The Quest For Solidity

Toronto and Ajax, Ontario

2010-10-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello! After a lovely few days checking out Banff National Park, we moved on to Ajax, a small suburban town about half hour away from downtown Toronto on the intelligently named GO train! The place was probably quite comparable to Rochester in terms of location to the big city and had some nice parks and retail outlets without having a main shopping hub like classy Chatham High Street!
If Banff had been fairly relaxing, this was due to be even more so, with not too many plans laid out and more a time to recover and a base to head around other parts of Canada we wanted to see!
We navigated the public transport to get from Toronto airport out to Ajax, getting buses, “Riding the Rocket” (that’s their tube name!) and then taking the GO to Ajax. My uncle Trevor, who’s place he had kindly given to us for as long as we needed it, had arranged for his good friend Lil to pick us up from the station. I called her up and she said she was on her way and would be a few minutes! What I forgot to ask was what she looked like or what car she drove?! So, at a very busy time for pick-ups we were looking out for a randomer, and I can only assume that she had the same confusion as to who she was picking up, so the situation was far from ideal! We began discussing what she might look like, and I suggested early 50’s, brown curly hair and thick glasses, and before we knew it that exact lady drove through the pick-up point! I picked up my stuff and began to wander over the car before somebody else walked over and got in!! Here I remembered I’m not psychic and we got back to the task of looking out for somebody looking out for us!
A few other likely candidates came and went, with another one waiting for a while that Louise nearly walked over and said hi, but then along came a sporty Ford Mustang Convertible driving in through the bus entrance, and it was in fact our Auntie Lil! We struggled to put all of our luggage in the car but managed it and we were taken back to my uncle’s house, a large bungalow with a couple of bedrooms, a nice kitchen and dining room and a very nice outhouse that had was apparently the envy of his road! We set our stuff down and were quickly whisked away to the local pub, the Magwyers Pub which was a blend of a lot of British emigrants and some locals, one classic guy named Bill who would just say whatever he wanted and be as offensive as he liked, but in a very funny way! Everybody was very accommodating and really made us feel at home, and we met some more of my uncles friends and Harry told us how he got so confused when he was driving in Canada after being in England that he drove on to the freeway the wrong way and had a lucky escape!! We had a burger which I enjoyed but as soon as I realised the bun was garlic I felt ill all night!! Lil arranged to pick us up the next day for the “chicken wing Tuesday” and we got some rest. Everybody we had met had their own stories and it was so interesting to have so much human interaction as we haven’t had many chances to form friendships so far as we’ve been moving around so much but we looked forward to meeting more of Trevor’s friends in the coming week! Lil was such an angel that she had bought us some provisions for the week! We had milk and eggs, now all we needed was fabric softener!! (Kevin McAllister, Home Alone!)
We woke up with around half hour to get ready for lunch, having slept in til 12! For me that is usual, but for Louise unprecedented!! She must have needed her kip! We devoured our wings, and at 59cents a go I quickly finished 10 of them despite their large size! We bought our shopping and Lil very kindly dropped us home and we spent the day doing what we did a lot of in the coming week or so, watching TV and films, playing cards, and playing poker whilst Louise read her book! It was nice to feel so at home and we made the most of it!
We decided we had to be a little more productive the next day, and headed in to Toronto to see the sights! We paid the rip-off price to take the lift up the CN tower as it’s something you have to do, and until 2009 it would have been the tallest building in the world! We took some reasonable pictures but the mist was at the peak so we couldn’t always have an unobstructed view, though we liked the glass walkway looking down to the bottom. Louise isn’t too sure with heights but she was still brave to step on it, though I had to be on best behaviour and no messing around! We walked down to the harbour which looked very nice from atop the building but was a bit more bland up close and we returned back to the GO station!
Now, I’m not psychic but it appears Louise might be, as just after she said how much she fancied a Sprite, from nowhere a Sprite van pulled over and offered free cans of Sprite!! We took our prize on to the GO train, and despite my intrigue as to the fact the train was double decker, we were too lazy to actually check it out! We had another relaxing evening ,cooked some dinner and got our daily fix of American sitcoms before bed!
I think by now it was September 24th, a date that particularly sticks in my mind as it was the date when Legends of the Guardians came out, a film Louise was dying to see! We again were kindly taken to lunch by Lil, and annoyed that I had paid for the day before (she was kind she just wanted to treat us all the time! :-D) she simply refused to take any more money from me! I had coyly planned to slip her $20 when she wasn’t paying attention before not so coyly leaving it on the chair before leaving! Luckily her brother was still around the table, and despite him saying that “he was sure it was his!” I got it back!! At this lunch we met Scott, her nephew, who had moved over from Scotland a few years before and settled down there with his girlfriend, Shannon. We arranged to meet up with them and headed off to the mall in search of some boots for Louise! We shopped around and spent at least two hours in a pet shop which had the cutest puppies ever in there! I guess due to a lack of space which in itself is very sad, the puppies were put in compartments of two or three, and they were so playful!! The tiny dachshund was amazing and the husky pup was just beautiful! There were also loads of cute kittens, gerbils and birds and it really made us want to get a couple of dogs and other pets! Louise has always said she wants to have loads of cats and be a mad Aunt Lou but now I think maybe she wants to same title but with dogs instead of cats! We finished shopping as we found her boots and were ready to leave but found a cinema and decided to watch the film! We had already eaten something and had bought lots of fudge and Louise devoured a toffee apple with white and dark choc chips, but we couldn’t resist a hot dog after the group in front were eating!! We watched the Legend of the Guardians and Louise was so happy seeing one of her favourite animals on the big screen! I think she may have picked up some tips on how to draw them as well!!
We were picked up by Scott and Shannon and were taken along to their friends, newlyweds who had a lot of interesting stories about their hometown of Newfoundland. Newfoundland is possibly to Canadians as Norwich is to us, they are a bit different and have their own quirks, though at the time they had been hit by a hurricane so we were shown all of the destruction that happened where his family live. There wasn’t a human toll taken on the area but a lot of houses and roads had been crippled by the huge rainfall and winds and we saw some of the pictures his friends had taken on facebook. Then we heard stories about his crazy Grandma who would get drunk and get in all sorts of mischief, get naked or just say embarrassing things! We heard about the Newfoundland tradition of mummering, which takes place between Boxing Day and New Years Eve and involves people dressing up in Halloween costumes, gathering in groups and moving from house to house eating and drinking and gaining in numbers! Imagine seeing somebody wearing a mask knocking on your door around Xmas time, it would be so weird, but it was a tradition there!! We heard about Scott and Shannon’s travelling to Australia and how they were swimming on a beach that had to be evacuated due to sharks! They also met a guy who’s friend has been killed by a shark and they didn’t believe him until they saw a documentary on him back home a few months later!!
We had a few drinks and went back to Trevor’s and got our stuff ready to go with Lil to her trailer the next day!

We packed up some stuff for our short trip to the trailer, and the drive up was surrounded by beautifully coloured trees, with amazing red, gold and brown leaves! I just wrote golf leaves, it must be on the brain!! Anyway, we arrived at her trailer, set back from a very peaceful lake and equipped with everything we could need! We met her nephews and heard the famous Canadian eh? being said for the first time! Lil made us up some lunch snacks and despite it being midday poured us a stiff drink each! Louise had a couple of sips before putting it in a flask to take to the golf course, and off we went to golf, Louise playing on a proper course for the first time! We were both quite excited and got in our buggy, with Louise surely feeling the nerves of her first time! Horribly, the first hole had water about 40 yards from the tee, and that was the theme for most of the course! Using most of the clubs like the driver for the first time was very tricky but Louise was such a quick learner she began hitting good shots in no time! A couple of balls went for a swim but she managed to hit some with enough elevation and distance to clear the streams which made her very happy and me very proud! One shot she kept low and we thought it had rolled in to the water so I drove down to find it! It had stopped just before so I thought I would lend a hand and throw it over for her, but couldn’t manage to clear the ten yards of water!! Needless to say she gave up on that hole! Louise did so well to pick it up so well, and I guess it didn’t help that if she missed it my words of reassurance were “hit the ball baby”...I didn’t mean it in a patronising or mean way and was trying to be supportive, but even reading it back now I realise how off-putting that must have been! It probably speaks volume that her best drive of the day, a really nice shot which cleared the water and went very far was when I was driving around trying to find a ball I had sliced! (My rental clubs were seriously bad and that’s my excuse!!)
Lil had warned us that Harry might try to give a lot of advice and was a bit of a know-it-all at golf but he didn’t say too much to Louise, though he did have a strange method of hitting a chip one-handed which never really seemed to work!! At around hole 7 the heavens opened and we hurried back to the trailer to get away from the rain! Louise really enjoyed herself and was looking forward to playing again, though I’m not sure if she was too keen on playing again the next day which was the plan! We had told Lil that our favourite food was steak for myself and lasagne for Louise, and she bought us both our favourite food! Amazing bits of steak and a huge lasagne, and I became the head steak chef, though I was so ravenously hungry I was eating the first piece whilst the other pieces were cooking! We all ate so much, and the large lasagne was wrapped up for us to take home! We played cards with Lil’s friends in the evening and we learnt a clever new way to play rummy though we both lost as the rules were very confusing at first, and I taught Lil’s friends poker and in the process lost every hand to the beginners and was bluffed off of every pot by Louise!! We didn’t play for money but my pride was bruised, though it was a very fun evening! We slept very well that night, tired from all the eating and golfing!
That was until around 5am when the creaks in the trailer were loud enough to wake me up! They sounded a lot like taps, and I envisioned somebody outside walking around and tapping the outside like in some sort of horror film! I got myself into a nervous frenzy and struggled to sleep that night. I think it might have been an animal pushing up against the trailer, but I was really scared!! Louise wasn’t that bothered, but I woke Lil up just to check out if everything was ok! She was equally relaxed about it all, preferring to go to the window and scream pretending something was there when of course it wasn’t! I think after this I had calmed down and we both had another lay-in!
The next day we had some breakfast, toast and proper back bacon before heading to golf again, and Louise had improved so much! She enjoyed herself a lot more and the weather held out, making it a very fun trip! Now I know what to get her for Christmas!! We had a stroll down to the lake, took some pictures and got back in the car for Ajax, having had a really nice weekend at the trailer! On the drive back we were both so excited when we saw a skunk walking alongside the road! That was until the most putrid smell entered the car and we had been sprayed!! It took a long time to get that smell out of our system, though on arrival back home a skunk had clearly been around as we again smelt the stinky skunk, so we quickly got inside away from the animals!
We spent the next day sorting out our schedule, and after a few days of relaxing had the bug to get travelling again, so booked up a promotional deal at a Niagara Falls Hotel and got ready to go and see the wonderful landmark of the Niagara Falls, which is where Louise will pick up soon! :-)xx

WSOP 2010, have I used my one time?!

2010-05-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Good evening readers, I hope all is well!

Despite winning a life-changing amount of money, life has been much of the same this month, though I have been a lot lazier with my poker volume! I guess that's because I was very lucky before being in a "job" where I could take a few days off to go and see friends and travel around the country. I think working out that I can't play every day for hours on end and stay sane and instead taking breaks and trips away that has helped me produce higher quality play. As Keys said in his last post, quality is so much more important than quantity and my friend anthonyff proves that with his amazing graph and ROI by having a relaxed schedule.

I'm not sure I deserved the run-good but I had a really good May, playing mainly $345's and some $230's and $115's, recording a 16% ROI in my 300 or so games making around $14k and losing the rakeback (circa $1k in FPP's) in a couple of SCOOP's and Sunday Mill's with no cashes...I had stacks in a couple of 6max SCOOP's I played (before not bothering with any as they were tooo long and at stupid times!) but didn't capitalise and yesterday was top 80 with 3000 left in the Sunday Mill only to lose a basically chip lead pot v a guy who had me covered...was getting that vibe again, only to be given a necessary sense of realism that feelings aren't real!!

The best thing about the win isn't the things I can buy myself but trying to help out others. My Nan wants a new garden set and says she hasn't saved up enough £2 coins yet (everything she has she gives to her children and grand-kids) so it's amazing to be able to just buy her that and I have booked a family trip abroad in Spain which will be the first trip as a family for years! :-) Louise was very calm about the win at first, in fact she should play poker because she barely flinched, but she is enjoying being treated as she deserves and we are going to book our years travelling soon I hope which will be incredible!!

For anybody interested as to what I've bought myself, I used my Mum's broken old car to trade in with a new Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 sxi in pearlescent black (NAMED HER AKON!) saving 4k on the rrp and gave her my Peugeot 206 so that was a good deal all round, and I have bought some clothes and a nice camera for when we go travelling. The cool headphones are being ordered tonight but apart from that nothing too extravagant really, once a nit always a nit!!

I also booked my trip to Vegas for the last few weeks of this years WSOP...I am aiming to play the $1k event the day after I arrive and then the Main Event, and I haven't decided whether or not to be partially staked through it yet. I did think of setting $10k as an aim to make in June and just using that to buy in, but I might sell around 30% at 1.3 if there is any interest? If not, I hope that some friends will be up from percentage swaps as I enjoy this as a good way of reducing variance and getting a fun sweat!

Good luck everybody, whether you're in Vegas or just playing online or even reading this from work, run well! :-)

Paul,x

A week and a half on...

2010-05-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Since the unbelievable win in the Sunday Million, something that I still haven't really got my head round and it will be a long time before it does sink in, I have had a pretty relaxed few days, getting some rounds of golf in, seeing family and playing a few bits and pieces of poker, building up stacks in a few SCOOPs but letting my 6max inexperience make me a bit too aggro!!

