Cash v Tournaments

One question that I have never really found an entirely satisfactory answer for is that of what is more suitable for me personally; cash games or tournaments?
Its really remained a debatable topic due to a severe lack of bankroll management on my part. The majority of my success in the past two years has come via cash tables, whether it be online or live. However, I use "success" on a purely financial level. What I would consider to the "real" success has come via tournaments. Whether it be in live tournaments, through 45mans, 180's or an ordinary MTT, I have, critically, always consistently done better.

That said, given the nature of my personality, the financial lure of the cash tables, coupled with obvious time constraints led me to explore the enormity of the question. Having read various articles on the subject this week I thought the best way was to find out myself. Naturally, prior to recent adventures in the poker world, the financial success has come as a result of me taking shots, whether it be tilt-induced or otherwise. For old times sake lets say, I renewed this enthusiasm and took to the 50/1 tables whilst at Phil's house the other day. Break-even more or less over two sessions. My logic was engulfed in the idea of earning a quick buck, which ultimately led to being +$100 and then -$85 in the next session, so all-in-all I learnt nothing.

As a result I decided to do the same today, 6-tabling 50NL. I probably played near 1000 hands and suffered a net loss of approximately $40. However, it taught me enough. There is a far greater level of dead money in tournaments than there are in the stakes I am rolled for in ring games. The regulars, at least on Stars, really know their stuff and I feel as though I'd have to put in enormous volume in order to get anywhere and that isn't a fast process...
Despite my "experiment" being relatively short-lived, I feel pretty satisfied in my decision to stick with MTT grinding, at least for now. Despite the variance in them being high, I can, strangely, live with one session totalling a buy-in of some $100 and not seeing any return. However, my mindset in the cash games seemed ill-equipped in being able to cope with the loss, albeit such a measly one! One day I will expand on that quote but right now all I can say is I feel more confident with MTTs given my determination over the last few months to improve my game.

One would hope that MTTs will offer me a quicker way of reaching my short-term goals. If I was to grind 50NL I would hazard a guess it would take me far longer to reach my ultimate 2010 goal of $10,000, then it would if I was to invest my roll in MTTs. Personally, that is the decision I set out with and one that I intend to stick to.

Let's hope that decision is rewarded with lots of lovely profit!

Christmas

Well, its been a pretty awesome Christmas to be honest - with family. Been really good fun, me and my old man have been smashed off various whiskeys every night. Ate insane amounts of food, didn't get dressed for about 4 days, played games, owned my entire family at every single general knowledge quiz imaginable and the best bit...Santa did good and I am now able to multi-table the crap out of poker.

Although, Christmas hasn't really stopped yet, both parents are off work until I go back to uni basically and obviously my bro is not at school so its sort of an extended festive period for us... As a result the volume is completely lacking. Also been on other things and been really tired/drunk come midnight when I would have been able to put in a session. My Dad bought my Mum this exercise cross trainer thingy and I've been running 3 miles everyday on that, then my bro will do it and we compete (beats going out in the snow!). So come the evening I'm just gagging for sleep or to wind down, the last thing I want to do is play poker.

The bad point for me is not seeing mates and in all honesty its tilting the crap out of me. No doubt people will bitch and whine about me behind my back and blame the fact I moved out of Newport yet I am the one that likes the drive and is fully prepared to do it but people cant be fucked to organise themselves like an hour before they might normally do, that way I can arrange it easily. But yeh, pretty predictable I guess. As a result I'm considering heading back to London for NYE or just heading back permanently this week and smashing it down there. As much as I love chilling out with family I'm not doing it all day everyday. That will also enable me to have some serious degen sessions with a couple of guys down there - play solid for a week/ten days before the mrs gets back. Speaking of which, booked surprise tickets to the Big Apple for our anniversary, that's gonna be fooking sick.

Missed out on the Stars World Record tonight too, gutted. Despite registering "3 times" half an hour/1 hour before, it said when actually seating that I wasn't actually registered as it wasn't processed in time. Think there were 150,000 entrants though..pretty ill. Top 16 had 4 figures too, pretty sweet, gonna rail in a bit! A pretty large overlay too...

So, all in all a pretty sweet time at the moment. Looking forward to getting back to London and especially seeing mrs (sad but a lots been said between us this break), having a huge house party on the second night back as well so that should be cool. Then 2010 will bring huge success in poker....ONE TIME!

Rebuy's

Not really much to post about in the last few days as there has been less volume and a bit of a downswing has led to a lack of motivation to both post and spend hours on 2+2!
Been really busy with Christmas and family stuff so looking forward to that dying down as of Sunday and managing to meet up with friends and hopefully put in more volume.

Anyway, had a brief discussion with Jon a couple of days ago who encouraged to play the $3 rebuy's given the poor standard and dead money. Providing my average buy-in doesn't get too out of control then he was of the opinion that this should be ok. This has brought me back to Stars as a result and I'm still tossing and turning over what to do. Bwin and DTD just have such a lack of flexibility. I haven't managed to keep to my schedule at all this week so its just a question of booting up tournaments when I can. This is one reason for the lack of volume as the EU sites offer nothing at the times I can play, or at least less regularly, and I have been avoiding Stars (see previous posts). Anyway, I gave in yesterday, I thought volume is better than no volume, wherever it is. Until such time as I get back to London I think this may have to be the case.

So, I took on the advice and played 2 of the $3 rebuys on Stars..the big ones. Bubbled them both having spent $9.90 both times - fine.
Coincidentally, I then notice tonight that Stars has (not sure if they are new or what), 180 man $3r's. REGISTER! I played 2, ran like god in one and came 3rd for a tidy $200 score! WOOP!
Its probably a sign of my ambition to say that I was still sort of annoyed as 1st was a good $500, which makes a difference. But anyhoo...put in the volume Jamie!
This pushes me back above the $2k mark given the recent downswing, so that's pleasing. Also have the staking review with Dan coming up but I understand he has played about 100 games as in profit so I look forward to a good review there. Onwards and upwards!

That's about all that has happened on the poker front. I won't make any more outlandish posts on schedules etc for a while, need to work it all out for definite in my own mind. Outside of poker I haven't done that much either, which is starting to tilt me. All its been is shopping etc and before Christmas this was going to be the case, more family based but I was hoping to be able to fit in trips to see friends but this hasn't happened. Hopefully this will change soon anyway! GL and Happy Christmas all..

Liverpool FC

This could be a bit of a rant but I feel like saying it after watching the situation unfold at Anfield over the last few weeks.

WTF?! I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes and how this has an affect on it but it does not excuse what is happening on-the-field. 4 years ago I was at the home legs en-route to our Champions League success, 9 months ago I was watching us beat Man Utd, Real Madrid, Chelsea and come within touching distance of winning a long overdue title. How can so much change over the summer period, what has changed over the summer period?

