Friday, 2 December 2011
November Review - December Goals - Skiing
Hey guys, time for another monthly review. This month was decimated by work so the very little volume I put in was all at 2 and 5nl due to this micro prop bet. Very little to report from this month, just been buried under books and piles of paper! Main thing now is I'm only 15 days from leaving for skiing! I really can't wait, only one essay stands between me and the true love in my life (barring my lovely gf). I'll hopefully be uploading photos/videos from France when I get there as I won't be able to grind any poker, hopefully that will break up the monotony that is my poker blog! Here are a few from last season, none are really that good quality, or that interesting for that matter as I only had a phone camera therefore had no real desire to get any good photos but have got a new GoPro for this season so hopefully some proper photos and videos to follow!:
Poker wise for the rest of this month I'm going to clear my last bonus, play some 10 and 25nl, hopefully make a bit more cash to take with me to enjoy the skiing!
Jake
Monday, 14 November 2011
Too Much Work, Micro Prop Bet
Hey guys, another long break between posts unfortunately. I'm absolutely buried in work at the moment at university, essay after essay after presentation but not much I can do about that. I want to keep playing but I can't have poker weighing on my mind so I've set up a prop bet with a friend here at university for most profit at the micros before the end of term, starting with a $25 bankroll.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/loldonkamentz-vs-joecool2-1000-micro-grind-prop-bet-1125376/
This should keep me occupied enough with poker but letting me get on with work, lets hope I ship it as well!
I'd liek to sit and write a long blog post but I must go ponder the implications of and reasons for low voter turnout among young voters in the US....
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
October Review - November Goals
Another very up and down month, some great times and some not so great times. The bankroll is somewhat depleted after the coaching and I was around breakeven on the tables. I think this is probably one of the worst months I've had in terms of how I've run, all in ev is around bang on but it does little to tell of how you run consistently into the top of peoples ranges! This is a month I just want to put behind me and move onwards and upwards!
This month I want to rebuild my bankroll and get back to where I was at the beginning of October. I'd like to get in around 30k hands and get the BR to $1k again. I'm playing a few hyper turbo HU games when I'm on breaks from writing essays as they are nice and quick and I seem to be doing ok in them at the moment, I have some t$ I need to use up anyway from grinding 210fpp sats earlier in the year.
Work wise studying has really kicked up, I have an essay a week due from now until the end of the term (although it feels like the end of time) but it is much more engaging than it has been so I'm finding it easier to get on with. The ski season is fast approaching and I'm getting really excited about it, can't wait to hit the mountain!
Bit of a short post this but I updated the other day, I've restarted my PGC thread on 2+2 so check that out for hands and daily updates!
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/2011-micro-odyssey-10nl-beyond-949842/
Good luck on the tables everyone!
This month I want to rebuild my bankroll and get back to where I was at the beginning of October. I'd like to get in around 30k hands and get the BR to $1k again. I'm playing a few hyper turbo HU games when I'm on breaks from writing essays as they are nice and quick and I seem to be doing ok in them at the moment, I have some t$ I need to use up anyway from grinding 210fpp sats earlier in the year.
Work wise studying has really kicked up, I have an essay a week due from now until the end of the term (although it feels like the end of time) but it is much more engaging than it has been so I'm finding it easier to get on with. The ski season is fast approaching and I'm getting really excited about it, can't wait to hit the mountain!
Bit of a short post this but I updated the other day, I've restarted my PGC thread on 2+2 so check that out for hands and daily updates!
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-challenges/2011-micro-odyssey-10nl-beyond-949842/
Good luck on the tables everyone!
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Feeling the Buzz
Well, it has been a fair while since I've put anything up here so time for an update methinks. First things first, I've had to stop the coaching for the time being, I'd had a few bad weeks and I was worried that I wasn't really getting great value for money, the coaching was good but I just didn't feel any marked improvement in my play (albeit I only had 3 sessions) and my bankroll was in freefall! I'm still comfortably rolled to play 25nl but I'm taking a bit of a break and playing some 10nl to regain confidence and work on my own game. I'm still working on my game alone, using Leggo Poker videos and reading the forums to hone my game.
Outside of poker things are going even better, this years studies are infinitely more interesting and the tutorials/seminars/whatever you want to call them are a great deal better. The workload has increased but it feels a lot easier as it is so much more engrossing, you can get lost in some of these articles for hours!
The ski season is fast approaching and with around 50 days till I leave for leg 1 of the year I'm doing what I can with regards to eating healthily and preparing myself for another long season. Sessions on the dry slopes are going well, our freestyle team had a great session last weekend and the race team meets tonight, always something to keep you busy!
Right now I feel like I am on a massive life upswing, I have never felt this happy while being at university, I really think that cutting back on the drinking has made a huge difference to me, something that I couldn't have seen a few weeks ago. I don't feel I drank any more than your average student but maybe it affects me more beyond the evenings, tiredness, laziness and unproductiveness all increase when I drink, take today as an example, had a great night out but I've accomplished very little since then! Everything else just feels great at the moment, I don't know what it is but my mood is always good, my patience seems endless and I can really focus on my work. I'm slightly concerned I might be growing up but I'll have to get back to you on that....
I've been giving my future a lot of thought, I have two years left of university and I need to plan beyond them. Realistically I think my future lies in on of a few areas. I won't bore you with them here as everything feels up in the air but I'm planning on being more proactive with regards to my future, planning internships, going to meetings etc.
Over the next few weeks I guess I'm going to carry on as I am, working hard, playing hard, drinking less and in general leading a happier more productive life!
Outside of poker things are going even better, this years studies are infinitely more interesting and the tutorials/seminars/whatever you want to call them are a great deal better. The workload has increased but it feels a lot easier as it is so much more engrossing, you can get lost in some of these articles for hours!
The ski season is fast approaching and with around 50 days till I leave for leg 1 of the year I'm doing what I can with regards to eating healthily and preparing myself for another long season. Sessions on the dry slopes are going well, our freestyle team had a great session last weekend and the race team meets tonight, always something to keep you busy!
Right now I feel like I am on a massive life upswing, I have never felt this happy while being at university, I really think that cutting back on the drinking has made a huge difference to me, something that I couldn't have seen a few weeks ago. I don't feel I drank any more than your average student but maybe it affects me more beyond the evenings, tiredness, laziness and unproductiveness all increase when I drink, take today as an example, had a great night out but I've accomplished very little since then! Everything else just feels great at the moment, I don't know what it is but my mood is always good, my patience seems endless and I can really focus on my work. I'm slightly concerned I might be growing up but I'll have to get back to you on that....
I've been giving my future a lot of thought, I have two years left of university and I need to plan beyond them. Realistically I think my future lies in on of a few areas. I won't bore you with them here as everything feels up in the air but I'm planning on being more proactive with regards to my future, planning internships, going to meetings etc.
Over the next few weeks I guess I'm going to carry on as I am, working hard, playing hard, drinking less and in general leading a happier more productive life!