A lot of people have asked me what's next, with views being split between staying where I am stakes wise and moving up, and whilst I have had a massive bankroll boost I have withdrawn the majority with a view to buying property or keeping some earning interest whilst me and louise get the opportunity to travel the world. So, for at least a month or two I am happy to play the same 100 and 200 levels, and I definitely want to get my way to 570s+ on ability and be good enough as a 5k+ downswing would dramatically affect my mood so I want to build myself up mentally before I progress upwards! A lot of people have also suggested playing more tournaments, which I really need to make sure I do!

Thanks to everybody who has been reading this blog or congratulated me on facebook or pokerstars, I will be playing a few more SCOOP events before heading up to Nottingham mid-month for the UKIPT, something that I am really looking forward to! I am currently considering whether or not to head to WSOP and have been planning my year abroad with louise and sorting out a family holiday. I am glad that I hvent lost my buzz for poker in any way and am happy to get back grinding soon with more shots at tournaments along the way, guess I've got the bug now!!!

I IV VII

ONE TIME!!!!!!! $hipped the $unday Million! 1/8776

2010-04-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all (maybe more readers than last time!!), sorry I've a lazy motherblogger recently, the life of a HUSNG pro is really quite dull, and though I did have a fun trip to Vegas I didn't really feel in the mood to write about it!

Obviously, everything changes when you have a sizeable win and writing suddenly seems a lot more interesting, so I'm going to try to post key hands on my ridiculous run to fulfilling a dream and winning the Sunday Mill in just the 7th time I've got my lazy arse to play it!!

Throughout the tournament I was one tabling (apart from maybe playing some heads up games at times) as other games were already busto, and after running bad in the FTOPS heads up tournie and tilting my way out of the Turbo Takedown I thought the Sunday Million would be another wasted buy in, though using 13500fpps to play never feels like money anyways!!

I kind of decided right, you're feeling quite awake, let's just focus on this one table and play well and try to see what happens. Throughout the tournament I obviously had to run like God and had some really nice hands in nice spots, but as will be obvious some people were just keen to donate as well which made things very nice!!

So, here's a group of interesting and crucial hands, I hope you enjoy! All the support from friends, people inside and out of poker has been amazing and I am very grateful! The post is taking a long time to make because I am trying to filter out the rubbish but post a decent hand guide without making you click through pokerhand links and see unnecessary things so bear with the fact that some might have mistakes where i've not included stack sizes or what they had, and believe me that all information I write in is genuine!!

The win took 731 hands overall and I managed to finish before 8:28am GMT so Ptevey and Matt Gamble could watch, aren't a nice guy!!

Reading through the HH, at the 50 hand mark I was at 10150, it was pretty much locked up from then I guess, surely something interesting early on must have happened!!

Establishing my table image....funny I think!!

Dealt to 147_star [Qc Kh]
147_star: raises 470 to 770
All fold to LaMartina:
LaMartina99 said, "770 ?? why not 800"
LaMartina99: folds
147_star said, "why not lamartina100?"

4hands later, hand 59...

*********** # 59 **************
HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Ah Ac]
folded to...LaMartina99: raises 600 to 900
147_star: raises 1570 to 2470
everyone folds to LaMartina99: raises 10430 to 12900
147_star: calls 7500 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Qh Kh 4h]
*** TURN *** [Qh Kh 4h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Kh 4h 6s] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***LaMartina99: shows [As Ks] (a pair of Kings)147_star: shows [Ah Ac] (a pair of Aces)147_star collected 20390 from pot

A small pot but a momentum builder and a very nice read, based mainly on his speed of calling on the turn.

*********** # 75 **************
Seat 6: uyra99 (5600 in chips)
Seat 8: 147_star (17350 in chips)
HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Qh 7h]
uyra99: calls
147_star: raises 875 to 1275
uyra99: calls 875
*** FLOP *** [3h Kc Tc]
147_star: bets 1999
uyra99: calls 1999
*** TURN *** [3h Kc Tc] [Ks]
uyra99: checks
147_star: bets 2326
uyra99: folds
Uncalled bet (2326) returned to 147_star

Getting in LaMartina's head blind on blind, definitely val here for later on...

*********** # 105 **************
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [8d 7s]
LaMartina99: raises 600 to 1200
147_star: raises 1798 to 2998
147_star said, "it's not aa"
LaMartina99: calls 1798
*** FLOP *** [Kc 3h Ts]
LaMartina99: bets 1800
147_star: raises 2999 to 4799
LaMartina99: folds
Uncalled bet (2999) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 9821 from pot
147_star: doesn't show hand

Picked on his limps a few times before now...

*********** # 128 **************
Dealt to 147_star [8c Ah]
Vlad989: folds
zfahmie: folds
LaMartina99: calls 800
147_star: raises 1250 to 2050
Jaguar: folds
Fulbert101: folds
AxGoM: folds
DavidGarrard: folds
bmalick19: folds
LaMartina99: calls 1250
*** FLOP *** [5h Ac 3d]
LaMartina99: checks
147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [5h Ac 3d] [Js]
LaMartina99: checks
147_star: bets 2400
LaMartina99: calls 2400
*** RIVER *** [5h Ac 3d Js] [9c]
LaMartina99: checks
147_star: bets 6600
LaMartina99: calls 6600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [8c Ah] (a pair of Aces)
LaMartina99: mucks hand (he had JQ)
147_star collected 23750 from pot

Another great spot for me against the same opponent who was pretty tilted by now...

*********** # 130 **************
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Ah Kc]
LaMartina99: calls 800
147_star: raises 1550 to 2350
folded until LaMartina99: calls 1550
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 5h]LaMartina99: checks 147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 5h] [6s]LaMartina99: checks 147_star: checks
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 5h 6s] [Ac]
LaMartina99: bets 1600
147_star: raises 6000 to 7600
LaMartina99: calls 6000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Ah Kc] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
LaMartina99: mucks hand (he had A10...lucky me!!)
147_star collected 21550 from pot

Up til now these hands are fairly insignificant seeing as my stack at the end was 86million+, but I think early play is crucial as an extra 10k chips early on doubled thru several times is huge, and at the time these hands were fantastic momentum builders.

Next hand, though after a 5min break, I manage to finish the same guy off...he shouldn't have questioned my fruity raises!!!

*********** # 131 **************
Dealt to 147_star [Ad Qd]
147_star: raises 900 to 1700
Vlad989: calls 1700
LaMartina99: raises 5491 to 7191 and is all-in
147_star: raises 48509 to 55700 and is all-in
Vlad989: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah 8d 4s]*** TURN *** [Ah 8d 4s] [8h]*** RIVER *** [Ah 8d 4s 8h] [7s]*** SHOW DOWN ***
LaMartina99: shows [As Jd] (two pair, Aces and Eights)
147_star: shows [Ad Qd] (two pair, Aces and Eights - Queen kicker)
147_star collected 16932 from pot

LaMartina99 [observer] said, "du schwulle hure"

...I think that means nice play sir or "you will win"?! Any translations?!

*********** # 166 **************

Won a 40k flip with QQ > AK, QKx flop!
Stack 80k, blinds 600/1200...

..at this time I think I requested my one time, available from the VIP store for my soul, seemed fair!

This was a pretty sick double barrel against this guy...

*********** # 184 **************
Seat 6: zfahmie (75774 in chips)
Seat 8: 147_star (77356 in chips)

Dealt to 147_star [2h 9c]
folded to zfahmie (in cutoff): raises 1799 to 3299
boxen: folds
147_star: raises 5557 to 8856
zfahmie: calls 5557
*** FLOP *** [5h 6c Qs]
147_star: bets 8351
zfahmie: calls 8351
*** TURN *** [5h 6c Qs] [3d]
147_star: bets 12345
zfahmie: folds
Uncalled bet (12345) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 36514 from pot

Another momentum builder...most of these happened to be right that night luckily...

*********** # 195 **************

Dealt to 147_star [5s 9d](ON THE BUTTON, 1k/2k blinds)
folded to 147_star: raises 2250 to 4250
Mattazz: folds
nuizizi: calls 2250
*** FLOP *** [Js 8s 9c]
nuizizi: checks
147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [Js 8s 9c] [2d]
nuizizi: bets 6000
147_star: calls 6000
*** RIVER *** [Js 8s 9c 2d] [4s]
nuizizi: bets 10000
147_star: calls 10000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
nuizizi: shows [Kd Qh] (high card King)
147_star: shows [5s 9d] (a pair of Nines)
147_star collected 43300 from pot

200th hand = another cooler for me to get pretty huge...

QQ > JJ all in preflop after he shoved his 17bb stack against my open and was unlucky...73k pot surging me to 124k

201st hand = aj > a10 against a shortie for 40k pot, all seem to be holding!!

213th hand = About time I hit a set imo as I'd had a few small pairs/hit another set, ridic outdraw 66 . JJ for 73k pot against a shortie who had 3xed it from like 11BB stack so I should have got away! Up to 177k!

236th hand= Chip up another 90k pot shoving 45 in the small blind to the BB's 10BB stack and holding vs A10!!!

Made my first real mistake in the 246th hand, thought the blocker better would fold the river and couldn't read the spike...probably a bad flop check by me.

*********** # 246 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Kh Td]
all folds to 147_star: raises 4068 to 8068
dollarMI: folds
buzzzarrrd: folds
davidd267: calls 4068
*** FLOP *** [Jc As 4d]
davidd267: checks 147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [Jc As 4d] [5c]
davidd267: checks
147_star: bets 8800
davidd267: calls 8800
*** RIVER *** [Jc As 4d 5c] [7c]
davidd267: bets 12000
147_star: raises 40700 to 52700
davidd267: calls 40700
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Kh Td] (high card Ace)
davidd267: shows [7d 5d] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
davidd267 collected 144736 from pot

Next hand, hand 147+100, I managed to hit my 52 outer to get back to huge stackville!

*********** # 247 **************
Dealt to 147_star [7d 8d]
folded to 147_star: raises 4100 to 8100
dollarMI: folds
buzzzarrrd: folds
147_star said, "<----had a good read that you didn't have an ace ;) "davidd267: calls 6100 spirit2242: calls 4100 *** FLOP *** [6d As Qd] davidd267: bets 12000 spirit2242: calls 12000 davidd267 said, "yea i was lucky" 147_star: calls 12000 *** TURN *** [6d As Qd] [5h] davidd267: checks spirit2242: checks 147_star: bets 95000 and is all-in davidd267: folds spirit2242: calls 42531 and is all-in Uncalled bet (52469) returned to 147_star *** RIVER *** [6d As Qd 5h] [4h] *** SHOW DOWN *** spirit2242: shows [Ac 3c] (a pair of Aces) 147_star: shows [7d 8d] (a straight, Four to Eight)147_star collected 148962 from pot *********** # 265 ************** Lose around 1/4 of my 200k stack with AQ <>If nobody wants this pot, I'll have it...

*********** # 272 **************

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Qd Td]
Jesaja04: folds
supernova9: folds
147_star: raises 5216 to 10216
eaw1104: folds
sluppermann: folds
HAZZZZA: calls 10216
tugamts: folds
gresuay: folds
cardlo69: calls 5216
*** FLOP *** [Jh As 3d]
cardlo69: checks
147_star: bets 17500
HAZZZZA: calls 17500
cardlo69: calls 17500
*** TURN *** [Jh As 3d] [6c]
cardlo69: checks 147_star: checks HAZZZZA: checks
*** RIVER *** [Jh As 3d 6c] [5d]
cardlo69: checks
147_star: bets 32500
HAZZZZA: folds
cardlo69: folds
Uncalled bet (32500) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 90148 from pot

*********** # 292 **************

Lose 35k from 240k stack, blinds 3k/6k with A3 <>First key clash with Hoodini10 goes his way, his aggression and fearlessness has been noted though, and given the situation/stack sizes (I have 200k) I was tempted to call thinking I may be good

*********** # 302 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Th As]
folded to cutoff
hoodini10: raises 9750 to 17750
147_star: raises 26443 to 44193
babina_greda: folds
triggerjoe1: folds
hoodini10: raises 207681 to 251874 and is all-in
147_star: folds

*********** # 313 **************

KK > AQ for 130k pot and back to 211k blinds 4k/8k

This one was a call I was pretty proud of, it was the second time he had shoved against me and I thought he was doing it fairly wide.

I have 250k, he has 158k...

Dealt to 147_star [As 2s]
AceQuad: folds jnpn: folds GetDowAndGo: folds benstunner: folds hoodini10: folds
147_star: raises 12500 to 22500
-benWU-: folds
Derby Status: raises 134860 to 157360 and is all-in
Zippus: folds
147_star: calls 134860
*** FLOP *** [Ac 4d 7s]
*** TURN *** [Ac 4d 7s] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 4d 7s Kh] [2d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Derby Status: shows [Kc Qc] (a pair of Kings)
147_star: shows [As 2s] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)147_star collected 333720 from pot

Up to 430k now, blinds 5k/10k, when this stupid hand comes along!

Dealt to 147_star [Jc Js]
-benWU-: folds
Hohojirozame: folds
Zippus: folds
kremlin72 [observer] said, "v tough table
"AceQuad: raises 11366 to 21366
GetDowAndGo: folds
benstunner: raises 52294 to 73660 and is all-in
Kilah Priest is connected
hoodini10: raises 345107 to 418767 and is all-in
147_star: folds
AceQuad: folds
Uncalled bet (345107) returned to hoodini10
*** FLOP *** [5h 3s 4d]
*** TURN *** [5h 3s 4d] [Kc]
147_star said, "ridic i had jj"
*** RIVER *** [5h 3s 4d Kc] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***hoodini10: shows [9h 9c] (a pair of Nines)
benstunner: shows [2d 2h] (a pair of Deuces)hoodini10 collected 186686 from pot

I don't like his shove much and think maybe he is a bit too laggy and aggressive from that hand, and regret the fact it wasn't blind on blind one time he's 4bet jammed me in that situation once already.

*********** # 353 **************

I take a 100k dent from 430k back to 330k after a 3xer from mid position jammed on my button 3bet (I had KQ, he claimed KK)

*********** # 369 **************

Getting pretty deepish now, I have this huge flip go my way against my nemesis Hoodini!

