first live cash in london

some mates at uni frequently go to the casino just to play roulette and i'd been meaning to join them on a trip for a while, so whilst drunkedly standing outside a club at 2am on a wednesday night and talks about going to the casino emerged i was prettttty keen. 30 minutes on a bus and we were outside the empire casino...and i headed to straight to the poker room whilst the others went to play roulette.

i thought buying in for 200 would be pretty standard, however i was very short stacked at the table. average stack was probably about £700-800 and the guy to my left had atleast 1.5k. I won a small pot preflop with aces, and about a £30pot with top pair with a flop bet, and then the big hand...The whole table has limped to me & I make it £20 with aces (i run good) and surprisingly get 4 callers, inclusing the sb. the flop 8h-6h-4s. the sb leads for £50. with so many players behind i just call. then the original utg limper makes it £150. other two callers pass and the sb folds. i wasn't loving the situation but with about £330 in the middle and only £130 behind, i went all in. although it was only £30 more to call he started seriously dwelling up. sweet. he then called. i showed, and he said he needed some help. even better. the turn and river were both 10's and he mucked.

i played another not particulary evenful hour, and cashed out +£350, making it a pretty sweet end to the night. I met my other mates and we decided that a full english breakfast would be in order...he was up £150 too. he goes to cash out and me and my other mate are just waiting watching some roulette...we then turnaround and my mate never made it to the cage and he's playing blackjack. at £40 a hand. i come over watch two hands which he loses and now he's down £60! d'oh!! oh well- we still get that full english in putney and its pretty awesome seeing all the commuters get on the tube whilst you are just coming back from the night.

so overall, really fun night and a bit more live poker success, sure my good luck live will run out soon. would love to play more there but don't have the roll to play in it properly, so i think i'll just go a few more times hopefully on spontaneous trips!

New Years in Vegas!

8 days in Vegas over New Years? Ideal! Have been back now for nearly a month so this is a bit of a delayed post. I wrote down some of the key hands to jog my memory and I've just gone through these main ones.

Anywayzzzzz...Before we went, I was hoping to play lots of poker to get in gear before we flew to Vegas at the end of December. That never happened; general Christmas mayhem meant that I hadn’t really played any poker for about four months. Plenty of some hot shit scenarios from bushy and adam on the flight and a skim read of Harrington however, and I felt good to go….

So, here are the hands I played....

1. The first session we play was at the MGM. I buy in for $150 and we all sign up together but get put at different tables. This is my first live cash game so wasn’t that confident about what I was doing and found it pretty hard just following the game. Zoid. About 20 mins in and getting a better feel for the table, in MP I raise to $7 with 8d8s. The button makes it $15, the BB calls and I call.

The BB and myself check a flop of Qs-8d-4s.

The button bets $20 and then the BB C/R’s to $55. I think about just flat calling, but pretty sure the BB will call my all in and I didn’t want to get too tricky and go with the push…then the button insta calls! And so does the BB. The turn and river are both 4’s, and I start to think I lose to an over pair, oooops! Thankfully, the Button tables KK and the BB mucks his flush draw and it’s pretty much the ideal start.

2. $80 freeze out at Caesars. 65 runners, $1300 for 1^st. This was a great place to play poker but the tournament with a 20 min clock and big antes and blind increases meant there wasn’t much post flop poker towards the later blind levels. Things start badly when I bluff half my stack on the first level against the wrong player who was a bit of a calling station. I then defend a button raise with Ks8s.

The flop is As7s3d.

I CRAI and get called by AK no spades. I river the spade, easy game. Down to 3 tables I make a pretty big pass with 10-10 pre flop with only an M of 5 after an UTG push. I should of pushed in hindsight. A lap later, I then push with 5,2o in the cutoff and BB thinks for 5 minutes and then wins with A10. All three of us crashed and burned and this tourney was on NYE so could have been a great start to the night…

3. $1-2 at the MGM. Aggressive UTG makes it $10, folds to me, and I just call with AK in the BB.

The flop is KQJ- rainbow and I check.

He bet’s $15 and I call. The turn is an 8 and I check. He insta pushes for $90. I don’t love the way I played this, but I felt he was just trying to buy the pot and called…he had JJ, and I didn’t hit the 10. Probably too marginal a spot to play but anyways…

4. Still at the MGM, I raise the cuttoff with Ks7d to $7. A good tight player on the button makes it $15 and I call.

The flop is As8s3s.

I check and he insta bets $40. I push for $130. He starts sighing and generally looks pretty pissed off. Ideal. He then stands up, uh-oh…, and says “I KNOW you have the King of Spades!!!” He then calls, I for some reason can’t hit my flush this time and felt pretty disgusted when I was shown Kh8h for the winning hand. Sick call without the ace and any spade. I genuinely believe that this player had seen both my cards from his speech and his call (and the fact that I am a bit of an idiot and wasn’t looking at my whole cards too discretely!)

