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!