Dealt to 147_star [Ah Td]
Hohojirozame (SICK JUST REALISED HE GETS TO THE FT): folds
Zippus: folds
AceQuad: folds
vonchamier87: folds
tomoscas: folds
hoodini10: raises 18750 to 33750
147_star: raises 232050 to 265800 and is all-in
-benWU-: folds
hoodini10: calls 232050
*** FLOP *** [5s Kc As]
PompYouUp [observer] said, "aaa"
*** TURN *** [5s Kc As] [2h]
PompYouUp [observer] said, "aaaaaaaaaaa"
*** RIVER *** [5s Kc As 2h] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***147_star: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Aces)
hoodini10: shows [7h 7d] (a pair of Sevens)
147_star collected 558600 from pot
147_star said, "ty pomp ;)"

Pompyouup is a sick player btw who finished top 20ish and got horrificly 5outered on the river for a monster stack with a couple of tables left, really feel sympathy towards you man, you'll have your time.

This hand, just 4hands later, was a fairly tough decision but luckily I made the correct one...

Dealt to 147_star [5h 5c]
vonchamier87: folds
Zippus has returned
tomoscas: folds
hoodini10: folds
147_star: raises 15600 to 30600
-benWU-: folds
Hohojirozame: folds
Zippus: folds
AceQuad: folds
PapaGreggio: calls 15600
*** FLOP *** [Td 4c 4d]
PapaGreggio: checks
147_star: bets 37500
PapaGreggio: raises 52499 to 89999
147_star: calls 52499
*** TURN *** [Td 4c 4d] [Ts]
PapaGreggio: bets 175013 and is all-in
147_star: calls 175013
*** RIVER *** [Td 4c 4d Ts] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PapaGreggio: shows [Qc Kd] (two pair, Tens and Fours)
147_star: shows [5h 5c] (two pair, Tens and Fives)
147_star collected 612224 from pot

Up to 870k now, blinds 7500/15000 and feeling good!

Somebody finally notices my raise intentions in some chat that I've only just noticed now, thanks a lot mate for staying up and watching all night, I appreciate it!

kremlin72 [observer] said, "getting rid of your stack inequality. lol. OCD FTW"

Another awkward decision but as I think Zippus is a gortina99: calls 800
147_stcall.

Dealt to 147_star [7d As]
vonchamier87: folds
tomoscas: folds
hoodini10: folds
147_star: raises 20200 to 40200
-benWU-: folds
Hohojirozame: folds
Zippus: raises 209178 to 249378 and is all-in
AceQuad: folds
HCclubhopper: folds
147_star: calls 209178
*** FLOP *** [2c Ac 5s]
*** TURN *** [2c Ac 5s] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [2c Ac 5s 7h] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [7d As] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Zippus: shows [8h Kd] (high card Ace)

Luckily when I made the right reads Pokerstars was in a mood to reward and hands were holding nicely at the right times and I was on over a million chips and pretty close to first place!

This was an annoying hand where I was confident I was ahead and trying to eek out some more value until the river meant I paid him off...

*********** # 395 **************
Dealt to 147_star [Kc Qc]
call110: folds
AceQuad: raises 22223 to 42223
HCclubhopper: folds
vonchamier87: folds
tomoscas: folds
hoodini10: folds
147_star: calls 32223
Hohojirozame: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6d 2d]
147_star: checks
AceQuad: bets 41233
147_star: calls 41233
*** TURN *** [Qh 6d 2d] [6c]
147_star: checks
rchan5 is connected
AceQuad: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6d 2d 6c] [Ad]
147_star: checks
AceQuad: bets 86444
147_star: calls 86444
*** SHOW DOWN ***AceQuad: shows [Ah Tc] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)147_star: mucks hand

The following hand, with perhaps a hundred people left, was the hand that made the most nervous of any in the whole tournament...I knew me and this guy would clash, and he we were with a blind on blind scenario...my heart was racing a ridiculous amount here it's not even safe!!

*********** # 402 ************** Level XXIV (12500/25000)

Seat 3: hoodini10 (782504 in chips)
Seat 4: 147_star (959178 in chips)

Dealt to 147_star [Ad 7c]
hoodini10: raises 42500 to 67500
147_star: calls 42500 [I JUST FLAT HERE BECAUSE HE 4BET SHOVES SO OFTEN]
*** FLOP *** [6c 7d 4h]
hoodini10: bets 87500
147_star: raises 126678 to 214178
hoodini10: raises 498326 to 712504 and is all-in [AFTER A HUGE DWELL]
147_star: calls 498326 [I WANTED THIS SHOVE AND DECIDE AGAINST HIM IT'S A CALL]
*** TURN *** [6c 7d 4h] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [6c 7d 4h 5h] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN
***hoodini10: shows [As Tc] (high card Ace)
147_star: shows [Ad 7c] (a pair of Sevens)
147_star collected 1582508 from pot

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Genuinely the most nervous I have ever been at a poker table in any given scenario...sick heartrate as he spent a minute before jamming! I planned the hand out in my head before he jammed and luckily it went pretty much according to script.

I stay at around the 1.7-1.8m mark until this hand in which I don't dislike my play as the chip lead villain had flatted and reraised on the flop a few times now but perhaps calling would have been better on the flop

*********** # 424 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Ts Ks]
147_star: raises 30500 to 60500
AFROSUPERMAN: folds
JSchnett: folds
call110: calls 60500
AceQuad: folds
HCclubhopper: folds
vonchamier87: folds
Eduts: calls 30500
*** FLOP *** [3s 5s 4h]
Eduts: checks
147_star: bets 86500
call110: raises 113499 to 199999
Eduts: folds
147_star: raises 199999 to 399998
Akeen is connected
call110: raises 2522542 to 2922540 and is all-in
147_star: folds

*********** # 456 **************

Seat 4: 147_star (1147000 in chips)

In the bag from there really!!! :D

This was a huuuuuge bluff to keep my stack nicely above the 10-20BB region and mean I could afford to raise/fold and dominate where possible...

*********** # 467 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Js Tc]
PompYouUp: folds
147_star: raises 52500 to 102500
RaZe_U: folds
kdk1111: folds
ship_it_cfb: folds
klorinho1: folds
mick_allin: folds
EXTRA84: calls 77500
Enigmatic Em: calls 52500
*** FLOP *** [8c 2c 3h]
EXTRA84: checks
Enigmatic Em: bets 50000
147_star: raises 162501 to 212501
EXTRA84: calls 212501
Enigmatic Em: folds
*** TURN *** [8c 2c 3h] [Kc]
EXTRA84: checks
147_star: checks
*** RIVER *** [8c 2c 3h Kc] [5d]
EXTRA84: checks 147_star: bets 699999 and is all-in
EXTRA84: folds

I AM SUCH A DUMBASS, I HAVE BEEN HAVING SUCH TROUBLE PUTTING THESE HANDS OVER ON HERE AND I'VE JUST WORKED OUT HOW MUCH EASIER IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DOING IT ALL IN WORD AND THEN PASTING THE WHOLE THING ACROSS.......VARIANCE IMO!!!

Anyways, on with the action...I really hope this isn't boring, all of these hands were crucial to me and really changed the dynamics of how I could take pots uncontested. In a tournament of this size, these pots are the ones that prevent you having to win 100's of all ins and give you scope to cope with some outdraws/coolers, not that I had many at all!!

*********** # 478 **************

In this hand I made a dubious and debatable call with A5suited to a guy's 9BB middle position shove after it's the second hand he's taken in a row and whilst i've just moved here it seems like he jammed a hand just before that other one to take a pot as well. He had 10s and held an I am back down to 500k and have 10BB's again.

Then the standard insta-reprieve happens!!

*********** # 479 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Kh Kc]
Pechtis111: folds
147_star said, "fml"
147_star said, "bad call ffs"
ssinna: folds
Ronigoal: folds
PHHSkid99: folds
panormogr: folds
VieTLoKo: raises 102456 to 162456
batlerbm: folds
147_star: raises 307165 to 469621 and is all-in
deglingue: folds
VieTLoKo: calls 307165
*** FLOP *** [7c Qc Ts]
*** TURN *** [7c Qc Ts] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [7c Qc Ts 9c] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Kh Kc] (a pair of Kings)
VieTLoKo: shows [Js Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
147_star collected 1053242 from pot

Over the next 10-15 hands made a couple of standard re-shoves with A8 as I was using my 12-15ish BB stack to get other people out of raised pots and stay afloat.

Then a couple of my spots were taken away from me over the next few hands by deglingue, who played very impressively and was very aggressive, 3betting me wide, and I had to wait until this resteal opportunity from heaven popped up...obv the call gave me extra value when I hit!!

*********** # 503 **************

Dealt to 147_star [9s Kd]
deglingue: folds
Pechtis111: folds
ssinna: folds
klorinho1: raises 80000 to 160000
PHHSkid99: folds
panormogr: folds
VieTLoKo: calls 160000
RaZe_U: folds
147_star: raises 817499 to 977499
klorinho1: folds
VieTLoKo: calls 568442 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (249057) returned to 147_star
*** FLOP *** [3c Kc 5h]
*** TURN *** [3c Kc 5h] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [3c Kc 5h Jd] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [9s Kd] (a pair of Kings)
VieTLoKo: shows [8d 8h] (a pair of Eights)
147_star collected 1728884 from pot

This was another nice call which earnt me a few extra bluffing chips!

*********** # 508 **************

Dealt to 147_star [3h Ah]
RaZe_U: folds
147_star: raises 83942 to 163942
deglingue: folds
Pechtis111: folds
ssinna: folds
klorinho1: folds
PHHSkid99: calls 83942
*** FLOP *** [4d 9d 8d]PHHSkid99: checks 147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [4d 9d 8d] [4h]PHHSkid99: checks 147_star: checks
*** RIVER *** [4d 9d 8d 4h] [7c]
PHHSkid99: bets 280000
147_star: calls 280000
*** SHOW DOWN ***PHHSkid99: shows [Qd Kh] (a pair of Fours)
147_star: shows [3h Ah] (a pair of Fours - Ace kicker)
147_star collected 983884 from pot

After dropping a few chips to deglingue's brilliant aggression, I make the call with K10hh and have my luckiest moment in the tournament...

*********** # 520 **************
Dealt to 147_star [Th Kh]
folds to small blind RaZe_U: raises 2212072 to 2312072 and is all-in
147_star: calls 1639500 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (572572) returned to RaZe_U
*** FLOP *** [6c Ad Td]
*** TURN *** [6c Ad Td] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [6c Ad Td 5h] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RaZe_U: shows [6h Ac] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
147_star: shows [Th Kh] (three of a kind, Tens)
MSU10s [observer] said, "binkkkkk"

That was a massive bonus as I thought the dream was over but I was still in it and feeling like it could well be my night!

I think maybe there were 21 people by this point when I completed Raze_U's night with this reshove on the small blind against him.

*********** # 536 **************
Dealt to 147_star [Ah 7d]
klorinho1: folds
PHHSkid99: folds
FUTURE102: folds
extasyman: folds
RaZe_U: raises 1562144 to 1692144 and is all-in
147_star: raises 1633856 to 3326000 and is all-in
deglingue: folds
Uncalled bet (1633856) returned to 147_star
*** FLOP *** [Qh Js 3h]
*** TURN *** [Qh Js 3h] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Js 3h Tc] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Ah 7d] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
RaZe_U: shows [6c Kh] (a pair of Kings)
147_star collected 3605288 from pot

This put me up to the dizzy heights of 5m+ chips, over 40BB's and comfortable, although as I said to my mate Luke, l_usher87, legend, if deglingue keeps re-raising me I'll end up shoving...!

*********** # 537 **************

Dealt to 147_star [7d 7s]
PHHSkid99: folds
FUTURE102: folds
extasyman: folds
L_Usher87 [observer] said, "nh"
BigPapaLind [observer] said, "w0000000000000t gogogogogoo"
147_star: raises 136144 to 266144
Benjamin89 is connected
bcforrest is connected
Parky 32 is connected
deglingue: raises 523855 to 789999
klorinho1: folds
147_star: raises 4436145 to 5226144 and is all-in
deglingue has timed out
deglingue: folds

It has to be your night when you avoid a horrible flip due to the situation going mad in front of you...

*********** # 541 **************
Seat 6: extasyman (6266401 in chips)
Seat 7: Parky 32 (7855914 in chips)
Seat 8: 147_star (6185143 in chips)

Dealt to 147_star [Kd Ad]
147_star: raises 132143 to 262143
deglingue: folds
Benjamin89: folds
bcforrest: raises 523463 to 785606 and is all-in
klorinho1: folds
PHHSkid99: calls 12411 and is all-in
FUTURE102: folds
extasyman: raises 523463 to 1309069
Parky 32: folds 147_star: folds
Uncalled bet (523463) returned to extasyman
*** FLOP *** [6h 5d 5c]
*** TURN *** [6h 5d 5c] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [6h 5d 5c Jd] [5h]
extasyman: shows [Td Th] (a full house, Fives full of Tens)
bcforrest: shows [Ah Qh] (three of a kind, Fives)
extasyman collected 1913711 from side pot
PHHSkid99: shows [Qd Qc] (a full house, Fives full of Queens)

This hand is the first of two sick ones against this villain, he has three bet me a couple of times by now and has now 4-bet me but I still think he must be strong and I try to disguise my hand to some extent with the shove but he doesn't buy it..

*********** # 552 **************
Dealt to 147_star [Kh Ks]
TUT07: raises 130000 to 260000
klorinho1: folds
FUTURE102: folds
extasyman: folds
ktaburn [observer] said, "lol"
Parky 32: folds
147_star: raises 404500 to 664500
deglingue: folds
Benjamin89: folds
TUT07: raises 635500 to 1300000
147_star: raises 3814000 to 5114000 and is all-in
TUT07: folds

This, against the same guy as before, is one of the most ridiculous hands I have ever seen!!!!!!!

