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!

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!

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!

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!