5. $1-2 at Mandalay bay. I limp in early with Jh10h and the button raises to $10. I call and so do 5 others. The flop is J44.

Checks round to the button who bets $20. I am the only caller. The turn is a 10. I check and call the buttons AI of $65 and beat KJ.

6. Mandalay Bay. I am in the cuttoff and it’s been straddled to $5 and called in 3 spots. I have JJ and raise to $25. The straddler then makes it $50. Hmmmmmm. I am playing $200ish and the straddler has me covered. I call.

The flop is A-K-3 and he checks. I check back.

The turn is a pretty interesting J. He bets $50. I’m honestly not loving this because AA, KK make a lot of sense. I shove it all in though and when he insta calls I’m feeling pretty sick. He then tables AK, phew, and I hold. Two hands later the same guy hits a straight flush for a $200 bonus and a nice pot so he wasn’t too annoyed.

7. MGM. With $200, I raise to $7 UTG+2 with 5-5. Standard 8 callers.

The flop is As-5c-6d.

I bet the flop for $22 and get called by the button. The turn is a 6h and I bet $40. Button calls. The river is another ace and I check. He bets $100. I fold…..but thankfully get shown an ace.

8. MGM.Only playing $100, and 4 callers, I limp on the button with 5s6h.

Flop is 5-5-8- Rainbow.

Checks to button who bets $30, I jam and the BB calls. Uh-oh. Button folds and I lose to 5-7.

9. Mandalay Bay. It’s straddled and I call with 8-8 UTG (playing $400). 4 other callers and the straddler checks.

The flop is Ah-8d-Jd.

Checks to straddler who bets $25. I make it $75, folds back round to straddler who calls. The turn is a Q. Straddler checks and I set her all in for $100. She calls with A-10 and I hold….

10. Mandalay Bay. I limp with 3-3 playing $350 in MP, 6 players see the flop of...

3s-8d-6d.

BB bets, $8 I just call and a good Chinese woman calls too. The turn is 7c. BB bets $25 and I call and so does the Chinese woman. The river is the Qc. BB bet’s $35. Pretty confident I’m beating the BB and raise to $90. Then the Chinese flat calls…..spicy. The BB calls the extra $55. BB has 8-6 and the Chinese lady scoops with 4d-5d.

So, I played about 9 sessions in total, longest one was 13 hours straight! and six of the nine sessions were profitable. Overall I was up around $600 through poker. My game was pretty embarrassingly nitty though, which although definitely very exploitable isn’t such a bad thing in Vegas and probably always going to be profitable at those stakes. If there’s a next time, hopefully I’ll have more of a roll and be able to be a bit more adventurous….

Since I’ve been back I’ve been running pretty well online just playing 50c-$1 mainly FR. Once we get the interent I’m going to buy HEM or PT3 and try and get some stats going. I also had a post-club

trip to the Empire casino in London to play some £1-£2 which was so funny but this has been a monster report so I’ll write about it soon.

going in cold

Until yesterday, I hadn't played online in the last 6 weeks. I don't have internet access at the moment, so it's not really on the agenda. However, all the WSOP build gave me the itch to play so I couldn't help enter one of the sunday majors last night....

Playing meant trecking all the way to the 24hr uni computer suite. The last bus home was at 1am, so I figured I wanna be out reasonably early OR in for the long haul when the cumputer geeks get there for 7am. Unfortunately, it was a relatively early bust out when I played the following hand.

.

Blinds 200-400

My stack 12k

Villains stack 34k.

-

Pre flop:

Active villain makes it 1k UTG+2.

I make the call with AJo on the button.

Big blind comes along too.

.

Flop: (Pot= 3,200)

Ah, 10d, 9s

Villain leads for 2k

I flat (I figure, either well ahead or well behind reassess on turn)

Button folds.

.

Turn

3s (Boards A,10,9,3)

Villain bets 4k (Pot 7.2K)

I shove for 5k more.

He calls.

.

I think flop call is fine with the attitude to re-assess but I think I got my info with his turn bet and should really fold. Pretty scary board for villain to bluff at (despite his activeness and chip stack) and I only really beat a bluff. Turns out I'm drawing dead.

-

But even during the tournament I kinda felt like I was dead money to be honest. Poker is a game of practice, and not playing for over a month and then trying to play well in a big tourney is very very hard. Little things like concentration, reading hands, general table awareness are completely diminished and I never felt like I was really going to go deep.

-

I've been doing more and more sport psychology recently and its very interesting and very relevent to poker in my opinion. Whilst watching some of the WSOP build up I saw Hellmuth talking about who was going to win, and he said "it would be someone who had imagined themselves winning, and prepared themselves for what it would be like". I gotta agree with him- I think that preparation is crucial in making the difference between you are your oponents, and I'm guessing that not enough people do it.

-

As far as poker for me in concerned I'm going to try and grind HU very hard over the next 6 weeks before a Vegas trip at New Years. Cheapest game there looks to be $200NL so I wanna take a fair few buy ins with me. I was hoping to do more and more triathlon training to do the big race next August, however I decided against it for different reasons BUT will be doing at least a couple of Olympic triathlons next year so be good to get out training.