*********** # 560 **************

Seat 2: TUT07 (6171587 in chips)
Seat 8: 147_star (6669000 in chips)

Dealt to 147_star [Ah Ac]
klorinho1: folds
extasyman: folds
Parky 32: raises 170000 to
147_star: raises 323000 to 653000
deglingue: folds
Benjamin89: folds
TUT07: raises 722000 to 1375000
Parky 32: folds
147_star: raises 860701 to 2235701
TUT07: raises 3919886 to 6155587 and is all-in
147_star: calls 3919886
Ince 24 [observer] said, "fireworks"
*** FLOP *** [2d 4d Qc]
GarotoPoker [observer] said, "wow"
BeethSymNo5 [observer] said, "LOL j6 hahahaha"
*** TURN *** [2d 4d Qc] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [2d 4d Qc 3c] [9s]
kremlin72 [observer] said, "wow"
rockymtnpro [observer] said, "lol"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TUT07: shows [Jh 6h] (high card Queen)
147_star: shows [Ah Ac] (a pair of Aces)

What a ballsy motherbluffer and whilst it didn't work out there just wow for even trying it...think that's a time when the supernova stars certainly worked in my favour, and that elevated me in a to a big chip lead wowoowowowoooooooooooooooo!

Again two big hands save me from a cooler (IF BY COOLER I MEAN QUADS)!

*********** # 564 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Tc Th]
Benjamin89: folds
Hohojirozame: folds
klorinho1: raises 2182934 to 2342934 and is all-in
Eduts: folds
lumpicat: folds
extasyman: raises 1531678 to 3874612 and is all-in
Parky 32: folds
147_star: folds
*** FLOP *** [7s 2d Ts]
*** TURN *** [7s 2d Ts] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2d Ts 4d] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
klorinho1: shows [Ad Qs] (a pair of Tens)
extasyman: shows [Kd Kh] (two pair, Kings and Tens)

LMAO, some classic chat that I've just seen...

BeethSymNo5 [observer] said, "Hey 147 Star, I just went out and bought you new underwear after seeing J6hearts and remembering that on PokerStars, anything is possible"

Here the guy calls my 3bet, leads in to me and then I hit a dream river to make sure I get paid...

*********** # 581 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Th Ah]
Hohojirozame: folds
Eduts: folds
lumpicat: folds
extasyman: folds
Parky 32: raises 220000 to 420000
"147_star: raises 436201 to 856201
deglingue: folds
Benjamin89: folds
Parky 32: calls 436201
*** FLOP *** [2h Ad 6s]
Parky 32: bets 1000000
147_star: calls 1000000
*** TURN *** [2h Ad 6s] [4d]
Parky 32: checks
147_star: checks
*** RIVER *** [2h Ad 6s 4d] [Jh]
Parky 32: checks
147_star: bets 1899801
Parky 32: calls 1899801
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Th Ah] (a pair of Aces)
Parky 32: mucks hand (HE HAD JQ)

So my lead builds and I have a chance to dominate now as the final table bubble approaches, I have the other table open and see one guys, the_blues totally crushing it and people are getting knocked out from either table at a fairly quick rate...all that's in my head is one time and the nervous cough has died down for the last couple of hours as I'm just focussed on the win and taking it home.

This next was big as it dented the guy who had been giving me the most trouble...now I felt I could have taken the pot away from him but once I hit the ace I thought I'd try to extract some value and have some pot control in case he had the K, 77 was pretty much exactly where I thought he was at..

Dealt to 147_star [As 9d]
lumpicat: folds
extasyman: folds
Parky 32: folds
147_star: raises 202003 to 402003
deglingue: calls 402003
Benjamin89: folds
Hohojirozame: folds
BeethSymNo5 [observer] said, "J6hearts"
Eduts: calls 202003
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h Ks]
Eduts: checks
147_star: checks
deglingue: bets 329999
Eduts: folds
147_star: raises 400001 to 730000
deglingue: calls 400001
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h Ks] [Ah]
147_star: checks
deglingue: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kh 4h Ks Ah] [Js]
147_star: checks
deglingue: bets 999999
147_star: calls 999999
*** SHOW DOWN ***
deglingue: shows [7s 7h] (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
147_star: shows [As 9d] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
147_star collected 4926007 from pot

Suddenly I have 100BB's and in a position to totally dominate.

This next hand I flop a really nice flop after he prices me in to call and on the turn his bet just screamed weakness...

*********** # 593 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Ks 7s]
147_star: raises 204150 to 404150
deglingue: folds
Hohojirozame: raises 345850 to 750000
Eduts: folds
lumpicat: folds Parky 32: folds
147_star: calls 345850
*** FLOP *** [Kd As 3s]
147_star: checks
Hohojirozame: bets 650000
147_star: raises 9349999 to 9999999
Hohojirozame: folds

POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP of the final table bubble in classic run-like-god style for me!!

*********** # 595 **************

Dealt to 147_star [Ad As]
Hohojirozame: folds
Eduts: raises 297500 to 547500
lumpicat: folds
Parky 32: folds
kremlin72 [observer] said, "wow, sick pot on other table 32>AK aipf for 16 mil"
147_star: raises 707299 to 1254799
deglingue: folds
Eduts: raises 4896317 to 6151116 and is all-in
147_star: calls 4896317
*** FLOP *** [Ts Ks 6h]
HealthySoul [observer] said, "Q"
*** TURN *** [Ts Ks 6h] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Ks 6h 3s] [3c]k
remlin72 [observer] said, "hold!
"walter rod1 [observer] said, "oh"
***SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Ad As] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Eduts: shows [Jh Ah] (a pair of Threes)

So, BOOOOM, I would start the final table of the biggest tournament online with a 28m stack,and 120 BB's...I knew from this point that with the ladders jumping up so sharply I had such a huge advantage with these chips and people just couldn't find it in them to play back at me...

I won't continue with the hand reviews as a video with highlights of the win is available at http://www.pokerstars.tv/poker-video-5356-online-poker-show-sunday-million-april-25th-2010.html, and better still for the poker fans who are interested in the dynamics of a final table or like me want to see what the other guys kept folding the full replay of the final table will be shown on Pokerstars at 6PM GMT from Wednesday!

If there are any questions, queries, congratulations or anything else please comment and I will try my best to respond!

This post has taken me over 3hours as hotmail and blogger was truly playing up and re-reading every hands and thinking which ones were worth blogging or of interest, but I really hope it has been worth it for anybody who has read this or just scanned down, and thank you so much for the support everybody has given me, it has been unbelievable!!!!

I will post more frequently in future and I will update people as to what I may be doing with the money when I work it out...thanks again everybody, and $h1p 1t 1m0!!!xxxxxxxxxx

147_shine

Janaury was a bit meh...

2010-02-02T08:05:00.001-08:00

Didn't really get much chance to play in January as I have been taking driving lessons 3-4 times a week and tried to not play on evenings before a lesson. As such, when I played I was chasing profits a little too much, and combined with running bad for several sessions and some of this being at $230's, I didn't make much but with rakeback (in terms of FPP's) and bonuses still had a reasonable month.

I also learnt a valuable lesson, nobody wins on FT...I put $600 on and this went within 50minutes, losing to a 2-outer, a 3-outer and 3 flips plus getting cut off for one game...never again (well maybe for rush poker but that's an acceptable waste!)

I really wanted to hit the last Sunday schedule pretty hard but had a 6 hour driving lesson to look forward to the next day so missed out on Bowburn (DthestudentJ) putting in a heroic run to get 23rdish out of 20k ish people in the Sunday (2) Million for a nice score, but 22 people later he would have shipped $550k...if only I was online I could have persuaded him to take a 23 way chop or at least propose it!

Fortunately, I intelligently booked my driving test for 14:05 today, and it was basically pass and the fairly poor month is justified...fail and Feb may be a struggle as well. I had a couple of traumas including pulling away uphill at traffic lights only to have to stop and not roll back when two fire engines whizzed through...still somehow I negotiated this and despite some obvious minors when I was asked how I thought I did and glanced at the clock showing 14:47 I inwardly said wp and got the good news! I'm still a pretty bad driver tbh but I can learn to drive soon enough and get my own style, so hopefully I can nail the poker in Feb and starting doing well again.

5HIP IT!

2010-01-21T14:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009 review, poker and life, and 2010 aims and dreams!!

2010-01-01T20:46:00.001-08:00

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!!!!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo SUPERNOVA AVONREPUS ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooW

2009-12-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

Yay, I've finally made it to supernova...I'm exhausted, my head is killing me and this screen is ripping my brain in two but I've got there! December has somehow been a ridiculously good month, with the total profit just under $12k which is unprecedented for me since I've been playing heads up (and only ever happened apart from this from tournie scores). I have run well on the whole I think but I think the key has been avoiding the stupid tilt and putting in a good level of volume when I'm feeling good. Also, 1200 games is an awful lot so that has contributed!

Looking forward to earning a nice 5.5vpps instead of 5vpps for every $$ next year which should make FPP earning and reaching supernova again a lot easier, and therefore I'm very glad that I have put in the hours to get here! I'm just about to have a lot what is in the supernova VIP store, wooop!

I feel like I've learnt a lot working so hard to get to this target, though Ptevey and others will be disappointed I reached it this comfortably and didn't have to 29table at 4.59am our time on New Year's Eve to reach it...still I can have a nice relax tomorrow evening now and probably get fucked!! Better remember to put the 24hour block on my poker account!

66 games to go...

2009-12-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

I played exactly 100 games tonight, so I need 66 to reach supernova. Ran like God tonight and played pretty well as well to average $30 a game and bring home $3k. Looking forward to having a nice rest from poker as soon as I can get my 5stars by my empty space where somebody interesting would put a picture.

NightNight.

166 games to go...

2009-12-28T23:46:00.000-08:00

If my maths are(is) correct, I need 166 games raking $5 each to reach supernova...that should be very possible and I hope to get as close as I can tomorrow. Also, I had a lovely $100 bonus come through from stars for cashing in two turbo takedowns in a row which I had no idea would happen, the site just goes up in my estimations all the time!!

Started off tonight winning 8 in row, then was back to evens, before ending up $1780 up from 101 games...think quite a few regs are away on holidays at the minute as lobbies are easier to come by and the games seem a little softer. Wondering how much money I've left behind at the tables all the times I've won a bit at the start at then gone to bed without playing a decent volume.

I'm nackered all the time atm but I hope supernova will be worth it.

!$&

Getting closer to supernova!!

2009-12-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

The other day I needed 13k vpps and it was looking difficult/ nearly impossible to achieve...from now I need 7.3k vpps and it should definitely be made now!

Somehow, playing 4 tables at once hasn't broken me, and since the last post I have made around $1.9k, including having the worst spell of my life earlier where I lost 8 in a row despite getting it in good or flipping around 16 times overall in that particular spell! Losing 9 flips in a row and 14/15 + 2 overpairs v underpairs would have caused me to ridic tilt before but I hope I have a bit of new found maturity and confidence that things will turn around now so can control the tilt better. The night only finished with a small loss so that's not too bad!

Right I'm nackered and hoping to hit the sales in a few hours time...merry xmas everyone!
7,3k vpps to go!!

Late dash for supernova...!

2009-12-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, from late November and early December I started becoming aware that reaching supernova was a possibility, and at the start of December I needed 30k vpps to reach the target! I haven't been able to play every night and at one point thought I wasn't going to bother as it may cost me a fortune trying to get it, but now with around a week to go, I need just under 13k vpps, which is definitely possible! The only problem is the fact that I'm probs going to have to put in a 5hour shift on xmas day!!

I've managed to make 2k vpps tonight 3/4 tabling for a few hours and then ending the evening one tabling for a bit so repeat this 6.5 times and I will be there! I think I need to play around 520 games to reach the target which is seeming pretty difficult atm!

Touch wood I think I'm playing some of my best stuff now, and despite a monstrous >$2k downswing in one ridic 24hours running the worst I have probably ever run (apart from in that dream everyone has where the car is coming straight for you but you can't move), I have managed to bring home a few k a month, but I can't post much more as I've decided to carry on playing to get some more vpps!!

Run well, xxx

Stats Available!!

2009-11-13T06:50:00.001-08:00

I've unblocked my SharkScope as I was curious as to how it was looking. I thought I might as well let people check it out...I'll probably be blocking it again in a couple of days so check it out whilst you can!

147x

Meh iphones lol!

2009-11-09T08:53:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I don't know how to use iphones properly yet! :-( here is the post intended to accompany the last post!

Apparently I don't know how to copy and paste into blogger from hotmail so I am writing it again..ffs!

Obv have to say wp to keys first of all who destroyed another live tournament, quite a nice name and story to drop into other conversations, and I loved showing off the receipt from the two bottles of Dom Perignon we enjoyed to anybody within 10 metres!! Congrats mate. (If you ever want some heads up lessons I can lend a hand ;-) )...quite funny really how balla the time in Estonia would have been if I wasn't "scared", but the butterfly effect might have meant Keys didn't cash so I don't suppose I was missed! Could be tempted if I'm invited to the PCA!

On a personal level I just completed my first month as a poker pro and it was a huge learning curve! Of course, as always, there is a direct correlation between winning and enjoyment, but touch wood I have been a lot better at handling swings recently and though the start of the month was tricky things have picked up since! I now rarely get joined by regs so have easier games as a result, and I think I'm earning the resepct of other heades up pros! I have had a few requests to pair up with people in 4mans, one of which I accepted in Padgenuts, a big heads up winner and person who has a similar feel for the game style rather than mainly mathematical which has been succesful. We have only had one session at the 4mans but started on fire, winning 6-0 but then both ran so so bad to lose the last two and called it a day! This has good promise I hope and I might hit supernova which is 41k fpps away! I hope to pair up with a reg in the daytimes as well to mix in 4mans with heads ups.

