The first live tournament of the year has come and gone, unfortunately it ended in failure. The good news about the trip was that i managed to get in via a £150 satellite the night before. The bad news is the satellite didn't finish until 4am and in the main event i ran like shit.
I haven't got that many interesting hands to write about to be honest. My first table was incredibly soft but i was very card dead so i couldn't take advantage. Most of the players were just playing to loose before the flop and butchering their hands post-flop. It still surprises me how soft these fields are but you still need to make hands to take advantage. I eventually busted in the 9th level shoving 13bb's from the small blind with K7 and running into A7 in the big, sigh. Overall I'm very happy with how i played and wouldn't change a single decision i made all weekend. I'll be getting back on the grind this week with a few interruptions; Spurs game on Tuesday, seeing my sister on Wednesday, trip to cheeses' on Friday and the £300 at the international Saturday. I'm also planning on swimming a couple of miles so 12 hours of online poker should be a fairly accurate prediction.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Update
I'm pleased to report that the move up to $3/6 has been a relatively smooth one. I'm +$9K since my last post and looking good for a +$20K month overall. Despite this brilliant news there are still a few things I'm not happy about. The main one has been my general level of play. It's so easy to just presume you're playing well when your winning but this isn't always the case. I've played well the majority of the time but in two or three sessions I've been pretty poor. I really want to continue moving up but i know my consistency has to improve. If i can start producing my best game 90% of the time then i know i can compete at the higher levels. Obviously I'm going to make mistakes sometimes but i just need to keep learning from them.
In live poker news I'm heading to Bolton for the first leg of the GUKPT tomorrow. I'm getting the train up with Will in the afternoon, playing a satellite in the evening and then the main event starts on Friday at 2pm. This is my first major live event of the year so obviously hoping to start things off with a bang. The structure is quite good and in my experience the standard is usually fairly low. I'll probably blog when i get back about some fantastic hero call i made with king high against top set.
Away from poker I'm really starting to get excited about this premiership season. We lost to Liverpool tonight and played fucking terribly but i still think spurs have got a great chance of finishing 4th. The bookies have got Man City as favourites but i think it could be any one of four. Injuries will be a really important factor and from a spurs perspective we need Lennon back as soon as possible. He has been on fire this season and we really lack width without him playing.
I'm going to finish this post with the creation of another life rule:
NEVER BET ON AMERICAN FOOTBALL AGAIN YOU STUPID DEGEN FUCKWIT!
Anyway the Australian Open is on now so I'm going to bet on that instead.
In live poker news I'm heading to Bolton for the first leg of the GUKPT tomorrow. I'm getting the train up with Will in the afternoon, playing a satellite in the evening and then the main event starts on Friday at 2pm. This is my first major live event of the year so obviously hoping to start things off with a bang. The structure is quite good and in my experience the standard is usually fairly low. I'll probably blog when i get back about some fantastic hero call i made with king high against top set.
Away from poker I'm really starting to get excited about this premiership season. We lost to Liverpool tonight and played fucking terribly but i still think spurs have got a great chance of finishing 4th. The bookies have got Man City as favourites but i think it could be any one of four. Injuries will be a really important factor and from a spurs perspective we need Lennon back as soon as possible. He has been on fire this season and we really lack width without him playing.
I'm going to finish this post with the creation of another life rule:
NEVER BET ON AMERICAN FOOTBALL AGAIN YOU STUPID DEGEN FUCKWIT!
Anyway the Australian Open is on now so I'm going to bet on that instead.
