Doug Polk vs Daniel Negreanu HU Battle (hu4grudge)

Want to see some of the most baller pc/poker set-ups? These are pretty awesome..!

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Painfully Slow To 200k

Got so much going on plus working full time, it is going to be a challenge to get to 200k VPPs:

Want to see some of the most baller pc/poker set-ups? These are pretty awesome..!!

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The Sickest Grind Ever, Revisited

After my sick grind day a few days I got thinking about what the sickest grind that I have seen was. This is a few years old now but definitely worth mentioning again.

Chiren80 aka Bachir Boumaaza aka athene aka athenewins was a Stars team pro and took up a challenge to grind 1 million hands in a month.

He basically did what I did in hours on that one day for 31 days straight. I was drained after that one day and said never again. To do it for 31 days must have been hell.

He only did it NL2 but stress on the brain must have been immense even without any financial pressure. Also I think he was 24+ tabling 6max which is much more of a mind screw than my 8-tabling Zoom FR. Also lots more hands per hour. I think I get close to 1,500 hands per hour. He got around 2,375.

Here are the results:

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Want to see some of the most baller pc/poker set-ups? These are pretty awesome..!!

Macmillan Cancer - Poker Grindathon 2

Its been a while since I did a poker grindathon for charity.

The last time round I did it for Sport Relief. This time I have chosen Macmillan Cancer. They are an excellent charity that support cancer victims through their treatment.

I will be giving half my poker winnings today to the charity. Lets hope I have a big winning day..!! 

I plan to do at least 8 hours at the tables and at the end I will ship 50% of profits to Macmillan. If I end up losing I will send a $50 donation anyway.

To find out more about the charity click this link:

http://www.macmillan.org.uk

#pokergrindathon

Follow my friend "Eliize" in his journey to high stakes poker: www.shloogy.com

100 Buy-Ins In June??

Will I get to 100 Buy-Ins with 5 days left?

Follow my friend "Eliize" in his journey to high stakes poker: www.shloogy.com

30BI Rule - Update 06/06/13

Recently I talked about the 30 BI rule which I am now using. 

I started out playing with only $2.6k as I had cashed out over $10k during a 3 month period. 

I began playing NL25/NL50 with the target of hitting $3k and then adding in some NL100. I managed to pass that figure but then went on a $700 downer which meant I had to drop that level.

I had been flirting above and below the $3k figure for a while until this month kicked off a little heater and I am now decently above.

I am still playing ZOOM and the problem now is that NL100 doesn't run at FR during the daytime. I play some 6max but still feel more comfortable with FR. 

In the mornings/ afternoon I 8x table NL25/NL50 or 6x table NL50/NL100 6max. The evenings are good as I can 8x table NL100/NL50.

My next target is to get the roll up to $6k then add NL200. For the time being I may have to switch to normal tables so I can play more 100.

Roll:

Follow my friend "Eliize" in his journey to high stakes poker: www.shloogy.com

VPP Pace Challenge

I Started the year with the plan of bagging 400k Vpps.

At the moment I am close to 100k with almost 5 months gone. This is way behind pace.

The Pace thread on 2+2 shows me at:

---400K Pace--- 149,270 

---300K Pace--- 111,952 

95,722 x_ROSH125_x

---200K Pace--- 74,635 

So I got to chase down 300k + 400k. The average at the start of the year for 300k is 822 VPPs per day and for 400k it's 1096 Vpps per day.

To catch both of these I need around 1,350 VPPs a day from now on till the end of the year.

Got Some work to do..!!

Follow my friend "Eliize" in his journey to high stakes poker: www.shloogy.com

How Many Calories Do You Burn Idling or Doing Nothing In 24hrs?

So the missus and I have challenged ourselves to losing some weight. I want to lose 10-14lbs and tone up a bit. I'm currently 192lbs and 5'10". 

I never realised that we all actually burn a lot a of calories while doing absolutely nothing. This short clip shows how to calculate how much you burn according to your height, weight, age and sex:

Another lazier way to get a (very rough) estimate is to multiply your body weight in lbs by 11:
Here is the source

If you want an online calculator try this one.

I will try and update in a few weeks as to my weight loss progress.

