A student and his poker journey..

A good night!

2010-09-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, since that last post about the big Sunday session I have had little time to play. Unfortunately I lost quite a bit on that evening so I have been desperate to try and recoup those losses, but last week was my first week back at uni and I ended up going out quite a bit, and when I wasn't going out, I was preparing for an important interview for a graduate job next year.

Anyway, I managed to play a big session tonight as it was the end of the month and I was determined to get some profit. I started the night about $200 in makeup but ended up about $300 OUT of makeup as I had a really sick night on the 90s. I regged for loads and loads and ended up with

2 $6 1st places
1 $3 1st place
1 $12 3rd place
1 $6 2nd place
1 $6 7th place

So I ended up winning about $500 on the night taking me nicely out of makeup. Ben then came online and we sorted out the accounts and I got my profit for the month, which is always nice.

We have now reset the account, with me starting up again with $400. This month I will be trying out SNGWiz and also the $26 90mans, which should be fun! Hopefully I get a good run together when I play those and can rake in a lot of $$$.

We shall see!

Goodnight.

Edit: AND I GOT A ROYAL FLUSH TONIGHT, WOOP.

Big Sunday!

2010-09-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Since my last post, Ben and I decided to split the current profits I had, and then restart from $200 again on full tilt. After running pretty well at the 90mans, I got that back up to about $330, while busting a few of the miniftops I had played.

Today was the big day though, as there were 3 ftops events, (including the main event), and the opening GSOP on bwin.

I will breakdown how I did in each

- $24 6max KO

Got off to a good start in this but then lost AK to AA aipf to cripple me, before losing 88 to KJ to bust.

- $22 Deepstack

Did terribly in this. Got nothing going.

- $22 Rush Rebuy!!

I loved this tournament. It was so fun. Unfortunately I was in for $100 at the end of the rebuy period, but I had a good stack of around 15000. I soon worked this up to about 35k after making a hero call :). I was happy to make a hero call and stick with my gut as sometimes I can get intimidated in these big fields.
Anyway, I soon lost with 78 on a AA77 board to AQ and then ran 55 into QQ just short of the money.

- $75 main event

aggro spewtard decides to 3bet and 5bet me with AK preflop. I get it in with QQ. gg me.

I really enjoyed tonight though. I learnt a load and loved the challenge. Its just a shame I couldn't take that $20r run a bit further.

Ah well.

Back in Notts now, and this week there are more GSOP events for me to play. I guess they will be pretty soft, so lets hope a FT comes my way.

C ya.

Putting distance between myself and makeup?

2010-09-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

My last post highlighted how I was just out of makeup. Since then I have put in a few nights of volume and I have won about £150. I feel like it could have been more as I have got two 3rds in the $12 90s but meh, I won't moan.

Things are going well. I am back watching loads of pokersavvy videos, and I seem to learn a lot from these.

In two days I go to Prague for a few days, which should be sick. I will have one more session tomorrow evening, but then it will be no poker till after Prague, but I will have something to look forward to as it is miniFTOPS time! I will be playing a few events ranging from $20-$75 buyins, and I really hope I can put together a deep run and maybe bink one?

Following the miniftops is the GSOP on ongame, which I should be playing as well, and I've got a feeling I will be majorly +EV in that, so it would be stupid not to play.

Seeing as I am feeling confident about my game at the moment, I have decided to set myself a nice realistic aim for before I get back to uni.

Aim:

- Win the miniFTOPS main event for six figures.

I will be disappointed if I fail in this aim.

Gl at the tables all!

First Post in Ages!

2010-08-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, it's been ages!

My last post was back in July saying how I had got out of makeup. Unfortunately following that I went on like a £500 downswing and was about £450 in makeup or something, which made me fairly pissed as I had just gotten out. There was also no time to get out of it as I had to work at the Shrewsbury Flower Show for four and a bit weeks. This is a really intense job, where I wake at 6am and get home at 8pm, have some food, shower, and go to bed. AND ITS SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

It's obviously pretty mental, but the money is good and the people I work with are a laugh, so I do enjoy it.

I finished that about a week ago and came back ready to play poker, unfortunately I got off to a bad start getting another £150 or so deep in makeup, putting me around £600 deep. Ah well. After that bad start I had to do a few jobs, and some personal family stuff came up that meant I couldn't play much poker :(

The good news? I did get back on it a few days ago and its gone really well! Won about £750 the last two sessions and am out of makeup again with about 2 and a half weeks of grinding time ahead of me. A few days of that I will be in Prague with a mate (sweet), so that leaves about a fortnight of solid grinding.

Now I am out of makeup I hope I finally get a long run together and rake in some serious ££££. I always have downswings at the wrong times it seems.

I rushed this post a little, so I apoligise, but I will be posting more in the next few days.

Goodnight!

Out of Makeup!

2010-07-07T02:28:00.000-07:00

Yay, I am out of makeup! The 90 man KO's are going brilliant lately, and I feel really +EV in them. By putting in a lot of volume it means I am really playing the bubbles well and playing with aggression due to the fact that I am not scared/nervous about not making the FT.

I play a few tournaments in the evening alongside the 90 mans, and one that I normally try out is the $1r. It's quite a fun tournament that I have min cashed a few times. Anyway last night I came 4th for $811, sweet. I definately made mistakes on the bubble and I think it's because I have been getting unlucky on FT bubbles in the big mtts lately, and there may have been a few nerves. If I played the bubble like I do in the 90 mans, maybe I could have gone onto the FT larger stacked! But I will check over the hand histories lately and make sure I spot the leaks.

So yeh, I'm out of makeup! Sweet. I am going to earn a lot this Summer :)

GL All!

Swings!

2010-06-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

So I have been putting in some extreme volume lately. I play a load of the 90 man turbos everyday and mix in a few mtts if the 90 mans arent loading quickly.

Initially I turned my initial $600 deposit on full tilt up to $900 but then downswinged very hard and very quick and found myself with just $50 left in a flash. This put me over £1100 in makeup and I was really down about poker.

Over Skype, me and Ben had a long discussion going over my hand histories and it was really beneficial and we ironed out some leaks. Following this I went on a bit of an extreme heater, winning a bunch of the 90 mans and that $50 is now nearly $1200 and I am only £350 away from getting out of makeup!

The story of today though, is that I entered a $24 Knock-Out tournament and after running pretty good to start with I was freerolling off the bounties I had won. I ended up final tabling the 1200 field and felt good about my chances at taking the $5000. But alas, I made a squeeze with ATo and busted 9th for $360. Sigh.

Anyway, I am loving poker atm and am happily grinding every day. I can't wait to get out of makeup and start earning $$$$!!

GL all!

COME ON ENGLAND!!

Exams/Construction/Final Tables/Full Tilt

2010-06-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just checked when I last updated this and it was two months ago, oops.

Back then I was sitting pretty deep in make-up as I was heading into exams, and things were looking pretty grim. Right now things are a lot better and I will be out of make-up in no time (hopefully).

My exams? They went averagely. I worked less than I normally do and I found myself coming out of exams knowing that they would bring my average down, which is something I obviously wanted to avoid in my penultimate year.

Once they finished I had a crazy few nights going out, one in particular was absolutely mental, so that was a fun blow out. Then I got back into the euro mtt grinding and that started promisingly when I got a final table in my first session, but typically, I lost a race and came 7th. Fine. I hit two more final tables that week and got two 8ths. When will I win a tournament huh? I guess it's time to face facts and admit I might be a terrible final table player.

A few days before he headed to Vegas, I had a chat with Ben about the summer and he decided to get me started on full tilt where I could grind the 90 man knockouts on there. I only had a day to play there before I went on a construction course but it was a great day where I crushed for a nice little profit that got me started on my quest to get out of make-up. It will hopefully get me a lot better at final table play as well.

