BIGTRIX6

Black Friday / Why I gave up Poker

2011-04-21T00:13:00.004+01:00

'Black Friday'

I am processing the idea of it still and firstly have to send my thoughts out to the 'poker players' who have been badly affected in America by this, especially those with money thats sinificant to them trapped online. By significant i like to point out that $1,000 may be significant to some and i have had $1,000 trapped in a poker site for over 2 weeks. It's not a good experience, especially if you need that money.

I can vividly imagine how having 95% of your networth or hundreds of thousands trapped must feel and it makes me feel physically sick - like that sinking feeling.

I hope they get it all back, and beleive they will eventually.. but it takes time.

I don't feel too sorry for the full tilt or pokerstars, owners who are indicted as they would have been aware of the risks and they have made obscene amounts of money from the American market (illegally)

I won't go into it any more than that now but it has made to think about how happy i am with the rest of my life outside of poker, and at this point has re-enforced the decision i've made over the last few weeks to take a serious and lengthly break from poker.. Esentially give up..

I went to login over the weekend and it wouldn't let me as the software would not update.

A few months or a year ago, this would have sent me crazy and i would have had to find a way to play, but an 18 month push of really trying to have online 6-max cash game success has put me off poker and i actually didn't care (didnt knw it becasue of was black Friday until Sunday night when i got an email from Full Tilt to explain..)

I loved playing mtts and was successful. My ROI is over 100% over a good size sample i think, but have had to conclude that cash games are not for me and do not fit my personality, and by trying to learn cash games i have also destroyed my mtt game. I have made a concious decision to play mtt when i decided to learn poker and has put a lot of effort into learning methodically and correctly, but i learnt cash games in a very bad way at the suggestion of a high stakes professional player who I have a lot of love & respect for who spent some time coaching me.

I lost money from the start and, alhtough i imrpoved and work extremely hard on all aspects of the game, was still a losing player 18 months later in cash games - mainly due to occasional discipline and tilt issues which, in mtt you can get away from cheaply, in cash games it can cost thousands - with horrible sessions chasing losses, moving up and busting bankrolls and evern bank accounts.

I wont post any hands in this blog but one of the last hands i played was playing Heads up and getting all moeny in pre w/AA v 66 and he hits. The lack of control in situations like that just bugs me now where it didn't use to.

By the end of last year i have made most of what i'd lost back playing mtt's and got a decent rakeback deal this year, so there is some potential.. But after a lot of very hard work, study, lack of sleep, and some financial loss I have come to the conclusion that based on the state of todays game, my personal and financial sitation, and the recent legislation, that playing poker is not for me.

(at this stage of life anyway)

And here is my main point and my reason for wrtinting this blog -

I AM HAPPY WITHOUT POKER!

Probably happier.. I have a very busy life which can be very full and enjoyable.. And i am at a great stage, which i know won't last but i wanted to keep some kind of record of how happy and how lucky i feel at this stage and just remind myself to enjoy every fucking second...

I have a 6 week old baby! - He is beautiful & very healthy
I have an intelligent, funny, good looking son who is almost 3
I have a beautiful wife who looks after my children very well and does my washing! -
She's the kindest person i've ever met and has an incredible sense of humour
I have a great Step-Son who is very switched on and popular
My job is challenging, rewarding and potentially lucrative (if I work very hard!-
This is the view from my office (on the side unfotunately)

I own a nice engouh house.. <well i got mortgage>
& Car <Lease!> - Nice car though!
I have a great sister and Nephew, am close to my Mum, and Brother..
and have some clsoe friendships with really good people.;
I mean really good, really intersting and varied people -
I have 1146 Linkedin connections
1400 followers on Twitter
3 Blogs
And a facebook account!
I have an iPhone -- Woo!
I am healthy, have a gym membership with an outdoor pool & spa 5 minutes from my house
And my local weed man has recently started stocking Northern Lights.

This might sound like a sick brag, and i don't claim to be financially wealthy because i'm not at all - But I am very happy with my life - Poker will always be there but as of today i've made the decision to focus all my efforts into business, my family, my home, and enjoying life again rather than spending half of it staring into 2 monitors and praying that the Ace doesn't come on the river... :-)

Saying all this now, but i'm sure i'll be updating this blog with a poker story soon........

Blahhh

2011-04-04T23:18:00.002+01:00

I was invited to a £1/2NL 50-200bb live cash game tonight which would have been sweet but was just too tired so stayed in to play a bit online instead :

Too tired to play poker - UnfornutatelySmall children and babies can have that effect!

Since the new baby arrived ive had less time to play, and when i have had the time i have been exhausted, and ive learnt from experience that playing poker and being exhausted dont generally go too well togethor, so i havent played much.

I managed to get in a small session tonight of about 1k hands at 50nl rush, and 1 mtt, which i busted out of very close to the money with a terrible mistake:

Full Tilt - 200/400 NL - Holdem - 6 players

BTN: 25,688.00

SB: 15,030.00

BB: 18,839.00

UTG: 3,565.00

MP: 22,081.00

Hero (CO): 14,063.00

BTN posts ante 50.00, SB posts ante 50.00, BB posts ante 50.00, UTG posts ante 50.00, MP posts ante 50.00, Hero posts ante 50.00, SB posts SB 200.00, BB posts BB 400.00

Pre Flop: (900.00) Hero has Qh Qc

UTG raises to 3,515.00 and is all-in, fold, Hero raises to 10,880.00, BTN raises to 25,638.00 and is all-in, fold, fold, Hero calls 3,133.00 and is all-in

Flop: (32441.00, 3 players) 8h 2s 8d

Turn: (32441.00, 3 players) 7s

River: (32441.00, 3 players) Kc

BTN shows Ah Ac (Two Pair, Aces and Eights) (PreFlop 72%, Flop 87%, Turn 95%)

UTG shows Jd Ad (One Pair, Eights) (PreFlop 11%, Flop 4%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows Qh Qc (Two Pair, Queens and Eights) (PreFlop 17%, Flop 9%, Turn 5%)

BTN wins 32,441.00

One error i made here was playing 4 tables of 50nl on 1 monitor and having the mtt on the other monitor...I took my eyes off it for a minute and as i looked back i saw i had QQ and was timing down fast.. I noticed UTG had shoved, but didnt check stack sizes for the players left to act.

If i had i would have been able to just flat the utg shove or raise small, then fold to a btn shove..

As i raised a stupid amount, i put myself in a ridiculous position of calling the btn shove for my last 3kchips knowing the only hand he would do this with is AA! (or Maybe KK!..)

I mean i cant even fold here, getting almost 10-1 when my hand has almost 20% equity.

Pretty much sucks, and shows how 1 slip in concentration can finish a tournament.

Up to this point i played great, made some good calls, good reads, good folds and had a just above average stack.

Ive been reading Nikachu"s blogs today and was inspired by his graphs! Mines not as good but its a 1st attempt anyway: I have heard his vids on CR are very good too.. need to watch when i have time..

At least i made my MTT buyin back and got out of the game before things got ugly!

Double guarantees week!

2011-03-29T23:55:00.000+01:00

I mean at some stage the run good in the MTTs has to come back right?..

Essentially thats what you need to win tournaments..

You can play the absolute best poker but a few bad beats in the wrong places or lucky suckouts really can make all the difference!

I just realised it Double guarantees week again!!??!

Seems like yesterday they had the last one, but maybe this one will be different..

Heres a picture of my screen after the badbeats i took deep in the last one:

(Only joking!) - I dont break monitors but bubbling final tables can be pretty frustrating!

Thinking back to the times I have won tournaments I have certainly run amazingly well, but also played well and its that combination that i will aim for this week on the mutli-table double guarantees, and hopefully i can get a nice score if i put in a nice amount of volume..

The variance in tournaments is just sick.

Yeah sick.

My favourite tournament, the 6-max $26 Rush-Turbo is now a $40k guaranteed multi entry, which I love and ill try to play this most nights to get a nice score!

I fell off a cliff!

2011-03-28T22:21:00.000+01:00

So sadly poker doesnt always go as smoothly as we would like it to..

This month was going very well, very smotthly until i accidentally fell off a cliff...

I mean how hard can it be to just grind up and up?!

Apparently very...

You have to rely on running well and playing well.. My problem is that i can run fine.. (over ev this month!), and i can play well.. (well at least i break even) most of the time.

But then there's the occasional times when things go wrong, a few bad beats in a row and losing some big pots can put even the steadist player into tilt mode on some level..

I recently read a blog by Samoleus where he decribes some horrible consecutive beats he experienced, along with a fish 'hit & running' him HU for $15k and..

"I lost my emotional control after that and monkeyed off a few more buyins."

I thought this was a good way of decribing it, and reading this made me feel slightly better about my own tilt issues, and realise that even a very experienced and successful pro can have similar problems.

The trouble is this type of tilt can be expensive, and a weeks worth of careful grinding can be wiped out in literally minutes. The worst problem that I have is that I tend to play under-rolled and move up to chase losses as a function of tilt which is probably the worst possible reaction.

Next time I feel really tilted and want to chase losses i'll try to remember this and perhaps try something like moving down in stakes to blow off buyins at 4nl instead of moving up to 400nl!

Mathematics of Poker

2011-03-27T09:35:00.000+01:00

I need to try again to read this book..

