It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire year since I last posted here. So, I figured it’s time for a little recap of how things have gone over the past 12 months.
I started the year with a few shots at NL100, using around 10–15 buy-ins. Before that, I had dabbled in NL25. While I didn’t play more than a couple thousand hands, I was fairly satisfied with the results, finishing with around 3-4 BB/100. I didn’t make much profit, but I wasn’t disappointed either. I decided to skip NL50, as I had read that there wasn’t much difference between NL50 and NL100. In hindsight, though, jumping straight into NL100 without the proper bankroll probably wasn’t the smartest move.
Soon after, I fell back into my old habit of multitabling four ZOOM tables or playing 8–12 tables at NL2 and NL5 cash games. It wasn’t exactly high-level poker, but it scratched my “clicking” itch. According to PokerStars, I’ve played a million hands, though I’ve likely played around 200,000 more since hitting that milestone.
The Doyle Brunson Period
On October 2, I started my “Doyle Brunson” period, which will last until February 10. My original plan was to dive into multitabling MTTs, as that’s what I’m best at (or at least, I like to think so). To make multitabling more efficient, I decided to try out Intuitive Tables.
During my first session, I opened around 10 tournaments, with the goal of playing the early stages on my laptop while watching TV. Unfortunately, the session quickly turned into a disaster, as both 888 and Svenska Spel kept sending pop-up windows every hour, blocking interaction with the table buttons. I tried to continue on my desktop, which was better, but the pop-ups still caused issues, and I struggled to locate and close them.
Although I was only playing $1 and $2 tournaments, I finishing second in one on 888 for a $50 cash, and I made the money in two or three others. Despite the technical difficulties, the session ended up being profitable.
Technical Problems and New Purchases
The following weekend, I tried again, but this time only from my desktop. I also planned to record the session. Once again, I opened 10–12 tournaments, but the issues started right away. I suspect my computer couldn’t handle running both OBS Studio and PokerTracker at the same time, causing lag. The pop-up windows remained a problem. After logging out and trying again, I had some success, but it quickly became clear that multitabling tournaments didn’t work as I had hoped. I simply couldn’t sit at the computer for 5–6 hours straight with only a 5-minute break every hour. As a result, I decided to focus more on cash games, with the occasional tournament, but no longer multitabling them to the point of madness.
Before starting my Doyle Brunson period, I made some upgrades. I bought a 34-inch widescreen monitor to aid with multitabling, and while I’m really happy with it, I regret not following my son’s advice to opt for a flat-screen instead of a curved one. I also replaced my old motorized desk, which had broken, with a new height-adjustable one—perfect for my small gaming nook.
I also upgraded my peripherals. I got a new Redragon K585 keyboard, which I’m starting to get used to, and a Redragon MMO mouse (M811). These two allow me to switch between them easily and save my mouse finger, which could be a problem since I use it at work too. But none of these upgrades would have been possible without Intuitive Tables—what an amazing program! Despite my general dislike for Windows, this software is so beautifully designed that it makes me warm inside when I use it.
Technical Upgrades and Issues
At one point, I began to suspect that PokerTracker was running slow due to my disk space. I had a 500 GB drive with only 30 GB free, so I bought a new 2TB M.2 SSD. Unfortunately, the installation didn’t go smoothly, and there were issues during setup. My son also gave me a 250 GB M.2 SSD, which we planned to use for the OS, but it had booting issues. After a lot of troubleshooting, we decided to do a fresh install with Windows 11 instead of the Windows 10 I had before. I backed up my PT4 database, which was around 36 GB and probably contained a few million hands. To make a long story short, after the fresh installation, I lost the PT4 backup.
More recently, I began to feel like 16 GB of RAM wasn’t quite enough. My 888 software was taking forever to close tables, and the Commit Charge was constantly hovering around 80–100%. So, I decided to upgrade to 32 GB of RAM. When the new RAM arrived, I discovered that the two sticks I bought weren’t compatible, as they were different versions. In hindsight, I should have listened to my son and just bought the 32 GB of new RAM—it would have cost $80, but instead, I spent $45 on two 8 GB sticks and wasted about 5 hours dealing with the compatibility issues.
New Goals for the Upcoming Year
So, here we are—a new year just around the corner. My PT4 database is now reset and empty, though I found a backup from May 2024 that I might import later. Going into the new year, I’m taking a more serious approach to my poker game. My goal is to reach NL100, but I’m not setting any limits beyond that.
I plan to follow a bankroll strategy I heard about from RedChip, which involves taking shots with two buy-ins at the higher levels and moving back down if I lose those shots. For January, my plan is to play two tables of NL10 across 888, iPoker, and PokerStars. If I manage at least 3 BB/100 by the end of the month, I’ll take six shots at NL25. I can also play three tables of NL5 and up to six tables of NL2, but never at the same time. NL2 will help keep my “clicking” habit in check.
On weekdays, I’ll only play NL10 between 8 PM and midnight, limiting myself to two tables at a time and playing 40–60 minutes per session (about 200 hands). I can play NL5 from 7 PM and NL2 from 6 PM as warm-up sessions. On Fridays, the same rules apply. Saturdays are a little more flexible, with NL5 allowed from 4 PM, NL2 anytime, and NL10 starting at 8 PM. I’ll check my stats every Monday after work since I’ve found that checking them after every session messes with my mindset and negatively impacts my play.
I’m feeling optimistic about succeeding this time around, especially if I stick to my plan.
“I need to remember to prioritize quality over quantity, and that it’s a tough grind to make 200BB, but only takes a split-second mistake to lose them.”