An Ordinary Man in an Ordinary World Full of Temptation...

Players Championship, Ashes and MRI's

2010-11-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first event in the Players Championship Festival at my local poker club. The event was a £200 NLH freezeout, and with a 50,000 starting stack and a slow structure. With the Ashes finally starting at the Gabba it promised to be a rather splendid night.

This year has been patchy; I’ve had some great results both online and live. I'm in profit across all the sites I play MTT's on online and also live I’m comfortably in profit for the year. May through to September I hit the biggest, longest down-swing I’ve encountered so far playing poker, and so the fact I’m still in profit is pretty comforting. What I'm lacking is a festival win at the International, and a big score at my favourite club. I'm hoping that gets rectified this week.

I'm not massively superstitious person, poker wise, but there's the odd this I like to do. I always wait until it's my turn to act before looking at my cards. I never act straight away when it's my turn. I'm quite impulsive person in life, and giving myself a few seconds to act generally tempers too many impulsive plays. One thing I have noticed is that I’ve never done well in a tournament when my daughter has stayed at mine the night before. I refuse to believe there's any correlation between the two. How can there be?

So last night I arrived early, happy with how I’ve been playing recently and confident i could do well. I arrived an hour before the tournament started, and the place was already busy with a fantastic atmosphere. I registered and drew seat T3. What would turn out to be pretty shite seat on a number of levels. With so many people in the club the place was jammed with tables. I sat at the end of one back to back with a player from the table behind. That would normally be fine, but in this instance it was the only route for people to get through to the corner of the club where the sofas and online area of the club. This meant I had to stand up to let people through probably once every 5 minutes or so. Bloody great.

As I took my seat I realised that I’d also drawn a comically tough table. I had JJ, Kevin Mcgee, Sam Grafton, Fez, a Scandie and two other young ballers at my table. Great. I knew the table would aggressive and it didn’t disappoint with big pots nearly every hand from the start. I was getting dealt complete rubbish, and when finally I was dealt QQ I had to fold on the river. The lady told me she had AA after the hand, but losing a decent sized pot early on still hurt.

After that I was dealt two more pairs in the next four hours. 99 and 44. The most amazing thing was that I didn’t see an ace the whole night!! Not even a ragey ace. That’s the first time ever that i’ve not seen one in a comp that I was in for over 5 hours!! What the odds of that even happening!? I’d been as low as 20k in chips, but had managed to grind my stack back to 45k when I got knocked out. The table folded to me in the SB, I had 14bb’s and rather impulsively just shoved. I knew the guy next to me wouldn’t call unless he had a hand like 77+ AQ+. Unfortunately he had 77, called, and despite me getting a few draws on the flop I missed, lost the flip and was out. Why didn’t I just raise 2.5x and fold when he re-raised?! I hate leaking chips in that was with such a small stack anyway, but it would seem the more sensible this to do. Role on the main event. The atmosphere at the club was amazing, and I can’t wait for the weekend.

So with the rubbish seat draw, a rather cute waitress chucking drinks in my direction :), probably the most aggressive table I’ve played at all year, and being totally and utterly card dead It really could have gone better. I went home to watch the remainder of the Ashes on TV, and that didn't improve my night.

After five hours sleep i'm now sitting waiting for an MRI at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. I'm drinking a semi-radioactive drink that tastes puke, and i've got an old guy sitting next to me who stinks of BO. Starts in M and ends in arv. The day can only improve from here. I've changed the next night Georgina, my daughter stays over to tonight. I'm not taking any chances with the rest of the week. Takeaway and a film is all that will occupy me this evening.

Rocky, Rocky, Rocky!!

2010-11-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

I'm just working my way through the Rocky box set, currently at the end of my favourite, Rocky 4. Jesus some of the quotes are awesome! Cringe.

'During this fight, I've seen a lot of changing, in the way you feel about me, and in the way I feel about you. In here, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than twenty million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!'

'He's worried! You cut him! You hurt him! You see? You see? He's not a machine, he's a man!'

Inspiring stuff!

Anyway, here's a short life update.

I've not played a huge amount of online poker over the last few months. Just a few tournaments on Full Tilt, but no STT’s. On Pokerstars I’m stuck on 81k in VPP’s, and after missing two months I lost my Supernova status. I need to rake the extra 19k in VPP’s by the end of the year or I lose out on a fair few bonuses this year and next. I’m pretty sure I’ll be very fucked off with myself if I don’t manage to achieve SN status for next year. Therefore that’s going to be my goal over the next 7 weeks. I need to play an average of 80 $16 STT’s a day for 40 days. This gives me a few days off which I’ll need as I doubt I’ll be playing much on Christmas day. Although I’m going to be in London for Christmas for the first time in quite a few years I don’t want to spend too much time playing poker!

In terms of playing live poker I’m going to try and limit myself to playing only once a week. Although I much prefer it, it’s just too time-consuming and hitting Supernova has to be my main goal. I’ll be playing the GUKPT Champion of Champions event. I also really want to play the two NLHE events at the player’s championships at the International, but unless I manage to sell 50% of myself then I won’t be doing it. I’ve currently sold 30% so I need to sell another two £60/10% blocks. If anyone’s interested then PM or email me.

I've been out with a couple of girls since I got back from holiday. Both are nice, but I think I like one a little more than the other. Not sure whether she’s that into me really though, we'll see. It's typical that it’s the one you like least seems to be the one who phones and texts me regularly. Anyway, knowing the way I run, i'll still be single this time next year! GG.

Weight update. After a rather heavy week I’ve gone back up to 97kgs. FFS.

Running Hot... For a week anyway.

2010-10-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm currently somewhere over the Atlantic on my way back from a weeks holiday in Tenerife with my daughter and her mum. Tenerife wouldn't generally be the top of my holiday wish list, but the weather was fantastic and I had a pretty awesome week. I don't really tan, unless you count going red(der) and then back to white, but at least I didn't burn.

I'm definitely not looking forward to the shite weather at home when we land. The cold, wet, dark weather makes me feel like hibernating, but I want to make more effort to get out over the next few weeks. At least the sunshine has kick-started my motivation to do things...

After a week sharing a double bed with my daughter I can't wait to sleep alone tonight! Being kicked during the night and woken relatively early loses it's appeal after week! I'm looking forward to playing some live poker this week. I didn't think I'd miss it, but it turns out it's only online poker I was losing my appeal for.

I need to sort out some backing issues this week. Since my new backer started I have a 35% ROI, but it appears he wants to stop backing people full stop. It's a shame, but fair enough. I have to decide whether I want to play MTTs online going forward. They can be pretty time consuming, and I might set myself some sort of STT/MTT bankroll challenge instead. I feel like I need to set myself some short term goals to get motivated.

Health-wise I'm having an MRI in a few weeks, but I feel OK most days at the moment. The weight loss program is going OK. I'm under 100kgs again, and I'm sure the more I lose the better I'll feel. I'd like to reach 85kgs by mid December. Just in time for the big woolly jumpers!

Girls, girls, girls.

2010-10-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve been single now for quite a while. To be quite honest it never really bothered me. In fact I was quite happily single. Able do to what I wanted, when I wanted, without recourse has its benefits. After time, when friends are getting married, and couples nights are the standard I started to feel a little lonely. I just missed someone to do normal things with, weekend breaks, going out for dinner or staying in to watch a film. At the start of this year I made it a goal to make more effort to get out and meet someone.

Obviously there were a few flaws with this goal. One, i’ve been quite ill, and so going out drinking wasn’t right at the top of my ‘to-do’ list. This has also meant i’ve put on weight, and with that confidence slides. I’m trying to do something about that now, but it takes time. Two, with me taking the year off work through poor health i’ve been playing poker more than anything else. Needless to say card rooms aren’t really the best destination to meet girls.

The last five girls’ I’ve been out with I met all of them through work. Generally i’ve always got to know girls before anything happens, and not working means that I’m not going to meet anyone that way for the time being. So where do you go to find people? I live in one of the biggest cities in the world, so it shouldn’t be so hard. I know several friends through poker who are in the same boat. Maybe someone should organise a ‘London Poker Singles night’, obviously there’d be more male applicants than female so wouldn't work.

I’ve been out on a few dates this year. All bar one were pretty dull, and I had no interest in seeing them again. The one who I did quite like, didn’t feel the same. Typical. The trouble is I’m picky. That’s certainly not always been the case, but it has been for a while. If I don't 'fancy' someone, then I don't make the effort in the first place, which is pretty poor. I would say that when i’m at my normal weight (and it’s been a while!) i’m pretty good looking, certainly no Brad Pitt, but definitely not ugly. I’m relatively shy when I don’t know a person, which never really helps. Of course being low on confidence over all means I probably don’t exude the glow which would attract girls anyway. A positive attitude is needed!

So where am I now? Nowhere really is the answer! There are a couple of girls i’ve been chatting too who I quite like. One from my local card room and another an old work colleague. I’m not sure if either will go anywhere, but you never know...

Making more effort is the answer. Get in shape, improved health and make the effort to go out and meet people. Then a year from now, i’ll be blogging that the grass wasn’t greener in the first place!

Applications close a fair few years from now.

Well that could have gone better

2010-10-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since my last post, roughly six months. I’m not too sure why I stopped writing, but once the relative routine of making posts goes it seems there’s little chance of me starting again. This time I’ll try and keep it up. I very much doubt many people actually read this anyway, but I think a bit of blog-therapy seems to help put things in perspective, for me anyway. Sadly my gift in life wasn’t creative literacy, so I’m afraid you’ll have to cope yet again with my illiterate ramblings.

Around the time of my last post I was running pretty well. Well up in all forms of tournaments both live and online for the year. Statistically I don’t think I was running particularly amazingly, but after the spell that followed I’d have craved to win 40% or so of ‘coin-flips’. Around April/May that changed overnight online, if someone had outs, then they hit them. It’s amazing how hard it can hit your morale when thing go to shit, I still played the odd STT, but MTT’s I couldn’t face. I had a backing deal online, but with me not playing many MTT and running badly that ended. Still, at least live poker was still going al-right. For now.