The construction course was 6 days long and was the most intense week of my life. I was waking up at 6am every day and working on site until 6pm. We then ate till 7pm and we were expected to get showered and be ready for time in the offices at 8pm where we would have reporting sessions until 10.30pm. Diaries then had to be written before we got to sleep at about midnight. Fortunately I actually loved the work. I was part of a group of 15 that started with nothing but drawings on Sunday, but ended on Friday with a picture of us all fistpumping as we stood on this cable-stayed bridge we had constructed. Sick. Maybe I do like my course after all?

I then hit Dusk till Dawn the day after for a £25 deepstack that was paused for the England game. It was a great atmosphere all day and I was in there for 15 hours before leaving with exactly what I started with in my wallet, not bad I suppose! A couple of my mates final tabled a side event so they were super pumped. Congrats.

Soon after that I was right back onto full tilt, and I plan to be grinding that pretty heavily now all Summer. I reckon with good volume I will get myself quickly out of makeup and then I can start rolling in the $$$. Here is to a good summer!

C ya

(Oh and WTF England?!)

Downswing Confirmed.

2010-04-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Its fair to say things could be going no worse. I play every day, and lose every day. I really don't understand what more I could be doing. I analyse hands, I watch videos, I read 2+2, and most importantly I put in volume. Unfortunately the results have been diabolical. It stuns me some of the beats I am taking on final table bubbles. Anyway, I got to keep grinding through it, however hard it is.

My parents gave me a bit of grief about how much time I spend playing, and how unsuccessful I am this Easter break, and I find it hard to respond to. They don't understand variance. They just think a winning player has the ability to cash in every tournament they play in. No.

I am starting to get pretty deep in make-up, which is never fun. But I have crawled out of it numerous times before and I will definately do it again. The question is when?

Revision will start soon (I hope), meaning that volume will decrease. That blows. Will keep grinding though and the results HAVE to come in.

C ya

(still grinding a $5.50r btw. 205/505. maybe in 4 hours I can completely edit this blog post)

Volume Volume Volume

2010-04-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

So I have been going a bit mad with poker atm. I am playing a load like I said I would as I really want to make the most of the time available. Unfortunately, the results continue to be negative ones. I have had a couple of scores around the $300-$400 mark but the volume I am putting in means this is not enough to result in profit.

Every day I watch training videos and go through my hand histories. I really want to improve and I feel that I am. But the results never seem to reflect my effort levels.

Being quite a mathematical person, I enjoy statistics and I understand probabilities and variance quite well. I am fully aware of the fact that you need a large sample size before you get your true ROI%, and even then it still wont be 100% accurate. I am also aware of all the downswings that occur for all the top grinders. Unfortunately this doesn't quite make things feel better for me at the moment.

Tonight I hit the final table of the €27.50 and came in 8/10. I won a bunch without showdown and got to 5/7, but then I got QQ in against A9s and the A binked the flop. €175.

I hope situations like this turn around, and I expect them to this Easter. I still have a lot of volume planned and I know there are more final tables to come. I will continue to work on my game (got a bunch of hand histories to look over tomorrow), and you should expect a happy winning post from me soon :)

Bye all!

Easter Holidays

2010-04-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, been a long time since I checked in. Seems a long time ago now, but the session at Ben's went pretty terribly in terms of results with it being my biggest ever losing night, oops. However, I learnt a bunch of stuff there, so it was really beneficial. TY Ben.

Following that session I had a really tough fortnight fighting to complete my group project at uni so no poker was played as the project really had to consume my life for this period. Fortunately though, I jumped on a plane about 36 hours after the deadline to Gran Canaria with various family members and just chilled for a week, which was really sweet.

Landed back in Manchester last night and chilled out today, before booting up the first session of what I intend on being a poker-filled Easter. I have three weeks before going back to uni and while I need to spend some time revising, I am going to have a load of time to put some volume in and I want to make the absolute most of it. I really want to ship a tournament as well, it's starting to annoy me how I havent previously.

Anyway, onto tonights session. It started quite poorly but I found myself deep in two tournaments. The €22 deepstack on dtd, and the $11 on bwin. Fortunately I hit both final tables, but the luck was to end there as I proceeded to lose all the significant all ins and bust 6th and 9th respectively. That made for a break-even night, lovely :/

I will admit that I am becoming really frustrated at my lack of run good on final tables atm, and I just hope so much that it will turn around this Easter. I have a bunch of hands to go through from tonight anyway, so hopefully I can start plugging some leaks.

Goals before going back to uni:

- Win a tournament.
- Profit £1000.
- Play whenever I can.
- Keep on top of revision.

Not hitting profit for this holiday really isn't an option for me right now, I feel like I am really +EV in these fields and I work hard at my game, so it is time for some big results to come my way.

Congrats to breesy1 who made it two stars final tables in two nights and continues a nice run. And congrats to ben who hit the UKIPT FT.

Goodnight.

Another 2nd?!

2010-03-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Put in two sessions and a home game since the last update. The home games I am playing are starting to get a bit better in quality now and they are making for really good games and a lot of good banter, unfortunately though I couldn't make it three wins in a row this week :(

I played a session last night that resulted in a £15 win, woo. I final table bubbled the €10r for about €90 as well as some other smaller cashes. It really sucked to final table bubble in 11th though, as with 15 left I was the big chip leader. I have never had a meltdown as big as that before, but apart from one missed bet, I don't think I played it too badly.

Tonight I put in a smaller session but it still came out to be profitable. I entered the $22 double deep on bwin but it only got 61 runners which surprised me. That meant for a smaller prizepool than I hoped, offering only $450 for first. I ran pretty hot in it, and went into heads up with a 2-1 chip lead. I was really hoping I could break my run of coming 2nd everytime I got heads up, but unfortunately I flopped top pair with KQ on a QhJc5h board and ended up getting it all in vs my aggro opponent, who had 55, meh. Another 2nd for me, making it 0/6 in my heads up confrontations. This is highly frustrating and I really hope to turn it around soon.

I also got one other smaller cash on the night meaning overall I won £160. This means a £175 win for the two days of grinding, which is quite nice, but I felt it could have been a lot more. Tomorrow is Sunday, but I won't be playing as I have a lot of coursework to get done. However, on Monday I will be going to grind at Bens flat which should be both enjoyable and helpful, oh, and profitable ;)

Goodnight!

Update!

2010-03-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, been a week since my last post and not much has happened since! I played a half-session mid week that didn't go well and then on Saturday I played my first super50 which is a deepstack £50 at dtd. After 90 minutes of folding I finally picked up KK but unfortunately I ran into AA. Doh. Tonight I put in a session and I managed a final table on boss in the €22 deepstack but I came 9th when AK couldn't improve vs 88. This left me with a small £25 loss for the night. I have been really breakeven in 2010 and it is frustrating, but I guess I should be happy I aint in makeup!

I signed up to pokersavvy the other day and it has helped dramatically. I try and watch a video a day (they are about 45 mins long on average), and it is great to hear thought processes which had never previously entered my head. Worthwhile investment so far. Infact, it helped me with my session tonight in many spots, and I made a few plays I wouldn't have previously made and they all worked, so it seems like it is doing the trick (results orientated ftw).

On Thursday I might be going to Bens flat to grind and go through hands/accounts etc, but it depends on my coursework situation. Hopefully I manage to get it out the way though as I would quite like to go as it is really helpful and it actually got me my biggest ever score last time!

Off to bed now. Goodnight!

Weekend Review

2010-03-07T17:23:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, I thought It would be better to wrap up the weekends poker in one blog post rather than update every evening, so here we go!

Friday -

On Friday I headed down to DTD for the first time in a while and entered the £25 freezeout. I am pretty sure they have reduced the starting stack from 4k to 3k which is a bit annoying, but I could be wrong. Anyway I folded for about an hour then reshoved KJ into K9 and a 9 flopped. GG. I then late registered for the £10 rebuy into the following days £300 thinking this might be a cheaper, more fun thing to do than play a cash game. I was wrong. I lost all my all ins before the break which meant I became one of those douches shouting for chips every 5 minutes. Anyway after the break I had a good run, tripling with AA vs JJ and TT and then winning a few smaller pots. Unfortunately though, I lost the big flip with AQ vs 99 to seal the deal in 19th. Goodnight.