The first month was tough to start with but I managed to pull in £3k which I'm pleased about...that was helped by shipping $1075 in Sunday Million sats from the fpps I've earnt...I hope that can be a good rakeback from the FPP's I make on the way to supernova. I look forward to increasing my poker associate base and making friends with Americans always has value in terms of greater access to Vegas!

The one good thing about this long post is that all my posts are like this but I now blog less regularly you only have to disregard it once or twice a month!

Cheers lads,

poker147star (my aim name!)

Settling in...

2009-11-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

yo yo, yo yo, it's off to work I go...

2009-10-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

Evening troops, I have "officially" taken the step of calling myself a professional poker player, and it has been a tricky learning curve so far! I have been joining the tables first and had to contest with quite a few regs joining me initially making the transition pretty tough, but the more I played I started getting more offers for chops which helped. I now pretty much play exclusively $115's and it has been testing but rewarding...if I can avoid hero call mode I can hope to make a nice amount at this game, so I'm working on that. I think I'll get TournamentManager or some other type of software on my desktop when that's set up to help regulate how I'm doing and work on flaws.

Overall, it's going ok but really swingy...last Sunday was a prime example, where I was 4-tabling the $115s and running like God with the quality of the opposition but kept getting raped by the deck...I have had a few $1k swings which is tough to deal with and am currently a little bit under $3k up since my pro status became facebook official (the benchmark of everything!) which I think is a good start but definitely subject to change for the worse given the nature of the beast!

I have been keeping my volume fairly high and hope to be building a nice base of FPPs to work off at some point for a reasonable return...I might give the 4man 3600FPPs hu shootouts to the Sunday Million a go as I think that would work to my strengths, and to be honest my ROI at the heads ups' has been mediocre but a different class at the 4mans...they are so much softer it's ridiculous.

I am making plans with regs to pair up to crush the 4mans, and hopefully this will guarantee a steady profit whilst I can make other money on the side playing several tables.

Whilst poker is good, life is fairly tough tbh...daytimes are pretty lonely and every fucker is "working", which means I haven't got much to do...I have planned trips to keep myself occupied and have joined a golf club which gives me something to do in the day, but without Louise and friends I'm lost a lot of the time as I like to keep busy. Hopefully I'll work something out on that front!

So, life is fairly dull but the grind is on so I'll keep anybody who is interested posted.

.gp_7827 (work this one out!)

The best call of my life!

2009-09-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

We went to watch "O" yesterday evening. It was reasonable, some of the acrobatics were amazing but there probably wasn't enough of that and the storyline was confusing! The way the stage moved around was ridic though and the fact that the Bellagio buffet preceded it made the evening a positive one in the end!!

On the poker front, I have played a few tournies and gone fairly deep in all of them, but ran bad at the wrong time with an AQ v AK cooler with 20 left in the Venetian 7PM and limp shoving 210dd v the table aggressor in the blinds only to be met by AK...I didn't hold up and went out the Caesar's 12pm in 9th with 7 getting paid but the cash only making 4figures for 1st place and $170 for 7th.

Cash is going better, and yesterday I made the best call of my life! I got the table drunk on major tilt after smiling when he swore at me for calling a small bet when he had the best hand and then showing him a bluff, so when he shoved his last $150 into a $28 pot, I faced a tough decision with my AQ on a KK2 board...I dwelt for a couple of minutes and called, and he didn't show. My Ace high was good on the river and I shipped a massive pot v his J5....o wait, o no I didn't, some guy said "o he has the K and I embarrassingly muck my cards before noticing just as they hit the muck...fml fml fml fml fml fml what a stupid King Cnut I am...I was definitely on monster tilt!!

Luckily, my story has a happy ending as I rebought and isolated him again making it $40 pre with AK and getting the call for him...the flop was A22, he led $40 and I flatted....and then he shoved the 7 turn and I called and he showed q5 to be drawing dead...thank fuck for that or my day and life would have been ruined...I don't think I will ever make that mistake again...but now it's a good and happy story I can tell people!!

2day we are going to loiter around the MGM for the Mayweather fight and lap up the post-fight value at the tables...either that or get wankered, depending on how we feel. We have learnt craps and now just need to put our knowledge into action...how do you bet again?!

Poker, 'O', Grand Canyon and a change in fortunes!

2009-09-16T12:59:00.001-07:00

I've finally stopped dwelling over my $1080 pot!!

I played a $120 tournament in the Venetian the next evening and was very pleased with the depth of the tournament and the quality of the opposition...it was the type of game where it is possible to make plays and get credit but also get value from hands....the sort where you feel like you can control your opposition to some extent and people make a stand by calling instead of re-raising. I busted after the break shoving top pair into a pot-sized donk bet by the big blind that I hated but shoved on and ran in to an overpair. I made around that money back at cash that evening but wasn't playing that well...the first fishy table had led me to make too many bad, gambly calls pre that weren't connecting. I then lost 2 BI at the Bellagio, largely due to having a tough table, missing everything, getting moved on on every one of my bluffs and being shit at cash! I think the fact that I may have had my sunglasses behind my cards showing the reflection of what I had for an hour before I realised what a retard I was contributed to that loss!!

So, $600 down for the trip, no means a bad thing but not what I wanted, I played a little online and won around $300...I decided to go the Venetian cash tables, standardise all my actions, chuck on the shades and make a proper go of it...now I don't know if I gave away a million tells, or if my eyes said exactly what I had, but since then I have been running sick.

I made $450 playing cash, playing solid aggressive poker and that was including checking behind what may have been the second nuts thinking that he had a flush which Isaac informs me wasn't actually out...downside to the sunglasses I guess!!

Then I came 4/97 in the $120 Venetian 7pm, building a stack early after Pteveying it up to 1350 from the SB with 57cc vs a 300 raise and 2 flats (blinds 50/100) and growing some making it 2525 on a QJx board and getting two folds! I kept picking my spots and never really put my stack and risk, and picked up the unwanted chips when I could. The final table arrived before long and I steadily stayed around 10-12-15BB, which was average at the time. With 4 left, talks of a deal had been suggested but I was happy to play on...pay arrangements were

1st $3080
2nd $2k ish
3rd $1.3k ish
4th $737

I then had my "ALL IN MOMEMT", reshoving QQ vs a button raise, chucking out the fake shakes as if I was bluffing and after tanking A7ss made the call...he missed the flop and I felt it was my time, but the A on the turn ended my dreams and left me with a 3-figure cash instead of a 4-figure cash. That was the last hand of the tournie after they constructed a deal but I was still happy with the result and no regrets etc.

So, I was finally up for the trip, and cashing out $960 from $200 in the Caesar's Palace game yesterday boosted them figures....the starting table was dreamville and I had hands which got paid off. So far, I'm up on my spending money and hopefully will maintain a winning game and keep running well which I have done. Dreams of living in Vegas for a few months are growing and I am very tempted, these next few days I'll be making enquiries I think and speaking to regs who live there.

In non-poker terms, and poker has only been in the evenings, we have seen the Grand Canyon which was ridic, spent a fair amount of time in the immense pool area and eaten a few nice buffets and checked out downtown and done the Strat. Some people want to leave Vegas after a short amount of time but I love it, and feel home playing poker every evening. We are seeing "O" in the next few evenings which promises to be quality, and the other lads watched Santana the other evening which they enjoyed. We haven't really gambled yet because we are all rocks, but we are going to the 4-8pm Strat drinkfest and having a punt on craps at some point so it's planned hammered gambling...run good one time!

Today we are going to the ESPN zone in New York New York to watch some 9ball, and on Sat we are hanging around the MGM as Mayweather is fighting there...sandwiched in between we will do some shopping at the outlet centRE and maybe catch the beach volleyball at Mandalay Bay as we all follow that sport religiously! Vegas is sick, our hotel is very nice and the food is meaty...all in all I am really enjoying it and want to be out here again soon and maybe for a longer time...DUPS year in Vegas??

> $1000 pot!!

2009-09-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Out in Vegas atm and it's absolutely sick!! The "tip trick" worked, and we have a sick room as a result! The third person we basically haggled with was desperate for our cash..."if you can help us we can help you" was a line that made us all realise we were definitely in! An upgrade to the Palazzo with a strip and pool view was the result and it is so ridiculous...it looks great, especially at night!

The weather has been hot but fairly comfortable as the pool areas are quite spacious, and the food is fit...Outback steak last night was 20oz of pure pleasure! Pokerwise has been really enjoyable...the first night playing $1/$2 I was making plays and running good/faster than usain bolt sprinting from the back to the front on a 100metre long concord in full flight at top speed with minimal wind resistance and a 1470mph tailwind.

Eg 1: - Checking J2 in the big blind, a flop of 235 wasn't too appealing...checked round and the J turn gave me two pair. I bet and when I was re-raised was cautious, though the J on the river helped!! I check raised up to $85 and unfortunately the tightest player I've ever seen (he checked the bottom end of a straight flush in position!!!) just flatted with his 22!!

Eg 2:- Standard Vegas hand...a raise to $12 and 4 callers...I have K4hh in the BB and speculate. Flop K high, I check raise to around $87 against the rock thinking I'd get credit...he flatted and I was ready to shut down. The 4 on the turn kept me interesting and I ended his misery stacking him and was around $500-$600.

Then, some not so run good!! [2-3 hours later...same table]

I had 66 and a stack of around $540. Two limps, I limp with 66...fish who has me covered raises to $20...call call so I join the run...dream flop of J62 and I check raise his $50 up to $127 (pot around $310 when he calls). There was some metagame as I'd shown a big bluff against him two rounds ago so when he called I thought he was fairly light and wanted to suck him in. The turn was an 8 and I fired $147 in to the pot, only for him to insta-shove...horrible hand as he was bad and could have had an overpair, but it felt horrible and I reluctantly called off my last $200....he tables 88 and I lose a $1080ish pot...fml! Avoided tilt and stopped for the night, and since then I lost in a $120 tournie when I played so well until I shoved top pair and met an overpair, and made around $130 in cash to be a BI down which is fine.

Loving it out here, making all sorts of sick plans in my head to live out here for a couple of months, maybe May-June next year...anyone up for a different golf trip this time round?!

$147

1200 FPP = $4,198

2009-08-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

For anyone reading my blog they must think I am millions up for the year, but the sad fact is when I'm losing I really can't face talking about it and would rather play, so that's partly the reason why it has been a while and I only really post when I'm winning. I'm not sure whether this should be a reason to stop blogging to avoid looking like a show-off twat (even more than usual!!) but I think for now I will keep writing and I enjoy reading other peoples posts so I can't be all selfish!!

I didn't find much time to play in July, struggling to balance leisure with "work", and probably made just under £1k which isn't enough to justify not working! I was doing really well but went on a downswing, losing a few BI at $115's and a couple more at $230's in quite horrible fashion. I kept it together but after shelling out for Vegas and sorting my room out it was technically a losing month and encouraged me to play more this month, which I have been trying to do!

I had been plugging away at the HU, but unfortunately the rematch feature is temporary unavailable (and has been for the last 2 weeks!) so that's cost me some EV. I mainly find value in the 4mans, and enjoy them despite the tilt when I lose the second round. I was plugging away quite nicely, up around $2.5k for the month, and then I did a Ptevey!!

I spun FPP's up to a big score, first winning a 1200FPP sat into a $55 tournie and finishing 6/2332 to take home just under $4.2k. Again, I'm not sure my final table strategy was that good as it was probably too aggressive, but I guess I played the whole way staying above water playing that way so it's hard to justify a change. I ended up busting after shoving Q5 with 9BB utg and getting called by AJ, only for his A to outdraw my Q on the turn. A couple of keys pots I was on the wrong side of....one monster bluff where I double barrelled and was 97% sure my opponent hit his flush on the river which he did so technically I got rivered!! The other I called an aggro opponent with third pair in a pot I should have avoided. Apart from that I played as I would want to, and was pleased to be so fearless, even if it perhaps was too fearless. Either way, I'm chuffed as with the score, mainly due to a 4week profit drive for Vegas me and Isaac were having with $50 on the line which I should hopefully ship now unless I crumble or he hits a good score.

With another 48kFPP's in the bank, I look forward to another $160k if I can carry on at my current conversion rate...that's not too ridic is it? Ty for everybody who railed, I appreciate it, and now I'm just going to keep grinding until myself, Isaac and Gamble hit the 5-star Venetian Hotel in Vegas for a ridiculous time for the first time in the NHV (Nits Hit Vegas) series!!

147_*

gg, gg, gg gg gg gg gg wp gg gg gg gg

2009-07-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to say really but I'll try anyway! I have been playing and mainly just reggin for the $57s or $115s depending on what I fancy, which surprisingly recently has been more towards the $115 side of things. Have been running very well I'd say, and have brought the profit since July 5th up to nearly $3k which I could never have expected! I have probably played between 24-30 hours since I've been back as I still have the problem of quitting when running good, and I'm losing badly at tournies but winning at HUSNG's, where the true value of the rematch button has really been highlighted since I've been back. My intelligent post title is basically what I wrote in the chat box after I won any hand of significance against a fish on my way to 5 straight wins against him where he tilted like mad but kept rematching....fuck morals imo, gg ftw!

The money I am winning this month will go towards the Vegas fund which despite the difficulties [i.e. Gambon;-)] organising it should be go go go!! I have a half a circle just thinking about it!!

Next target....stop being such an ungenerous vagina and play the $215 weekly HU on stars....

Q: What degree did u get? A: A 2.1., was really pleased. Q So what now, law? My A: Yeah, a year out and then maybe. Real A: Fuck law, poker ftw!!

