Back Where I Started

It was fun while it lasted.

I requested another cashout from FTP, a little more than half of my remaining bankroll. Shockingly, the check was delivered within days of the approval. I'll still hold on to it for a couple of weeks in case something wacky happens & the checks bounce.

The cashout was a necessary measure as finding a new job has been a continued struggle. I was in the running for a great opportunity, only to end up the bridesmaid. My unemployment checks are still coming in, but only for the next two months, and some additional income was needed. Additionally, I could sense in the way that I had been playing poker lately that I needed to get the money out of there. I was flip-flopping between cautiously tight & aw-fuck-it loose, and neither of those methods tend to work very well.

So after seeing my bankroll climb to nearly $5k, I'm back to where I started a couple of months ago, just a shade over $300. I was able to work out a swap to move the other half to PokerStars. Aside from blogger games, I think I'm done with FTP right now. The withdrawal issues over the past couple of months have really soured my impression of FTP, so I'm going elsewhere to work on building my bankroll back up.

......

I found my way to another live tournament this past week, the same place where I played a bounty tournament a few weeks ago. $40 buyin, same horrible structure. The first couple of levels allow for a little bit of play, but once it goes 300\500, 500\1000, 1000\2000 then 2000\4000, it quickly becomes a shove fest. I ended up in 15th or so out of 87 when my AT couldn't fade JJ. I could have folded since I was up against an EP push & had a couple players to act after me, but all things considered (an M of 2.5, a fast approaching BB, and the PF shover's intoxication level) told me that this might be my best chance. The structure certainly makes it a high variance game at the end, but I believe the number of horrible players still makes it a beatable tournament.

I think my goal next year will be to incorporate a lot more live play into my game & start phasing out online poker. As a whole, live poker is so much more fun to play than online poker, and I've got plenty of places to play within an OK driving distance. Sadly, few of those places offer tournaments with even a decent structure, and I don't have the flexibility (and probably skill) to sit at the cash tables just yet, but once things shape up elsewhere in my life, I have every intent to start hitting the card rooms a lot more often than I currently do.