The American owners have done more harm than good but imo the backroom situation is as a result of a series of poor management decisions. Why do you sell a business? You anticipate trouble ahead, you have peaked within the market and cash in, you lack the energy/drive/ability to take it any further forward. Every football club is a business and are in existence for profit. David Moores and co sold at the right time, Liverpool have been very stagnate since the end of the golden era in the 80s. Since then we have flirted with success and indeed had moderate success but the sustainability of that moderate success if not life-long. A bog standard way of building upon that success is by generating more revenue, of particular interest in the current football economy, why was Ricky Parry unable to foresee the need to expand the stadium 5 years ago when the likes of Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea were growing at phenomenal rates? Why is Liverpool FC, arguably the most successful and historical football team in the country, simply lightyears behind in terms of infrastructure? Broken promises, lies and false hope.

Despite that, like I said, not much can change in 10 weeks on a football front, can it?

Imo the team effectively grew stronger over the summer. The most significant loss was Alonso, he was not however the anchorman of the team, the pinnacle of our success. Indeed, his best season was 2008/2009, even during which he was relatively anonymous in the big games, indeed, for Madrid this season he is yet to produce the form of last season. He thrived off of Masch and Gerrard and that's propelled him dramatically. I don't believe he was or would have been that critical to our success. He is certainly an outstanding player and nobody in our team currently is re-producing that. However, having been bored out of my mind and looking at videos of Aquilani, he sure as hell has the potential and is a more dynamic player offering more than just epic passes.

For me...Carragher is the pinnacle of our defence, his ability and confidence carries the back four. He had a shocking start to the season and as a result the form dipped dramatically, in terms of the defence - you know, the best defence in the league last season (the fuck?!). Gerrard - looks totally out of sorts. Injuries/lack of match fitness/court appearances/external crap/career peaked a season or two ago..whatever it is, he's not the Gerrard most people have come to love. As a result, there is no player able to pick up from this. Alonso couldn't, he's not attacking. Masch thrived off of Gerrard - his confidence and hidden agendas meant poor performances. Aquilani - needs time. Lucas - %"^%^&&!^!^!£. Benyaoun was the only player capable of stepping up the mark and Benitez ruined that by not selecting him consistently and the when that may have happened he got injured. Torres - injured and again the manager refuses to believe he needs another striker. I would not be surprised to see him come out the closet and pronounce his unrivalled love for that Dutch fail on the right wing. You know the actual striker that is apparently better off there?

Ok, so lets analyse Benitez (yeh I'm boiling over now so fuck it). Babel - Lets spend >£10m on a promising, young footballer who has bag loads of potential and then make him sit on the bench game after game after game. Then when he does do something good - Arsenal champs league game last season, Madrid appearance, Lyon this season - he was back to the bench. The guy aint brilliant but nobody can come on for 20mins and work magic or even play 90mins and work magic. A consistent run and a consistent team/formation goes a long way you idiot.. Kuyt - The workrate of the guy is phenomenal but he's a striker, don't put him on the right wing. I don't need organ grinders on the right wing, I need them in centre mid i.e. Masch. Whack Johnson on the right, put Carra at right back, or better yet buy a fucking right back, then have Skrtel and Agger form a decent partnership. Then buy a left back.

He has spent £250m and bought shite squad players, the few good guys he has bought i.e. Crouch and Keane, he has let go.

He is far too stubborn. Game after game after game its the same thing. We will lose against Villa, which will basically confirm that we won't make top 4, he will say this: "well, i must take the positives, i can see we have quuuuuuaaaaality in the team, we are improving, we are creating chances, we just need to take on game at a time, try and get 3 points and move on, thats all we can do".

SOD OFF MAN. We take chances but you stick a world-class centre forward up there on his own to convert them, only supported by 2 awful squad players, who wouldn't turn out regularly for Aston Villa/Wigan/Tottenham and then just Gerrard.
You have managed to destroy the confidence of the entire team, the team finishing second to the league winners last season who we happen to convincingly beat twice last season.
If you just listened you'd learn a lot. You won titles with Valencia - that aint the Premier League. You won the Champs League in 05 - an amazing feat but helped in the final massively by a very arrogant Italian side, which is rather typical of the Italians. You lost us the title last year, single-handedly. You selected a defensive line-up to play the bottom of the league team today. You have spent money in places you don't have the expertise for. You have killed the confidence of the team and have the audacity to deflect responsibility. Go quietly, I wish you every success.

What's Next?

Arrived home at about 4pm today and thank god for that, literally can't stand driving back, as soon as we get north of Oxford I just find myself getting depressed recently due to the fact there seems to be zero life beyond the M40 lol. Obviously I exaggerate but I ended up having one of those "car conversations" with my old man about it.. There we were listening to Above & Beyond in the car, catching up, talking about how sick Christmas will be etc etc. Then, it happened. I branch off onto the M5 to head the more direct route home and its soooo gloomy and dark and we are both yawning away and suddenly in a state of complete and utter disarray almost. Granted, I went to be at maybe 1/2 last night and woke up at 7.30am today but I do that in London consistently and I am never yawning at 3/4pm..the hustle and bustle keeps me sane. Odd really, guess I noticed it more cos I haven't been back in a good while. Still, pleased to be back without a doubt.

I intended to play a session tonight now that everyone is sick of mothering me and gone to bed but unfortunately I too am absolutely shattered so I'm going to try and get a good nights sleep, get up early tomorrow and enjoy an empty house to grind. I just checked through the schedules and there is nothing to play tonight on DTD anyway and very few on Bwin, which only leaves the 45s on Stars. There are 3 tournaments I can play in the morning on Bwin and then a few of the turbos etc start up on DTD and Bwin at 2pm so I'll certainly give them a shot. Although, its highlighted once again my need to get some money transferred to another site. I'll deal with that after xmas though, not got a lot of time beforehand unfortunately so its pretty meaningless.


Ok, I want to try and evaluate where I am at and how far I have come etc, albeit over a mere 70 tournaments and three weeks worth of play.

1) Volume - I have certainly maximised the volume I am able to put in. I couldn't have played anymore than I have done up until this point, I said at the start I wanted to strike a balance and I have attempted to keep to this, more or less.
2) Improvements - I have learnt a phenomenal amount over the last 4-6 weeks, namely from 2p2 and railing the likes of jonnyke and fenix35, both of whom have directly and indirectly taught me a lot. One of my main aims was to utilise 2p2 more, something I have done entirely imo.
3) I acknowledge the importance of PT3 more so than I did previously, hence the investment both financially and time-wise, when considering my desire to learn more about it etc
4) Altering my poker relationship with Jon somewhat. This is still something I want to work on but I believe it has changed, attitudes are better and we are slowly bouncing more ideas off each other and improving our respective games.
5) Profit - Now obviously my shipping of the tournament on Bwin three weeks ago was a phenomenal roll-booster and a much-needed start. As a result the roll stands at a handsome $2000 - 4x the initial deposit, demonstrating a net profit of $1460. My cash % is 11%, which I hope to improve on and represents total cashes of 8.