My highlight of the year, so far, was down in Thanet. I went down with JJ to play the summer series down there. It consisted of a couple of £200 MTT’s and the £300 main. I played pretty well the whole series, winning one of the GUKPT side events, and ‘bubbling’ the final table in both of the other comps. Considering I’ve played very few GUKPT events this year I feel the 16^th in the London main, and the two other side event final tables is a pretty good return. Sadly illness has hampered me playing too many more GUKPT events this year.

Just finishing off the final table then became a theme for the next few months. At the International it happened in four or five competitions back to back. Sometimes I pushed too light, and others where I just got unlucky. Either way I became the bubble boy. Then came the ISSSP Festival at the International. I played the first event reasonably well, but then in the middle event I was awful, playing way too passively. The main was pretty forgettable as well. After that came Vegas. I was feeling a little unwell going out there, but fine to play poker. I then I proceeded to have a heartbreaking run out in Vegas. I finished just off the money in six events. Not cashing once, and to top it all I became very ill over the last few days. In the end I was glad to come home. The only thing that kept my morale up over in Vegas was winning in all bar one cash game session. This at least made it nearly a break-even trip.

I’ve felt pretty rough on and off since July with my Crohns which probably didn’t help my mood, but the poor run continued throughout the summer. During a four week spell in August/September I recorded the result of all my all-in pre flop ‘coin-flips’ Over that period I lost just over 84%. Even given that statistic I managed to win the £100 freezeout once and final table one of the GSOP festival events. A small relief in an otherwise pretty depressing period. To be honest my health hasn’t improved a huge amount. I’m still on various types of medication, and some days feel like there’s nothing wrong. Other days I feel like total crap.

I’ve missed out on so many social occasions over the last few months because of my health. It’s actually quite depressing in itself. I missed out on going to Ibiza for one of my best friends stag do. I missed out on ‘Chaztival’, a mini-festival a friend had spent a lot of time organising, and countless other birthdays and social occasions. Dismal. I went out on Saturday to a 40^th birthday, my first night out in weeks, and had a great time. Unfortunately I was wiped out by 10.30 and left early.

I’m still single. This is no great surprise. I’ve been out on just three dates this year, and none of them were particularly great. I guess if I don’t go out in the events except to play poker then it’s unlikely that’ll change in the near future! It would be nice to meet someone again, but I guess it’s up to me to make the effort.

Pokerwise there are plenty of upcoming events I want to play. The Players Championship (http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=37647) at the International and London Calling at the new Fox poker room. I’ve also qualified for the Champions of Champions on the GUKPT tour. This takes place at the start of December and should have a first prize around the £40k mark. That’ll do.

My form finally seems to have changed direction over the last month or so. I’m backed again online, and am committed to playing MTT’s at least four times a week. I’m playing mostly on Full Tilt and have had 4 final tables and several deep cashes recently. On average I’m still running a 70% ROI on Full Tilt across the year, even taking in to account my dismal summer. I want to ensure I also play live again at least once a week, and actually get out and socialise once a week.

On the health front I've finally given up smoking after 20-30 a day for 16 years. It was actually easier than I thought, though i definitely put on weight. I’ve started exercising everyday to start and get back into shape. I’d like to lose 10kg’s by the start of December. Maybe a little over optimistic, but I weigh 101kgs at the moment so it’s only a 10% loss. Is that a lot over two months?

That’s enough of my drivel for now anyway. I’ll try and update 2-3 times a week, and comments are always welcome.

April Update

2010-05-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

After the last post I continued to play little poker during April. Something I need to rectify during May. I played the GUKPT in Manchester and lasted 4 levels. I'd love to say I got unlucky, but that just wasn't the case. I ran into big hands when i was weak, and when I held the nuts, my fellow players had air. Shame. I did manage to make it back to London for the monthly £300 at the International and final tabled that for a small £700 profit. To be honest i never felt so bad at a poker table from around 6pm to midnight. I was in constant pain and gobbling painkillers every few minutes. I guess any profit on a day like that is a result!!

Online I've played very little during the whole of April, mainly down to poor health, but also I was running so bad in MTT's that I thought it better to take a 'time-out' than spunk my backers cash up the wall. I keep playing a smallish volume of $60 Turbo STT's on Pokerstars (around 270 by month end) and ran up just under $2,000 in profit. I wouldn't say i was running above par, but I was playing so nitty to get in the cash that it seemed to pay off anyway.

May looks like it's going to be a busier month. I want to attend the UKIPT in Notts, GUKPT in Coventry, play some SCOOP events and try to get in at least 2 days a week of online MTT's. I also want to try for the International Cash Race over the next 3 months which means playing cash games at the club once a week minimum. On top of that i plan to play 1500 $60 turbos STT's on Stars.

I realise that quite a lot to commit to during May, but I want to do it and need some kind of forfeit if I don't... Any suggestions.

I'll try and put a update in daily during May to try and keep me focused!

The Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly

2010-04-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

After my recent escapades I was feeling rather drained. I met with my consultant last week who wants me to stay on the same treatment for the next 12 months, so I wasn't in the best of spirits going up Dusk till Dawn for the month £80k guaranteed. Fortunately with good company i was in better spirits by the time we arrived there, and things started well.

By mid evening I'd built up a decent stack of chips, circa 50k, and was totally in my comfort zone. Sadly that was the high point of the evening. After that I went completely card and situation dead. If i raised i got re-raised. If i re-raised they shoved all in. Eventually i was whittled down to 35k with ever increasing blinds i took a stand by 4bet shoving with 10 9 suited. I was called and lost most of my stack there. Then with 20 minutes of day one left I lost a coin flip and finished in 46th place. Very disappointing. Even worse i had to stay in the shittiest 'guest house' I've ever experienced. After managing a dismal 4 hours sleep, before doors started slamming and constant noise started in the house I got up and made the quick dash back to London. 1 hour 20 minutes door to door was a record I don't imagine I'll beat any-time soon!

I still felt rotten on bank holiday Monday, but with nothing else on decided to go and play the £100 Bank Holiday special at the International. After several night of poor sleep i had a dull headache which i really couldn't seem to shake. Not that i should have worried, i only lasted an hour. Every time i had a hand an over card would come, when i flopped a set someone river a straight and eventually, after losing half my stack, I took a stand against Nico. He raised in late position, as he had many time before. I called in the SB with rags, and BB called too. The flop came with 2 hearts, a Jack and Queen. Checked to Nico who led out. Now i think he's raising wide before the flop, and he'll continuation bet a large amount of that range on the flop, but will only call a shove with very good made hands. I shoved. He called with AQ. I was out.

With me still feeling ill I didn't play too much in the week. A few online MTT's, but only had a couple of minor cashes, and then I played the £150 on Saturday night at the International. Again nothing went right. I busted when my AA ran into a guy who turned a straight with KQ. His original raise UTG had thrown me, and I pretty much had him nailed on for KK or QQ. Generally I'm happy to trust my reads, but this time I was well off. In hindsight I took a stand too early against Nico, and probably shouldn't have played the competition at all. Yesterday I perhaps should have let it go on the turn, but it's easy to look back and play better!

Nearly a great week

2010-03-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a great week, veiled in disappointment. I've had over £10,000 in live tournament winnings, but getting 4th earlier in the week, then so close to a big result in the GUKPT London Main event really left me feeling a little deflated. Illness-wise it's taken it out of me too, and I felt pretty rubbish this morning. I slept on/off until midday which is unusual for me, and really need to get in to see my consultant this week. I'm going to start going to the gym this week once my personal trainer confirms which day, and hopefully attempt to get in shape. Weighing in currently around the 90kg, I really would like to lose around 10kg's!!

Anyway, back to the GUKPT. I've had the pleasure this week of playing poker with some of Europe's top poker players, and feel that whilst i wasn't totally happy with my game, I certainly held my own. During the course of the week i've played with recent European Poker Tour champion Jake Cody, Neil Channing, Willie Tann, Michael McCool, Praz Bansi, Vicky Coren and many more. I played at some stage with all the guys that made the final table, and they all fully deserved to be there. It really was a tough field and I guess I should be happy with 16th out of over 300 entrants, but anyone who plays know it doesn't work like that!

I played my Day 1 on Friday, and it really continued like the event earlier in the week seeing very few hands. I got aces in the second hand of the day and picked up just the blinds. Fantastic! About 2 hours in I was dealt pocket 8's and put a small raise in. I was called in 3 places and the flop came AQ8. Very nice. I bet and get called by two players. The turn brings a king. Not the best card, but certainly not the worst. It makes a straight, but that would mean someone calling the flop with J10. Unless someone slow-played a big pair pre-flop then I should still be good. I bet again. The next player raises. He's a good player who'd been actively, but played the hands that were shown down very well. I know he's not calling the flop for a gutshot, and a big ace, two pair seems the most plausible. Then the guy on the button pushes all in. He was pretty poor. Overplayed a few hands and i'd tagged him as a player to get in pots with. I dwell for quite a while before folding. I'm so sure that i'm beaten, but laying down a set there hurt and cost me half my stack. The other guy had to call and he had AK, whilst the poor player had J10 for a turned straight.

After that i slowly built my stack up again to around 28k. No massive hands, just grinding out pots. I then had to make another lay-down that cost me over half my stack. I was still at the same table, but we'd lost most of the table by this point and I wasn't particularly enjoying myself. I like to chat at the table but was sandwiched between a cantankerous old guy on my left, and an arrogant old twat on my right. A guy in early position raised. He'd done this several times and so didn't necessary mean a massive hand. I had a smallish stack and after one guy called i put a meaty pot sized raise in with JJ. This left me with 14k behind and would probably have to call. Then in the BB a Spanish guy who's been a pleasure to play with and was happy to show off his hands pushed all in. He had me covered, and when the original and caller folded the decision was on me. I was getting over 3-1 on the call and the maths said i had to call. The Spanish guy then chirped up and said he would show me if i folded. I was so sure i was beaten after 5 mins I folded the hand and he showed AA. Good fold, but is it ever right to fold there. He could have had AK, thinking he was ahead and acted in the same way. Either way it kept me in the came. I doubled up when my QQ held against KQ on a J102 flop and ended the day below average on 32k.