I once read the 1st chapter, and gave up as some of the math was mind-blowingly complex, however i've recently heard several well respected people say it's the best book out there and more valuable than some of the $1000+ e-books available!

28th Feb 2011: Today was a good day!

2011-03-26T22:49:00.000Z

OK so not totally poker related. (I rarely write about anything esle!)

But.. As Ice Cube said: Today was a good day!..

Funny how small things can make you happy, and regardless of whether we succeed in poker, it's to remember more often how lucky we are in life!

This morning was beautifully sunny.. I was woken by my 2 year old son Theo jumping into my bed to watch tv and play with my iPhone

My beautiful wife brought coffee, yogurt & juice, I had a bath, got dressed & played a short poker session..

Then took a 30 minute drive to a nice country pub for some lunch:

http://www.thegreatpubcompany.co.uk/thecompasses/

I've added a pic of my car further down the blog which i love..

It's very comfortable & fun to drive!

Between chillin' with the family, shopping, swimming, eating and watching TV -.. I played 1664 hands of poker!

(mainly 10nl & 20nl, a few hands of 100nl) and won $199.98 (+~$20 rakeback).

Not my best day ever but i didn't tilt once, and it felt almost effortless (-must have ran good-), altough i was $80 below all-in EV :-/

With my challenge to turn $253.32 into $10k I actually cheated!

When i say cheated i dont mean i mutli accounted or dealt off the bottom of the deck in chinese poker, but i cheated myself by tilting and playing 100NL very early on and going busto like 3 days into the challenge.

I had feared this as i know discipline is my biggest weakness in poker, but decided to give it one last try. (a really last try!)

So after a few days of reflection, (& MTT grinding on full tilt), i redeposited £150 (~$250) and i now have $762.76 in my challenge account!! woop woop! . . .

AND i've raked $575 this month, so should be due a little rakeback payment soon to strengthen the bankroll!!

Once i get over $1k i'll take some shots at 30nl, but not before.

I think the most important thing i've learnt this month is that playing overrolled is nice! (sadly i'm familiar with playing on a 5 buyin bankroll)

It's ok to play 10nl with a $1000 bankroll and play higher when you know for sure your playing your A game!

I'm sure it will all come crashing down soon anyway, so i'll enjoy this high while it lasts! But keep working hard to build it up gradually/

Oh and my wife is about to give birth any day now, so soon I'll have another little reason to work hard and make $$$$$$$$$$!

5th February 2011: $253.32 --> $10,000 challenge

2011-03-26T22:42:00.000Z

Poker was not kind to me in 2010.

I tried to learn cash games but jumped in way too deep & failed.

Starting at 50NL i jumped around limits and sites, sometimes winning a bit, sometimes tilting a lot, putting in some volume between 50nl-400nl towards the end of the year, but i'm currently a losing / breakeven player at best at those levels.

I've played underrolled, distracted, too tired, tilted, steaming etc and made loads of basic mistakes:

Jumping straight in at 50nl 6-max & 100NL HU on Full tilt was a mistake
Trying to grind 20 tables of 20nl on cake was a mistake.
I was a 50NL HU bumhunter on pkr for a while (lol)
Spent some time grinding on Bodog and testing my skills at various levels, 25NL,50nl,100nl,200nl, touching on 2knl on a couple of occasions, dabbling in 400NL completely underrolled, chasing losses at 600nl, etc etc.
I grinded eurosites (a lot of 50NL & 100NL, 6 tables) where i found some success, but at times when went wrong i've been prone to tilt, move up and chase losses, often resulting in bigger losses..
Played live most weeks, a smallish winner in the local games.
Tried sitcking to br management playing 25nl on stars (too many nits)
Played over 100k hands of rush poker, mainly 50NL & 100NL (lost)
Won about $8k in tourneys at the end of 2010 but lost at least double that in cash games throughout the year spread across 10 different accounts.

I'm now accept that I was (and probably still am) a complete fish.

I've studied NL Holdem, even though everyones solid and the easy money's in PLO, and had eventually decided to give up cash games online.

But today I was reading verneers blog which inspired me.

He's doing a $200--> $10,000 Challenge and is +$2370 after 130k hands.
I know people do these type of challenges all the time, but i received a rakeback payment today and decided to give it one last shot.

I give myelf a 50-1 chance of success, because i know what i'm like, my discipline is poor and i'm probably too LAG, but maybe by posting here and trying to learn & make uNL my new home, my chaces will improve...

So here goes: $253.32 --> $10,000 challenge.

I plan to buyin for 100BB, play 4-6 tables, solid abc poker at 5-max NL10 HE and build the br gradually, taking 5 buyin shots when i have 25 buyins for a level, never playing with < 20buyins.

I'll focus on all the usual stuff: Eat healthy, take vitamins, work out, focus on breathing & posture, and play at times when i can focus 100%.
Not play too late (never after 2am), & will work with a stop-loss of 6 buyins. No cashing out unless i reach $10k

If i fail: No more depositing for cash games

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to beat 10NL?

11th Jan 2011 hmmmmmmmmmmm...

2011-03-26T22:35:00.000Z

I can think of at least 10 topics to blog about but dont have time to get it all out now so i'll just spew some thoughts as i havent blogged anything for a while..

2010 was my 1st full year playing cash games online, I lost a lot & also learnt a lot and hopefully the expensive lessons will pay for themselves in 2011.. Had a few nice tournament results towards the end of the year online to put a dent in the losses - chopping the $26 rush turbo 6-max twice in a week for a total of $9k was nice, and i'm feeling positive about the year ahead.

I'm watching the latest poker premier league show as i write this which is pretty interesting.. I know a lot of people fucking hate FullFlush but i've always liked the way he plays and definitely rooting for him. I also followed with interest the super high roller event at the PCA.. $100k is such a sick amount to buy into a tournament for. $100 is a big buyin for me! I was going to play a £100 live tourney just before xmas but decided not to as i had flu as thought i wouldnt be playing my best.

I'm done with playing HU games for now, after this weekend:

Full Tilt - $0.50 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BB: $35.65
Hero (SB): $51.25

Hero posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero has 6h Qh

Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($3.00, 2 players) Jc Kh 4h
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($3.00, 2 players) 3s
BB checks, Hero bets $2.50, BB calls $2.50

River: ($8.00, 2 players) 7c
BB checks, Hero bets $8.75, BB calls $8.75

Hero shows 6h Qh (High Card, King) (PreFlop 40%, Flop 39%, Turn 20%)
BB shows 9c Kd (One Pair, Kings) (PreFlop 60%, Flop 61%, Turn 80%)
BB wins $25.00

2nd hand into the match, i bet the turn with my flushdraw, and bluff the river but can't get him off his weak king..

Maybe it was bad play, although i sensed some weakness, but its the start of the match and i like to start off with an aggressive image, to get paid off light later in the match.

Then the guy instaquits. After 2 fucking hands. I know this happens all the time but i hate it.

I mean the state of the HU games to me looks really bad. Looking at the lobby's on Full Tilt & stars at any meaningful stakes there will be maybe 1 or 2 games actually running, and then like 50 people sat on tables on there own waiting for action from a fish, then if anyone decent trys to play them they sit out or leave..

And I havent even started on those bastards who hit & run. In fact i won't even go there but i'm sure you can guess how i feel...

Phil galfond wrote an excellent blog post suggesting that HU regs should play eachother more and it would be better for the games & people can learn from eachother but it seems no-ones listening to Phil & they all still want to sit around bumhunting, hit & running & waiting for whales. Anyway Fuckem i'm sticking to 5max,6max and MTT's unless someone wants to play me HU live.

The only exception is i've agreed to do a 4 table HU challenge on Full Tilt with someone who i think is pretty good so will hopefully get that played sometime this year, although its been talked about for a long time and not happened so far.

Oh yeah here's a graph of today's session - i ran like a muthafuckin ethiopian, even though i was under EV I got some nice spots, nice cards, hit some sets, and most of my bluffs worked!..

Obv means nothing as its such a small sample but still nice to win a bit! Funny that i had to take a day off work today but made more playing poker than i would sitting in my office for the day.. Varaince is a bitch though! (where u@ Tneva?)

Anyway this blogs getting longer than i expected so i'll wrap it up & wish everyone @ coinflip Happy New Year & Gl for 2011..

18th December 2010: Magun & Black No. 11

2011-03-26T22:30:00.000Z

Tonight i was supposed to be playing in the $50+Superturbo Mini FTOPS, winning thousands of $$!
The plan was drive to the work christmas party (casino themed), do the necessary,eat the 3 course meal and enjoy the free drink then GTFO of there by 9pm in time to speed home and get on Full Tilt by 10pm for the tournament.

As it turns out i didn't make the tournament but still managed to have an ineresting and enjoyable poker experience!! woop!
I'm laughing as i write this because it seems ironic that i can actually have enjoyed a charity play money poker game so much but have had so much anxiety over playing for serious money both live & online this year. Poker is supposed to be fun!!!!

So i was finishing my meal, having just instigated some drinking games and having some great laughs despite not drinking alcohol myself,
about to leave the xmas party when a girl came round offering tickets for the charity casino games. I had been told and expected it to be roulette
and blackjack but no poker so showed no interest in the tickets until i overheard her mention to someone that they were playing 'texas' ...

