It's been a while!?!

Evening all, through the wonders of Wifi I am blogging whilst returning home for the Valentines weekend with Louise. I'm really looking forward to it. Two weeks apart is quite a long time, but it's all worth it when we get to spend nice weekends together and do nice/romantic things. A walk in the freezing cold should tick them boxes, so I'm glad to be going home. It's sick to think that we've managed to be solid despite being hundreds of miles apart, pretty good going I think. She's loving the chance to spend my hard-earnt money, and I'm looking forward to treating her, so that's all good.



Anyway, gayness aside, I haven't really been getting involved with the pokers much since the two tournie wins. I've attempted to play a few tournies, but haven't been on it at all, and have generally bluffed away reasonably sized stacks when I realise I don't want to stay up til 5am!



Heads up has continued to be reasonably profitable. I played and busted early in the FTOPS $535 HU tournie, playing a solid reg early on and running into a lot of hands when trying to accumulate the small pots. In the end a pair and a flush draw was inadequate against the mighty J4 which had top pair, and that tournie was busto. I'll definitely keep plugging away at HU tournies, as I definitely feel I have a decent edge, even though the fields are often filled with well-known tournament players.



The tournie aside, I've been playing a mixture of $57.50's and $115's, mostly 2mans but mixing in 4mans. I had an incredibly sick run of 8 4man wins in a row, which would equate to a 16game win streak. Pretty sure that ended on a stupid bluff...well never mind! I haven't got any Scope stats atm as it's still blocked, but I think my ROI is probably pretty decent, and I'm just trying to win enough to justify a perma-move to poker when my course finishes.



As the last paragraph indicates, I've been doing a of thinking about what I plan to do when I finish Uni, and I have definitely been tending more towards full time poker, for a year at least to give myself the chance to see how it goes. I've spoken to a variety of people, but am going to definitely make more enquiries to see if this is viable. When I graduate in June/July, jobs will be difficult to find, and thousands up thousands will be in the queue for jobs in the city. I think I will join an agency, see if I can get in contact with a job that I would enjoy/pays well, and if so I will be faced with a Ptevey like decision and will probably make the same decision he did. I am getting myself prepared mentally for full-time poker should no job be on the horizon though, which I hope helps if I do make the transition.



Money wise, January was an almost £10k profit month, but obviously this included 2 huge wins which won't happen every month! Aside from the wins though, I made around £3.5k playing HU, and this was from playing around 15-20hours a week I think. However, this was running good with the 4man wins, and my average rate will be less than this. Still, it was a very positive start to the year and gives me a good indication of how much I can make at the game.

In February I have been concentrating more on what my hourly rate is, and establishing how much I can earn from the game. I have lost a few hundred $$ playing tournaments (including the FTOPS loss), but have maybe won around $1.1k from 75ish games of HU. I am mixing in more $115's and feel more comfortable at this level. I have a diss draft to do in the next couple of weeks, so I won't be able to play much or work out how much i can expect in a month yet, but when the draft is in (27th Feb) it will be followed by playing at least 30hours in a 5 day period. I want to see how much I can make, how much losing a bit affects me, and what sort of hourly I have. I am thinking I will set a target of $1600 for the week and may have some side-bets on this if there is interest?!

Anyways, this post has degenerated into a life story, so I guess I should end it now. If I haven't spoken to yet about the viability of playing poker full time, then expect that chat soon. If by chance anyone who is a full time player reads this for some random reason then please contribute as all views are very interesting! I love playing poker, I am very competitive and I don't drink, so I have the mental capacity to win in this respect. Whether or not I hit burn-out or how I handle big swings at the higher level is yet to be seen, but I definitely want to test myself.

Peace.

14thFeb7_Star