Want to lose weight? Are you into fitness? Try this workout..!!

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Pokerstars Bankroll Building Exercise

The way you manage a bankroll can vary vastly from player to player.

Previously my personal method has been to employ a 'float' level according to which stakes that I am playing and then to cash out every time that I hit the 'cash out level'.

The problem with this method is that it doesn't allow you to move up and grow as a poker player.

In the last quarter of 2012 and in 2013 I have been employing a new method. While the new method is not very aggressive it is progressive and I have already played a few sessions at NL200 in the last 2 months whereas I didn't really play higher than NL100 in the whole of last year.

It wasn't long ago that my roll was sitting at around $1,250 and I was going through the worst period in my poker career.

That has all changed now and I am currently sitting on:

My new method is pretty simple. There is no longer any float level and every time I make $1,000 I only cash out $500 and so the account grows and is also padded to cope with any down swings.

When the roll hits $10,000 then I will happily play NL200 more regularly. After that I will just take shots and see where it goes. If I fail the roll will probably stay at around $8-$10k with NL200 as my highest game but if I can take it further then the sky's the limit and I will push as far as I can go.

I am thinking about doing a mini challenge this month so watch out for that one in an upcoming post.

GL All..!!

2013 Plan

I thought long and hard about the idea of chasing SNE in 2013 and it was very close but in the end Stars switch to Weighted Contribution has put paid to that and VPPs are just too hard to come by at the levels that I play and want to play.

Instead my goal will be to improve my game, move up levels and win. I will target the 400k VPP mark which is something that I have never achieved in a calendar year before.

I also want to play more regularly in the live scene and at higher levels. In 2012 I played like once a month but from Feb onwards I want to work towards playing once a week and also to go to a few new venues like FOX and DTD.

My $$ target will be to make $20k pure online winnings + all the FPP/VPP bonuses for hitting 400k VPPs. I also want to win $5k in live games.

That's pretty much it..!!

GL to all in 2013

November 2012 Review

I have really fought back this month after 4 months of crap results. I crushed NL50 for like a year before that downswing. Now I am back..!!

I made a few adjustments to my game and feel like I have played the best poker that I have ever played and the results have followed.

I have stuck with mainly ZOOM in November but that will have to change as I move up in stakes. At Full Ring ZOOM the highest level that runs is NL50 and if I want to stay with ZOOM then I will have to switch to 6max if I want to move to NL100.

I tried a bit of 6max and tbh I did really well but it was just too fast so I would prefer to just stick with FR and that will mean switching to the normal tables which will also mean longer sessions. I like ZOOM because I can play really short sessions and lots of them but with normal tables it takes time to start and stop each session so to be productive you must play longer. The advantage is table selection which you do not have in ZOOM.

I also have to clear the Deal Me In (DMI) bonus on Full Tilt Poker which is worth $750. I will download the trial version of TableNinjaFT and use it alongside HEM1 which is already working for FTP.

The final numbers for November are as follows:

209,124 Hands Played

22,036 VPPs

+$3,288 (Cash Game Winnings)
-$171 (Tournament Losses)
+$51 (Volume Pool Winnings)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$3,168 (Total Month)

The Ytd numbers are as follows:

1,427,824 Hands Played

185,320 VPPs

+$3,648 - Jan

+$3,213 - Feb

+$2,023 - Mar

+$2,072 - Apr

+$3,642 - May

+$5,120 - Jun

-$699 - Jul

+$664 - Aug

+$268 - Sep
+$1,175 - Oct
+$3,168 - Nov

--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$24,293 (Total YTD) 

During the month I was involved in a personal challenge to make 100 Stacks or Buy-Ins in a month which is something I don't think that I have ever done. I am pleased to say that I made it:

The final stretch for 2012 is upon us, GL..!!

Challenge Update: 100 Stacks in a Month - 24/11/12

Just under +84 now

Challenge Update: 100 Stacks in a Month

Its been a few days now since I wrote about my latest challenge which was to win 100 stacks in a month. Since that post you can probably guess what happened. Yes, I went on a mini downer (10 BIs) but I have pulled it all back and am pretty much where I was when I published the post:

100 Stacks in a Month??

I will see if I can make 100 stacks this month.