'You're playing texas holdem?' I ask casually, and she tells me she's the dealer and that they will be.

Then came an announcement that a magnumn of champange will be given to the person who finishes with the most chips in the casino at the end of the night..
And a VIP meal for 4 at the racecourse where the event was being held, for the winner of the season.
£5 for 100 chips, £10 for 300 chips.

So i buy 300 and head over to the poker table.. The standard is pretty bad and i run over the table, at one stage a drunk abnoxious guy is asked to
leave the table for being abusive to the dealer, luckily midway through a hand with me where he had the best of it!.. And before long i had turned my
300 chips into 3000, (i ran pretty good!) & completely outclassed every player.

One of the biggest pots -

I have 89o on the button, so call a few limpers -
Flop is 882, I call (slowplay)
turn is 2h, i minraise and get it all in 3 ways vs J2o & K2s!!

My firend who i'd travelled there with sat down shortly after and i dumped a load of chips over to him going blind pre vs his stack (He had AKs),
and hit the nut flush. Evetually we finished up sat with my boss and my friend, me with close to $4k chip and my friend with $2.5k.

I then remember the magnum of champagne and wonder if i might have the most chips to win it. Some of me other colleagues had ran up $10k on the
table games but i guessed most of that would have been blown, and just as i was ready to submit my $4k chips, my managing director ushers me over to the roulette table
where they are having the last spin of the night. I go to put 100 on a couple of numbers but am somehow convinced that i MUST put the whole $4k on 1 number.
I end up panicking as the wheel is spinning, placing ~90% of it on RED, make a few small side bets, and the ball lands on BLACK 11 so i lose everything.

My friend who i'm playing poker with earlier then wonders over and unwittingly hands in most of his chips (apart from keeping a $25 as a keepsake),
turns out the be the ONLY player in the whole casino to submit ANY chips and gets called to the front of the DJ booth to collect his Magnus of chapagne!!

I then drove home with him and my boss, had a pretty cool journey and have just arrive back home having had a very enjoyable night.
Learning is something i've done so much of this year with regards to poker.. And tonight I learnt a free but very valuable lesson in staying AWAY from table games.
It must be devestating for someone to spend time grinding money in a poker tournament or cash game, then to go and lose it in 5 minutes in a casino game like i'm sure
so many poker players have done.. Stu Ungar or Willie Tann spring to mind, and an unknown guy i've spoken to who was rolled for $2kNL and lost the lot on roulette..
(I would guess the list is very long!)..

I've learnt tonight that the table games are definnnitely not for me and i will only ever be playing on the poker tables when i visit casinos.

As well as this tonight i've remembered to take pleasure in more than the money in poker - I took great pleasure in the competition of poker,
and the thrill of being talented and skilled at it (which has taken a lot of work), and being able to demonstrate that (show off) with my work colleagues.

Certainly more pleasure than winning a few hundred $ online, or playing my usual weekly game. (NOT as much as a MTT final table!)

Anyone whose read this far down, thanks, its 3am & i've probably rambled on a bit, thanks for reading, and try to remember the enjoyment in playing poker aside from the financial aspects!

28th November 2010: Another boring poker blog ..

2011-03-26T22:19:00.000Z

I read quite a lot of poker blogs.. some of them are pretty boring and i hear many people comment on how it's no fun to see the same old bullshit about how someone wins a few buyins, or has a few badbeats. There are some exceptions - (I love Assasinato, Sauce123 & Nanonoko's blogs for example - and Sune & Peter write very good blogs!), but this has made me think about my blog and reflect a bit on if its really worth reading (i wonder if anyone reads it!)

I haven't blogged anything in a while so seeing as we're nearing the end of a poker filled month, i've decided to get my thoughts out here. I must have played about 15 tournaments today without 1 cash.

This comes at the end of a pretty swingy month which has gone something like this:

Lose online very early in the month (-£500)
Grind cash games over a week to win it back (+500)
Win an extra £500 and have biggest winning day in online cash (+~£500)
Have my biggest winning live cash game day - very fishy table (+£300)
The very next day have by biggest losing live cash game day (mainly losing flips) (-£550)
Win a bit back online (+£200)
Lose a lot back online - Tilt - move up - Tilt - Worst ever day online (-£1000)
Feel very sick for a few days
Have a good grinding session with some friends playing online, i swap 10% of a tourney with Tony who ends up busting $26 torney 14th/~1200 w/KK<AQ for chiplead pot - pretty sick finish, he gets $150 and 1st place is about $8.5k... I get $15!
I finally work out how to configure pokertracker HUD after using it for a year! lol
Decide to move down so play some small tourneys, - Chop a $5 donkament 2 ways for $300ish
Lose most of it back on rush 50NL within an hour
Last night I played the $26 rush 6max turbo - 3 way chop for ~$3600. (my biggest cash)
We play for the remaining $150 and I end up winning it!
Start thinking about trying to win a triple crown and bomb out of a $108 tourney on Ongame w/ATo on T9x flop vs T9 (obv)

This week i've managed to get some experience of deal making which has been pretty interesting and another aspect of playing online for me to work on..

It's easy to say after the event "i should have played it out for the win.." Of course i was always "going" to win and i had an "edge", but the thought of getting sucked out on for $1k or $2k, or flipping for it seemed too sickening so decided to go for the safe option and take the deal.

I lost a chiplead pot with 6 players on the final table w/ AJ<QT Allin Pre, and was short-stached after that, then i sucked out A6s>AJ.. We discussed deal 4 handed but couldnt agree so played down to 3.
When 3 handed me and 1 other guy were about even on 900k chips and chipleader had about 1.4mil - I got all in w AKs vs A3o and the river makes it a split pot.

After that we did a deal which gave $4300 to chipleader and $3600 to me and the other shorter stack.
We discussed it for a long time. I think in future i'll play for the win or push harder for a better deal, but i'm still pretty happy today!

I've not added it all up but due to the last minute tournament score November will be a winning month for me! I've been reflecting on a year of learning cash NLHE and trying to decide whether to continue playing cash in 2011 ?..? hmmm or just stick to tournements.

The work i've done has improved my tournament play a lot, and my cash game has definitley improved, but i just dont know if i will overcome the tilt problem, which doesnt seem to affect me so much in tournaments.

I'll make up my mind over the next month whether to give it a last shot in 2011 or go back to donkaments.

Am about to play the $100k guarunteed on Bodog & some Fullt TIlt tournaments!! GL ME!
This has probably been another boring fucking poker blog with the same old shit, but writing this stuff down helps me to clear out my head & who knows, maybe someone will read and get something out of it!

GL coinflipers!!!

27th Sept 2010: 50k hands ~$0 profit :- /

2011-03-26T22:14:00.000Z

Well i'm finished with online poker for the month.

My plan was to build up from lower limits and have great bankroll management but it didn't quite work out like that...

Audi R-Zero

I've posted a graph showing ~400k chips under ev from this weekends tournaments.. Came close again tonight but couldnt quite make the final tables.

Also some of the cash hands at 5-max..Ran pretty well above ev for cashgames..

Ended in profit for 5max 400NL, 100NL & 50NL, and in profit for tourneys, but lost some back on a "1000hand 200NL5max tilt session", and some 6max Rush 50NL

Not much profit but not much loss either, and (over 50k hands played this month online) :-/

Hopefully October will be more profitable.. i'll play more donkaments in October and hopefully get a decent size score, and focus on working with steps to the $26 buyins.. I've been lazy this month just buying into them but steps is cheaper if i can be bothered to grind out the tickets.

I play live tourney tomorrow and live cashgame thursday in a brand new venue so should be a good week for poker!

Good luck every1!¬

Peace

Septeber 2010: Coolers: 27th

2011-03-26T22:10:00.000Z

Coolers

I'll make this a quick blog update as I don't have much time but i just wanted to share some of my poker pain from the last few days.

Feels like i've bubbled so many tourney's and taken some brutal beats.

The hand below sums it up..

http://weaktight.com/2727524

Finished this $24 Rush tourney in 4th place for $446, but didnt feel great as i was 2nd in chips and 1st was ~$1200.

I guess he cant get away from TT bvb so wont hold it against this viallain who went on to win the tourney.

http://weaktight.com/2727533

This one was deep in the rush rebuy i think about 100 left out of ~2600.

This was last night playing rush poker

http://weaktight.com/2727539

I know there are times when i've been on the right end of these but somehow you seem to remember the bad stuff more than the times you get lucky.

Tournament variance is so sick though, and the timing of bad beats can be the difference between winning hundreds, or potentially thousands.

I'll try to post some graphs in my next blogs but have to run now..

Good luck everyone!

15th Sept 2010: Swings

2011-03-26T22:03:00.000Z

Swings

I read many poker blogs. One common theme in the blogs from the players I read about are the constant swing and fluctuations that we all experience.

From reading Jeans blog today seeing he wins 100k on Ongame but loses 100k on iPoker I can relate to this, (except of course on a much smaller scale).. I also read another blog somewhere about a player who had a consistently winning month at 2/4 and 3/6 but at the same time experienced a big downswing at 5/10. Again, I can relate, but still on a smaller scale, and I think players who put in much volume at cash games will have to learn to deal with some brutal swings.

