Running Good?

Beginning to play a little more poker now as life becomes more settled.

University effectively starts on Monday, the full timetable takes effect. I'm completely bombarded with work and what with lots of other responsibilities within uni now (final year, giving it my all, boosting CV, searching for perfect job, yada yada yada) and maintaining a healthy relationship - I have little free time. That said, I'm enjoying it a lot more and although its the usual thing ("new term, new start" philosophy) I do feel as though I'm doing well and enjoying it most importantly. Baby steps!

But due to the above I'm actually set in a routine and because of that I find little pockets of time to do what I want with. I'm completely hammering the gym and loving it so that ends up being my preference if I have a spare hour here and there. That only supports my routine though and enables me to stick to it. On the accommodation front its all sorted and I'm going to stay put until Xmas. I think this will be for the best for a multitude of reasons.

So, poker. I've got a casino day lined up with a friend in a couple of weeks so that will be my first taste of the live circuit in a while. Online however, I'm playing on a daily basis. Fundamentally though its just cash, I'm not able to dedicate an evening to getting on the tournament grind and I fear this could be the case for the foreseeable future. I'm mixing a few SNGs in where I can but I might have a free hour or so and boot up 4 tables of 50/1. I've done this virtually everyday and without getting PT up I'd be confident of saying I've knocked up a fair few thousand hands, and been profitable. Undoubtedly a tiny sample size and undoubtedly there were phases of run good in there but nonetheless I'm feeling pretty happy. I'm also sticking to a system I have in place. I'm maintaining the roll at figure 'x' and withdrawing regularly for every $100+ I have earned. It means the roll isn't growing but given I'm unable to commit any serious amount of time to poker or get on the grind more consistently with a particular game, it makes sense to just let it pay for my expenses on a day-to-day basis.


Now I'm beginning to find my feet a bit more and settling in to my routine I'm hoping I can report on some progress on the poker front a bit more. At the moment its sort of like a fix, I'm eager to play but unable to commit to the 2am nights again. That was a dangerous game last year and as its my final year there is no way I'm going there again. Equally, if I can't put in the volume then there's no point. I predicted this would happen in the final year so I'll have to make a way round it! For now that's grinding the cash games where possible so I'll report on a bi-weekly basis on that front!

GL

Update

I guess I am guilty of not fulfilling promises, again, but I won't dwell on that!


I've had a pretty hectic time of it since my last update. Predominantly that's been down to university starting back up and my housing situation, or distinct lack of it. I'm currently staying at a friends house and they (couple) fortunately have a spare room. Its actually been epic and we have a right laugh consistently but obviously its something I'd rather nip in the bud. I'd rather end on a high than let it drag out a little and end up leaving because its becoming a tad strained. But anyway, the situation has had an affect of my poker-playing abilities due to the fact I can't be entirely unsociable in someone else's house!

Uni has also started back up and to be honest I'm really motivated and as a result probably enjoying it more. Its setting in that I graduate in nine months time or so and as a result I'm determined to come out with what I want. There are lots of positives to take from things at the moment. Although negatives too but I won't dwell on them either!


So, on the poker front... I have managed to play a fair few hands on 50/1. My purpose behind that was basically to avoid becoming completely stagnate and needing considerable time to get in the groove. It also has its financial benefits! I'm set up on PokerSavvy but its just been impossible to find the time to study any videos properly - having them on in the background whilst doing other things is just pointless. But anyway, through 50/1 I've managed to work the roll back up to near the $2k mark so I'm providing myself with a decent foundation from which to work from again. I'd like to jump straight in there and at least be grinding for some decent bucks and with this roll I can do that again.

For the time being I'm not going to be able to get in to tournament mode but I do hope to allocate more time for Savvy videos, whilst also mixing in some cash to keep it fresh in my mind. I have zero plans to get a place of my own right now either - I'm not paying a dime to be here so it makes sense. Instead, if the right place comes along - I'll jump on it. I'm active though, just a crying shame that poker requires so much commitment to maintain the levels of the start of this year!!

Pastures New

Apologies in advance, to any regular readers, but part of what I'm about to say may well be find repeated, a lot, in the content of previous blog posts.

Nonetheless, when I set this up I endeavoured to maintain it, and that I shall.

Summer is now officially drawing to and end for me. I guess, in effect, it did last weekend. Over the last week I've been on a week-long course/placement, which was extremely enjoyable, useful and exhausting. Not only did it consist of solid 12-14 hour days but also a collection of pretty unique people. I'm really glad I went on it, not only for the networking opportunities it provided me in the City but also the people I met, its a rarity these days.

I'm not preparing to head back down to London in order to start uni again in a week's time. I'm going a tad early due to the arrival of the missus again (obv my taxi services are required) and I also fancy checking out the Freshers for a final time! Those are the fun reasons for me going down anyway but there is also a more serious purpose!

One of these is finding a flat and its something that is of particular interest given its relation to my poker-playing abilities. I haven't had much desire to play this summer but when I have wanted to the internet connection I have has been appalling. Words cannot describe how bad it is. Nobody contemplate using AOL as an ISP, PLEASE..

So, I'm staying at a mates' house for a couple of weeks and this will be my first opportunity to play. There won't be any mammoth sessions by any stretch of the imagination but I do certainly intend to put in some hours. Hopefully come the first or second week of October I'll then have my own place and that will be where my commitment can be demonstrated once again. I'm serious about playing again, not only because I miss it from a recreational and social point of view but also from the financial side of things. What will be interesting is that I am EXTREMELY unlikely to experience what I experienced this time last year - getting off to a flyer via the shipping of a tournament! The roll still remains at $1300, which I'm very pleased at managing to hold on to. So its going to be a case of really grinding out the 45s and 90s on Stars and hopefully building up to the point I was before the summer. I've spent the majority of the money and its not something I regret. This time I will plan it differently and make regular withdrawals, so as not get to the point where its an "all or nothing" situation. However, this summer has been like no other in terms of my ability to refuse to work, get some work experience under-my-belt and just have an absolute blast of a time doing whatever I want. Of course it puts me in a more difficult position now but how often do those times come around in one's life? Rarely imo. It will take a serious amount of planning now because I need to fit in a serious amount of university commitments and a part-time job whilst also balancing a girlfriend and social life alongside that. I turned down the option of living with a couple of people last week for this reason and I hope the decision doesn't back-fire. I could have lived with another couple, who are close friends or two lads but I truly believe I stand a better chance of being able to enjoy the year by achieving all my goals and having fun along the way by living on my own. Typically that's the more expensive route by a country mile but hey ho. The pressure is good!


So, anyway, I've ranted on once again. I've had a great summer, accomplished almost everything I wanted to but I'm not back and raring to go. Its going to be a difficult twelve months for a host of reasons I feel but if I set out with the right intentions from the offset then I can at least look back in the knowledge that I gave it my best shot.

Permanent Procrastination

Its been a while so I thought I'd at least update on my lack of updates.


I haven't really played any poker since being at Jon's and grinding a bit there. I've occasionally found myself satisfying an urge and 2-tabling 50/1 but nothing in the way of tournaments. Plus, those small bursts of energy on 50/1 have actually earned me few quid!

I feel like I've done nothing but I think I've actually done quite a lot since my last blog post. A few days after that I went down to London for a week to celebrates various birthday's and graduations alike. Nothing really went according to plan but it was real good fun - particularly the surprise birthday party I organised for my girlfriend. That went down well and earned me some brownie points! We also stayed in a hotel in West London for a week, which was pretty awesome, simply due to the fact that it was like a holiday in London, as opposed to constantly having to study or work or whatever.

I successfully managed to drop £110 on roulette during my stay there. Apparently a £2 min bet is epically expensive. Although, £15 on 36 red was the highlight of my endeavours. Fortunately I was with people I had to "act calm" with. My girlfriend (not even me, honestly..) portrayed me as this baller who doesn't give a toss about money. So whilst this one guy is hitting numbers for fun, I'm hitting the dealer (mentally) but I have to maintain a calm persona. I was literally blowing steam inside but it kind of made it amusing and obviously Melina was in hysterics cos she knew how pissed off I was. Good times.

It was generally an awesome week to be fair. I shipped a new car for birthday and then had a few mates round on Saturday night, back in Newport, to celebrate all over again. It turned out to be an amusing advert for the household - a bit of a reality tv show but it was a good laugh and those that came are effectively friends of the family in its entirety, with the way my parents are. That makes it all the more fun cos everyone engages in the banter and its more enjoyable, less awkward etc. More good times.

After that it was Global Gathering, Phenomenal. I could write an essay on it at least but I think "less is more" becomes effective in this instance. The whole thing was mind-blowing and it reminded me how good such things are.

Now its on to Greece - I leave in a few hours! Three weeks of sun, sea, sand and sex. The only thing I am definitely doing is a bungee jump. I half experienced one in Global. I say half cos it was a shitty little one off a crane and I was pretty drunk so didn't exactly enjoy it. I passed this one in Greece last summer and I've said I'm doing it. So I am. Other than that I think its going to be a really chilled three weeks. No trips to islands etc are planned as yet, see what happens when I'm out there.

Maybe I'll turn this blog into something else for the time being and I'll update on my trip when I get back, if its at all exciting! Its kinda weird now cos it will be the 4th time I will go over there. I'm not one for going to the same holiday destination twice but given the circumstances I'm effectively obliged to. I know my way around the place, where's best to eat and drink, what road to take there etc etc etc. Its sort of odd cos I don't feel like I'm going away right now. Anyway, I digress.

Three weeks after that I'll be back in London for an internship and its possible I'll stay there at that point, look for a new place and then get back into uni and ultimately poker. My roll is still around the $1300 mark so its decent enough to get grinding with.

We'll see! GL in August!