-

We do have a regular live game running though in London. Well I say regualr but we are one week in. Thursday night's, its a great crack. Lots of people learning but everyone loves it. One guy i'm not sure if he's running a huge bluff on us all. One time, at blinds 20-40, he bet 20 on the flop into the pot of 100. I reminded him that the minimum bet was 40 now, and he then proceeded to bet 4000. Mind games. He ended up finishing 2nd.

small cash in the WCOOP

Still a little gutted about this tournament because I went pretty deep and didn't manage to play my big stack very well. Overall, happy to cash but I still seem to be stumbling at the final hurdle(s) which is definitely a leak in my game. I should of really bubbled also, when I two outted someone so the cash is very welcome. Things generally just went my way alot of the tournament, had AA v AK twice, hit two sets which both got paid and generally I picked good spots to bluff. I got up to 100k with 400 players left and then lost two big pots, firstly when I flat called a re raise with KK and lost to A7 and then when I didn't 4 bet with JJ and lost to Q10. The flop was Q high and I couldn't fold....Anyway, I got back to 50k, with average around 90K and then I played the following hand....

Folds round to serial raiser in the cutoff (stack 110k) and he makes a standard raise to ~4k
New player in the SB (Stack 80k) flat calls.
I'm in the BB with 50k and squeeze it all in the 63o.

Surprisingly I get two calls! lol. Cutoff reraised all in with AK and newbie calls with JJ. Good timing. Anyway i came 391/8538 for $580ish. Not sure about playing some more WCOOP, I'll see how the sat's go...

back on the felt

After 6 weeks off from the game I'm back playing. I've been working full time too so I've hardly put in many hours. It started horribly playing 50c-$1 cash and I have just about recovered the losses through a few tournaments. I think my cash game is pretty weak tbh, probably because I'm not rolled to play! However, after a cheeky satalite win I'm going to take a shot at the first WCOOP event, 6 max $215 buy-in with 20 min clock. Hopefully it will fund my entrance into the rest of the tournaments...I got my eye's on the Main event.

a break-even month of sorts...

Warning: boring post.

I haven't played a single hand of poker for the last month.
It's been good having an extended break from the game and during it I've never had a real urge to play. However, I am looking to start back up fairly soon, but I'm not sure if I'm ready yet!!! It's sad but, the whole package that comes with the game when you take it seriously is quite a lot...the discipline, the frustration, the highs and lows....it's a lot to take in! That's why its so good isn't it...

Also, in four days it also marks a year until the start of this Ironman in August 2010. I'm not sure if I've got my place yet, I'll find out in September but I'll use this month to atelast get myself ready for a long year of training.

So...this month is likely to be back to the tables and back on the road for training.

more on mindset

As per my last post I was hoping to play alot of MTT's and go on a huge grind. I booked a vegas trip for New Years 2010, so time to fund it.

I made a $500 deposit and got off to a pretty bad start, dropping a $100ish or so and got pretty dispirited, even though I've lost a lot more in the past, I'm not earning at the moment so the money hurts a bit more. I turned to the cash tables and had a few sessions where I played far too long (4 tabling for 5-6 hours isn't great for the eyes) and played very badly and too high, a bad combination. Needless to say it hasn't been my finest poker week.

I'm not really in the right frame of mind to be playing my best - I'm on a long break from my degree and not working, so without income. The added pressure doesn't seem to be working... Playing for 5 hours and then getting two outted for the CL on the bubble doesn't do much for your mood either and I'm not sure I can take it!

Away from poker, I've been been getting in to some long distance training recently, I'm semi-addicted to it. One aim is to complete this ironman next year. There's a big chance I won't get accepted because it's pretty compeititve to get a place and although I'd love to do it, it's a massive committment. I reckon it's a great time for me to do it though, I'll have a fair amount of time to train and some mates to do it with.

Back to what I'm going to do with poker. I'm going to take a break from it, take down the odd tourney, and just enjoy the summer and hopefully also get some work experience. It's not like poker is going to go anywhere.

playing better and the sunday million

After another dissapointing week on the tables, I took a small break and started playing smaller more focused sessions. I only had a few W$ left in my account so attempted some more step ones, this time running a lot better getting all the way up to step 4 on my first attempt. With the step 4, you can either continue to try and turn into a WSOP seat or play the sunday million. I chose the million.

Seeing as it's 11pm and it started at 9.30pm, I can't say it went as planned but I think I played well so i'm fine with it. Haven't really discussed many hands in my blog so I'll go through the one's I played. Early on, blinds 25-50, i'm on the button with AJ and raise to 150, sb folds & the BB re-raises small to 350. I call and the flop is A Q 10. He bets 500. I try a small raise to see where I am, and he pushes so it's an easy fold. Down to about 8k....