This month has been my most ‘swingy’ since playing poker…

It started well with a win in a small live £20 tourney for ~£150, then managed to lose nearly that much in a live cash-game 2 days later.

After a small loss on a Friday night at the start of the month online, I decided to get up at 7.30 am to win it back, which went very badly and, still half asleep managed to drop $600 before 9am, and then a further $600 by midday, playing a mix of 100NL, 200NL and 400NL.

Determined to get it back I deposited some more and by the end of the day managed to win it all back and slightly more grinding 6 tables of 100NL, so for the day I was consistently down on 200NL but had a brilliant graph for 100NL

The following week was more swings... I deposit $1400 on Betfair, lose ~$1000 early on, pick up a few hundred dollars on some other sites, and then grind it back up playing 2000-3000 hands every day until I have $1287 sat there by Saturday night.

This is where it went wrong & I played some 50NL heads-up but opened too many tables and found myself playing four opponents over 6 tables. I crushed a couple of people for small wins but one opponent absolutely destroyed me, had a hand every time, picked off all my bluffs and sucked out until I tilted and lost about $400 on one table to him.

If this wasn’t bad enough instead of stopping and coming back to play fresh another day I was determined to win it all back that night, and split nearly all my remaining bankroll over 6 tables of 100NL and 200NL, which I know is ridiculous.

My bankroll management has always been terrible and I try hard to improve it but it look like this month is no different. I MUST GET BETTER AT THIS!

Well I put up a good fight but ended Saturday night with $48 in my Betfair account and feeling sick.

The next 2 days I won $300 on Full tilt, mainly from rush poker, also had a deep run in a $5 donkament where I was big chip leader but finished 9/280 following a massive 3 street bluff with J8s which went wrong when I was called by AK high..

This takes me into last night where I played my usual weekly £20 live tourney, and won it outright for £200!

Swings

30th August 2010: 1st Coinflip blog

2011-03-26T21:56:00.000Z

Wow, so I’m writing this blog in my holiday lodge, away from everything... Not got any internets, so no pokers! And it feels great to be having a break. A break from my job, but also a break from playing poker, although it won’t stop me thinking about poker hands, and I’ve just watched a 6table 6-max 1-2NL video from BFP which was pretty interesting.
I can’t be 100% sure yet but I feel having this break and relaxing / enjoying myself will help me develop a better mindset to play great poker once I do play again.

It’s only being forced not to play that can stop me from playing, as if there was internets here I’m sure I’d be hitting up some kind of online card-room right now. But the break from it has already given me better perspective on life and made me realise that most importantly, if I want to have success with poker I have to stop playing without the right mindset & if I’m not ready or fully relaxed / un-distracted / awake enough –

SIPMLY DO NOT PLAY

It sounds easy doesn’t it!? But until now its one thing I have battled with and, until now, it’s been a losing battle. Maybe i can work on this by finding something else to do with my time instead when i feel like this but want to play, like write blogs, watch videos, or whatever...

I believe in myself that I have the necessary ability to be a winning poker player and make some money. When I do focus and play A+/A Game I can confidently take on players at stakes up to about 200 or 400 NL, but only if I am properly bankrolled. If I’m not rolled for these levels i should not be playing them, and right now I simply am not L
Damnit; I’m not even rolled for 50NL. So this is it:

STOP TILT
CUT OUT C-GAME
CUT OFF B GAME
PLAY WITH ENOUGH BANKROLL – MINIMIMUM 20 BUYINS – Preferably at least 30-40
FOCUS & CONCENTRATE

The difficult thing in this is that I struggle to take the money side seriously when playing 10NL or 30NL and can get bored. I don’t like to play 25NL as that level has never worked for me. And, despite numerous attempts and pretending to, I do not have a roll for cash games at any level higher than this right now.

I’m not stupid. I make a decent amount of money training some intelligent people in consultancy for a living; I have a degree level education, and have been successful at most things I’ve put real effort into. SO WHY do I keep making the same fucking bankroll management and tilt / tired mistakes with poker, when know what I should be doing?

Because until now I’ve been lying to myself, pretending that I’m different, and i can go on a little run at the 200NL tables, then quit a bit ahead, move down and play lower with my winnings, or that I’m good enough and have enough edge to play these levels under-rolled / short stacked.

Well this will never work and I have now accepted that and understand much more clearly after several months, and some very painful lessons - Exactly what all those bankroll management advice articles were saying.

From the slightly detached perspective I have right now I’ve broken my bankroll building plan for the next couple of months into 3 possible choices:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1. Go back to what I know (and love!), and grind some tournaments to win money and build my bankroll like this.

I feel like I have a decent edge in some of the full tilt donkaments so I would play:

o The $5+1 daily doubles

o The $3 rebuy on Fri / Sat night if I can afford to be up all night J

· Steps 1 & 2 to win Step 3 $24+2 seats, with as much volume as possible (4-8 tables) to hopefully get some scores in:

o The 8pm knockout ($24+2)

o The $24+2 rush 135mans

o The 10pm 6max rush turbo ($24+2)

o Or maybe the $24+2 HU MTT

· I may also play any other MTT on Full Tilt that falls at $10+1 buy-in or less, including the rush 135 man SNG’s.

This is how I got started with online poker. I love tourneys, enjoy playing them, and most importantly I have made money with these. If I do tilt (which is less likely) then the worst that can happen is that I bust a few tourney stacks, or in the worst case, enter the $55+4 11.35pm Super Turbo / an FTOPS event or something.

It would take discipline to stick with this and the time commitment requires some discipline, but I’m confident I can be profitable, and a win in one of the 24’s or the $3 rebuy would be a massive BR boost.

The other important thing with this would be to NOT CASH OUT, just keep building, of if I do cash out, to keep the money is a ‘special poker place’ and not spew it in cash games until i am 100% properly rolled for the game I play. Also to start with a decent amount.. Will have to work out a starting amount I believe is enough for this, but guess $300-$500 (any suggestions?)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

2. Play micro-stakes and try to build up with cash games from the bottom (Like 10NL).
I’ve tried this before, a few times, on different sites, without success, but when i have tried the reason I failed (I believe) is because of terrible BR management.

The all too familiar scenario is that I do well, gradually build up a BR from say $300 to 5-6-700, and then BANG – a bad beat, a badly played hand, a loss of concentration/focus, and all of a sudden I’m sat there playing 100NL HU VS a decent reg, or 200NL vs. a table of NITS & get owned, tilt off, and within a few hours / days, the bankroll I’ve worked so hard and patiently to build up has disappeared. (And I kick myself) aaarrrrggghhhhh. FUCK

If i decide to take this route it has to be different this time. I have to be better. I MUST have self control, discipline, and a very strict bank roll management strategy which does not allow me to play above a certain level until i have a certain amount, and requires that i move down as soon as i drop below a certain amount..(I don’t think it matters so much exactly what level these drop down limits are set at, just that they exist and that I stick to them... / If they need to be adjusted up a bit that’s fine but i also want to be aggressive with the BR management at these levels...)

If I was to think about these numbers now it would go something like this:

- $300 start – play 10NL
- $600 – take shots at 30NL
- Go straight back to 10NL if drop below $400
- $1000 – take shots at 50NL
- Go straight back to 30NL if drop below $800
- $1500 - play 50NL as reg - both HU & 6max until>
- $2250 – take shots at 100NL
- Go straight back to 50NL if drop below $1750
- $3000 play 100NL as reg
- $4000 – take shots at 200NL
- Go straight back to 100NL if drop below $3350

If I was every able to reach the $6k mark I would try to make 100NL and 200NL my regular game for a while and start cashing out some winnings to enjoy / reward for the discipline and hard work to get to that stage. Whether this is correct, I don’t really care, but, as this is my dream / plan I can do what I want! J

If I could get to the stage where I have $6k to work with and stick to the right levels, i believe that for a period I would be content to play at these levels, cash some out, try to build it up to a stage of even being slightly over-rolled for .50/1 or 1/2.

Hopefully this period would eventually pass and I would have adjusted to playing these levels, so build up enough confidence to start taking 2/4 or 3/6 shots which I where I would ultimately love to be @.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

3. Try to get some kind of Backing / Staking agreement so i can play higher, sooner.

This could be more difficult and would take more off the table skills then plan 1 or 2, but could enable me to play at the levels I want to, and win some decent money now.

With the cash game record i have a find it highly unlikely that anyone would want to back me to play cash. If and backer looked at my PTR they would be likely to laugh at me and tell me to GTFO. The only possibility with cash games I can think of is to approach the guy who originally started coaching me and ask if he would stake me something like $4k to play 100NL and build from this, with his help coaching / sweating and going through hand histories to improve my game. I’m not familiar with how a staking agreement would usually work with cash games but I guess I would play at this level and pay him a % of my winnings until the $4k is paid back, then continue to pay him a % after that. The other possible way would be pay out say 50% of profit after 100k hands.

If I had built up to playing $2/4 by this stage the profits could be significant and so this deal could be worth it for both parties and, if successful, could possibly be continued...

My other possibility could be to attempt to get some kind of MTT backing. My OPR shows an ok sample size with ~80%ROI with tourneys, which a backer may consider enough to take some shots on me on some mid-stakes MTT’s?!? I don’t know, it’s not something I’ve looked into a whole lot but it could be worth a try...

