Busted the $1.5K on day 1. I got off to a fast start chipping up to 11K from 4.5 start then this happened:
75/150 UTG+1 limps (playing to many hands and not playing them very well). I iso from CO with KQ to 500 playing a 11K stack to his 9Kish, everyone else folds and he calls. Flop AJ10 all spades, i have Queen of spades. He checks, i bet 675, he calls. Turn is off suit 9, he checks, i bet 1250, he calls. River ace, he leads for 3.3K, i call, he wins with A9 no spade. It was quite disgusting for me to lose that one and i never got anything going afterwards. I probably could have folded but it certainly wasn't an easy fold or a big mistake to call in that spot. I'm going to chill for a few days then play the $1K on Saturday.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
$2.5K 6-max
I busted playing 300/600/75 when i re-shoved 1010 with 20 bb's and got called by AJ, fairly standard.
I think the overall standard in the tourney was quite high. Of the 15 opponents i came up against only 2 were bad players and 6 or 7 seemed to play very well. I think i played well. I certainly didn't make any big mistakes but i think i made one small one. I basically made a bluff that was fine but I'd just lost a fairly big pot and might have had a tilted image. This is obviously a good time to go for thinner value and not make a big bluff, oh well.
Next up is the $1.5K tomorrow.
I think the overall standard in the tourney was quite high. Of the 15 opponents i came up against only 2 were bad players and 6 or 7 seemed to play very well. I think i played well. I certainly didn't make any big mistakes but i think i made one small one. I basically made a bluff that was fine but I'd just lost a fairly big pot and might have had a tilted image. This is obviously a good time to go for thinner value and not make a big bluff, oh well.
Next up is the $1.5K tomorrow.
Friday, 4 June 2010
Downswing
The last week has been one of the hardest that i've ever had to endure. I've lost $7K and gone through a very wide range of negative emotions. Most of the time i've just been really angry. I'm running so horribly it's sick. I can't remember a run of cards this bad and it's been hard to take.
The worst thing is that i've had to cash a lot out my roll to pay for Vegas. If Vegas goes badly i might have to move back down to $1/2 and i would hate that. I want to be moving the other way and moving back down would be a major blow to my pride. All this just makes the trip even more important. I really think it will define my year and i could very much do with catching a break.
I'm flying out next week and here is a list of the tournaments i plan on playing:
Mon 14th June - $2.5K 6 max
Wed 16th June - $1.5K
Sat 19th June - $1K
Mon 21st June - $1.5K shootout
wed 23rd June - $1.5K
Fri 25th June - $1.5K
Sat 26th June - $1K
Mon 28th June - $1.5K
I really would like to play the main event but I'm going to see how i do in the side events first. I'm not going to play online again in June, think i could do with a month off and just focus on winning a bracelet.
The worst thing is that i've had to cash a lot out my roll to pay for Vegas. If Vegas goes badly i might have to move back down to $1/2 and i would hate that. I want to be moving the other way and moving back down would be a major blow to my pride. All this just makes the trip even more important. I really think it will define my year and i could very much do with catching a break.
I'm flying out next week and here is a list of the tournaments i plan on playing:
Mon 14th June - $2.5K 6 max
Wed 16th June - $1.5K
Sat 19th June - $1K
Mon 21st June - $1.5K shootout
wed 23rd June - $1.5K
Fri 25th June - $1.5K
Sat 26th June - $1K
Mon 28th June - $1.5K
I really would like to play the main event but I'm going to see how i do in the side events first. I'm not going to play online again in June, think i could do with a month off and just focus on winning a bracelet.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Groundhog day
My last three appearances on the Grosvenor Poker tour have been eerily similar in nature. Firstly i arrive, full of confidence, hope and expectation. Secondly I'm ecstatic to discover that the poker ability of the majority of the rest of my table is somewhat limited.
After these initial discoveries is where the fun starts. I spend the next 8 hours playing as well as i can whilst the poker gods have a good laugh at my expense until my inevitable exit at the end of day 1. The worst thing about it is the seeming inevitability of it all.
As you can probably tell from the first few paragraphs of this blog, my trip to Coventry was not a successful one. My starting, (and finishing) table was again very soft but yet again it was unable to do much about it. The first level was hilarious. I lost with KK to 33 on a J4386. Thankfully i was saved by a retarded opponent who didn't understand bet sizing. Next up i lose 99 to 43 when it comes 633, (he decided that his hand was good enough to defend v my UTG open). Next i have to fold AK when i smash the bus into AA. I the lose 77 twice multi way and then have A8 v an unknown over pair when i fold to his 2x pot bet on an 864. If my opponents were even somewhat competent i would have probably gone busto but all in all i was very happy to have only lost 30% of my starting stack.