Nostalgic

This will be my last post in a while so it will be the last essay you have to read, should you choose to! It could be tl;dr so apologies in advance.

I've demonstrated traits normally attributable to women, in the last few months - indecision, fear, confusion. One minute poker is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the next, my exams are the most important thing in my life, or my girlfriend, or my friends, or going home. I was and am never able to strike that balance. My interests also differ weekly.

The thought processes have always been in the back of my mind but after talking aloud and discussing it, a decision has been found, brought forward from the depths of my brain somewhere. Its perhaps obvious, perhaps imminent or perhaps downright stupid. Either way, poker has just been knocked down a fair few rungs on the ladder.

My mindset isn't where it once was. I'm in a downswing, which has contributed to my lack of desire to play and most worryingly, my lack of desire to improve. That should be the other way round but when I have no desire to analyse hands nor boot up a table, one has to question their overall commitment.
I'm too engrossed in the enjoyment of being in a relationship, being at home with friends and family, having the capacity to do more things through financial security, organising birthday's, focusing on my career and degree. All of these things have slowly worked themselves up the priority list, sub-consciously and I can only assume that is due to my arrogance and complacency. I have achieved a lot in poker I feel and indeed, will continue to do so.

I deposited £300 on November 28th 2009. From that £300 I have now totalled withdrawals of £4289. That represents a huge sum of money for someone in my position - a full-time student. That also demonstrates a candid ability to beat the game. If I do say so myself.

However, all is not over and all is not lost.

In some respects I feel as if a new challenge may invigorate me and offer me a new sense of purpose. However, fundamentally, due to the environment I find myself in, putting in 6/7/8 hour sessions every night isn't feasible. Nor do I want to do that, I'd sooner be just chilling with family or being out with friends. The euros also seem to be in decline so that primarily led to my decision to withdraw everything from those, as opposed to anywhere else. I'll be in Greece for the month of August, bar a few days, I'll be in London next week etc etc, the list is endless. Poker requires commitment, opponents improve daily so I'm just falling further behind and effectively only increasing variance/downswings, which initially were my reason for not playing. I beat the game but I used that as an excuse not to improve at the same rate. Enough is enough.

I do love playing the game though and I will continue to do so. I have left about $1100 on Stars and will look at grinding the 90mans/45mans. These are something I can do with Jon also, which will probably entice me to improve alongside him and also instil the competitiveness back into our friendship, which will only spur us both on, I'm sure. I'll also continue to play the MTTs on Stars but be very selective and use a ratio. I'll give all of that some thought though and perhaps post at the end of the week.

I hope I don't live to regret the decision but I feel its a sensible one to reach following a very rewarding experience.

Now for the next stage of my "career"...

Its been a while...

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I best update on what I have been doing with my life!

So, it'll be a short post then!

I finally managed to move home a week ago and am extremely happy about that fact! I'll deal with how its affecting poker first and foremost. We had some trouble with various ISPs and as a result were internet-less until the middle of this week. It was great when it initially came - we were all getting 27mb for 48 hours despite not paying for that particular service. Now, we struggle to get 2 and literally I'm sure this is far from a broadband service; its awful! They say that it may take 10 days for the line to stabilise and, to be fair, if I can get 27 one day and 2 the next surely there will be some happy median, please?!?! Needless to say, its proving impossible to play poker on this service, although I have only attempted today for the first time.

I went to Jon's for a grinding session yesterday and, uniquely, we both had a profit session! I played a mix of $6 45man - $12 180s. They were really enjoyable and I felt its an interesting method of being able to improve my game. The only real downside was how long they took to fill up - the $12s in particular. This is a real pain in the arse but something I'll have to live with I guess. Despite it being a relatively small profit - $160, I do intend to start playing these a bit. When (I hope) the internet sorts itself out and finds a balance, I still have the issue of when I'm able to play and for how long so big sessions are something of a tall order. So I'm going to start mixing in some of these things and after the recent withdrawals and the downswing, it may offer an opportunity to grind it back up and find a suitable level of stability. Curse you variance!

Other than that, I've had a couple of great nights with friends, where pretty much everyone has made the effort to come out and have a catch-up. The highlight has to be last night, having been grinding the tables with Jon at his place we met up with Jack for a curry and couple of beers, a nice civilised evening... No. We stayed in our new found home - a pub in Newport until close and then made the terrible decision of going back to Jack's. Oh and via this god awful cocktail bar in Newport. I promise you I have never had a worse drink. Going to Jack's normally ends one way - badly. At least from a health point of view.. After playing a few live turbo's between 4 of us, we then felt the need to be flipping £1's for about 3 hours. £1, hand of poker dealt, winner takes all - £4. It was hilarious and probably the most baller/stupid thing we have ever done. I think I will take a deck of cards with me every time we go to The Barley now, its pretty epic. Having been £25 down at one point I ended up losing £3 in the end, on that game. I think Jon ended up the big loser, which was hilarious (sorry mate). Everyone bar Jack, who seems to have some sort of spiritual guidance when it comes to run good in his own house, went through a phase of losing exceptional amounts of money and there came a point where we just had to set a time limit - 5am, otherwise it would go on forever. At 4.30am I was £21 down lol and tilting like an absolute mother fucker. At 5am Jon was probably something in the region of £15 down. Hilarious.

Literally it was so much fun. Obviously I'm not sure if I would advocate the game so much if I was a big loser but even so, its variance and I'm sure it will happen again. Next time I go to the pub I'll be armed with loose change and a deck of cards.

So yeh, having got home at 8am and not slept I feel like absolute horse shit and question why the hell I ever do these things but hey, its evident from last night that summer is here, people are back and we'll have an awesome time. It shades a few years off my life when I go to Jack's but it sure as hell is worth it.

Here's to July!

Well after my last rant I spoke to a couple of people, rationalised my thoughts and perhaps came to a calmer conclusion. I was certainly tilted at the time and took a very narrow view.

That said, much of my logic remains intact, the only real change is my personal motivation etc. I'm currently on a $1300 downswing and its certainly not something I'm neither used to nor experienced before. Although attempting to segregate the roll from my own personal finances, I have always had that figure in the back of my mind for the purposes of holiday(s) etc. With this in mind, I'm not prepared to let it deplete any further without taking evasive action. I also want to remain committed to the game however and stay on track for my annual target and longer term targets.

Essentially the reasoning I mentioned before is still ever-present. I don't take immense satisfaction from winning a tournament and outlasting 'x' amount or players. I don't relate it to Lampard scoring a goal for England on the international stage. Oh wait... I am happy to win a tournament due to the cash injection it provides. I don't view it or treat it as a hobby and in all honesty I think that's a more sensible approach. So, in June 2011 I will be graduating and effectively have to stop playing poker. My aim has always been to accumulate a nice little nest egg so at that point I can invest it or go on a sick holiday. Depends how mature and sensible I feel at the time.

I am now moving out of this flat on Saturday, not tomorrow, so intend to play every single night with my new roll of $4000. That represents a $1900 withdrawal, which will see me through over the summer and give me a decent amount of disposable income to enjoy without having the pressure to work. I'm in Greece between the 05th and 24th August but home until that point so there is zero point in me attempting to get a job for like 4 weeks. It would only be part-time so the most I could earn in Shropshire would be about £500 and that's assuming I have the job from day 1, which I clearly don't! So, if we said I could earn £300 in that four week period - it aint worth getting out of bed for. I can earn that through poker, downswing or not, I'll manage it. Hell, I have a PS3 and couple of games worth £180, I'll sell that and save myself working! I also don't have to be back at uni until practically October so it gives me July and September to grind, and grind I shall.

The level of volume I'm able to put in is entirely dependent on my parent's attitude and reaction towards it. They may not like it night-after-night and I do want to be out with friends a lot, just chilling etc. I can certainly get in a good 3 sessions a week though and that's basically what I've been doing for 8 months. But the main change from my point of view now is that I want and am determined to play out of this downswing. I can have that $8/9k back again, I just have to work for it. I became a bit arrogant and complacent with my game so hopefully some grinding and sweat sessions at Jon's can help me pick up the pace a bit, as well as spending pain-staking hours on 2p2 - something else I haven't done in a while.

So anyway, to cut an awfully long story short - I'm going to try and play a hell of a lot this week, in between packing etc and then I'll pick it up again sporadically next week. I'll just have to be a bit careful with the bankroll again and play sensibly. Hopefully normal service is resumed soon though....

GL and see you at the tables later!

Reality Check/Be Sensible

Due to the $1200+ downswing I find myself on, the roll has depleted to $6000.

That is currently the bottom line and no matter what way you look at it, I'm losing money consistently. I've put in a couple of decent sessions since my last post, analysed my play, thought about my game and where it sits in my future and its basically just becoming a burden now.

I did well in exams having got results on Monday so I have now been looking at planning my immediate future - the summer. Whilst doing so I obviously take into account the money I have "invested" in poker. Having gone from one extreme to the other with my thought processes I can only conclude that I wish I had jumped off the wave of euphoria some months ago, thought about it logically and made consistent withdrawals to help reduce the impact (mentally if nothing else) of variance. Withdrawing $100 for every $500 I win or something. At the end of the day, whether I were to quit tomorrow or in 5 years the end product and goal is the same - I want to earn money. I'm not investing thousands of pounds into a hobby nor segregating the money in its entirety. I was foolish in that sense and was too fixated on watching the roll grow, as opposed to thinking and acting my age. Beggars can't be choosers after all.

I don't intend to quit but I do intend to make the most of the hours, blood and sweat I have put in over the past few months. I also know at some point downswings have to end, whether that be tomorrow or on my last night of playing this summer prior to returning to university. It will end. However, I intend to reduce the roll to a certain degree and roll myself for something like $15s - allowing my AVG buy-in to remain close to the $11 as well as throwing the $22s on the euros in there.

