I spent the past few days in a period of what you might call "writer's block." You may agree that I never write anything interesting on this blog anyways, but nonetheless I havn't wanted to post the same mindless status update along with a few words of how I did today so I reluctantly left the blog blank until now. : (
I'm laying in bed right now typing on my laptop, as I was just about to go to bed after a long night of playing, when I noticed an old word document in my iphone. It was something I had written while I was in Vegas this summer during the week that the WSOP had started. I think it's quite important to include when documenting my pursuit of a career as a professional poker player. On this particular day I was feeling pretty down and felt that I needed a way to relax myself from the stresses that accompany a career with so much variance, and what better way than to share my experience with others. So my technical first ever 'blog' posting occured in a word document on my iphone. It read...
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Blog
July 3,2009
-although I'm only down $1500 for the day. I'm quite certain that today was the worst day I've had since I started playing poker professionally earlier this year.
- the day started quite calm. I caught a couple more hours of sleep on my pullout sofa while Greg and Ellen went to the pool. When 1pm rolled around my body decided it was a good time to get up. And it's a good thing I did because I was scheduled for my pokerstars promotional sit and go freeroll. Quick explanation = 6 players, 3rd to 6th get $100. 2nd gets $300. 1st gets $500 and an entry into another freeroll tournament where $800,000 in packages and cash is given away. So to put it short and sweet, everyone was guaranteed $100 in Palms casino chips just for showing up. Even though I wasn't planning on giving it my everything, I was still interested in getting an extra $500 in spending money for the trip. After getting a shower and grabbing two slices of mushroom pizza in the food court (mmmmmmm), I was just in time for my first hand in the big blind as I sat down. Other than realizing the structure was that of a hyper-turbo crapshootament, nothing interesting or worth mentioning happened for a while. Finally I found 2 black jacks on the button. I opened the pot to 150 from 25/50 blinds and with a call from the small blind we were headsup on a J98 flop. I bet 200 when I was checked to, and after some intense thought and contemplation, the small blind tossed in the 2 black chips for a call. Obviously I'm not surprised to see a Q on the turn, and when I'm checked to again, even though I don't think the nice yet strange Canadian man in the sb holds a 10 in his hand, I reluctantly check behind. The river is a random 6 and the small blind leads for 500 of the 1500 remaining chips he had. Obviously if I told you that I called and lost everyone who thinks they know something about poker would tell me that the fish never has anything but a straight there and that my call was terrible. Well sure enough, I did call, and I did lose... But not to a straight. I don't need to tell you what I lost to because anyone who plays poker knows there's only one hand beating me, and anyone who doesn't play poker probably doesn't care.
- I'm not going to go into detail about every hand I played in this thing. And however boring and standard this hand may have been, I found it quite important as it was representative of the way things had been going for me so far in vegas. After losing a good portion of my stack with QJ on the 10.9.8.22 board. I was left with 1300 chips to get in with 99 against 88. The flop comes A46 and I'm ahead for about 2.3 seconds while the dealer burns and throws out the 5 and 7 turn and river to give the 88s the winning straight and leaving me with a $100 4th place finish. I smile, get up from the table, and head to the cashier to collect my money.
- Getting up from the table after losing is always strange. I normally really don't feel that upset, but it seems like everyone at the table expects you to be upset and stares in your direction with what appears to be pity. But everyone knows it's fake pity and that poker players don't ever have a shred of any thoughtful emotion in them whatsoever. Especially not caring for the well-being of a fellow players. So for the purpose of keeping things fair and honest I think upon my elimination from the Main Even, I'll save the handshakes and smiles and hold two middle fingers in the air for everyone still in play. Unless Vanessa Rousso happens to be seated at my table, in which case I may have some of that fake pity, gratitude, sorrow look stuff left in me...
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I thought this post was fun and worth mentioning. No status update for now. Doing OK. Catching up to pace and whatnot. It's 7:46Am. Going to bed. Goodnight/ Good Morning.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Long Day Ahead
I spent the majority of Sunday morning attempting to satellite into the $5,200 WCOOP Main Event. I accomplished my goal by winning a $33 rebuy satellite to a $530 turbo satellite which I won as well. Being as I didn't have that great of a desire to play in the tournament, I would have normally unregistered and taken the money, but unfortunately by the time my satellite ended, the Main Event was already in progress and I was forced to take my seat. I was eliminated within the first 2 hours, losing QQ to AA against Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who happened to be playing like an absolute clown in just about every pot he was involved in up to that point. I suppose the only real thing gained from playing the event was the 1,000 vpp that came along with the buyin. Perhaps it was also beneficial to play it this year to get some experience with the structure, skill level, etc... as next year I will have a free entry from the Elite package.