There are obvious pros & cons to being backed. I understand it’s quite common in MTTs, not sure about cash-games, and I’m not sure how I would feel about having to answer to someone else. It almost takes away the financial independence element that attracted me to poker in the first place, and I’m not sure how I’d feel about losing someone else’s money (it’s bad enough with my own!), but I’m confident with tourneys and would love to be able to play a bit higher, and have recently been feeling when I’m playing in these 200NL or 100NL games that I could crush if only I was properly rolled,,,

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So there we have it... 3 possible options! Right this second I am leaning towards option 1 for the next few months, and seeing if I can build enough poker$$ so I can play 100NL cash with enough of a roll to not cry when I lose a few buy-ins, not play with scared money, and not get tilted or want to immediately move up and chase losses.

I’ll think about these options some more, maybe take some advice, and keep working on my game and stay positive. Although 2010 has been so far a bad year for poker, hopefully I’ve been laying the foundations for success in 2011 and beyond.

The word on the street is we might see a new poker boom, and if it comes I want to be right here with some nice bankroll, waiting to reap its rewards!!!

If anyone has read this far, thank you very much, & please advise on option 1, 2 or 3!?..

As an afterthought another option could be to use some combination of these 3 options... Like for example; allocate some money to donkaments and some to cash, or get some partial backing like putting my own money into cash-games but be backed for tourneys... More to think about I guess!

Good luck^^^ )

25th August 2010: August finished

2011-03-26T21:54:00.000Z

Goals for August -

[x] Finish the month in profit
[ ] Dont play above 50nl online
[ ] Take at least one 5 min break per 2 hours (preferably more often)

So 1 out of 3, but at least i hit the most important goal, even if it did have to come from a MTT.

I played my last poker for August tonight, a live £15+2 w/£5bounty and was knocked out early.
Played well in general and won a big pot early on when i pick up AA and flop 3-3-A, but it only takes one bad hand to ruin a tourney:

Blinds 100-200
I have KTo with king of spades in the BB
A sharp, aggressive player (Izzy) raises to 600 and i flat.
I have ~7k chips and izzy has about the same.

Flop 952r (2 spades)
I check, Izzy bets 800, i call
Turn A spades
I check, Izzy bets 900, i think for a minute, consider a raise, but decide to call and see if i can hit the nut flush. .. MISTAKE..

I should raise here almost 100% of the time, partly to define his hand, also because he will fold there often with air and if he does call and i hit the flush its easier to get stacks in on the river. Easy to say that now though.

Anyway, i didn't raise, i called. The river was a brick, i raise 1800 with ~3k back, he shoves, i fold and he shows J2 of hearts. which tilts me as i actually folded the best hand.

Next hand Button rasies, i shove KQo and he calls w/KJo - Hits J on the river (obv) so tourney is over.

So to end the month for B&M poker results are:

-£33
+160
-£33
-£17
Total +£77

I thought about sticking around for some cash games but decided to go swimming instead.

Last night i play cash games onine, tired, unfocused and play bad.. (C Game)

Started out ok:

OnGame - $1 NL (5 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BB: $150.50
Hero (UTG): $53.60
BTN: $108.35
SB: $101.95

SB posts SB $0.50, BB posts BB $1.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero has 6s 6d

Hero raises to $4.00, BTN calls $4.00, fold, BB calls $3.00

Flop: ($12.50, 3 players) 2c Qs 6h
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($12.50, 3 players) Tc
BB checks, Hero bets $9.50, BTN calls $9.50, BB calls $9.50

River: ($41.00, 3 players) 3s
BB checks, Hero bets $40.10 and is all-in, BTN calls $40.10, fold

Hero shows 6s 6d (Three of a Kind, Sixes)
Hero wins $119.20

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvv

OnGame - $1 NL (5 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (SB): $103.85
BB: $119.45
UTG: $199.20
CO: $120.00
BTN: $98.50

Hero posts SB $0.50, BB posts BB $1.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero has 7s Ts

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $3.00, BB calls $2.00

Flop: ($6.00, 2 players) Ks 6h Js
Hero checks, BB bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

Turn: ($15.00, 2 players) 2c
Hero checks, BB bets $11.25, Hero calls $11.25

River: ($37.50, 2 players) 8s
Hero bets $25.00, BB calls $25.00

Hero shows 7s Ts (Flush, King High)
Hero wins $84.50

But then this hand against same villain - This was the beginning of the end:
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

#OnGame - $1 NL (5 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (UTG): $143.60
BTN: $98.00
SB: $125.50
BB: $97.50

SB posts SB $0.50, BB posts BB $1.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero has Ac Tc

Hero calls $1.00, BTN raises to $4.50, fold, fold, Hero calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50, 2 players) 5h 4d Ah
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.00, Hero calls $8.00

Turn: ($26.50, 2 players) Ts
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($26.50, 2 players) Js
Hero bets $20.00, BTN raises to $85.50 and is all-in, Hero calls $65.50

BTN shows Kh Qs (Straight, Ace High)
BTN wins $195.50

I check the turn planning to check raise but he checks behind so i try to get my value on the river and dont even notice that he's hit the flockin' straight. I felt terrible after that hand and proceeded to tilt off some $.
I put this bad play and tilt 100% down to being underrolled for these games. If i had like 30-40 buyins, i beleive it would have been easier to fold that river and reload my stack, and even if i do call, the effect of losing 1 buyin would not be so tilting.

Can't wait to get away on holiday on Friday and chill out with my lovely kids & wife for a few days.
Payday next week & no work for 10 days so i can hopefully grind a nice amount, maybe hit up the dtd in Nottingham, and work on hitting my September goals (not sure what they will be yet!)

Anyway this blogs getting long so i'll stop & leave it with a breakdown of results for the month (more for my own benefit as i've not properly worked it out until now)

Full Tilt tourneys +£782
Brick & Mortar Cash +160
Full Tilt Cash (Rush) +£10

Ongame -£410
PKR -£400
Brick & Mortar tourneys - 83
iPoker -£5

Total £56 profit

Gonna watch the Big Game now, then go to sleep!

Aug 23rd, 2010: Could 6-3s be my biggest leak?

2011-03-26T21:53:00.001Z

I played the early $6 daily doubles on Full Tilt again tonight and beleive i could have comfortably cashed in both tourneys but decided to push for final table places and the bigger $ instead of limping into the money.

It did not work out & i failled to cash in either.
In boith i had built up decent size stacks and was pushing to build chips & be a conentender for final tables.

The first bustout i think was pretty standard, the 2nd not so standard.

Incedentally i busted out of a £33 live tourney very early with a massive bluff last week with 6-3 suited.. Something about those cards seems to have an efect on me and make me spazz out all my chips.

Anyway here are the bustout hands. Im going to bed.
:::::

Full Tilt - 200/400 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

MP: 18,988.00
MP+1: 6,564.00
CO: 23,598.00
Hero (BTN): 13,177.00
SB: 15,780.00
BB: 14,427.00
UTG: 10,772.00
UTG+1: 11,696.00

MP posts ante 50.00, MP+1 posts ante 50.00, CO posts ante 50.00, Hero posts ante 50.00, SB posts ante 50.00, BB posts ante 50.00, UTG posts ante 50.00, UTG+1 posts ante 50.00, SB posts SB 200.00, BB posts BB 400.00

Pre Flop: (1000.00) Hero has Ts Td

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,440.00, SB raises to 15,730.00 and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 11,687.00 and is all-in

Flop: (27054.00, 2 players) 3s 5c 7d

Turn: (27054.00, 2 players) As

River: (27054.00, 2 players) 8s

Hero shows Ts Td (One Pair, Tens)
SB shows Ad Qd (One Pair, Aces)
SB wins 27,054.00

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Full Tilt - 250/500 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

SB: 14,710.00
BB: 5,142.00
UTG: 18,847.00
UTG+1: 7,946.00
Hero (MP): 24,471.00
MP+1: 16,939.00
CO: 6,100.00
BTN: 28,995.00

SB posts ante 50.00, BB posts ante 50.00, UTG posts ante 50.00, UTG+1 posts ante 50.00, Hero posts ante 50.00, MP+1 posts ante 50.00, CO posts ante 50.00, BTN posts ante 50.00, SB posts SB 250.00, BB posts BB 500.00

Pre Flop: (1150.00) Hero has 6s 3s

fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,000.00, fold, fold, BTN raises to 4,150.00, fold, fold, Hero raises to 24,421.00 and is all-in, BTN calls 20,271.00

Flop: (49992.00, 2 players) 2h Jc Ac

Turn: (49992.00, 2 players) Td

River: (49992.00, 2 players) 4s

Hero shows 6s 3s (High Card, Ace)
BTN shows Ah Ks (One Pair, Aces)
BTN wins 49,992.00

I also posted this hand in forum with a bit more detail on dynamic but the villain was pretty aggresive.
Still just a big spaz though and completely avoidable. Ooh well. just got to learn from it i guess.

Aug 22nd, 2010: Worst poker day this year

2011-03-26T21:52:00.001Z

So after winning a bit on Full Tilt MTT's & rush poker last week I decided to cash it all out as i'm going away for a few days next week and could do with the cash..

So yesterday i decide to see if i can turn some FPP's into cash.

