So I left off talking (last post) about how I was lucky enough to turn four step 4′s into a step 6.  I actually went ahead and decided to play my only step 6 on Sunday afternoon.  Well to make a long story short, I won my seat to the WSOP!  It is a package that is worth 12 thousand dollars!

I am so excited, even 24 hours later, I don’t know where to begin.

As I was browsing the lobby at PokerStars, I saw a step 6 had 10 of the needed 12 players signed up.  The field was tough as what would be expected in a step 6, but I didn’t care.  Something inside told me that this was the one to play.  So I listened to my gut and signed up.

The game moved along incredibly slowly since we started with pretty deep stacks and the blinds were not escalating as they would in a turbo.  There was definitely plenty of play.  Some players obviously knew this as I noticed alot of deep-stack-type plays such as “floating.”  I had to adjust pretty quickly.

It was nearly an hour later and only 1 of the 12 starting players had been knocked out, and you could sense other players making moves to try and chip up.  When the following hand came up:

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Depending on how you look at it, AK is really a tough decision here.  I could easily make a case for folding.  However, I really thought that the button (M555SSM) was making a move.  Up to this point he had shown he is not afraid to reraise pre.  I thought he was just making a squeeze play here, and well Wes was cold calling all day.  I also felt that the SB who pushed all in knew this as well.  So I thought his range of hands here could easily be behind my AK.

I took up quite a bit of time as I finally made the decision to call.  Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but I am still happy with my call.  So it looked like this tournament was not mine to win as I was left with 7 big blinds as the blinds moved up to 75/150 the next hand.  I was really in dismay thinking that it was over.  But I never gave up!

I slowly worked my stack back up to find myself in the final 3.  It was then that I was confident that the seat was mine.  I knew it was just a matter of time.  A little while longer, the other two stacks played a huge hand in which one player got lucky to win.  It was a hand that I was shocked to see played out the way it was, but I was elated as the player that won had more chips than the other; meaning we were down to 2 players.  The game was over.  I won a seat (two were up for grabs).

I was jumping up and down like a school girl at field day.  I took a desktop pic of the lobby after I won to just make it official as I was still pinching myself.

So now I am 12 thousand dollars richer!  I have since decided to take the cash and opt out of playing in the the WSOP.  I might however attempt to win another seat.  If I do win another, I will definitely play the main event then.

I also want to note that a poker goal of mine that I set in October of ’07 has FINALLY been reached.  It was my 100 to 10k goal.  I was up to 5k within 6 months and nearly lost it all and then I basically had to start over.  I was starting to question if I would ever make it.  Now, I am looking forward to my next goal 10k to 100k.  Wish me luck! 

Oh….if you wanted to see the full hand history of the step 6:

Click here to view a larger version.

Back in October ’07 I set out to reach an online bankroll level of 10k. I knew I could do it, it was just a matter of learning that one dire lesson that seems to be vacant in my poker repertoire. That lesson is bankroll management.

I set this goal after losing over 2k in about a week’s time. At the time, it was the highest that my online bankroll had ever been. It took about 3 months to build, and in a blink of an eye it was gone.

So I deposited $100 with the intent to never go broke again. At the same time, I was set on trying to start building a bankroll and see if I can’t make some serious money playing online poker.

It has now been a year since the start of this goal. When I first started the goal, I honestly thought it would take anywhere from 8 to 16 months since I am not a high-volume player. However, I definitely thought I would be further along than I am now. Below is a graph of how my BR has fared since starting this goal of mine:

Starting at $100 I reached 1k in a little more than a month’s time. I was well on my way, then I hit one of many bad patches. I battled on though, and hit 2k by around the 3 month mark. I would eventually hit my high point of just over $5,000 in the 7th month.

Then I went on deadly tilt during and after my trip to Vegas in June. I was chasing losses, playing poorly, and running bad all while playing levels that would actually require me to have a bankroll of over 20k to truly withstand the swings. It was a combination that could be the end-all for many of poker players. Eventually I snapped out of it, and I started this blog here.

Since starting this blog, I have had my highs and lows, and again was still playing outside of my bankroll. Then I finally hit a point to where I was at a level where I had reached just 1 month into this goal, the 1k mark. I took a break, and have played a couple times since then, but overall just haven’t played hardly at all as my motivation is just not there.

It has been a really disappointing ride thus far, but I am not giving up. I will reach my goal, just not as soon as once hoped or personally expected.

Another reason for starting this blog was due to my “goal to 10k.” I started a thread on PokerXFactor describing how poor my bankroll habits are and I often deposit $100 to let it climb to over 2k over about a month or two to just lose it all in about a week.

So I established a goal. One that would take me from a $100 deposit on Pokerstars to $10,000. Not being a high-volume player, I felt it would take me anywhere from 8-14 months. Well, this goal was started in middle of October. It has been about 9 months.

Where do I stand? My bankroll on Stars as of now is $2,538.30 plus W$368. The highest my bankroll has been since starting this goal was $5,077.31 (about 2 months ago).

I could sit here and tell you about the trials and tribulations so far with my goal, but I am looking at this switch to a blog as almost a “starting over” point. I will say that, I should be alot higher than $2,900 and had a couple of cards gone my way I would be well over 12k by this point. But that is poker!

I will try and update my bankroll goal as often as possible. But knowing how repititive things get after starting the thread on PXF, I am not going to let it be the only thing in this blog, and maybe not even the main thing.