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Onwards and Upwards
What a difference a week or so can make! After a truly appalling finish to September things are looking up, had a good few sessions strung together and the results have been pretty good, I'll save the details for the end of the month. I've just finished my third coaching session and am really pleased with how they are going, even if not a lot is talked about in an individual session the effect it has on my game over the whole week is invaluable. The last session was fun as I have a new favourite fish from Germany, I'll keep his name a secret for now but he provided me with endless entertainment both on the table and in the chat box. One thing I really need to work on is my volume, I'm very unhappy with the amount I've been playing, I need to up it to at least 10k hands a week, preferably a lot more to really put what I'm learning into practice and win more. I don't want to cheat at this by simply increasing the number of tables I'm playing, 12 is perfect, it allows me to closely follow the hands I'm in and gives me time to note, mark hands for review and take time over important decisions, not to mention they fit on my screen ok.
Aside from poker everything is really good, settled into the new house well and am getting on with studying, feels hard after 4 months off but I'm sure it will come back over time. Last night was the introductory pub crawl for the University Snowsports club and it was great to see loads of new faces who have joined this year, looking forward to seeing them over the next 10 months and beyond!
My fitness regime has taken a slight knock as I haven't been feeling so great, probably enjoying myself a little too much and not enough sleep but since stopping all that I've been better and am getting on with it. Played squash for the first time in years the other day and I had forgotten what a fantastic game it is, coupled with the fact it is a excellent workout! I'm aiming to try and play 3-4 times a week, thats about all my legs can handle right now, I am ridiculously stiff this morning thanks to a 5 game stint on the court yesterday.
Lastly, I'm sure many of you do, but I have to recommend listening to the 2p2 PokerCast every Tuesday, for those who don't listen it is a brilliant roundup of the weeks poker news mixed with engaging interviews with stellar guests! The hosts Mike and Adam do a great job presenting as well, ably assisted by their technician Bunner, if you like to listen to stuff while you grind this fits the bill nicely!
Aside from poker everything is really good, settled into the new house well and am getting on with studying, feels hard after 4 months off but I'm sure it will come back over time. Last night was the introductory pub crawl for the University Snowsports club and it was great to see loads of new faces who have joined this year, looking forward to seeing them over the next 10 months and beyond!
My fitness regime has taken a slight knock as I haven't been feeling so great, probably enjoying myself a little too much and not enough sleep but since stopping all that I've been better and am getting on with it. Played squash for the first time in years the other day and I had forgotten what a fantastic game it is, coupled with the fact it is a excellent workout! I'm aiming to try and play 3-4 times a week, thats about all my legs can handle right now, I am ridiculously stiff this morning thanks to a 5 game stint on the court yesterday.
Lastly, I'm sure many of you do, but I have to recommend listening to the 2p2 PokerCast every Tuesday, for those who don't listen it is a brilliant roundup of the weeks poker news mixed with engaging interviews with stellar guests! The hosts Mike and Adam do a great job presenting as well, ably assisted by their technician Bunner, if you like to listen to stuff while you grind this fits the bill nicely!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
September Review - October Goals
Sorry it has taken me a while to get this post up, I had a very bad end of the month and needed to cool off a while and take some time off poker before coming back. I lost an entire months profit in one day playing very badly.
However, there were a lot of positives last month as well! I agreed to enter a coaching contact with Team Moshman, this entitles me to at least 1 hours coaching every week in exchange for 50% of my earnings at 25nl only, a fair deal from my end seeing as the majority of my profit comes from live play, this allows me to work on my online game with great coaches and great people to discuss hands with! In addition to the coaching there is a great network of support and people to talk to that gets you through bad days and bad beats!
I finally moved into the house and I love it, the internet is all sorted out and am looking forward to mixing grinding with studying over the next year. I've arranged skiing in France in the winter for three weeks so far, I'll look to do more once Easter time gets a bit closer. This is my favourite time of the year, checking the snow reports and webcams and seeing the resorts changing and getting ready for the new season, I am very pumped for the start of the season!
Looking forward to the next month I plan to put in my required volume for coaching, at least 10k hands per week and really get on top of my academic work, the more I work now, the less revision I will have to do while skiing in France in preparation for my exams when I return in January. To get ready for the ski season I am almost completely cutting alcohol out of my life and getting much fitter, this is a general pattern in my life, everything seems geared towards the ski seasons! I've started 2 fitness programs to complete couple bets, one is to complete 1000 situps in an hour, the other is to do a certain amount of pushups but the details are not confirmed yet. I used to be a decent athlete competing at county and regional levels but have let my fitness go in the last 2 years since an illness, time to regain myself! These bets are a way of finding the motivation to get me started again!
I'll finish off this post with my depressing results from last month!
Onwards and upwards, start of this month has been promising!
However, there were a lot of positives last month as well! I agreed to enter a coaching contact with Team Moshman, this entitles me to at least 1 hours coaching every week in exchange for 50% of my earnings at 25nl only, a fair deal from my end seeing as the majority of my profit comes from live play, this allows me to work on my online game with great coaches and great people to discuss hands with! In addition to the coaching there is a great network of support and people to talk to that gets you through bad days and bad beats!
I finally moved into the house and I love it, the internet is all sorted out and am looking forward to mixing grinding with studying over the next year. I've arranged skiing in France in the winter for three weeks so far, I'll look to do more once Easter time gets a bit closer. This is my favourite time of the year, checking the snow reports and webcams and seeing the resorts changing and getting ready for the new season, I am very pumped for the start of the season!
Looking forward to the next month I plan to put in my required volume for coaching, at least 10k hands per week and really get on top of my academic work, the more I work now, the less revision I will have to do while skiing in France in preparation for my exams when I return in January. To get ready for the ski season I am almost completely cutting alcohol out of my life and getting much fitter, this is a general pattern in my life, everything seems geared towards the ski seasons! I've started 2 fitness programs to complete couple bets, one is to complete 1000 situps in an hour, the other is to do a certain amount of pushups but the details are not confirmed yet. I used to be a decent athlete competing at county and regional levels but have let my fitness go in the last 2 years since an illness, time to regain myself! These bets are a way of finding the motivation to get me started again!
I'll finish off this post with my depressing results from last month!
Onwards and upwards, start of this month has been promising!
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Last of the Summer Grind
With university looming I decided to have one last live session before I head back. I have a friend staying with me until university so we headed down to my local casino and hit the tables. I haven't played here for a while and it was nice to see a few familiar faces and catch up with a few people I played with earlier in the summer. I booked £140 profit (around $220) which I'll put into my online account and called it a relatively early night, I busted a few of the weaker players and we were left with a tight table full of regulars, not something I am going to waste my little time left at home at.
September has had a pretty good start for me, I had a successful first weekend at 25nl where I took a shot slightly underrolled that set me up for the month. 10nl hasn't been so kind, I'm kind of breaking even and not getting a lot of traction but with bonuses and live winnings I'm having a good month.
I've started reading a few new poker books, both by Dusty Schimdt to try and kick start my game and get into the online mindset before getting back to university. Treat Poker Like a Business is a great read and I look forward to reading Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth when I am done with the first, I'll try write something more comprehensive about them when I am done with them.