Saturday -

Booted up a session at around 7.30 on Saturday evening which started with the iCOP6 which was a €22 heads up. I won my first round in a pretty long match, but lost in the second round in a hand I can't actually remember. I got a min cash in a €11 freezeout but the big score came in a $11f on bwin for $812. Unfortunately this was yet another 2nd place finish, so my run of not actually shipping a tournament continues. But still, it was a nice score which I am happy with. (I ran like god from 18 onwards)

Sunday -

Same start as Saturday but this time with iCOP 7 - THE MAIN EVENT. This was the worst tournament I have ever played as the software clearly couldn't cope. I also lost 175 big blinds on the first hand with QQ vs 22 when a 2 flopped. Fortunately I doubled and got back in it, but 88 vs Q8 aipf busted me when a Q flopped. No other tournaments went well either, and I suffered a pretty big loss for the evening. I am hoping to get a refund on bwin though as I was unable to add-on in the $11r due to technical reasons. This left me with 10bb after the break which is below where I would like to be in that tournament. I sent them a snotty email basically saying I play a certain way because of the guarantee of an add-on etc. Hopefully they buy in to it and I get some $ back.

Review -

Fun weekend with three nights of poker. In the end it was about £250 profit online, and -£100 loss live. As I take half of what I win online, then it looks like I just squeezed out a £25 profit! Good times.

Long overdue update!

2010-03-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, long time since the last update so I thought I would check in! Since the last post I have been incredibly busy with courseworks and other stuff. I had a bunch of courseworks in for early this week and then had a massively important interview on Wednesday for a sponsorship offer. Unfortunately I underperformed and I was pretty downbeat about that.

Yesterday I had a 'Viva' for my group project. This was a 45 minute one-on-one meeting with my group advisor where he assessed my technical understanding of the project (A kayak course) and how I affect the group dynamics etc. I was pleased with how mine went and apparently he told another group member he was impressed with me. Sweet. It holds a large chunk of my mark this year so this helped erase Wednesdays disapointment.

Last Friday I got v.drunk on a boat for my mates bday, and after we got back onto land, had a good time at Oceana, and had my kebab, I fancied a trip to Alea to see if my good run could continue. I got off to a bad start on roulette but the 50/£1 cash game they had running may be the softest thing I've ever played and I came out a big winner. Good times.

Unfortunately online hasn't been going too well for me. I have played two large sessions since the last update and neither has been profitable. I managed a final table last night but ran QQ into KK for an 8th place finish and a measly €105. A few other small cashes have kept the losses to a minimum but it is still frustrating to be so break-even for 2010. I fully anticipate a heater around the corner though, and I will keep working towards this.

I have decided I am going to spend my roulette winnings on subscribing to a training site as I hear many good things about them and I am sure it would be a worthwhile investment if I found the right site, but I guess thats the hardest part, finding the right one. I will begin research tomorrow.

This weekend I have nothing to do, so I plan a big poker weekend. Tonight I am going to DTD to play the £25, and if I bust early I will play the £10r to the £300 tomorrow, which if I won a seat to I would sell off most of my action. If the night ends pretty quickly then I won't sit down to play a cash game, well not at DTD anyway, as I will jump in a taxi to Alea and play those idiots again.

Tomorrow and Sunday however, are dedicated to online. I find the weekend games a lot softer so I plan to put in a good amount of volume and see if I can bink big.

Hope everyone is running well etc

C ya!

WTF AK?

2010-02-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, just finished another frustrating session. I finished January like £500 up but seem to have gone on a £400 downswing in February which is slightly annoying.

Tonight it is pretty funny how many tournaments I busted with AK. Honestly, 5 or 6 of them were with AK losing to pocket pairs or to AJ. I guess I could shrug this off and say it is just variance biting me, but I am just going to check and go over a few of these AK hands and make sure that I'm not being overly-aggro with the hand.

I did manage a cash for $89 in the $11r on bwin but I actually bought in for my highest amount ($71) as I was getting pretty cold decked in the first hour, so it is a rather meaningless result!

On the brighter side, Ben kindly offered me a stake for the $215 Sunday 4Million tonight and I jumped at the chance. I felt I played pretty solid poker and I was making as many notes as I could on my table-mates. Unfortunately I lost half my stack with AK (lol) and then when I was down to ~12BBs I woke up with KQ in the small blind, only to run into AT in the big blind. GG. I am going to go over the AK hand from this tournament also as I believe I may have made an incorrect play somewhere. Anyway, I loved the tournament, so ty Ben!

So it seems I am on a downswing in poker, but on roulette I am on a severe upswing. I have ended up in the casino a few times the past week for various reasons (nearly always drunk) and have found myself winning time and time again. I am going to put this money towards a holiday, but I have also put $60 towards a 1% share in Ben in his massive Sunday session tonight. Currently it looks like he could go deep in the $55 on stars, among other things. GL!

Went to Manchester last night for a mates birthday and although I am not a massive fan of the city, I did manage to have a pretty fun night. TY Jack!

Currently planning when to have my next session this week. Will post again then! C ya!

Frustrating times..

2010-02-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

Played sessions for 3 days on the bounce now and I have gone nowhere but backwards. It is really frustrating me because I am working hard on my game on 2+2 and have been putting in all my concentration in all my sessions. Last night I got coolered deep in a $11 on bwin to come 14th and got another min cash, whereas tonight I booted up a bunch of tournaments and honestly believe I didn't win a hand where it was all in pre flop. Brutal. Didn't cash in any.

I am still in profit for Jan+Feb combined for £216, but I feel the level of volume and effort I am putting in may deserve a bit more. But hey, we all know how poker works, and we all go through these tough times!

I keep wanting to play and work hard at my game because I KNOW that there is a sick heater for me round the corner somewhere and possibly my first 1st place finish? We shall see. Just got to keep working at it.

Goodnight!

21st Birthday.

2010-02-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hey all, since my last post I have played a number of sessions. Unfortunately they haven't been going too great, with a fair bit of run bad being chucked in there. Infact, ten minutes ago I just busted my last tournament of the night in 51st with AA losing to 56 on a 952 flop when 50 cashed. Oh well, standard?

So that has kind of summed of February for me so far. I did make one final table in the early hours of my birthday but only managed to get a 7th for €150 or something, I can't quite remember. Then it was the day of my 21st (vegas?!) which was a nice day, although the real celebrations were last night as a bunch of my mates from home came up and we had a pretty sick day and night out. Good times.

As is standard for these situations, we found ourselves stumbling into a casino at 3am and I sat down with £20 on the roulette table. After 10 minutes of chucking chips around I find myself walking out with £206. That was the bday run good I was waiting for!

I actually have a really expensive month coming up with many birthdays and nights out planned so this money will be pretty useful..

Poker-wise I feel my game is pretty sharp at the moment, I just havent been able to hit that huge score this month. Still, there is a while yet to go of February and I hope to make the most of it. My next session will be tomorrow (Sunday) night and I can feel a big 4 figure score coming in. One time!

Off to watch a film now. see ya..

January Review

2010-02-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Not posted for some time now, my last post highlighted how my exams had finished and how I was planning to get some volume in for January. Unfortunately life went even more mental after exams with me having a lot on my plate with househunting and a flooded room. On Friday the room was finally sorted which made me pretty happy because I now have a desk/bed/carpet etc. And we signed for a contract for our new house on Friday also. That meant I could grind on Saturday and Sunday for a big push to get some volume in for January.

Saturday started off really poorly, I think I made a couple of poor decisions initially and this could be down to the break from the game. I got a $200ish cash towards the end of the night to make it only a £40 loss. Sunday also got off to a bad start, and I found myself one-tabling sooner than I would have liked. Fortunately I was nicely placed in the €22 deepstack and I managed to convert it into a 2nd place and €810.

