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.