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.