December 2010 Review

Bye Bye 2010.

December has been a relaxing month with minimal poker play.

The month commenced with a 2 day trip to Paris. On my return I became sick for about 2 weeks which pretty much set this month up as a low volume episode.

I played exclusively at NL100 with the only variations being Euro tables mixed in with Pot Limit and No Limit. My play was pretty bad and I estimate this months spew at around $300.

I ran the volume pool on 2+2 this month even though i decided not to participate. Its good to be involved in the poker community away from the tables and to make a contribution. I may run the pool again on another occasion if the guys thought i did a good job.

I managed to cash again in the Turbo Takedown and also received a nice repeat cash bonus


The final numbers for December are as follows:

26,000 Hands Played
6,588 VPPs

-$14 (Cash Game Losses)
+$33 (Tourney Winnings)
+$100 (TT Repeat Cash Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$119 (Total Month)


The Full Year numbers as at the end of December are as follows:

206,606 VPPs

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
+$1,208 - Aug
+$1,198 - Sept
+$1,974 - Oct
+$4,442 - Nov
+$119 - Dec
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$19,477 (Total YTD)

* indicates winnings attained as a part-time player


One of my targets for this month was to play a full day as I would need to for the SNE chase. I did not manage to do that due to being ill and laziness.
I did however trial 3hr sessions, which will be the maximum chunk that i will do in any given session. I plan to do 3x 2.5-3hr sessions per day with breaks in between from Jan 1st. I have to say that they were quite comfortable and manageable. Each session I trialed was playing 24 tables. I played 26 in one session.

Its been very interesting to see the guys finishing up their SNE chases on the forums. Some of the graphs that I have seen on PTR have been scary to say the least. I have seen 2 players with $35k downswings at NL100/ NL200 over 2-3 months as they desperately go after VPPs.

I am really looking forward to going for SNE next year and wonder what will happen in Jan/ Feb as this will dictate whether I really go for it from 1st March or whether I re-evaluate my goals

The summary of the year was as follows: began the year on a heater from Dec 2009. This continued into Jan where I had my best month ever, bagging just under $6k. I played on FTP as well as Stars in Dec 09/ Jan 10.

My run good continued into Feb. In March I went on a 2wk holiday and the month was pretty relaxed. I picked up the volume in Apr and also decided to play for a living. I resigned from my job and was allowed to leave at the end of May while still being paid till the end of July. This gave me the opportunity of dual incomes for 2 months.

The worst possible thing happened in June when I went on a mega bad beat downswing having my 1st losing month in well over a year. This continued into the following month and I decided to take it easy last 2wks of July before I dropped down to NL50 to work on my game. I improved and made money in Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov.

I made close to $20k in the year which is not bad but also not good enough for 2011. The minimum I need to make me Happy next year would be $60,000.
Now all that's left this year is a nice NYE celebration
Happy New Yr to All....!!

Playing Your A-Game

Merry Xmas to All

It's always my aim to be playing my A-Game when I hit the tables at Pokerstars as is the same I'm sure for u guys. Often it doesn't happen for whatever reason.

Here is a chart from Baz Clark (bazclark.com) depicting factors that influence whether u will play well or not:

10 Inches of SNOW................

Its the perfect weather for staying in and Grinding Online Poker..!!

It hit a chilling -4 Degrees °C in my part of London yesterday with -6 forecast for tonight. It rarely reaches these kind of temperatures in London so time to wrap up warm. Today we have 25cm or 10 inches of snow, so plenty of ammunition for some hefty snow balls

Glad I don't live in Siberia though. This would probably be considered a nice warm day. The coldest town on earth is in Siberia and has recorded a temp of -71.2 °C as its lowest ever!

The lowest temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184 K) at the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica July 21, 1983

With all this coldness going on, here are a few photos of London under snow:

Enjoy...!!

December Mid Month Review

This may well be one of the shortest blog posts that I have made ever. To sum up December so far:

-Went to Paris for 2 Days
-Got ill in the sub-zero weather
-Still ill
-Played virtually no Poker
-Decided that December will be a Chillax Month before I commence my SNE Chase

I am fully back at NL100 now although all my sessions have been 10Tabling and not 24. I have one goal for the rest of the month now, that is too trial a few days as will be the norm next year.... i.e I will 24Table NL100 for 8hrs and see how i find it. I have already done this a few times at NL50 in Nov, so won't be much of a shocker in terms of volume. It will however be interesting to see what I win/ lose in each session and over the course of a day


The numbers for December so far are as follows:

6,000 Hands Played
1,500 VPPs

-$189 (Cash Game Losses)
-$82 (Tourney Losses)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-$271 (Total Month)

Paris Trip and Aftermath

On December 1st my girlfriend and I went to Paris for 2 days and 1 night via the Eurostar High Speed Train. This was the first time I had visited Paris and also France, so I was pretty excited.

Unfortunately it was also bang in the middle of the Big Freeze. A town in the UK had hit -20c during the week and Paris was also sub-zero. I hate the cold.!!