The Future?


Volume:

I want to differentiate between 45 man SNGs and scheduled MTTs firstly, which currently overlap on my spreadsheets and as a result I think provide me with some anomalies in the figures. Didn't really consider this at the time.
As I have stated numerous times, I will be depositing on Stars as soon as the Xmas rush is over and be grinding the $3/45s. As well as this, I have decided to deposit on Ladbrokes and one of Betfair or Titan Poker - depending on what software I prefer and whether a new laptop comes my way. I will play as much as I possibly can, which over Xmas will be fairly limited and unfortunately I am getting close to crunch time with university and I really want to pull my finger out. I will dedicate 2 nights per week purely for poker, without fail (once uni starts again) and I'll register from 6pm-10pm without fail. As a time-filler I'll play the 45s during the day or if I have less than 6 tables open I'll fill in some gaps. If I get uni work out the way or have more time etc then I'll play for more than 2 nights a week obviously but as a minimum figure I think its good to work from.

Improving:

Given my volume will decrease a tad over xmas I want to use that time constructively. I hope to have a session or two with Jon, not just to grind but also spend some time analysing hands, which I think could benefit us both. Once my bankroll reaches the $3000 point I will consider looking into purchasing training videos and such. At the moment the investment has been PT3 and other such software/HUDs etc.
2p2 is my main learning tool at the moment and the advice on there is invaluable. However, a lot of my posting has been on other hands and I need to post more of my own hands for analysis so I want to spend 2 nights a week over xmas looking back over hands I find interesting and gaining advice as well as discussing MTT srat on the site.

Balance:

Once uni starts again I want to be on top of my game both in an academic, poker and lifestyle sense. Academically, I WILL maintain a 100% attendance record until the end of term, I will be going to the gym 3 mornings a week and playing football once a week, every Thursday. Assuming I don't see the lads after NYE, I intend to stop drinking until Jon's 21st, assuming I see him for that. I already have a pact with the mrs for this and I have to give her £2 if I touch so much as a drop, think this will be a really useful experience and I would love to see how much it benefits me.
Once I have been to the gym in the mornings I will spend the day on campus, if I don't have lectures I shall be in the library - the way I have the evenings and weekends free to grind. I have 14 hours per week of lectures etc, roughly. I wasn't far off working that in one day 6 days per week in the summer. I can be on campus from 10-5 and get all work out the way by Friday without fail. Really want to maintain this and I think it benefits me financially, mentally and in terms of my general happiness, success and healthiness.


Targets:

I think it is relatively pointless setting any specific targets as such. I would like to get a bare minimum of a 2:1 this year in my degree with an average >65. This will take a lot of work. I want to lose 7lbs of weight and tone up more. I have lost a considerable amount over the last 4 months and now weigh 12.3st with a BMI of approx 20%..I'd like to see that at around 16-17%, hence why I want to shed a little more weight and eat far more healthily - the alcohol detox will go a long way!
In terms of poker, I just want to be able to turn up to the tables playing EV poker every single time without fail. In terms of figures - $4000 by March 31st, $10,000 by October 1st and $13,000 by 2011. As it stands I give little weight to these figures, they are broad targets I would like to achieve and goals I have set myself. First and foremost I want to be able to be comfortable sitting down at £50-150 buy-in tournaments, not because I can afford them but because I am EV in them. I want to bring my A game to the tables every night I play. I want to play in the UK Student Poker Championship in May. I want to reach a certain level in poker when my discussion of hands is advanced enough to be considered more widely. I want to utilise 2p2 a lot more than I currently do. These are more specific targets but something I will continue to build on as I progress.



As it stands this is all for now - apologies about the length of the post but I felt I want to get it down on the blog to act as a benchmark. I have a very good foundation from which to build upon and I'd like 2010 to be that building block on to better things. I don't want to rush things and I shall consider my options along the way but one thing is for sure - I am committed to this roll and I have never been more determined.

Home!!!!

Currently like a kid at xmas..........;)
Waiting around for my old man to get here and get me back, so pumped for what I pray will be an awesome 3 weeks, both with family + friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY0tsKCB4lc

The fact I had a knock on the door at about 8.45am on a Saturday morning from an angry neighbour in disagreement with my taste in music at that fine hour suggests the sort of mood I am in. Hey man, its xmas!

Anyway, in the process of packing I realised a potential problem I could face with regard to poker... I can't take my monitor back so I'm going to have to multi-table on a standard laptop screen and also have no keyboard/mouse at home. SHITTTTTTTT. This puts more emphasis on having multiple shortish sessions wherever possible because >4 tables could be tricky I fear as the PT3 HUD overlaps a lot... Hopefully all will be well! Think I may leave the 45s until I'm back though, 4-tabling them would be pretty painful, we'll see.

I'll do an end of term post thing later tonight, as well as finally posting my targets to achieve of the break and into 2010.
Congrats to Jon also (see student poker blog) who seems to be gradually getting off his downswing and turning the break into a prominent heater. 2 final tables in 3 tournaments......good times.

<3 Turbo's!

I have a new found love for the turbo's I reckon! The standard in the $5s on Bwin is ridiculously poor. Have a virtually non-existent sample size at the moment but from those I have played its clear that I'm uber EV!

This is good news because as I mentioned before, I want to tweak my schedule a little to give me more facility to play during the days, particularly at home next week when I imagine I will be ultra bored during the days/late evening...exactly when my current schedule is completely futile!

Coupled with my loathing for Stars' donkaments, its led me to develop a new schedule..
I am now ONLY using Stars for grinding the 45 man SNGs. I intend to put 120 buy-ins on there to grind the $3/45s. I am rolled to play the $6s but the swings are volatile so I would sooner grind up to the $6s whilst also playing on the Euro sites, think this is the more sensible option. I am in no rush, its a long term thing, so lets go!

That will allow me to time fill during the day and cuts down on the time in the evening. I've side stepped a lot of the late starting Stars tournaments because if I want to ft (yes) then I have to be there till 4am if its starting at 9/10/11pm.. Crazy hours and not a habit I want to get (back) into. My latest tournament would then start at 10.30 on Bwin and would finish by 3 even if I was to ship it. This is by far the beater option and eases up on the frustration of massively varying field sizes across the three sites I play on.

As well as the new Stars plan, where possible I intend to play the turbos on Bwin during the day - the few I have played start at 2pm and 3.30pm but I imagine there could be some earlier ones (there aren't any later unfortunately). As I said, these are dribbling cash. In January I will put some money on Labrokes for sure and possibly Betfair or an Ipoker skin. I think my volume is set to decrease massively as of Friday so there is no point in doing it now. Plus my laptop is struggling with all the programs running at once so I am praying Santa does me a favour..if not I could have to re-evaluate!