I played some cash on the side as well, and along with my terrible play came some swingy sessions and a generally downward slope on my graphs. I have finally returned mentally from my trip to Atlantic City and I am ready to get back to playing seriously.
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 84,412
Yearly VPP: 693,366
Hands Played: ~1,355,529 (TableRatings Site Down for Maintenance)
Winnings: ~$17,000 (Site Down for Maintenance)
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $55,916
Total Earned Year to Date: ~$72,916 (Estimate - Site Down for Maintenance)
I played some cash on the side as well, and along with my terrible play came some swingy sessions and a generally downward slope on my graphs. I have finally returned mentally from my trip to Atlantic City and I am ready to get back to playing seriously.
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 84,412
Yearly VPP: 693,366
Hands Played: ~1,355,529 (TableRatings Site Down for Maintenance)
Winnings: ~$17,000 (Site Down for Maintenance)
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $55,916
Total Earned Year to Date: ~$72,916 (Estimate - Site Down for Maintenance)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Back From a 3-day vacation
After one night at the Borgata in Atlantic City I am never sure how I will ever be able to leave. By the third night, I have one foot out the door and no plan of returning. I have only been back home for about 36 hours now and once again I am craving a return trip. I guess this kind of indecisiveness is to be expected from one of the most beautiful, disgusting, miraculous, hideous, and most magical places on the east coast.
Prior to this trip the biggest live game I had played was 5-10 no limit with a $2,000 cap. So as you can imagine it was quite a jump sitting in an uncapped 10-25 no limit game on our first night in Atlantic City. I sat with around $8,000 which was quite short for our table; the average buyin being around $15,000. The skill level of the players was no worse than anything I have to deal with from the midstakes online games. In fact in terms of skill level of players, the games are much easier than I had expected. However it is extremely intimidating to sit at a table with players who are much more comfortable splashing around in pots for thousands of dollars when I am used to "big" pots online being around $500. Within the first thirty minutes of playing I got bluffed out of a pot or two while I sat patiently and waited for the perfect spot to win one of the biggest pots of my life. The wait was for nothing, as I soon was involved in a 3bet pot with AK on the AJ4 flop facing a decision for all my chips. In terms of how the game was playing this wasn't a very big pot at all and considering I was up against one of the loosest players at the table, I wasn't able to fold the AK and I lost my first five figure pot to AJ who had flopped top two pair. As I saw what amounted to a little over $10,000 being pushed away from me, I couldn't help but smile. I knew this was what I wanted. I have heard plenty of stories of revelations people have had in the past and I have never been able to understand what exactly they meant, until now. Yes I still plan on going back to school, yes I still plan on having a family and living a normal life, but poker will always be something I enjoy and something that I take very seriously, and for now, the way I make my living.
Even after losing the five figure pot, I managed to win a few buyins at 5-10 to make back some of the losses leaving me down around $3000 overall. The second most eventful part of the trip was about to take place. Greg playing $100-$200 no limit. A game that had an average buyin of over $40,000. Luckily I was able to invest some money into his buyin which amounted to 7.5% of action I had on this game. With most of the players being millionaires, you can imagine how big the pots could become. The exchange of tens of thousands of dollars only lasted for a few hours and in the end my 7.5% had amounted to a little under +$2,000 to leave me down around $1,000 for the trip. After this I didn't play as much poker as I would have liked, but I had a lot on my mind after what I had just witnessed and been a part of. On the final night of the trip I had dinner at Bobby Flay Steakhouse in the Borgata which, as always, is an amazing way to end a trip to Atlantic City. $20 shrimp cocktail appetizers, $50 filets, and $10 sides are worth every penny.
I returned from the trip down $1540 including hotel, food, and all other expenses. I have never been so proud to book a loss. I learned countless things about the game of poker and where I stand in that game.