2009-07-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

Happily I luckboxed my way to a 2.1. in law which is exactly what I wanted, really helped by a strong mark in my dissertation which may have just about justified missing out on the sick Pokerstars promotions around the time I was procrastinating my way to completion. The most annoying one to miss was the "play 22 hands and become a Supernova promotion" which apparently can reap extra rewards in freerolls as well (VWP Nath/pg, ridiculously good mate, so pleased for you, definitely deserved that so much!) Another massive factor that allowed me to get 2.1 was the lecturer for my Wednesday 9:00 being so inadequate that enough people complained about the quality of his handouts and tutorials that the exams were generously moderated to give us a good mark. Considering I hadn't been to any of these lectures after week 2 that was an incredible bonus and a massive lifesaver after that exam was probably my worst in 3 years as I sat scrambling through my notes in an open book exam where I wrote less than a page for the last answer...thank fuck for moany people!!!

So I'd have to say that overall Durham was a massive success. A couple of marks less and I'd probably have to say the sacrifices I had to make in terms of time away from my family, Louise and earning wasn't worth it, but the 2.1 is what I need to try to distinguish myself from the thousands of other law graduates when I finally enter the world of work. It was very tough being away from home and Louise at times, but I got through and used poker to keep myself occupied. So, on an academic front I can be proud and whilst I think the 6 hours / week (4 hours / week in third year) was a joke and not very stimulating, it allowed a lot of time for poker which was helped by meeting successful players from Durham Poker Society.

I played many different styles at uni but had plenty of time to learn, and shortstacked and hit and run Crypto cash games for a year whilst grinding 6man turbos before the world of Stars and ideas of bankroll management were brought into my world by Durham nits such as James Skolsuper, Richard Bowburn and Ptevey sm1le. Some loose cannons, i.e. Matt mgamble4456(such a standard fish name fwiw!) and later on Rahl Benjamin Blake recommended all sorts of degenerate antics but I made sure I avoided these bad vibes, and didn't once risk drinking Hannes' "non-alcoholic" beer!!

So, I'd learnt about bankroll management and whilst I preferred to have 750,147 BI for each level instead of around 20-50 I was actually able to play it more as a job. Live cash games were ridiculous at times, and in the third year I made a regular habit of winning and losing close to a hundred in alternate sessions at the mighty £10nl. All the poker I learnt from everybody at Durham helped my develop my own style and on reflection poker was my degree and law was my part time job.

Now, as I have left uni, I have a long summer ahead of me which I hope to play loads of poker, get fit and grow up...I'll try to post how these things come along, with maybe a picture of my ripped 6pack as a post title when I put Peter Andre's washboard abs of the Kiss the Girl era to shame.

Since I've been a "graduate" I have started my "year out to play poker" well and made around $1350 in three sessions, and enjoyed playing so much! I've dropped around $200 at tournies and I'm just not ready to concentrate for several hours yet but I'm loving my poker and can't wait to talk poker and learn more for a year...it's exciting, if not an awkward response when asked what I plan to do with my degree/life or what I'm doing this year. What is almost certain (though nothing is booked yet) is that I'm going to Vegas with a few Durham fish early September and can't wait for that, will be so good and if it goes well may sort out another trip out there to make the most of my freedom whilst I still can. I am hoping that being the youngest-looking person in any casino could act as huge implied odds and really help me rape the fellow tourists and possibly win money from them as well to try to run at a profit for the trip.

Until then, I will post if anything exciting happens, but as I play HU which is very dull to talk about that might be a while away, so I guess next time I post will be when I knock in another hole in one, which must be due soon!!

Goodnight and peace, wish me luck for the year ahead! :-)

VeGaS

2009-06-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not out in Vegas for the WSOP and I really wish I was as it must be incredible, the highlight of a poker players year. Let's hope DUPS representative James Keys can ship something massive, wearing somebody elses bracelet will be enough to keep me satisfied until I get a chance to have a go next year!

Still, Vegas in September is looking more likely which will be a class consolation. Hopefully a decent DUPS crowd can turn out, and surely within one of us there will be a massive score or something successful! One time, plssssss! Flights and hotel deals are ridiculously cheap and represent sick value, which as a poker player can't be turned down. It's a proud time for me when my girlfriend buys food or drink at a price which represents the best value, especially so when we both know it will be wasted but the value is too good to be turned down. Who knew poker had so many benefits to everyday life!

Mention must go to Ptevey who basically fulfilled my aims from my last post and shipped a big score in a live event, sick player who is simply a poker genius and hopefully this is the start of a great live career for him if he can spare the time! I'm already keen to speculate with my offline bankroll in live events and this score has simply encouraged me further. Gamble's amazing 2 minors in his first driving test (which judging by his dealing were almost certainly for hesitation) has also hammered home the need to drive as well, and with a car and a pair of nuts, I should be able to get in contention for big things!

Online I have only managed a few sessions, but they have gone well, winning around $1k. A two hour session of around $110 profit ended well when I shipped a $115 4-man to bring in $440 overall, and I played for around three hours yesterday, winning $420. As is to be expected/deserved, I'm still running so bad in every tournie I play, so challenging on OPR looks a long way off at the minute!

For anybody who reads, cheers, and I realise it's not always interesting!! I'm practically handicapped on a computer, so I will learn how to include pictures, HH's etc which will hopefully be interesting. For now, I will look for a cheesy pun/riddle to end my posts!

147

"A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it."

Growing up?! (surely not!?) and shotgun the fame!!

2009-06-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

To ensure this is a short post, I'm starting writing it on the train in the time it takes to get from Darlington to Durham, so this won't be another marathon!

It's obv been ages, as exams have been the order of the day! Think overall they were average, with one absolute shocker which will probably be bad enough to bring me down to a 2:2. Very annoying and would signal a disappointing ROI from Uni when a couple of extra marks would be great, such a fine line but I think my apathetic approach will probably result in a failure...meh nvm, there's always poker right?!

On the poker front, I've not been able to play and make the most of the fantastic new additions to Stars. FIRST OFF, A REMATCH BUTTON....boomtown, this should hopefully bring huge increases in profit if I can coax the fish into playing another game, and I'm currently working out the perfect strategy to reel them in...might start giving it in the chat box or drop to any depths to get them to continue donating...is that really any worse than going in to law anyways?!? But, yeah that's sick, and the extra VPP's I can get from playing through their new scheme should be very nice. I have only played 4 times in the last few months but made 1240VPPs on their new rates, so Supernova for the year should be very achieveable and would help me next year to continue to make a form of Stars rakeback. So yeah, that's looking pretty good, and whilst I will have to work my way back into it a bit, I'm looking forward to it. Alongside heads up, I'm going to play more tournaments or devise a sort of schedule of events. I should be able to combine heads up with tournies and want to make strides in my tournament game.

I will also finally start to drive after I graduate, so when I'm on the road I'll hit the casinos more and get some more practice in with a view to play GUKPT sats and hopefully events if things go well. I haven't written any form of structured approach down yet but I want to start cracking the live value, continue working on the online value and try to be as professional as I can. I want to get some live experience with a view of giving Vegas a shot...I want to be out there, trying to win, enjoying the lifestyle, and lapping it up!

I have always struggled more at times with poker when I don't have an aim, so alongside specific win-rate aims I will set I will aim to become famous(!!!), and this will come about in poker terms at least if I can become one of the best and win big online and then afford to play and win live events...I want this, I would love the lifestyle, so I'm going to put my all in to see how this goes!! Such a pipedream probably, but hopefully will give me some focus, and all it takes is to run good once! SHOTGUN that time!!

Dissertation FML

2009-04-17T02:35:00.000-07:00

I need to try to graduate with a 2.1, and as such have been working on my dissertation recently. Hopefully I can run good with my diss mark as it works out as a 1/5 of my degree, which is a bit steep imo for a fucking compulsory module but nvm! I have to work like a slut for the next 12 days to get it finished, but usually I find it easier to work hard when I know the deadline is due, so I hope I can wrap it up soon and start with learning/revision for the exams.

All of this obv = no poker, and apart from 1/2 hour the other night where I won about $150 I've not been able to play for a while. After starting the bet, I was only able to put in 6 sessions which I knew would be the case in the first place but also realised that if I had a stimulus I would play more and make more than the $100 I'd probably lose. That definitely happened as I managed to average $500 a session, bringing home $3k profit from the start of the bet. I lose 1/30 of this to Keys, who managed to win the required amount in good time, but definitely won as well as losing. Maybe like a total win amount in a 30hour stretch would be a good bet in the future, as for some reason a small financial incentive can act as a greater kick-up-the-arse to win than the higher amount of $$$ that can be won.

I can't wait to graduate and get playing, but unfortunately I'm going to have to just work work work for the time being, so let's hope I can run good, scrape a 2.1 and be happy!

Back from Doubling!

2009-03-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

The tour was incredible, 8 games of football to rip the body to pieces with roughly 4 hours a night recovery time after big nights out on the lash! The Wednesday was a write-off for me as I had a nasty reaction to some food I ate and was sick all evening and night but I pulled it together to play the last few matches on the Thursday before our last amazing night out. Dublin is a pricey motherfucker, and I was horrified to see 2 pints of coke cost 10euros40 in a restaurant, so over £10. A pint of lager was 4.40ffs, how can coke be more expensive unless you're snorting it?!! To compensate, I have hit the tables hard since I have been back.

Prompted by the challenge between me and Keys, I had planned to play on Friday night, but a 45 minute nap at 7pm on Friday developed into a sleep until 10am Saturday. I planned to mix in work and poker this weekend, but I have tried to read through my work and am still too tired from the tour to take it all in so that hasn't been too productive. Luckily, poker has gone well and I have taken a huge stride towards winning the illustrious $100, winnin around $1.2k this weekend and sending my bankroll up to over $6240. Included in this was a 750FPP Double Shootout win for a Sunday Warm Up seat when there was less than 20 entrants so the first round was just a heads up and the secnod table had two seats. $215 in the bank and thankyou very much Stars for not reaching a guaranteed one time! I chose not to play any of the big tournaments this weekend, as I don't remember how to play them!! I have played a few of the monthly freeroll tournies this weekend including the million turbo takedwn and the monthly 100k freeroll, and haven't made it past the second or third blind stage. I need to remember how to play these, Ptevey come back plsplspls!!

Anyway, tomorrow I've got to get myself to the library to work hard on my dissertation, but I hope to play a few hours in the evening. I'll try to update again before I hit the UKSPC on Wednesday from where I'll be getting the train to Llanelli for the Uni Snooker Home Nations.

Also, apparently Keys has been benefitting frmo the exchange rates which has taken him closer to his target without even playing...what a cheating bastard!!!

Sooty,x

Challenge Anika!

2009-03-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

The PaulKeys Pig challenge is on, a race for the sum of $100 and more importantly bragging rights and an ego boost! I'm on $4935, he's on $5500, and I have to reach $10k before he makes $11k...simple right?! Well, given he plays 1/2 he could be there in a few sessions of running well, whereas my heads up will be a more steady rise and running like God for a few sessions still won't get me over the target. Still, it will hopefully prompt me to play more, and even I lose the bet, hopefully I will make more than I'm losing in the bet in profit than I would have anyway making it still a good bet for me. It's not great timing for me to get involved with bets like this, with a dissertation and heavy revision on the cards, but I should still be able to get a few hours an evening in if I can plan my work well I should have a good chance of winning and more importantly earning more than I would do otherwise.

March has been a very quiet month for me due to work, but I think i am slightly down after having a downswing where nothing could happen for me at all. I made $500 in an hour before I came back home for a few days, but I think I may be a few hundred $$$ down which is just standard variance and I hope to turn March into a profitable month. Tomorrow I go to Dublin for a football tour which I'm really looking forward to!

Anyway, I hope to post regular challenge updates. One time!!

It's been a while!?!

2009-02-13T04:50:00.000-08:00

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

2/302 in $215 HU Tournament + 7/28500 in the Sunday 200k = $12.5k for me - $4k to stakes....swiiiiish!!

2009-01-26T03:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all, title says it all! Managed to sh1p two relatively huge scores in one night, taking home 2nd in the $215 heads up to win 50% of just under $8k, and then a couple of hours later 7/28500 to bring home the comical amount of $4447. All in all, an incredibly sick night!

Can't be arsed with hands etc, but basically I was hitting a lot of cards in the HU, but managing to get paid off against poor hands quite a lot. I ran dead in the last match, and couldn't hit my up and down or one overcard to get back into contention unfortunately. In the Sunday 200k, I rivered a straight with 4 tables left to get back in it, before working up to a dominant stack at the final table. I was big chip lead with 7 left, but JJ < AK and then shoving A3 vs the table aggressor who snapped with AK meant it was a case of what could have been, though I'm not worrying about that!!

Before these two tournies, I had been plugging away up to around $7.7k, so this is a very nice bankroll double up, maybe I'll play a 100/200 table and look for a flip to see if I can do the same again. On the other hand, perhaps I'll book a holiday for me and the girlfriend!!

Anyways, essay time for me, a summative is preventing me from going down to see the girlfriend to celebrate....how bad do I run?!

$4447_7th.

HU + tournies = profit + loss!

2009-01-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Evening, I had a night where I got bored of just heads up, and began testing out the 45-man and 180-man $12 turbos and a couple of SNG's. I think I might have lost my ability here, as I was making some silly calls in spots where I'm good heads up but crushed full-ring.

It's good though and has made poker more interesting for me, which has provoked me to play longer sessions. I have lost every $12 I have played (around 9) with horrific luck in around 3 when I had big stacks and got crushed. I enjoy them though, and as I want to get better at tournaments for the big Sunday ones it's good to spend a little to improve. I have played a couple of larger field $20 tournies and feel good. Haven't gone too deep yet but going to keep playing these medium buy in tournies for experience and to hopefully sh1p a decent amount.

O, and I obv shipped the $11 sat to the Sunday warm-up again. It's so weird that I've shipped 4/5 of these, but long may it continue!! I'm going to play one of the majors Sunday week.