The Rugby World Cup has started which is keeping me awake at night for the next couple months, lets hope England can repeat 2003!
September has had a pretty good start for me, I had a successful first weekend at 25nl where I took a shot slightly underrolled that set me up for the month. 10nl hasn't been so kind, I'm kind of breaking even and not getting a lot of traction but with bonuses and live winnings I'm having a good month.
I've started reading a few new poker books, both by Dusty Schimdt to try and kick start my game and get into the online mindset before getting back to university. Treat Poker Like a Business is a great read and I look forward to reading Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth when I am done with the first, I'll try write something more comprehensive about them when I am done with them.
The Rugby World Cup has started which is keeping me awake at night for the next couple months, lets hope England can repeat 2003!
Sunday, 4 September 2011
August Review - September Goals
Hey guys, just finished the end of my first month back playing online and its been a bit of a roller coaster, up and down more times than I can count. I can at least report that profit was made, although not too much, and I'm very happy to be playing again. Thanks to the Pokerstars VIP club promotion during August I was able to attain Platinum status which I will keep throughout September allowing me to get more FPPs and therefore more "rakeback". I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with the FPPs at the moment, likely 210fpp sats to the Sunday Storm, they seem to give me an OK $/fpp. I'm going to be concentrating 100% on cash these days, no mtts and sngs, if I don't feel like playing cash I'll just do something else!
Looking forward I'm hoping to get rolled for 25nl by the end of the month and retain Goldstar, although that will be a push unless I move up sooner rather than later.
Outside of poker house at uni is all sorted and looking awesome, I'll try get some pics up at some point onceI'm happy with having moved in! Going to try and have a slightly less alcoholic year and focus more academically, everything counts now so time to step up and nail the work
Looking forward I'm hoping to get rolled for 25nl by the end of the month and retain Goldstar, although that will be a push unless I move up sooner rather than later.
Outside of poker house at uni is all sorted and looking awesome, I'll try get some pics up at some point onceI'm happy with having moved in! Going to try and have a slightly less alcoholic year and focus more academically, everything counts now so time to step up and nail the work
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Back on the grind
It has been SO good to be back playing online again, I think the time away has given me the desire to put long hours in again and the results so far have been encouraging. I feel I have had a couple EUREKA! moments and plugged a few big leaks that had been stopping me from winning so much before. Or I could be a fish on a heater! I seem to be spewing a lot at the start of sessions which is strange but something that I would like to eliminate, I think stuff learnt over the last session will definitely help with that!
Also managed to hit Platinum Star this month thanks to Stars promotion, I think once I am up at 25nl maintaining Gold Star will be a realistic goal and at 50nl hopefully Platinum Star. I am also back up to 12 tabling which is really helping my volume and letting me see a lot more interesting spots whilst still having the time to think and act on all tables.
My rough plan for the rest of the year is as follows:
End of September - Be playing rolled for 25nl
End of 2011 - Be playing rolled for 50nl
2011 - Study hard, review and discuss hands, stop spewing retarded spots
2012 - Supernova run
Outside of poker the time to be moving into my house at university is fast approaching, I need to pay the first rent installment before September 1st when I move in. Really looking forward to living with 3 really good friends, although none of them play poker we have every other interest in common so it should be good fun!
Also managed to hit Platinum Star this month thanks to Stars promotion, I think once I am up at 25nl maintaining Gold Star will be a realistic goal and at 50nl hopefully Platinum Star. I am also back up to 12 tabling which is really helping my volume and letting me see a lot more interesting spots whilst still having the time to think and act on all tables.
My rough plan for the rest of the year is as follows:
End of September - Be playing rolled for 25nl
End of 2011 - Be playing rolled for 50nl
2011 - Study hard, review and discuss hands, stop spewing retarded spots
2012 - Supernova run
Outside of poker the time to be moving into my house at university is fast approaching, I need to pay the first rent installment before September 1st when I move in. Really looking forward to living with 3 really good friends, although none of them play poker we have every other interest in common so it should be good fun!
Friday, 19 August 2011
Time to make a start!
Hello guys, time for another update!
I've decided that ahead of starting this 25nl stake (which I'm still hopeful of but don't want to rely on for my action) I've put a little bit of money onto stars to allow me to start grinding 10nl overrolled to give me the time to work on my game in preparation of the stake. I will be 6 tabling or 9 tabling depending on the strength of the tables and applying concepts learnt from studying videos and actively trying to improve my game, rather than grinding with the plays I already use and the basic strategy I employ at the moment.
I will be posting a lot of hands on 2p2 uNL and Leggo Poker forums as well as discussing hands over skype with this new group I recently joined. Currently I am having a good debate over a hand on 2p2 where I am getting a lot of great, but conflicting advice! http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/10nl-3-bet-not-3bet-1085926/
I realise my game is a LONG way behind where it needs to be but I'm looking forward to the challenge and have given myself the full range of tools to achieve my goals. I don't like to set specific targets, I've seen a million threads of "$10 to $10k in 1 year" / "2nl to 1knl by next summer" threads but I don't think I can do this. Poker will never be my sole source of income, for me it is the competition, I'll move up when I'm bored of a stake and I no longer find it a challenge. There are times when I forget this goal when on tilt, am losing or frustrated but I hope there will be people either here or around me to keep me focused! Winning at poker, not for the money, for the winning!
I'm roughly a month away from going back to university and moving into a house with 3 close friends, very much looking forward to this and luckily they all have an unhealthy obsession over football, I love playing the game but have little time for talking about or watching it so I will have plenty of time to play, I wouldn't dare talk to them about poker!
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/why-i-dont-tell-people-i-play-poker-308/
Anyway, hope all is well guys, if you want to ask anything feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me a pm on 2p2, name is LolDonkamentz, good luck at the tables!
I've decided that ahead of starting this 25nl stake (which I'm still hopeful of but don't want to rely on for my action) I've put a little bit of money onto stars to allow me to start grinding 10nl overrolled to give me the time to work on my game in preparation of the stake. I will be 6 tabling or 9 tabling depending on the strength of the tables and applying concepts learnt from studying videos and actively trying to improve my game, rather than grinding with the plays I already use and the basic strategy I employ at the moment.
I will be posting a lot of hands on 2p2 uNL and Leggo Poker forums as well as discussing hands over skype with this new group I recently joined. Currently I am having a good debate over a hand on 2p2 where I am getting a lot of great, but conflicting advice! http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/10nl-3-bet-not-3bet-1085926/
I realise my game is a LONG way behind where it needs to be but I'm looking forward to the challenge and have given myself the full range of tools to achieve my goals. I don't like to set specific targets, I've seen a million threads of "$10 to $10k in 1 year" / "2nl to 1knl by next summer" threads but I don't think I can do this. Poker will never be my sole source of income, for me it is the competition, I'll move up when I'm bored of a stake and I no longer find it a challenge. There are times when I forget this goal when on tilt, am losing or frustrated but I hope there will be people either here or around me to keep me focused! Winning at poker, not for the money, for the winning!