I dont have many so all i could afford was a step 1 ticket for 750FPP, so...
I played step 1 - 18 man turbo and won seat to step 2.
Next i play step 2 - 18 man turbo and win a step 3 ticket.

So i have step 3 $26 ticket and i see a tourney just started with late reg available which was the £24+2 HU MTT with ~160 players, $4k guarunteed, and a small overlay so decide to give it a shot with my only step 3 ticket.

I win the first 3 matches easily and down to the last 32 (pays 16 - $100 for 16th, $1140 for 1st).
Well just before 2am i'm playing my match and feel like i have a definite edge against my opponent (GG GrampGreedy).. I get a chip lead with nearly 3000, he has just over 1000. Then we go on break, and 1 minute before the break ends...

<MY F**&^*NG INTERNET CONNECTION DIES!!> ARGHH SH|^*T

Literally it would not connect again, its 2am, I have no backup connection, and no way of getting online at this time so i'm literally sat there when i was a big favourite to win at lease $100, possibly more, knowing i'm getting blinded out of this HU match but powerless to do anything about it. Sick huh !

If this had happened during normal daytime or evening i'd have loads of options, people i could call to play for me, places not too far away to get internet connection etc but at 2am on a Saturday night i had no options and only wish I had a backup internet connection.

This actually felt worse than a sick badbeat or even bubbling a tournament from playing badly...
I've read advice from various people suggesting to get a backup connection but never bothered and now i realise that in that instance it would have paid for itself.

If anyone's reading this then of course its your choice and whateva, but even for the low stakes i play i'm thinking about getting some kind of backup, (maybe on my iPhone), and if you play highstakes it has to be worth invsetsing.

Oh well, we live & learn.. On the subject of learning i just signed up for a month of bluefirepoker membership with some PKR FPP's so i plan to catch up with some Giggy, Samo & OMGclayaiken videos this week and when i'm away, and come back fresher and ready for a profitable September!

Best poker week this year! Aug 14th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:51:00.000Z

So it's been good. I starts out ok, with a small cash in a rush tourney on Full Tilt & winning some online cashgame money about $100!

Then turned bad Wednesday morning when i play cashgames distracted, tired and in a hurry, trying to look after children, eat breakfast, iron a shirt and play 100NL which started ok but went really bad and start the day with a loss of about £100 (one buyin) after losing 100bb w/ k10o on a K high rainbow board to flopped trip 5's..

Must remmeber not to play online cashgames at 7am again unless i have a very good reason & no distractions.
Then after work that day went out to a bar to make / drink cocktails. Had quite a few mojito's and beers then decided after a few hours of drinking to go and play in a live cashgame which i play till 1am for a £160 profit.

So the weeks going ok so far, ive not won much but up a little and pleased to get a nice win playing drunk live which ive never done before (very rarely get drunk these days)..
Thursday night i play some tourneys on full tilt and end up playing the $3 rush rebuy which plays pretty deep. When i registered i thought it was a turbo tourney but turns out the structure is quite slow and the rebuy period really long. Anyway i end up going pretty deep in this and from halfway through being in the top 10 most of the time..It went wrong with this hand:

Full Tilt - 3000/6000 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 248,032.00
SB: 551,389.00
Hero (BB): 663,246.00
UTG: 105,248.00
UTG+1: 567,483.00
MP: 67,207.00
MP+1: 177,640.00
LP: 131,327.00
CO: 491,144.00

BTN posts ante 750.00, SB posts ante 750.00, Hero posts ante 750.00, UTG posts ante 750.00, UTG+1 posts ante 750.00, MP posts ante 750.00, MP+1 posts ante 750.00, LP posts ante 750.00, CO posts ante 750.00, SB posts SB 3,000.00, Hero posts BB 6,000.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 15750.00) Hero has 3h 6s

fold, fold, fold, MP+1 raises to 18,000.00, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 12,000.00

Flop: (45750.00, 2 players) 8c 4s 2d
Hero checks, MP+1 checks

Turn: (45750.00, 2 players) Ks
Hero bets 644,496.00 and is all-in, MP+1 calls 158,890.00 and is all-in

River: (363530.00, 2 players) 7h

Hero shows 3h 6s (High Card, King)
MP+1 shows 8d 8s (Three of a Kind, Eights)
MP+1 wins 363,530.00

After that i slipped right down in chips and eventually finished 32nd out of ~3000 for $88.
Pretty sickeningly low payout for such a deep run and late night. Evetually got to bed at 2.30 and had to work the next day.

Last night i finished work after this thinking about the $3 rebuy tourney and determined to give it another shot. Theres just so much value in this and i know i could have played much better towards the end of it..
I beleived once i had a big chip lead like close to 1million chips i should have sat back a bit more but i just kept pushing, always trying to be in top 3 palces for chiplead and trying to pick up chips every pot, but it got to a stage with about 60 players left when everyone seemed to pick up on this and i was betting 3 bet more and having to fold, until i was quite short and shoved AQs, which is the hand i busted with.

So i entered the $3 rebuy again last night and played quite a few other tourneys like the $2 rebuy, some steps, some $24 rush, a $40 rush which i came 7/~80.

So i was still int he $3 rebuy quite late, all the other tourneys were finished & i was in profit by about $30. Id made a lot of rebuys, maybe 10-15, and was still in the mix but quite low on chips when the rebuy preiod ended. To cut a long story short, I made a nice run in the touney, picked up a lot of chips, and reduced my aggression in the last 50 to make it to the final table 6th in chips, and eventually finished after 5am in 5th place out of 2955 for $1750.

This is my 2nd 4 figure cash! woo!

The good, the bad, the ugly: Aug 9th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:50:00.000Z

Updating this blog more regularly keeps me focused so i'm updating again!

Just fininshed playing for the night and it's been good.. I feel i played my A game 90% of the time for a ~3hour session.. Played a couple of tables cashgames on iPoker, one really nice £50 6max table which i ended up leaving with £147 after getting AK and getting on a A62r flop, i check-raise, turn is K, i shove and get calls from AQs and J6?!.. So finished ~£60 up for the cashgames, even though i couldnt make PT or HUD work with iPoker..

Also i played a few tourneys on fill tilt, played the $5 doubles and 2 $24 rush tourneys.. Didn't cash in the doubles (get pretty bored playing them these days!) but got a min cash in the 1st rush tourney for $30 which i put straight into the next one which had over 1000 entrants.
I tripled up early and was close to chiplead for most of the tournament.. Abouth halfway through i got very luck 4 bet QQ into AA and hit quads which put me up to 4th in chips, from there played aggressive & hit some nice hands, but made a coulpe of mistakes:

Full Tilt - 800/1600 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 58,307.00
SB: 17,016.00
BB: 28,285.00
UTG: 84,618.00
Hero (MP): 79,597.00
CO: 14,086.00

BTN posts ante 200.00, SB posts ante 200.00, BB posts ante 200.00, UTG posts ante 200.00, Hero posts ante 200.00, CO posts ante 200.00, SB posts SB 800.00, BB posts BB 1,600.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 3600.00) Hero has 8s 8c

UTG raises to 3,389.00, Hero calls 3,389.00, CO raises to 13,886.00 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 10,497.00

Flop: (34761.00, 2 players) Ks Td 5h

Turn: (34761.00, 2 players) Qh

River: (34761.00, 2 players) Jd

Hero shows 8s 8c (One Pair, Eights)
CO shows Kh Kc (Three of a Kind, Kings)
CO wins 34,761.00

And then this:

Hero posts ante 200.00, SB posts ante 200.00, BB posts ante 200.00, UTG posts ante 200.00, MP posts ante 200.00, CO posts ante 200.00, SB posts SB 800.00, BB posts BB 1,600.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 3600.00) Hero has 2c 6s

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 4,800.00, fold, BB calls 3,200.00

Flop: (11600.00, 2 players) 9d Th Kd
BB checks, Hero bets 60,511.00 and is all-in, BB calls 23,288.00 and is all-in

Turn: (58176.00, 2 players) 6d

River: (58176.00, 2 players) Js

Hero shows 2c 6s (One Pair, Sixes)
BB shows Ah Ad (One Pair, Aces)
BB wins 58,176.00

Both pretty bad, but i was playing for win / final table, not min cashes so gots to be aggressive right?

In the end i managed to get my stack back up to over 100k and shove TT over a small raise, villain tanks and calls w/ AKo.. Flop AKQ.. No J or T on the turn or river and i'm crippled..
End up shoving Q9 with an M of about 3 and get called by AA to go out 30/~1000 so cashed out my $100 and settle for a profit tonight of about £100 which, altough i was close to a nice tourney cash, i'm still happy with..

In other news i tilted bad on Friday night. Was very tired after a long work week and ended up playing 100NL / 200NL will 2.30am ending disasterously £400 down. Very disappointed as once again all my hard work is wiped out in a few bad hands. I also played ~2k hands yesterday but played pretty well and only ended a bit down, mainly due to this hand:

OnGame - $1 NL (5 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com

BB: $54.40
Hero (UTG): $211.00
BTN: $97.50
SB: $190.70

SB posts SB $0.50, BB posts BB $1.00

Pre Flop: (pot: $1.50) Hero has Ts 7c

Hero calls $1.00, BTN raises to $4.00, fold, fold, Hero calls $3.00

Flop: ($9.50, 2 players) 7d Td 6d
Hero bets $9.50, BTN calls $9.50

Turn: ($28.50, 2 players) Qc
Hero checks, BTN bets $21.00, Hero calls $21.00

River: ($70.50, 2 players) Tc
Hero bets $176.50 and is all-in, BTN calls $63.00 and is all-in

Hero shows Ts 7c (Full House, Tens full of Sevens)
BTN shows Th Qd (Full House, Tens full of Queens)
BTN wins $194.50

I thought this was pretty sick & i'm pretty sure it was unavoidable, apart from i should fold the T7o preflop!