At the end of the day I don't actually need that amount of money on there and this is where the virtual roll comes into play. I'm planning my girlfriend a pretty massive bash for her 21st, intend to spend the best part of a month in Greece in August and will then be house-hunting again come September so be forced to stump up deposits. At the same time I want to enjoy summer and use the time to see friends and chill out mainly and at some point get some more work experience under my belt. I certainly won't be working full-time and any part-time job is a mere fantasy right now. That suits me - the last two summers have been work-orientated and I am now fortunate enough to not have to worry about money in the same way as I may have done in the past.

So essentially I have gone full circle. Rather than poker take a front seat over the summer, its being pushed down the pecking order somewhat. Having a $4000 roll or something like that is perfectly sufficient for the games I play and I truly believe I can rebuild from there and be at the same level again come the end of the year. Right now, I'm 21 in 3 weeks, money will become an issue later down the line, life will become an issue down the line. All that matters now is my overall happiness and I sure as hell aint happy punting $300 down the drain night after night knowing that could be spent on family, friends, girlfriend, me, whatever.

So, bring on Tuesday, get me home, let me see my mates, let me enjoy life.

Life downwsings > poker downswings.

Waste of time. Again.

I may as well write this now, as I find myself staring down the barrel and having 1 measly table left at this fine hour.

Again, a nice little portrayal of how the night has gone is this - 30mins ago I had 5 tables left and was approaching the bubble in all. 10mins ago I had 3 tables left and was in the final 35 of all of them. After losing AA to AK and A7 to A3 for massive stacks and ultimately my tournament life, I'm now contemplating murder.

The rest of the night was a fucking waste of time as well, the examples above were as interesting as it got, basically cos I was losing flips ITM as opposed to level fucking 4.

I appreciate variance and I'm not even scraping the edges in reality. I also appreciate how well I have ran up until this point. But seriously, every time I sit down to put in a session at the moment I just lose money. I can't even be arsed to do the exact maths now but last time out I was on a downswing totalling over $600. I was in for $360 tonight and at the time of writing have 3 cashes from 30 tournaments, amounting to $65. Brilliant. Still, at least I'm cashing now. Wahey!
The roll will have depleted to the $6k mark after my withdrawal the other week also. Fortunately that's the only thing keeping me going (obviously). The timing is a real kick in the balls, coupled with how much time and energy I'm devoting to it per se. But fortunately I can just about sustain it financially, although this can't continue for too much longer. Dropping the $22s from my schedule will be a pain also, as there are far less $11s around, on the euros at least...

Shall have a serious think about it all over the next week. Right now I'm obviously massively tilted and down about a lot of other stuff anyway.

I just hope the exam results are positive tomorrow, that's a start and I can at least put that to one side.

Anyway, barring a miracle in this last tournament (28 left) its another cracking losing night, bringing a torrid week to an end! To be fair even if I ship this I don't break-even for the fortnight ($800 to 1st).

Agh poker..... C'est la vie.



EDIT:

I actually came 7th in that tournament but I'm more tilted than I was before. Having ground my way up to 2nd in chips without showdown I was feeling fairly good. The chip leader, an awful player (aren't they always) then went on life tilt having made a horrific call and losing part of his stack, giving me the chip lead. A shorty shoves the very next hand (11bbs), he then whacks in his 30+ bb stack and I happily call with AK on the BTN, having them both covered, just. The chip leader routinely rivers his J, enabling his QJ to take it over my AK and the shorty's AT. Fucking standard.

4 hands later and some moron limps in the CO, despite having <15bbs, with 22, I shove AJ for like 4bbs, hit my A on the flop only for him to river a deuce. Fucking standard.

I got $180 and a $108 tourney ticket for my trouble but whatever, may as well have busted it earlier as far as I'm concerned. Tomorrow best be good.

Here we go!

I thought I'd quickly update this as I'm about to start the biggest session I've ever had. This could be great or awful!
As it stands I'm basically in every decent tournament that I'm rolled for between now and 11pm, with the exception of finishing slightly earlier on Stars due to the field sizes. I may change that though as I didn't get home until 5am last night and slept until 1pm so I imagine I'll still be going strong come midnight.

I've got my exam results tomorrow and I'm shitting it so I think a friend might come round for the sweat and keep me company, saving me from going stark raving mad at losing lots of money and the prospect of getting exam results tomorrow!!

On another note, I had a wicked night last night. Spent 3.5hours sailing up and down the Thames on this party boat. A unique experience with probably only 100 people, 1 bar, 1 dancefloor and 2 epic DJs. It was insane. Everybody was great fun, a great atmosphere. Never experienced anything like it and can't wait to do so again. With the ticket came free entry to Pacha also and OMG, immense. Best club by a country mile and its not even for the normal reasons. Everything about it was insane, although expensive!
The women in there and on the boat....wow.

The night was topped off when we left the club however and the experience really epitomises London for me. There we are at this sandwich bar next to the club waiting for the bus when a tramp in a top hat comes up to us and says "alright boys, I'm gonna do something slightly different to a normal beggar..."

He whacks out this deck of cards and whilst switching from a cockney, welsh, irish, scottish, brum, manc, northern accent he proceeds to do these INSANE card tricks. The pinnacle of which was me pulling out the 5 of clubs from my suit jacket pocket having seen the deck shuffled 3 times and then shuffling it myself....

In return I gave him like 7 quid which I thought was pretty baller and I'm not sure the crowd we had round us by this point could believe it either... He was legitimately a tramp as well, I only wish I had my wits about him, took his details and signed him to something...he'd go down a treat in he Butlins of the world!

Anyway, awesome fun and I hope I can now top it off with a bink. ONE TIME!

^$&£$*"&!&"$&"

Things are going from bad to worse. And its increasing in frustration.

Previously I was recouping some 10% of losses and decreasing the tilt factor by making 3/4 cashes each session, which may even be coupled with a deep run towards the final table. Now, however, I just fail to cash per se.

I spoke to Jon about it last night, who has experienced it for months effectively and took his advice of playing no more than 8 tables at any one time. This was a correct decision I felt and something I might adhere to in the future. It allowed me to analyse each decision effectively but I just could not win the flips for the life of me.

This example will sum it up perfectly: 6pm, first tournament loads up. 3rd hand in I am dealt KK. I get it in against QQ and sure enough a lady appears on the turn.

That's just the story of the last fortnight and I cannot seem to do anything about it!

Still, it has to turn around and I am determined for it to. I'm just starting a daytime session now, as obviously I'll be cheering England on later this evening so won't be playing. I'll do the same tomorrow I think, as a mate has come up short on Royal Ascot tickets (bastard) but have plans tomorrow evening. Then its the inevitable Sunday grind. How I would love the swong to turn around then..............

Swongs

All though relatively minor and insignificant compared with some grinders' downswings, I'm definitely experiencing one of my own!

Last night made it 71 tournaments played with a resounding loss of over $400, with the average buy-in at $10 approximately. I'm not on massive tilt about it and the good thing is I'm still looking forward to getting back to the tables in an effort to rectify it. It's extremely frustrating however, as this level of volume won't be able to be kept up for too long if all I do is lose! There will come a point where I'm going to have to let poker take a back seat/part-time role and get on with other things, despite wanting to play through it!

I'm caught in two minds as to whether to limit the size of the session and try and keep to 6 tables at any one time, working on my game and thinking about each decision or whether to just hammer out the volume. The former might work to control that aura of frustration and allow me to make sensible decisions. However, when I'm hammering out the volume you don't notice how many 70/30s you're losing, just see tables disappearing rapidly without definitive knowledge of how you go bust! Obviously you know you've probably just lost one of those standard flips but you don't see that brutality of it lol.

I'm leaning towards just hammering out the volume purely because I still think the vast majority of my decision making is fine. Bar the final two tables last night, which in itself is soul-destroying, I was playing fine but just getting irritated by an inability to get anything going! My decisions on the final two probably left much to be desired but oh well....

I'll start up again at 4/5pm today hopefully, just gotta get some work out the way first.

Strictly Poker

In my boredom I ended up looking over previous blog posts and looking back at previous goals that I had set myself and bring them to the forefront of my thoughts. I ended up becoming quite disgruntled at how little poker there has been in the handful of previous posts over the last couple of months, however. They have also become distinctly more results orientated!

I shall endeavour to focus on poker from herein with the odd rant about life's trials and tribulations when I deem it absolutely necessary! I promise!

I'm making the next fortnight solely poker orientated, and I need to. I've been a bit careless with personal finances and in an effort to avoid any withdrawal I either need to bink and put that aside or go and get a job for a bit. The problem with the latter is I don't actually have time with my passion seeming to be working for free on placements! The amount of work I have to do outside of the placement is now causing some alarm! I exaggerate, its actually really enjoyable and I'm going to really get my teeth into it but coupled with other things it does eat into my time for grinding - which, given I'm an MTT grinder, is scarce.

So I'm keeping my days free to do pressing jobs and things but my evenings will centre around poker and nothing else. I'll have a night off on Friday/Saturday but that's it. I'll be able to do that until the second week of July and then it's all change.

So, that's it. The last of my topical discussions. My next post will be on the weekend, unless I bink big in the mean time.

GL all.

Epic Fail.

England firstly - what a fail. It made me so angry and does thinking/talking about it, so I just won't!