The next day i knew i was going to need a little luck i had 20 big blinds and needed some early hands. I didn't really get them, but still managed to make some shoves at the right time and chipped up to 45k. Then i flopped a straight against Pryan who was sat on my left. He didn't pay me off, but i still managed to get up 65k+. As people had been dropping out at a pretty quick rate I was still below average, but well in with a chance. My next had was my main bit of luck during the whole event. With a raise in front of me I look down and see AQ and 3 bet. It folds around to the big blind who puts a big raise in. The original raiser folds and i think for a minute before shoving. A little reckless, but the guy who 4-bet had shown down weak hands that he'd played very aggressively and i thought maybe i could get him off the hand as it was nearly all his chips. He called (sigh!) and flipped KK (FML!). The board ran out 27J. The turn was another 7 and the river a beautiful ace! This doubled me up and from there I managed to keep my stack increasing.

By the time the bubble came around i had just over 250k, well above average. Normally I'd push hard on the bubble, but with me facing several raises before me every hand and seeing total junk i moved into the money leaking chips. I won one big pot against Ms Coren, but aside from that times were tough. We broke to two tables and against i picked the wrong card and got a very tough table draw. Sitting on about 18 big blinds and card dead i needed to find a spot to double up. A player in early position raised and seeing 88 i pushed. He had AK and hit a king on the turn. I left pretty much straight away after that pretty down.

I'm going to have a couple of days off live poker, playing online MTT's tonight and then Wednesday a satellite on Paddy poker for the Irish open. there's 10 seats guaranteed, so i guess at worst I stand a 10% chance of going to Dublin next weekend. Failing that, and the more likely scenario, I'll go to Dusk Till Dawn for the monthly deep-stack.

As of the start of April i'm going to try and play online one night a week of online MTT's and have set myself a $4k STT challenge. I'm just going to play the $16 turbos on Pokerstars and see if i can grind that total out in profit during the month. So far this year I'm running at a, obviously unsustainable, ROI of 40%. I'd be happy with half that!

Anyway. I'll post later in the week about my progress in the various things I've posted about here.

A decent start to the week...

2010-03-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

After a few near misses over the weekend, and STILL running like shit I didn't have particularly high hopes for the GUKPT £300+£300 event starting on Monday, and i was right. Sort of.

I arrived and sat down at my table and for the first 30 mins or so it was pretty easy going. I picked up a few chips here and there, but nothing too dramatic. Then two younger chaps sat down and all hell broke loose. Raise, re-raise, re-re-raise was the order of the day from the end of the first level onwards. The more aggressive of the two was plonked directly on my left. The worst position to have an aggressive player! I tried raising, but was 3-bet every time, and as it was early on i mucked average hands. I starting limping in mid to late position to call a small raise with pairs, and occasionally 4 betting. This seemed to work out OK and i gradually increased my chips to around average. I didn't make any major hands, and my biggest pot came from a standard hand with KK. I was facing a raise and call already and was out of position so put a small raise in. The original raiser (a LAG) 4 bet me, i dwelled for a few secs before pushing all in. He dwelled for an age before mucking JJ. What took so long!

Around 3 hours in the table broke and i moved to a new table which was far easier to play on. There was obviously some very good players on the table, but they played hands in a predictable fashion. I picked up AK 3 times on this table winning twice without showdown and once losing a big pot to AA (FML). I managed to win a couple of flips with pairs and was back up to average before moving to my final table of the night. Nothing interesting happened here really. I raised the odd pot to keep my chips around average, but I wasn't seeing any cards and the short stacks were pushing to double or bust before the end of the day..

By the end of the days' play I'd not hand a hand better than bottom two pair. No sets, flushes or straights. This continued for the whole tournament. Hopefully I'm saving them up for the main event!

Day 2 i was expecting a slow start, and it was for me. Within the first 3-4 hands we'd had players all-in who were sitting on 70-80 big blinds. The same guy was involved in 2 of the hands and about 6 hands in he open pushed from early position. it was a 70x raise and needless to say everyone folded. He flipped AA. I'm pretty sure he extracted the maximum there!?! He busted about 45 mins later when he raised with JQ in early position, I 3 bet from the button with KK and he shipped it all in. I won the hand was and left me wondering how he made day 2 in the first place.

30 players had come back for day 2 and we lost 15 of them pretty quickly. With 15 left and 13 getting pair deal talk started to happen from the very short stacks. I wasn't keen, but before people on our table had even decided whether or not to consider it the bubble had bust. We had a 3 way all in on the other table and lost 2 players. Players busting continued at a rapid pace and no more than 40 mins later we were on the final table. I was pretty card dead the whole final table, but managed top rep hands a few times and slowly edged my stack up keeping in line with the average. There were plenty of interesting hands, but unless people desperately want to hear about them i'm not going to bother posting them. I eventually busted in 4th after getting it in as a small favourite (A10s) against a young chap who was running uber hot with (J9). He flopped trips and that was that. He'd already won about 9-10 hands all in preflop with the worst hand. On one hand knocking two players out with A7 vs AK and KK. He made a straight on the river of course. Must be nice.

I was gutted not to win it and the £20k first prize, but 4th paid £5,700 which will keep me in clothes, buy-ins and maybe odd drink for a few weeks.

I'm playing the GUKPT Main event London tomorrow, I'll try and make the odd post during the day. If not you'll have to wait until I get home at the end of my day.

Sunday Majors

2010-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a fairly slow few days. I've felt pretty tired over the last week and have had major troubles sleeping most nights, averaging perhaps only 3 hours a night! Given i need 8 hours a night, ive had a constant headache, stomach ache and generally not feeling great. I'm going into see my consultant at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital later in the week, and will be discussing whether i need an operation on my bowel to get better. I'm not overly keen on going through this again, but i guess if i have to then i have little choice.

After the £300 at the GUKPT last week i've not played too much poker and tried to rest up. I played the £100 FO at the International on Saturday and played pretty well for the first few hours, before making an awful call on a flop where i had nothing but a flush draw. I thought maybe my cards were live too and i was getting the right price, but the guy flipped TPTK, i missed and lost half my stack. With 15 big blinds after that i played a re-shove game and eventually got caught out and knocked out.

I've been running dreadfully in online MTT's over the last few weeks. If i have kings they have aces, if i get it in with an over pair they make a set etc. Given Sundays are when all the major online MTT's happen i couldn't really not play though. I went very deep in the $1 Million Guarantee on Full Tilt eventually losing a coin flip with 170 people left (out of 2500 starters) for a $1k cash. Winning that pot would have out me chip leader... :-(. I also went deep in two other MTT's and got another couple of cashes off them. I played well throughout and busted in only 2 comps where i got it in behind. In every other MTT (around 12) i got it in with an overpair vs under-pair and they got there, or set vs some flush and straight draw, and they got there. Very disappointing, but at least when i get it in good I know it's going to work out well in the long run...

Tonight i'm going to play the GUKPT £300+£300 event at the Vic. Not my favourite venue, but the standard of play down there so far has been awful, and i know if i can catch a break in just a few spots i can go deep. I'm looking to do a STT challenge during April. I've spoken about it before, but i seem to be running OK in that area of my game and also need a little direction for a month. I'll probably settle on a target of $5,000 profit over April allowing myself to just play the $16 Turbo's (or thereabouts) on Stars, Full Tilt, Gutshot, Ipoker etc. Over the last 3 months i'm running at around 42% ROI, which whilst not sustainable is certainly a great return. It would be good to know if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Barry from Gutshot kindly loaned me the Camtasia software a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow i plan to put it into use and do a video. Probably just 8 tables of $16 turbos. I'll sent it across to the Gutshot pros for their opinions, but hopefully it'll go up on the Gutshot site, or failing that i'll just post it on here.

Laters, db

The Vic £300 GUKPT side event

2010-03-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm out... ages ago actually. raise in MP to 1k, reraise on the button to 2k, and a big raise to 7k from the SB. I'm in the BB with an 8.5k stack. When the small blind had lifted his cards he'd shown a jack. Couldn't tell what suit or the other card as i wasn't really looking. Also not sure whether he always lifted the cards this way as i'd only sat down a couple of hands before. Had a think (for 0.2 secs) before pushing. The early raises looked like they were already folding and with the guy showing a J the worst shape i could be in was a flip. He flipped JJ, hit a Jack on the flop and i was out.

In this situation WWYD? If i had a bigger stack here i would fold and tell the guy, but with the blinds 400\200\50 and about to rise again i was in bad shape... If i believed in Karma (which i do) then i probably got what i deserved!

Shame as the night a started well after seeing KKx2 and AA in the first two levels. Twice turning into boats and not losing a hand. Sadly with possibly the softest table i've ever come across i just could find any positions to make it pay. As an example by level 3 we'd already lost 7 people from my original table and had had 4-way all-ins twice with decent holdings, but also calling 3 all-ins with 94 and then J9 'cos i'm getting value'!! Writing this is really wanting to make me cry.

Roll on the £500 on Saturday!

After running bad for the last couple of weeks i've decided i don't like... Tomorrow i've decided it will change.

General gibberings

2010-03-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty dry week since my last post poker-wise. I've playing a few comps online with very little success. I played a little live PLO cash last Wednesday night at the International and finished a few hundred up. Not really my game as choice as i'm an average player, and the swings can be sick! As i had to be up early the next morning to go to France though I couldn't get into too much trouble, and as I said I finished up anyway.

On Thursday early I set off with my golf clubs for a little break with some friends and acquaintances from the digital marketing world. We were playing golf over 3 days in Le Touquet, and although i've not been feeling too great a little exercise was just what i needed. We played 3 beautiful courses on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, each of which were just awesome. I played ok on the second day, but aside from that was dismal. I need to get some practice in before I play again! On Thursday evening we had a poor meal next to the hotel, and afterwards I felt pretty bad so went straight to bed. On Friday night we had probably the highlight of the trip. A very good friend (Charlie!) had recommended we go eat at Le Jardin. I'd eaten there years ago as well so booked a table for 13 lads that evening. The whole meal was absolutely excellent, amazing service, food and wine. Given we were a rowdy group of lads i thought the service was especially good! I'd recommend the place to anyone. After that i had one more drink and another earlyish night. Hopefully i'll feel up to having some larger nights out soon. Either way I've definitely got a bit of a thirst for playing golf again...