Anyway, pretty pleased with the new plan. I intend to keep Stars virtually separate and hope it just provides a consistent roll-boost. I crushed the $3s before so hopefully I can do quickly..work it up to $800+ then get on to killing the $6s. Wishful thinking..I think so :P

I'm leaving the 180s for now because the whole point is to time fill and just get in insane volume, the 180s still need a good couple 2-3 hours (turbos). Come the summer I could well give those a shot though. Lets gooooo!

Results

Another deep run in a Stars tournament comes to fuck all.

Ok I shouldn't be downbeat about the fact I'm earning money pretty consistently but jesus it tilts the crap out of me that I CONSISTENTLY lose races having gotten deep into another Stars donkament. You quite literally have to run amazingly to final table on Stars.

So, $8.80 tournament...3000 runners, bust out 127th for a $27 cash. Why? That pretty much sums it up, 4 hours play and I see a return of <$20 so its obvious that the EV decision would be to grind the 18/45/180 man's and that is exactly what I am going to do, just need to iron out the details.

Anyway, a losing night, that was my only cash. Played pretty horrifically at times in all honesty, some ugly poker but there you go. Another night of volume put in - 6 tournaments. Shall do the same tomorrow

Thinking Time

As the post suggests, I feel the need to have a long think about poker and what do to keep up the volume.

For me, this Christmas marks the end of one era and start of another. Granted, its easy to say and we have been there many times but as of January I really need to knuckle down with uni studies but I don't want that to mean poker is all but forgotten. Shipping the tournament a couple of weeks back has allowed me to not worry about finances and I should be able to live comfortably for the remainder of the year without working. I also anticipate saving a lot lot more money than I have done in previous years, for the following reasons:

1) I NEED to get at least a 2:1 this year or I jeopardise my ability to secure a training contract in 18 months time.
2) The majority of my friends graduate this year, thus, with their finals coming up nights out will inevitably be few and far between.
3)Its all getting a bit repetitive now anyway, we have done most things so we just do less things, less frequently.

For me this is only positive, I'll save some money which will enable me to take more spontaneous trips, which I love, or have a super summer holiday (thinking Australia). If I can knuckle down and remain focused in respect of my degree then come July I could be able to predict what I shall be earning over the next three years from a training contract.

So, its out with the old and in with the new. I have done extremely well to put some money away this semester and retained a lot of the cash I started with. This was one of my fundamental aims at the start of the semester but its come at the cost of university because I was eager to put in the hours at work and maintain the job for as long as possible. Although its silly to say, its "lucky" because the first semester is "less" important than the second...I can catch up from the first semester but if I fall behind as of January then I would have a problem. So in some respects its positive that I am in a decent financial position because I can do nothing but concentrate on nailing my degree over the next 18 months.

In terms of poker, I am sitting on $2000 and unable to use it. In pure business terms this doesn't make sense at all...I should be making that money work for me. I believe poker can offer me financial rewards in the long term, as opposed to taking the money out and investing in shares or commodities and selling them on. So, its my intention to keep on playing and working the bankroll up. However, as I mentioned in a previous post, the amount of volume that can be achieved over the next four weeks is probably fairly minimal.

As a result of this, I have decided to invest $300 of that money into a friend at uni whom I consider to be fairly decent at poker, at least at micro stakes. He's played online a fair bit before and we have had plenty of games together. He's by no means brilliant, far from the complete package and riddled with numerous leaks. That's the brutal truth. However, I think by providing Dan with 90 buy-ins for the $3.40 18 man SNGs on Stars, he can improve as a player and I can earn at least $60 per month by staking him. Further, he is provided me with a guarantee that the amount of volume he can put in will be far more superior to mine. As a result, its a no-brainer. I won't go into the ins and outs of the deal but I hope its profitable for both of us and that I have made the right business decision.

From my own point of view, I need to have a think about what my schedule should consist of and what my long term plan is. I think I really need to have a schedule that permits me to play whenever I have the time. As it stands I have very few tournaments on DTD/Bwin and are spread between 5 and 10pm (9 tournaments). Stars obviously has regular scheduled tournaments and has the 180 man SNGs on offer but the size of the fields in the scheduled are ridiculous and unless I put in a ton of volume in the 180s, there is little point.

I have been giving some consideration to the following:

1) Transferring the entire roll to Stars, following a bankroll building ladder and playing 18/45/180 man tournaments.
2) Transferring the entire roll to Stars and playing a bit of cash and SNGs
3) Adding another skin or two to my current three. If this is what I do, it would likely be Betfair and/or Ladbrokes.

I will do some research into all of these before deciding but I want to have it set-up by the time uni starts up again on 11th January, purely for the purposes of getting into a set routine.
Clearly the advantages of treating poker as my work is the flexibility. However, I'd like to dedicate two nights per week to poker where I definitely put in a ton of volume, then whenever I have other time spare, I can put in "overtime".

I'm going to play a handful of tournaments tonight and tomorrow night just to put in a little bit of volume and keep my mind thinking active. Unfortunately the only other night I could put in volume is Tuesday night - I hope to hammer the volume out then, but otherwise that will be it before going home, which is when I shall have to re-evaluate!

A lot to think about.....

Life >>> Volume

Guess its pretty obvious from the lack of posts but there has been and will continue to be a huge drop in volume at the moment, which really sucks.

Just had a pretty sick few days with Jon in London, for a variety of reasons. Needless to say, we were up to our old tricks - life fails. But having some serious laughs and good times in the process..roll on Nottingham imo and before that, Newport.

On the subject of Newport, really really really can't wait to get home next week, literally counting down the days. So many different reasons for me wanting to go home so I won't bother listing them. Just hoping the boys don't get up to too much prior to my appearance! Then hopefully 20th-23rd will consist of daily/nightly events.

However, as a result of the last three days and my imminent arrival home, the next few days are going to be intensely busy and I literally can't play any poker. I HOPE to be able to at least put in one session on Saturday or Sunday night and then one session again next week but that is literally the extent of it I think, unless I try and fit in the odd few tournaments during the day.
I found myself thinking about this a bit last night and unfortunately I think the Christmas break may be similar. I intend to be busy everyday doing things, whether it be with family or whatever. Neither do I want to shut myself away as of 6/7pm and start grinding. I might be able to play a few late late night sessions but basically I think I was way too optimistic with the amount of volume I would be able to put in.

As a result of this, before I go home I'm going to draw up a list of targets to achieve over the break that can enable me to keep in touch with poker. I may also decide to come back to London a couple of days early - say the 07th January, just so I can grind for a solid 3 days and make up for lost volume. Will give it some thought..

For now, I have the first 5-a-side footy league game tonight, which I can't wait for. Haven't played football since school/first summer at uni so really looking forward to that, alongside a good 50min run-out. Bring it on!

Super Sunday..

Had a pretty good day today, thought a lot about poker, ridiculed myself over being downbeat last night and getting pretty pumped for Jon's visit over the next three days.
Let's hope this positive attitude will carry forward into tonight and I can reap the financial rewards of more final table appearances!