Still though, I was annoyed. If you don't like reading bad beat stuff then you can just stop the next bit..

----

I came 2nd once again after a brutal bit of run bad! I now have sooo many final table finishes and not one 1st. I havent won a heads up battle for so long and maybe this will explain it..

Heads up:
Hero (BB) - 450,000
Villain - 600,000

Villain raises. Hero 3bets AQs. Villain Shoves. Hero Calls.

Villain shows AJ. Board Jxxxx. GG.

Also earlier on, with 6 left, I raise AA, get shoved over, I call, he shows 66, board = xxxx6. Fun times. Luckily the structure was good so I could get back in it by winning loads without showdown.

It is really pissing me off that I can't actually win a tournament. If I converted just a couple of my 4ths/3rds/2nds into 1sts then I would be £1000s richer. fml.

---------

Anyway, January was a terrible month for volume but not a bad month for results:

Tournaments Played - 23
Profit - £504.24

Total Results:
Total Profit - £1803.73
ROI - 40.44%

I won't be seeing that profit for now as me and Ben have decided to merge January and February together as a 'single month' as January had such little volume.

I am hoping to put a fair bit of volume in for February so wish me luck!

Congrats to Breesy who got his biggest ever cash last night for about £1100. He is crushing atm and he fully deserves it. I reckon you should check out his blog which you can find on the right -->

Bye all!!

Update..

2010-01-22T01:14:00.001-08:00

Hey all! Been a long time since I posted so thought I would keep you all up to speed with whats been going on. Unfortunately, I haven't played a single hand of poker since my last post because of the hell that is exams. I once again had four exams to contend with so this meant a fair bit of revision. It was going fairly well, until the day I arrived back to Nottingham, opened my bedroom door, and saw that it was flooded. Oops. I could go on and on about the problems this has caused, but I won't moan! The exams went pretty well until the last one which I am pretty confident will be my lowest exam result to date. My incredibly selective revision technique is always a bit of a gamble that does seem to come back and fuck me over from time to time, which is understandable.

Anyway, I am now finished! Sweet. I am going to try and play as much poker as I can the next fortnight or so, but with no desk space because of the flood, and some social stuff to catch up on, the poker may not start fully until February, which I hope to be a month of really good volume.

GL to anybody still doing exams.

Bye all!

2009 Review + 2010 Goals

2009-12-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Not blogged for a while as I have been super busy with family stuff. Had an awesome Xmas Eve night out, a fun Xmas Day, and lots of cool days since with various family members and family friends. I did squeeze in a tiny session but it was a losing one unfortunately. That leaves my December results as:

Tournaments Played: 66
December Profit: £565.27

However, I started December with make-up of £479.44 so my profit over November and December is £85.83. Obviously this isn't too great for two months grinding, but it was looking very bleak indeed a couple of weeks ago, so I am pleased to pull it around and net myself £40ish.

I started this staking deal with Ben in September and in those four months I have achieved a profit of £1300.32. My ROI in this period is 30.82%. I believe I can at least double this ROI in the next few months so that is an immediate goal of mine!

2009 started off really well for me on the poker front. I achieved a $1950 score on Stars in Feburary and notched up a few $100 scores in other tournaments in the coming months. Unfortunately, I withdrew over £1000 for a holiday and a laptop, and the rest was often blown on cash tables, nights out, takeaways etc. I am really grateful to Ben for the opportunity he offered me, and it has really helped me on the discipline front especially.

The three sites I have played poker on in 2009 predominantly are Stars/DTD/Bwin. OPR tells me that on Stars tournaments (45man+) in 2009 alone (using the filter), I have earnt a total of $1378. That equates to £853 profit.

My excel spreadsheets tell me I earnt £1042 on DTD and £258 on bwin. Therefore, my total profit in online poker tournaments in 2009 is approximately £2150. Obviously Ben will have taken some of this, as did the cash tables, but it is still a statistic I am proud of.

The above brings me to my first 2010 goal: DO NOT PLAY CASH GAMES.

Unless I am rolled for cash games, I am going to steer clear of them completely, all they have ever done is hurt my profits from the game and it must be time for me to realise I am -EV in them.

Infact, here are my 2010 Poker Goals in full:

- Do not play one session of live cash until I have at least 20 buyins put away for it.

- Play the UK Student Poker Championship.

- Other than the above, do not play a tournament with a buyin above £25 unless I have at least 50 buyins for it or have sold action. More than £25 is no longer ‘entertainment’.

- Continue to be active on the 2+2 forums and continue to blog.

- Profit £7,500.

I believe I can reach all these goals and I look forward to blogging about them in one years time. In some respects it is harder for me to plan ahead than for other players who are not backed, for example Ben will decide when I move up stakes. This makes monetary goals harder to set, so the final goal of £7,500 profit may be inaccurate.

I have set other goals in my life, such as academic ones and fitness ones, but I won't bore you with the details of those!

I am going to send myself a delayed email now. It has all the 2010 goals on it, and it will arrive in my inbox in exactly one years time.

Good luck to all, and happy new year!

Out of Make-up!

2009-12-23T17:18:00.000-08:00

Hey all, put in my first proper session tonight since Sunday! On Monday I played a small one that didn't go great, and on Tuesday I was just relaxing and ended up seeing Steph, an old friend. Today went well though, I ran hot and ended up cashing in 5 of 8 tournaments, final tabling two of them! Unfortunately, like I said on a previous post, unless you win that crucial flip when on the final table, it may count for very little!

The five tournaments I cashed in were:

Ongame $11r - I min cashed this for $68
Ongame $22 6max - Came 13th in this for $69.
Boss €22 deep - Came 20th in this for €35.
Boss €27.50 - Came 7th for €174.
Boss €11 - Came 10th for €60.

So as you can see, four finishes between 7th-20th, enough to make anybody tilt surely? Maybe not! I enjoyed tonight a lot. It was pretty fun turning my attention from one deep run to the next with Ben sweating me on most of them! Just a bit unfortunate that I couldn't get the break to hit a big top three finish. Ah well, always another day!

The good news is that all those little cashes have pushed me out of make-up and I am now over £100 in profit for Nov/Dec combined. Woo! 8 days ago I was in £700 worth of make-up so it feels good to get out of it!

I won't be playing for a few days now for obvious reasons. I hope everyone has a great Xmas! I will try squeeze one more session in before the end of the year, and then I will do a 2009 review post with my goals for 2010!

Happy Christmas!

(also congrats to Breesy who got himself out of a downswing today, check out his blog named 'Poker and Me' on the right).

Breaking Even..

2009-12-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Didn't grind on Friday night as I was out with my friends Sam and Phil. The drinking games are getting pretty intense now and it ended up in me and Sam getting pretty battered. Was a fun night though! My brother came home yesterday, so the day was spent chilling with him, playing Modern Warfare 2, and watching a film.

Anyway today was back to the grind! I ran pretty hot in all fairness, winning one hell of a lot of flips and coming from behind frequently. Unfortunately, unless these things happen on the final two tables, you still won't win much. Its funny really, I came 14th and 21st on DTD tonight and 37th in the huge $11r on Bwin, after running very hot, but only broke even for the night. However on other nights when I would assume I was running bad, I may win a few flips late on and get a $500+ cash and end up having a profitable night. I suppose they are the nights you are running nicely, even if they dont appear to be?!

Anyway enough of that rant which probably doesn't make sense and isn't at all interesting! The biggest score tonight was $129.60 in the $11rebuy, and I just love rebuys lately. Its incredible how many people play with just one bullet and the field always loses about 1/5th before the rebuy period ends. Thats so much dead money! They also have pretty deep structures which is always a positive. In the DTD rebuy my ROI is 116% while in the Bwin rebuy my ROI is 81%.

Anyway tonight I won £5, thats less than 1/3rd of an average buyin, so I can safely call tonight my first ever break-even session! Nothing to brag about though I guess, although they are more fun than losing sessions most definately!