Still at 25-50, I open with Jc10c in MP and get 3 callers. It turns into quite an interesting hand. What's my move on the flop?

PokerStars Game #29105894708: Tournament #167588029, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (25/50) - 2009/06/07 16:39:17 ET
Table '167588029 525' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: gray31 (9725 in chips)
Seat 3: AUSTRIA-1000 (9900 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: Playing A (8500 in chips)
Seat 5: effendi11 (11125 in chips)
Seat 7: Krisrom06 (11025 in chips)
Seat 8: melikman (9800 in chips)
Seat 9: Hatts83 (9925 in chips)
melikman: posts small blind 25
Hatts83: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Playing A [Jc Tc]
gray31: folds
AUSTRIA-1000: folds
Playing A: raises 100 to 150
effendi11: calls 150
Krisrom06: calls 150
melikman: calls 125
Hatts83: folds
*** FLOP *** [6d Th Ts]
melikman: checks
Playing A: bets 250
effendi11: raises 550 to 800
Krisrom06: calls 800
melikman: calls 800

My move...?

Moving on, at 50-100 I open with KQ in MP and the SB calls. The flop is 7-2-2, he checks, I c-bet 500 and he makes it 1200. I really just didn't believe him here, and grew some balls and shoved it in. He folds quickly....phewww...Back up to starting stack.

I then get a bit of a card rush and get my stack up to 13k at the first break. At 150-300 I get AA in MP and make my standard small raise of 750. I get called on the button and in the BB. The flop is pretty ideal J 7 3- two diamonds. I bet 1200 and the button then makes it 5200, with 5k behind. I push and he calls and shows KK. Ideal. But the sick two outer comes on the river. Would of been sweet to have a big stack on the table at a low level but that's poker. I'd been running pretty hot in other game uptil then it just so happens that variance catches up on the big game.

On a more positive note I'm feeling alot more confident when I'm playing and really feel like I can take down a tournie when I'm in it. Just need to build the roll now and keep pushing for the big result I know will come.

it's been some time

I haven't blogged it up in a while. Three factors why I think, a) I'm not playing the same volume I use to play b) When I have, I've been losing like a bitch (not a good reason not to blog though) and c) I'm not sure I have the answers to my last post, but I'll come to that, later on in the week.

Straight to the bankroll facts then. I cashed out just over $1k from the MTT result, in a moment of panic, when I lost KK v AA twice in a row for $100 each and went on the kind of tilt when just want your money. The other $1K I had, in a mixture of w$ and $ I've lost. Pretty agonising to report that. Most of it playing 100NL and 50HUNL and being on the wrong side of big hands. Thats poker though, and another lesson in bankroll management. On the plus side though I have cashed out some money!

On the tournie front, its been ranging from a couple of cheeky $50FO and mainly $10-$20 buy ins. Went deep in two, but yeah not too exciting. Had some pretty funny live games with a few mates in London. The majority of my mates are just picking up the game and there's been some classic hands. After winning the pub quiz for £70 (booya) we divided up the funds and decided to run a poker cash game, pretty sweet! An hour in and there's only 3 of us left, and we are playing 40p/80p blinds. One of my mates, who hasn't played much at all calls on the button, SB folds and I raise to £3 77. He calls, and the flop is 9-2-6 rainbow. I bet £4 he calls. The turn is a 3 completing the rainbow and I check. He thinks, and announces "I bet the minimum". Hmmmm. So, it's 80p to call about £14. I've only got about another £6 behind, and that very funky bet has got me confused to the max, he looks like he never wanted to be in the hand in the first place... so I push the rest in. He flips two aces. Gotta love that play, anyway its the new catchphrase when we play now..."I bet the minimum".

So, back to online poker and my funds are looking low. I've got about 50ish and its all gonna go on tournies today. Another attempt to build the roll, and after playing a huge selection in games I think my HU is most profitable. I'd love to get rolled for $50NLHU soon as I think there's a lot of money to be won there and really is a pure form of poker. A change of fortune would be good though, yesterday I played 12 step one's and didn't make a SINGLE step two, that's pretty hard to do. Could of just gone to step three with that cash! oops. Although away from poker it's gone Ok the last few months, had £2 on the grand national winner at 150-1 and an accumlator came in for another £160 so that's been a litte better on the gambling front, although poker isn't gambling right?!

Hopefully be blogging more regularly, weekly ideally as I pick up the volume and start crushing the MTT's.

Some poker thoughts: on the right road?

I haven't been playing poker over the last few days, but today I've been thinking about the game and try to think about what it all means!

So.., bascially I'm not too sure I'm playing poker for the right reasons and I'm not sure what I want from the game. Without an answer to both these questions, that's a problem. I've been studying motivation and goal setting in my studies and bascially if you don't know what you want from something you are NEVER going to get very far, because you don't know where you want to go! It's so important to set clear goals and to have the right reasons for wanting to reach them. Time for a change. The last 3 years I've been playing, I've probably won about $6k playing poker. But where has it gone? I can't really tell you. Was it worth it? I've spent a lot of time playing, when maybe I could of been doing other things.