I was going to play the £75 at the International tonight, but with the GUKPT happening next week in London i'm going to play satellites tonight and tomorrow night at the Vic for various events. I'll post tomorrow on how I get on...

I want to play at least two nights online in MTT's later in the week. I must be due another deep run now after some of the sick beats I've had over the last week... In the Brawl on FT last night i'd grafted my way up to 10k+ from 3k starting stack only for this hand to come up...

Raised in LP by a player who'd played nearly 50% of the last 42 hands and was a net MTT loser big time. I re-raise with KK on the button and he calls. The flop comes QJ2. He checks, i bet he raises i call. The turn brings a K. Tres bon. He bets, i raised all in and he snaps with K10. Of course he binks a 9 on the river, he wins, I puke. There's always next time I guess. You always know you'll hit a dry spell, i just hope it ends soon!!

Poor show...

2010-03-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

After feeling pretty rotten last week i only ended up playing two live events and very little online. Sadly i didn't cash in the PLO event at the London Poker Masters or the Main event. I'd been pretty card dead in the ME for most of the first day, but still had increased my starting stack from 14k to 28k by the second break. After that I was still card dead, but worse than that the positions to steal blinds or 3 bet dried up too. I leaked chips to well below average of about 18k and eventually raised in late position with 88, the big blind 3 bet me as he had on the last 4 circuits and this time I took a stand.

The previous 4 circuits i'd raised and he'd 3 bet me with 77, A10 twice and another mystery hand. He was actually playing reasonably tight and so this time after raising to 2.2k, he raised to 5.6k and i pushed. He snapped me off with KK and I was out. As I was leaving I heard a couple of players saying why didn't I 4 bet fold. I guess I could have raised to 9k and then chucked it away to his push, leaving myself with around 10 big blinds, but given this was the first time I'd done it and the hands he'd 3 bet me with previously would be folded I'm happy with the way I played the hand.

That means overall last week i invested around £450 (i was nearly 50% backed) in buy-ins with no money in return. A poor week. The only shining light was winning the fantasy LPM player comp that was ran on the forum. This paid exactly £450 so it was a breakeven week. Still poor, but bearable.

I'm still running pretty bad online, and not playing my best. I've cashed once in 10 MTT's online over the weekend, and will be glad to take a breather from the game for a few days this week. I'm off to Le Touquet to play golf now until late Saturday. It'll be nice to have a bit of fresh air and exercise after feeling pretty unwell last week. Hopefully i'll feel OK for the next few days, tho' if not i can just stay in the hotel anyway i guess and watch DVD's. The same as in London!

Next week i'll be playing the GUKPT London satellite on Tuesday evening at the Vic, but aside from that will try and put in some hours online to repay the faith Howard has put in me, by backing me online.

Hating life...

2010-03-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

I've felt a little off all week with stomach ache, but today it got a whole lot worse.

I was meant to be playing the £100 event at the London Poker Masters tonight at the International, but as the day rolled on the pain got worse and worse. Starting feeling very ill about 5.30pm and gave up on the evening. Gutted. Just slept for a few hours and taken quite a few painkillers so feel a little better, but too late sadly to win a LPM event tonight. Watching the live TV stream online at the moment and it's making me feel very jealous!

I'll see how i feel tomorrow, but considering the numbers in tonight's event i probably should go and register for the main event tomorrow. I'm going steer clear of any proper meals for a few days as i think that's what might have brought on the pain... soup and bread for the rest of the week. How exciting!

I also want to finalise my backing this week to play MTT's online going forward. I've now had four offers, one of which i won't take as it's a little odd. As I'm a little superstitious, and had success when Howard backed me over the last couple of weeks i'd rather stick with him, but i guess we'll just have to see how it turns out. Either way i want to start, health permitting, to play some serious tournament volume next week.

Do YOU care what people think?

2010-03-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

Now lets get one thing straight. The choice i'm in the midst of making is not between working or playing poker, its between working when i know i'm going to miss half the week every week ill, and not working. My consultant at the hospital thinks taking a 'time-out' will hopefully be a catalyst for recovery, less pressure will hopefully give the treatment i'm currently on time to work, and if they fail another operation, which at the moment looks inevitable would be the last option. This would hopefully alleviate the illness, at least for a few years anyway.

Now i've decided to, for once, take the doctors advice and need to find ways to support myself. The thought of just living on incapacity/income support, or whatever, for a year makes me want to puke as much as being snap called on the bubble of any major MTT, when i'm trying to steal the blinds with junk. Much the same as my exit from the LPM event last night!! With that in mind poker seems a fairly obvious choice. In the last 3 months playing only small to mid sized events i'm currently around $35,000 in profit. This is without playing full time, and really not so far this year putting in the hours working on my game or playing it. Going forward i'll be looking to play a minimum of 2 nights live a week, and rest online which i can do whether feeling well or not.

On top of all this i'm looking into other options to generate an income. I've working in web based media for a long time in both marketing, sales and some development areas. With this in mind I, with a partner are looking to launch a website. I also want to write poker related articles, and am again in discussions with some publishers about the project. Whether any of these will come to fruition is another matter, but at least i'm exploring other options. If all this fails, then income support it will be, and then who knows. Maybe back into sales next year...

The question i have to ask other full time poker players is DO YOU care what people think when they find out what you do for a living? I guess we like it or not, poker is still viewed as gambling. something I'm not too bothered about. If everyone knew it was a pure game of skill then less people would sit in games thinking they can win in the long term. What does bother me is small minded people reflecting what I'm doing to earn money on my daughter. I pick my daughter up from school pretty much everyday at the moment. Something i want to continue doing for the rest of this year, and hopefully much longer. After picking her up one day last week she mentioned what other parents might this, in particular one mother. I assume this mother has the view poker is gambling, therefore bad, therefore I'm a bad person, and anyone i bring up . Now this woman to me has always seems like a bit of a grade-A bitch, and her looks remind me of Gail from Coronation Street. On the face of it I still don't care, but i had to explain to my daughter again that the choice isn't between poker and working, but between being ill and working. I assume she'll tell her friend, who in turn will tell her mum. I doubt it'll change her view, but you can win them all...

So DO YOU really care what people think?

dbx

Prague Days 2 & 3

2010-02-28T08:06:00.000-08:00

It was the main event yesterday, sadly i crashed out in 59th out of 253, but it was a pretty fun day. I won't go into hand details again as they've nearly all been posted on the forum..

http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=35181

Luckily i have 20% of JJ in the main event, and as i write this he's still in with 16 left. Fingers crossed he can win this event! Obviously it'd be nice for me to get 20% of maybe €30k, but JJ has been on top of his game and it would be nice to see a Brit take the whole event down.

I caught up with him during the first break today and after winning a 200k pot after flopping a set first hand, he lost a massive hand to go back to 80k, then won two hands to get back up to near the chip lead... One time!

During the break JJ took a little time out to recharge the batteries, hence the photo below.. The cat that's got the cream!!

I bought into the final event of the festival, a €100 event, and lasted maybe 25 mins. First hand at the table resulted in us losing 2 players when the dealer dealt KK, KK and AA to 3 players. All the cash went in pre and AA held. I lost when i 3 bet shoved with AKs only to be called by a guy with pocket 7's... he said he either wanted to double up or go drink at the bar. Ok. Fair enough.

I'm back in my room now, obv blogging this. Can't decide whether to play online STT's and the Turbo Takedown, live cash or just go and rail the Final Table if JJ makes it... If i can get my dongle to work playing the Turbo Takedown whilst watching JJ win the event is my preferred choice! :-)

Either way we're flying back tomorrow morning so i wouldn't mind getting an early night so i can play the £200 at the LPM Festival tomorrow evening.... Really can't wait after reading the blog updates from the first event yesterday.

I've been feeling a bit rubbish since yesterday afternoon with stomach pains so it looks like it'll be a pretty tame visit to Prague. After speaking to some Scandies earlier Prague strip clubs now are pretty bloody expensive, so i'm not too fussed...

I played 10 STT's earlier on my Netbook. Not ideal for multi-tabling, but i finished the session $200 so not too bad. Although the damage to my eyes trying to play them will prob cost more to fix!

Prague Day 1

2010-02-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Prague yesterday pretty shattered. After grabbing a few hours kip i popped next door to find JJ deep in a PLO MTT sitting there in his pants having downed a bottle of whisky. I'll let JJ report how the MTT turned out for him... With me stone cold sober we ducked out and found a lovely little place for some food and had a couple of pints, before heading back to the Hotel/Casino where the Paradise events are being held. We both sat down in 1/2 NLH cash games to kill some time. I played on a table with 3 of the biggest fish i've played in my life and 3 pretty solid gents. After seeing bugger all for 2 hours i left the table +£100. JJ meanwhile had dropped a buyin, bought back in and i found out this morning ended the session +£400 after hitting some tres sexy cards. He even got 1000 of the local $$ for hitting quads. MBN.

I got a pretty good night sleep, and after a wander around town sat down in the €200+20 side event. With a starting stack of 10,000, 65 entries and a clock very similar to the £100 at the International it looked like a pretty good structure. JJ was also playing and roared to 15k, whilst i played no hands for 90 mins and my chips dwindled to 8k. After 3 levels the dinner break and up to that point i'd played one. The best i'd seen was KQ suited. I lost. After the break JJ got knocked out in 40th, and it seemed i wouldn't be too far behind him. I successfully managed to double up when i 3 bet shoved on the button with 77 and got called by AQ.