Prior to this trip the biggest live game I had played was 5-10 no limit with a $2,000 cap. So as you can imagine it was quite a jump sitting in an uncapped 10-25 no limit game on our first night in Atlantic City. I sat with around $8,000 which was quite short for our table; the average buyin being around $15,000. The skill level of the players was no worse than anything I have to deal with from the midstakes online games. In fact in terms of skill level of players, the games are much easier than I had expected. However it is extremely intimidating to sit at a table with players who are much more comfortable splashing around in pots for thousands of dollars when I am used to "big" pots online being around $500. Within the first thirty minutes of playing I got bluffed out of a pot or two while I sat patiently and waited for the perfect spot to win one of the biggest pots of my life. The wait was for nothing, as I soon was involved in a 3bet pot with AK on the AJ4 flop facing a decision for all my chips. In terms of how the game was playing this wasn't a very big pot at all and considering I was up against one of the loosest players at the table, I wasn't able to fold the AK and I lost my first five figure pot to AJ who had flopped top two pair. As I saw what amounted to a little over $10,000 being pushed away from me, I couldn't help but smile. I knew this was what I wanted. I have heard plenty of stories of revelations people have had in the past and I have never been able to understand what exactly they meant, until now. Yes I still plan on going back to school, yes I still plan on having a family and living a normal life, but poker will always be something I enjoy and something that I take very seriously, and for now, the way I make my living.
Even after losing the five figure pot, I managed to win a few buyins at 5-10 to make back some of the losses leaving me down around $3000 overall. The second most eventful part of the trip was about to take place. Greg playing $100-$200 no limit. A game that had an average buyin of over $40,000. Luckily I was able to invest some money into his buyin which amounted to 7.5% of action I had on this game. With most of the players being millionaires, you can imagine how big the pots could become. The exchange of tens of thousands of dollars only lasted for a few hours and in the end my 7.5% had amounted to a little under +$2,000 to leave me down around $1,000 for the trip. After this I didn't play as much poker as I would have liked, but I had a lot on my mind after what I had just witnessed and been a part of. On the final night of the trip I had dinner at Bobby Flay Steakhouse in the Borgata which, as always, is an amazing way to end a trip to Atlantic City. $20 shrimp cocktail appetizers, $50 filets, and $10 sides are worth every penny.
I returned from the trip down $1540 including hotel, food, and all other expenses. I have never been so proud to book a loss. I learned countless things about the game of poker and where I stand in that game.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Feels Good to be Back
"Best Day Ever" yesterday profiting $2640. It was closer to +$3200 but table ratings was off a little bit. Like I said, it feels good to be back. Again, it feels good to be back. Again, it feels good to be back. Good. To. Be. Back. Alright. It's 11am and I'm already up around $600 today. No status update right now as I will do one later tonight and hopefully be just as gee golly peachy as I am right now. Wish me luck....
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Back in the Zone.
Hello Andrew,
Thank you for your email.
Normally when we respond to bad beat complaints such as yours, we have reviewed the player's account and see they have generally been playing poker for a relatively short time. So we take the time to explain to them that there is no such thing as a doomswitch or whatever thing they've read about on an online forum that has convinced them that they are somehow being
cheated by online poker.
However, I have reviewed your account and see you have been playing online at PokerStars for close to 4 years, have achieved SuperNova VIP status, and have cashed out close to $50,000 in winnings.
With all your online poker experience, would it be safe for me to suggest that if I provided you with the usual "online poker is not rigged" stuff which is similarly populating discussion forums, that it would be an insult to your intelligence?
Could it be that you are simply steaming from a recent bad beat rather than truly believing that PokerStars is rigged?
You are a valued player at PokerStars, and your record indicates you are a successful one too. So rather than talk to you about a subject that you already have knowledge of, let me instead sympathise with your current situation. I play poker too (although unfortunately I am not allowed to play at PokerStars), and can certainly appreciate the frustration of experiencing
a downswing.
Mason Malmuth once wrote about such "variance" that it is possible to play absolutely perfect poker, making the right play 100% of the time, and still be on a downswing for months at a time.
Hopefully it will be enough for me to say, from one poker player to another, that bad beats and downswings happen to us all, and that with the solid skills that your record suggests you possess, I trust your results will improve in the near future.
