The Road to Event 26, Part 1

OK - after the debacle that was yesterday morning with poker, I am straightening myself out and getting focused. I have slightly less than 6 months to prepare for Event 26, and by prepare I mean win enough money to play in Event 26. And not just the buy-in for the tournament, but all of the travel expenses that go along with it.

So here is the goal - In order to pay for my way to tournament, I merely have to win $11.50 per day. That only accounts for taking 3 days off between now and then. Since I play poker pretty much at some point every single day of the year online, I don't see this as a problem. To also justify playing with money won instead of using the money to pay for other stuff around the house, I am also factoring in needing to win another $11.50 a day for personal use. That way when I say I am spending over $2K to play in a tournament and spending 3 nights in Vegas away from the family, before anything can be said I will also plop $2K down and say here is some extra for the family. And who am I kidding - if I need to dip into that fund because I come up a little short, I will. So that sets my goal at $23 profit a day, right? Wrong. I am also throwing in what I call the "X-Factor" - and additional $9 a day to pay for one $8.70 satellite for a $26 token each day. This is gravy. If I am playing and I have been teetering all day with being down for the day, or just breaking even, and I get up to being $24 up, I may just call it quits and forego that token tourney. But if I am having a good day and have won at least $32, then I am going to use $8.70 to play a token tourney and see if I can paraly that into a $26 token to use in the nightly Razz tournament. All of this helps focus me. If I play good in that token tourney, then I get to really focus in on the Razz tournament that night. And that, of course, then focuses me on preparing for the WSOP even more. Plus, any cashing I do in that Razz tournament is bonus money I will use to help towards my goal.

So basically what I am going to do is plot my progress here on the blog. Not that anyone cares, but it is just another way of making me focus.

Anyway, I started my goal this morning. And I am happy to say that I am already at my goal for the day. I decided today to really short-buy into a $2/$4 Razz cash game. I bought into the game for $20, and I had a table full of loose players. I pretty much sat back and waited for hands. I got up early, but then had a few runner-runner bricks to nut draws that never panned out. Luckily, I never fell below my buy-in, and a good run of about 4 hands propelled me to my goal, and then some. I played for about 50 minutes, and was up $41.90. I know this is not a lot of money, but remember I really plan on taking baby steps all the way with this one and try not to get too greedy nor too down at any one point. This is about as close to bankroll management as you will see me do. I know for a fact that I am one of the worst in terms of playing higher than I should, so I am trying to quell that urge as much as I can in order to achieve my goal of playing at the WSOP on won money. And I know I can do it. I really hope that I can play the Razz tournament quite a bit over this time frame as well on tokens, and cash frquently during that tournament too. With all of this going on, I feel confident that I will be playing at the table come June at the Rio, and I can honestly say that I am not afraid to play anyone in Razz. Usually the person that hurts me the most playing that game is myself. Over the next six months I think I can learn to limit my mistakes and become a much better player. I have no illusions on making the final table or even cashing. I just want to get the experience and move forward. I think eventually I will be good enough to cash, and eventually I may even make a Razz final table. Time will tell, but I have to start sometime. And that time is now.

Daily Profit: +$41.90
Daily WSOP Profit: +$21.40
Daily Personal Profit: +$11.50
Daily Token Sat Profit: +$9.00
WSOP Goal at this point: $11.50
Relative to Goal at this point: +$9.90

I still have to play the Token Satellite, although due to other commitments tonight I may not be able to play the Razz tournament even if I win the token. Which means it gets saved until another night (the next night I don't win a token). It is a long journey, but one I plan on taking to the end.