I also didn't put in a session today either. I was unbelievably tired having not really slept much last night and only managing to catch up on about 3 hours worth of sleep. It wasn't exactly going to be the greatest decision to sit myself down and play some 20+ tournaments. I'll also hopefully compensate that with the fact that I can play everyday this forthcoming week and hope to hammer it out day and night. I've spent way too much money recently so have declared a self-ban on myself and will refrain from going out and spending ANY money! Last night was also a fitting ending to the "party period", if you like, it was a pretty awesome night and an absolute hilarious one at that, after the post-England aggression! There were 4 of us and I'd only met 2 of them a handful of times before that. I knew they were like-minded but I guess I was a bit apprehensive as to how it would be. No need to be as it was good fun. The streets of London were rammed and we all got smashed at one point, separated and I ended up wondering into the Empire and chatting to a few people playing roulette. I was basically being one of those irritating drunks before leaving without spending a thing (I think). I do remember legitimately looking for a cash machine cos I wondered past the cash tables. Thank god I didn't find it!
Rapidly sobered up however and awoke this morning without a hangover, a complete bonus! Was a bit of a happy drunk I think, just determined to chat shit to anyone who wanted to listen.

Anyway, I'm shattered and need sleep, a lot at that! I have my work placement tomorrow but hopefully I can manage a short session afterwards before playing all week. GL!

Thorpe Park and a mammoth Sunday

I haven't managed to hit the tables again since my last outing, instead being drunk, in arguments, on roller-coasters, being ill and doing airport runs! Its been quite a busy few days.

It started on Weds when a friend finished his last exam. I promptly got a call at 11am demanding my presence at the pub. I arrived at half 11 only to be fed sambucca. Ugh. The day was only going one way. In the end it was a pretty sweet day to be honest - it was kind of a steady drunk and we travelled to various bars and made sure we ate so nobody was entirely smashed. Sophisticated or what? By 2pm myself and 2 others had also randomly booked Thorpe Park tickets for the following day. This was and is hilarious, as none of us can remember how the hell we came about having the conversation or booking the tickets lol. I literally just bought 2 people tickets via the phone in this bar and that was it, we were leaving from mine at 8.30am and off we go (didn't leave at 8.30am obviously!).

I then went to the bar we used to work at and had apparently been barred lol, for not turning up to my last shift. I told them what I thought. They eventually let me in. Every manager was fine with me and said hi, no animosity at all. One power crazy twat just took exception to it, basically a personal grudge but whatever, he got over it.

So anyway, we then went out in brick lane and met some real cool people, although an entirely odd mix. An Irish guy, a guy from Brighton and some randomly silent girl from somewhere. It was odd cos they had just met themselves and it just led to an entirely unique conversation. I can't explain it, it just epitomised Brick lane and London I think.

Things took a turn for the worse cos I had actually woken up a tad ill, swollen glands and was feeling it a bit later, although they all assured me I was just a lightweight etc. I wasn't drunk or showing sings of being drunk so fuck you all. Nonetheless I woke up at 7am ready for Thorpe Park only to feel like absolute horse shit and not in a hungover sense. I postponed and we eventually left at 10.30am. It was worth it. Mid-week and pretty shit weather, we did everything multiple times. The new Saw ride is fucking awesome, Nemesis Inferno equally as good. Stealth - OMFG. And one other I forget the name of, began with C. Anyway, all round awesome day after getting lost. I came back feeling worse having been drenched by Tidal Wave however. Probably near death to be fair.

Friday was pretty lacklustre in comparison, filled with odd jobs and airport runs. The good thing to come out of that is I have a set of keys to a place in Bulgaria. Schweet. I could be heading out there the week after next and then through to Greece and Turkey, a friend is also keen on driving the Bulgaria - Greece - Turkey leg so that would be cool. Unconfirmed as is everything however. We'll see.

SO, COME ON ENGLAND. That's, unsurprisingly, what my day consists of today. More on that later, as well as my mammoth session tomorrow. 1pm onwards I reckon. Au revoir.

Blah

I've put in two decent sessions over the last couple of nights and seem to be average at a cool $120 loss each time over some 20 odd tournaments. Sigh.

I think I managed 1/2 cashes on Monday night and perhaps double that last night, including a nice run in the $33 on VC, only to bust in 16th. Sigh.
I can't complain too much however as I made some truly bad decisions in a couple as the night progressed. This was probably out of frustration, a willingness to go and do other things and just general tiredness. I also had a crazy hour and a half between about 7 and 8.30 when I had 16/17 tables on the go, something I couldn't handle. I'll have to kerb that but I was unable to start at the initial 3pm I intended, 6pm instead, so I just went crazy between 6 and 9pm. Its all trial and error however and eventually I will have perfected as good a schedule as is possible.

Speaking of trial and error, Ladbrokes has now been and gone also! I played the €5.50 rebuy and was registered for a few others before quickly un-registering. There aren't enough games for me so it ends up being a pain cos the laptop has to run another program along with all the add-ons that Ladbrokes seems to have and all for like 3/4 tournaments a night. The software isn't great either. So, I'm now running with the ethos - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The skins/networks I play on now are adequate, I'm used to them and there are a lot of positives to them. I'm probably unlikely to be able to put in a consistent amount of volume that warrants adding a fourth site anyway. That, and, the fact that the schedule across the three sites I do play in is more than enough for me, in the evenings. The problems lies with any daytime sessions as the euros are pitiful in the department but Ladbrokes offers nothing in a way of a solution to that.

Not entirely sure when I'm next going to be able to hit the felt but I'll certainly find the time for another 2/3 sessions this week. I'm meeting a friend in a pub at 11.30 this morning, as he will have finished his exams. This is clearly a horrible idea lol. Nonetheless it means I won't be playing today! Hopefully I can limit any, inevitable, hangover and put in a decent session during the day on Thursday. I don't hold much hope however!

GL.

Ready, Set....

I've sorted out my schedule now and planned my week sufficiently well to allow for some serious hours of poker.
I downloaded Ladbrokes and Betfair software but the latter quickly got disposed of soon after installation. I've had their representatives on the phone numerous times in the past twelve months telling me how great the software now is and how they are making improvements to it on a weekly basis. BULLSHIT! Its the same as it was some two years ago - horrific. The interface is awful, the guarantees are comical and it immediately seemed to slow my laptop down so our relationship clearly wouldn't have worked out.

Ladbrokes is a bit better, as I knew, the only downside is the lack of volume that I'd be able to put in on there, particularly as its a soft skin. Alas, it will have to do.
I'll just add Ladbrokes to my arsenal for now but may, at a later date, depending on various other factors, decide to put some money on another site.

I won't write out my entire schedule and all the fine details of it as its pretty pointless and will only bore you! Effectively, during the allocated hours of play I'll be registering to every $5.50-$33 MTT with a guarantee. This isn't entirely accurate as having any more than 12 tables going at a time becomes -EV for me imo. However there isn't enough options on the euros to make this entirely probable.

This week:

Today - I'll be starting at 5pm and commencing the usual evening session. I can't play on Ladbrokes until tomorrow as they have to approve the amount I wished to deposit, it wouldn't let that particular sum of money just go through. That means I'll only be on VC, Bwin and Stars tonight...

Tomorrow - The same again, plus Ladbrokes. I'll start a little earlier however - 3pm and finish registering at 9pm, due to things going on on Wednesday.

Wednesday - Been roped into meeting a few people at the pub at midday as they finish exams. Needless to say, I won't be playing. Online at least.

Thursday - Depending on my state I may put in an evening session. I fully anticipate being insanely hungover but as I'll be drinking from midday I also anticipate being in bed earlier lol and starting the hangover earlier! I'll remind myself to drinks tonnes of water!

Friday - I'll put in a daytime session this time as I'm busy on Friday night with airport runs. Will be interesting to see how that goes.

Saturday - That will be my day off, particularly as its the England game.

Sunday - I'll put in a mammoth session on Sunday, regging from like 2pm onwards, providing I don't go home and have to mess about driving back or via a train.


Hoping to play a solid 100 tournaments at least this week and hopefully earn some pennies! GL and can't wait to get back into it!

GO GO GO

As the title suggests, its now all systems go on the poker front and summer effectively starts tomorrow.
I've finished exams, attended many a mandatory celebratory party and completed various things that needed doing. I've also managed to secure work placements and with no holiday forthcoming I can take poker into account within my lifestyle. The only remaining anomaly is accommodation and whether I grind in London full-time or in the West Midlands, with my parents, part-time. That should start to click in to place once my exam results come in however. Hopefully all goes well and we can begin a cracking year on all fronts. Things are on the up and I'm chuffed!

Had a bit of a beat over the last few days as my girlfriend moved out due to commitments requiring her to be elsewhere as of next year - as well as a financial burden. I won't go into details. It shouldn't make too much of a difference as we effectively have two homes between us and are still half an hour apart. Its an odd feeling nonetheless.

Anyway, the positives. I effectively have "my pad" back and its pretty awesome, especially with the World Cup starting. I've re-organised things today and its effectively injected a new lease of life in me. I even dug out my massive England flag and put that out on the balcony so all those travelling on the A12 during rush hour can wake me up with the sound of their horns at 7am! It best be worth it - Stevie G lifting the cup a week before my 21st would be a peach and make my endeavours with the flag seem worth it!

So, I'm all sorted and raring to go. New, flash, "look at me" suit bought, flat spotless, work sorted, exams completed, parties ongoing. Life is sweet. I hope it continues.
One of my aims is to hit the gym intensively now. I followed up FAR too many take-aways over the exam period with some serious consecutive drinking sessions for 10 days after exams. I now feel pretty unhealthy! So not only do I want to get back to the gym to feel better but I also think it will help with the discipline during some mammoth grinding sessions.

I intend to ease myself into it this week with about 5 full-day sessions. That will either be regging from 5pm onwards or doing two split-sessions. I'm not going to entirely isolate myself and will go out if I am asked to in advance. I am also wary of a few mates finishing exams this week so anticipate some more drunken antics ensuing and that might jeopardise the schedule a tad this week. However, I am definitely in London until mid-July, if not beyond, and most people start working down here in about 7-14 days and when that happens I can be left to my job of grinding, in between work placements etc. Until then I'll be playing a flexible full-time schedule, if that makes any sense whatsoever!