Kind regards,
Brett
PokerStars Support Team
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At least they had someone intelligent respond. Well since they refused to flip my switch I took it upon myself to start playing a little better. It seems to be working up to this point but who knows how long it will last. Long day ahead of me...
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 61,364
Yearly VPP: 670,317
Hands Played: 1,333,529
Winnings: $15,953
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $54,585
Total Earned Year to Date: $70,538
Thank you for your email.
Normally when we respond to bad beat complaints such as yours, we have reviewed the player's account and see they have generally been playing poker for a relatively short time. So we take the time to explain to them that there is no such thing as a doomswitch or whatever thing they've read about on an online forum that has convinced them that they are somehow being
cheated by online poker.
However, I have reviewed your account and see you have been playing online at PokerStars for close to 4 years, have achieved SuperNova VIP status, and have cashed out close to $50,000 in winnings.
With all your online poker experience, would it be safe for me to suggest that if I provided you with the usual "online poker is not rigged" stuff which is similarly populating discussion forums, that it would be an insult to your intelligence?
Could it be that you are simply steaming from a recent bad beat rather than truly believing that PokerStars is rigged?
You are a valued player at PokerStars, and your record indicates you are a successful one too. So rather than talk to you about a subject that you already have knowledge of, let me instead sympathise with your current situation. I play poker too (although unfortunately I am not allowed to play at PokerStars), and can certainly appreciate the frustration of experiencing
a downswing.
Mason Malmuth once wrote about such "variance" that it is possible to play absolutely perfect poker, making the right play 100% of the time, and still be on a downswing for months at a time.
Hopefully it will be enough for me to say, from one poker player to another, that bad beats and downswings happen to us all, and that with the solid skills that your record suggests you possess, I trust your results will improve in the near future.
Kind regards,
Brett
PokerStars Support Team
--------------------------------------------------------
At least they had someone intelligent respond. Well since they refused to flip my switch I took it upon myself to start playing a little better. It seems to be working up to this point but who knows how long it will last. Long day ahead of me...
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 61,364
Yearly VPP: 670,317
Hands Played: 1,333,529
Winnings: $15,953
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $54,585
Total Earned Year to Date: $70,538
Monday, September 14, 2009
This Time I'm Upset
Never have I ever....... been really upset with losing money at poker.... until now.
Never have I ever....... been coolered in 90% of 3bet and 4bet (sometimes 5bet) pots....until now.
Never have I ever....... complained about such things...... until now.
Given the current circumstances I felt it appropriate to send PokerStars an email. The following is what was said...
Andrew Hippler to support 7:03 AM (5 minutes ago)
I am attempting to make supernova elite this year. I currently have 665,521 vpp on the year which is a little less than 40k behind pace. Unfortunately I am unable to win hands on your site and at this rate I will be broke prior to doing so. I would greatly appreciate if someone there would head down to the basement and flip my "run good" switch on. I am aware of the terms and conditions and whatnot of the "random number generator" and integrity of the site and whatever. I do not need this explained to me. I simply need someone to head down to the basement and flip the switch. The sooner the better. Thank you for your time. - Andrew
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Hopefully they abide and do as they were told. Or else I will have to resort to playing midstakes 2+2 regulars headsup to replenish the acount. Status update....
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 56,567
Yearly VPP: 665,521
Hands Played: 1,323,472
Winnings: $14,605
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $53,731
Total Earned Year to Date: $68,336
Never have I ever....... been coolered in 90% of 3bet and 4bet (sometimes 5bet) pots....until now.
Never have I ever....... complained about such things...... until now.
Given the current circumstances I felt it appropriate to send PokerStars an email. The following is what was said...
Andrew Hippler to support 7:03 AM (5 minutes ago)
I am attempting to make supernova elite this year. I currently have 665,521 vpp on the year which is a little less than 40k behind pace. Unfortunately I am unable to win hands on your site and at this rate I will be broke prior to doing so. I would greatly appreciate if someone there would head down to the basement and flip my "run good" switch on. I am aware of the terms and conditions and whatnot of the "random number generator" and integrity of the site and whatever. I do not need this explained to me. I simply need someone to head down to the basement and flip the switch. The sooner the better. Thank you for your time. - Andrew
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hopefully they abide and do as they were told. Or else I will have to resort to playing midstakes 2+2 regulars headsup to replenish the acount. Status update....
