Results for week of 10/17/-10/23

POKER HOURS
Administrative 2.75
Study 9.50
Play 27.25
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TOTAL HOURS 39.50

I'm very happy with my hours this week. It would have been nice to hit 40, but I spent most of Saturday with my grandchildren, so it just wasn't possible to come through at the end.

POKER PROFIT AND LOSS
Starting bankroll, 10/17 $45.04
Ending bankroll, 10-23 $58.43
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+$13.39

A lot of things happened this week that kept me from playing the $1.10 MTTs with a good structure. There are only 4 of them, at 0600, 0700, 1100 and 1720. Since we were getting the grandchildren dropped off Saturday in the morning, 0600 and 0700 MTTs might not be done before the kids came over. We got them at around 1100, and had them until around 1800, which knocks out the last two MTTS.

That kind of thing happened more than once during the week, and I wound up playing a bunch of turbo SNGs. I decided that if I at least broke even in those financially, while picking up a chunk of PokerStars Frequent Player Points (more about that in a future post) then it was a worthwhile endeavor.

There are two really big numbers that I'm looking at, that I think about every single day. The first is $114, which is the bankroll that I need to move up to $2.20 tournaments. Once the entry fee doubles, so do the prize pools, and I'm ready to get some of that money. At that point, the financial contribution I can make should start to be noticable, and still give me a little room to continue to build my bankroll.

The second bankroll milestone will be at $238. That was mybankroll high point, in June of 2008, before I had to decimate my bankroll to pay bills bills. It's hard to believe that more that a year later I haven't got back there. But if I stick to my consolidated bankroll strategy, it will never happen again.

With a $238 bankroll, I should be easily able to generate enough to make a difference in the family finances, while still keeping enough behind to grow my bankroll more quickly.

$238 is the number that haunts me every day, when I get up and once again have to face being able to play only $1 tournaments. When I get there again and keep on going, it will be my biggest day as a poker player. On that day, I will know for certain that I will never again be in the position that I am now.