I have also been playing a few $57.50 4-mans. Generally you get one good player here and 2 absolute Gambons. So, if I can play well and beat the good player, I would hope to beat the other fishes and win a decent amount. Haven't had a downswing at these yet so I'm sure that when that comes I might stop playing them so much, but for now I hope they continue to be profitable.

So, I might have more interesting stuff to post if I start playing a reasonable volume of tournies as I may (one time!) have a big win, so that might end the boring drone I put out here!

My roll is at $6,605, including $215 $T. Hope to play a fairly meaty session this evening, including some tournies, so I hope I post later saying I've shipped something!!

L8z,

Ronnie.

Pushing on...but the idea of a return to Uni crushes me!

2009-01-04T06:25:00.001-08:00

F1r$t up, 1've d£c!ded 2 bl0ck my Sh@rksc0p£, (FUK CARRYING ON L1KE TH!$ THE WHOLE POST!!) because, though I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm worried/paranoid that if someone scoped me and saw my upswing I might get reported/investigated and my account temporarily suspended or some similar shit that would t!lt me.

Second, happily the upswing has continued. My roll is now $5465. I have made around $860 in the last two evenings. I also played some £1/£2 [or $.01/.$.02 as it is given the conversion rates] at my snooker club and made £75 profit.

So, this means that in 2009 I have made around £900 including some cash exploits, which begs the question, how am I going to get any work done when/if I can earn at this rate? I think I am going to have to grind out some work to stay afloat, which is annoying, but the degree has to be my priority.

No stats as I have no Scope, so the post has to end abrup

2008 Review, 2009 Aims (too long to include this post!!), zzzzzzzzzzzz etc...

2009-01-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, for those who have followed my blog in the last year, thanks a lot. I know it's boring and filled with stats, but it does help me to have an outlet and comments that are made are always appreciated.

Right, now for the 2008 review...!

My year was basically split in to two parts...from Jan-April, where I was mainly playing on FT, and working at the $6.50 9-man turbos. I started off here smashing it up, with an ROI of over 25% and one-tabling or two-tabling managing to win at a very good rate. When I increased the number of tables to around 4, my graph plateaud quite a lot, but that taught me the vital skill of multi-tabling. I started building a proper roll for the first time on FT, but then had a break to get ready for exams so took it all out.

When I came back, after my exams, I felt like I was one of the best at my level. I wanted to live off of poker money in the summer instead of getting a part time job, and put on $200, my biggest ever deposit, to attempt to do that.

June was the month that changed it all around and set me up to earn much more effectively at poker. I won around $1570 in 1500 games, dedicating a lot of time to poker and moving up to 15tabling the 9mans. I had finally started working a roll, and it was around $2k by the end of June after a sat success. Most important of all, I switched to HU SNG's, which is where I have stayed since. I don't know whether this was the most profitable thing to do on reflection, as I had learnt all about 9mans and beaten them without moving up, but I found HU SNG's less of a grind so stuck with them.

July was massively profitable, making nearly $2 a game and winning $1250 overall. I had slowly eased up to the $23 HU SNG's by then.

With profits of around $3.2k, I had hit the wall by August, and a few horrible downswings broke my spirit and I withdrew my roll. I kept away from poker for two weeks, until I deposited $39 on the 31st August to play a couple of tournaments. I was one HU SNG away from busting this and not playing for a while, but I managed to win that and everything today is thanks to that outdraw!!

The amount I could play was fairly disciplined from September to now, with Uni commitments, social life, girlfriend and once or twice work getting in the way. I 4-tabled HU, and did really well at the $11's but continually struggled at the $23's, disappointingly making more $ per game at the $11's.

My stats were these from Sept-Dec (before I played the $57.50s!!)

2,592
$1.23
$17
10%
$3,196

which was a nice bit of profit, and given the immense slide of the ££, earnt me a lot more money than before.

I then decided, after a night of struggling at the $34.50's with good opponents and filthy outdraws, that the game could be made easier with effective table selection.

I began learning who the fish and the sharks are, have the lobby loaded up and ready to register, and snap play if I recognise a fish. The results here so far (touch wood) have been so much better than I could have expected.

75
$20.23
$55
35%
$1,518

So, I have spent the whole year grinding and being happy to earn $1.5 a game, and now I am making $20 a game. I know there will be downswings, but I hope playing against fish the variance will be reduced. Some nights, due to the large volume on Stars, I can't really table select as effectively, so these will be my tournament nights.

So, including bonuses, I have made around $3.2k in my first attempt at building a roll between June-Aug and $5.2k from Sept-now.

I had to withdraw $550 for a rent payment, but currently have a roll of 4.6k and will hope to table select at a decent rate for the foreseeable future. I will look for fish at the $110 games when I get more $$ behind me, but at the minute I'm enjoying it.

I have made around $1.1k from tournies this year at 118% ROI, which is decent, but tournies are long and tilt me so much when I get close but not close enough. I will definitely be buying in to the $55s on tournie nights and hopefully can run good and ship the million!

I can't be arsed to write my 2009 aims here, I'll make a new post with it at some point. I am pleased with my progress in 2008, have made enough to get by without a job, and in the last few months have been on an hourly rate equivalent of a decent job. I still have flaws but I'm working on them and hope to have them fixed soon.

I'll assess where I hope 2009 to take me in my next post, which I promise will be more interesting than this!

tyggwp

2009_star

xxx

To table select makes me erect!

2008-12-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

Hi, I hope I have cracked a way to make a nice bit of profit out of heads up. I load up the lobby of a table, and when someone enters I search them and make a note of who is a fish. If they are awful, I play against them. I have to be fast, as the tables load up fairly quickly, but find at the $57.50's this isn't so bad and I can be quick enough to cash a decent % of the fish. So far, playing mostly absolutely horrible terrible fish, I have managed to make a very healthy profit, and rarely play anybody whose style troubles me. As such, I think the variance will be greatly reduced. Results are obviously over a very small sample, but so far, my stats are as follows...

41
$25.67
$55
45%
$1,053

I wanted to play some tournies tonight, but have been peer-pressured in to playing a cash game at a mates, which is a bit shit. Gl to everyone playing, I will be back to play HU later and rail the FT's of the WarmUp and Mill which pg and sm1le will be occupying!

Merry xmas...and the story of a small profit on Xmas Eve...

2008-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hi all, merry christmas, boooooom, christmas = christmas dinner, i'm going to eat more meat than Tony has balancing on his neck, get in!! BUT, why the fuck am I up at 6am on xmas eve, what kind of sad, nooby, dweeby, nerdy (remember the sweets called nerds n dweebs...so good and should be brought back!) person would be up at this time...well, someone who runs like absolute AIDS at the start of the night and doesn't want to lose on a night that he thought might be full of drunk people/still awake late due to the weird sleep patterns as he has been working the night shift at poker for the last few days.

Well, it turns out that the standard was actually really good tonight, and seeing as I was getting more bad beats than Tina Turner I was pretty much $500 down for the night. Unfortunately for me, this was after 54 games :S

Before tonight is explained, a tiny tiny update about where I am at and why I was down so much after just 54 games.

In between now and the last post, I was pretty much break even for December, running at around 4% ROI or something shit like that and less than a $ a game! I finally decided that I was playing like a cock at the $23's, not caring enough about them and was so much of a pussy in terms of bankroll that I started growing vaginal lips. I therefore moved up to the $34.50's...delightfully I started fantastically, ran slightly above average, and was $400 up in two nights and only around 90games and all was great.

Then tonight hit...all profits were wiped and I'm probs down for the $34.50's now, despite playing averagely. I was getting beaten by all sorts, and didn't tilt, at least I didn't fast-play my big hands and other telltale signs of tilt that I usually portray. I was handling the massive swing in a mature way, and though I did move up to 4 from 2 tables, I hadn't lost my head which was very unlike me. I was still $400 down though, and was ready to call it a night, safe in the knowledge that I can win when I run average and hit profitable upswings when I run well...happy enough that this was just a blip.

But...at this point I had a brainwave...I keep playing good opponents, but the $34.50's and the $57.50's take a while to load, which would give me time to scope any potential opponents and I could table select, making sure I play the complete fish. I found my first "victim" at the $57.50's...he had a -16% ROI, so I fancied taking him on at the higher level. This I saw as less of a risk than playing a randomer at the $35's, and after all, I do have 55-60 BI for it so it isn't reckless. I was also 100% stopping if I lost the first one.

I got outdrawn, was down to 250chips, but managed to turn it around from an 11-1 chip deficit to win. This was the boost I needed. I won 2-3 of the $35's I had randomed up as well, and had a bit of confidence back. I began to open up every $57.50 lobby, rapidly searching Scope for the fish. I played two tables vs a couple of guys with around -6% ROI...this isn't indicative of the most terrible of players but I fancied taking them on and managed to win them both. The fact that both folded leaving themselves 180ish behind at the 50/100 level shows how poor they were. I had played three $57.50 and won 3, and in the last two, was able to play small-pot poker and was never flipping for the win or involved in too big a hand when I was doubtful of where I was.

I found another two fish, played them both and comfortably won, one -30% ROI and another -20% I think...one was super-passive and just so readable that there wasn't really any danger, and the other was so keen to shove all his chips in I just had to be patient and not even think about bluffing!! I crushed the pacifist and vs the psycho I check-raised with K5 on a KK5 board to a random amount which prompted his shove with Q2....so, played 5, won 5...profit from table selection = $262.50.

I then stalked the lobbies for these five players and searched the $35s and $57s for any fish as the tables were loading up. I played the -30% guy a further two times and won both, the -20% guy again and beat him and beat the -6% guy but found him more difficult this time round.

So, I played 9 games of the $55's (NOT $57.50 as I have been saying) using table selection, and managed to win all 9...maybe I was running well but I felt like playing vs such fish made the game so much easier, and it was just a matter of working out what type of fish they were to win.

I fully intend to table select from now on, in just an hour and a half I was able to win nearly $500, and play the $35's or the $55's depending on where the fish are. This should provide much lower variance than the way I was previously playing, where I could get runs of good opponents. This concept has prompted considerations of going back to fulltilt where I might be able to get the fish to rematch as well, and maybe play from either software depending on the opponents. Either way, I definitely think table selection is a fantastic way to avoid decent opposition and make money in the most clever and variance-reduced way.

Finally, some stats from tonight...first from the $35's :-(

Games 83
Avg Profit -$5.08
Avg Stake $33
ROI -15%
Profit (LOL @ profit!!) -$422

Then the $55's (table selects)

9
$52.5
$55
91%
$473

I defo have to move up so people respect my raises!! :P

Merry xmas all,

Mariah Carey.x

wee tourniess...

2008-12-13T17:24:00.001-08:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code:document.write(paramCode) 818995

I'm a streaky player!

2008-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks a lot for all the feedback I have received from my last post. I'm glad people enjoyed reading about my poker aims, and it will be interesting to see if they develop/change over the next few months!

I've been trying to get some volume out since my last post to reach the FPP target...I have all day tomorrow to get 7osngs in to get the 350FPPs, shouldn't be a problem.

As expected, after I posted last, the next day I quickly went $200 down, though an 8-win streak helped me get back up to nearly evens. I then ran very averagely for 70-80ish games, being outdrawn a fair amount and struggling to break even. Then tonight, after over 100 games for less than $50 return, I hit run-like-God mode just as I was getting tired to take home 11 in a row. 12 is my record and I will be hoping tomorrow to smash it!!

My roll is $12 short of my target of $3500 for moving up, so I might mix in some $35s soon. I'm not convinced I've beaten the $23's well enough, and my ROI of 6% confirms this, so this makes me more reluctant but I would love to see a 33% increase in my hourly so know I have to move up. With xmas/anniversary/gfs bday on the horizon and my bank accts so drained, I think I'm going to have to take a little money out of Stars soon. I hate to do this and will take out the minimum I can to get by...it's just a nightmare but shouldn't be too much.

Stimulated by Isaac's post, I thought I would have a check how much I've lost from not having rakeback on Stars...from my nearly 6200 games I have paid over 3.5k in rake...that's sick, and with 30% rakeback I would have an extra $1000 to my name...fk stars for not having rb!!

Since my last post my stats have been...

154
$1.86
$22
8%
$286

which again is down to my big win streak tonight and still doesn't convince me I'm ready to move up. I'm such a nit (!!!) but I don't feel good enough to crush the $35s yet...maybe I'll start December at the $35's and see how it goes!!

Gnite

2:54am_star,xxxx

I like two at a time baby, yeah!!

2008-11-25T05:12:00.000-08:00

Have been down in Brighton with the gf the last couple of days, and whilst she has been at lectures, I have been either 1-tabling or 2-tabling heads up, and I have to say, I have much preferred it and feel I can win a lot more by doing it. I am going to keep with 2 until I feel my game is where it was at it's peak, and then I will move back up to 4 and hope to crush it!

I haven't put in much volume since last post, what with a dissertation synopsis and a few pool money matches (only really small amounts...but hopefully = free pool for me if I win!) I have been restricted to 146 games, which is actually so low for me! Luckily, I have been running well (plsss for once don't let me run bad after posting!!) and my stats are...

146
$3.52
$22
15%
$514

I am hoping that if I 2-table, my ROI will be up around 13-15%, so that could make me around $33/hr...if I can achieve this I might wave 4-tabling goodbye until I can hit above 8% when doing it!

Roll = $3201
FPP to get before 1st Dec to get $100 bonus = 1100
Days left to do that = 5!...gonna be tight!

POKER AIMS!!!

My poker aim is to hit Vegas in 2years time (with the gf on a holiday probs) and play in some WSOP events/cash games/deepstack tournies...it's a very big ask, but if I can keep working my roll up and NOT WITHDRAWING, and make at least $1k a month which can hopefully shoot up as I move up (+ taking shots at sats for the WSOP etc), it's a possibility, and if I ship a big tournie could even be for the 2009WSOP.