Don't know whether I will put in volume tomorrow, I am going christmas shopping in the afternoon so it depends how I feel in the evening.

Goodnight!

Three tournaments. Two final tables!

2009-12-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last night before bed I read a post by bond18 about how you should always play a tournament if you can, as long as it doesn't affect your EV in other tournaments. Its pretty obvious isn't it, just 'play when you can', but I rarely take the opportunity to fill all my free time with poker. So last night I checked what tournaments run from 10am-Midday and set my alarm to wake up accordingly. When I woke up I had to do a few things but managed to play three tournaments. I ran pretty well in general and managed to final table two of them. Unfortunately they were very small fields so when I came 10th in one it wasn't a huge score ($140). Luckily, I won a couple of races on the other final table and found myself pretty even stacked going into heads up.

All I could think about was how I am yet to win a tournament and how coming first would clear me out of make-up. Unfortunately, in a pot for 90% of chips in play, my A6 couldn't hold vs KQs and I came second for $550.

Still, this was a pleasing result and it shows that putting in the volume does really pay off. I am still in make-up of about £80 but this can be turned around pretty easily (I hope).

I am heading into town tonight for a few drinks with my friends, while my brother comes back tomorrow so I may end up not playing until Sunday, which is a definate grinding day.

Ben (f3nix35) is currently playing the Monte Carlo event at DTD so good luck to him, it would be sweet to see him ship the £93000 first prize.

Off to eat now. Bye!

Heater around the corner? Maybe not :p

2009-12-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

Had a day off yesterday to chill out and spend some time with my Mum. Today I was feeling pumped to play and instantly kicked off a session. I was feeling good after my $858 score on Tuesday and was feeling confident a heater was on its way. Unfortunately my afternoon tournaments went awfully, and I was beginning to question this heater. I then chilled out some more, and came back for my evening tournaments with a clear head. Again, they went awfully. I ran pretty horribly but did manage a min cash for €30, yay! Unfortunately that huge score didn't help much and I am down about £150 for the day.

Anyway, I am now back to £400 make-up and feeling pretty far away from any sort of profits. It kind of sucks that this week I have dedicated SO much time to poker and I just can't seem to get anything going at all. There won't be many weeks available to me like this one so it really sucks that it can't go well. Ah well, tomorrow I am going to play like a king and run like god and ship many $$$, I hope :p

I am already preparing my '2010 Goals' post and can't wait to get it up here.

Off to watch Gran Torino now, I hope its worth it.

Bye bye!

My first ever bwin final table..finally!

2009-12-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

Woke up today desperate to play so played a few afternoon tournaments where I had no success. I was now on £700 worth of make-up, needing a reload from Ben again, and pretty downbeat, so I headed into the cold for a run to clear my head. It seemed to help as when I got back to the tables for my evening session I was feeling pretty good.

Ran pretty hot early on in a lot of tournaments, but as soon as my Dad remembered Utd were playing Wolves, he rushed onto his computer to start streaming it live, meaning my internet slowed down and I was timing out of a load of decisions on bwin. I have to admit, this was tilting me pretty hard and I wanted to dropkick my Dad but he seemed pretty keen to watch united pass it around with 15 minutes to go already 3-0 up.

Anyway, the game soon ended and I got back to it, and it was looking pretty good as I was averagely stacked in three tournaments on bwin with about 90 left in each. I bubbled one, min cashed the other, then final tabled the $22! Sweet, I had never hit a final table on bwin and I think my ROI on that site was about -653210%. I won a few 60/40s, then lost AJ to AQ and finished 3rd for $858. Not the greatest cash, but trust me, I really needed it.

I am still in make-up of around £250, but maybe tonight was the sign of a heater? Lets hope so.

Bye all!

Another frustrating night..

2009-12-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

Super frustrating night once again. Was doing soo well in my tournaments and was 8-tabling at one point because I just wasn't busting at all. Then the inevitable busts came thick and fast and before I could shout 'FML' I was one tabling the crappy $5 with no cashes. Now this $5 is a huge ongame field with about 1750 runners so its worth final tabling. Unfortunately on my two previous runs in this tournament I came 30th and 65th. Today I thought that might change, but nah, 40th. Oh well!

Enjoying being home a lot. Its ultra relaxing and the food is ace. Seeing a couple of friends tomorrow I think but I should still be able to get some volume in. I love poker at the moment as I am learning so much, but I am downswinging pretty hard (over £600 make-up) so it's hard to stay motivated. The way I am keeping motivation levels up is by setting targets and trying to plan/structure my days.

Fun little prop bet I did earlier with Ant Gaughan who can be found at

http://ant040689.blogspot.com/

He was to my left in the €20 deepstack on boss so we did a last longer which I ended up winning when he ran QQ into my KK.

Hoping to update this blog daily as I will be putting in volume (hopefully) every day.

Goodnight!

Update!

2009-12-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

Long time without a post! Its been a crazy period for me with the amount of work thats been going on. But it's finally done now and I can relax and put in some serious volume.

Went to London the other day to see Breesy, it was a pretty fun few days but the inevitable session on live cash didn't go well, oops. Ministry of Sound was awesome though.

Put in a session tonight and guess what? Another deep run where I avoid the big score! Got to say it's starting to get me down a little. I am trying to be super calm about downswings these days but I do find it frustrating when I come back to the tables with a clear head, only to come somewhere like 14th yet again after losing AK to JQ bvb or whatever. But hey, this happens to everyone, and it could be a lot worse for me, I could have not cashed at all! This won't affect my play the next time I sit down, as I have good control now and I know I will have a fresh head.

I head home tomorrow for xmas, and plan on doing lots of these things:

- exercise
- eating out with friends
- drinking with friends
- enjoying time with family
- POKER

I will try and structure my days well so that I can do the fun things and have time for high levels of poker volume.

I better start packing now anyway. Bye all!

End of November - Summary

2009-11-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

So November has come to a close for me as I won't be playing this evening due to coursework commitments. Lets wrap it up!

DTD - My aim at the start of the month was to completely avoid DTD as I seem to burn money there and it doesnt seem like a sensible idea for me to go there when I could be putting in a good amount of hours online. When I start to get more free time and have a bit more £ then I will start going there again. But for November I planned not to, and I stuck to this target and passed it. Sweet.

Volume - I wanted to put in the same amount of volume in November as I did in October. Unfortunately I had twice as much coursework and other things on my mind which meant the volume dropped in the middle of the month but I did pick it up in the last week to come close enough to passing this target.

Results - A pretty poor month results wise. I came 7th-20th in all my deep runs meaning that I ended up losing pretty heavily. We all know the money is in the top few spots so it sucks not hitting these once this month, but I can't complain after my last two months of profit :). Here is the breakdown:

Tournaments Played (November) = 63
Profit (November) = -£479.44

Profit (Overall) = £735.05
ROI (Overall) = 22.25%

Breesy - Finally got him back in the game this month. Good thing I did! He deposited £300 and on his first night of getting back into it, he took down a $5 mtt for $1525. Deserved it after his many final table bubbles in these big fields. On the plus side for me, I seem to view him as a some competition as he plays similar stakes to me. The competition is healthy and can only benefit my game as I look to push on.

Hand Histories - This month I have been consistently going over hands after sessions and posting on 2p2 etc. Its a great way to improve your game and I advise it to all. Check out the 'Smokin Hot Girls' thread in Student Life for a break as well ;)

Other Stuff - Think I am through the worst of it when it comes to coursework now (for this term anyway), so that means I can start enjoying myself a bit more. I have my final appointment (I hope) with the hospital tomorrow about my knee, I really hope I don't have to have surgery. Funnily enough I was actually wincing in pain on Friday night on the Ocean dancefloor because it was starting to play up, I truly felt like an old man right then! Oh and I have developed a passion for everything on the National Lottery website today as I got a £20 bonus. Pretty crazy how bad I run on 'Plucking Ducks' :P

December Targets - I really want to put in my highest ever month volume wise next month and I think it is achievable once I get back to Newport. Being in make up isn't the best way to start a month but hopefully that changes sharpish. I have really developed my attitude for the game and I have completely eliminated tilt and anger from my play. This is a massive positive as it means I am going into December with a clear head, ready to play the best poker I can and make the right decisions.