I wrapped up warm and we managed to see many sites including:

1. Eiffel Tower

2. Arc de Triomphe

3. Champs Elysees

4. Place de la Concorde

5. The Big Wheel

6. Moulin Rouge

7. Lovure Art Gallery

8. Notre Dame

plus more....

As u can see from the pic I managed to touch the top of la tour Eiffel.

All our site seeing was in -2c of cold and constant light snow. The weather also played havoc with our Eurostar Train which took 8hrs instead of 2.5hrs to get us back to London... Raaarrrr. They have offered us a free return ticket and refunds of taxi fares as compensation. All in all a memorable trip though. Have to go again during a summer break.

Since I got back I immediately came down with the man flu and have been unable play any serious volume on the felt. Only today I am starting to feel better but still only 85%. Hopefully tomorrow I should be close to 100%.

I have now moved back up to NL100 and just trolling the lobby shows a completely different picture to NL50.... less fish, less average players, more above average players, more solid pros and more 'Red Ringed' Elite pros.... All in all a tougher playing field.

I have played terrible too and am so far down around -$350 in less than 5000 hands. Hope I can turn that around before Mid Month. I did say that I would have an easy month before I start an SNE chase in Jan. So this month i will just target a $1,500 bonus + Break Even on the tables.

There is a lot of talk about legislation soon to hit the U.S that will affect poker, maybe within the month. This could completely change my goals for next year. Will just have to wait n see.

November 2010 Review

Month 11 complete and as usual its seems to be over in a flash. When I was a kid someone once told me that the older you get the faster time seems to elapse.... tru dat...

I will be having today off from the felt to relax and to pack as I am of to Paris tomorrow for a 2 Day Break. It will be my first visit and hopefully not covered in snow as is in the UK

At mid month I was up just under $500 in table winnings. That was soon boosted and i went on a mini heater for the next week and peaked at just below $2k winnings. The doomswitch was then activated, followed by the spew button and I went on to lose about half my winnings over the course of the month.

A few months back I talked about certain books I was reading to improve my game. I am still ploughing through these and that will be a large part of December's target to complete them.

I was one of the first to complete the volume pool on 2+2. I could have entered a higher pool as my results below will show but as it was my first time I was being somewhat cautious particularly because of an Internet downtime incident in the month. The final results are yet to be determined but there is already 1 confirmed fail in my group, so I will get at least $25.

My HEM graph shows that I have won this month at above AIEV but on the tables I feel around even. I suppose you remember the bad beats more than the suck outs. This months spew estimate is around $500.

I managed to get 653rd out of 18394 runners in the Turbo Takedown Tourney for a $200 cash. I like this tournament and play every month. Hopefully I can get the repeat cash bonus next month. I was also sat with a team pro for the first time ever in a Tourney. I will try and get the Bounty next month if it happens again.


The final numbers for November are as follows:

140,000 Hands Played
22,000 VPPs

+$844 (Cash Game Winnings)
+$145 (Tourney Winnings)
+$53 (Volume Pool Winnings)
+$3,400 (200k VPP Milestone Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$4,442 (Total Month)


The YTD numbers as at the end of November are as follows:

200,018 VPPs

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
+$1,208 - Aug
+$1,198 - Sept
+$1,974 - Oct
+$4,442 - Nov
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$19,358 (Total YTD)

* indicates winnings attained as a part-time player

December will be pretty relaxed before I commence my SNE challenge for 2011. I will be moving back to NL100 and maybe throw in a few NL200 tables too. I will also as usual work on developing my game further

Away from the tables I was lucky enough to go on a memorable trip. I have been a big Liverpool FC fan for over 25yrs but never had the chance to visit the club's home ground. 5 of us went down there this month and saw an excellent match vs West Ham United with Liverpool Destroying them 3-0. Here is a brief clip that I took of the Anfield Anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone:




GL All.........

R

Brick Lane

Brick Lane is a street in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of Osborn Street.

Today, it is the heart of the city's Bangladeshi community and is known to some as Banglatown. It is famous for its many curry houses.

Yesterday I visited this famous street in London for the first time an enjoyed a nice curry. You can walk the entire length of Brick Lane in about 10 minutes.

Winding through fields, the street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane but derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture. By the 17th century, the street was being built up from the south. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis. The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour.

In the 20th century the Brick Lane area was important in the second wave of development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh (mainly the Greater Sylhet region) migrated to London to look for work. More recently the area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane.

November Mid Month Review

It was Round 3 yesterday when David Haye decided to turn it on and dispatch Fraudley Harrison in style! Something to do with the fact that he had bet on himself to win in this round.... hmmm... controversial to say the least but he is the most exciting heavyweight around, so we forgive him his dodgyness .

I hope the fight with one or both Klitschkos can be made in 2011 before he hangs up the gloves. All the best to the Hayemaker... Bring it home!!

Clips are now available on YouTube.

