Sunday Million Preparation?

Part of my plan for August is to play the Sunday Million at the end of the month and to also play a handful of $50 multi table tournaments as part of my preparation. I am happy to spend c$500 on what can only be described as speculative entries. I am ready for a change I think from playing low stakes sit n gos. I have lost focus recently and think taking a shot at something a bit different might help. As part of my preparation I have been doing the following:

• I have played a few multi table tournaments at very low stakes with a few min cashes but no great progress.
• I have played quite a few 180 man games in the last month or so with poor results so far. It would appear that I am banned from the final table from these games at the moment.
• I have been watching re-runs of Sunday Million final tables which have been very interesting. One in terms of how deals are done at this stage and two in that the play is very much as you would expect. There is no radical strategy here, most players seem to play sensible but aggressive final table strategy. The trick is getting there I guess.
• I have been re-reading Harrington on Holdem volumes one and two which delivers a solid if conservative approach to MTTs.
• I have been watching some hands of Kev Steele (two time Sunday Million winner) to see if I can pick up some strategic pointers. I believe I have.

Unfortunately my current form and mindset is poor. In fact I have had a disappointing few weeks poker wise and will probably lose quite a few dollars in July. Worse than that on a number occasions I have not enjoyed my poker. Perhaps this is not the right moment to take a shot at a few decent tournaments or maybe it is just what I need to get back on track. I think the latter, especially as I should benefit from I couple of short breaks that I have coming up. Let me know what you think via my latest survey and please feel free to comment.

 

Good luck.

Mickey Mouse

In a couple of weeks the Tomlinsons are taking a trip to Disneyland Paris for a few days. The main reason I mention it on my poker blog is that this an additional, originally unplanned break which we are only really making because of holiday fund support from my poker winnings. Given the current economic uncertainty this is probably a little excessive, but the kids are the perfect age for it right now. Partly, I am continuing to try to help my mental game by linking my poker success to real tangible benefits, as opposed to a bankroll sat in various poker and bank accounts. Partly, I am just doing what the wife tells me!

Unfortunately I am not expecting much poker action over in Paris though I hear Disney Princess Ariel is a bit of a fish! 

Rio Challenge Result

A positive finish but an average performance overall. I guess -3% is not too bad given the high rake and the consolation win but I always planned to have a positive ROI. I was also unhappy with my freeroll returns. For 250 games $357 is a reasonable return, demonstrating the hidden returns for Jackpot players from rakeback and consolation wins. Overall though, I did not have a good enough strategy or simply did not play well enough to win more games. The truth is I am not which one was more important.   Kartajana   250 -$0.65   $20   -3% -$163   Hot N/A iPoker 5/1/2012 6/26/2012 SNG Only   Outcome summary:

	To Date	Target
Direct Profit	-163	150
Rakeback	185	200
Freeroll Wins	35	150
Consolation	300	300
Total	357	800

Anyway, onwards and upwards. My ambitious plan moving forward is to focus on a more mixed set of games in July and August, including some MTTs prior to a shot at the Sunday Million at the end of August. Following that audacious plot I aim to play one thousand Maui games Sept-Dec and finally hit the sit n go Jackpot. Time to be a small island on the poker map.

Good Luck