This is something I want to sort out. Now I'm not saying I want to quit I just want to know exactly why I'm playing, what positives I can get from the game and what I want to achieve. It doesn't have to necessarily mean money, but just a clear purpose. I think this needs to be done before you do anything seriously in life. This way I think i'll get alot more out of the game.

I also read a good forum post on 2+2, about "the best poker advice ever given to you"...which I thought was pretty good.

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"I suppose the best advice I got is this- always have the prize in mind, and don't let life pass you by. Life is really very short, and if you want to spend 15 hours a day playing poker, be sure you aren't missing out on something else because you probably are. It's easy to isolate yourself from everyone around you to the point where you actually don't have any friends anymore. So- you need to really determine for yourself if this game is a hobby you work at around work, friends or family, etc, or a job. Either way, you have to make sure your life is healthy before your bankroll is healthy- otherwise this game will slowly kill you on the inside. Lay your goals out, and make time to do the things you want to do. Keep this prize in mind. If you're passing up on dates, friends, time with kids to play poker, you should stop and really question if the $$$ is worth it. We all look back upon our lives from our deathbeds, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an individual who says, I wish I didn't spend all that time with my family and just played poker more.. lol. As for not letting the world pass you by, this is a double edge sword- You can't put your dreams off and leave your heart unfulfilled, however, there are simple joys and pleasures of everyday life that are fleeting in nature. ie- parents die, kids grow up etc, you can't let those times pass you up either. It's a balance. Everything in moderation"

mixed results and the PAIN of MTT's!

Right, it's been a while since I've posted an update, mainly because I haven't really been playing too much. Nevertheless I have put in a few sessions and here are the highlights:

1. Winning at 50c/$1 and a nice pot with 8 high
The first session back after a few weeks I decided to two table 50c/$1, going against my BRM rule I posted a while back about not playing this until I hit $4K. Anyway, my excuse was that when you haven't played in a while you kinda want to play something worthwhile! I was pleased that I did because I hit the deck pretty hard, getting my AA v KK to hold up for a $220 pot and ended the session ~$400 up. The next day I did the sensible thing and dropped down to 9 tabling 25c/50c. Things started pretty well, when I RRAI on the turn with 86o on a 5,k,q,7 board, and when with the river was a 2 things didn't look great until he showed 46o!

2. Going back up to 50c/$1
Another reminder here, not to go up levels too quickly. It was one of those sessions where I tried to force the win early on, trying to win every single pot...ooops. I think I was having a bad day and tried to take it out on the tables. One of the first few hands I raised to $4 with KJc and got called by the SB to see a 9, 7, 3 rainbow flop. He checked and I bet $7, and he made it $18. Hmmmmmm. I really didn't believe his c/r here and think he can fold A9/K9 here to a shove...which I did and it wasn't nice to be drawing pretty dead to his set of 7's. He then typed "NH" to me in the chat, what?!, which defo tilted me! Time to reload.

I get my stack up to a more healthy looking $160 so closing in on a breakeven session which would definatley feel like a win when I get AA in the BB and we are 3 handed. The aggressive button (~$140) makes it $3, the SB folds and I make it $13. He calls. The flop was Q 10 7 and I bet $16, he makes it $35. Now obv I'm definately not folding but what's the correct play here, raise or call? I think maybe he passes KQ/AQ here so I'm getting no value in pushing. Anyway, that's what I did! and he called with 10 7 to win the pot. Time to close down all the tables!

3. Back to MTT's
I really think MTT's are all about having the right frame of mind and playing for the win. It's so frustrating just doubling your money after playing for 2-4 hours. Anyway, previously I had lost a fair amount of money (prob around $100ish) playing the stars $12 180 man turbo's. Pretty crap shooty, but aslong as you play aggressive they are defo +EV. So I put 4 up at the same time, and managed to cash in 3 of them but they were all in the 9-18 position which just means doubling up your buy in, very frustrating when you outlast 90% of the field.

Next tournie was a $20 HU shootout. There were 7 tiers, 1st prize of $1.5K and to get ITM you needed to win your first 3 matches. I got a bit of luck to get through my 2nd match my flopped flush vs opponents flopped set and in the third match my AQ beat AK AIPF. So onto the 4th match where the winner got an extra $100. I think I played a bit too dweeby as I was so hungry for the extra $100 to get that KJ hand out of my head from earlier in the 50c/$1 cash game. So, I lost and settled for a small $40 profit.

Final tournie was a $3 rebuy with 5,500+ runners and with $60K in the prizepool. Again, very poor final stage play on my part. I managed to get into the last 60 which is pretty sick and then I got incredibly card dead for about 1 1/2 hours. I finally get JJ and there is a raise, a RRAI and a call infront of me....come on!! I fold the original raiser folds and both the AI's have AK.....which obv missed and would of put me in huge contention for the $8K first prize. Oh well. The final hand there is a small raise in MP from a fairly aggressive player who I've had a few tangles with! I am in the BB and tried a stop and go with 5,2o... I think it's a pretty +EV play tbh but he had AQ and the flop was Q high. So 55th for $100 and 5 hours work.