I'll comment in more detail on the poker schedule tomorrow. I intend to sort out Ladbrokes and Betfair tomorrow and then devise several playable schedules which will enable me to adapt accordingly

For now, I'm back and raring to go!

Mammoth Session tl;dr

OK, I'm going to get a lot of my thoughts down, starting with a brief review of an epic session I put in last night.

I started playing at 3.30pm yesterday and eventually finished at 7am this morning. Although I was up for the night its not as exciting as it sounds! I played 39 tournaments and managed to profit about $530, with two 4th places on ipoker and bwin, for $350 and $300 respectively. Then at 7am, having been 1-tabling for a couple of hours I bust 11th in the Stars $5.50 2R1A for $150 ish. SIGH!

I also had the 3 SCOOP events, none of which went particularly well unfortunately. What became readily apparent is the stark difference in ability between the likes of the $22s and the $215s, or even just the $109. The $109 was the main event and on par with the $250k in terms of field size so you get your fair share of fish but as we got deeper and approached the bubble there were a lot of capable players on show and I don't think they become obvious until well ITM in the $250k. The $215 was something else altogether, with you effectively needing to 5-bet to see a flop lol. I exaggerate but yeh, I was definitely outplayed and out of my depth so I know not to bother with them again! It was an experience though and I managed to learn things. I felt comfortable in the $109 also but these are minute sample sizes to compare with anyway!
That said, I only managed the one $90.64 cash in the $22 1R1A so it meant a loss for the series - apologies to those that staked - next time!


I'm pretty happy with how the night went generally - earning money is a plus always, whatever the amount and the amount itself is respectable in this case. It's always frustrating to ft bubble, particularly as it was on Stars but that would be stupid to get downbeat about it! The main talking point comes from the session in its entirety however and the fact that I played for 15 hours. Its literally destroyed me! I mention it because of my plans to start playing full-time as of a few weeks. Although my schedule would be different and it was only late last night due to SCOOP, whether or not I could hack that night after night remains to be seen and whether I could hack it during any downswing remains to be seen! Can but try I guess...


On that note. My last exam is a week today so I won't be playing any more poker until that but I will be playing that night before going out the following night. It then gets a bit tricky as my girlfriend's mum is coming to stay with us for a few nights and I've then got a couple of trips etc planned. I hope to be able to put in the odd session but its going to be anything but consistent. I will then be free as of 09th June so intend to hammer it out then.
However, it gets even more complicated! I'm flatmate-less, so as of mid-June, unless any alternative is arranged, I'd have to pay the entire rent myself. This clearly isn't feasible for too long and not worth it so I'm not sure what to do and what I can do. Its all well and good sorting something temporary for the summer but it could all change as of September depending on whether I decide to go back into halls. It may be that I keep the flat until mid-July, grind full-time until then and then move home for the rest of the summer before moving into halls in September. The problems then however are that my internet at home is utterly useless and I wouldn't get the privacy anyway. The internet in halls also wouldn't be able to handle 12 tabling for 8 hours. Further, I made the mistake of being a tad anti-social during first year so I best not do it to the same extent!
A lot to think about on that front as well as arranging it around any holidays.


When I am able to start playing full-time again I shall be using Betfair and Ladbrokes as well, adding them to my toy chest! I'll put the money I withdraw back on via those sites, which brings the roll just shy of $10k. I'm not too sure about the Betfair software but they ring me on a monthly basis and are adamant that improvements are constantly being made, so I'll try. I'm also attracted by their satellites to live events - something that was in my list of goals for 2010!
I'll be sorting out a schedule next week so will look at it in more detail then but I think I'll be registering for everything within br from like 4pm-10pm every night and then putting in the odd afternoon/morning session where possible. I'll just have to chop and change it i.e. when there is a WC game I'll play during the morning/day. The need for flexibility is paramount I think and a benefit anyway.

We shall see!

Some not-so-fun times...

Well its been a while since my last post so I thought I'd provide an update, especially as there are a couple of things around the corner, on the poker front. Plus, I'm just bored!

I'm right in the thick of exams at the moment, having finished 2/5 as it stands, with two more next week before the fifth and final one in two weeks time. Its been ridiculously stressful, exhausting and downright anti-social! I just hope to god I have done enough to get what I need in the first two and remain focused to get some good results in the final 3. Anyway, I won't go into details of that, Liverpool failing to reach 4th (despite my prediction!), or the General Election. Instead, I'll keep it poker-based in the main!


So, I haven't played a tournament since my 4th place (I think) in a $5 turbo on Stars a month or so ago. I have messed around on cash tables with a couple of friends on the odd occasion but other than that I haven't manage to get near the felt! In all honesty, I haven't had that much desire to either. I've tried to be really committed with my exams and pull my head out the clouds, so much so that I just haven't even wanted to play. That's beginning to change now however. I was going to play tonight but I'm exhausted so intend to just get an early night for a change. I have also had 2/3 of my full credit exams this week (yeh ok I said I wouldn't ramble about it...). So, touch wood, and without sounding complacent, I have two of the half credit exams next week which don't require as much information across the subject area as a whole, just more specific knowledge on a particular topic within the subject, which I find slightly more manageable, again, furiously touching wood.

So, based on that and the fact I have an eleven day gap I will be playing a few SCOOP events next week. I was gutted to see it clash with the exams themselves so I'm happy to be able to play a few events next week and at least take a little part! Hopefully its 3 final tables in 3 nights.... ONE TIME!

If anybody reads this and would be interested in staking me then comment on the blog. I will set up a 2p2 thread at some point over the weekend. Firstly offering it to friends and fellow grinders I know.

Anyway, the schedule, with adjusted times (GMT):

* May 14th - 7pm: $22 1r1a NLHE ($250,000 GTD)

* May 16th - 6pm: $22 NLHE ($200,000 GTD)
* May 16th - 6pm: $215 NLHE ($750,000 GTD)

* May 16th - 2 day Main Event: $109 NLHE ($1M GTD)


Total Buy-In: $412

1% = $4.12

5% = $20.60

10% = $41.20

20% = $82.40

25% = $103


I will only play the $215 if I manage to sell at least 50% of my action but other than that, I will be playing regardless. I think I will sell 50% easily, for the record. The structures are insanely good and I just think it would be stupid to miss out on playing when I can just about afford the time.


I'll be playing a normal full schedule on those nights but they're the only SCOOP events I am able to play unfortunately. Beyond that I will then be taking a break again until exams finish in their entirety. When I start my full-time esq schedule is also debatable. There are multiple holiday ideas flying around at the moment (which again I will refrain from rambling on for multiple reasons) as well as my need/desire to obtain a vacation scheme-come-internship. Again, I should know more on this come the end of the month but I still have the same aim in so far as I want to play as much as possible in June and over the summer generally.

After the next round of exams next week I'll also post my thoughts on the schedule and resultant ideas I have for June, when I do get round to playing full-time. Until then, good luck all!

Hello again...

Its been quite a while since my last post I think and rightly so really. I haven't played any poker or done anything worthy of a mention. I'm trying to remain focused with revision, just for another 8 weeks or so before I can hopefully let go of all things uni-related for a few months. Although, I did manage to make it home for a week last week so it was good to get a change of scenery in that sense - although, the revision took precedent once again!


Anyway, I found myself itching to play again over the last few days and after an absolute diabolical train journey back to London on Saturday, whereby, briefly, someone committed suicide on the line and all services were terminated and stuck in random stations meaning it took me >5hours to do a 2.5 hour journey, I felt like playing on the Sunday evening. I got back pretty exhausted and frustrated on Saturday night so that might Sunday was a waste of time so I just booted up about 5 tables on Stars I think.

It felt good, that much is for sure! Although its only a couple of weeks or so since my last outing I'd been talking about it to various people so playing again was nice. I cashed in 2 but most notably, and like London buses, I got another Stars FT! This wasn't quite as nice as the first but nonetheless I managed to run like Usain Bolt in the $5.50 turbo and manage a 4th for $2k. That was really good and again a nice boost, as I now take a full amount of time out. My next session will be on the 24th May :(. To wrap up my poker endeavours: having withdrawn $1k the other week for a forthcoming trip, the roll is now at $8300. I intend to put $600 of that withdrawal back on however when I deposit on Betfair and Ladbrokes in preparation for going full-time. Until such time as any decent holiday or something materialises then I think I'll just keep the money on there, so that means a $9000 roll.

In other news, I have set up a thread on 2p2: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/92/travel/poker-house-london-uk-757764/
where I'm looking for a 2p2er and fellow grinder to take on a spare room in my flat for at least a month in the summer. More than anything I just don't want to pay all the rent as my current flatmate moves out. However, I also saw is at an opportunity to make June all about poker, in conjunction with my desire to play full-time. I think that should be good for my game and also a pretty cool period of my life.

I'm flying to Berlin later this evening with the girlfriend for a few days. Starting to regret booking it in some respects due to the ridiculous schedule and the adverse effects it will have on revision! Starting to worry a little bit despite doing what I think is quite a lot. Just have to continue plugging away I guess. Anyway, Berlin is to mark our 2 year anniversary and we've been away on similar sorts of occasions so it will be good. Its not somewhere that has massively interested me in all honesty but she's always wanted to go there and I managed to convince her that it was worth staying in a suite in this hotel and possible letting me play 1 tournament if it fits in with our plans - just want to play abroad! We'll see how it goes but I'll report back on Friday!