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Record Breakers
The year is still very much in it's infancy but i'm already a massive fan of 2010!! I've already beaten a couple of my poker records and the best thing about it was i managed them both in one day. First my 'biggest pot won' record now stands at $2800. I decided to see if i could find a juicy $5/10 game on cake and i couldn't resist when i watched a game for about 15 hands and saw some fundamental errors from a few players and one guy stacking off retardedly light. The best thing was someone soon quit and i was first on the waiting list. Anyway the hand itself was kind of a late Christmas present. I open to $30 UTG with AA, button reg 3 bets t0 $110, tilting mongo ships for $750 and i obviously stick my $1K and change in the middle. The button tank calls AK and the mongo has 55; no sick otdraw and we have a new record. I quit when the idiot did and then realised i had beaten my best ever cash game day, +$4K. Obviously i'm hoping this is a record i will be breaking time and time again as i work my way up the cash game ladder.
On that subject i've decided to move up to $3/6 NLH full time. I've played a bit at this level and a bit of $5/10 also but this time i'm taking a 10 buy-in shot with no intention of moving down unless i lose the whole $6K. In general moving up in the past has been followed by a period of breaking even until i become a steady winner. I'm seeing it as a challenge and this has to be seen as a positive step. Personally i find poker just as much about the competition as about the money and this is the main reason i'm still in love with the game. My own game has come on a lot at $2/4 and i'm hoping i can maintain this self improvement as i work towards achieving my annual goals.
I'll post when i either lose the $6K or update my progress at the end of the month. At the moment i'm +$10K in January so let's all hope the good times continue!
On that subject i've decided to move up to $3/6 NLH full time. I've played a bit at this level and a bit of $5/10 also but this time i'm taking a 10 buy-in shot with no intention of moving down unless i lose the whole $6K. In general moving up in the past has been followed by a period of breaking even until i become a steady winner. I'm seeing it as a challenge and this has to be seen as a positive step. Personally i find poker just as much about the competition as about the money and this is the main reason i'm still in love with the game. My own game has come on a lot at $2/4 and i'm hoping i can maintain this self improvement as i work towards achieving my annual goals.
I'll post when i either lose the $6K or update my progress at the end of the month. At the moment i'm +$10K in January so let's all hope the good times continue!
Friday 1 January 2010
A mediocre year
We've reached that time again. The passing of one year and the transition into a new one. A good time for reflection, analysis, forward planning and hope.
All things considered i'm disappointed with 2009 from a professional perspective. Here is a quick review of my various results:
ONLINE CASH:
This was certainly where the vast majority of my 'work' hours were spent. I made $75K playing mostly 200 and 400nl, Hu and 6-max. I'm fairly content with this return but not over the moon. In all fairness i hardly played for 4 months of the year so the figure could certainly have been higher if i had managed more than a rather pathetic 250Kish hands which in poker terms isn't exactly high volume.
ONLINE TOURNIES:
I'm a little surprised that i actually has a losing year in online tournies but when you consider my volume this really was always going to be a possibility. I only managed around 40 tournies in an entire year which is obviously fairly laughable considering how profitable they are for me. Anyway i lost $5K.
LIVE CASH:
Only played 3 sessions all year and it was all quite low stakes. I made about $1k.
LIVE TOURNIES:
Oh dear!! Lost quite a lot of my own money in these bad boys and quite a lot of other peoples' as well. Lost approx $11K of my own money.
You don't have to be a genius to work out that gives me a +$60K 2009. The low point of my year was GUKPT Manchester where i played an awesome tourney, took the chip lead into the final and ended up finishing 8th. The highpoint has been the last two months online. I've been playing well, running good and have made just over $30K which has kind of saved my year from being a bag of shit. I'm also happy to report that i've improved as a player this year and this is something i'm obviously looking to continue with for as long as i'm playing for a living. I've also really worked hard on my Bankroll management and have never felt close to going broke at any point. I had to move back down to 200nl when i got back from travelling and even though i knew i could beat the higher limits i swallowed my pride and grinded hard.
Personally the last year has been fairly awesome. I'm just a really positive, happy person most of the time and i'm not one to take how lucky i am for granted. I have a great family, fantastic friends and a lifestyle that i just love, happy days!! I had an amazing time travelling with one of my best friends and also a great month in Vegas. Whenever i hit a low point with poker i just try and remind myself of these things and it serves as a great way for me to relax and stay positive. The year certainly ended with a bang with a little get together round our house. It was only about 30 people but i had a really good time and it was much better than going out for new years which tends to be an expensive anti-climax most of the time. Highlight of the night was our friend Bestie getting to drunk to stand by 8pm, getting naked and then being put to bed, i love that man!