It's the 15th of November already, mid month and i have been busy grinding my butt off at NL50 with lil NL100 thrown in for fun.

The month looks like this:

For the first ever i joined the volume pools on the 2+2 forum. These basically work as follows; you say how many hands you think you can do in a specific month, then you attempt to play them. The minimum level is NL50. Anyone who fails their pool forfeits the cost to the successful players. More details available through the link

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/96/small-stakes-full-ring/stars-november-volume-thread-909025/

The pools are: 50k, 75k, 100k, 150k, 200k and 300k. You can join a maximum of 2 pools and it costs: $250, $350, $500, $750, $1k and $2k respectively to enter. I entered the 50k and 75k pools which will cost $600 in total if I fail.

The numbers for November so far are as follows:

67,000 Hands Played
10,000 VPPs

+$515 (Cash Game Winnings)
-$55 (Tourney Loses)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$460 (Total Month)

9 Milla

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to win $9m....? Well i must admit i have wondered often about having just $1m but never $9m. Someone who won't be wondering is Johnathan Duhamel, a 23yr old from Canada who on Monday scooped the WSOP 2010 Main Event Title and with it the second biggest payday ever in poker history. Entering the November nine as chip leader he played solid, considered poker and held out to crack his opponents K8s with his AJo shove. One Tourni and he is set.... Prior to this his career earnings in 4yrs were less than $100k. Poker can change your life.... All the best to Duhamel....

Here is the winning clip:

October 2010 Review

Well I have just been dumped out of the Turbo Takedown and missed the cash by a few spots. I picked up KQs in the Cut-Off and pushed after they all folded to me. I could have folded and hung on for 1 more orbit and picked up the $78 min cash, but hey I was in it to win it..!! Anyway the SB called with 88 and it held up.

This Tourni has such a bad structure and its not long before it turns into a all-in shove fest. Its fun though and with the 3000 FPP buy-in it attracts over 20,000 entrants. I do enjoy playing it and will go for it again next month....

So, October is done and its time to review.

The main thing to take place this month is my grind set-up. I have a new PC which does not lag at all and have a better room to play poker. I also have a new chair as detailed in my last post.

This last week I decided to make a change to my table set-up. I am now playing 24 Tables instead of 20. The trial has gone well and even though i find the intensity pretty tough sometimes i see the benefit in terms of an SNE chase next year.

I carried out some excel analysis a while back which tells me that over a course of a year you would have to grind 8hrs a day with 20Tables of NL100 to hit SNE. If you bump that up to 24Tables the equation becomes 6.5hrs which is much more appealing. Also if i split it between 18x NL100 and 6x NL200 i should get there no probs. Now i just gotta figure out how to play poker... lol

The second half of the month was disastrous in terms of run-bad.... not quite as bad as June but there were so many occasions when i got all the money in good on the flop or turn only to have a vicious bad beat inflicted on me by the poker gods.

Today, was a great example. It's Session 1 and i find myself in position on a big donk.. I PTR'd him and he was a losing player and i noticed he was very active and playing something like 35/10. He is on the button and raises to 4x, the SB folds and pick up AKs in the BB... so, i raise to 14x... he shoves and i call and he Turns over AKs also and hits his flush.... Raaaaaarrr.. Then, the very next hand i get KK in the SB and all fold to him and he raises to 4x again in the Cut-Off and i raise to 14x as before and he shoves again. I snap call and he turns over ATs and completes a Juicy Full House by the River... So im stacked by a buffoon 2 Hands in a Row. He then starts laughing in the chat box while i am wiping away the tears on my new chair. Man.

I could have easily made a loss this month with my beats but I managed scrape some winnings. If I had run at EV and not Tilt Spewed I would have made winnings in excess of $2k. My Tilting cost me around $400 I reckon.

The final numbers for October are as follows:

128,000 Hands Played
20,000 VPPs

+$575 (Cash Game Winnings)
+$10 (Tourney Winnings)
-$111 (Grinding Chair Investment)
+$1,500 (FPP Cash Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$1,974 (Total Month)

The YTD numbers as at the end of October are as follows:

177,677 VPPs

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
+$1,208 - Aug
+$1,198 - Sept
+$1,974 - Oct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$14,916 (Total YTD)

* indicates winnings attained as a part-time player




My biggest objective for November will be to hit 200k VPPs and pick up the Bonus. This will take my Bankroll to around $7,500 and enable me to go back to NL100

I will be issuing a fun November Challenge for myself, so stay tuned for that one. Lets all have a great November.

So Happy Halloween and GL on the Felt..!!

Ergonomic GREEN Grinding Comfort

I have just purchased my new Grinding Chair. It's an awesome Green Colour as you can see, LOL. The specific design that i wanted was only available in that shade so i had no choice... but its growing on me even though everyone else hates it..!!

Its Soooooo Comfortable to sit in that i am a bit too relaxed. However it's not as good as the Lamborghini Chair that I sat in at the motor show. That costs around £300 ($477) but is amazing. I would have got it but I don't know where to buy it and can't be bothered to search.