I'm roughly a month away from going back to university and moving into a house with 3 close friends, very much looking forward to this and luckily they all have an unhealthy obsession over football, I love playing the game but have little time for talking about or watching it so I will have plenty of time to play, I wouldn't dare talk to them about poker!
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/why-i-dont-tell-people-i-play-poker-308/
Anyway, hope all is well guys, if you want to ask anything feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me a pm on 2p2, name is LolDonkamentz, good luck at the tables!
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Londons burning
I'm sure many of you saw what went on in London about a week ago, pictures being broadcast around the world. Being a lazy poker player with lots of free time I headed over to the cleanup and had one of my best days in London!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1879498359761.95701.1610340151
With regards to poker it is quite quiet for me at the moment. I am expecting to start a 25nl full ring stake in September so am preparing by getting used to multitabling again and joining Skype strategy groups. If anyone reads this and partakes in any such group and there is room for one more I'd love an invite!
I've been playing a fair amount of fixed limit holdem to try and improve my mixed games and it's being going pretty good, also managed to ship one of the Pokerstars tournaments, albeit only a $1.65.
So, really I'm biding my time till starting this stake, really looking forward to going back to online grinding after my live summer, just hope it doesn't get in the way of studying too much!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1879498359761.95701.1610340151
With regards to poker it is quite quiet for me at the moment. I am expecting to start a 25nl full ring stake in September so am preparing by getting used to multitabling again and joining Skype strategy groups. If anyone reads this and partakes in any such group and there is room for one more I'd love an invite!
I've been playing a fair amount of fixed limit holdem to try and improve my mixed games and it's being going pretty good, also managed to ship one of the Pokerstars tournaments, albeit only a $1.65.
So, really I'm biding my time till starting this stake, really looking forward to going back to online grinding after my live summer, just hope it doesn't get in the way of studying too much!
Monday, 8 August 2011
Summer Break
Hey, I guess I own an apology for not posting recently, I've had a bit of a break from poker and put time into the stuff that playing poker allows me to do. I've spent 10 days or so in Monte Carlo with my better half and a friend, wishing I was rolled to play 10/20 Euro games going on there.... Other than that I've been back in London seeing friends, playing a little online on Pokerstars and Lock/RPM poker booking a few small wins but mainly just keeping it ticking over.
The last month or so has made me appreciate what poker has done for me. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a "baller" from my poker winnings but it gives me a bit of financial independence and supplements my lifestyle nicely, but not requiring me to depend on it, a situation I would like to perpetuate.
My goals for the next couple months is to get back onto online poker, build a roll and get ready for going back to university where there is no live poker. I want to really focus on my studies for the next 2 years so I don't want to be driving hours every week to play so I am going to sort out my online game and get on with the grind, perhaps only playing once a month or less live in London.
I will miss not being able to play live the entire time but on the other hand it will be good to get back the sort of live a student should have, I wouldn't like to sacrifice my student years for playing poker! I'll of course put in decent hours online and a run at Supernova in 2012 would be a interesting goal if I'm back at 25 or 50nl SH by then.
So, I guess the long and short of it is I have 6 months to build a decent roll to get some good play going in 2012! I've put away 75% of my winning in savings for ski equipment/passes/flights and whatever else and spent the other 25% over the last month. I still have a bit online and thats what I'm going to build on. I'll probably try to round this blog out a bit more as well, I feel it's been a bit to orientated on a very narrow part of my life so it would be fun to open it up a bit!
The last month or so has made me appreciate what poker has done for me. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a "baller" from my poker winnings but it gives me a bit of financial independence and supplements my lifestyle nicely, but not requiring me to depend on it, a situation I would like to perpetuate.
My goals for the next couple months is to get back onto online poker, build a roll and get ready for going back to university where there is no live poker. I want to really focus on my studies for the next 2 years so I don't want to be driving hours every week to play so I am going to sort out my online game and get on with the grind, perhaps only playing once a month or less live in London.
I will miss not being able to play live the entire time but on the other hand it will be good to get back the sort of live a student should have, I wouldn't like to sacrifice my student years for playing poker! I'll of course put in decent hours online and a run at Supernova in 2012 would be a interesting goal if I'm back at 25 or 50nl SH by then.
So, I guess the long and short of it is I have 6 months to build a decent roll to get some good play going in 2012! I've put away 75% of my winning in savings for ski equipment/passes/flights and whatever else and spent the other 25% over the last month. I still have a bit online and thats what I'm going to build on. I'll probably try to round this blog out a bit more as well, I feel it's been a bit to orientated on a very narrow part of my life so it would be fun to open it up a bit!
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Dreams Do Come True
8 handed, cards being dealt. Limp, Limp, £30 (wtf?), call. Look down at cards, Ah, Ad. Ship in £118. Call. Long boring speech about how they feel they need to call. Call. Cards get flipped. KK and KQ. Ship it.
Good session last night, helped by the above hand. Wasn't playing at 100% as I had friends with me and was chatting to them etc. Won a bit on roulette and freerolled my friend and brother on some roulette for fun. Off up to London today but should have time to head up to the Vic and play, hopefully pay for the trip!
Cash game:
Time played: 2.14
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £225
Profit: £125
Hourly: £55.97
Good session last night, helped by the above hand. Wasn't playing at 100% as I had friends with me and was chatting to them etc. Won a bit on roulette and freerolled my friend and brother on some roulette for fun. Off up to London today but should have time to head up to the Vic and play, hopefully pay for the trip!
Cash game:
Time played: 2.14
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £225
Profit: £125
Hourly: £55.97
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Swings and Roundabouts
I nearly didn't play it.
Sorry for the long time since the last post but I find it hard to blog during a downswing. I'd had a few days of break even poker and was in a period of frustrated tilt at the table. I ended up stuck a fair bit but I heard some talk of a big poker tournament in the Solent split between Southampton and Portsmouth, getting together for the finals at Portsmouth. I figured if I ran a bit better over the next few days I could enter and give it a shot.
The next day I'm playing at Portsmouth and lose even more, I know the losses aren't big but I was getting frustrated, I left, planned to take a break from poker and skip the tournament. I figured the games aren't going anywhere, conserve the bankroll and get my mindset back that let me win. Skipping Saturday night is not something I like to do given the good money on the table but I just needed to have a break and spent the evening at home with the girlfriend.
Sunday morning came around and I decided to head down and just give the tournament a go, it was only £50 and I figured the change might get me back into cash games and winning. It turned out to be a £50 with one optional rebuy or addon which I took at the end of the addon period having been down to a single 1000 chip at one point. After 3 levels entry and rebuys were over and I was pretty low on chips, I figured I'd be out pretty soon and have the drive of shame back home having left only hours before. I spent the next few hours reasonably short stacked, doubling up and surviving, stealing any dead money on the table at every opportunity. After a while we began to head down to the final 10 players of the Portsmouth starting flight, we would stop at 7 players and wait for the other starting flight's survivors to arrive. The final 7 from each flight would make the money. Having somehow survived being the shortstack throughout the entire day I entered the final 10 in 9th position, 7 of us would make the final 14 with Southampton and be in the money. The action was fast and furious, the chipleader coming into the final 7 didn't survive and was out and we were down to 7 within 30 minutes. Having spent the 30 minutes in hyper aggressive mode I came out as the chip leader from the Portsmouth flight. There was an element of scared money on the table, shortstacks trying to survive and big stacks trying to protect their lead. I was happy to ship my stack in often and scored some big double ups and stole some big pots.