I need to stop playing online Friday nights. This is always when things go really wrong. I'm not 100R% sure why but i think its a combo of being exhausted from working 40hour week + poker most nights and there seem to be some better players on Friday nights (although i suspect thats just my perception)
Anyway i've decided to play live tourney on Fridays instead of Tuesdays to keep Fri night losses to a minimum, and focus on the online during weekdays. Hope it works!

I'm going to bed now anyways

Tiredness can kill! Aug 5th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:48:00.001Z

I'll post a quick update now as i have 10 mins before a work meeting.
Poker went ok yesterday, although started out bad with a 30 min lunchtime session distracted by women & children in which i managed to lose £35, mostly in a reraised pot w/ QQ on a 972 (2 diamond flop) where my opponent called a shove of over 100bb, less than 2/1 odds to hit the nut flush (and hit on the river).

Should teach me to play rushed and distracted. But i played leter that day after football & swimming / sauna, with no discrations and played much better. Only played 2 short sessions and ended ~£100 up so overall profit for the day.
I then wrote a blog here which (because i was tired), i accidentally deleted, so went to bed.
But at least i only lost my blog and not a load of cash from playing tired! ;-) .. Definitely need to stick with shorter sessions stop when still feeling fresh.

I will mention my final hand from Tuesdays tourney.. I had 89o in the BB. The SB, (a very tricky bengali player who regularly wins at these local live games) was staring at me as he called saying you wont raise will you.

I felt almost hypnotised into checking and the flop was, 852(2 diamonds) he checks, i raise to 5k (we both have about 65k), he reraises to 10k, i 3bet to 22k and he shoves. When i raised to 22k i planned to fold to a shove but ended up tanking, thinking for ages, people all around me saying different things and he was talking a lot, and eventually i had a read that my hand was good, which of course was wrong. He flipped 82s and i didnt hit. Tourney over.

If i folded we would have gone to final table but i only had 37k left and would be short stack there so thought i'd go for the win.. With that pot i would be chipleader.. Played it really bad but will move on and try to learn from it.

Summer League: Aug 4th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:47:00.001Z

Summer poker league final

So last night i played the final of the summer £33 Tuesday night poker league.
I started with 37k chips and the chip leader had ~60k. Blinds started at 100-200 and went up every 20 mins so the tourney played out not too fast.
I started well and managed to get up to 50k within the first couple of hours. Quire early on I turned the nut straight and shoved over a 6k river bet for ~30k into a ~20k pot and villain folded (he later said he had an overpair)..

After the break i came back with over 50k but got back late and picked up 89suited UTG.. I called and the same villain from before raised 6k, blinds 600/1200. I called and the flop was rainbow 9high not connected.
He put in a big bet and i called and he shoved when the turn was a 7 for 15k. I called and he showed KK so i was drawing thin and didn't hit... A few hands and failed bluffs later i was down to 17km get move tables and after a shove Q-10o with no-one calling and a limp fold on 532 flop w/A3s when someone raised (he had trip 5's).. I was in the SB, button raises to 15k, i shove 17k w/AJo and he calls w/55 .. flop 668, turn Q, river ...8.. I win pot and back up to 34k.

A few hands later i double up w/55vs KQo to 64k and felt great with 10 players left and 9 on final table.
The button raised 20k with a 60k stack and i saw A10o in SB.. Now i really wanted to shove and even now think i should have but couldnt pull the trigger. That was probably my biggest mistake of the tourney.

Then just as the final table bubble broke on the other table i play a hand really bady and get knocked out of the tourney. I'll post this hand in my next blog cos i dont have time now but it kept me awake at night and i wish i played it differently. 1st place was nearly £600 for this and i should have at least made the final table... Oh well thats poker

Quick Update..& August goals: 2nd August 2010

2011-03-26T21:46:00.001Z

So August hasnt started so bad.. I received my copy of elements of poker on Saturday and 70 pages in it has paid for itself already... I've read a few books on poker but this is the best so far, and the only on i've read focusing more on cash games. Once hand at a time by rizen etc was also excellent but this really focuses on the elements of my game that need the most work such as quitting, tilting, taking breaks etc.

I played on betfair on sat night as my 1st session for August, played 3 short sessions of $30nl 5max with small breaks in between, finished £70 up, and cashed out.
The next day i went to ikea to buy my son a new bed for £170 and decided to play that night to try and win some more. I played from 9pm to 1.30am, and it could have ended really badly.

I played mostly pretty well but am not happy about the way i tilted and should have taken more breaks.
I was up ~$100 after a couple of hours and had taken a break so all was fine, but then i lost a massive pot in a HU match w/ a rivered K-high flush vs a rivered full house and started to tilt. I was running low on money in the PKR acc. so deposited £200 ($350) and opened two tables, a 200nl and a 100nl. I was already playing 2 50nl tables and was down $300 split between the 2 tables.

Somehow i managed to win some at 200nl and some at 100nl and get back most of the money i was down on the 50nl tables, close them all down and then realised i was close to clearing a 2day $40 bonus from my earlier deposit, so fired up a few more 6 max tables and a HU 50nl and played until i got the bonus (they give you 50% bonus deposit bonus and you have to clear within 48 hours) I managed to clear it by 1.30am, so 4.5 hours.
By that time i was tired and had to be up early for work so i cashed out, a little under £100 up.

Was a bit of a rollercoaster and i was almost releived to stop.
I really need to stick to lower limits as last night could have ended up pretty nasty.

Oh well, i'll have a night off from playing tonight and read more Tommy Angelo, but results wise i'm happy with my start to the month.. Lets hope it continues!

Goals for August -

Finish the month in profit
Dont play above 50nl online
Take at least one 5 min break per 2 hours (preferable more often)

Glass half Full Tilt: Jul 27th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:45:00.001Z

Glass Half Full TILT

I have no idea why but I can not seem to play good poker any more.. Maybe it's bad luck but i ploayed my weekly Tuesday night £33 tournament tonight, and i got so tilted really fast like i never have in nearly 3 years of playing poker.
It started so well, i was patient, calm and in a great mindset for poker. I was seated at a table with a good mix of tight and loose players, and I was waiting for the right spots, and pickng up the odd pot when necessary...

Then after a little while & the blinds are 100/200 i get 88 in the BB, a few limpers then Charlie in the SB (a good TAG makes it 1100.
I call, everyone else folds, and the flop comes KK6r. Charlie bets 1300 i call. turn is the 8 (the perfect card)..
Charlie checks, i bet 2300, he calls. river is the TEN of clubs, Charlie cheks again and I shove for ~8k, just under pot size & to put him all-in. He thinks for a long time then folds. After the hand he tells me he had 99 & would have called about a 3K bet.
Now i dont hate the way i played that hand, coinsidering my image is a bit crazy and he might have called me.. I also thought he could have had a K which he slowplayed on the turn and would call with it but OK i thought, & i was happy to win a big pot and take the table chip lead, but a bit frustrated about not getting called / not making a smaller river v.bet.

So we played a few more orbits, i picked up a few small pots and then pick up KTo on the BB, 2 callers & i check. (blinds 200/400) Flop comes AAA(r!)I bet out 1200 hoping to take pot there but also think i have a good hand if i get callers to continue from there. The turn is a 3, SB checks, i bet 1200 again and he min raises to 2400.. i think for a minute and call. River is a 7 & bets 2600 into me. I have 14k left & tank. The raiser calls the clock on me and i'm really really close to calling but figure he's calling the clock to push me into calling so finally fold my King high and he fliips 69o, a total bluff which wins him a big pot.

That hand tilted me but i stay positive, pick up 88 in position, flop is 853, i bet 700 into a 1200 pot and everyone folds. Then i pick up JJ raise 3x preflop, 3 callers & flop is A high i call a tiny bet on the turn and check down the pot with a guy who has A7o so he takes it.

Soon after i get 89s on the button. i raise 3x and the flop comes Tc,Kc,3s, checked to me i bet close to pot size and get one caller, turn is 6s giving me a flush draw & inside straight draw.. checked to me i bet 1200 into ~4k and the same guy calls. At this point i put him on having the club flush draw and in retrospect this was a mistake as his range was clearly wider than this but i knew i was beat, checked it down and mucked.
The guy showed AJ (missed spade nutflush draw) and told me he was folding to any river bet.
I felt sick there cos I played that hand so so badly, lost another big pot that i could have taken down with a simple river bet. after that hand the tilt had totally set in & it really felt like i could do nothing right.

2 hands later i get KJo in the BB, blinds are 200/400 still.. I rasie it to 1000 get 3 callers and flop is 38Kr. I bet 1000 and get 1 caller. turn is a brick and i check for deception (hoping he will bet) and the other guy checks behind.. (not what i wanted).. The river comes an Ace, I bet 2000 and he calls me with A8o.

