At new year there was a thread about New Year resolutions. At the time I was averaging $800/month with 100 hours play. My goal was to break $1000 AND keep the poker playing tolerable. 100 hours play a month is too much.
My records show that after the last 9 weeks playing (I did go on holiday) and 50k hands I am now averaging $320/week = $1280 /month WITH (and this is the good part) 50 hours play a month. There is a added time cost of about half an hour a day for 'administration' - shifting money around accounts - sending emails to customer support etc.
So,what made the difference?.To be frank my poker play has not really changed. I moved up limits (I play at 0.5/1 NL pretty comfortably now) but as Alex says - the fish are still there. I pay more attention to table selection. I play 7 tables at a time usually over two sites. I use Poker Tracker less in real time - I either label ppl as fish/maniacs or rocks. This I can do pretty quickly without PT. I play after 9pm at night only now
The big impact is rakeback programs and reload bonuses. There is a bit of signup money in the above figures but income of >$1000 has still been met excluding those figures.
I have a monthly strategy for sites to play. I don't use multiple accounts on any one site. If I were to do this it would add (with only an extra 15 hours) about $600.
This is all on ring play. I did the calculations for tournaments. Even given a substantial overlay I just don't think these are worth it. I do play the odd one for entertainment.
From my point of view this is all tax free (I would pay 40% otherwise). I hedge against currency fluctuations using Sterling and Dollars and am looking at opening an offshore interest bearing account. (Need a lot to open one of these).
I left
Pokerstars about 6 months ago now. It is clear to me that once you've learn't the game at PS you can do very well. Although,like the financial markets, making money at poker is very little to do with hole card selection (maybe an exageration
) and a lot to do with identifying oppertunity and BR management.
Can I squeeze out any more?. I think at 0.5/1 there are a few tricks I'm getting into. But generally if I find myself bluffing too much, I leave the table as its a good indicator that the table is too tight.
Higher limits? -I am actually drawn to these for development reasons. The reality is that at much higher limits I think my win rate would drop. I would play fewer tables - less tables to choose from. But just occasionally I have the urge to see if I could knock Helmuth around a bit ...
..
Bob