Blogggger Tournaments...let's ship them all!
Update wise nothing much has happened, had a standard drop $1500 get back to evens (and then slightly lose) night last night and haven't played much at all in 2010, putting in perhaps 4 or 5 half-hearted sessions. I have been relaxing after a big month in December, have been on holiday in the Lake District and am finally learning to drive which I'm not sure I like tbh...I hate doing things I'm not good at (unless it results in self-satisfaction!!!!) so making stupid mistakes tilt me and I have had 6 hours so far and I'm not quite at ease in a car yet...hopefully that changes soon!
So, I've only made a little bit this month though this has been helped by quite a few more fpps which I've used to invest in a ps3, an ipod nano and some other random junk like clothing and scarves and hats! FPPs rack up fast as a supernova which is nice, and I have been playing $230's and want to mix them in on nights where the action seems softer.
2010 is waiting to be a massive year I hope but it will probably have to start once my driving is out the way as I'm doing a sort of intensive driving programme spanned over a few weeks and I don't want to be out on the road without much sleep. 9am sessions won't be conducive to good driving, and neither will finishing this pos
Thursday 21 January 2010
Friday 1 January 2010
2009 review, poker and life, and 2010 aims and dreams!!
Well, I can honestly say that 2009 has been a very successful, surprising and on the whole an incredible year with so many achievements and experiences, and I hope I can recap a few of them now! It's going to be epic but it will be my last for a while and I feel that 2009 is worth writing quite a lot about!!
First, I'll discuss life successes/failures and progress...
Despite a bit of a struggle throughout Uni in terms of keeping on top of the workload and being apart from Louise, in the third year I had set myself a reasonable platform from which a 2.1 was very possible. By this stage I was starting to take poker more seriously and had already replaced my part time job with poker but I knew that I had to give myself a sound basis if poker didn't work out. It has always been the same when I was considering taking snooker/football more seriously that I had to have something to fall back on, and poker is certainly in the same bracket of indefinite activities that can disappear as quickly as it appeared. Now, this was difficult, after the biggest win of my life I had to settle down the next day and work on a summative assignment, and whilst all I wanted to do was play and try to win more or go out and celebrate I did manage to knuckle down and prove to myself that I can get through exams and not let people down. I learnt that if I put my mind to something I can succeed and it's reassuring to know that I am lucky to have a good brain on me and I am determined to use it in whatever capacity necessary to succeed.
I have in some ways taken a step back in life by living back at home again after graduating, but financially this makes sense and it's nice to see my family and be able to spend time with my sisters and treat them as often as I like. I have turned my once childish and messy room into quite a nice place to relax and play poker, and have a comfortable chair and a nice monitor, along with a luxury in terms of Sky to help me work optimally. I think I have developed maturity in this time, and have become more placid in terms of poker and life on the whole. I miss Durham and the make-believe happy place it was but as with all forms of life you meet a select few who you see afterwards and make effort to really keep in contact with and they are who matter the most...the fake lifestyle of getting on with everyone at Uni is great and makes the place what it is but that's not the lifestyle I crave. It's nice to be back home, playing snooker and golf more regularly, though I do miss my housemates and the poker games from the last few years!!
I have been very lucky to experience new things this year, and have managed to go to Las Vegas, Malta, Edinburgh and almost everywhere across the British Isles which has given me a bug to go travelling and that is something I hope to do next academic year. I have also been more financially secure than ever before and have enjoyed treating people when I can and of course treating myself...Louise has had a tough time this year keeping on top of her finances and it is a proud feeling knowing that I am helping her out and establishing a nice nest-egg on which we can base our future. I am now one year closer to moving in with her and starting my life with her, and to be honest have been lucky that she and my family have been understanding with regards to me playing poker professionally.
In many ways, the money I have made from poker has enabled a lot of the things in 2009 that I enjoyed, the trip to Vegas, the balla hotel, trips away with Louise and family treats, and whilst I have splashed quite a lot of it on things I don't need, I have put some away safe which I can dip in to for things I need such as driving which I hope to be this month!
In terms of poker, SharkScope informs me that I played on 47% of days in 2009, which isn't that much compared to most of the HU regs. I played <200 games from April - June, and overall in 2009 played 4939 SNG's and a pathetic 130-odd scheduled tournaments, with only 3 Sunday Millions and 3 Weekly HU tournies.