After that i managed to play a little more aggressively and chipped my way up to 30k without showdown. Then this hand came up. Blinds are 800/400 with a 50 ante and i'm sitting on 33k. The British guy to my right had about 28k and had been playing relatively passively. I'm UTG and raise with AKos to 1850. I'd not been playing many hands so my image was pretty solid. It fold all the way to the BB who makes some comment about wanting to get rid of his last two 25 chips and throws in a call. The flop comes a nice AK3 with two spades. He now leads into me for an over pot sized bet of around 5500. Now he's not doing that with a set so i have him on a ace too. Maybe the same hand, hopefully AQ or lower. I decided to call and see if he leads again on the turn and raise him then. The turn bring a 7h and he checks. Now i think maybe he's got a flush draw or a Ace little. I decide to bet big to price out a flush draw and put a 12,000 out there. He dwells before calling. Mmmm maybe no flush draw then. Unless he's hit the 7 then i still don't have him on a set and more likely the Ace or some random two pair. The river brings a spade. I'm not over joyed, but i think the chance of him calling the big turn bet with that isn't likely. He now leads into me with nearly all his remaining chips. I go into the tank for an age and eventually call. He flips Q8 of spades for a rivered flush. Fair play to him, but this surely has to be -ve calling the turn!!

I love to know people thoughts on this hand. Maybe i should have just shoved the turn? Anyway, i went out a short time afterwards 3 betting a MP raiser with Q10 suited. I get snapped off with AA and i'm out in 20th. I didn't see any pair above 88 all day, didn't make anything better than a pair until the AK hand above. Although i fall short of cash i'm happy with the way i played... Sadly that doesn't pay the bills.

Tomorrow the €500+50. I'll save my hands for then!!

Ewan and some of the Paradise boys have just headed out so i'm debating whether to join them for some drinks, totally ignoring Ed's advice :-), or have a boring early night in. God i live a boring live at the moment!! When i feel better i have to get out for drinks more! It's been 6 months since i've been on a date too... far too long!

Laters db x

Finally & off to Prague & 2010 Goals...

2010-02-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

After Sunday night/morning i was pretty flat on Monday, also very tired. I woke earlyish with only a couple of hours sleep with my Crohns causing me a lot of pain and discomfort, but as the day dragged on i felt better and decided I would jump back in the saddle so to speak and play a few more MTT's.

I entered 5 on Full Tilt and Pokerstars. I made sure they were only early starts as i didn't want to be playing much after midnight and got under way. Again i was staked by Howard and he was railing via IM. I tend to find having people railing me helps my play.. less chance of making a foolish move! That said i still crashed out of 3 of the comps in the first few hours. I was left in the $109 on Pokerstars and the $20 rebuy on Full Tilt that i chopped last week. I was building decent stacks in both, but bubbled the $20 rebuy. In the other comp however i was catching card after card, and not having too many tough decisions, unlike the million and $20 rebuy last week where every hand was pretty tough to play.

I winged my way to the final table by about midnight, and although i lost a few pots early on i managed to run over the final table and finally made my first 5 figure win. I got cards in nice spots and ended up in the final 3 against the two weak players on the table so it really all fell my way. First paid $12,650 which nearly made up for the night before. It also means that my total winnings for Feb now exceed the $30k mark. A pretty good start to the year!!

After that i've decided to set myself some poker goals for the year... I'd be interested to know what people think?

1) 3 x $10k+ MTT cashes during 2010
2) 10 x $5k + MTT cashes during 2010
3) 1 major final table online during 2010 (Million, Warmup, SCOOP, WCOOP, FTOPS, Brawl etc)
4) Make $10k+ from STT's during 2010 (This was going to be higher, but my focus will be on MTT's now)
5) Play 1 EPT event
6) Play 2 GUKPT and UKIPT events each.
7) Cash in one of the above events.
8) NOT LOSE MONEY PLAYING CASH GAMES

Any advice would be appreciated either here or on the forum. I really appreciate the posts people have made so far giving their thoughts on turning pro etc etc.

Finally, I'm off to Prague tomorrow morning to play the Prague leg of the Paradise tour with JJ. I'm playing the €200 event on Friday and then the main event on Saturday. I'll try and post updates as much as possible to keep people up to date.

I'm also looking to start doing some video posts... do people think this is worthwhile?

All the best
db xx

It Never Rains, but it Pours

2010-02-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

Since last week I've been on a bit of a roller-coaster, except I have yet to reach the top yet...

Last week I entered a test backing period with Howard Smith the kind gent to donate the funds. As i'm having to use a decent percentage of the winnings i'd made to support myself my poker bank roll wasn't growing at the rate i'd like. Howard suggested backing me over a few nights online up to a certain value of MTT's, my performances have been good for sometime now, after winning several comps on Gutshot during November and December i was pretty confident i could get a good return on Howards investment. I guess you never really know though. It's quite possible to go three days without cashing in a single event, although i can't remember this happening for sometime now.

Night one i played 5-6 MTT's on Full Tilt, which i only started playing on 3 weeks ago and have so far one final table a week. I crashed out of 3 MTT's pretty early, but when deepish in one and in the $20 rebuy i ended up reaching the final table. It was a bit of a yoyo affair, but when we reached 3 left we did a deal and i took away 2nd and over $5k. This made for a pretty good start, and also meant i reached the target i set a few weeks ago!

Friday night my daughter stayed over and we had our usual takeaway and film night, so this means poker stops for the day. Aside from the fact i love having my little girl over, i also quite like having days off without any poker. It's too easy to get sucked into playing 24/7. Normally during the week i also try and keep one day aside for learning, whether it be PokerVT or Cardrunners there's sooo much information out there on how to improve your game. I really can't stress this enough, but the more you put in the more you get out of the game.

Saturday i woke feeling pretty rotten with my Crohns again and ended up sleeping most of the day. I got up in time to go to the International to play the £100 Freezeout. I didn't play any hands at all for the first 90 minutes and then moved table where i got some pretty good hands straight away and moved on from there really. One hand on that table raised a few eyebrows, and i'm pretty sure no one believed what i folded at the table, but too me it seemed like a standard fold. I might be wrong, but i lost the minimum.

The hand played out roughly like this. There's a limp in early position which causes two further limpers before me. I look down and see 22 and chuck in a call. The player behind dwells for a second and i think he's maybe going to raise, but he eventually calls. The player in the BB then raises as what looks like an obvious squeeze. Everyone calls. In this situation when everyone calls a raise i automatically often have some of them on pairs. People know when they hit the flop and make a set they're often in very good shape against other hands. The flop comes down J72 with 2 spades. Bottom set. Sexy. There's a bet in early position which i put a small raise in. The guy to my left who i though maybe was going to raise preflop then raises me by a decent chunk. It folds around to the guy in early position who then pushes all in. and comes back to me. Now it's unlikely anyone has an over pair considering the preflop play, so i narrow the range of hands these guys have got to something like KJ/J10, a bigger set or a flush draw. The guy on my left is counting his chips which is generally not a sign he's going to fold. Do i really want to be all in against the other two players, i feel i'd rather find a better spot and muck my hand. The guy to my left flips over 77 for a bigger set, and the other guy has a flush draw. No one believed i had 22, but i was more concerned whether it's right to fold there? At the time i thought it was easy, but how often does either of them have a bigger set?

I finished on the final table again of the comp and eventually crashed out in 6th losing another coin flip for £400 quid profit. I also won the last longer bet for another £280 so it was a pretty good evening all in all.

I didn't sleep very well again and felt pretty ropey on Sunday so relaxed most of the day to prepare for my second evening of being staked into MTT's. I played the comps below and had an excellent, if exhausting night.

Pokerstars
Sunday Warmup $215
Sunday Million $215
$60k Gtee $109
$80k Gtee $55
Full Tilt
$150k Gtee $163

By midnight i'd crashed out of the Warm-up and $150k on Full Tilt, but was moving along slowly in the rest. I eventually cashed in two of the comps for around $300 and was just left in the Sunday Million. This particular Sunday Million actually had a guaranteed prize pool of $4 million in line with the promotion they were running for the 40 billionth hand being dealt on their site that week. There's normally a large field in the MTT as it always has a first prize in excess of $240k, but this week with a minimum of $1 million for 1st place the field was huge!! Over 36,000 people entered making it one of the biggest online MTT's of all time. After nearly getting blinding away by midnight i started to hoover up chips and for a brief time i actually was in the top 10. Eventually i crashed out physically, mentally and finished in 99th for a cash of just over $4k. I guess you should feel happy after beating 36,000 people, but i was very disappointed. I got great support throughout the night from many of the night owls at the International, which really kept me going and helped me focus. Even so it felt like i'd missed out.

So far so good for the staking anyway. Two nights and over 4k profit each. I've got quite a lot of things to add at the moment so the blog will be updated again tomorrow...

laters xx

SOLD OUT

2010-02-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

I've got all the backing i need now for the poker festival. I sold 45% which hopefully i can repay by winning one of the trophies!

Could be worse

2010-02-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

After yesterdays daytime escapades i managed to drag myself out the flat for a few hours to the International for the £75 comp in the evening. I felt pretty rubbish, but managed to come 6th out of 86 starters for a £415 cash. A satisfying end to the day, and then for the first time in a week i managed a decent nights sleep so feel a bit better today.

I've now managed to find backers to cover 25% of the entries to the upcoming festival (London Poker Masters). I ideally I'd like to sell between 40-50% of myself so a little way to go yet.

http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=34971

Click above for more info on that.

Variance is a bitch.

2010-02-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

After a pretty successful week last week this weekend was just dismal. Saying i'm running bad would be an understatement. I'm not even getting cold decks, just being outdrawn in the sickest manor time after time. I'm not too bothered about this as long as my game doesn't fall apart. This kind off stuff happens all the time, and after running at a 41% ROI last week playing STT's it was only a matter of time.

I'm not going to go into all the hands, because i'd just bore myself writing them. The only one that sticks in the mind was in the Sunday Warm up. I had AQ in mid position and 3x bet. I've been slowly acquiring chips and up to about 18k. The BB who's played nearly every hand 3 bets me and i flat call. Flop comes A42. I bet he calls. Turn bring a Q and i bet again, he shoves and i snap call with top two. He flips 99??!! River... 9. oh hum. I got knocked out of everything else fairly early on and started playing the F40 promotion STT's on stars. I played about 9 i think, 3 at each level and won 2 and cashed in another 3. This meant after bombing out every MTT losing $ in every set of STT's i played i actually broke even on the day. Over all for the weekend I'm still $300 down tho'.