Down to the final 7 we had a long break while the players from the Southampton flight travelled the short trip down and got setup for the final two tables. I grabbed some food with another of the players, a guy named Reese from a local card club. He was down to get some practice for a UKIPT event he had won a seat in through his poker league. He had a good chip stack and was glad to see that he was on my table of 7 on my right for the restart. We would play down to 10 and then combine for the final table. What happened next was one of the most spectacular blow ups I have ever seen. Between myself and Reese was a short stack, who in the space of three hands managed to take all of Reese's chips. Reese would stick around the rest of the night and rail me, I didn't see enough of his as it was late afterwards but I'm going to go down to his local club and find him, I hope to play with him again and wish him the best at UKIPT Brighton!
Pretty soon we were down to the final 10 which pretty soon became the final 8. By now the blinds had eaten my stack a fair bit and I had chipped down to one of the shortstacks at the table, it was time to get aggressive and start stealing again. The money jumps were reasonably big but if you come this far, it's time to win. Slowly players began to fall around us and eventually we were down to 5, where I was the shortstack and guaranteed £750, a great return on my investment. At this point the players started to discuss a deal, being the shortstack I was surprised that we agreed we would all guarantee ourselves £1500, then play for an additional £1000 for first, £560 for second and £300ish for 3rd.
The deal seemed to loosen up play a bit which surprised me as there was still a lot to play for. 5th place busted quickly and we were down to four where myself and the other shortstack would cling on for dear life. I would have had him out early on but he survived a AK vs QJ encounter and we played on. Finally we got to three handed and the money started going up again, by this point I was a big chip leader, I proceeded to lose a big pot to the man in 2nd place then busted the shortstack the next hand and we were heads up. The blinds were so high at this point that we both knew it would be over soon. The final hand saw my 76o against 83hh on a 765hh board, the money went in and he hit his draw to knock me out in second for over £2000.
I really feel I played the best poker of my life, I lost hands when I was ahead, I won hands when I was behind, I would say I was pretty luck neutral during the tournament. After a hard week or two of cash games this is exactly what I needed to get back on the grind, a few bad results lives span a lot longer than on online, you can begin to question your ability. This score gave me the confidence (and a nice bankroll boost) to come back stronger and win even more.
The next day I went down to my local casino, wrapped up a win and felt good. We're back on track, swings and roundabouts baby.
Tournament:
£55 entry +£50 addon
£2060 cashout
Cash game:
Time played: 2:42
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £226
Profit: £126
Hourly: £46.67
Sorry for the long time since the last post but I find it hard to blog during a downswing. I'd had a few days of break even poker and was in a period of frustrated tilt at the table. I ended up stuck a fair bit but I heard some talk of a big poker tournament in the Solent split between Southampton and Portsmouth, getting together for the finals at Portsmouth. I figured if I ran a bit better over the next few days I could enter and give it a shot.
The next day I'm playing at Portsmouth and lose even more, I know the losses aren't big but I was getting frustrated, I left, planned to take a break from poker and skip the tournament. I figured the games aren't going anywhere, conserve the bankroll and get my mindset back that let me win. Skipping Saturday night is not something I like to do given the good money on the table but I just needed to have a break and spent the evening at home with the girlfriend.
Sunday morning came around and I decided to head down and just give the tournament a go, it was only £50 and I figured the change might get me back into cash games and winning. It turned out to be a £50 with one optional rebuy or addon which I took at the end of the addon period having been down to a single 1000 chip at one point. After 3 levels entry and rebuys were over and I was pretty low on chips, I figured I'd be out pretty soon and have the drive of shame back home having left only hours before. I spent the next few hours reasonably short stacked, doubling up and surviving, stealing any dead money on the table at every opportunity. After a while we began to head down to the final 10 players of the Portsmouth starting flight, we would stop at 7 players and wait for the other starting flight's survivors to arrive. The final 7 from each flight would make the money. Having somehow survived being the shortstack throughout the entire day I entered the final 10 in 9th position, 7 of us would make the final 14 with Southampton and be in the money. The action was fast and furious, the chipleader coming into the final 7 didn't survive and was out and we were down to 7 within 30 minutes. Having spent the 30 minutes in hyper aggressive mode I came out as the chip leader from the Portsmouth flight. There was an element of scared money on the table, shortstacks trying to survive and big stacks trying to protect their lead. I was happy to ship my stack in often and scored some big double ups and stole some big pots.
Down to the final 7 we had a long break while the players from the Southampton flight travelled the short trip down and got setup for the final two tables. I grabbed some food with another of the players, a guy named Reese from a local card club. He was down to get some practice for a UKIPT event he had won a seat in through his poker league. He had a good chip stack and was glad to see that he was on my table of 7 on my right for the restart. We would play down to 10 and then combine for the final table. What happened next was one of the most spectacular blow ups I have ever seen. Between myself and Reese was a short stack, who in the space of three hands managed to take all of Reese's chips. Reese would stick around the rest of the night and rail me, I didn't see enough of his as it was late afterwards but I'm going to go down to his local club and find him, I hope to play with him again and wish him the best at UKIPT Brighton!
Pretty soon we were down to the final 10 which pretty soon became the final 8. By now the blinds had eaten my stack a fair bit and I had chipped down to one of the shortstacks at the table, it was time to get aggressive and start stealing again. The money jumps were reasonably big but if you come this far, it's time to win. Slowly players began to fall around us and eventually we were down to 5, where I was the shortstack and guaranteed £750, a great return on my investment. At this point the players started to discuss a deal, being the shortstack I was surprised that we agreed we would all guarantee ourselves £1500, then play for an additional £1000 for first, £560 for second and £300ish for 3rd.
The deal seemed to loosen up play a bit which surprised me as there was still a lot to play for. 5th place busted quickly and we were down to four where myself and the other shortstack would cling on for dear life. I would have had him out early on but he survived a AK vs QJ encounter and we played on. Finally we got to three handed and the money started going up again, by this point I was a big chip leader, I proceeded to lose a big pot to the man in 2nd place then busted the shortstack the next hand and we were heads up. The blinds were so high at this point that we both knew it would be over soon. The final hand saw my 76o against 83hh on a 765hh board, the money went in and he hit his draw to knock me out in second for over £2000.
I really feel I played the best poker of my life, I lost hands when I was ahead, I won hands when I was behind, I would say I was pretty luck neutral during the tournament. After a hard week or two of cash games this is exactly what I needed to get back on the grind, a few bad results lives span a lot longer than on online, you can begin to question your ability. This score gave me the confidence (and a nice bankroll boost) to come back stronger and win even more.