Finally, big congrats to Fenix35 who was back on the live circuit again recently. After deep runs in the Irish Open main event and side event he finally managed to get that elusive live final table in the UKIPT Coventry. Although losing those crucial flips still managed to haunt him and shipping the thing didn't come through! Next time..
Jon on the other hand isn't having so much luck, with the crucial flips being lost all over the place. I watched him on a couple of final tables last night and it was the same familiar story with AK < AQ being the highlight.
Its incredibly frustrating for him but also me, not only because the element of friction that is inevitably caused when results go for me and not him (when we both go at it together effectively) but also because its something we've always had a passion for so if we both had a string of results going then I'm pretty sure we would have some baller times and a cracking summer! Sincerely hope he manages to get some run good together this Easter and set us up for a sick summer! GL to you pal...

Anyway, I'll stfu, I always manage to create these stupidly long posts when I'm not blogging regularly! I'll summarise the trip to Berlin when I get back. Although its only 2 nights so how much there will be to mention is debatable! Have a good week and good luck!

AMAZING NIGHT!

This post will completely lack in coherence I imagine but I am writing it right off the back of a pretty surreal session.

For me, tonight really epitomises one thing - that persistence and volume really will reap rewards. I have played upwards of 50 tournaments this weekend, across three nights and although its nothing compared to a lot of baller grinders out there, its a substantial amount of volume for me and the schedule I play. Despite disastrous Friday and Saturday nights I was determined to sit back at the tables on Sunday and make it happen, when many may have passed it off and been downbeat. Indeed, I was so incredibly pumped at 4pm this afternoon, really looking forward to hitting the felt. It paid off and I truly believe I played some brilliant poker whilst also pulling off some sick sick run good!!!

I had multiple deep runs tonight, started at 4pm and I don't think I busted anything until about 7 so it was a bit crazy. I had 8 cashes and they were all pretty decent - with $70+ cashes in the 250k and the Daily $30k. I final table bubbled two tournaments on the euros, including Bwin's big $5 rebuy. However, that doesn't tell half the tale.

I managed a 2nd in the Ipoker $22, for a $900 score (damn 2nd :P) but more importantly and most notably I managed my first final table on Stars, which is pretty hilarious after my posts recently on Stars! Not only that but I also managed to ship it woooooop, sending me packing with a cool $2300 and some change, my biggest score to date!!! Sick life. Typically it was the $3.30 that I run good in but whatever, I won't complain!

In my haste to go and scream and run around for a few seconds I forgot to take any screen shots and the 2nd place on ipoker was whilst I was nearing the FT of the Stars tournament. I'll guess you'll have to trust me lol!

Literally an insane night with cashes just over $3500, taking the roll to just shy of $7000!!! Considering my target is $10,000 for the year, its looking good!

I literally have no idea what to do with myself now, I can't stop grinning and it feels so good cos I genuinely feel as if I deserved that and its a case of hard work paying off. Who knows. Also really happy to end on a high, as that will be my last big session until post-exams. I'll play a few tournaments as a break from revision now and again probably but nothing too big. Then its to the big month of June. Shame I can't continue now, maybe Stars has put me on a heater lol but I really have to knuckle down for a couple of months.

Anyway, that's the wrap I reckon, nothing to add. GL all

4th Place and the Champions League

Purely because I'm immensely bored and find myself sitting in the library at half past 5 on a Saturday evening railing my weekend accumulator, I want to talk football!

This season has been pretty immense and as it draws to its close, wherever you look in the table you can see fierce battles being fought. I'm just posting what I think will happen, sort of a little bet with myself I guess (or any potential readers), which will make it that much more interesting if it needs to be!

Firstly, I think the relegation battle will stay as it is, position-wise. Portsmouth was a massive game for Hull today and coming away with nothing massively dents their survival hopes imo. I full expect, Burnley and Portsmouth to go down and after the manner of defeat at Fratton Park, I think its very likely that Hull will now join them.

Turning to the title, well, its pretty open and pretty daunting to try and pick anyone! On the one hand Arsenal have an easy run-in but they are the world's best at crumbling under pressure and how many of their youngsters could have one eye on a massive quarter-final tie with Barcelona? I think they are too inexperienced and need to put all their eggs in one basket, as Chelsea have been forced to do. Utd are born and bred competitors and when you have Rooney leading the line, who would bet against them? They have a candid ability to grind out the results need right at the death to win the title - as we saw last year. That said, I favour Chelsea. A month ago I was saying Utd but the impact of the Champs League exit, I think, can be positive for Chelsea. They have vast amounts of experience all over the team, great leaders and a great ability. Drogba seems to have tailed off of late and maybe they are tiring a little as they don't seem to have the quality in depth any more. However, Ancelloti is a pedigree in himself and with the inner tussles, management-wise, to add to that, I don't believe he will let his side throw the opportunity before them away. A lot of course will be decided in the Utd v Chelsea game but I'll pip Chelsea to take it, marginally. It will go to the wire however.

Now, to the much-coveted fourth spot and that final Champions League qualification spot. As has become apparent from previous posts, I'm a Liverpool fan so there may be an element of bias but I have legitimately tried to keep it to a minimum or eradicate it entirely! For this call I've analysed the fixtures of the remaining teams, which I will post below in a minute. Firstly, Villa will have taken a knock to their confidence today and I don't think they are mature enough, despite being guided by the capable Martin O'Neill, to come back from that. Again, the Carling Cup final loss will have hurt and I think a lot of them will be looking to rectify that in the FA cup - for the youngsters and a relatively "average" team, a trophy and a final appearance will mean more. Lets be honest, Villa in the Champs League - I don't think so. Tottenham are in pole position and under Redknapp anything can happen; its just a question of whether they can keep their nerve and get something from some big big games they have in the run-in. City are such an odd team, on their day they're great, as we saw against Chelsea but again, I don't think they have many leaders (even in a managerial role) who can stand up and be counted, take the bull by the horns and just go out there. Given, Tevez and Bellamy have real character but I don't see anyone in the midfield or defence who is just going to ring the team by its neck in the final few games and they are the areas that arguably need such character. Liverpool, again, a team of two halves and a season of many proportions. I have zero faith in Rafa's ability and have had that opinion for a long time; even before we came close to the title last year. However, as Lucas alluded to against Lille - Gerrard has that leadership quality and others in the team relish that and improve as a result. We arguably have the easiest run-in, looking at the games as a whole and we are on the back of a decent run, also buoyed, perhaps, by a quarter-final. However, this happened a few weeks back and it came to a crashing halt so its whether or not they can maintain it. Internally I think there is a massive amount of pressure on the lads' shoulders also, the importance of fourth spot is far greater to Liverpool then any others in the race imo. Whether the likes of Insua, Maxi, Babel and Lucas can cope with that remains to be seen. Anyway the fixtures:

Villa:

Home games - Sunderland, Everton, Birmingham and Blackburn
Away - Chelsea, Bolton, Portsmouth, Hull, Man City

I anticipate them getting 15 points from a potential 27, leaving them on a total of 65 points. They will drop points against City and Chelsea whilst drawing with Bolton, Blackburn and Everton. They are unbeaten in 2010 but have drawn 6/10, they struggle to break down stubborn teams and they are too focused on an FA cup. Like last year, they will fade and today didn't help that.

City:

Home - Wigan, B'ham, Utd, Villa, Spurs
Away - Fulham, Everton, Burnley, Arsenal, West Ham

They will get 18 points from a potential 30. I don't believe they will get anything from the Arsenal or Utd games, they have far greater achievements to be playing for. I also think they will draw their next two games, away against Fulham (buoyed after the Juve win) and Everton, who are ending the season in great form and not fighting on any other front. They may well share the points with Tottenham also and indeed, that game could prove to be pivotal.

Tottenham:

Home - Portsmouth, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bolton
Away - Sunderland, Utd, Man City, Burnley

I think they will take 13 points from a possible 24. Again, I think they have the hardest run-in and I just don't see how they will get anything from the Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea games. The City game could prove pivotal to them, as all the others are straight-forward, or should be.

Liverpool:

Home - Sunderland, Fulham, West Ham, Chelsea
Away - Utd, B'ham, Burnley, Hull

I think they will get 18 points from a possible 24. As we have seen with Liverpool over the last couple of seasons, they have an exceptional ability to cock up. That run-in, bar the two obvious games, should be producing maximum points and that could luckily propel us to fourth but who knows? I'm being conservative and going with my thinking with the other three contenders - that being, we will drop maximum points against Utd away and Chelsea at home. Based on my analysis I think that is probably likely. I wouldn't be surprised however if we nick something from both games but I wouldn't bet on it. We seem pumped for the Utd games recently but after playing on Monday and Thursday - where we did look tired, I just can't see coming away from Old Trafford with anything. Chelsea at home is probably our best bet there but again, they will really want the title.

Based on that I think it will finish like this:

4th - Liverpool, 69 points
5th - Tottenham, 68 points and a superior goal difference to:
6th - City, 68 points
7th - Villa, 67 points


As I say, this was done out of pure boredom but if anyone fancies a flutter I would be happy to oblige! This should make it an even more entertaining final 8/9 games also! Epic if I am bang on.......

Anyway, finish off this last bit of work, then home to get on ze grind!

Ooops!

Summary of the post above!
Decided to post on it now, at 4am, to get my thoughts etc out my head before the morning!

Put in a pretty hefty session tonight, playing a total of 26 tournaments, included a couple of $33s, resulting in a total buy-in of about $360. This is a little more than I would have liked to put on the line perhaps but I wanted to concentrate on the volume and with the average buy-in being at a comfortable $14 it was fine!

Anyway, despite some exceptionally deep runs, AGAIN, on Stars (including a 20th) and a final table (10th)on Bwin I couldn't manage to recoup or earn on that buy-in, resulting in a resounding $160 loss for the night. It was a fun evening however - railing Jon and vice versa, we also managed to talk a fair amount on hands and it was generally quite a productive evening in the sense that I feel I took a lot from it. That said, I'm in the game to earn money effectively and when that doesn't happen the successes are rather mundane!

