This blog was inspired by Bond18's current heater as described in his blog and Body Man D's sick heater the last two weeks:

It's funny how poker can make you feel. When you are winning you feel like you are a great player and when losing you feel like you have completely lost touch with the game. Even though February has been pretty good to me (up over $1k) I continue to doubt my abilities. One of the biggest factors is that I have yet to have a big online MTT score. Making $2k grinding 2,000 STT is not near as rewarding to the ego as taking down a large MTT donkament and winning the same $2k in a single day.

I have been playing poker nights and weekends for around 2 years now, the last year pretty seriously. I have live profits of around $10,000 (most of this from the WSOP Circuit donkament I finished 3rd in) and relatively meager online profits of around $2,000. According to thepokerdb I have profitably played 156 MTT at Absolute and unprofitably played 80 at Stars. I've also played around 1,000 STT in between all the major sites and made most my online profits that way. By contrast, I have played maybe 30 live tournaments (only when in Vegas or New Orleans). Which begs the question: given the small sample size of live tourneys vs. online, why havn't I enjoyed the same level of success online? Much is said about the generally poor quality of live play, and while it is certainly true that live poker is more +ev depending on the venue I would expect a $2,000+ cash somewhere in those 200 online MTT's.

On the flip side, my $9k cash at the WSOP in a $300 buyin event equates to a cash of about $600 at a $20 buyin event. I have had several $600+ cashes online, so I guess it maybe just an economy of scale/bank roll issue.

Did my WSOP cash create too high of expectations? I was, after all, playing outside of my poker bankroll since my online bankroll at that time was <$500. Maybe I've answered my own questions while writing this blog. I took a shot playing above my bankroll and happened to have a good result. Now I need to grow my online bankroll so I can eventually play bigger and better games as I improve. In the past I would cash out my profits as I made them. The $700 I currently have on stars is the largest I have ever maintained and I do not plan on withdrawing.

So tell me, Two Rags, is my perspective correct? Since I've shown consistent profits playing STT should I focus on those for bankroll purposes and play the occasional MTT?

I hope to one day tell you all of an 5 figure online heater. Until then, I'll keep grinding.

After a loooong break even stretch I've started making some money again. My stars bankroll is now up to $700 and my plan is to get it up to $1000 by the end of February. Sustainable?

Does this make any sense at all?

Pokerstars was on the fritz again last night so I loaded up $100 on AP to play some small stakes donkaments. First one I play is the nightly $5r which had 109 players in. I take it down for around $430. Nice little shot to the bankroll. The final table had pretty mediocre players, I knew as long as I didn't get unlucky I had a good shot at taking it down. Ran well obv, my big hands held up and I won 2 key coinflips.

I will try to get the HH on PXF for an official thread review on 2+2.

I love MTT, but with time demands and bankroll taking a hit is there any better way to build a roll than mult-tabling low-stakes STT? I was playing the $4/180's but as you can see I was getting nowhere. I started 4-tabling $6.50 turbo STT and have been getting good results.



I think I will continue grinding and only play a few weekend MTT until the WSOP Circuit in New Orleans (May).