A long overdue update

I would like to apologise to those of you who follow this blog. I haven't posted for a long time and I'm sorry.

The good news is that life is great. The new flat in Bristol is fantastic and I'm really enjoying living hear. I already feel that my game is improving and that the decision to move here was a good one. By surrounding myself with other poker players I've given myself the best chance to be successful in a healthy environment.

My results thus far have been a little disappointing but that doesn't concern me. I'm enjoying playing and have increased my volume significantly since the move.

I'm really trying to stay positive and look forward to next year. Before i can do that however i need to be honest about the last 12 months. I haven't played anywhere near enough poker and still have a lot to work on. I'm pretty much in the same financial position as i was this time last year and that isn't good enough. Just because I'm lucky enough to pick and choose when i play this shouldn't result in an excuse to be lazy and go through long periods of hardly playing.

I set myself some targets at the start of the year and i haven't come close to hitting any of them. I'll admit that winning the WSOP main event was a little ambitious but the other three were certainly achievable. To have failed so miserably is extremely disappointing for me.

If 2012 is going to be different i need to take things more seriously and dedicate a lot more time to both studying and playing. I think I've taken the first step by moving away from London to be amongst fellow professional players. If i can stay focused on making good decisions then i see no reason why next year can't go a lot better than this one has.

Away from poker the last few months have been fairly quiet. I've been in London a lot seeing the girlfriend and been on a couple of holidays. One was a trip to Florence which was very enjoyable and the other was the golf holiday to Okehampton that i somehow managed to win! I really love the annual boys trip and i really hope that we keep it up for the years to come. I was really happy to win but i felt a bit guilty playing off such a high handicap having played so many rounds leading up to the competition. Looking forward to getting down there next year and defending my title!

I'm heading home for Christmas tomorrow and then will probably be back in Bristol for the new year. Hard to say when I'll next blog but i will try to keep it going, certainly think it's a positive outlet for me. Anyway happy Christmas to you all.

Life Update

The last six weeks have been fairly eventful. I've played some online poker, bashed up Broadstairs folk week, moved out of the London Pad and even won a live tournament! I'm now back in sunny Broadstairs whilst a few friends and I sort out a move to Bristol. I didn't really feel like blogging until I had something to write about and I now feel like this is a good time for reflection.

I'll start with an online cash update. On the whole it has gone quite well. I'm up about $10.5K since Vegas playing $1/2 and $2/$4. I've also put a solid amount of hands in which is encouraging. Usually at the this time of year I have very little interest in playing much online but I've been helped out by the shoddy weather.

I took five days off in the middle of August to come home and enjoy the awesomeness that is Broadstairs folk week. This is by far the best week of the year to be back home. The town is packed, the atmosphere is very friendly and the beers are flowing. It also gives me a chance to catch up with some of the boys from school that I don't get to see enough of. I'm going to give a big congrats to my friend Alec 'the boy' Howard for his stellar performance, getting pissed on every night of the week, you are my hero!

As usual the main event of the week was the annual half pint challenge. Now in its 5th year this particular pub crawl is going from strength to strength. 18 pubs, 9 pints, silly hats, flip cup and the Jurassic park theme tune all contributed in making this year the best yet!

The last two weeks in London have been very enjoyable but also a little sad. We've had some great nights out, most notably an absolute tear up in the Venue and my birthday meal at Goodmans. I still can't help but feel a little sad about the closing of another chapter in my life. Living with Tone, Liam, Mike, Brad and Hatz has been great fun and I wouldn't change the last three years for anything. Along with the rest of my friends they've all been very supportive of what I do and living with them has been an absolute pleasure.

Anyway the plan now is to move to Bristol for 9 months before the next WSOP. I'm looking forward to living with other poker players and I'm sure my game will benefit enormously. Just having other people to bounce ideas off and dissect hands with is great, hope I can continue to improve and put some serious volume in over the winter.

Now some very good news. Last week I won a £300 tourney at the international for £9.2K. I'm excited about this result for a number of reasons. Firstly money is awesome, secondly the field was quite tough, it's my home club and finally the structure is very unique for the size of the buy-in. You start with 20K in chips and the blind levels are 90 minutes. This offers phenomenal value for all players and it gives people a chance to play a $10K structure for just £300. It was nice to win a tourney for the first time in ages and the whole experience was a lot of fun. The club has a lot of regs and the banter was flying around. A lot of characters and a very good 3 days of work.

Anyway I'm about done on this one, very solid blog IMO! Not sure when I'll update next but the golf holiday in Okey is coming up so hopefully I can write about getting rid of that Fucking wooden spoon!

Day 3 busto

I just busted out the 2010 WSOP main event. I managed to finally get some chips to play with then lost a 120K flip with AK v QQ playing 600/1200/200. The hand itself is very standard and i think it represents my entire world series very well, double my stack then lose the next important hand i play. This seemed to happen in a lot of the events.

On the whole i'm extremely happy with the way i played this summer, especially in the main event. There isn't much i would change if i had to do it all over again. Unfortunately the reality is that i'm now enjoying a fairly brutal $16K downswing. The plan for the next few months is very simple: get back to England and get on the grind. Looking forward to the next world series already.

Hard Day 1

The good news is that i managed to make day 2. I only have 25 of my 30K starting stack but the blinds are only 200/400/50 so plenty of play left yet. My table was fairly soft with one guy in particular being terrible. The funny thing was the 'Italian stallion' ran his nuts off all day and finished with a 110K stack! I'm fairly happy with my decisions but a little frustrated about how the day went. I felt like i was in so many multi way pots against bad players with good hands but i just couldn't connect with a fucking thing. I really need to stop complaining about things outside my own control though and focus on the positives. I'm playing day 2A on Friday and all i can do is focus on making good decisions and hope to run much better than i did today. In the mean time I'm just going to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Main Event

I'm playing day 1A of the main event tomorrow. It's obviously the biggest and most prestigious event of the year and i'm fairly excited about playing in it for the third time. I'm a little annoyed that the recent downswing has prevented me from having a larger % of myself but all in all i'm just happy to be playing.

The latest side events did not go well. I busted both of them fairly early, one losing a flip and the other with AA v QQ all in pre. Away from the tables Vegas life has been a lot of fun. We've just been hanging out, drinking, watching the world cup and going out a lot for dinner/drinking/crazy shenanigans. A couple of the people in the house have been involved in some really fun situations with the ladies, most notably one William Brewin. Whilst i'm happy to write anything about myself on this page it probably isn't fair to write about his exploits, no matter how entertaining. Anyway i'm glad to report that on a personal note i've been behaving myself a bit better this year. My diet had been appalling and i've done very little exercise but life is good and i'm enjoying the whole Vegas experience, now to go and win the main event!

I cashed!!

I made the money in the latest $1500 event, finished 169th For nearly $4K. It was obviously a bit annoying not to make any real money but nice to have the first cash of the series. I ran really well in the first 8 levels to get up to a very healthy 65K in chips but the lost a 60K pot with AK v JJ. If i had won that pot i would have been i the top 10 going into Day 2. Unfortunately i suck at winning important flips and lost another one in the third level of day 2 to bust.

I'm playing the $1.5K on Monday and obviously hoping to keep my amazing streak alive. It also looks like i'll be playing the main event but only keeping a small % of myself.

0 and 4

I played the $1.5K shootout today and came 4th. I never really got anything going but i think i played fine. Ended up losing QJ v AK in another boring, standard hand. Next is another $1.5K on Wednesday. I hope England are safely through to the last 16 of the world cup by the time i take my seat.