The next day I went down to my local casino, wrapped up a win and felt good. We're back on track, swings and roundabouts baby.
Tournament:
£55 entry +£50 addon
£2060 cashout
Cash game:
Time played: 2:42
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £226
Profit: £126
Hourly: £46.67
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Nose to the Grindstone
Everything is now finished, I'm all done with this years course of study pending results. Spent the last few days with friends at university, packed up the rest of my stuff and took it all back home. Looking forward I'm hoping to play a fair bit and get together the money to be comfortably moving into the bigger games with little risk of ruin. The downside to the bigger games is more travel time but this shouldn't be a problem, being able to stay over in London.
Last nights session was pretty standard but I found myself getting more and more frustrated with some donkey play. If anything this is a result of lack of sleep and a lot of driving recently, once I'm back to myself and rested I'll be able to brush it off. I'm absolutely loving doing this and I don't plan to stop doing it, I'm enjoying having more money in my pocket to have fun with my friends and having some degree of financial independence.
Time played: 4:23
Buyin: £140
Cashout: £220
Profit: £80
Hourly: £18.25
Last nights session was pretty standard but I found myself getting more and more frustrated with some donkey play. If anything this is a result of lack of sleep and a lot of driving recently, once I'm back to myself and rested I'll be able to brush it off. I'm absolutely loving doing this and I don't plan to stop doing it, I'm enjoying having more money in my pocket to have fun with my friends and having some degree of financial independence.
Time played: 4:23
Buyin: £140
Cashout: £220
Profit: £80
Hourly: £18.25
Monday, 13 June 2011
12/6/11 - Piss Poor Preparation, Piss Poor Performance
Had a few days away from the tables up in London watching some Polo, drinking and catching up with friends. Inevitably this leads to a lack of sleep and a lot of driving, this is not the best way to prepare to play poker. I turned up late, tired but pretty convinced that I was going to play some poker despite all of this. I stacked off pretty early on with AA again (sigh, I need to learn to fold) but managed to rally back to even when this hand came along. It limped around to the button and I just limped along with 73o, shit hand but on the button with around 7-1 to call I'll see a flop. Flop comes 633dd and I get check raised by the utg player who started the limpfest. I call for a 4 on the turn and once again for a 2 on the river. I lose to 53o. I think I played the hand badly while I still lost the minimum, I would really appreciate any feedback on this hand. We were quite deep and I didn't want to get too involved but I felt I had enough showdown value, especially on the river as the flush didn't come. I had seem him limp raise pre with big pairs so I could place him on JJ-AA with his c/r OTF and bets on all further streets. Could also have been on a flush draw as he is more than happy to put the money in on those given previous history. I don't know, I found it hard to fold there but not strong enough to raise, such is life, live and learn.
It was interested to find out that one guy who I had seen at the tables a lot and had gotten quite friendly with had been playing semi professionally over the last few years with great success, although with no desire to make it a long term job. After being laid up after a workplace injury he managed to win over $40k on his first day by binking two tournaments and found himself a year or so later in Australia, having intended to just go over and see some friends. He ended up working on one of the local farms and playing poker at the Crown City in Melbourne. After a year and a half playing, which included a run in the Aussie Millions for another $40k he invested the money in property in the UK and settled into real life with a real job. I think this is a great example of what poker can do you a young man (or woman). The financial ability to get a foot on the property ladder and give yourself a good start, I wish him the best in the future with a real job!
I ended up down about half a buyin, stats at the bottom as usual. Weekend was great fun, a lot of drinking and polo, well worth the slight loss at the table that it probably caused. Have to travel back to university today to sign some contracts and sign my keys back in etc, will probably lead to a night out and a few more nights away from the table, we'll have to see.
Time played: 4:25
Buyin: £200
Cashout: £141
Profit: -£59
Hourly: -£13.36
It was interested to find out that one guy who I had seen at the tables a lot and had gotten quite friendly with had been playing semi professionally over the last few years with great success, although with no desire to make it a long term job. After being laid up after a workplace injury he managed to win over $40k on his first day by binking two tournaments and found himself a year or so later in Australia, having intended to just go over and see some friends. He ended up working on one of the local farms and playing poker at the Crown City in Melbourne. After a year and a half playing, which included a run in the Aussie Millions for another $40k he invested the money in property in the UK and settled into real life with a real job. I think this is a great example of what poker can do you a young man (or woman). The financial ability to get a foot on the property ladder and give yourself a good start, I wish him the best in the future with a real job!
I ended up down about half a buyin, stats at the bottom as usual. Weekend was great fun, a lot of drinking and polo, well worth the slight loss at the table that it probably caused. Have to travel back to university today to sign some contracts and sign my keys back in etc, will probably lead to a night out and a few more nights away from the table, we'll have to see.
Time played: 4:25
Buyin: £200
Cashout: £141
Profit: -£59
Hourly: -£13.36
Friday, 10 June 2011
9/6/11 - The Early Bird Catches the Worm
I decided to try something different tonight, I arrived a couple hours earlier for two reasons, firstly to try and get a seat quicker, secondly and more importantly to try and catch people coming straight from work who are coming to play and unwind. I played my usual game of raising pre a lot, trying to draw people out of their comfort zone by building pots quickly. Post flop this gives me the chance to take a lot of pots down with c-bets and just give up if I get anyone coming along. I am not getting anyone floating here, if they call it is likely they have at least a good draw. Luckily this evening I hit pretty hard after the flop and ran pretty good, booking a solid win in good time and got home early which is a bonus.
Aside from the action on the felt it was a good evening, I'm beginning to get to know more people, both as a friend and as a player which makes the long grind every evening more enjoyable. I don't think I'm a typical young poker player, my idols aren't Dwan and Galfond, while I obviously respect their game hugely. I love the true live cash players that you hear playing endless Vegas sessions in the casinos I dream of visiting, all the men who were playing for decades before Moneymaker brought poker to the public in 2003. One of these men who's autobiography I read recently is David Ulliot, better known as a the Devilfish. During my early poker education when I was predominantly an online player I would groan at the sight of Devilfish coming onto a TV table, having to watch him nit it up for a few hours. Now however, I understand the mentality of the live player more, I understand the grind, reading his autobiography was a pleasure as well, I'm sure much was elaborated and embellished but it was a little insight to one of my countries top players and someone we owe a lot to to bringing poker to the UK and television. Anecdotally I met someone recently that knew Devilfish from their earlier years while staying at Her Majesty's pleasure... To the point, having been playing live now for a while, there are very few younger players who have any interaction with the table. Almost every young player I see sits down, sticks the headphones in and proceeds to play horrible poker. While I don't mind they are missing out, they zone out of the game and miss a lot of the action and tendencies of the other players. For me though it's better, I'd rather talk to the older guys, they have more interesting stuff to talk about than their EV in this pot they played online that afternoon against their opponents range....