Poker is sick like this sometimes.. maybe i didnt do that much wrong and on another day these hands would have worked out differently & i'd be sat there with a big stack but tonight its just been bad.
I probably could have sat there and grinded my 8k stack back up, maybe even won the tourney. Blinds were only 300/600 so i wasnt dead!.. But i was really hot, i was super tilted and just wanted to get the flock out of there and shoved allin blind UTG on the next hand. the BB called with 88, i flipped K5o & didnt hit, so shook hands, got in my Mercedes and drove home with loud music on not feeling happy at all.

I don't think the all-in blind was my worst play of the night, and feel i generally played pretty bad and my play deteriorated as i got gradually more & more tilted & by that time i didn't care.

The wierd thing is before i started to get coaching and playing cash games i didnt tilt very often, i could handle badbeats better and could cope with losing a hand, put it behind me and move on but I think the cash game coaching has not only lost me a lot of money learning to play cash but also ruined my tounament game. I really hope i can get this sorted cos right now i cant play good poker. Not online cash, not online tourneys and not live. All of them are bad.

I'm taking the rest of the month off poker to chill out, hit the gym, rest & reflect.
My Tommy Angelo book order has been despatched soon so i look forward to reading that by the pool on a sunlounger and maybe it will help me with my poker mindset!

It's payday from my job soon, so i can re-deposit and start grinding again for August, hopefully with more success, but at least July is my first winning month this year (sort of!), even if it is from rakeback and its a ridiculously small amount I have to look at the positves!

July results:
FULL TILT -$183 (£120)
PKR -$200 (£130)
LIVE +£120
RAKEBACK +$211 (~£135)
TOTAL - +£5 !!

I wonder if that will cover my expenses?

GL everyone.

Cash game coaching update: Jul 24th, 2010

2011-03-26T21:44:00.000Z

So I have to conlude that the coaching has basically destroyed my game..

Whether i will play poker again with any success or give up the game i'm unsure about at the moment.
Last year I decided to continue playing if I made money and I made at least a few £/$thousand.
This year has gone so badly and every month has been a losing month both live & online until now.
July, i thought would be different & started very well. After my laptop died and has to be fixed i deposited $200 on PKR with 100% bonus which i cleared in 2 weeks, and managed to get up to $700 with the last months rakeback payment. I also won my weekly live donkament for £220, so felt good to be up half way into the month. Since then due to a few bad sessions & tilting / and a bad day playing 100NLHU on PKR my bankroll there is now $0. It is also $0 on FT, Stars, ipoker, cereus, party, ongame, bodog, & cake.

I was given a free $150 ticket to play the $100k bodog last sunday and bubbled, 67/512 (64 get paid), i played well early on, was chip leader on my table for some time & tried to be patient but made a few moves that never worked, someone would always come over the top & i had to fold, I lost a big flip w/KJo vs 10's get Aces on the button, flat called & got no action, and evenually shoved w/KQo in early postion when i was shortstack on the bubble, got called by 1010 and again didnt win the flip.
At one point when i had a big stack i folded 10's to a preflop 30bb shove which haunted me after as i was in a position to go deep and feel like i threw it away. Although had a few things gone different i could well have been in a position to go v.deep in this.. (Need to win more flips / get action w/aces).

So i'm sat here now without a poker bankroll & not prepared to deposit again atm. Not quite sure where to go from here.. I will play live again on Tuesday in the summer league game i've been playing each week. it's £33 buyin, £25 goes to prize pool, £5 to league & £3 rake, they get ~20 players & its generally a good field but i think i have some edge over most players there.

in terms of online i'm unsure.. I was successful last yr playing tournouis! i feel my tourney game has gone backwards in some respects since playing cash as concepts sometimes get confused between the two wheras before i'd been so focused on tourney strategy and it was all i knew.

I really wish i'd not decided to take coaching or start playing cash but the temptation of being coached by someone so financially successful for no outlay was too tempting.

With the cash games, i actually prefer HUNL and think i have more edge there in the games / stakes i play, although when i'm playing well i feel pretty strong at 6-max. The problems i have aare when i'm not in the right mindset to play and either autopilot or tilt or play really tired / exhausted, usually on a Friday / Satursday night after continuous nights with not enough sleep.

When i play focused / not distracted / fresh / not tired etc i will generally win or have the sense to take a break if i start to lose a bit, but when i'm playing tired i lose a bit then carry on mindlessly losing which really hurts the bankroll.

The coach I have had said to me early on that it was the tilt aspect of my game i needed to work on the most. I feel i've improved in this area but still have some way to go so will reallly really focus on this in August.

I've just ordered elements of poker by Tommy Angelo. Hopefully this wll help. I will also try to update the blog more often to motivate me.

The last 6 months have been extremely painful & i hope so much that i can really learn from everything i've been through. This is what i think i've learnt so far:

Bankroll management: have 20buyins for lower levels. So> $200 for 10NL, $500 for 25NL, $1000 for 50NL etc
SO: -------Don't take shots at 100NL until i have $2000---------
This is extremely hard to stick to cos i hate the micros so much but i guess if i cant beat these and have the discipline to do so consistently then how will i consistently beat higher stakes & have discipline when it goes wrong, (which it will),(Its poker ffs!).. So..
on a $200 stick to 10NL until i get to $500. Take shots and if i drop below $400 then stick to the 10NL again.
If i can get to $1000 the take shots @50NL and if i drop below $800 then stick to 25NL. Get to $2000 then take shots at 100NL, drop below $1600 and stick to 50NL. Rinse and repeat.
To suppliment this I will add $200 to the online cashgame BR each month so hopefully this will grow.
It might take a long time but i have learnt that patience is so important and its better to grow the BR slowly. It will grow faster once i get to the higher levels but i must be disciplined to get there & instill this discipline.

Only play at the right times. NO distractions / NOT Tired. If in doubt, stop / dont start and do something different / go to sleep. This is so important for me & mindset management is essential for cashgame success.

This stuff is easy to read but to have experienced the paid from tilting off massive amounts / playing outside BR management has truly taught me these lessons first hand..

Maybe poker won't work out but i've put a lot into it and i really hope it starts to pay off soon.
I'll keep reading, learning, playing & watching vidoes for now and see how it goes for the reat of the year but i do feel like i'm at the stage where i'm confident i wont be making huge losses outside of a fixed bankroll any more...

Down Down Down (At least i'm not Isildur1)! Dec 4th, 2009

2011-03-26T21:43:00.000Z

So i've met the coach, had the advice and since that won nothing a lost lots.

$928 down on Full tilt

$50 down on Pokerstars

$229 down on ipoker

$50 down on bodog

$25 down on PKR

Bearing in mind before the coaching started i was over $3k profit on Full tilt, mostly in Oct and Nov '09 this is by far the worst downswing i have ever experienced.

Before now i've never deposited mcuh more than $100 in a month.

I've been mutitabling 4 tables 25NL or 50NL and have also lost a lot at 100NLHU and 200NLHU on Fulltilt after going into decent profit, having bad beats and going on tilt so barred myself until end of December from Fulltilt.

Gave Bodog a try. Turned $50 into $150 then lost it all. Lost $50 playing sitngos on Pokerstars, and have never had a winning session on ipoker. I have a rakeback deal but the rake seems to eat away any profits.

Decided to start playing lower stakes playing more for fun (not for the money!) so gave PKR a try.. Interesting and different but i found the gameplay a bit too slow.

After another losing session i've decided to go back to the drawing board, give cash tables a rest for a while, do some more reading - going to read G-Bucks and have a 2nd attempt at mathematics of poker. Then take some shots at some tourneys and see if i can build up a BR that way - Low risk, and not play cash tables until i've got like $500 minimum.

All i can think about is poker! I've just signed up for Doylesroom, PokerNordica, and Absolute Poker to try to get rakeback going and now even have a Betfair account!

I've also been following Isildur1 very closely and feel sick for him. Latest count $2.2M down from $5 up 2 weeks ago. Sick sick sick.

Tomorrow will be a night out for a friends birthday in London so no poker.

Once i feel ready i'll make a depost on one of the many sites i've signed up to.

Apart from that i'll play in the pub on Tuesday and going to Wales for work the following tuesday so will hopefully get to play in a nice casino in Swansea.

Then take it easy over christmas and start fresh in the New Year.

New year new start.

For 2009 i planned to take poker more seriously and had decided that if i lost money overall i would stop and if I made a profit i would continue.

I estimate i've made £1000 profit from live poker and £1000 online so plan to continue and take it to the next level for 2010 and hopefully have some good results.

Will see how it goes but probably not get into the coaching much till the new year. Hopefully that will work out and improve my game.

Outside of poker life is good. My wife and children are amazing and my job is secure, well paid! I'm very lucky i guess to have all this and sometimes feel i should stop being so obsessed with poker and enjoy what i have a bit more, but i see a great opportunity here to make some serious money doing something i love so i'm keen to give it my best shot and not go into it half heartedly.

The losses this month have fucked me financially but i'm not crippled and will be ok to keep playing with some decent BR management in the new year.

Its now 1am and have to get up early to go to a christmas family fun day at Jimmys farm so gonna go to bed.

Peace out