Wish me luck, peace.

End of the month run good?

2009-11-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hey all, long time since my last update. Been super busy with coursework lately, probably the most busy I have ever been so far at uni. Understandably the amount of volume has dropped but the past few nights I have put in some volume with varying results. On Tuesday I went 0/7 in what ended up being a short session filled with run bad. However tonight went slightly better. I entered 5 tournaments and managed to cash in one for a measly $11.73, and final table the €27.50 on DTD. I came into the final table pretty short and ended up walking away with €160 for 7th. Funnily enough this was my first final table of November. It has been a pretty poor month really!

Maybe that final table was the sign for my run good at the end of the month. I don't have many days left to turn around my £400 deficit for the month, but in both October and September I was heavily down before my last sessions of the month and ended up winning nicely. Hopefully the same is true for November!

My life has been pretty uneventful lately. Chilling with housemates, doing cwrk, playing poker when I get the time. Fortunately I hand in some courseworks tomorrow so a night out in Ocean should be a pretty good way to celebrate the end of a tough week.

Will post again on 30th Nov/1st Dec to go over my results for the month and whether I passed my targets or not...

Wish me luck, bye all!

A weekend full of volume..

2009-11-16T15:20:00.001-08:00

This weekend I put in a fair bit of volume to catch up on some missed nights previously. Unfortunately the increased volume did not result in increased profits. I actually only cashed 3 times in all the tournaments I played. Two were FT bubbles while the other was a measly min cash.

Felt I played pretty well though, I just had the uglier side of variance accompanying me. It seems I start every month losing pretty drastically...I am wondering if there is any reason behind that or if it is just a coincedence?! Hopefully I stick to form and pull out a sick result in the second half of the month!

I am really enjoying poker atm and this has resulted in me posting more and more on 2+2 and I feel like this is benefiting my game massively. I also sweated Breesy today as he got deep in a $11 f/o on stars. Unfortunately the standard cooler came that busted him a couple of tables shy of the FT.

Off to York tomorrow to see a mate, hopefully will be worth it. Next session probably Wednesday or Thursday.

Gdnite!

Slow Start to November..

2009-11-10T16:22:00.001-08:00

Pretty slow start to November it seems. My volume isn't where it should be and there are no profits to speak of. Why is this?

Lately I have had bucket loads of coursework and its taking up a lot of my time in the evenings meaning my level of volume has suffered. I normally finish my coursework late in the evening and there are no tournaments left to play. I have found myself filling a lot of spare time with reading 2+2 and commenting on hands as this is a way to keep my poker mind working.

The volume I have put in has been relatively unsuccessful. I have played 20 tournaments this month now with a few cashes but no final tables. The $22 6max on bwin I consistently cash in but NEVER final table. I must be due a massive score in that! I feel my play is a lot better than it was two months ago, and shove/fold decisions preflop are becoming more automatic.

This weekend I hope to put in a good amount of volume as none of my housemates will be here. Lets hope I run good and get myself into positive figures for the month!

Bye all!

Up and down night!

2009-11-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

The other night I played a big session and failed to cash in any tournaments, putting me 0/11 in November. Tonight I booted up two tournaments as I finished my coursework late, but just two tabling seemed to work out. I ran well, and managed to find myself in the money in both of them. The tournaments were the $22 6max on bwin and the €27.50 on DTD.

Just when I was thinking it was possible I could final table 2 out of 2 tournaments on the same night, disaster struck. With 11 left, the final table bubble on DTD, I shoved AKss into 99 and missed to bust. Then with the tournament chip lead with 22 left in the $22 on bwin, I found myself all in with KK against AA preflop, missed, then bust the next hand with KQss on a J53sss flop when the Jc fell on the river to give the villain a boat with his 55. Oops. That all happened within 2 minutes of each other! (I hope this doesnt come across bad beaty, I just thought it was pretty interesting how quickly things can change/end!)

One thing the past few months have taught me is not to tilt. I have played without tilt on all occasions and this can only benefit my play. I played really well tonight, and ran well also, a pretty good combination! If that continues for the rest of November, I can expect big wins!

Hoping Akenhead or Ivey win the FT this weekend! Can't wait to watch the action on pokertube on Wednesday!

Bye all!

November Start..

2009-11-02T14:34:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update from me. Only played 5 tournaments the past two days, with no cashes to show for my efforts! Unfortunately courseworks just keep piling up, meaning volume is a struggle. However, I aim to continue the same level of volume as I kept up in October and I think this is achievable.

The five tournaments I played were pretty uneventful, couldn't get anything going in them apart from one where I managed to bubble, oops.

Anyway, back to the coursework for me!

Bye all!

October Round Up

2009-10-31T12:45:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately no more poker since that good night on Tuesday! I had courseworks in for yesterday which meant long days/nights working on them. Last night I went out for my first night at Ocean this year. Aside from the repetivive music, it was a great night!

As it is the 31st October and now the end of the month, here are the stats;

October:

Tournaments Played - 71
Profit - £702.48

Overall:

Tournaments Played - 122
Profit - £1214.49
ROI - 52%

Obviously pretty happy with these results, in regards to both volume and profit!

In November I aim to continue this good start of making monthly profits. I also plan on taking less trips to DTD as it seems to burn money for me. Maybe a few more good months online and I can start taking a few shots there again.

Tomorrow I will go through the accounts with Ben and we will get ready for November, with my first session being tomorrow night.

In other news, my MRI scan wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I expect to get my results for it soon. I have also started getting through season one of Prison Break. Good friend Phil suggested it to me and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far.

Good luck to all in November!

Bye!

Biggest Ever Cash!

2009-10-27T23:13:00.001-07:00

Bad times followed by good times! The DTD £100 did not go well, as I busted in the 3rd level on a hand that I could have played better, maybe the occasion got to me! Anyway, that day went from bad to worse as I dropped a smallish buyin on £1/£2 cash then bubbled a £20 tournament. oops. Online grinding wasnt going great either, but volume was the answer it seemed! Many hours ago went round Bens flat with Andi to grind together and it was pretty awesome. I found it really useful getting both their opinions on hands and watching how they played.

I only played four tournaments but ended up coming 2nd in the €10r on DTD for €1550 which is my biggest cash to date. I had a lot of run good when I needed it and it felt good to get out of make-up for October! Have to say a massive thank you to Ben and Andi who helped me out loads though.

Pretty tired as it is 6.20am so going to end the post here. But all in all, a bloody good evening!

My October Downswing + Twenty20 Weekend

2009-10-21T09:19:00.001-07:00

Played a session on Monday night which consisted of seven tournaments that I failed to cash in. Some of the beats I took were horrible and it's now safe to say that I am on a pretty bad downswing. The problem in October has been that all my deep runs have ended up with either a bubble, or with a 9th-15th finishing position, and that just spells disaster really because there is no money in these slots. I am close now to breaking even over September and October as a whole which is pretty annoying because I felt like September went really well and I would build on it this month. I guess there is still time to turn this around!

Went to DTD one night with close friend Dawesy, and busted earlyish in the £25. A couple of £10 sngs followed which are always a laugh but I failed to cash in either. Congrats to Dawesy though who took down on of these for £50.

The first ever Twenty20 weekend starts on Saturday with a £112 buyin. I was really keen to play so have sold action to Ben and Andi to help me fund it. I'm looking forward to it massively, and hopefully I run good and take it down!

Found out last night that I have my MRI scan on my knee next week. Hopefully that goes well...

Bye all!

Oh and I saw Forest vs Barnsley last night. Boring game but a last minute forest goal made it worth it. 1-0.

Overdue Update...