Time played: 3:19
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £245
Profit: £145
Hourly: £43.72
Aside from the action on the felt it was a good evening, I'm beginning to get to know more people, both as a friend and as a player which makes the long grind every evening more enjoyable. I don't think I'm a typical young poker player, my idols aren't Dwan and Galfond, while I obviously respect their game hugely. I love the true live cash players that you hear playing endless Vegas sessions in the casinos I dream of visiting, all the men who were playing for decades before Moneymaker brought poker to the public in 2003. One of these men who's autobiography I read recently is David Ulliot, better known as a the Devilfish. During my early poker education when I was predominantly an online player I would groan at the sight of Devilfish coming onto a TV table, having to watch him nit it up for a few hours. Now however, I understand the mentality of the live player more, I understand the grind, reading his autobiography was a pleasure as well, I'm sure much was elaborated and embellished but it was a little insight to one of my countries top players and someone we owe a lot to to bringing poker to the UK and television. Anecdotally I met someone recently that knew Devilfish from their earlier years while staying at Her Majesty's pleasure... To the point, having been playing live now for a while, there are very few younger players who have any interaction with the table. Almost every young player I see sits down, sticks the headphones in and proceeds to play horrible poker. While I don't mind they are missing out, they zone out of the game and miss a lot of the action and tendencies of the other players. For me though it's better, I'd rather talk to the older guys, they have more interesting stuff to talk about than their EV in this pot they played online that afternoon against their opponents range....
Time played: 3:19
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £245
Profit: £145
Hourly: £43.72
Thursday, 9 June 2011
8/6/11 - Breaking the rules
After setting my new ground rules for my weekday sessions all was going well last night. I'd been sat for around 30 mins, playing the tight aggressive poker that counters the limp and smash the flop tactics of the table and was up around £80-100. However, I felt it wouldn't be too good of me to just stand up and leave with the money at that point, I planned to stick around for another 30mins or an hour and then get up with my buyin profit. An hour later I'm faced with my original stack after frittering away my profits and then couldn't leave. I spent the next 6 hours stuck, card dead and frustrated, rebuying in frustration to bump up my stack to try and win a massive pot which didn't work either. The game began to break and I was about even, I'd sat for 7.5 hours with nothing to show for it.
Finally with 30 minutes left however I got into a hand out of position with a guy who had sat recently, had sat down about 9 hours ago and looked pretty ragged. I raised A7dd and got 2 callers, one to my left (B) and one to my right (A). Flop came A93dd, player to my right checked, I checked to the raiser and he bet out. Player A folded and I called for the turn. The turn brought a 7 giving me 2 pair and the nut flush draw. I led out and Player B went all in, snap call and he flipped JJ. I faded the one outer and shipped a pot giving me a healthy £71, not great for 8 hours work but profit is profit, 8 hours and profit is better than 7 with a loss. I played the game till it broke at 5:30am, went around the casino trying to get more action but gave up in the end and drove home.
Reviewing the session I think in the long run it was a +ev decision to not leave after 30 mins with the profit, this will be my local game for the next 4 months or so, hit and running is not going to endear myself to those I will be spending a lot of time around and wanting to get action from. After losing the profit my preparation that allows me to play long sessions if needed kicked in and I managed to grind out the profit. I would have left at any point if I had made £80-100, avoiding the instant hit and run but it never came, I was card dead and had to put the long hours in. Once again I felt it was a marginal game but I feel that if I'm going to sit in the game, I need to make a profit, there is no point in sitting for 3 hours and leaving broken even or booking a loss if I spend the day preparing to be able to play all night if needed.
Funnily enough I bumped into someone from FriendlyPoker who recognised me, or somehow managed to ask the right questions to find out that I was on there. o22 sat for a while in the game, booked a good win and went off home, this was a bit of a turning point in my evening, brought me out of my frustration and cleared my mind a bit.
Time played: 8:02
Buyin: £200
Cashout: £271
Profit: £71
Hourly: £8.74 (fml)
Finally with 30 minutes left however I got into a hand out of position with a guy who had sat recently, had sat down about 9 hours ago and looked pretty ragged. I raised A7dd and got 2 callers, one to my left (B) and one to my right (A). Flop came A93dd, player to my right checked, I checked to the raiser and he bet out. Player A folded and I called for the turn. The turn brought a 7 giving me 2 pair and the nut flush draw. I led out and Player B went all in, snap call and he flipped JJ. I faded the one outer and shipped a pot giving me a healthy £71, not great for 8 hours work but profit is profit, 8 hours and profit is better than 7 with a loss. I played the game till it broke at 5:30am, went around the casino trying to get more action but gave up in the end and drove home.
Reviewing the session I think in the long run it was a +ev decision to not leave after 30 mins with the profit, this will be my local game for the next 4 months or so, hit and running is not going to endear myself to those I will be spending a lot of time around and wanting to get action from. After losing the profit my preparation that allows me to play long sessions if needed kicked in and I managed to grind out the profit. I would have left at any point if I had made £80-100, avoiding the instant hit and run but it never came, I was card dead and had to put the long hours in. Once again I felt it was a marginal game but I feel that if I'm going to sit in the game, I need to make a profit, there is no point in sitting for 3 hours and leaving broken even or booking a loss if I spend the day preparing to be able to play all night if needed.
Funnily enough I bumped into someone from FriendlyPoker who recognised me, or somehow managed to ask the right questions to find out that I was on there. o22 sat for a while in the game, booked a good win and went off home, this was a bit of a turning point in my evening, brought me out of my frustration and cleared my mind a bit.
Time played: 8:02
Buyin: £200
Cashout: £271
Profit: £71
Hourly: £8.74 (fml)
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
7/6/11 - Adopt, adapt and improve
After losing yesterday, despite to a suckout and a debatable cooler, I spent most of the day wondering why I wasn't winning more and I came up with the following.
1) I play for too long in marginal games
I think I derive a big edge by being awake and alert at the table, I'm not coming from a 9 to 5, I don't have kids etc. I make sure I arrive at the casino at 10pm rested, well fed and alert. On the weekends or holidays this allows me to play 10hrs+ and make the most of the recreational players who are there to have some fun, drink and chat to the table. However, on the weekdays where the table is mainly tight regulars I find myself putting myself through sessions of the same length. Every hour I sit at the table I get more impatient, restless and tired and therefore reduce my edge. Even if I am up £100 I sit at the table until I have all the money, am busto or think I will be too tired to drive if I stay any longer. On average days I need to book the win and leave, these players aren't going to let me build up massive stacks so I will aim to take around £100 in 2-3 hour sessions on non-peak days from now on.
2)Play style
This game has a lot of limping, people look to see cheap flops and bet big when they smash them. Instead of exploiting this by being aggressive pre in selective spots I found myself just doing what they are doing, limping marginal hands to try and flop big and take the money. Too often I would limp, hit big then win a small pot as there was no money in the middle. I need to stop this, I need to play the game I know counters theirs, aggression preflop, c-betting, isolating etc.