This bad boy set me back £70 ($111) and I have just done my first session in the ergonomically designed Hot Seat. Already paying for itself i made $127 in 1600 hands even though I got coolered with KK vs AA aipf and also lost a KK vs AK aipf. The lucks still against me but managing to scrape wins.

It was just the sesh that I needed after yesterdays hammering. I played woefully and was down around -$480 at one stage before rallying to finish the day down around -$280 with rakeback, worst day of the month so far.

Heres a short clip of my new set-up:

October Mid Month Review

It's a day early before we reach mid month but i'm off out socialising today/ tonight so today's play is done. Made a whopping $7. I wish i wouldn't make silly river calls. Made a couple of big boo boos today.

I also had some unknown 3bet me on 4 diff tables within 5mins. Thought he was taking the piss so i 4bet shoved with 99 on the 4th time and he snapped with QQ. I am a DONK. No more of that crap.... back to Nitty NITski

Pokerstars have made a few changes to their set-up, not too sure what they all are, but i heard its speed improvements on the normal tables, so maybe a few extra VPPs per session

Anyways, it's mid month, so lets see what i have been doing


The mtd numbers for October are as follows:

33,000 Hands Played
6,000 VPPs

+$407 (Cash Game Winnings)


I have been playing mainly at NL50 with a few NL100 Tables per Session. Really Happy with my new PC and set-up.... just need to step up the volume now. Been playing between 4-5hrs per day. From next week i want step that up to 7hrs per day and to 8hrs per day from the following week

Need some cash as i have just received a nasty £1,000 credit card bill... Ouch...

I hope to get a $1,500 bonus before the month ends. Hopefully i will end the month up over $2,000 in Total... lets do it...!!

GL all.......

Let The Games Begin

Its been a long time since i have been able to play more than 10 Tables due to my PC lagging under the pressure.....

Anyway my new monster machine has arrived and i have also today re-located it to a quieter room and have just played my 1st 20Table session under the new set-up.

Anyway, it was a great success, making around $200 and there was no sign of any nasty unwanted lagging... awesome

I need to get used to the time pressure of playing 20Tables again as 10Tabling is so easy

Also i am experimenting with wireless for the first time on a desktop i have had no problems so far...!!

I am now confident that i can make 200k VPPs and possibly 300k like i had wanted to before my old machine slowed...

So, let the games begin........

September 2010 Review

So another month passes... Its seems like just yesterday that i was writing the August Review, time is really flying, lol.

There have been a few things going on in September...
WCOOP, 50Billionth Hand on PS, EPT London has just begun.....

I played in WCOOP event 3 and managed to cash. I have a new PC which is still being set-up.... should be done within a couple of days. I have not managed to complete reading the texts that i have to, so they are still to do in Oct.

Since my mid month review, my play has been pretty average. I have had a few bad beats but my luck has been pretty much average and volume has been poor, so not much to write about.

Here's one hand i remember from FR NL100: There was a maniac fish running at around 56/10. He is in MP and i am in the CO. He opens with a 3x bet and i re-raise with KQs to around 9x. The Flop come down 4KQ rainbow and he checks.... I bet around 70% pot and he calls. the Turn card bring a 5 and he leads into me with a around 60% Pot bet.... I am putting him on AK even though i have a blocker or maybe JT as he tanked on the flop before he called. If he has QQ good luck to him... I shove and he tanks, using almost all of his time bank before he calls showing AJo with no flush draw....... and you know what happens next... yes the T on the river completes his straight and i lose a $200 pot, ouch..... just another bad beat....


The final numbers for September are as follows:

54,000 Hands Played
9,000 VPPs

-$403 (Cash Game Losses)
+$100 (WCOOP Re-load Bonus)
+$50 (50 Billion Hand Bonus)
+$412 (Tourney Winnings)
+$38 (Home/Live Game Winnings)
+$1,001 (Concierge Rebate re New PC)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$1,198 (Total Month)


The YTD numbers as at the end of September are as follows:

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
+$1,208 - Aug
+$1,198 - Sept
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$12,942 (Total YTD)

* indicates winnings attained as a part-time player

Pokerstars has announced that Cash Reward Bonuses will no longer require clearing. This is good news as i can now receive cash at a faster rate.

I am thinking about an October challenge for myself, i will issue a new post once my new PC is up n running

GL to all.....

Twenty20

Its been a while since i played anything more than 12 tables at any one time. This has been due to my PC being around 4yrs old and not able to handle all the simultaneous applications running without lagging...

Today i received my new machine which is a Dell and should be fast as hell... I'm not gonna go into specs as i ain't a techie kinda guy and don't really care as long as it gets the job done.!!

Anyways, i really underestimated how much stuff u have to set-up on a new machine and have spent hours today getting it up n running and am only half way there..

I think this months poker is done as i will need tomorrow to finish the set-up, plus I'm hitting London Town in the evening for a few drinkies..