I'm pretty sure that I have never done this before. I am just under 62 at the moment but have a lot on rest of the month so it will be tough.




Current position:

Sitting Here Laughing

If you don't laugh you will simply cry :)

My bad run stretch is now getting close to the 4 month mark.

I am very chilled at the tables though and taking the beats well as they keep coming.

I am very pleased with my cool, calm and collected play over the last 2 days.

I get a wry smile on my face now every time I get AA as I start thinking: will I lose with it AI pre flop or will I just get stacked post when someone jams their Top Pair and hits 2 pair or trips on the river, lol.

Today's visual just sums up the run:

That extra $200 would be nice in my hand and the number of times over the 4 months that this kind of visual has been the end of day shot would add up to a tasty few grand but that's poker eh. At least I won :)

It is very easy for poker players to forget the real value of money with the swings we go through at various levels. I watched an interesting BBC TV series recently called 'Welcome to India' which was about life today in the 2nd most populated nation. One of the case studies was a dude who made tea cups from mud. One of his quotes was something like 'if I work 14 hours I can break-even, if I work 18 hours then I can make a nice profit. He was referring to like $5 or more for that shift.

I will fight hard to get back to winning ways and will try to never forget the real value of money in world terms.

The good news is that I am now completely back to NL50, playing mainly ZOOM for the moment. With a $1,600 bonus due in a couple of days I am now comfortably rolled at around $4k which means I will not have to drop down to NL25 any time soon, hopefully....

I need around 47k VPPs to get to 200k and around 62k VPPs to get to 200k + an extra $1,600 bonus before 1st Jan. If I can manage to not cash-out too much then I should build my roll and make the jump to NL100 and then getting these VPPs should be easy.

Lets Grind..!!

Countdown to Year End Challenge

I have 82 days to go till the end of the year and to achieve this year's pretty low target of 200,000 VPPs.

This is 100,000 less than last year so I feel like a bit of a slacker but I have had lots of non poker related real life stuff going on too so I am not too bothered.

I currently stand at 147,278 so here are the stats:

200,000 - Target VPPs
147,278 - Current Total VPPs
 52,722 - Remaining VPPs
        82 - Days Remaining
      643 - VPPs Per Day

I would like a few more VPPs actually to get 3x $1,600 FPPs bonuses + 1x 200k VPP Bonus of $2,600.

That would increase things to:

 68,128 - Remaining VPPs
        82 - Days Remaining
      831 - VPPs Per Day

Time to get my grind on..!!

Sport Relief 2012 - Poker Grindathon

I am just about to commence a grindathon in aid of sport relief.

The fund raiser is currently going on all over the UK.

For the next 3hrs I will play a mix of NL50 FR and NL25 Zoom and hopefully I will make some winnings.

I will donate half of these winnings to sport relief. If I make a loss I will donate something anyway.

To find out more about the charity please see below.

http://www.sportrelief.com/

#pokergrindathon

Challenge Update - 26/12/2011

My Challenge to hit 300k VPPs is going pretty well as I have put in grind work pretty much everyday.

My game play has been terrible juggling 24 tables and I have been playing my 'C' game or maybe even worse. I have now dropped to 20 tables and feel a bit less pressured. I may drop to back to 16 for the last few days.

I am actually in the black slightly after being up almost $700 at one stage. Hope to activate my 'A' game from tomorrow.

I have around 8,700 VPPs left to get in 6 days which means around just under 1,500 per day which will take around 8 hrs a day at nl50.

I want to give my self new years eve night off to go out so I have put together the final plan as follows:

26/12/11 - 1,600 VPPs
27/12/11 - 1,600 VPPs
28/12/11 - 1,600 VPPs
29/12/11 - 1,600 VPPs
30/12/11 - 1,600 VPPs
31/12/11 - 700 VPPs

Almost there.....

Challenge Update - 16/12/2011

The challenge is now 3 days in and going pretty slowly. I initially need 1,704 VPPs per day for the rest of the month but that has slowly crept up to around 1,800 per day.

I am playing 20+ Tables and feeling not too bad about it. It is very hard to take notes playing this many tables. I am mixing in a few NL100 tables while playing at NL50.