Went for a half hour run along the canal today and thought a lot about poker, what I want from it, where I want to go with it and how I want to develop. I am really happy and encouraged with the way I have improved my tournament game over the past month or so and I hope to be able to continue this much more over Xmas when I don't have the distraction of London as a whole, whether it be uni, girlfriends, work, friends, whatever. Looking forward to seeing mates over Xmas and making the most of the break but I also see it as a great opportunity to spend a lot of time on tournament strategy.
I'm slightly hesitant as to the amount of volume I will be able to put in as my parents just hate me playing a lot round them.. Plus, more importantly, I haven't been home since August and I'm really looking forward to getting back so I don't intend to submerse myself into endless nights of grinding.

On the Stars front, I am 85% convinced my money would be better spent used elsewhere and I think this is the line I will take.. Before I make any concrete decisions I intend to have a chat to Jon about it this week and I also won't be able to grind again until next weekend so I don't need to make any irrational decisions. As it stands, I think I shall leave $200 or so on Stars and exclusively play the 180 man SNGs. I will then put the same amount on a new site, probably Ladbrokes but possibly Betfair. I will weigh it up next week and see.

Should be a really good week now, good to catch up with Jon and looking forward to having a couple of explosive nights out on the alcohol front and maybe mixing it in with some big scores..both on the female front and in terms of shipping tournaments. Here's to hoping hey! Also got the 5-a-side football league starting on Thursday, not in January as we managed to get an earlier slot. Can't wait for this, although not sure how I will feel after two 50min games on Thursday night, probably won't feel much actually...just pain.

Going to take tonight fairly easy I think. Don't want to get up at midday tomorrow and lose the entire day as that will be inevitable for Tuesday and Wednesday. So, I shall play a few of the earlier tournaments tonight and then just chill out. Really want to play the Sunday £250k but I'll leave it for a rainy day! Hopefully I can report back later with another final table result!

Aghhhh

The title of the post pretty much reflects my mood. Should be happy but can't be, really want to/need to make the most of the deep runs and I had several this evening but no major scores.

Once again I went deep in the DTD tournaments, breaking into the final 30 for a min cash effectively. Stars then saw 2 final tables in the $2.20 180 mans but came 8th both times for about 5x 8 place finishes in those! Need to analyse these and see where I go wrong..instinct tells me building a stack on the table before.

The two main success came in the $5.50 on Bwin that I won last week and the $8.80 on Stars, another of their donkaments. I final tabled the Bwin tournament again but busted out 10th for an $85 cash. Should be happy I final tabled and the cash in proportion to the buy in is ok...the roll grows after all. But, as I said, how many times will I final table...taking a top 6/7 finish there would have been nice, a top 3 great!

As for Stars, I ended up coming 54th in one of their huge fields but the cash was a mere $36, pretty mundane for 5 hours work.

I intend to give the subject of Stars some more thought...the fields are just incredibly big and I'm not sure whether grinding the tournaments on there is the EV decision. I may leave some money on there exclusively for the 180mans but put some more money on another skin, Ladbrokes/Betfair perhaps. Will give this some more thought and comment later.

Anyway, in summary..that's 14 tournaments played tonight, 32 in total. Tonight was a $90 profit night roughly but the closing figures:

Roll is at $2101.88 after 32 games. Glad to see its increasing but really disheartened with the fact I couldn't manage a bigger score. Still, best not be greedy!

Bored

This post is further demonstration of procrastination.. Keep dipping in and out of these damn essays..

Anyway, no volume again tonight, which sucks. Slowly but surely ploughing through this work.. I may be able to put in a session on Saturday night but definitely Sunday, I am determined to!

On another level, as I mentioned before, I have become increasingly concerned about my level of focus/motivation so I have been looking at ways of altering that and having a read a bunch of stuff online, prior to this book arriving, I think I have made some progress in this department. Although pretty standard the concept of setting targets and doing daily plans will be useful in getting myself back into a routine, from which it will then be easy, hopefully. I want to start doing this now, in preparation for January and a solid last few months of the academic year.

1) Be out of bed at 8.30am every single weekday
2) Eat breakfast every single morning and within half an hour of waking up
3) Go back to drinking 2L of water every single day
4) Absolutely no chocolate/sweets whatsoever until they are forced down me over Xmas
5) No-more lunchtime pints with friends at uni, pointless spending the cash and putting on the calories
6) Only drink on pre-planned nights, don't create a night pointlessly and meet a mate in a local
7) When drinking on a night out, also drink water along with the alcohol..feminine I know but it will be worth it
8) Budget better (more detailed stuff on that but cba to write it)
9) Go for a run on every other Tuesday morning (when not in a seminar at 9am), Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, Saturday morning unless I have been out on the Friday night, in which case Sunday evening before grinding
10) Sign up to the gym again when back in January
11) Grind 3 nights a week if all work is out the way. Increase volume to 6-tables at any one time
12) As of January, do not miss a single lecture or seminar unless there is a genuine reason (lol)
13) As a result of altering eating/drinking habits, lose 8lb and decrease body fat % to 17% (its currently 20.4%)
14) Go to more of the SU events rather than isolate myself from uni related nights by going out with others elsewhere
15) Read more again
16) Hit 500 posts on 2p2 by January 11th, 80% of which should be based on MTT strategy
17) Invest in another tournament strategy book/guide
18) Play more live TOURNAMENTS as of January 11th..numbers tbc


This is everything on my list that I developed today. As it stands some of these are fairly broad targets but I intend to narrow it down and create more specific KPIs effectively.
Think its good to set myself goals etc like this and I really want to nail life as of January. If I get a 1st in my degree I am pretty much set up career wise and financially. If I can continue to put in the volume with poker and end up with something in the region of $5,000 by Summer, I would like to travel and it takes the pressure off financially. Healthy body = healthy mind so I intend to renew my gym membership again and my 5-a-side football league also starts up on the 18th January so this should be a good thing.

Here's to higher achievers imo..

*Edit*

The post below is rather null and void!

Having spent the evening procrastinating, getting on the grind has been postponed! Think I may attempt to actually get a decent nights sleep and FORCE myself up in the morning. Failing that, I'll have a rethink tomorrow!

I played the €3.30 at 7.35pm on DTD but wasn't feeling it at all. I busted out close to the bubble but played awfully. In part, it may have been down to the fact I was one-tabling whilst reading 2p2 in the main. Either way, will give it a miss tonight-its probably the consecutive nights or something.

On other news, I have bought a book from Amazon called "Getting Things Done". Don't think I am a complete an utter bum yet in terms of laziness but I am certainly far worse at the time management/self-discipline stuff then I was 18 months ago. Hoping that reading that over xmas will uncover a few ideas for me which can benefit all areas of my lifestyle. Plus, it will be an interesting read.