October will see me back to playing 20Tables again. I will play exclusively at NL50 and try to get back into the rhythm of MMT

Finally, i just want to give a shout out to Pokerstars Concierge Service. I used this for the first time ever and found it to be excellent in customer service and speed and also for pure FPP value.

SNE Schedule

As the 1st of Jan gets closer i am thinking about what kind of schedule i need to keep if i am to be successful in my pursuit of SNE status in 2011 so here goes:

Firstly i will be playing 20Tables of FR. It will be split across 14x NL100 and 6x NL200 40bb.

I may dabble in the 20-50bb tables too.

My basic schedule will be as follows:

8:30am Begin Day
8:30-9:15 Breakfast / Shower
9:15-10:30 Read News /Email/ Poker Material
10:30-12:30 Gym
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-17:00 Poker Session 1 (3.5hrs)
17:00-18:30 Break / Dinner
18:30-21:00 Poker Session 2 (2.5hrs)
21:00-22:00 Break
22:00-01:00 Poker Session 3 (3hrs)
01:00-01:30 Relax / TV
01:30-08:30 Sleep

This will obviously be a flexible schedule and the Gym sessions will occur 4-5days a week giving more grinding time on non-gym days

Lets see if i can stick to it

Laters

September Mid Month Review

Wassup Poker Fans......

So, I'm half way through the second month of playing poker full time. Still spending a lot of time reading various poker related material and not enough time on the felt. This trend will continue until at least the end of next month as i try to get ready for the SNE attempt next year.

I am also going to buy a new computer as my current is over 3yrs old now and starting to lag when i have all the many applications running in addition to 10+ tables going. I have also had numerous crashes at random times which is really annoying not to mention financially bad as i lose all the cash in play for each hand that i am in on x amount of tables.

So 15 days in and i am playing pretty rubbish. Made too many bad river calls/ bluffs and its not going the way i had hoped. I think i may be at the job centre pretty sharpish before i can even carry on contemplating a crack at SNE, lol. My luck has been even, so no complaints there, most hands holding up and only a few bad beats, but also my share of suck outs.

The WCOOP is currently on but a far as i can see there is just as many regs as usual at the NL50 and NL100 tables. I may play one more $215 event in the WCOOP depending on how am feeling in a few days. I have had a few personal issues to deal with but have still logged about 40k hands this month so far.


The numbers for September so far are as follows:

6000 VPPs

+$66 (Cash Game Winnings)
+$100 (WCOOP Re-load Bonus)
+$50 (50 Billion Hand Bonus)
+$412 (Tourney Winnings)
+$38 (Home/Live Game Winnings)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$666 (Total MTD)



The 50 Billion Hands promo is set to start soon with big prizes awarded randomly to the lucky ones sitting on specif hands. Lets hope that i am one of them..!!

Its amazing to think that so many hands have been played on pokerstars as they player numbers continue to grow.

R

WCOOP Event #3

Today in the early hours of the morning, 6.30am to be precise i was knocked out of the WCOOP Event #3 - $215 NL Holdem ($2m Guaranteed) Tourni.

There were 12,066 entrants and the prize pool ended up at $2.4m. After 8hrs of play in a Tourni certainly not designed to be in line with UK time i finished in 718th place, beating 94% of the field and cashing for $627.43. I was knackered and went straight to bed. This was my biggest ever cash in an MTT. I would have loved to make the top 100. There is still time in the WCOOP for me to enter another one.

This Tourni was particularly unique do to the fact that i was staked to play in it by a professional poker player.

Frosty012 is young poker player from Canada who has made over $100k in 2010 and is well on his way to becoming a Supernova Elite on Pokerstars for the 1st time. He blogs at http://frosty012.blogspot.com/ and has amassed a large following of 80 readers so far and seems to have new followers each time i log on to his site. As a thanks to his readers, many of whom are micro players he offered to stake one by pulling a name out of a hat and then putting them into a Sunday Major courtesy of him. I was the lucky one and i enjoyed every minute of it. I was also glad to be able to return his stake and to make a little profit which i might use to have another go. Cheers Bud.

Anyway time to get back onto the Cash Tables.....

Later

August 2010 Review

So my first month ever as a poker pro is over... Perhaps more appropriately i should say a semi pro as i only put in around 41,000 Hands which must average to around 2 hours a day.

This was not due to laziness though but was deliberate as i spent many hours reading/ watching poker related material. I must admit command and conquer red alert 3 on the PS3 did slightly distract me though, lol.

I now have a full months worth of HEM data, although i know that i can import history somehow, but have not yet figured out how.

90% of my play was at 50NL which is where i will continue to play for at least this month. I will also continue 10tabling as i try to improve my game play while i build my bankroll.


The final numbers for August are as follows:

7000 VPPs

+$1,149 (Table Winnings)
-$90 (HEM Investment)
+$149 (Tourni Winnings)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$1,208 (Total Month)


The YTD numbers as at the end of August are as follows:

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
+$1,208 - Aug
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$11,744 (Total YTD)

* indicates winnings attained as a part-time player


I am happy with this small for take for August as i have halved my tables and am concentrating on learning. However, i need $1,600 a month to cover my bills.