Day 1 didn't go too well as I went out for a few drinks and a meal and only got 400 VPPs.

Day 2 saw the daily requirement move up to 1,790 VPPs per day. I didn't calculate the new requirement till after day 2 was done so I thought I only needed 1,704 and managed to get 1,708 so I was a little short but a minor oversight. I played for 8.25hrs which means that roughly 9hrs a day is enough to make my goal. This is good and lower than I had expected as I made my calculations on playing 16 tables.

Day 3 is under way and I am now on my lunch break having made 407 VPPs in session 1. It was a frustrating session as I was up $250 only to lose a few big pots and finish up only $90. Still better than a loss.

I feel like I am taking numerous bad beats but it is probably only because I am playing a lot of hands. I have run into AA 3 times into KK and lost all 3. The one time I get AA vs Villain's KK he flops a King. I got KK all in pre vs AK and he flops a king. Stuff like this keeps happening. I am actually up though which is the amazing thing over these last 3 days. I seem to be winning a lot of small and medium sized pots to make up for losing a lot of big ones.

Here are a few of the best ones:

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players

UTG+1: $51.25
MP1: $20.50
MP2: $50.00
CO: $50.00
Hero (BTN): $77.95
SB: $28.75
BB: $52.85
UTG: $24.10

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with A A
5 folds, Hero raises to $1, SB raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5.90, SB raises to $9.80, Hero raises to $77.95, SB calls $18.95 all in

Flop: ($58.00) 2 8 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($58.00) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($58.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $58.00

Hero shows A A
SB shows Q Q

SB wins $55.10
(Rake: $2.90)


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

UTG: $60.10
UTG+1: $63.05
UTG+2: $83.30
MP1: $49.20
MP2: $20.15
CO: $55.65
BTN: $50.00
SB: $24.00
Hero (BB): $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with A A
3 folds, MP1 raises to $1.50, 1 fold, CO calls $1.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $6.25, 1 fold, CO calls $4.75

Flop: ($14.25) 8 9 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $13.00, CO calls $13

Turn: ($40.25) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $30.75, CO calls $30.75

River: ($101.75) Q (2 players)

Final Pot: $101.75

CO shows Q Q
Hero shows A A

CO wins $98.75
(Rake: $3.00)


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

BB: $50.00
Hero (UTG): $56.45
UTG+1: $50.00
UTG+2: $54.75
MP1: $47.75
MP2: $39.55
CO: $88.15
BTN: $50.75
SB: $31.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with A K
Hero raises to $1.50, 2 folds, MP1 raises to $3.50, 5 folds, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($7.75) 6 K A (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets $1.50, Hero raises to $7.95, MP1 calls $6.45

Turn: ($23.65) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $38.00, MP1 calls $36.30 all in

River: ($96.25) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $96.25

Hero shows A K
MP1 shows K K

MP1 wins $93.25
(Rake: $1.30)


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players

BB: $50.00
UTG: $35.75
UTG+1: $25.30
MP1: $65.45
Hero (MP2): $95.20
CO: $54.20
BTN: $20.95
SB: $17.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP2 with A K
UTG raises to $1.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5.50, 4 folds, UTG raises to $35.75, Hero calls $30.25

Flop: ($72.25) 7 7 5 (2 players)

Turn: ($72.25) J (2 players)

River: ($72.25) 8 (2 players)

Final Pot: $72.25

UTG shows 5 A
Hero shows A K

UTG wins $69.25
(Rake: $3.00)


Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players

BTN: $20.00
SB: $20.25
BB: $59.55
UTG: $26.95
Hero (UTG+1): $62.20
MP1: $81.55
MP2: $20.00
CO: $5.30

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with Q Q
UTG raises to $1.50, Hero calls $1.50, 6 folds

Flop: ($3.75) 7 7 6 (2 players)
UTG bets $1.50, Hero raises to $5.55, UTG raises to $25.45, Hero calls $19.90

Turn: ($54.65) 5 (2 players)

River: ($54.65) 8 (2 players)

Final Pot: $54.65

UTG shows 4 4
Hero shows Q Q

UTG wins $51.95
(Rake: $2.70)