Anyway enough of the ramblings: Key point is that a) Keep disciplined with the BR b) ALWAYS ALWAYS play for the win in MTT's and take the outdraws as part of the game.

BR Situation:
$1,940
W$-$250

still on the de-cline

Not too much to report except for some more losses unfortunately. Poker can be a pretty cruel game. When you're losing it's easy to question why you even play the game in the first place and without the confidence my game definately suffers. So, what's the damage? Since the new year i've lost a quater of my bankroll which is pretty shocking. The trouble is, I'm chasing my losses at the moment trying to get back on track. Never a good strategy, but sometimes hard to avoid.

Tilt kicked in pretty hard when I got two outtered in the deep stages of a multi, but come on, that's pretty standard. I've got to learn to roll with the punches if I'm going to be a good MTT player. Since then, like I've said I've been chasing losses and don't really think I've been in the right frame of mind to play nuttin but A. About two years ago me and a mate started taking MTT's seriously, and although I don't think our strategy was the best our focus and concentration on each game I think was unmatched. We were constantly assessing people's ranges, what fold equity we had, who was playing aggressively etc etc...It gave us a massive edge. I need some of that focus back, trouble is you can't have it if you are chasing your losses. So, a pretty boring and low spirited post but after a few days of not playing I'll be back ready to destroy it again.

more down's then up's

An interesting and frustrating 3 weeks of poker. As much as I enjoy playing multitables they just take up too much time. I decided to try and focus just on 6 max 25c-50c for this month and was 9 tabling most of the time with an effort to try and get to gold star status. Although I don't really think there much point in getting to gold star doesn't seem like you can do much with it, although I have alot of FPP's to spend now.

Anyways, my pokertracker isn't working but basically I went 6 buy-ins up and then proceeded to lose 11 buy ins... in pretty standard/brutal fashion. So basically I dropped $250 which although not a HUGE amount of money is more painful due to the hours I put in. Atleast I got to gold star status.....GRRRREAAT.

A few leaks in my game which I need to sort out:

- Calling raises OOP too much.
- 9 tabling isn't probably optimal, should really stick to 6.
- Not betting for value on the river once it's checked to me.
- When I have the nuts of the river and someone bets into me, alot of the time I just jam my whole stack in there, even if it's 3 or 4x the pot. This probably works 5% of the time (in that I get called) and although is pretty funny when I do, I could be getting so much more value if I just put a sensible raise in there. In short, I get greedy!
- Most importantly, don't play when I'm not feeling like playing well.

Poker: you love it and hate it.

The last week of poker has been a bit of a rollercoaster where I've lost some discipline and played a bit too much; something I'm not too pleased about and will improve upon. It stems from the tournament win the other day, getting use to larger buy-in tournaments, the new found money and a bit of over confidence. Luckily I haven't damaged the bankroll but could have quite easily. I had one session where I had a $700 swing playing cash, I'm not doing that again....until I have the bankroll.

The MTT's haven't exactly been going very well. No cashes online in the last 20 tournaments. I'm not sure exactly what the standard variance is in MTT's with such large fields as I'm not a regular MTT player but losing consistently isn't much fun. What's more frustrating is that I haven't been playing well. I've had a couple of poker binges in which I just fired up as many tables as I could, out of the bankroll, and played without focus.

The one cash I did have was in the live poker tournament last week. The structure was really good, you could start with 10k if you took the add-on, blinds 25/50 and a 20 minute clock. It was a real local boys game, everyone knew each other and the type of game where if you took a few hundred quid from a mate in the cash game you could wind him up the next day on the high street. I eventually finished up 4th, trying my luck one too many times stealing the blinds but was good for a small profit. The friend I was with came 2nd which was pretty impressive especially as he was one card away from the £500 first prize.

So, this week has really taught me a lesson. No more poker binges, you may aswell play slot machines if you are going to do that because it's pretty much the same process imo. No more playing out of the bankroll, getting over-setted in $1-$2 taught me that. From now on I won't be playing anything higher than 25c/50c until I hit $4k. It's all about being a bankroll nit.

A few goals to go with the new year too:

- Finally get the life/poker balance
- Stop playing whenever it's not fun.
- Record every entry/win/loss
- Win enough money to pay for a Vegas and Brazil trip

Current bankroll situation:

$2k- Just to be used for MTT's and 25c-50c
W$450- To be used to try and Satalitte into a big live event

starting well

Last week I had my biggest cash ever in a $10r, 5th place for $1.7k which I'm really pleased about but at the same time a tad annoyed as I came into the final table leading in chips. First place was $6.5k, but at one point I could of easily come 7th or 8th and obviously to get to the final table I won a couple of flips so I can't be too greedy!