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 56,567
Yearly VPP: 665,521
Hands Played: 1,323,472
Winnings: $14,605
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $53,731
Total Earned Year to Date: $68,336
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sigh
As usual I have been playing massive amounts of hands everyday and have been too lazy to post as much as I'd like. I'm closing the gap on how far I was behind pace for my goal. I am just 40k VPP behind now which adjusts to about 10 days of work.
On a side note, I just had my biggest losing session ever at 1/2. -$1921 over 4,300 hands. Considering how I was running, I'm not as upset as I would normally be. There was definitely some tilt involved and I made a few plays that were quite hilarious to look at after the fact, but even so I always got it in with a decent amount of equity. With adjusted EV (the blue line) I was supposed to book a tiny win, but I suppose it wouldn't be much of a game if everything always went as it was supposed to. Below is a graph from my session with winnings and EV and a status report as usual.
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 46,104
Yearly VPP: 655,058
Hands Played: 1,311,437
Winnings: $19,390
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $53,704
Total Earned Year to Date: $73,634
On a side note, I just had my biggest losing session ever at 1/2. -$1921 over 4,300 hands. Considering how I was running, I'm not as upset as I would normally be. There was definitely some tilt involved and I made a few plays that were quite hilarious to look at after the fact, but even so I always got it in with a decent amount of equity. With adjusted EV (the blue line) I was supposed to book a tiny win, but I suppose it wouldn't be much of a game if everything always went as it was supposed to. Below is a graph from my session with winnings and EV and a status report as usual.
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 46,104
Yearly VPP: 655,058
Hands Played: 1,311,437
Winnings: $19,390
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $53,704
Total Earned Year to Date: $73,634
Sunday, September 6, 2009
More Posts to Come
I'm gonna start posting on here much more often. Theres really not much of a purpose to tracking your progress if you're not going to do it consistently, so my attempt will be to post everyday from here on out. I'm two hours into WCOOP 11 $530 2day. It's been a while since I've played tournaments so I was pretty excited at first, but now just two hours in, even though I have an average chipstack, I'm hating it. I didn't even consider the fact that the first day of this thing won't end for another 9 hours or so, not to mention the 2nd day... Running good for a few hours is one thing but this is two full days of luckboxing every coinflip, one after the other. I was going to do a full lineup of all the major sunday tournaments but decided to just play this WCOOP and cash games on the side. Unfortunately I never do well in cash while playing tournaments so I'm down like $1400 from my career peak which I reached a couple nights ago.
On a side note, I've been playing some 2/4 and 3/6 hit and run sessions recently and have been doing quite well.
My goal for this month is to get my $1/2 winnings above $20k on table ratings. This might seem like a strange goal, but I personally believe in the importance of beating a game for 100 buyins before having any bragging rights whatsoever. I am currently around $14,000 for $1/2 winnings, give or take a few hundred.
Now for the status update... For the record, the "Hands Played" and "Winnings" is coming from TableRatings. The "Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus" is coming from FPPPro.com and the "Total Earned Year to Date" is a combination of the two and seems to be relatively accurate. These statistics are solely tracking my online cash game rakeback and winnings. These results do not include tournaments, live winnings, etc...
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 14,955
Yearly VPP: 623,908
Hands Played: 1,255,993
Winnings: $22,412
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $51905.69
Total Earned Year to Date: $74,317
On a side note, I've been playing some 2/4 and 3/6 hit and run sessions recently and have been doing quite well.
My goal for this month is to get my $1/2 winnings above $20k on table ratings. This might seem like a strange goal, but I personally believe in the importance of beating a game for 100 buyins before having any bragging rights whatsoever. I am currently around $14,000 for $1/2 winnings, give or take a few hundred.
Now for the status update... For the record, the "Hands Played" and "Winnings" is coming from TableRatings. The "Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus" is coming from FPPPro.com and the "Total Earned Year to Date" is a combination of the two and seems to be relatively accurate. These statistics are solely tracking my online cash game rakeback and winnings. These results do not include tournaments, live winnings, etc...
Current Status:
Monthly VPP: 14,955
Yearly VPP: 623,908
Hands Played: 1,255,993
Winnings: $22,412
Estimated Earned Rakeback and Bonus: $51905.69
Total Earned Year to Date: $74,317
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