What's more annoying is this is my last weekend of poker before a self-imposed ban in the build up to exams. I may play the odd tournament here and there as a break but I won't be putting in any significant sessions to speak of. On that basis I hope to be able to put in a session tomorrow but if not, certainly Sunday. I really want to end on a high so it doesn't consume my thoughts thereafter so I'm determined to make use of the next couple of nights. Alternatively, I have a big accumulator on the football this weekend so let me run good with that one time and ship ze monies! Must be due a win!

At some point over the next few weeks I'll post on my plans for after exams, with regard to poker. As I said before, my aim is to play full-time in June and see where I can go with it but I'm seriously frustrated with Stars and my current schedule in that respect. I'm only interested in playing schedules but I'm sick of having uber deep runs and earning peanuts in comparison to the effort put in or the result achieved. At the moment I sort of feel like slogging it out to get that illusive final table before leaving the site - as if I am owed it. I sure as hell have played a lot on there and time after time I lose the crucial flips when deep. On a side note...I ran into AA 5 times tonight when making those standard shoves when deep. Four of which woke up in the BB. Pretty hilarious.

Anyway, with a view to maintaining at least a reasonable lifestyle, whilst also reducing variance, I may well scrap Stars from my schedule. This will result in a decrease on volume on the night so I'll just have to make sure the frequency of sessions is increased. More of that later though..

I'll post again at the end of the weekend, hopefully with some positive news! GL

Here's to Monday then....

It didn't really go according to plan needless to say!

Despite having numerous deep runs with 6 finishes in the top 40 of tournaments, I still only managed $240 worth of cashes, resulting in a $130 loss for the evening! Not exactly what I was hoping for but it was fun nonetheless!!
I stuck to the schedule and also sold 15% worth of shares to Jon, which I fortunately managed to recoup the majority of for him lol! This might be something I look to do a little more of in the future but only if I increase the buy-ins a little. It was pretty pointless tonight really cos nothing was out of my comfort zone, every tournament was more or less comfortably within my roll. We'll see how that pans out!


Anyway, not really got anything else to add on tonight specifically. There are a few hands I will go over at some point this week and have got a few up on 2p2 but otherwise it was just standard. Deep runs in Stars to no avail might I add! Bastards!

I don't think I'll be able to play again this coming week, really need to get a lot of work done having slacked off towards the end of this week. I'll try and put in a smaller session at some point but will have to see how it goes.

Roll stands at just over $4.5k and I'll have to do my personal finances this week to see if a withdrawal has to be made. May end up forcing myself to be extremely tight with money and not go out much instead, would sooner not withdraw!

GL, have a good week!

Its Sundayyyyy!

Having not played in a couple of weeks I'm looking forward to having a tasty session tonight and hopefully shipping ze monies...

I've had a really busy couple of weeks with uni work and assignments, as well as playing host to a couple of people who have been staying with us in the flat for 5 days or so. Its been good fun but I've also spent a lot of money so hopefully I can make some money tonight as a withdrawal could be inbound :(

Here is the full schedule for tonight below. I have looked at it in a fair amount of detail and think that it could be manageable in terms of the number of tables etc.

STARS:

(N.B. Sticking to lower buy-ins in the main, as was discussed in a previous post).

1700: $5.50, $20,000 GTD
1700: $22, $5,000 GTD
1800: $11, Daily $30k
1900: $5.50 Turbo, $12,000 GTD
1915: $11, $15,000 GTD
2000: $11, Sunday $250k
2000: $8.80, $5,000 GTD


IPOKER:

1700: $11, $4,000 GTD
1745: $22, $3,000 GTD
1820: $5.50, $2,500 GTD
1845: $22, $4,000 GTD
2010: $5.50, $6,000 GTD
2140: $5.50, $3,000 GTD
2215: $22, $5,000 GTD
2235: $5.50, $2,000 GTD


ONGAME:


1715: $5.50, $3,500 GTD
1820: $11, $2,000 GTD
2015: $22, $9,000 GTD
2030: $11, $5,000 GTD
2100: $5.50, $8,000 GTD
2230: $5.50, $5,000 GTD


BOSS:


1830: €6.60, €1,500 GTD, Deepstack Turbo
1930: €22, €3,500 GTD, Deepstack
2035: €11, €3,500 GTD
2100: €27.50, €4,000 GTD
2145: €5.50, €1,500 GTD, Deepstack Turbo


26 tournaments lined up with the total buy-in at $339.77. Lets hope Sunday lives up to the hype!

On a final note, I'm on the prow at the moment looking to stake a couple of people. I was pretty annoyed to see I missed out on F3nix35 (see blog on right) but haven't been on the internet in days and sods law the action, unsurprisingly, had been snapped up by the time I saw it! Hopefully someone else can come up trumps :P

GL GL

Review Post!

Well I decided to do the review post now so I get it out the way and can have a poker free day tomorrow, without it consuming my mind!!

Firstly, I'll deal with some thoughts on the week:

- I felt I brought my A game to every single session and certainly grew with confidence as the week went by. I am now entirely comfortable with my game, I feel pre-flop I have learnt a substantially, just by the sheer volume of hands and I now feel capable of making the optimum decision time after time. On the post flop front, there is always room for improvement and I think every poker player in the world always has the potential to learn. However, again, I seem to be developing new levels and dimensions of thinking and my bet sizing has developed to the point where I automatically plan a hand, without thinking "oh shit, let's plan", it just sort of fits e.g. bet sizing in accordance with finding a shove on the river etc etc or read based plays

- I certainly want to play more live poker as I feel I can pick up more reads even online so transferring that ability to live may well give me the potential to take down some live scores!

- On the Stars front I have reached a decision I think. I believe I am +EV in the tournaments I enter, thus, on a purely mathematical front it would be stupid to surpass that opportunity. Further, despite the fields entailing high variance it also means any final table is pretty damn lucrative and certainly to what is still a relatively small roll. That said, despite my average buy-in being kept down (too the point where I was a bit of a BR nit), it may not be wise to enter such a "high" buy-in tournament on Stars. I think, instead, what I'll do is stick to the $5.50s and $11's on Stars, allowing me to incorporate some of the $33s into my game on the Euro sites, as well as reducing the impact of variance from Stars on the roll.

- Generally I am pretty pleased with the amount of volume and effort I put in. I could have perhaps played a few more tournaments in all honesty but I had a friend with me on a couple of occasions so I didn't want to get to engrossed in the games and seem unsociable (we still maintained a conversation at the time of grinding lol). Nonetheless, its about enjoyment as much as results so that was fine with me.


Right, onto the eagerly anticipated figures for the week:

- Tournaments played = 97

- Total Buy-In = $1191.45

- Average Buy-In = $13

- Total Cashes = $2242.45

- Net Profit = $1051

- Cash % = 19.6%

- ROI % = 88.2%


Obviously that is a rather encouraging and satisfying set of figures. I am extremely pleased with the way the week has gone and it probably couldn't have gone better (I won't be too greedy and whine about the odd example!).

As I said in a new year post, if I was to set a financial target for 2010 it would be to achieve a $10,000 roll by the year end. Given its the 01st March on Monday and thus less than one third of the way into the year, I am doing well. However, I don't feel I have hit the inevitable downswing or any long period of running bad so inevitably there will be fluctuations. That said, the volume will severely reduce from this point forward, until June. I have arguably the most important three months of my life coming up and I really need to regain focus on what, essentially, really matters. There won't be any weeks like that unfortunately but I'm hoping to be able to lead a balanced life so I can at least put in a few sessions when time permits in March. As of 01st April I will be self-banned until exams finish at the end of May. My intention is then to play full-time for the entirety of June, as there will be no financial pressure to get a job.

Something that has been playing on my mind is the option of withdrawing some and enjoying the reward for my efforts. There is nothing material that attracts me right now, I would much rather invest the money in doing something with my girlfriend or going away with mates, but when it comes to the latter I seem to spend more of my life talking about doing than actually doing it! Either way, I won't make any rash decisions on it and hopefully let the roll grow to the point where taking a substantial amount out won't hurt so much. Come the summer I'll look at it.

Anyway, I have rambled enough but it will be the last post in a while so make the most of it!

Just finally, I did make a small withdrawal today to pay for a forthcoming trip to Europe with the Mrs for our anniversary. I paid for the plane tickets so thought I may as well let poker reimburse me for that!!

As a result, the roll now stands at $4986.77 and I look forward to hitting the tables again soon! For a now, I'm drained!

GL in the Sunday Majors all, run goot one time!

Session #6 of 6

Well I guess the fact that I am posting at 10.50pm says enough really...

It was a shame to end badly but nonetheless, its been a pretty good week so I can't complain.

Tonight was a case of "what if", I went pretty damn deep in 4 tournaments, busting between 20-28th in all of them. I bubbled 3 and when I say bubbled I mean being 1-4 places outside of the money, in each. Pretty hurtful lol!

It was purely a case of running bad but I won't go into the ins and outs of it, I've obviously run good before now so whatever, to the next session!!

I did manage a couple of cashes but nothing significant and it merely reduced a loss for the night!

I'll do a review post for the week tomorrow, I need to look back over the figures and then reflect both in terms of those figures and how I thought I played over the course of the week.

Session #5

Well tonight was a pretty crappy night and a waste of time really.

At about 10pm I thought I was heading to bed but ended up final tabling the €3.30 on DTD for 3rd. However, that's obviously not as great as it sounds - cashing for €140 ish. That only ensured, along with a cash in the Daily $30k on Stars, a profit of $25 for the night lol.


One tabling and participating in the dullest, softest tournament in the history of poker didn't exactly excite me much. Would have been nice to bink it for €300 but 77 ran into JJ and the rest, as they say, is history.

Some might be thinking "why play the €3.30?". After that I question my logic also but fundamentally its cos there are so few options on DTD/BOSS. They are more of a time filler really, still, nice to win on DTD - it had been a while!