It's easiest to review the whole year by dividing into before October 1st and after, as that's when I effectively became a "pro".
Pre October, I had some ridic run good in tournies, taking 50% of $8k from the Weekly HU tournie, $4.5k from the Sunday 250k and $4.5k from a $55 tournie, adding to around $12.5k I won from HUSNG's.
From a couple of thousand games I won around $28k and took home $24k, largely thanks to the big scores in the tournies. At this point I was still pretty much stuck at the $57.50s and a bit scared to move up to bigger games. Whilst my volume was fairly low, as I made sure I enjoyed Uni and worked when I had to , I had managed to work up the bankroll to make a big decision and play poker professionally for a year. Without some luck I probably would not have been able to make that decision, so I am lucky that I run well to get an opportunity to give it a go full-time.
Since October, I have played around 2.9k games and taken home around $21k profit, earning about $1k a month rakeback from the FPP's. I should really always use them in the HU shootouts to the Sunday Mill but I play too many 280fpp hyperturbos to blow off steam and they are pretty neutral EV. My ROI is only around 6% which can be increased, and mixing in regular speed games has helped increase that ROI. December was the breakthrough month which I hope I can progress from as I worked my ample arse off to make just under 12k from 1240 games, learning a lot about the best way to win which I hope I can take in to the new year.
So, doing some overall calculations, first up, I think if I can continue to win at a similar rate then poker is a viable career for a while. I am losing employability whilst I am out of work, but the tax-free winning at the minute is better than I would get from a job.
I have managed to win around $49k in 2009, give or take, and can add $1k from Vegas to total $50k, of which I gave $4k to backers. With only playing 47% of days in 2009, I am very proud of this total and I hope to add to it in 2010. Also, I managed to grind it out to make supernova, and I read from somebody's blog that 300k vpps with the new FPP and VPP system would equate to around $21k rakeback so I am going to try to maximise my volume to get as much money as I can get!
Aims...in life and in poker!
Travel and plan for possible trip to Aus, Thailand and NZ.
Put in good volume and keep learning.
Move up the stakes when I'm ready to take shots...I've taken a few shots at the $230s and want to continue to do so and beyond.
Play many more tournaments as they are ridic value and big scores can happen...especially Sunday Mill, FTOPS and WCOOP events.
Start driving and go on road trips to different casinos.
Get down to below 18 handicap at golf.
Make at least 4 century breaks in snooker.
Final table and preferably win a live event.
And, being bold, I have worked out that I would need to save my FPP's from 31k 115's to get the 3m FPP's to get a Porsche...if I can start to move up and play higher games, I think I can get a Porsche, so I will use this incentive to spur me on to put in good volume...if I can break even then I will have a healthly living just from the perks of being a Supernova and great FPP system...let's smash the profit as well and be actually able to afford to run the Porsche!
And, most importantly, make sure that any incredible job opportunities are looked into as getting on the employment ladder could become essential at any time!
Right, all the best for 2010, gl everyone!!!!
First, I'll discuss life successes/failures and progress...
Despite a bit of a struggle throughout Uni in terms of keeping on top of the workload and being apart from Louise, in the third year I had set myself a reasonable platform from which a 2.1 was very possible. By this stage I was starting to take poker more seriously and had already replaced my part time job with poker but I knew that I had to give myself a sound basis if poker didn't work out. It has always been the same when I was considering taking snooker/football more seriously that I had to have something to fall back on, and poker is certainly in the same bracket of indefinite activities that can disappear as quickly as it appeared. Now, this was difficult, after the biggest win of my life I had to settle down the next day and work on a summative assignment, and whilst all I wanted to do was play and try to win more or go out and celebrate I did manage to knuckle down and prove to myself that I can get through exams and not let people down. I learnt that if I put my mind to something I can succeed and it's reassuring to know that I am lucky to have a good brain on me and I am determined to use it in whatever capacity necessary to succeed.
I have in some ways taken a step back in life by living back at home again after graduating, but financially this makes sense and it's nice to see my family and be able to spend time with my sisters and treat them as often as I like. I have turned my once childish and messy room into quite a nice place to relax and play poker, and have a comfortable chair and a nice monitor, along with a luxury in terms of Sky to help me work optimally. I think I have developed maturity in this time, and have become more placid in terms of poker and life on the whole. I miss Durham and the make-believe happy place it was but as with all forms of life you meet a select few who you see afterwards and make effort to really keep in contact with and they are who matter the most...the fake lifestyle of getting on with everyone at Uni is great and makes the place what it is but that's not the lifestyle I crave. It's nice to be back home, playing snooker and golf more regularly, though I do miss my housemates and the poker games from the last few years!!