I spent the next 7 levels totally card dead playing very few hands. I was able to grind back to my starting stack but unfortunately for me that was all i could manage. I think my exit hand was very standard and all in all i see nothing i could have done differently. Yet again I'm content with my performance but left amazed at how bad the last 2k hands of live poker have been.
Can't believe what a whinny little girl i am sometimes!!
After these initial discoveries is where the fun starts. I spend the next 8 hours playing as well as i can whilst the poker gods have a good laugh at my expense until my inevitable exit at the end of day 1. The worst thing about it is the seeming inevitability of it all.
As you can probably tell from the first few paragraphs of this blog, my trip to Coventry was not a successful one. My starting, (and finishing) table was again very soft but yet again it was unable to do much about it. The first level was hilarious. I lost with KK to 33 on a J4386. Thankfully i was saved by a retarded opponent who didn't understand bet sizing. Next up i lose 99 to 43 when it comes 633, (he decided that his hand was good enough to defend v my UTG open). Next i have to fold AK when i smash the bus into AA. I the lose 77 twice multi way and then have A8 v an unknown over pair when i fold to his 2x pot bet on an 864. If my opponents were even somewhat competent i would have probably gone busto but all in all i was very happy to have only lost 30% of my starting stack.
I spent the next 7 levels totally card dead playing very few hands. I was able to grind back to my starting stack but unfortunately for me that was all i could manage. I think my exit hand was very standard and all in all i see nothing i could have done differently. Yet again I'm content with my performance but left amazed at how bad the last 2k hands of live poker have been.
Can't believe what a whinny little girl i am sometimes!!
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Quick Update
I managed to just about ensure that April was a profitable month. Even though this is obviously good news i'm concerned about my mindset. I've been getting more and more frustrated with poker over the last few months. I'm not sure if this is because i'm bored of playing and in need of long break or because i'm running bad and struggling to emulate the success i had online at the end of last year.
The good news is that away from poker life is great. The flu is gone and the asthma pumps have helped a lot with my breathing. I swam half a mile earlier today and felt fine. I'm going to run a couple of miles later and see how i feel. I really hope i can maintain a healthy lifestyle for a while because i've been letting things slip. No exercise and lots of takeaways make Eddy a chubby boy!
I have a very strong feeling that this week will determine how much poker i play before Vegas. If things go well i could easily get my appetite back and play 30 hour weeks. If things go badly i might end up throwing my monitor out the window!
The good news is that away from poker life is great. The flu is gone and the asthma pumps have helped a lot with my breathing. I swam half a mile earlier today and felt fine. I'm going to run a couple of miles later and see how i feel. I really hope i can maintain a healthy lifestyle for a while because i've been letting things slip. No exercise and lots of takeaways make Eddy a chubby boy!
I have a very strong feeling that this week will determine how much poker i play before Vegas. If things go well i could easily get my appetite back and play 30 hour weeks. If things go badly i might end up throwing my monitor out the window!
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
The end of my live drought
Good news!!! I finally cashed again in a live tournament.
I was home alone last Saturday so i decided to head to the international to watch the Spurs game. As well as being a good poker venue the club also has a wide screen to watch the games and serves good food, easy decision. After a great game and a very important victory for my team i decided to play the weekly £150. Now this tournament isn't great value. The level of play is quite high, the field quite small and the structure is obviously quite fast because it's a 1 day event. Despite all these negative factors i ended up 4 handed and we decided to do a chop. Two guys had about 180K in chips, i had 160K and another guy had 90K. After some smooth talking i managed to negotiate a good deal. The top 3 got £1750 and the other guy got £1450. If the blinds had been lower i wouldn't even think about a deal this generous but at 5K/10K my edge was fairly small so i was just happy to take the cash.
The online situation hasn't changed much since my last blog. I haven't been more than $3K either side of even this month and it's been a little frustrating. Every time i have a good day and feel like I'm ready to go on a rush and make some money i end up losing money in my next few sessions. The good news is that I've been a lot more level headed about it all since my last post and i feel like I'm playing well again. I really hope i can have a strong end to the April and avoid my first losing month since September 2009. I've still never had a losing month playing cash when I've played over 10K hands so this is the record i really want to hold on to.
Unfortunately I've had some bad news about my health. I've been struggling with my breathing over the last few months so i went to see the doctor. After a few tests she decided that i have asthma. My dad and sister have both had it for most of there lives so it wasn't that much of a shock really. I'm not to upset about it and it's nice to have the inhalers on hand to help when I'm struggling to breath. The worst think is that I've had a bit of flu recently which obviously makes things ten times worse. My nose has been completely blocked and this isn't really ideal when breathing is the major issue.
