October update

October was quite a rollercoaster ride. I started the month by cashing fairly high at a live NL tourney. Cash games were respectable, though not great. In the middle 2 weeks of the month, I busted out of 3 substantially large tournaments without cashing (I had been hoping my tournament EV from these 3 events would be in the range of $6-9k, so this was a disappointment. and yes I know I am cocky). My cash games really went south.... really, really south. The last weekend of the month, I invested a substantial amount of effort in playing in satellite tournaments with very favorable results. Cash game results were steady in the last week.

Overall, results-wise it was a decent month.

My online bankroll is sufficiently funded to safely play $15/$30 (which was a goal I had in August), and my live bankroll is sufficiently funded to safely play $20/$40. For online ring games, I will continue to play almost exclusively $3/$6 6 max and $3/$6 10 max until I have sufficient data accumulated to statistically (with 95% confidence) demonstrate that I am a winning player.
0.95 CI lower bound $3/$6 6max: -2.64BB/100h over 11k hands
0.95 CI lower bound $3/$6 10max: -0.52BB/100h over 27k hands

I will attempt to grind out a large number of hands at Party in November to have some reasonable VIP status there (I will definitely have enough Party points to make it to Silver on 1/1/06, but it is unlikely that I will have the legs to make it to Gold). For live ring games, $20/$40 will continue to be my game of choice. I will occasionally take a shot at $30/$60 (when available) and $40/$80, particular when the game looks good.

Investment-wise, I purchased a 3rd Dell 2001FP so that I could use a 2nd one with my home PC (the other is in the office) and a new set of headphones (Sony MDR-V600). I purchased 4 more poker/gambling related books, and I will shortly be purchasing the released version of PokerAce HUD. I did not make any additional financial commitments for any new poker-related trips (although I already booked the expenses for my Foxwoods and December Vegas trips in September). I don't anticipate any substantial upcoming poker expenses, so I have a choice as to what to do with any near term earnings. I can either take some cash out of the poker bankroll or perhaps try to build up the live bankroll for higher levels.

On the learning front, I've tried to branch out and learn 2-7 Triple Draw and Omaha H/L. I am still a newbie, but I hope to put in an additional 15-20 table hours in November plus whatever reading I can squeeze in. My goal on the learning front is to be capable of playing in the Wynn $10/$20 mixed game on my December Vegas trip.

Satellite Update:
I only budgeted $3k for satellite entries for the next 3 months, but in typical donkey fashion, I went crazy in the first 48 hours and spent $627 of the budget (as well as 1000FPPoints at Stars, but hey, those don't count right??). At this rate, the budget won't last through the end of the year.

$ spent: $627
$ returned to general poker bankroll: $2150
Net W$ or $T: W$650
Other: $10k Bay 101 seat