For September my target is $3,000 bottom line. I intend to put in the most amount of hours that i have ever put into a single month.

With 4 months to go i also need to establish a realistic VPP Target. Having pondered this for a while a have decided that 300k VPP will be my 2010 Target. I want to get my game to as strong as possible before i commence the SNE chase in 2011. If my game is solid by then i will 20Table at NL100+ from Jan.

Peace.

Multi-Tabling.............

So, how the hell do all the people multi-table? They must be off their dam heads.... The neck pain must be immense and RSI would have kicked into their mouse hand many moons ago.....

Well, efficiency is the key... As you can see from the above pic of my set-up i have one 24" screen and one 19" screen, so the visible area is not too big... never had any neck pain ever. Also Table Ninja is a must.

Previously i had been 20tabling at NL100 with the 10 tables you see visible, double stacked..... I have now dropped down to NL50 to try to improve my game. I now do one of the following:

1. Have 6 NL50 tables running on the left screen while i read online on the right screen.
2. Have 4 NL50 tables running on the right screen while i watch poker Training Vids on the left wide screen
3. Or finally play 10Tables (8x 50NL, 2x 100NL) across both screens

I do not like to stack or cascade as i want to follow the action on all tables if poss. If i am 20tabling i can always minimise 1 screen to see whats below, but if i had 10+ stacked on top of each other this would be a nightmare.

I am finding playing 10tables much better for my decision making and picking up reads, as 20tables is very intense at times.

So don't overload yourself peeps, just play within your comfort zone. And if u wanna go for SNE then you may just have to turn into a BOT to make it happen....

Laters

Tournament Tear-Up....

Well not quite the MTT that i had expected.....

2 weeks ago I joined a poker club called The WesternClub. Its located in NW London, just of the A40/A406 Junction(Hanger Lane). It is a much smaller and intimate venue than some of the Big City Casinos that you find in central London.

Anyway, yesterday was my 1st visit to what i thought would be the biggest tourni of the week. They run 2 tourni's mon-fri (afternoon + evening) and one on sat and sun evening. Weds night is the Deep Stack (10,000 Chips) £40 FreezeOut. I thought there might be 3 tables running but instead it was in effect a 10 man sit n go as turn out was low.

I think its quite wise when you come to a new place or first sit at a new table to take as much in as possible about your opponents. What i know about this place is that it is full of Regs. It is quite different from a casino uptown where you will have recreational players and people on a night out gambling. I was very quiet and there was a lot of chat going on. All nine of my opponents knew each other well and i can only describe it as gate-crashing somebody's home game where you knew nobody...!!

As the game developed it was clear with the exception of 2 guys that these were pretty hardcore players. I recognised a few of the leaderboard runners who have their player profiles on the site. The reigning leader was too my left and i thought that i had drawn the worst seat, but as it turned out i think he was pretty card dead and played tight all night.... in fact i raised him twice blind v blind and he folded and also a few of times on the button and he didn't play back once.

The 2 weak players busted early and one by one they fell..... soon i found myself 3 handed and in the cash. I did get some nice cards and i won 2 flips along the way, but the fun bit was that i made well timed bluffs which got through. I think my quietness built up a strong image and that helped. I made loadsa mistakes posting the wrong blinds and forgetting to say 'raise' when i put chips in.... it then being deemed a call.... i mean online you just hit raise... you don't need to say it... lol

3 handed there were 2 memorable hands where i donked my betting. With blinds of 1000/2000 i threw in 5000 OTB with T4o, a pure steal, but i forgot to say raise, so it was a call, SB folded and BB checked.... The flop was AQ6 he checked but a got a tell so i checked. The turn brought 3 clubs on the board and he checked.... now i have to bet here, but for some reason i checked and the river brought a 4 flush on the board... i had the 4 of clubs and showdown value and embarrassingly had to turn over T4o and with it went my tight image. I won the pot though and thats all that mattered at this stage. He had a Q and i don't think he would have folded so i think my line was right even though i could have repped the Ace with 2 bets on the flop and turn.

Funnily enough i my think raise-call mistakes OTB scared my opponents into thinking i had big hands. A few hands later i tried again to raise to 5000 with 67o but threw in the 5k chip without announcing so it was a call again... SB called, BB checked..... Flop was AJ3 and it checked to me... this time i Cbet and they couldn't fold quick enough... lol

The cash in this tourni was very small relatively but it was my first live tourni (not including home games) for over a year and was lots of fun vs good players. We eventually decided to chop.... i had more than half the chips in play and at first said no to the deal and played on as i thought it was a poor split but as one of the guys said one double up and it all changes.... he was right but more so i felt like i was the weakest player at the table so finally i agreed and we split:

1st: £140
2nd: £110
3rd: £110
4th: £40

Here is my name on a tourni winners posting... the 1st time ever in my life...!!

http://www.thewesternclub.com/result/400

Time for me to start-up my tourni play......