I'm going to have to start an earlier session or not play at all tomorrow, unfortunately. I've had a very unproductive week in certain aspects of life, spending the majority of time applying for summer internships and post-grad jobs, as opposed to actually doing the work to enable me to graduate. So, its an early rise tomorrow and Sunday!

Definitely going to try and get in a session tomorrow though but if not, I'll just do my review post and that will be it for a bit.

GL all!

Session #4

Well the week gets better and tonight was certainly a substantial improvement on last night!

I played the same session as last night, minus the $3r on Stars, I couldn't be putting up with the variance!
I had a few small cashes, including deep runs in the $5r on OnGame, as well as the big $5.50 on Ipoker, making the final 30 before AK < JJ, exactly the same hand that damaged my 50bb stack a few orbits earlier! GG!

Most notably however...I managed to ship the $22 on Ipoker for a cool $850! WOOP!
Although results speak volumes, I have been slightly frustrated by the few minor final tables finishes of late as I felt I've played well and put in a lot of volume.

Anyway, not really much else to post on. I'm certainly feeling really comfortable with my game at the moment and am confident whenever I boot up a tournament (minus Stars of course :P)!
I've still got another couple of sessions left this week, so hopefully I can continue the success story. Until the week end, I won't bother with a full round up of figures but needless to say, I have breached the $5k mark.

GL all


Edit: If only my I.T. skills were half as good as my perceived poker ability

Session #3

FFS Stars, one time.

That is pretty much the crux of the following post!

I played 16 tonight, mediocre session I guess (in terms of volume) but nothing went for me. My only cash was in an $11 on Stars, coming 60 something in one of their huge fish nets, only for a measly $40, reducing the loss for the night to $150!
I consistently go deep in Stars tournaments but the big money always evades me and its really starting to frustrate me.

I had a big debate with myself in previous posts, questioning the logic behind playing on Stars and the same debate will begin to occur again. The variance in the huge fields is just disgusting and I don't believe I do too much wrong or make consistent mistakes when deep, especially these days. Namely, in my opinion, its down to losing those flips when they matter. Might get the run good initially but effort > reward in these tournaments.
On the other hand every other site is proving successful for me. Not only will it be down to less variance/tournament but its probably also to do with the quality of the fields - we all know OnGame and Ipoker networks, for example, can be absolute horror shows in terms of the quality and ability of players.

I'll have a think about it I guess, as like anything there are pros and cons for both options. I'll probably be bust on Stars after the next session so maybe that will be the time to review the setup.

Anyway, off to catch up on some sleep, guess that's the only advantage of it being an early finish! Three more sessions to go this week and then I'll look forward to doing a review post and outlining thoughts on the future!

Session #2

Last night was a bit of an odd one and something that immediately made me think of a statement Jon and Fenix35 (see right) have come out with before... You may think a session is going terribly and then somehow you find yourself deep or on a final table, those are the interesting sessions and you end up getting pumped cos its gone so bad before BOOM, you're in the big money, when you don't anticipate t.

Last night was a bit like that. I started at 7pm and at midnight I hadn't cashed, didn't look like cashing and was beginning to get frustrated. I was just losing every flip/race/all in imaginable...KK
Anyway, determination and volume are key for this week so I stuck at it. At about 10 I registered for a whole more, anticipating things weren't going to plan and also perhaps a little nocturnal from last night! Eventually it paid off. I played 21 (I think) and cashed twice. Fortunately those two cashes were both final tables.

I came 2nd in the $11 on OnGame for $750 (2nd again, ugh!) and managed a 10th in the $11 on ipoker for $100 and some change. Pretty annoyed about the ipoker one really...I sort of limped on to it in all honesty, couldn't get anything going and was one of the short stacks for a while. I was happy with my propensity to shove however but A2 couldn't improve against the flopped J of J9 to send me packing! GG :p

The OnGame final table was going much the same way but I ran good in a particular hand to propel me to the chip lead... Villain shoves A8o with 21bbs, I snap with AKo with about 17bbs and then the bb and chip leader comes along for the ride with A4o. AK held and I'm looking good!

I was slightly disappointed to come 2nd initially, obviously there's a substantial difference between shipping it and coming 2nd! The only thing I remember right now is losing a huge race when heads up ftw. I had gone in with a 2:1 lead and was generally grinding him down. I have KJo on the BTN, standard raise, he 3 bets which he hadn't been doing an awful lot. I elect to call, feeling I have the ability to outplay him post and KJ has the potential to play well in position. Flop comes down J high with 2 clubs. He open shoved, which to me only meant he was flushing and just wanted to get it in. I call and he flips A8cc, turn club. FML. After that I was up against it a little and somewhat card dead, settling for 2nd.

As I say it was slightly annoying but again, I have to put it in perspective. Its the best part of a 20% increase on roll and the two 2nds I have had now amount to $2500. Last night was a $640 profit night so the roll is now at $4600 ish.
I'm really enjoying poker right now, results aside.

I'll put in another session tonight as promised, although it will only be a short one as the deep runs on both nights have meant I've not done as much as I would have liked during the days. I'll play about 12 tonight and probably start a little earlier.

GL all.

Session #1 of an intense week

Well as the title suggests, tonight saw the first session of a pretty volume intensive week.

It didn't quite go as the script would have dictated but this was for a number of reasons in all honesty.
Having spent the weekend moving house I was absolutely exhausted and have entirely destroyed my knee one way or another, having aggravated it in football a couple of weeks ago, playing again last week and then lifting heavy furniture has hindered the healing process! I refused to sit in A&E on the weekend but I think I may have to tomorrow/this week.
I wasn't going to let a bit of tiredness stop me though and I remain committed to putting in a ton of volume this week.

Anyway, as I said it didn't go too well for a variety of reasons. Namely, I had a friend round grinding with me and with the results orientated soul he is, was quite keen for me to sit and watch/guide him, having seen the results I've been achieving of late. This was enjoyable to be honest and we had some good discussions on hands but my concentration wasn't exactly at 100%, with music playing and banter flowing.

When I realised I was nearing the ft of the €3r on Boss, my attitude changed and I began to take note a little! (Prior to this point I had one measly min cash so my heart wasn't in it). Anyway, eventually I ft'd it and busted 8th for a lousy $100 cash.

I also participated in the 2p2 SL game, which was a laugh, the banter made it worth the $11 and it might be a good way to get involved/known in the community a little more.
Anyway, despite the final table, tonight saw me drop a cool $60/70 so hopefully I can make that up this week. In all honesty I was running particularly horribly until the last couple of tables in the Boss tournament, but, alas, the heater/run good can't be maintained forever! As long as I stick to the $60/70 losses I can JUST about live with it for now! Haha.

So, roll stands at $4020...lets hope I breach the $5k mark come Saturday. GL all.

Ship It!

I put in a mini session last night, out of boredom more than anything and fortunately it paid off!

Played 7 and won the $22 Deepstack on Bwin. Unfortunately, its not as lucrative as it sounds... Not only was it the worst tournament I have ever played - the structure was too deep, the standard was the worst I have experienced and the software was being painfully slow but it was also only a small tournament. $450 for my troubles.

Its a nice little boost given my intention to stop playing as of mid-March, for the purposes of concentrating on exams and hopefully I can continue this.

I'll put in another mini session on Thursday night but otherwise that will be it until next week, which will hopefully prove to be the "big one" and consist of many heaters of many sites - take heed Stars, please!

GL all

Update

Thought I'd update on a really good, yet exhausting, weekend and the couple of sessions I've put in since the last post.

Went up to Nottingham for Jon's 21st on Friday, which was a truly eventful and awesome day/night. Won't go in to the ins and outs of it but it was awesome to see everyone (first time since NYE) and it was a pretty wicked celebration. Certainly looking forward to Jack's 21st next weekend, when we shall all congregate on and cause havoc in Manchester!

Aside from that I haven't done a great deal, trying to get on top of the workload whilst also enjoying life and earning some money! Apparently, the three don't tend to mix that well..

Anyway, on the poker front. I sensed a bit of "run bad" and a "downswong" entering the proceedings in mid-week.. Played 12, cashed in 0.
Equally, dropping £12 on the lottery, £10 on roulette and burning money generally didn't fill me with confidence.
Nonetheless, Valentine's or no Valentine's, run bad or run good, I had to participate in Stars' 40th billion milestone tournament tonight, dubbed the micro mill..
Initially I intended to have a small session but naturally it turned into a reasonably sized one after getting bored with few tables...

The micro mill went horrifically as did most things in all honesty. My main concern was keeping my average buy-in down as the milestone tournament fee was $40, something I'm massively under-rolled for. In the end the total buy-in was $180, across 14 tournaments with the average buy-in down at $13, which is comfortably within my affordability..

Anyway, I cashed in 3 (a crappy 54c profit in a $5 lol, a $43.96 in the $22 6 max on Bwin but most notably a $143 cash after an uber deep run in the $250k on Stars...210th (I think) out of 31000 was pretty respectable...
You can't help but feel aggravated after sitting there for this long only to break-even. That said, it would be naive to think of it that way, despite only breaking-even over the course of the night, in respect of that particular tournament, I should be really pleased, especially after bitching and whining at Jon for the majority of the night at how bad it was going... for both of us!

Most notably, I gave a lot of thought to certain hands when down to 1 table and attempted to get in the habit of analysing hands I'm not involved in and assigning ranges etc. I hope to spend a lot of time on 2p2 this week looking over a few hands etc...

On the playing front, I won't be able to put in a session before Thursday but I hope to then depending on what time the footy is and how I feel after. Otherwise, its my reading week the week after, when I intend to play every night.

Roll has dipped after a couple of bad sessions but nonetheless stands at about $3700.
Hopefully reading week can be a productive week in every sense!

GL all