2009-10-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last time I updated was Sunday. Oops. Hospital on Monday was not fun at all. 2 hours behind schedule, I finally got in to see the doctor, who explained I have torn cartilage and need an MRI scan in a few weeks. I think I played a couple of lunchtime tournaments when I got home and failed to cash in either of them. That night I saw Up at the cinema in 3D which was pretty cool as it's the first 3D movie I've seen.

Tuesday night I grinded hard and from what I can remember, I got one mincash, then a final table where I came 9th after shoving 99 into AA. Unfortunately that meant a loss for the day. I played another few tournaments the past few days but the same sort of luck, losing flips when playing for huge pots.

Hit DTD on Thursday evening with a lad who has never played in a casino before. That meant playing the beginners tournament which is a massive joke really. The structure is terrible but I did manage to work up a stack when I shoved 4 or 5 hands in my first orbit on a new table to steal plenty of blinds and antes. It makes me laugh how abused I get when this sort of thing happens, apparently I am ruining the game, hmm. Anyway, nearing the bubble I lost 99 to AT, meh.

Came home to Shropshire last night and after a huge sleep this morning, I booted up a couple of tournaments and ended up final tabling the €33 on DTD. Lost A8 to AK to bust in 9th for a small profit for the day.

I have now already put in the same amount of tournaments in October as I did in September, unfortunately the results are a lot worse. It seems when I do final table this month, I always bust pretty quickly in 8th-10th. This obviously sucks due to the steep payout structures. But the increased volume I am putting in means I will soon push through this downswing and start hitting ££.

Anyway, time to chill with the family. Bye all!

-------------

EDIT: Many hours later...

So while chilling with family/watching X-factor, I decided to boot up four tournaments. Busted 2 quickly, bubbled one, and found myself with a mssive stack in the $11 on bwin. This tournament had around 700 runners which is much larger than the fields I get on dtd. Anyway, with 12 left I found myself AIPF with A7 vs KQ. Q on the flop seals my fate and I stare at my cash of $55. It doesn't take long to sink in that the $55 cash I get for coming 12th/700 only just covers the buyin for the €27.50 on DTD that I played, which I imagine equates to roughly $50. That means I am down for the night.

It is quickly sinking in just how ridiculous the variance is in these MTTs because today I have broken even roughly, after coming 9th and 12th in two tournaments. If I won the A7 vs KQ I could have gone on to win $1600 and that would change everything for October. I am trying to stay positive though, so here are a list of positives at the moment to make me feel better:

- I am learning a tonne about tournament poker and am enjoying reading 2+2 atm.
- I am consistently hitting final tables/final table bubbles, which means a big score is on its way soon!
- X-Factor is now on both Saturday and Sunday meaning I get to see Cheryl Cole TWO NIGHTS A WEEK. RESULT.

Ah the joys of blogging, I am in a cracking mood now. Goodnight!

Fun @ Squash..

2009-10-11T17:04:00.001-07:00

Had a night off last night to chill out with housemates, but did discuss my schedule with Ben and I should now be playing a few lunchtime tournaments, which will help me continue to put in volume as the workload at uni increases.

Went to play Squash today at the sports centre, it was really good fun but unfortunately it didn't end too well as I twisted my knee and ended up in A+E. After a pretty long time waiting and hobbling round the hospital, they think I tore some cartilage. Got to go back in again tomorrow to make sure...fun times!

Put in a tiny session tonight, consisting of three tournaments. It ended up with me on the final table of the €27.50 on DTD with a nice stack. However, I busted 9th after a couple of all ins that I couldn't avoid. Still, it was good for €107 which put me in profit for the night. I am still down about £250 for October but I am determined to claw this back.

Going to get an early night now as I have to be up early tomorrow for the hospital.

Gdnite!

Ongame Troubles..

2009-10-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I played a mini session and didnt fare too well, but did get another deep run in the 6max on bwin. However, tonight, I put in a full session, and my laptop wasnt happy about it! I started off really well, was running amazingly and had a few nice stacks, but as more tables were added on bwin (Ongame), it was becoming increasingly difficult to play as tables kept freezing left, right and centre.

It became too much for me when I folded AA UTG because the raise button just wouldnt react as I was jamming it. I rang Ben and he continued to play with my depleted stacks on bwin, but after busting a few of them early, he lost AA to 96 for a pretty large pot when nearing the bubble in the rebuy.

On DTD however, I was doing pretty well! I approached the bubble in all four tournaments there, and managed to work it into a 10th, an 18th, and two bubbles. I booked a small win there tonight, but the night was a loss once again after the Ongame struggles!

I am going to fiddle around on play money tables on bwin tomorrow and see how many the laptop can handle. If it is only two/three then Ben and I will have to discuss a few changes to the schedule.

Really want to start turning this mini-downswing around! I am working pretty hard on my game; discussing hands with Ben/Andi, and posting on 2+2. This should transform into positive results, and it will! Just got to keep putting in that volume!

Gdnite!

Bad start to the month..

2009-10-07T04:26:00.001-07:00

Another full session last night that didn't go well. So far I am down about £210 in October and I am rushing to find an answer to why I am not winning. But its only been 18 tournaments over two nights, so its hardly anything to go on. In September I was down a greater amount than this and still pulled out a nice profit for the month, so thats the aim this time as well!

I am a little worried about my schedule, but I want to play it a couple times more before I start thinking of possible changes with Ben. I'm not sure if I am as good at multi-tabling as I thought I was :p

So last night I was doing pretty well, but my internet disconnected for 15 minutes and I came back to some damaged stacks. This did annoy me, but there is nothing I can do and its a rare occurence. I ended up cashing fairly deep in my smallest tournament of the night, and then doing well in the $22 6max yet again. Its such a brilliant tournament. Unfortunately last night I lost AQ to A4 AIPF to bust out about 12th for $75ish. I will win that tournament soon!

Sweated Andi on a final table for a while last night, he managed to get HU and win €1000 so that was sweet. At the moment I am enjoying learning about the game so I try and sweat people as often as I can. We went over a few hands after he busted which was pretty interesting as well.

Breesy got back in the game last night, and I think he is finally going to start obeying bankroll management, so GL to him.

Going to GO APE later today. Think its a case of me and my housemates running around trees and doing other cool things. Should be fun!

Bye all!

First session of October!

2009-10-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Was pretty happy to end September on a high, and had a few days off to chill out. Went to the cinema on Thursday night to see Inglorious Bastards which has been out for a while now, it was a pretty sweet film which made me laugh in a lot of spots. Friday night I went to a comedy club for a mates bday, I've never done anything like that before but I wish I had! It was an awesome night and I was laughing uncontrollably at some of the acts. Last night I went to DTD and played the first ever £15 tournament (not very glamorous eh?). Managed to make it down to about 15, but lost a big flip to bust..was good fun though!

So after a day of chilling with my housemate Andy, who was 21 today, I decided to get back on the online grind.

First thing to do was sort out the accounts! To my surprise, I actually won £512 in September. Boss Media doesnt pay you your cash until a tournament is over and I had a crappy mincash in the €10 freezeout that was added to my roll after I had shutdown the site. Sweet.

That was £256 for my profit, which I am pretty happy with. Bens share of the profit (also £256) went onto an Ongame skin (bwin) so I could start grinding five nightly tournaments there.

7.20 - $11 rebuy
8.15 - $22
8.30 - $11
9.00 - $5.50
9.15 - $22 6max

With £400 left on DTD, and £256 on bwin, I got started on the grind and ran pretty terribly to start, busting the first 7 of 9 tournaments without any cashes, oops. Luckily I cashed in the final two tournaments of the night, but unfortunately they were both min cashes, leaving me down £100+ for night #1 of October.

One of these min cashes was in the $22 6max on bwin. I really loved this tournament, I felt I had a massive edge as people were playing way too tight for 6max. I was winning so much without showdown and thats what carried me to the cash. I'm looking forward to playing more of this tournament in the future.

Running out of things to say now! Night out tomorrow for Andys birthday celebrations, then back on the grind Tuesday hopefully! Lets hope I hit a big final table!