I have been very lucky to experience new things this year, and have managed to go to Las Vegas, Malta, Edinburgh and almost everywhere across the British Isles which has given me a bug to go travelling and that is something I hope to do next academic year. I have also been more financially secure than ever before and have enjoyed treating people when I can and of course treating myself...Louise has had a tough time this year keeping on top of her finances and it is a proud feeling knowing that I am helping her out and establishing a nice nest-egg on which we can base our future. I am now one year closer to moving in with her and starting my life with her, and to be honest have been lucky that she and my family have been understanding with regards to me playing poker professionally.
In many ways, the money I have made from poker has enabled a lot of the things in 2009 that I enjoyed, the trip to Vegas, the balla hotel, trips away with Louise and family treats, and whilst I have splashed quite a lot of it on things I don't need, I have put some away safe which I can dip in to for things I need such as driving which I hope to be this month!
In terms of poker, SharkScope informs me that I played on 47% of days in 2009, which isn't that much compared to most of the HU regs. I played <200 games from April - June, and overall in 2009 played 4939 SNG's and a pathetic 130-odd scheduled tournaments, with only 3 Sunday Millions and 3 Weekly HU tournies.
It's easiest to review the whole year by dividing into before October 1st and after, as that's when I effectively became a "pro".
Pre October, I had some ridic run good in tournies, taking 50% of $8k from the Weekly HU tournie, $4.5k from the Sunday 250k and $4.5k from a $55 tournie, adding to around $12.5k I won from HUSNG's.
From a couple of thousand games I won around $28k and took home $24k, largely thanks to the big scores in the tournies. At this point I was still pretty much stuck at the $57.50s and a bit scared to move up to bigger games. Whilst my volume was fairly low, as I made sure I enjoyed Uni and worked when I had to , I had managed to work up the bankroll to make a big decision and play poker professionally for a year. Without some luck I probably would not have been able to make that decision, so I am lucky that I run well to get an opportunity to give it a go full-time.
Since October, I have played around 2.9k games and taken home around $21k profit, earning about $1k a month rakeback from the FPP's. I should really always use them in the HU shootouts to the Sunday Mill but I play too many 280fpp hyperturbos to blow off steam and they are pretty neutral EV. My ROI is only around 6% which can be increased, and mixing in regular speed games has helped increase that ROI. December was the breakthrough month which I hope I can progress from as I worked my ample arse off to make just under 12k from 1240 games, learning a lot about the best way to win which I hope I can take in to the new year.
So, doing some overall calculations, first up, I think if I can continue to win at a similar rate then poker is a viable career for a while. I am losing employability whilst I am out of work, but the tax-free winning at the minute is better than I would get from a job.
I have managed to win around $49k in 2009, give or take, and can add $1k from Vegas to total $50k, of which I gave $4k to backers. With only playing 47% of days in 2009, I am very proud of this total and I hope to add to it in 2010. Also, I managed to grind it out to make supernova, and I read from somebody's blog that 300k vpps with the new FPP and VPP system would equate to around $21k rakeback so I am going to try to maximise my volume to get as much money as I can get!
Aims...in life and in poker!
Travel and plan for possible trip to Aus, Thailand and NZ.
Put in good volume and keep learning.
Move up the stakes when I'm ready to take shots...I've taken a few shots at the $230s and want to continue to do so and beyond.
Play many more tournaments as they are ridic value and big scores can happen...especially Sunday Mill, FTOPS and WCOOP events.
Start driving and go on road trips to different casinos.
Get down to below 18 handicap at golf.
Make at least 4 century breaks in snooker.
Final table and preferably win a live event.
And, being bold, I have worked out that I would need to save my FPP's from 31k 115's to get the 3m FPP's to get a Porsche...if I can start to move up and play higher games, I think I can get a Porsche, so I will use this incentive to spur me on to put in good volume...if I can break even then I will have a healthly living just from the perks of being a Supernova and great FPP system...let's smash the profit as well and be actually able to afford to run the Porsche!
And, most importantly, make sure that any incredible job opportunities are looked into as getting on the employment ladder could become essential at any time!
Right, all the best for 2010, gl everyone!!!!
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