Hopefully the majority of my work will be done by tomorrow evening and then I can put in a solid session again. Thursday and Friday are definite no's, as are Monday-Thursday next week probably so tomorrow is pretty much a must really. Later on tonight or tomorrow I shall draw up a list of goals etc for this month, then I can encompass some more thoughts on the issue of volume.

Start of the Month

Tonight will see me commence another session and the first of December. This should be a month of high volume, lets just hope the results follow! Later this evening I will post a list of targets that I want to achieve by the end of December and indeed the end of 2009!

For now... I intend to pull an all nighter tonight so I will end up playing a pretty sick amount of tournaments. Fundamentally the purpose is to fix my sleeping patters because due to working in a bar and general laziness I have a complete inability to get up before midday. As a result its pretty bad for uni obviously! Been in this spot before and an all nighter and then an early night the following night fixed it, so here's to hoping. Also need to do a lot of work today and tomorrow, just hope the Red Bull keeps my concentration levels up - not had any post exams!

Having quickly done a nightly schedule there isn't much other than Stars, indeed, nothing on DTD other than my usual. Going to start at 7.35 and play the usual couple, then have a bit of a break and play the following:

Bwin: 1) 12.30am $5.50 turbo, $2.5k GTD
2) 2.30am $5.50, $1k GTD

Stars: 1)2am $4.40, $2k GTD
2) 2.15am $9.90 (capped at 360 players)
3) 2.15am $11, $8k GTD
4) 5.15am $5.50 (capped at 360 players)
5) 6am $3.30, $8k GTD

As well as making sure I have 6 tables open by playing the $7.70 turbos (180man).

My aim is to be done with grinding by 10am, then I'm going to go for a run and freshen up, something I was meant to do on Sunday. Then hit the library and do the 2nd of 4 essays (assuming I get one done before grinding tonight, otherwise the 1st of 4!).

The schedule is subject to change should I crash but I am hoping I still have a little baller blood in me and I can still pull off these all nighters! Oh yeh..and fix my sleeping pattern.. Oh, and study ;) GL

Second Session

Put in another session tonight which has just come to a close. Unsurprisingly there were no final tables or shipping tournaments, I will have to wait a while for another of them!

The session tonight was fairly successful despite the bankroll dropping just slightly. I believe it started off at $2042 (so sick writing that) and unless this $4.40 180man comes through, it shall end on $2025.02 (not as sick). I cashed in three tournaments, including the Daily 30k on Stars which saw me bust out in the top 300 of one of their crazy fields. This is something I am pleased with because I seem to be making some pretty deep runs in a fair amount of tournaments (inc. prior to Saturday), which can only improve my game due to experience. Indeed, there was a real contrast in standard tonight I felt. I broke into the top 30/40 in two DTD tournaments respectively and the standard there was so much poorer compared to Stars. This is pleasing given that I can recognise a difference, coupled with the fact that I will improve whilst also hopefully winning some cash!

I'm also happy with the amount of volume that I have been able to put in. That is a total of 17 tournaments played now, with my initial aim to play somewhere in the region of 15-20 a week. Clearly I shall exceed this, which is only a good thing. Get on another heater asap imo!

Unfortunately the volume will drop a bit now though. Tomorrow night I am out and I have to get a lot of work done this week so its out the way for next week. I hope to put in a session on Weds night providing at least one of my pending essays is completed. Failing that, it could well be the weekend before I next hit the felt! At the moment I am pretty much nocturnal, which is off the back of working bar hours but I slowly intend to fix this and when I do I may look at the prospect of maintaining the volume via day-time sessions.

GL

May it Continue

Not really sure that the whole feeling of last night's euphoria has really sunk in yet... I mean ok, its not great deal, people ship tournaments everyday. I'm not even that impressed by the sum of money etc. What's impressive is that I finally managed to actually ship one of these donkaments and not just get close..its long overdue.

Anyway, more importantly I guess I'm pretty shell-shocked by the consequences of it. I have always bitched and moaned about not keeping hold of poker winnings and maintaining a roll. Well this is it now, this is for real. I want to try and keep so focused, so serious, so committed and so determined with it now. Its really surreal in some respects, Jon has been persistent in his determination to get me grinding again for weeks and I made the decision over the last week/10 days to focus a bit more on poker than I have been. Yet I made the deposit mid-afternoon on Saturday and by Sunday morning my bankroll had grown like 5 times as much! It really sets me up..

As a result I have set myself targets and benchmarks but I don't intend to publish those just yet as I have only played 10 tournaments! Don't anticipate shipping another big tournament for a while but I am hoping to hit a few ft's and take down a few scores.

Needless to say my weekly schedule has had to be tweaked a little as its become pointless playing the smaller buy-ins that I would have been. The standard is also probably pretty similar imo (between the $5 and the $11). The new schedule looks like this:

 BWIN


>>> 5.15pm : $5.50 buy-in, $3,500 GTD

>>> 6.20pm : $11 buy-in, $1,500 GTD

>>> 8.30pm : $11 buy-in, $5,000 GTD

>>> 9pm : $5.50 buy-in, $7,000 GTD

>>> 10.30pm : $5.50 buy-in, $4,500 GTD


 DTD


>>> 6.30pm : €6.60 buy-in, €1000 GTD, Deepstack

>>> 7.35pm : €3.30 buy-in, €1000 GTD

>>> 8.35pm : €10+1 buy-in, €3,500 GTD

>>> 9.45pm : €5.50 buy-in, €1000 GTD, Deepstack


 STARS


>>> 5pm : $11 buy-in, $8,000 GTD

>>> 6pm : $5.50 buy-in, $20,000 GTD

>>> 7pm : $3.30 buy-in, $1,500 GTD

>>> 7pm : $11 buy-in, $30,000 GTD

>>> 8.15pm : $11 buy-in, $15,000 GTD

>>> 9pm : $8.80 buy-in, $5,000 GTD

>>> 10.40pm : $4.40 buy-in, $2,000 GTD

(plus $4.40 & $7.70 180mans)


That is a list consisting of tournaments that run on a daily basis, all week, and that I am prepared to play and am rolled to play. I don't intend to have more than 4/5 tables up at anyone time and I don't intend to concentrate solely on the $11s, prefer to mix in a decent amount of the $5.50's. Based on the 200 buy-in rule the $11 is literally at the top end of my roll so I shall monitor that with interest.

In terms of figures from last night, there is no point in quoting them given the minute sample size. However, without the big win I would still have been in profit by $15 due to two other cashes. With the big win, my roll stands at $2042.56 and long may it continue to grow!!

Unfortunately I have quite a busy week both at uni and in terms of nights out (night out Tuesday, double date bollocks on Thursday, we are throwing a mini house party on Friday and about 4 million essays due in somewhere in between). This means a lack of volume I imagine. However, I hope to be able to put in a session tomorrow and Wednesday, just means my back is against the wall with uni so it could be subject to change..

Anyway, GL, will post updates accordingly..