With only one taker for the prop bet i'm pretty sure it's not worth doing. I was hoping to get at least $1k which would motivate me a little more.

I felt pretty rubbish last night and was only kept awake whist at the club by Mr Anthony Tsang who sat next to me whilst playing his Sunday MTTfest. I picked up a lot of good stuff watching him and although we didn't chat too much he pointed out a couple of leaks in my online MTT game straight away. After getting home i had a pretty rubish night with my Crohns yet again and as a result haven't slept much. I played a few sets of STT's a while ago and my dismal luck continues so i'm stopping playing online now for the day. $425 down just on the day.

If i get some sleep i'll go and play the £75 at the International tonight... fortunately my awful luck doesn't seem to have forced it's way into my live game. Thank god.

Props!!

2010-02-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's been an average day today. I've played volume today and managed 112 $16 turbos on Pokerstars. I really need to try and achieve this everyday, but the motivation when i feel shite is not entirely there just yet. I managed a profit so far of $148, which is poor. I played 2-3 of the sets whist feeling pretty off and they dragged down the profit for the day. This means $1650 to hit my target and still weeks to do it. It's looking pretty set that i'll achieve this easily so i've been toying with the idea of setting a new target. Any ideas?

On that note i was talking to a friend earlier today. He plays a little poker and so has a grasp of the different types of games and potential profit that can be made. I said that i reckon i can make $5,000 profit from just playing $10-16 turbo STT's. He thinks i wouldn't stand a chance, and to be fair just at that level i've not gone too close to that before. I think maybe i'll set this up as a prop on the Gutshot forum and see if anyone fancies betting against it...

I saw the doctor again today who has signed me off sick with my Crohns for the whole of next week. This is bad and good news in equal measure. It's half term so i'll be able to look after my daughter for a few days and also play poker to get closer to my goals. On the down side i'll not be getting any money from work again.

Downs, Up's and Up's

2010-02-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

So, the first update. I'd love to say that i've been grinding out 100's of STT's a day, but I've been feeling pretty awful over the last couple of days so haven't achieved the volume I'm looking to hit on a daily basis.

Pretty much straight after my first post earlier in the week i played Rush poker on Full Tilt, which i've been doing every day to reach 'Iron Man' status. As I've mentioned previously cash games are currently the worst part of my game. Whilst I want to improve this isn't going to happen over night. I played for 2-3 hours and dropped $400. I played pretty poorly and paid off made hands trying to make hero calls that i just didn't need to make. Pretty pissed off with myself i took a time out for a hour or two before opening Stars and grinding STT's. I played my A game and stuck to a set formula that i've been playing STT's to for the last few months. I made $450 in about 2 hours, so i finished the day in profit, but could have been sooooo much better if i'd spent my time just playing STT's, rather than cash.

Yesterday i slept until nearly 1pm and woke feeling rotten still, and so the good intents of playing 100 STT's (around 6 sets) went down the toilet. I felt a little better by the evening and so went to the International to play the new £100 freeze out and have a chat with Anthony Tsang about how i can best make money from poker moving forward. The comp was full of very good regulars, and the standard at the International has been getting better and better over the last 18 months or so. There's very little easy money in the games now and picking your spots well to accumulate chips is very important. Also moving up and down the gears is very important in my view. I can think of distinct phases last night where i shut up shop and went maybe an hour without playing a hand, and at other times i might play 3 or more back to back.

In future i'll try and post more hands, but the only major hand i recall last night was this one. I apologise in advance as i can't remember the chip counts or even the blinds, but the action roughly went like this. I'm in MP and the action is folded to me. The blinds are 150/300 with an ante or maybe the next blind level. I peek at my cards and see KK, tres sexy. I raise to roughly 1000 (I have 16k at this point). My image is pretty solid and i've only shown down solid hands and i've been playing very few. It's folding to a guy called Phil in the SB who dwell raises to maybe 3.8k. Miriam is in the BB and pretty quickly shoves over the top for her whole stack. Both players have me just covered. I go into the tank and Miriam is as vocal as ever about not wanting to be outdrawn. I'm pretty sure i have her beat and think whilst she has a decent hand it could easily be anything from JJ+ to AK and i'm beat all but AA. I then take a look at Phil who's only shown down big hands too and he looks ready to snap call. I fold. Now regardless of what happens next is this right? I've put KK down pre-flop only a couple of times in the past, once was right and once wrong. As it turns out Phil had AA and Miriam QQ. Cold deck or what!!?

No one believed I had KK and I asked the dealer to turn my cards over as they were visible still, but he said they were in the muck now and wouldn't. I'm never that bothered what people think, but it would have been nice to prove that I was telling the truth in this spot. After that I went card dead for 90 minutes of so, but picked the odd spot to steel and made the final table. This started about midnight with me as the short stack. I thought I played the FT pretty well and ended up coming second for £850, roughly $1300 and $1200 profit on the night.

A good night all in all. That just leaves $1800 to hit my target and 3 weeks to do it in. Should be easy right?

I'm going to take a day off today as i feel rubbish still, and hopefully put in a few sets tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who's read my blog and posted on the forum. Your support is much appreciated.

The Challenge

2010-02-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I have Crohns disease. I suffered with for nearly 20 years now and so am pretty used to the side effects, and have had 3 bowel resections to help the problem over the years. Over the last couple of years it’s been getting progressively worse and I’m now taking immu-suppressants along with anti-TNF treatment to help. These treatments present other problems, namely my immune system is tremendously weakened and I’m prone to catching anything that’s going around. Since last September I’ve been off work nearly 3 months in total, and work now only pay me SSP contributions as I only started with this company in June which don’t amount to much. To supplement my income and provide money for everything else i’ve been making money from poker.

Whilst i’m still a loser playing online cash i now win money playing MTT’s and STT’s. I did alot of work on my game during the first half of 2009 registering and watching training videos on sites like PokerVT, SNGgrinders and our very own Gutshots Gzone. Once i started playing again regularly last summer i noticed a massive difference in both my live and online games. From August to December i played 16 live MTT’s and final tabled 8 of them for a £5,790 profit. Online i regularly won MTT’s and made final tables on the Gutshot skin of Cake Poker and made a decent amount of cash from $16 turbos on Pokerstars. Whist this is all positive i still lost money playing online cash, something i’ve now cut to a minimum. I’ve also been doing a lot of work to improve my cash game, and am seeing early promising signs playing ‘Rush poker’ on Full Tilt. I started playing MTT’s on FTP 2 weeks ago and have made a $6,277 profit over that period. All in all it’s been a goodish start to 2010.

Now with my Crohns showing no signs of improvement i’ve made a decision that i would like to give playing poker a try for 6-12 months. If it works out, then i’ll continue. If it doesn’t then i can go back to working in online media. I’m currently Head of International Client Sales for Orange and have a good track record in the industry, therefore shouldn’t be too hard to find a job after this should things not work out.

The upsides will be that i can live a very flexible life; I’ve always been a night owl and often have trouble sleeping. This will mean i can sleep when i need rather than worrying about having to get to sleep when i’m in pain and worrying how I’ll feel the next day. I will be free to spend more time with my daughter picking her up from school when I want, which when I’m working is impossible. I will be able to ‘work’ from home which is something i can’t do normally. Therefore even when i feel unwell i’ll be able to put in hours at home to generate income.

The downsides are pretty obvious too. If I fail to make money i will have not be able to pay the rent for food etc. I will start with enough money to pay for things during the first few months, but once that goes poker will be the only income. I guess if this doesn’t work then i’ll have to start looking for a new job sooner. The monotony of playing 1000’s of STT’s a month could be the next problem. Personally I’ve never found this a problem, and in a strange way quite enjoy those grinding days. The lack of human contact is probably the final downside. I enjoy working around people. I guess i’ll play more live poker at the international which will help. Then it’ll be up to me to ensure i get off my arse and go out to meet people regularly, and don’t live like a hermit!

Before i make a final decision that this is what i want to do i’ve set myself a challenge. Originally this was to earn $10,000 during January, February and March, but with us just into Feb i’m already on $6,900 profit. Whilst this is a good start i’ve not been playing anywhere as much as i should do, and to make it more of a challenge considering the start I’ve had I’ve changed the end date to first week in March. 4 weeks, $3,100 to hit the target. I would love to say i’m running red hot, but playing the STT’s i’m losing so many flips and running in AA v KK cold decks so often that i’m surprised the my profit is that good.

Anyway before i drivel on any longer i will end there. I’m off work all week, and will try and update the blog 3-4 times a week with my progress towards the $3,100 target. In the meantime it would be great to get people thoughts either posting here, or on the thread i’ve started on the Gutshot forum...

Updates to follow

2010-01-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

As of Feb 2010 i'm going to start blogging again and will be covering both live and online events that i play.

In Q4 2009 in live and online MTT's and STT's i was a modest $15k in profit, and this is something i want to improve on during Q1 2010. I'll be posting here a couple of times a week.

Snap out of it...

2008-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that I was involved in the London bombing in July 05. By involved I mean i was on the tube next to the tube that exploded. I was on the carriage directly opposite. I suffered for a long time after that day, although on the face of it i seemed as jolly as normal, I failed to ever really talk to anyone about how it felt.

Eventually after being unable to sleep for several weeks in 2005 i sought treatment. It was called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but essentially to me it seems like just another name for depression. At the time I had one or two other major things going wrong in my life, and this just knocked me back. I had various types of treatment, the most success being CBT. I attended courses for a 12 week period which really helped. I don’t think I’m any different that many people in that I’m unable to talk about my emotions. This gave me the platform to talk to people that I didn’t know, and would be unlikely to come across again. This way i found it much easier to talk.

Being out of the country for Vegas 7/7 had pretty much escaped me, and even on returning to work and speaking with my boss i felt i had no issues. I’d pretty much avoided any show or footage regarding 7/7 since the day. It’s not that i didn’t want to see it, but i felt if i don’t talk about it or see anything then i can lock it away at the back of my mind.