August Mid Month Review

The middle of the month is here and I have played around 20,000 hands so far.

My emphasis these last 14 days has been on playing less, studying more. I have read a lot online and invested in HEM.

I have worked more closely with HEM and the HUD and definitely see the benefits in both and they are now part of my game.

The HUD stats that i have live are: VPIP, PFR, Cbet, Steal, Fold to Steal, 3bet and Fold to 3bet.

There are like about 200 possible stat fields that you can choose from. I don't want too much junk on my screen so i will use the above only and concentrate on my game

The numbers so far for August are as follows:

+$891 (Table Winnings)
-$90 (HEM Investment)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$801 (Total Month)

2010/2011 English Premiership Football Season - Poker Fantasy League

The new football season commenced today. 38 weeks of high octane action begins. So, you fancy yourself as a football manager?? Well put your skills to the test.

The official premiership site runs a fantasy football game of which i have played for the last 5yrs or so. This time i have created a league for all SSNL poker players. We have 6 runners already.

If you want to sign up, please go to the link below and create your team. Once your team is ready, join my league. Code is: 1602000-310925

http://fantasy.premierleague.com/

GL

What's up at NL50...??

I have been playing NL50 for the last week or so and it is very interesting to see the new dynamic of players. I search players on PTR and colour code them according to my ranking system of BB/100.

The Ranks are as follows:

1 Donk
2 Average Player
3 Above Average
4 Solid Pro
5 Elite Player

What this does is aid my Table Selection / Seating Selection. What i have noticed is that there are very few Rank 3-5 players compared with NL100 and NL200.

It's still very early days for me but there seem to be far more recreational players and less REGs than at NL100. Another very interesting observation is the 3bet and 4bet strategies at NL50. I think players play back far more at NL100 when you 3bet and fold far more at NL50.

I have now also been using HEM for about a week and am quite impressed with it. I am making use of the HUD too but with over 200 possible Stat features i have settled for displaying the following:

VPIP
PFR
Steal
Fold to Steal
3Bet
Fold to 3bet
Hands Played(sample size)

Using the HUD helped me identify the most passive REG that i think i have ever encounted. Here are his stats over a 800 or so hand sample:

VPIP: 14.8
PFR: 0.6
PFR/VPIP: 4.0
3Bet: 0.0
Agg: 0.83

I got into about 22Pots with this guy and i just showed so much aggression to keep taking it down. I think the score was 18-4 to me in pot battles. I don't always switch the HUD on because it gives me information overload, but it can be very useful.

In the last week at NL 50 i am up around 17 BIs. Here is the graph:


I will continue to battle at NL50 as i look to build my bankroll to a good level.

My key objective for this month will be to digest the gems from Harrington on Cash Games I & II.

My volume will be small as i only 10table now instead of 20

Okay, till the next episode.... laters

July 2010 Review

The Photo attached summarises how my month has gone. After suffering numerous bad beats i found myself up at mid point due to a cash bonus.

My game then deteriorated as i tried to make things happen instead of waiting and picking on good spots. I then had around 8 down days of Internet which is still not restored, but i am using a temp ISP until my appointment comes around.

I have now sadly dropped down to NL50 in order to sort my game out and also due to a lack of funds in my account. Yesterday was interesting as i installed HEM (trial) onto my system. I am still playing with all the settings to find a set-up that i like.

However the HUD is not impressing me at all. The numbers are all over the place and my screen looks like a messed-up matrix. Every time move the stats manually, they move on each screen and as i sit on different seats on each table their fix seat function is useless for me. Also if you are a multi-tabler i think you will waste a lot of time trying to use the stats to add benefit while timing out on other tables. The other issue i have is that if you do not have a big sample size, how good are your stats? You will benefit if you can quickly identify a recreational player who limps a lot and calls PFRs too often. I think i will spend Aug worrying more about my game and keep the HUD switched off..!!

I have some really good literature to read in Aug, so it will be very much a training month while trying to beat NL50. My target will be a modest +$1500 from table winnings with no bonuses forecast till Sept. I also want to spend a little time on live games at some of the London Casinos/ Poker Rooms. I am really looking forward to the Supernova Freeroll too as it will be my first one. If i can final table that one it will sort out the rest of 2010 financially.

The final numbers for July are as follows:

-$1,945 (Table Losses)
+$1,500 (Cash Bonus)
+$85 (MinCash Turbo Takedown)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

-$360 (Total Month)



The YTD numbers as at the end of July are as follows:

+$5,745 - Jan*
+$3,385 - Feb*
+$467 - Mar*
+$1,620 - Apr*
+$1,234 - May*
-$1,555 - June
-$360 - July
--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$10,536 (Total YTD)

So my first 2 months as an FPP Pro could not have gone much worse to be honest. I am even more determined to succeed now and intend to put in the most amount of time ever in 1 month into training at poker. This month i will not be a hunting FPPs but working on my win-rate. My employment income officially ended in July. So i will have to make cash in Aug to pay my rent..!!