Anyway that just about rounds up the year and the only thing to do now is look forward to 2010. Here are some goals that i'm shooting for:
All things considered i'm disappointed with 2009 from a professional perspective. Here is a quick review of my various results:
ONLINE CASH:
This was certainly where the vast majority of my 'work' hours were spent. I made $75K playing mostly 200 and 400nl, Hu and 6-max. I'm fairly content with this return but not over the moon. In all fairness i hardly played for 4 months of the year so the figure could certainly have been higher if i had managed more than a rather pathetic 250Kish hands which in poker terms isn't exactly high volume.
ONLINE TOURNIES:
I'm a little surprised that i actually has a losing year in online tournies but when you consider my volume this really was always going to be a possibility. I only managed around 40 tournies in an entire year which is obviously fairly laughable considering how profitable they are for me. Anyway i lost $5K.
LIVE CASH:
Only played 3 sessions all year and it was all quite low stakes. I made about $1k.
LIVE TOURNIES:
Oh dear!! Lost quite a lot of my own money in these bad boys and quite a lot of other peoples' as well. Lost approx $11K of my own money.
You don't have to be a genius to work out that gives me a +$60K 2009. The low point of my year was GUKPT Manchester where i played an awesome tourney, took the chip lead into the final and ended up finishing 8th. The highpoint has been the last two months online. I've been playing well, running good and have made just over $30K which has kind of saved my year from being a bag of shit. I'm also happy to report that i've improved as a player this year and this is something i'm obviously looking to continue with for as long as i'm playing for a living. I've also really worked hard on my Bankroll management and have never felt close to going broke at any point. I had to move back down to 200nl when i got back from travelling and even though i knew i could beat the higher limits i swallowed my pride and grinded hard.
Personally the last year has been fairly awesome. I'm just a really positive, happy person most of the time and i'm not one to take how lucky i am for granted. I have a great family, fantastic friends and a lifestyle that i just love, happy days!! I had an amazing time travelling with one of my best friends and also a great month in Vegas. Whenever i hit a low point with poker i just try and remind myself of these things and it serves as a great way for me to relax and stay positive. The year certainly ended with a bang with a little get together round our house. It was only about 30 people but i had a really good time and it was much better than going out for new years which tends to be an expensive anti-climax most of the time. Highlight of the night was our friend Bestie getting to drunk to stand by 8pm, getting naked and then being put to bed, i love that man!
Anyway that just about rounds up the year and the only thing to do now is look forward to 2010. Here are some goals that i'm shooting for:
- Make $100K from online cash games.
- Be beating $5/10 at a solid rate by the end of the year.
- Make the final table of a major live event.
- Win the WSOP main event.
I've also added a couple of rues that i will be trying to stick to:
- No drinking the night before a live tournament.
- No playing online before 5pm if i have been drinking heavily the night before.
- No listening to music when playing live, (amazing how much you can miss).
My general plan for the year is to play quite a lot of online cash over the next 4 months. I'll be playing all of the GUKPT main events in this time but won't be playing live apart from that. By the end of April it should be a little warmer so i'll be coming out of hibernation. I'll be looking to play more live tournies and maybe some £5/10 live. I'll then be smashing up Vegas for 5 weeks in the summer and preying i can do better than last year. Break even one time!!! After the series i might do some travelling for a month but i'm not sure yet. The contract is up on the house in september and i'm almost certain i will not be staying in London. I'd love to live overseas but i'm the laziest man alive so this could be a real hassle to set up.
January tends to be a fairly shit month in general but i've never really minded it. I'm going to be getting plenty of sleep, drinking lots of tea and hopefully win lots of $; let the games begin!
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