Brag

Shipped!

A very very good night. Upon first time of asking I shipped a tournament on Bwin, woo woo!

Absolutely incredible timing. One of my only worries regarding the MTT grind was the sustainability issue due to a lack of ability to keep reloading or any staking deal in place. As a result I really wanted to get off to a flyer and sort myself out properly. Shipping the $5.50 $7,000GTD for $1525 certainly helped in that department!!!

I was pretty happy with the way the night went other than that, going uber deep in one of the Stars frenzies as well as a DTD tournament, meaning two decent cashes to get me going. I would have been in minor profit for the night but obviously Bwin had other ideas, well and truly turning my boomswitch on when it mattered!! I had some real run good at crucial times, one huge hand a couple of tables before the ft to give me a substantial chip lead and then winning the majority of my 60/40 scenarios etc and coming from way behind twice on the ft! ooops.

Gotta say a big thanks to Jon whose advice on and around the ft was pretty invaluable. First experience of a final table in such a big field so it was good to have someone to talk to etc, plus he enjoyed me betting 1millyon.

Anyway, I am going to spend a few hours today looking over the renewed figures, updating spreadsheets and then looking at the schedules again. I will post again later with a new agenda! GL

Its been a while!

Well hello again..

Its been a while, fundamentally due to me being really busy with uni and work (in the bar I mentioned in previous posts).. Well this is now coming to an end, enabling me to play a bit more poker!

I have quit the bar job now as the late night shifts were interfering with my studies too much and the management team there leave a lot to be desired. Anyway, the lack of income and excess spare time means I want to play some poker again. I am okay with money at the moment so the money I have deposited will be used to build up a bankroll, all being well I will make strategic withdrawals in 2010 when I need it. For now though, its all about the roll baby!

I will set targets as I go and make necessary adjustments but I will briefly outline the plan at the moment before just getting stuck in to some volume.

My roll as such is £300 across three sites - Stars, Bwin (OnGame network) and DTD (Boss media). I will be putting in a couple of sessions a week, depending on uni and social life, where I will play anything from £1-5 buy-in MTTs. In the couple of months I have had out I have still improved a lot via 2p2 as well as playing the odd MTT where I have gone uber deep and final tabled numerous 180mans. Not going to say too much for now, just want to get stuck in and hopefully turn out a tidy profit before xmas.

Schedule for tonight:

Bwin - 6pm $1.10 ($500 gtd)
6.15pm $2.25 ($1800 gtd)
DTD - 7.30pm €6.60 (€1000 gtd, deepstack). I will see how this goes as its the top end of my buy-in range, might make it a once weekly thing.
8.35pm €3.30 (€1000 gtd)
Stars - 6pm $5.50 ($20,000 gtd)
7pm $3.30 ($1500 gtd)
8.05pm €2.25 (€1000 gtd)
8.40pm $2.20 ($1000 gtd)


This is a nice 8 tournaments to get me going. I may alter it slightly at 8pm depending on the number of tables, may decide to drop the 8.05 and 8.35 tournaments but we'll see how they go!

Looking forward to it. GL

Week 1 - Check

Well I managed to rescue it a bit this evening!

It looked like going awfully but fortunately I managed to get a 2nd and a 3rd out of the 8 I just played!

Again, no distractions, no music, just 100% focus.. Look what happens!! Definately need to remember this I think.

I have now completed Week 1 (72 games). As a result my roll stands at $436 ($30 down from the start of the week). However, this demonstrates a net profit of $81 from an ROI of 35%.

The ROI is a little short of my 40% target but nonetheless one has to be happy with the way things are going. Hopefully the 2nd and 3rd at the end there means I can start to run good again! Got 72 games to play before Weds so that means a lot of play tomorrow and Tuesday with as much as is possible in between, after uni work and work! Please run gooooooot!

Variance....

Well I completed a fair few games yesterday and Tuesday but didn't update blog at the time, partly due to being irritated I think!

64 games completed, only a $56 profit and a measly 27% ROI!

Running horrifically in general but obviously variance is kicking in! However, really disappointed with myself in certain circumstances.

1) My inability to run good should not affect my game but I am letting it influence my mentality, which in turn ruins my ability to bring my 'A' game to the table.
2) Falling back into the same traps of peer pressure. This is purely a critcism of myself but I had railer(s) and there were certain situations/moves which I may not have pulled off if I was playing on my own. It ended up being both good and bad i.e. it may have been the right move and paid off or the wrong move that didn't but I set about this professionally and I want/need to maintain that. By grinding only when others are or being on msn whilst grinding I won't gain the best results. The first 36 games were spent isolated and focused so its no surprise that I go from a 96% ROI to a 27% ROI when the isolation and focus evaporates.

Variance has admittedly taken its toll but I need to play through it in order for the pendulum to swing round! Managed to severe two fingers at work last night so not fully mobile in all honesty, making things difficult. However, as a result my writing skills are lacking so uni attendance shall suffer further tomorrow allowing for grinding during the day. Hiring a car over the weekend and making a few trips out of London so won't have much time come Friday night. Need to finish off last weeks' schedule (8 games remain) as well as make a start on this (72 remain!).

Shall start now! GL

Back to it...

About to embark on my next session after having a few days off. Had work on Friday and Saturday then lots of uni work to do but looking to put in a big session now, the last of the week. Aiming to play 36 games over the course of today and early this evening, which will complete my 72 game schedule over one week. Will then commence doing the same thing as of tomorrow! Over the nexty 36 games I am looking to breach the $500 mark, will be a nice psychological boost!

Kind of frustrated at the moment that I am not doing many other things. Seems like everyone is tied up with uni work at the start of the semester and trying to get into a routine, which sucks! Trying not to let it impact on poker and studies because at the moment I have a good balance with it all but the more days that go by where I do nothing, the more I will just turn to poker! But unfortunately nobody wants to do a thing! AGHH! Alas, I shall renew my gym membership on Thursday/Friday of this week and let that consume some of my time. I wasn't going to get involved with the poker society for many reasons but do to a lack of social activity I may end up doing so!

Looking forward to tomorrow night cos its the Englang game at Wembley and I am working, meaning it shall be ultra-busy and all bar staff will be in. Should be a laugh and days like that normally means uber drinks after work - free! Lets hope I can also take down the sweep stake again too - 3/1 England will do very nicely..

Keep it Coming!

Had another good session last night, playing a total of 28 games over two sessions, taking the total to 36 games played.

My roll is now up to $436, from the original $325 deposited on just Wednesday!
I have had two 1sts, two 2nds, two 3rds and one of each from 4th-7th. As a result of this I am currently showing an ROI of 95%!