Last Sunday I watched ‘The Angels of Edgware Road’. Then I watched it again straight after, and again after that. Some of the facts seemed a little off, but in general it was spot on. I broke down again remembering all the images and sounds I’d locked away. I couldn’t sleep. Monday I felt very low and couldn’t sleep again. Today I’ve been to see my GP who’s given me some tablets to knock me out which I’ll take in a minute, but right now i don’t think anything could knock me out.

This is rather self indulgent i know, but I thought writing this might help.

I’ll update on other more interesting topics soon, and not just my sleeping patterns.

Success?? or not.

2008-07-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

I came back from Vegas feeling as tho' i'd failed. Yes i'd had an awesome holiday, Vegas never fails to disappoint. Yes i'd cashed in more tournaments that ever before, but i didn't make the big score, and i tilted badly in cash games and made calls i shouldn't have. I played in general better that i could have hoped, but on some key hands that would have defined the trip i failed.

Caesars
$220 - 30th out of 666 - paid $441 (1st paid $26,000)
$330 - 20th out of 441 - paid $660 (1st paid $24,000)
$330 - 52nd out of 489
$55 - 1st out of roughly 60 (i think, although maybe more) paid $1050

Ventian
$330 - 77th out of roughly 500

Rio
$1500 - 340th out of 2714.

The final one at the Rio was the worst. 12 hours and zero to show for it. In hindsight i perhaps should have played a few hands slightly differently, but we live and we learn. I think with only 300 left i set my sights on a win or bust strategy. Perhaps I should have cashed and then worried about finishing nearer the top.

On top of all that i won several one table SNG's, but all that went by playing so bad in the cash games. Maybe next year i'll steer clear of cash and just go after the tourneys...

Anyway. Providing my health is good then i plan to try and play some GUKPT events this year.

As I write this I have to say that railing the ME to the final 9 i'm a little gutted that Hellmuth or the Mouth didn't make it... it would have made for a great final in November. It'll be interesting to see if Harrahs/WSOP and ESPN manage to build the profile of the final 9 to get people to tune in.

$1500 WSOP event - Gutted

2008-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Day 5

Today I played the $1500 WSOP NLHE Event. I registered for it yesterday and the plan the night before was to get a early night (well early for Vegas!), and be up in time to relax in the sun before the event.

I woke up at midday, and as the event started at midday all wasn't going to plan. After a shower and shave i wandered over to the Rio stopping at Starbucks on the way to get a sandwich and a vanilla frappuccino. I arrived nearly an hour late, but had only lost around 150 chips out of the 3000 i started with. With 1 hour levels and a very slow structure their is play, but i favoured a tight aggressive stance as their is a huge amount of poor players in this event.

3rd hand in and i look down to find AA in the BB. It folds to the small blind who raises to 200. I min raise to 400 and he calls. The flop comes down Q42. He bets out 600 and I ponder before calling. He bets the the Turn (K) to the tune of 800 and then I raise all in. He dwells up for 5 mins before mucking his card. He claims to have mucked AK. Unlikely as he was committed by the turn. The very next hand I look down to see JJ, i'm starting to feel like it's my day. It folds to the cut-off who raises (it had been a lively table with a double up or bust mentality) to 300. I raise to 800 and the BB folds. It goes back to him and he pushes for nearly 6k?! What does he put me on that he can do this? Anyway i'm pretty sure i'm ahead, but even if he has AK,AQ etc then it's a coin flip. I fold and flip over the jacks. The table at this point can't believe i folded jacks which I guess is typical of the $1500 WSOP events. In the first 4 hours or so there was no other major hands of note, my chips when up and down but always in the right direction. By dinner there were only 670 players left out of the 2,714 players that entered and i was on 17k in chips, which was a little above average.

After dinner I play two pots in quick succession.

Hand 1 - I raise from early position with AJ sooted. The BB calls and we see a flop. It comes 258 rainbow and he checks to me. I figure to call the raise pre-flop he must have big cards KQ KJ maybe as the call represented nearly 20% of his stack. I bet out at the flop and he pushes. As i have nothing and no draws I fold. Down to 14k in chips. Was this the right fold?

Hand 2 - Folds to the SB (i'm in the BB). SB raises to 2400 (Blinds were 600/300/75) and I min raise with AK to 5000. He ponders then calls so we see a flop. the flop come A72 all Spades, and I have none. He checks to me and I push. Now I have him on AK as well, AQ, or maybe AJ. He thinks for 5 mins and and eventually calls and flips over KK, with the king of spades. I dodge the spades and double up to 28kk!!

Sadly after that i go card dead. I steel where I can, but which a raise before me and no cards it was hard work. We got down to around 350 with me only 14k in chips and around an hour from the money. I look down in the cut off to see 88. Now if I raise to (500/1k blinds) 4k am i going to fold for a reraise. It would leave me crippled so i decide to push. I get called by KK in the BB and the rest is history. I felt gutted afterwards as I probably could have limped into the money, but wanted to go further so was happy at this stage to gamble a little more...

Next attempt is money, but to play then i'll have to sell 40% of me. I try and raise the funds today.

Off today to play Sat's and at the Bellagio against the rich tourists with cash to lose...

Same shoe... different foot..

2008-06-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

Just finished my evening session at the Rio. I couldn't hit anything. Sat down with $500 and lost that with 30 mins. My 2 pair beaten by a flush. Then I had to laydown a set when the river made a flush. It was only $100 to call into a $450 pot, but I folded. The table couldn't believe it, but the kind gent (who was raking my chips in!) showed the nut flush and that it was a good laydown. Still, it didn't feel good. I put my last $$$ in with a flush draw that didn't come...

Poor session. Down $800. Definitely not playing not playing the $2000 tomorrow now. I'll wait and play the $1500 on Saturday. I'll play cash tomorrow and then do a little shopping maybe...

bed.

Perminant Ink

2008-06-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Played the 12pm again at Caesars Place. Started with 7.5k in chips and went to 15k by the first break, 25k by the second break and busted just before the next break. I got the money in with 2 pair and was called by a flush draw. The draw hit and i was outta there... next time!!

After that I popped over the road to add another little bit of artwork to my body. A very small tat this time. I'll post a photo later, but in the meantime do you think this would suit me?

After that I went over to the Rio again. I debating whether to play the WSOP $2000 event tomorrow. I'm playing pretty well so I might give that a shot over the $1500 on the weekend.

While debating it I played alittle 2/5 again. First hand I was dealt AK os. A raiser on the button and I called in the big blind. The board came K79 with 2 diamonds. I bet, he raised, I push and after a few moment he calls with a J high flush draw. His draw hits again and i'm busted for $300 first hand. Sick. Rather than tilt I got straight up and headed back to the hotel for a little (where I am now!!). After finishing this post i'm heading back over to the Rio to play a little more cash. Hopefully they'll be a few people drinking and donking their stacks off...

So far today i'm still $850 up. If the math doesn't quite add up it's the odd hand of blackjack i play here and there!!

The Palace

2008-06-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Day 2.

I sadly didn't get the nights sleep i was looking for. In bed by 9ish I woke at 3.30am (11.30am UK time) and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than wander out I decided to relax for a while in bed and turned on the TV. ESPN were showing Wimbledon live. Very surreal watching tennis in bed at 4 in the morning.

At around 8 I headed over to the Rio again and got some brekkie. Pancakes, strawberries and cream really ticked a lot of boxes. I headed off to the Amazon room which, as you'd imagine, was pretty dead. Despite that i sat down in a new 2/5 game and played for an hour really going nowhere. I didn't see much and what I did see was beaten. That said I left an hour or so later only stuck $200. I'd decided that on the recommendation on a few people to try the deep stack tourneys at Caesars Palace. The place itself is pretty amazing like most of the hotels in Vegas, but of course a little tacky in parts. The poker room however is different class. Superb tables, staff and tourney area. I registered early for the $220 midday game and then went for a wander.

At midday I sat down and was already starting to feel a little jaded. I would love to at this point give a few details of hands, but frankly I can't remember any. With 640 entries the room was packed, but after 12 hours i was still there and eventually cashed in 31st place. Took $441 for my troubles which did feel a little of a let down after playing for so long, but i was happy to get back to bed. $32,000 for winner made me feel even worse when I thought about it later!!

Still roughly $1400+.

Vegas.. We have take off...

2008-06-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Day 1.

Landed at 2pm (Vegas time), At the Gold Coast by 4pm and at the Rio playing poker by 5pm. This goes against every rule I have... never play tired, and boy was I tired. Even a 10 hour flight just kills me!!

I'd promised myself that control (in a poker sense... this is Vegas after all!!) would be the order of the day this year in Vegas, and playing within hours of landing didn't really fit with that. The Rio was busy as always during the series, but I landed a seat on a $2-$5 NLH table pretty much straight away and sat down with $500. The fact I was so wiped out might have actually worked in my favour, as rather that play the loose aggressive style i sometimes adopt when forcing the action I instead played pretty tight.

The first hand I played was from the cut off. One raiser in early position (the action had been pretty loose) and 2 callers. I called for $20 with 44 and the blinds folded. The flop came K42 rainbow. Sweet. Early position bet out $50 and the next player raised to $150. Really I should have just called, but I thought if I push it might be seen as a weaker play. I move all in and get called by KQ. One hand played and already i'm up to over $1250. I play for another hour or so and leave with roughly $1450. $950 profit from my first session really perked up.

After that little foray I wander back to my hotel room and try to get some shut eye. One too many diet cokes meant I couldn't sleep so i popped downstairs to get some food and play a little more poker. Sadly at the GC there was only limit tables going... God I hate playing limit, but for anything else i'd have to go out and that wasn't an option.

I sat down with $100 which had everyone covered at the table. I'm not going to run through every hand, but in the space of the hour I played I hit Quads (for a $100 house bonus), two Full houses, 3 flushes and several other winning hands. I don't think i lost a hand i entered. I left the table with $300.

I after that I slept, and god I needed it.

+$1150. A good first few hours.

In David Colemans immortal words... What happened Next??

