month in August. A good return in the Maui games themselves boosted by around $100 worth of rakeback and freeroll cashes means I can be very satisfied with the overall result. It also helps me close the gap a little on my challenge total for the year. Username Games Played Av. Profit Av. Stake Av. ROI Total Profit Form Ability /100 Network Filter Kartajana          269 $1.21   $5   20% $326   - N/A iPoker 8/1/2011 8/31/2011 SNG Only Repeat four times and I'm almost there!