3)Think whilst in a hand
I know what I need to do in a hand, I know the tools I have disposable to me when I'm playing but I need to USE THEM! I found that whenever I was in a hand I went back to a "what do I have, what does he have" kind of thinking. I need to use all the information I have to make the best possible decisions, take more time to think everything through.
4)Getting to know the regs
I'm new to this casino so I don't know all of the regs yet, I'm building up mental notes but I need to start mentally noting (then physically when I get home) their tendencies to add to my winrate.
I played last night and applied these new rules, booked a £100 win in 2.5 hours. Time to start treating the weekdays as a job, get in, get it done, go home.
Play time: 2hrs 37
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £202
Profit: £102
Hourly: £41.63
1) I play for too long in marginal games
I think I derive a big edge by being awake and alert at the table, I'm not coming from a 9 to 5, I don't have kids etc. I make sure I arrive at the casino at 10pm rested, well fed and alert. On the weekends or holidays this allows me to play 10hrs+ and make the most of the recreational players who are there to have some fun, drink and chat to the table. However, on the weekdays where the table is mainly tight regulars I find myself putting myself through sessions of the same length. Every hour I sit at the table I get more impatient, restless and tired and therefore reduce my edge. Even if I am up £100 I sit at the table until I have all the money, am busto or think I will be too tired to drive if I stay any longer. On average days I need to book the win and leave, these players aren't going to let me build up massive stacks so I will aim to take around £100 in 2-3 hour sessions on non-peak days from now on.
2)Play style
This game has a lot of limping, people look to see cheap flops and bet big when they smash them. Instead of exploiting this by being aggressive pre in selective spots I found myself just doing what they are doing, limping marginal hands to try and flop big and take the money. Too often I would limp, hit big then win a small pot as there was no money in the middle. I need to stop this, I need to play the game I know counters theirs, aggression preflop, c-betting, isolating etc.
3)Think whilst in a hand
I know what I need to do in a hand, I know the tools I have disposable to me when I'm playing but I need to USE THEM! I found that whenever I was in a hand I went back to a "what do I have, what does he have" kind of thinking. I need to use all the information I have to make the best possible decisions, take more time to think everything through.
4)Getting to know the regs
I'm new to this casino so I don't know all of the regs yet, I'm building up mental notes but I need to start mentally noting (then physically when I get home) their tendencies to add to my winrate.
I played last night and applied these new rules, booked a £100 win in 2.5 hours. Time to start treating the weekdays as a job, get in, get it done, go home.
Play time: 2hrs 37
Buyin: £100
Cashout: £202
Profit: £102
Hourly: £41.63
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
6/6/11 - Ouch!
I'll admit I've had it pretty easy since I started playing live, I've worked very hard on my game but my hands have generally held up and I've been making good decisions, tonight however was a different story. Two key hands in the last 20 mins defined my session. Firstly I lose AA to JJ on a Q53r board for 320bb, then pick up AdAh again only to run it into a set on K32dd. I had position and he check raised me, I felt he would do this with a flush draw, possibly a weak king and lastly a set. If it were a set so be it but I felt shoving over the top would fold out some of his crap as well as getting value from AK or a flush draw.
This was my first heavy losing session but I don't feel I played badly, I think I could describe the second hand better but right now I just can't. My friend at the table said both hands were unavoidable and that it was poker and I agreed, sometimes the cards play themselves. Still loving the game and the life, just need to get used to the occasional loss I guess!
Bad beat stories over! Had a fun evening otherwise, good table with a few friendly faces makes for a better evening, played my first game of craps and won £20 so it wasn't all bad. I'll be back tomorrow night to try a new approach, I spoke to a guy there who had been playing there for a year or so, he recommended not bothering trying to lock up large wins but just taking a buyin or so and leaving. The games play differently in Bournemouth in that by 4-5am there aren't the 400bb+ stacks you see at other places, people play very weak tight and only put money in if they smash a flop. I might be better off trying to book steady consistent wins than putting in marathon sessions trying to take a massive haul every night, but time will tell!
Monday, 6 June 2011
In after busto
So I finally left online poker, it has been a tumultuous affair with many ups and downs. It gave me a little extra spending money on the side but in the end I just couldn't deal with the grind. However, this is far from the end of my poker career, as many Americans are also doing, I have switched to live play. The stakes are higher, the hours are longer although sometimes less frequent and the thrill is much greater. I want to stress that I have no desire to become a professional, although I've been able to make enough money to enjoy university to the fullest! To start this blog I thought I'd write a bit about the places I play and let you guys ask whatever you want!
Portsmouth Grosvenor:
This is where I cut my teeth in the live world, I first went in after going for a drink with my better half with £200 and bought in for £100 at the £1/1 tables and was hooked. I've put more hours in here than anywhere else and made more money. The cardroom offers £1/1 and £0.5/1 NLHE and a £200 min sitdown dealers choice game sometimes runs with Irish, 4/5/6 card omaha and other games to boot. It is a well run room, usually only 2 or 3 games running but the valet service is good, soft drinks are free, parking is free (useful when playing 10hrs+) and the walk back to the car is safe with an elevator taking you straight down to the parking lot.
Southampton Grosvenor:
Very similar to the Portsmouth Grosvenor, although I'd venture that the standard is slightly higher and there is usually a bit more money on the table. I've only played here a few times but many of the perks at Portsmouth remain here, although when I've been the valet service has been somewhat unreliable. My first night there I was tempted to walk away early on when there were several confrontations between players over rulings and blatant lying my players to get rulings to go their way. This doesn't usually perturb me but with the choice I have I prefer a friendly game as it keeps the recreational players in.
Plymouth Grosvenor:
This is the game closest to my university, although still a 50 minute drive away. Parking is not free here (sighhhh) but the game is good and doesn't have to finish at any particular time at the weekends, but closes at 5am on other nights. Hosts a few bigger MTT's that don't interest my too much but they attract some good money for the cash games. Once again the ability is very mixed but the crowd seems friendly and is a good place to play. I've only seen £0.50/1 run here but I've only been twice and I'm sure a lot else runs, I'll update when I've played more!
The Vic, London
The home of English poker I guess? What can I say, anyone who has played here knows that it is a step up from other rooms in terms of size and stakes offered. From £1/1 to £25/50 and above the Vic has it all, NLHE, PLO etc, if there are people to play the game will likely run. The staff are all of course professional and the player pool is weak at the lower stakes. When I played you were expected to pay for all drinks, including soft drinks which I found strange but maybe I was there on an off night. I've only been here once when passing through London but now University is over for the summer I will be heading up to play much more often.
Bournemouth Gala
This is the game closest to my home and from now on where I intend to put most of my hours in. The game only runs at £0.50/0.50 usually but that is fine with me, I buy in for £100-200 and play nice and deep against recreational players who have found themselves with a big stack and can force those with smaller stacks to a decision. Once again the soft drinks are free, the parking is free after 10pm and the games runs nice and late, perfect for me!
This is just an introduction really, I can go into depth on anything you want to talk about from BRM to traveling to trying to live a normal life when you are getting to bed at 7am!
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