2008-05-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

OK. So I buy into £100 fo at the club tonight, knackered, but eager for a bit of live action. 8,000 chips for your money gives you time to wait for hands in the first few levels. In the first level 25/50 I sit down and see pocket 8's small raise to 100 before me and I call. I make a set on the flop. He bets I call. He slows down and folds when I bet.

Next hand i'm dealt KK. Raise before me, and I reraise. He calls and we see a flop. 10 high rainbow. I bet 3/4 of the pot and he folds.

Next hand. QQ. I take it down. Then AQ. Q high board and I take it down. A great start and the LAG table was perfect when you're hitting cards.

A couple of hands later i'm on the button. The UTG player calls. folded around to the cutoff who raise to 250. I look down and see AA. Super bloody duper. I pop it to 600. BB folds and the limper under the gun pops it to 1200. Yeeehaaah!! The cut off folds. Not I'm thinking perhaps Ak, AQ, AA (unlikely obviously), KK, QQ, JJ or maybe 10's given the table i'm on. I put another raise in to 2500 total to just esure he hasn't got shite. He dwells up, i stare him down (hoping he see's the sign of strength as weakness) and finally he calls. The pot sits at roughly 6k.

What happens next....??

Is my thought process betting on track here?

Bankroll Management... Are you serious?

2008-05-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

So a week or so ago I started to build my Gutshot bankroll. I started with a roll of $400 and had my ups and downs first week playing at the wrong level (ahem!) as per usual. This last 9 days i've been playing mostly $0.25/$0.50 and i've had a pretty good run at it. I can't say it's got my blood pumping, but at least it's been profitable and i've not been risking my whole roll. Over the course of 5 days playing on average 2-3 hours a day (i fade after that online!) i'd moved from $400 and change to $1,500. Now normally at this point i'd rock on upto a $2/$4 or higher table and 'take a chance' at a higher level. This time however I decided change the goalposts...

Rather than continue playing low limit poker I would make a deal with myself. If I could build the $1,500 into $2,000 I would take $300 of that and play a little $2/$4. So I ran it up to $2,250 in a few days and banked some of it ($250) before playing at a higher level. Now if I lost the $500 I would have to start playing low limit again, but as long as I bank $250 a week I'm free to play the game which are a little juicer!!

I've had a pretty good few days so far including this session yesterday.

http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/showthread.php?t=26911

My high so far is nearly $5k, but at the moment i'm down to $3,800 of which $2,500 is my drop down line. I've had most success playing $5/$10, but i'm going to try and play mostly $1.50/$3 or a little higher. They seem fairly easy and at least at no stage am i risking it all. I'd be interested to know what people's thoughts are on this method of bankroll management?

Anyway, had my little girl over yesterday and it was her 7th birthday today so i'm knackered after helping organise her swimming party for 15 of her friends!! Tonight I plan to play a little poker at the Gutshot followed by golf tomorrow. Splendid.

Cocked and Ready for Action!

2008-05-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Booked my flights for Vegas the other day!! I fly on June 24th for 2 weeks. Jesus I can't wait! I don't really know anyone out there particularly well, but i'm sure i'll meet people from the Gutshot as I did last year.

I went to the club last week to play cash for the first time in many months. Sat down in the £1-£2 PLH game and played my usual array of cards. Sat with £200 and within 2 hours i'd spun that up to £575 so I cashed out. One hand did stick out. I raised in early position to £6 with suited AJ and got 7 callers! Ahem!! Then the big blind, who'd done his stack several times already squeezed it up to £50. I went into the tank for a brief moment before binning the AJ. The raiser then got 2 callers. The flop comes 3h 3d 5c. The original raiser pushes for his last £70 while saying 'nobody can have a 3 with that action preflop', he gets insta called by the other players. Now guess what they had... The raiser had Q 10 off suit, first caller 34 sooted and the final person has 78!! Jesus I wouldn't have had them on that. The orginal reraiser then said 'I knew I was ahead pre flop!'... What?!?! With 8 people in the pot he didn't thing anyone had a pair or a card higher than a queen?! The turn and river come 78 to give the small side pot to the 78. What an odd hand!

I hope the games are this juicy in Vegas!!

First things first and very nearly the last..

2008-04-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I deposited the first $400 of the cash i'll deposit on The Gutshot this month. I've had pretty much 2 weeks from playing poker only broken by playing the NLH and PLO forum games on the Gutshot. I won the NLH tourney for a small $100 prize, but it all counts...

This week i'll be concentrating on the Gutshot100 SNG League and playing $0.25/$0.50 6 handed cash games... or so I thought! I started to play Sunday evening, and without thinking started played $2/$4 cash tables. I spun the original money to $600 before moving up to $5/$10 and spinning up to $1200. This all happened pretty quickly and just as quickly went the other way first losing a big pot with AA against KK with made a set on the turn, and then when I had KK and lost to AA. Now I'm back where I started (roughly) on $388.

Why do I do this? I start with the best intentions and with little or no self control play limits well over my bankroll. It really pisses me off when I don't follow my own rules...

In this instance no harm done, but it could have quite easily meant having to deposit another of $400 i've put aside for the Gutshot BR this month. Has anyone ever worked how to increase your self control? Life would be many times simpler if it was possible! Would taking away temptation help, or would I just find new things to tempt me?

So after a rocky start to the week it looks like i'll not have time to play again until maybe Thursday. The football tonight followed by the 'big match' tomorrow night will hopefully give an all red final near Red Square.

Over the last 2 years i've gone from a reasonable 72kgs to over 94kgs. Aside from controlling the levels at which I play poker and building a bankroll I want to lose some of that lard. This weekend I'll buy a new bike which i've had my eye on for a few weeks. I have a tendency to always buy the more expensive options, but i've seen a Trek hybrid bike that's got excellent reviews and falls into my £500 budget. I want to try and put in 60 km's a week for the first few weeks and I hope this help with my poker. Exercise when I feel i'm playing poorly or there's a chance of tilt will be my new mantra!!

Hopefully i'll get my flight and hotel booked for Vegas this weekend. After looking in the week I should be able to make the last $1500 bracelet event and plan to book into the Gold Coast for 2 weeks to try and satellite into the main event. Once it's all booked I can forget about and get in some sort of physical and mental shape!!

Where, When, What and How?

2008-04-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

So this week I'm on poker sabbatical. Revising if you like for the grind ahead. An enjoyable grind, but a grind all the same. I'm away in Stockholm from Sunday to Thursday and plan to finish reading Harrington on cash game in that time. So far i've found the first few chapters to be interesting, perhaps enlightening, but certainly not riveting. I get bored easily. I always have and always will so reading books comes in fits and starts. I don't imagine i'll learn a huge about, but more reinforce what I already know. This is something that's very much needed.

A few questions i've been pondering this week is whether or not it's worth playing on more than one site with my reasonably small bankroll. I will definitely play on The Gutshot, but was toying with the idea of playing another. Maybe Poker Trillion? They seem to have some decent offers, and qualifiers for the WSOP. A second question is what limits should I play if I deposit say $800?

I've proven on many sites that i'm a winning player at lower limits such as 25c/50c, but is this a big enough roll to play these relatively low limits? The rule i'm going to go by is the 5% rule Phil Laak wrote about and I mentioned in my first post. Given this $40 buy in that limit will be fine, but I know i'll be dying to take a step up quickly. The urge i'll have to resist for the time being.

On the odd school day i've been at home playing poker i've found that the better players scurry down the limits to find the food. The weekend has always seemed like easier money and a better time to take the odd shot at higher levels. As the pubs clear out on Friday and Saturday nights poker players prey on the drunk. These are times i've generally had my higher returns. I intend to look more into this before next week.

The last thing i'm committing to this week is to play at least two events at the European Series of Poker Festival at the Gutshot towards the end of May. At the moment i'm looking at playing the PLO £200 FO and the Main event, although i'll try and qualify for that. I'll pay for this separately as a little treat to myself. Out of the two £100+ buy in events i've played this year i've made final tables on both for a £1500 combined cash. As i've historically kept my on and offline bank rolls separate i'll use the old funds.

In the Beginning...

2008-04-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

They say poker is a game of decisions based on imperfect information. You make a decision to bet, raise, check, call or fold based on the information laid out in front of you. For me this just mirrors life. You make decisions in life with the best intentions and on the information you have, but a percentage of the time you're going to be wrong.

I can't remember the first time I played poker, but i do remember it was 5 card draw. I more than likely played with friends, and more than likely we played with little or no knowledge of the rules. Like most poker players these days i play the variation called Texas Holdem, although in the last few weeks i've been playing more Omaha. I watched Late Night Poker in years gone by and over the years fell in love with the game.

I am most definitely an amateur player, but have qualified for and played in the World Series of Poker Main event in 2007 and other live tournaments. I qualified for the WSOP through the Gutshot in London , which is where i've played the majority of my live poker over the last few years. I also post on the www.gutshot.com forum as Deeve and play poker under moniker of The_Chimp.

I decided recently that the main obstacle stopping me from becoming a 'winning' poker player was bank roll management. I have an excellent grasp of the game, and in the short term have no trouble either progressing to final tables of tourneys, winning SNG's or making advances in cash games. What is letting me down is the inability to control which level I play at and therefore for third time in my poker career this week I bust out.

A fellow member on the Gutshot poker forum posted this link for me to read.

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Kelly%27s-Criterion-Phil-Laak-1295.htm

Although the article was nothing new to me, when reading it in such basic terms I decided (for once in my life!!) to take the advice on board.

This week i'm taking a poker time-out to reread Harrington on Holdem vol 2 and also his new Harrington on Cash games. As of next week i'll deposit a bankroll on Gutshot and start the grind playing tourneys, SNG's and ring games to build that bankroll. I will post session reviews, some (yawn!) hand histories and hope some readers might find it interesting to read and make comment.

I played in the WSOP 2007 and by no means disgraced myself losing to a runner, runner on one of the final hands of Day 1b in a 70k chip pot. I'm committed to going again this year to (unless I qualify before) play a super satellite in Vegas and maybe one of the $1,500 bracelet events. In the meantime i'll be attempting to improve my game.

http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/