Anyway I've been feeling progressively better over the last few days and am now looking forward to going up to Manchester tomorrow for the GUKPT. I'm playing day 1B on Friday and obviously it would be nice to have a decent run after making the final table last year. I hope the next blog is a tale of victory!
I was home alone last Saturday so i decided to head to the international to watch the Spurs game. As well as being a good poker venue the club also has a wide screen to watch the games and serves good food, easy decision. After a great game and a very important victory for my team i decided to play the weekly £150. Now this tournament isn't great value. The level of play is quite high, the field quite small and the structure is obviously quite fast because it's a 1 day event. Despite all these negative factors i ended up 4 handed and we decided to do a chop. Two guys had about 180K in chips, i had 160K and another guy had 90K. After some smooth talking i managed to negotiate a good deal. The top 3 got £1750 and the other guy got £1450. If the blinds had been lower i wouldn't even think about a deal this generous but at 5K/10K my edge was fairly small so i was just happy to take the cash.
The online situation hasn't changed much since my last blog. I haven't been more than $3K either side of even this month and it's been a little frustrating. Every time i have a good day and feel like I'm ready to go on a rush and make some money i end up losing money in my next few sessions. The good news is that I've been a lot more level headed about it all since my last post and i feel like I'm playing well again. I really hope i can have a strong end to the April and avoid my first losing month since September 2009. I've still never had a losing month playing cash when I've played over 10K hands so this is the record i really want to hold on to.
Unfortunately I've had some bad news about my health. I've been struggling with my breathing over the last few months so i went to see the doctor. After a few tests she decided that i have asthma. My dad and sister have both had it for most of there lives so it wasn't that much of a shock really. I'm not to upset about it and it's nice to have the inhalers on hand to help when I'm struggling to breath. The worst think is that I've had a bit of flu recently which obviously makes things ten times worse. My nose has been completely blocked and this isn't really ideal when breathing is the major issue.
Anyway I've been feeling progressively better over the last few days and am now looking forward to going up to Manchester tomorrow for the GUKPT. I'm playing day 1B on Friday and obviously it would be nice to have a decent run after making the final table last year. I hope the next blog is a tale of victory!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Running out of momentum
The last few months have become increasingly frustrating. My win rate had been slowing down and now I'm struggling just to break even. Although I'm not overly concerned with short term variance i am annoyed about my reaction to it. I'm getting annoyed about really standard shit and getting angry about poker is never good. Sometimes you just need to take a step back and put things into perspective, hopefully this blog is me doing that.
I think one of the best things about losing is that i tend to learn things. Even if it's not learning new things but reinforcing certain things that i might have temporarily forgotten. I'm not going to go into the boring details but there have been certain things about my play that I'm not happy about. The good thing is that i recognise what they are and can take fairly obvious steps to change them.
The Ski trip was loads of fun. We only had 4 days but i really enjoyed everything about Chamonix. The trip also reminded me how insanely lucky i am. For most people a holiday is an important break from work, my whole life is a break from work!
Since my return to London I've not been up to that much. Liam and Ant are both changing jobs and have the next couple of weeks off. Basically that means that i won't be playing much poker. It does mean that i'll be playing a bit of golf, fifa 2010 and ping pong. I played my first round of golf of the year last week and it went quite well. I was crap on the front 9 but played a strong back 9 and tried to think hard about what i was trying to do with every shot, just need to work on the execution now. I also hit one of the best shots of my life on a 150 yard par 3 when i ripped a 7 iron 1 foot from the hole.
Hopefully my next blog will be about my winning $10K in a week but until them some advice; go to the cinema and watch Kick Ass. It's brilliant!
I think one of the best things about losing is that i tend to learn things. Even if it's not learning new things but reinforcing certain things that i might have temporarily forgotten. I'm not going to go into the boring details but there have been certain things about my play that I'm not happy about. The good thing is that i recognise what they are and can take fairly obvious steps to change them.
The Ski trip was loads of fun. We only had 4 days but i really enjoyed everything about Chamonix. The trip also reminded me how insanely lucky i am. For most people a holiday is an important break from work, my whole life is a break from work!
Since my return to London I've not been up to that much. Liam and Ant are both changing jobs and have the next couple of weeks off. Basically that means that i won't be playing much poker. It does mean that i'll be playing a bit of golf, fifa 2010 and ping pong. I played my first round of golf of the year last week and it went quite well. I was crap on the front 9 but played a strong back 9 and tried to think hard about what i was trying to do with every shot, just need to work on the execution now. I also hit one of the best shots of my life on a 150 yard par 3 when i ripped a 7 iron 1 foot from the hole.
Hopefully my next blog will be about my winning $10K in a week but until them some advice; go to the cinema and watch Kick Ass. It's brilliant!
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