On another note, i just got back from Zorbing in Hertfordshire. It was good fun and definitely worth doing at least once before you die. In terms of value it was quite expensive @ 35GBP for 20seconds of Thrill time. I took my camera but when i attempted to turn it on the battery was completely dead, doh.... what a donk. Luckily once of the guys got some footage, so Pics / Video to come...


See you at the tables in Aug and go easy on me.

Talking To Myself.......

I started this blog to randomly jot down how my awful poker play would pan out and to maybe laugh in years to come as I eventually became better and better and got to stage where i would destroy Phil Ivey at the WSOP ME. I didn't actually think that anyone would bother to read it. I have often talked to myself during tough times and this was just another angle to converse with me.

Anyway, just out of interest i installed sitemeter on this blog(bottom of the page on the left) to see if i would get more than 1 view a day (yes, that's me checking up on myself) . So far in 15days there have been 280 hits.... whoooaaaa.... not bad for a boring old fart...!!


Anyway, back to the poker.... All the bad beats have made my play equally bad and i have now established a new focus for the up coming weeks.... I do not want to put any more cash into my account in the next month or so. This means that i will now drop down to NL50 for possibly the whole of August. This will have a big effect on my bonus generating abilities but i think the most important thing is to improve my game. I will also drop from 20tables to 10 for added thinking time. This means i now sit down with $500 each time instead of $2,000. My swings and variance should also come down. Time to big up my +EV.....


I am going back to basics, back to the drawing board.... It will be like the last 5yrs never happened and someone just handed me my 1st deck of cards and shouted shuffle up n deal punk.




I need to develop my poker mindset. I will invest in HEM and also spend some time on sites like cardrunners and deucescracked. I am now on 2p2 and have been reading a book on odds and probabilities. I am learning off by heart the 1card and 2card drawing odds tables for outs between 1-20. I have Harrington's 2 books on cash games and hopeful i will absorb every little gem he has to offer.

I am also going to begin development on my Tournament game as the starting ranges and concepts differ so much from cash games. Wow, that's a lot of stuff to do.

On another note i will be going Zorbing on Sunday (weather permitting), so i hope to add to YouTube vid of me and my bro spiralling down some hill at 35mph in a huge bouncy ball. Hopefully this will jolt my poker game into the premier league of NL50, lol.

Peace...

What Would You Do...........???

Here's a poker conundrum for you....

So, in this situation what would you do???

Hmmmmm......

Click Link:

??????????????????

ADS-HELL........

My god dam ADSL Internet Connection has been busted for a almost week now. I have spent many minutes talking to India which has been fun as much of the English conversation has been spelt out to me in phonetic alphabet by the call centres..... Hotel Echo Lima Lima (HELL)

Basically its still busted and TalkTalk are so lame that it takes 2 weeks to get an engineer out to my house.... They reckon that there might be a problem with the line even though the phone works perfectly. So it could not possibly be their modem or filter or cables that is the issue... hmmmm.. Strange that i have to pay only if the line is faulty as the other items are their responsibility. The phone works so they ain't getting a penny outta me..!!

Its 1am and I have just sorted a dodgy temp fix... so poker should be back tomorrow. When IT systems fail it is just so crippling to an online poker player..!!

However, it might be a blessing in disguise as my poker over the last 7 weeks has been woeful. Maybe a break from the tables is just what i needed...!!

Anyway as a newly qualified Supernova i am looking forward to my 1st $1m quarterly freeroll on 7th August. Not sure what to expect though in terms of runners... I am hoping that as this is restricted to SN VIPs and SNEs the field should be relatively small compared to a Sunday Million for example... As 999 places are paid hopefully i should get into the cash...!! The $150,000 1st prize would be sweet though. So what are my chances???........ Well, slim to none would be my guess as i suck at Tourneys.

My best tourney result came quite recently when i final tabled a UK freeroll. It was a satellite to the UK regional grand final with 9 places being awarded a spot in the main event. There were 4747 runners and i tried and interesting style of play which seemed to work well. With 50 players left i was chip leader and i hung on to that lead till about the last 20. When the final table was set, i was 3rd in chips and had made the cash (which was tiny) and received my ticket to the ME. I then went crazy and started to gamble wildly... big mistake... I was duly busted 1st at the final table.... lol..

I have been watching the Tour de France highlights show daily on ITV4 but tomorrow looks set to be the big showdown up the Col du Tourmalet. I will watch this stage Live and it should be fascinating as Andy Schleck has to attack if he has any chance of winning Yellow in Paris. With Contador favoured to beat Schleck in the time trial, Schleck must gain a lead tomorrow of over a minute to have any chance putting on the maillot jaune... You can do it Andy...!!

Poor Lance Armstrong had a shocker on one of the early stages when he crashed 3 times and effectively ended any chance of a podium finish... It would have been great to see him in his prime against Alberto Contador... would have been an awesome battle..

Peace...