On the final table the average stack was about 500,000 and I had 1.1m and position on the guy who had 2nd in chips so it was looking pretty ideal. As the prize jumps were very big for the level of buy-in I was raising about 70% of flops preflop and getting no one playing back at me so soon got my stack up to 1.4m. The first time somone played back at me they had 350,000 and was priced into call their all in with A4o. They had deuces which held, which was a huge flip for me if I win. I then shoved in the SB on a short stacked BB with K4 which was dominated by K9. That put me to average stack and we had only lost one player. In hinddight, I could have played the final table more conservatively and guaranteed a 3rd or 4th position but I was going for the win so no regrets.

At 5 handed each jump was over $1k so play was pretty tight and I was in push/fold mode with an M of 4. Final hand I jammed the button with the mighty 5,2o and lost to 9's. Both blinds had similar stacks to me and were playing fairly tight so I don't mind pushing there. It's definately made me have more belief in my game and the money will be good in building my BR and it's means I don't have to deposit.

During the month off I had from poker I was watching some of the proven winners of MTT's online, i.e Annette_15 and Chris Moorman which definatley helped and made me think alot about strategy in a different way. The biggest realisation I had was the level of aggression they both have and how well timed it is. Also reading their blogs it seems like they have a real winning mentality and hunger to win which I think is a fundamental part of their success and something I'm trying to improve in each tournament I play.

That was last week and after that I've had a few smaller cashes and yesterday decided to see how hot I was runnning by entering some medium sized games as the prize pools were looking pretty juicy. I played 3 $50-60 tournaments, so not sticking to my 1% rule...

The first game tilted me pretty hard when I got 2/5 of a guys stack in pre-flop with his 5's against my aces. A 5 on the flop was pretty nasty. Later on he mentioned that he mis-clicked called preflop which tilted me further! The second tourney someone soulread me as I RRAI on the turn with no hand and got called by second pair, no kicker. Owned. The final tournament I made a debateable push with an M of 6 with K8 UTG+2, and got beaten by 10's. So, a pretty dissapointing evening but thrown in with a bit of poker-burnout as I had hit the tournaments fairly hard that week.

Going to take a break for a day or so and next poker will be a live game a mate invited me to which is a £60 dealer dealt tournament. Again out of the BR so not the best idea but it will be (hopefully) more fun and good to get some live experience in. If any of St.Albans finest poker players are out there and want to join me it's Tuesday night and I can drive...

tournament times

Had a pretty good month off from poker, and now I'm back time to start destroying some tournaments.

The last two days I've been back playing I'm about $400 up which is a good base to build the roll. My plan is to deposit a furthr $1K and use it for 10-20 buck MTT's and put in a good amount of volume to see if I can get rolled for $20-$50 MTT's; whilst never using more than 1% of my roll in one tournament. Time to win a donkament.

playing like an uber zoid...time for a break

The last few entries of my blog have taken a similar vein: I haven't been able to concentrate whilst playing poker because I've been trying to get sorted in London..however that hasn't been stopping me from playing. In summary during the last few sessions I've:

- Played out of my bankroll
- Blamed bad play on bad luck
- Tried to force my way to win pots
- Played way too LAG
- And the main thing is...I've played to avoid sorting more important things out which has led to consistent losses!

Not a very good combination but atleast I know what I'm doing! Last week was not much different and i've lost a furter $120. I did have a pretty enjoyable tournament though, I was playing a $5r to a $55 tournament. I got my stack from 2k up to 4k and then at 100-200, and one limper I made it 850 with 7's. The BB decides to push for 3.5K and after the limper folds it's on me. As we are still in the rebuy and I'm very likely to be flipping I call and get showed 66. Ideal. Not so ideal when he runner runner flushes though. Losing the pot is fine but he then goes on to properly berate my play in the chat box. Wow, nice winner.

In the freezout stage I manage to get up to 8.5k and my now nemesis is on about the same stack. He limps UTG I call in the SB with 87o, and the BB checks. The flop is an enjoyable 888 and we all check the flop. A 7 hits the turn and, still wanting people to catch up I check and unfortunatley the BB and nemesis check too. The river is a 9 and I shove my 8K stack in to a pot of about 1,200. Obviously the nemesis has limped with A9 and insta calls. I like to think karma played a part in that pot...

Anyways that was the only satalitte I managed to win, the rest of my tournaments have been a mixture of bad play and bad luck, but leaning towards more bad play. So, the plan is to take a month off from poker. To be honest I need it and I've done this before with good success, so here goes. See you in a month.

Quick update

An overdue update here. Over the last month I've been busy searching for a new home to live in and have been getting more and more involved with my course at Uni. The house hunting has been an absolute mission, although I think the end is in sight. I've found a nice three bedroom place, where I'll be getting a double room but there's a catch, I need to find someone to fill a single room and pay £110 p/w for it. That's pretty pricey for the area I'm living in. Fingers crossed it works out though.