Bye!

September - Results!

2009-09-30T16:48:00.001-07:00

Last session of September tonight and after busting two tournaments pretty quickly, and scraping a min cash in the €10 freezeout, I soon found myself on the final table of the €25. Was short stacked for a long way, but after KK vs QQ vs JJ, where my kings held, I was chip leader with 3 left. It did enter my mind that I havent won a tournament for about 18 months now, always finding myself coming 3rd-6th, but I genuinely thought I had the better of my opponents and the €1000 first prize was coming my way. Unfortunately that wasnt the case, I was getting bullied on all my button raises and having to fold frequently. Soon I looked down at KTs and made the same button raise, only to get re-raised by the active BB for a small amount. I smooth called (mistake?). Flop came down an exciting 3QJ rainbow and after he mashed the half pot button, I decided to shove and put the pressure back on him (mistake again?). Unfortunately he snapped with KQ and after missing the A and 9, I stared long at hard at another 1st place gone missing.

Still, a 3rd place for €500+ isnt too shabby, and it means I end September nicely in profit. Here are the numbers:

Tournaments Played : 51
ROI : 43.86%
Profit : £498.72

Sweet comeback at the end of the month imo!

Next month I think I will be adding a few Ongame tournaments onto the schedule, which hopefully means more profit :)

Goodnight all!

Finally, the €10r final table!

2009-09-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Ok quite a while since my last update! Went to DTD on Saturday with an old mate Phil to play the £10 beginners comp. Was quite a laugh looking at the bad plays, but I still busted nowhere near the cash :p. So we played a few of the £10 sngs agreeing to split any profits/cashes and had a laugh, managing to walk away with not too great a loss!

Chilled out Sunday, and went out last night, so I felt eager to get on the grind tonight. I started off well, getting deep in the €20 deepstack, but making a poor shove to come 11th and final table bubble for a small profit. That annoyed me a little, especially when I busted out the €10 and the €25 in unavoidable situations. But the rebuy was still open and although I was short almost all the way, I managed to double up on the bubble and things went well from then in. With some help from Ben and Dawesy I managed to final table and scrape a 6th place for €430ish. Felt like I learned a lot tonight, and I am back in the profit on DTD. So all in all, a good night!

Pretty shattered now so going to bed, but will be back on the grind tomorrow/tonight! Hopefully off to DTD soon with Dawesy as well, which is always fun!

Bye all!

Agh so tough to take..

2009-09-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Had another session tonight and after running pretty bad in the first 3 tournaments I was hardly looking forward to the rebuy. Rebuy didnt go too well either, losing a couple of big races to spank a few rebuys. But the luck changed! With 50 left (in the cash), I find myself with a huge tournament chiplead. Was running good and it felt great! With 40 left I run into another huge stack with AK vs AQ all in pre flop. An unfortunate Q kind of crushed my spirits a little, and when I ran into kings not long after to bust I was pretty pissed.

But I do take some positives. On the bubble I really did abuse it, and this is one of the reasons I found myself with the chiplead when the bubble burst. I was 3betting a lot more also, and they seemed to be pulling off. So I feel like my tournament game is coming together. I really just wish I could run good when deep to get a big result to show my backer and myself that this is worthwhile.

Anyway, sorry to moan about luck, I promised not to do it but I'm just a little annoyed right now. No grinding tomorrow, going to be chilling with an old mate. Bye all!

More updates..

2009-09-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Had an awesome night out on Monday, was great to see everyone again and get back into uni life. Last night was chilling with mates but got back early enough to play 2 tournaments, missing the cash in both. Booted up again for another session tonight but it went poorly. Was average stacked in three tournaments before busting out of all three in less than five minutes. Not fun, especially when I am 99.9% sure I couldnt play them differently!

So, a little break before the rebuy started to clear my head, and off I go again, building a nice stack early on only to struggle at the bubble with my lack of cards, creep into the money, then bust instantly after a cruel river to send me to bed with a mincash. Ah well! No moaning from me, just got to keep playing when I have the time!

One concern is whether I am actually playing badly or if this is the negative side of variance. I have only played 39 tournaments which is nothing much to go on at all. I want to start reading more about variance and sample sizes etc. Only playing 4 tournaments a night means that downswings/upswings will last for a lot longer time-wise I imagine? The only way to truly find my ROI is to keep playing so I guess thats the aim. Just got to keep making sure I am finding the correct balance between work/socialising/poker, as all three are very important to me right now!

Bye all!

Plowing On!

2009-09-21T07:01:00.001-07:00

Not a good night last night, cashing in 0/4. Cards didnt really go my well at all but thats fine, just got to keep pushing on! Going to try and start increasing my participation on 2+2 in the next few weeks as there is just bundles of experience and knowledge on offer if you get involved.

Going out tonight so won't be grinding. Gl to those that will be!

Bubbles..

2009-09-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight was all about bubbles. Played all four tournaments again tonight and made three of the cash bubbles. Came 21st in a tournament where 15 cashed, and 26th in a tournament where 20 cashed. I did squeeze into the money in the rebuy tournament for the first time but once the bubble was over I had a measly 10BB stack that managed to get me 20th position and a €60 cash. A €30 loss for the night isnt damaging, but I feel pretty down about how the bubble is always a stage where I am losing chips and not gaining them.

Time to work on this! Tomorrow I am going to read some strategy on bubble play and analyse my hands from tonight. Ben said he might send me some HH's from his big win where he really abused the bubble, so this would clearly be beneficial to me as I feel it is me getting abused on most occasions :P

Other than this bubble leak, I feel a much stronger tournament player than I did a month ago. Playing so few tables is really making me more focused on my decisions and on the other players at the table. I feel positive about my profit making ability in this staking deal, just got to keep plugging those leaks!

Gdnite!

A profitable night!

2009-09-17T16:22:00.001-07:00

Played the 4 tournaments on boss again tonight and missed the money in 3 of the 4 tournaments but did manage a €231 score for a 6th place in the €25 freezeout. Previous notes really helped me tonight so I was pleased about that and it will keep me motivated to continue to make notes!

The cash tonight put me back in the profit, but I am unsure how much as the Boss software doesnt pay you until the entire tournament is over, which is very annoying! It won't be a huge amount because I keep bubbling the rebuy which is the most expensive tournament. Maybe I should be dropping this from my lineup? I dont know. It doesnt seem a harder standard than the other tournaments so maybe its just the wrong side of variance in this particular tournament. It will even itself out I am sure!

Not much else to say really. One of my housemates moves in tomorrow so I am looking forward to that as I have been a tad bored the last couple of days.

Time for 24, then bed. Gdnite all!

New blog..

2009-09-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I did have a blog up and running but since my poker has taken a different direction, I thought I would start a new one!

I have been playing around two years. Unfortunately my bankroll management has been pretty poor. I have had some wins, the biggest being a $1950 cash on stars. But my bankroll has never really grown due to awful management, and the temptation to withdraw frequently for other fun stuff!

Best way to cure bankroll management? Get staked!

Luckily for me a friend of mine Ben Dobson (f3nix35 listed on the right) offered me a staking deal and I was happy to accept. I won't go into the details of the deal but it's been running a week or so now and I have had mixed fortunes.

The four tournaments I play on the boss network are a €20, €10, €25 and €10r. I have played 21 tournaments and only cashed in two. One was a crappy mincash, so I was definately happy to come 3rd in the €20 for a €437.50 score. Unfortunately the fact I keep missing the money in the rebuy means I am down so far. But my spirits are pretty high and I am eager to carry on with this venture.

The players on boss seem pretty crazy and I am starting to get a good collection of notes on the regs there. Although I have seen more than my fair share of bad beats so far, I will be trying to keep this a positive blog as I have previously been in a habit of ranting about beats to others which is no fun for anyone. So from this post onwards, I will be cutting down on the use of phrases such as 'bad beat', 'running horribly' and 'dsahbfladshfDSLAH FKIN DONKEY'

Gdnite all!