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!

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

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

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