Clearly I am extremely pleased with the results but after analysing a few hands after with Jon and looking back at the notes I had taken during games, I am not entirely happy with a certain few things. We agreed on there being a few spots where I should have been shoving but didn't. Not entirely happy with this as this area of my game is generally quite good I feel but more importantly, crucial in these games at this stake. If I nail that aspect of my SNG game then I can continue to show an outrageous ROI because people at this stake just don't get that, enough volume and enough learning will see me come good. Intend to get on 2p2 on Sunday though for more opinions.

There are a few other things which I felt I did wrong in the latter session last night, indeed I should have had a further 2 cashes but it wasn't to be due to silly mistakes. I won't go into them, the fact that I can identify a mistake is positive so I will leave it at that now!

With regard to the ROI above etc. Its interesting because I set myself the targets of reaching $500 by reading week (second week of November) and achieving an ROI of 40%. Clearly I am killing these targets. Obviously variance is yet to kick in but I would like to think a 60-70% ROI (as on lower stake and Everest) is obtainable. Maybe I should be eyeing up moving up stakes after say 200 games and closing in on a four figure roll, which I had aimed to achieve by 2010!.
Sticking to a maximum of 72 games per week though, to ensure a balanced life and no neglecting of uni. So with that in mind I should have played 200 games by the end of the month, at that time hopefully I am still showing a good profit and have a 100 buy-ins for higher stakes in order to move up.

Can't play until Sunday now due to work but looking forward to getting back to it then. GL.

First Session!

I thought to myself "its all down to volume so sod it, lets got on with it!". Drew up some guidelines and spreadsheets, made the $325 (100 buy-in) deposit and got to work.

In terms of the guidelines, they consist of how much I can play during the week, how many tables, setting targets etc etc. Will discuss them more as they arise, not really strictly relevant right now however.

Anyway, I played 8 tournaments..

Final tabled 4 of them and cashed in 3, coming 3rd twice and 4th once.

That provided me with a net profit of $31, so we are on our way!

Something I did note down during play was that my end game was restricted by the amount of tables. I have no issue with 6-tabling for the majority of the tournament, just making the standard shove/fold/call sort of moves and hope I win the flips. However, I like to pay more attention to players having reached the final table but they literally all occurred at once, hence the reason I didn't manage to make it HU or even cash in one of them. Don't think I will alter this as I don't want to jeopardise the volume, but certainly need to improve this area.

I took positives from my ability to abuse the bubble. Albeit a small sample size I was happy with the way I played on the bubble, shoving with the bottom of my range, something I would have been reluctant to do in the past!

Anyway, think that will be it for tonight, not got work anymore as I phoned in sick but unfortunately I am actually ill! Probably take the night off everything, get up tomorrow, do a lot of uni work in the morning and then have a big session tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Exicted for whats coming... GL

New Start #1001

Ok, well as the title of this first post suggests, this isn't the first time I have written about poker but I sure as hell anticipate it to be the last!

I recently spent ten weeks out of the game but in the last three days found myself missing it, wanting it again and letting it consume my mind again. My reason for stopping playing for such a long time was not as a result of any big loss, bad beat or anything of the sort, I just lost interest and had other things to concentrate on. However, I grew into poker with my closest friend, he still plays, he still has the passion, the belief, we are both winning poker players in our own right. We have both gone about it very wrongly however. I still managed to do this over the past couple of days but have asked myself many questions tonight and think, think I have found many answers.

Not all poker players are alike. Thats the first thing. Jon is a tournament player, he thrives off MTTs and indeed that's where his success lies. I once wrote about how my MTT ability is not as good as his and it only makes me suffer. I want to improve that aspect of my game but you cannot have it all overnight.

Why am I playing poker? I enjoy the game, I like the intellect and skill behind it, I like the social aspect and I like money pure and simply. The least amount of success I have had is through MTTs, plain and simple. The most amount of success I have had is with SNGs followed by cash but cash is difficult to monitor as thats where I have been "fooling about" most.

I have had big big success both online and live in fields of 30-50 yet this has been overshadowed by my determination to hit a big score in an MTT. I want to improve my MTT game and a way of doing that WHILST earning money would be going back to the root of my success, putting in a lot of volume there, learning and building a bankroll. There is nothing I find more enjoyable then sitting down and chatting about hands, I improve that way, I voice my opinion and its a common interest. However, its not EV or wise for me to effectively waste money on one of my weaker areas of the game just for the social aspect. I had a discussion tonight in which we discussed something that haunts every player...variance. Within that an article was discussed in which the author made a very valid statement - "tournament players should get used to waking up preparing to lose". A tournament pro, so I am led to believe, might have a cash % of 11-13%. I don't think I am the sort of person to be able to play some 150+ tournaments over the next 8-10 weeks and be prepared to be as successful as I would like just 1% of the time. That's not in my nature basically. Moreover, MTTs are not the strong point of my game so why chase it?

It boils down to finance fundamentally. Every single thing I have ever done wrong can be brought back to the issue of bankroll management. I first started playing again on Saturday and I was already back to old habits. I should not and will not do that with online poker. If I want to play some tournament then I should listen to myself - "live poker is a lot softer", well, I'll go and enter a live tournament and treat it as a night out, whilst keeping an online "roll" separate. I would like to get to the stage where I can MTT grind but that requires a roll behind one self as well as time and commitment, none of which I really have right now.

I need to ensure I have a balanced lifestyle first and foremost. Uni work, social life, health and fitness, work...none of these things can take a backseat so I want to ensure I get the balance right.

My plan - I intend to provide myself with 100 buy-ins for the $3.25 45 man SNGs on Stars. I shall deposit this on Thursday or Sunday depending on how I feel tomorrow (ill) and how much uni work I get done. Ideally I didn't want to play on Stars but I have since thought otherwise. I had a 70% ROI over some 100 games on the equivalent games but at a lower stake, yet at this level the standard won't be that much different. The traffic is uncomparable to other sites. The scope to improve is greater. The loyalty reward schemes are next-to-none. Generally the site cannot be beaten and its certainly the only place I can find something suitable.

Tomorrow I am going to draw up a ladder spreadsheet so I can ensure that I will not go bust, I stay disciplined and I stick with strict bankroll management. Along with this I will do a rough timetable of a maximum amount of hours I will play each week to ensure the balanced lifestyle. Finally, some targets of where I want to be after 2 week periods, including profit forecasts and volume targets. Basically the optimum schedule that I think will suit me.

Eventually I would like to move onto MTTs, whether it be 180mans or back onto the European software grinding. However, the fact is I need to improve that area and I can do this this way whilst also making money. Further, I just don't have the time to be able to put into mass volume in MTTs (the only real way of improving) nor the money to finance that. Hopefully this way Jon and I can still enjoy the social aspect as well as still helping each other out and discussing things, I can make some consistent cash (the key being consistent) and I can enjoy live events without it affecting my overall poker "career".

This has always been and always will be a hobby. A football team is organised. Going karting is organised. Playing rugby for school is organised. I have just lacked basic discipline and organisation. I intend to get this hobby back on track, organise it effectively and move forward appropriately.



I'll keep you posted. GL.