On the poker front, it's been going.....AWFUL. From satalitte's alone I had built an $800 roll. Titly internet cafe sessions where I should have been working or sorting out the house huting front has led me to a roll of $250. The one thing I've learnt is that you really need to have your head on when your playing poker, you can't be distracted from anything, especially something big like finding a place to live, be distracting you. The way I was playing was just ridiculous, it was like I was trying to lose. Who know's maybe I was.

Anyway, I've banned myself from playing until I'm up to date with work/reading and have a place to live in. I still want poker to be a part of my life, as sad as that sounds, but not sure what to do with my $250 roll. I need a new target, some new motivation. The whole game has been getting a bit stale for me. Suggestions are very welcome.

P.S Come on Obama...one time!

big loss...big save

I hadn't played poker all week due to finding my feet in London and being busy with getting started on my new course. However, by Thursday night and coming back home I decided to hit the tables.

I made the decision to play a $110 satalite as a) it was one of mt original goals to play 3+ $100 tournies and b) I thought if I don't play much I may aswell play something worthwhile. It was a slow structure so to keep my occupied I also tried entered an $8 rebuy. This didn't last long however as early on I found myself all in with aces against jacks and nines and found myself saying " No jack, no nine"...as you do. The flop of J99 was a pretty good indicator of things to come.

Deciding not to blow another $16 on the rebuy tournie I focused on the big one. Midway through I re-raise all in to a button raise with 8's, he call's with A10, and being the race king that I am I double through. With 9 left and 4 getting $550 and 2 getting $100 I was feeling optomistic. Things didn't go my way though after I'm forced to call an all in with AQ and the short stack has AK, and then pushing with any two cards on the button and losing to A9. So i'm out feeling like that was a pretty unsatisfying way to lose $110.

With the steam rising, I open up 4 $100 cash game tables. 4 hours later, I've lost a further $200. I was doing all the things you shouldn't: chasing my losses, playing with too much of my roll on the table, calling out of position, calling re raises with speculative hands and over slow playing my big hands.

Waking up the following day I didn't have the best feeling in my stomach as that's a large part of my roll gone, and then struggled through 18 holes of golf with my mind not really on it. After the golf I was tired but determined to win things back. Being a bit more sensible I played within my comfort zone..$15 tournies and $8 rebuys. After the first two tournies I had won back my $300! I won entry to both a $215 tourny and a $110 tourney. I also had a poker first for me: set-over-set-over-set. Obviously I had the top set....

Whilst playing I was also rummaging through some other poker blogs and noticed this one http://www.moorman1.com/. This guy is only 23 and built his roll playing on VC student free rolls after coming 2nd in one. Since then he has become rated as the 4th best at online poker in the world and won a brick load of money. Reading his blog you notice what it takes to reach that level: 100% discipline, dedication to reach your goals, ALWAYS playing for the win in a tourney (he hardly ever deals in tournies) and obviously a lot of skill. I'm not saying I want to reach that level, but it's good to know what it takes to get as far as he's gotten.

it's all in the head

I once heard that poker was 60% skill, 20% luck and 20% psychology. I disagree. I think if you know the basics, the psychology part of poker is a lot higher, maybe even 50-70%. However, this is not the psychology that you might firstly associate with poker such as reading players bluff or picking up tells. The psychology i'm talking about is how you handle yourself at the table and what frame of mind you are playing in. I think this is the biggest key discipline to a winning player.

The reason why I'm writing this is that it came to my attention this week....

I had two weeks fant off from poker during my holiday and came back on Monday not really feeling like playing. I was a little under the weather when I came back, but still played, and just went through the motions lacking any kind of motivation. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to be playing (with other things on my mind like moving to London next Monday) and I felt like I was playing just for the sake of it. I was losing money and putting it down to bad luck rather than bad play on my part, or just variance. I lost about $150ish during the session.

Thankfully I managed to quit the session as it could of been a lot worse...The next session I played was a lot shorter and more focused. I used the same philosophy as I did in the $320 tournament of not being concerned about where I finished but just focused on playing good poker. It definately took the pressure off. Sticking to satalite tournaments I won two $109 seats and two $50 seats which went towards recovering from my $150 loss. So all in all, covering tourament expenses, the last few days I've won about $100ish.

To mix up the satalittes I dabbled in a bit of 25c-50c 9 handed game. It was a pretty uneventful session except for two hands which I'm not sure about:

1. I have 97o in the BB. Two limpers, the Sb completes and I check. The flop is 774 rainbow....not bad so far. SB bets out $2, I make it $7 not wanting to mess about, the two limpers fold and the SB decides to make it $25 holding back an additional $15- I have him covered. What's the play, can I fold?!

2. I have Ako in the SB. Three limpers, I make it $3 and two of the limpers call. The flop is KQ3- rianbow. I lead out for $6 (pot is $10ish) and just one of the limpers (the button) calls. The turn is another Q. I check, and the button bets $10. Should I be leading the turn?? As played, what's my move?