My 2011 Poker Goal: Supernova Elite...

[Talking Poker]

It's progressive... Now that I am starting 2011 at SN, I get 3.5 FPP per VPP and every 250,000 FPP = $4000 cash. So, you get those at a steady pace all year. 1 million VPP = 3.5 million FPP = $56k. Only make it half way, and you still get half... $28k.

The other rewards grow progressively. First, there are the Stellar rewards which add up to $1200 for the first 100,000 VPPs:

Yearly VPP: VIP Stellar Reward: Cumulative VIP Stellar Rewards:
750 $10 $10
1,500 $10 $20
2,250 $10 $30
3,000 $10 $40
4,000 $10 $50
5,000 $50 $100
10,000 $50 $150
15,000 $50 $200
20,000 $50 $250
25,000 $50 $300
30,000 $50 $350
35,000 $50 $400
40,000 $50 $450
45,000 $50 $500
50,000 $100 $600
60,000 $100 $700
70,000 $100 $800
80,000 $100 $900
90,000 $100 $1,000
100,000 $200 $1,200

Then come the bigger milestone bonuses for every additional 100,000 VPPs:
$2,600 at 200,000 VPP
$2,800 at 300,000 VPP
$3,000 at 400,000 VPP
$3,200 at 500,000 VPP
$3,600 at 600,000 VPP
$3,800 at 700,000 VPP
$4,200 at 800,000 VPP
($24,400 in bonuses to this point)

And finally:
$20,000 at 1,000,000 VPPs + a $5200 WCOOP Main Event Seat
($49,600 through here)

So, with the FPP money, that's $105,600 in cash bonuses for reaching SNE. Making it halfway would be $40,800 - still respectable, but it's definitely weighted toward the back end. Of course, by playing less tables/hours/stakes, you could probably earn more (lose less?) at the tables, so the difference may not be as big as it seems when you factor in the money you win.lose at the tables to figure out your true bottom line.

It actually continues beyond that for the sickest of the sickos, but I will definitely be done at 1 million VPPs. For fun though, here is the rest:
$9,200 at 1,250,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 1,500,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 1,750,000 VPPs
$19,200 at 2,000,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,250,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,500,000 VPPs
$9,200 at 2,750,000 VPPs
$19,200 at 3,000,000 VPPs

[omahilo]

that is crazy....

[New Guy]

WoWIE

[sjay2k]

Are you concerned about carpal tunnel?

[thrash1294]

CONGRATS KEEP IT UP

[Spidey44]

Gogogogogo! Looking forward to following this!

[Talking Poker]

So, Week 1 is done, and I reached my minimum goal of 21k weekly VPPs. I'm actually at 22k now after a late night session that technically starts Week 2. I'm hoping to get my average to closer to 25k VPPs per week when I either move up in stakes or move to 6 max games, but playing full ring $200 NL tables, 24 at a time, I'm getting just over .4 VPP per hand and around 1250ish hands per hour. I played over 52k hands this week and am working on increasing my hands per hour...

Getting the Steller Rewards was fun this week, even though they were low amounts, as I was just flying through them. I got 9 of them, I think, plus used 300k FPPs to buy a $4k bonus and my 2010 SN $1k bonus.

Regarding the $ actually won/lost at the tables (before all the bonuses), my goal for the year is to be profitable. Obv I'd like to be very profitable, but honestly, if I profit $1 at the tables, I will consider that a success. If what I have read is true, many (most?) SNE cash grinders lose maybe $25k at the tables over the year. That may sound like a lot, but over millions of hands, it's really not that much, and remember, they are also raking in over 6 figures of bonus money along the way, so it's still a decent year in the end.

I'm only 1 week into the year, but I'm happy with my results at the tables so far. I'm up a little bit and am running nearly $1000 below EV as well. Those numbers can change quickly in these swingy games, but that is over my 52k+ hand sample, and I'm constantly studying and trying to improve my game, so hopefully I'll only be getting better as the year continues.

Anyway, there is your Week 1 update. I haven't quit yet!

[Spidey44]

How goes the grind???

[Talking Poker]

I was just on my way here to post my end of January update:

93,700 VPPs
Running $5500 below EV
228k hands played
184 hours at the tables (not counting study time, etc)
145 movies (some of these were watched during my December SN push)

I am 8800 VPP ahead of SNE pace, but 3700 VPP behind my Pi-thousand VPP per day (22k VPP/week) goal pace. At that pace, I can have 31 3200-VPP days of vacation this year and still finish on 12/16, which should pretty good to me.

I will reach Supernova status on Wednesday.

Regarding the $$, I am down about $3300 at the tables, but my EV (the much more important number in cash games, especially short stacking) is +$2200. That is a pretty massive amount of runbad over a 228k sample, and I hope my win rate climbs back up to where it should be. SNE bonuses are very back heavy (explained above somewhere), but using a rough .10 per VPP calculation (1 million = over $100k), I earned about $9400 in bonuses this month.

I've found that having movies on while I am playing REALLY helps me pass the time and keep my sanity, and knowing I am going to be watching so many this year, I thought it would be cool to keep a list, hence the IMDB ratings - no reviews, just a simple 1-10 rating. I also have a bunch of tv series to watch (already went through Spartacus and Firefly), but am pounding out the movies first.

Of the 228k hands played, 4100 were $100 NL 6 max (today), 8 (exactly one HUDless, TNless orbit) were $200 CAP NL (yesterday), and ALL the rest were $200 NL FR. My plan was to move to 6 max, as I like the game better and there are more fish (tons more CAP tables running) and it's more VPP/hand, but I definitely can't keep up trying to 24 table it yet, so I will have to ease into it if I do try to make the transition. I was playing 18 fine today, but 20 felt like a bit much. When I went back to 24 FR tables, I felt like I had TONS of time and it was way less mentally taxing.

In case you hadn't heard, the 20-50 bb tables I have been playing will be replaced by 20 bb CAP tables on 2/10. There is a lot of uncertainty about how popular they will be, and if enough aren't running for me to 24 table, I will have to move back to the 40-100 bb tables and play 100 bb poker. While that's not the end of the world, I've gotten quite comfortable with my short stacking game and am reluctant to move back to fullstacking, but I will if I need to.

All in all, I'm happy with my first month in the books.

[Talking Poker]

A little bit. Using the game controller instead of a mouse helps a lot, but I've still had a sore right wrist from time to time. It's been pretty good these last couple of days, so maybe I'm getting used to it (and also consciously trying to be very gentle pressing the buttons with my right thumb - that is the majority of the clicking).

I actually had to ice it one day earlier this week and was worried, but like I said, it's been better since. I also try to do some basic finger exercises that are supposed to help now and then.