I recognise that for me the idea of being a poker pro is more than likely unattainable, so I am trying to work my roll up for a few amazing trips of a lifetime or maybe towards a house/car/anything expensive. If I manage to fall into earning a few $k a month whilst grinding away over a sustained period, I may give full-time a shot, but for the time being I think I'm going to have to get my degree and will maybe go straight in to work. Maybe, IF I CAN KEEP MY ROLL AND NOT WITHDRAW, I might take the summer to play poker if I can get a job that starts in September. Unlike last year, this will hopefully be off of a much larger roll and I'll see how I can fare.

The idea of studying for extra qualifications whilst playing poker for the next couple of years seems tempting, and with my lack of idea as to what I want to do could happen...though poker is a fickle business and I don't want to miss out on any secure opportunities for the risk that is poker. It just seems a shame to play the game for two and a half years solid, get to a level where I can win, and then have to let it slide...the reality is that's probably what's going to happen!!

I think over Christmas, with my gf working a lot of the time, I will be able to play nearly full-time....maybe I'll use this as an indication as to what I should do...

Hmmm the post descending in to rambling...never mind...if you've read this far....wp and ty...if u skipped to read this last bit...u take the moral highground and win the ultimate prize...vwp.

155_star

p0kers0c sh1paments-

2008-11-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Boom, managed to win the Poker Society's Saturday tournament for a solid £58 today...no real interesting hands to speak of, just a bit of aggression, a few good hands and aggravating people into calling me with my big mouth! :P

This aside, heads up online hasn't been all too pretty. I had a $300 downswong on Monday, which made me decide I was going to have a break for a while, maybe a couple of weeks or so. However, by Thursday I felt ready to play, and despite getting filthed a few times (Gamble and Isaac being witnesses to how much I whinge!!) I started clawing back the buy-ins. As I post, I have reversed it, with my roll just above what it was before I started losing. It took me 4sessions to do, running average imo just having some hands that hold to win games. The standard really isn't good at all so I shouldn't swing as much as I do, though I do find when I'm multiing so much I often get owned by aggro people early on.

6-tabling for a large part made getting unstuck a lot quicker and in terms of volume, I basically spank out around 22/hr when I 6-table, and when I'm tuned in, if I can get just 5% ROI this is around $26/hr...any more ROI and this is a sick hourly for the level I play at. Maintaining focus/playing optimally does get tough when 6-tabling, but I hope to see my ROI tend upwards for the rest of the month!!

Tonight, whilst I ended up winning $65 from 47 games, this doesn't tell any of the story. I lost like 7/8 of my first 2 sets, starting $150ish down so early on, and making the rest of the night a struggle. i started like an aggro twat and really have to learn to play my normal game from the outset otherwise a session will be a rescue mission instead of a winning opportunity!

In terms of strat, I keep finding that I work people down to 800ish and then they double up to get back in it, so I'm going to see if I can work on my weaknesses here to close games out. Also, I'm going to have a super-hot run soon and sore above $3k...plzzzzzzz! 2540 FPPs earned and 1460 to go to get goldstatus on stars and a free $100. Should be on!

Roll- $2896.
Moving up at- $49596969200506.23
Fatigue- 100%

Fkmylifeithinki'vehitthefunnynamewall_star.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (

High volume...lowish success!

2008-11-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

Hi, the same as the last time I hit the $23's, I am having spells of running as well as Christopher Reeve (post-death --- see it's not a wheelchair gag!) whilst enduring more swings than Gary Glitter has masturbated over. Anyways, exotic and enticing imagery aside, I have basically been playing at least 15 an hour in the sessions I have played, for probably a combined time of a day over the last 8 days...

The other night, whilst reversing a $250 downswing, I played 98 games in 5 hours, which was pretty sick and intense!!

I have basically been running at around a 4-5% ROI, with an average profit of around $1.20...this is annoying because I keep getting anally penetrated by nobheads floating on all sorts of boards and hitting some rank outs!! Ghost surfer porn aside I keep getting outdrawn at poker as well!

As I am planning to crack out the volume this month, and am due a collosal upswing imo, I am going to attempt to make $2k profit from heads up games alone in November. It's just about the 5th now, and my stats for Nov read as follows...

190
$1.31
$22
6%
$250

I am probably just on target atm, but with a couple of trips home on the horizon, it may be tight...but I'm hoping I can give it a good shot! I should be able to play 1.25k games (unless my mind is fucked by then!!), so if I can up the avg prof I may have a chance!! It will be fun to see how I do! :-)

WonForeSevern_star

What A Bonus!!

2008-10-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Finally worked off my bonus this evening...at last I have the $239.99 sitting in my account! 4799FPPs took a good few months to earn but it's so nice having an extra bit of unearned cash in the account. (Wishing Stars did rakeback so much!!!)

I have moved up and with the exception of one game vs sm1le where my raise to 147 pre was met by 1147 and my AK outdrew his KQ, I have played exclusively $23s. I have worked out if I keep loading them up in sets of 4 basically as soon as the last one goes I can pummel out 16/hour, more than the 13 I think I projected last time! That's pretty sick because I could theoretically (hoepfully!!) be on around $32 an hour with a 9% ROI at the $23s...and with the $$$ being strong, taking home around £18-19ish an hour would be so so sick!

Since I have moved back up, I ran fairly well to start with, had a shocking evening but then won 4/4 at the end of tonight to finish with stats like these,

92
$2.35
$22
10%
$216

The standard is barely better than the $11s, though winning 2/4 hurts me a bit more than before due to the extra rake, so I have to try to keep guaranteeing 2wins and hopefully getting 3 or 4 as much as possible! Despite vicious rumours I am a nit, I can't wait to move up again!!! At the minute it's just to make sure my head is in the right place and prepared for higher losses during bigger games...soon enough I'll be over that!!

My roll is at $2.583.12 atm, maybe another few hundred games at the $23s and I will be up on the $35's...I'm definitely going to give them a go at the weekend to see how soft they are!

Merci,

PS Tony...u ever come round my house at 2am again and I will smash your face in...do you hear me?! (Give me time to get on the stall first though please?!!)

Cheers,

CAPSLOCKFUCK

Like A Star, Like A Star, Like A Star!

2008-10-26T05:21:00.000-07:00

Wooo life aim completed...I now have a star next to my name when I am sharkscoped! This shows I am 20th for the highest profit 2008 for holdem heads up games average stake $6-$15...thinking about that, maybe there are only 20 people who play that exact game!!! Anyway, for the next couple of days at least, I have a star, boom!!

I'm not going to be able to build on that because I am going straight to the $23's, and giving them a proper shot. Though, hopefully this will only be for a couple of hundred games because I plan on moving up again very soon. Won't bore you with huge updates, will just generally work out how much I have made since I got back to Uni on the 8th October.

Heads up - average prof is $1.47 obv, $411 from 279 games.

MTT's - up $448, most of that originating from the $11 sat I played which consequently I cashed in the Million with, and that's from 14 games.

Live cash - Up around $225 from a few home games, though won most of that when I was sober and others weren't!!

So, up around $1.1k for the 18days I have been back (minus 3days for a trip back home). I have only had one session during the day when I played that satellite, and have had half of my nights relaxing, so I think I must be running pretty well!! Also though, I am making sure I am joining in at Durham loads, and not trapping myself playing poker like I did all the first year and some of the second year!! So when I play I feel fresh, and that's working out pretty good.

Finally, a comment on the SICKEST RE-RAISE I HAVE EVER FACED!!

147_star is on Phone 1, Durham.
Gf is on Phone 2, Sussex.

147_star raises a bit of conflict.
Gf flat calls with some counter-arguments.

147_star is tilted and disconnects for time to think.
147_star tries to re-connect.
Gf has left Seat 2. (The *bitch* hung up...sick sick strength!!)

Gf takes home all the chips, strength, pride, honour and dignity.
147_star is left grovelling, and had an hour and a half feeling awful not able to get through to her!!

Cheers,

Alfaromeo_star

Hannes is a legend!!

2008-10-15T03:41:00.001-07:00

Don't know if you've ever met Hannes, but if you have, you will know he is a legend!!

He loves poker, is always laughing, and is so German that he brought German beer over to my house for a cash game, but as he was driving, it was the non-alcoholic stuff!!

Patriotic, funny, keen, what a legend!!

Cashed in my first Sunday Million!

2008-10-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, I have played a few heads up since I've been back at uni, running really well and taking home around $141 in 92 games at a 14% ROI. This has got me within $100 of the leaderboard I think, so maybe this week I'll hit it. I could have perhaps done it in the last week, but instead, with the Sunday Million on the horizon went in to tournament mode.

I small cashed in a $11 30k guaranteed and a 3r on Friday and Saturday, and felt I played pretty good poker. On the Sunday, I loaded up $300 worth of tournaments, deciding to play the $50 125k guaranteed, the Sunday 200k, another $11 and the Sunday Million. I feel like I did myself proud in all four, and cashed in three of them, with the other one being crippled by a sick runner runner.

In the 200k, I came like 520/210000000000 and won a measly $20, what a fucking joke...fuck my life!!! I went out shoving K10 into a min raisers AA...the slag had minned two hands before so I read weakness...he said before was KK :-( I flipped pretty bad in this tournie but did suck out on AA with the PS nuts KQsuited, so can't complain...apart from the fucking $20...ridic tournie...pure shite.

In the 125k, in the first hour I had no hands at all, but managed to finish it just above my starting stack...I was rocking it right up. After the break, I took some blinds, put in a resteal or two and eventually managed to cash, left with only 9BB. I doubled up from here and with 18k was looking to putting a good run in. Basically, the next hand, I 4-bet shoved AK suited into KK and missed, leaving me out, disappointed, but pleased I wasn't out of my depth. $82 isn't much but means I'll take more shots and know what to expect in future attempts.

In the Sunday Mill, in the 6th hand I doubled up with AA vs QQ, and was nervous as anything when I saw him flip QQ after taking a weird line vs me!! I ran so cold for the next 30mins, and with two retards on my table, couldn't take any uncontested pots or be aggressive! I then lost a sick coinflip with my AK losing to 99, and that 12k pot bought me back down to around 12k. I got 3bet a couple of times and with no cards stayed around 12k for quite a while, perhaps a good hour and a half in fact.

With the blinds a lot greater, I found a few good spots to resteal with hands such as 78 (which made my heart pound but obv have to do it!) and then in the end shoved K5 against the table fishes perennial raise, to be against his A7. I found a 5 and got up to 27k and finally 20BB+ instead of 10BB. With this fish on my table, I had chances to get back up, but I had to be selective about my hand as I knew he 4bet so so light. Luckily, when I 3bet him with QQ in the most obvious way, he shoved with A6 and I held and won. Then I had AA vs AK to double up to 92k and a very healthy stack!

I then lost 20k of that the next hand, with 99 vs 1010 after I called a shorties shove of 7k, and the BB (who was short also with only 20k) shoved over. With the fish calling the SB, I had to call the BB and was unlucky I guess to see him flip 10s and win. Back to 70k but still feeling good.

From here the bubble was approaching, and I kept facing raises from the table fish, but didn't have any hands to play back at him with. Against a thinker I can 3-bet, but not this clown!! The bubble eventually burst, I switched tables, and found myself up on 85k blinds 2500/5000 at the time of my exit hand!

I raised AQcc from mid position to 12499 and the BB flatted. The flop was 810J, giving me ample draws, and the BB weirdly donked 25k in to me...with some fold equity as he's not taking this line with any decent hands, and multiple outs, I shoved my 72k, and he snapped the extra 47k with 104cc...I missed, and my exciting run was ended by this piece of shit!!! So annoying...I could do nothing more...win that pot and I have a huge stack, confidence, still that fish to pick off and a massive chance. Lose it, and I think...just fold 410cc pre ffs!!!

So yeah, annoying but in no way disspiriting...I keep thinking of hands I could have stood up to the fish with on the table before when the bubble was approaching, but with his aggro nature, I had no option but to fold and pick up pots when he folded (very rarely!!) from the tight people ahead of me!

Overall, in terms of cards I ran cold overall, but very hot in streaks...I only had AA twice and QQ, but AA was against QQ and AK and I doubled up with both...and QQ got action from A6...

In this respect i was lucky, but a lot of my other hands were fairly weak, and I had to lay down JJ after my UTG raise was shoved into. You have to run like God to win this thing...I ran fairly normally and gave myself a decent shot at getting very deep. Next time, hopefully soon, I can go 712 better and ship an enormous 1st place!! I'm not going to lose heads up after all! ;-)

Still, got to be happy...though these cashes reduced my ROI on OPR ffs!! :-D

Cheers for all the support everyone gives me,

Roll at $1853 now, so taking shots at the next levels soon enough I think...also seem to have grown some balls finally so maybe this next month might be exciting!!

7ducksandasingle_star

I love Standard Assessment Tests!!

2008-10-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

Bonjour, had another very nice result yesterday. Decided to play another one of them $11 sats to the Sunday Warm Up, and managed to come 1/27, winning it for the third time in three attempts. I played pretty good most the way, had the guy 2nd in chips when there was 4 left sit out until he'd lost nearly all his stack, and the fish beat the good player to leave my heads up a much easier proposition.

Happy days!! The heads up was a marathon from then as it was 300/600 and i had 30ishk and he had 20ishk. I managed to grind him down and when he shoved his last 10k, I called with 66 and they held vs his K10. Not so sure whether or not to play the Sunday Mill this time, though rekon I will do, especially if I can perhaps sell half of myself as well. It's nice to be able to take shots whilst building my roll, so I am keen to cover myself a little, but if not I might just have a shot anyways.

I might go to Aspers tonight if people are up for it, and try to do something in the £20 freezeout. Probably won't play cash as I don't like shortstacking that game, but who knows!??

Looking forward to Sunday,

adg_19,20,1,18

5000th Sit n Go on Stars! But what should it be?!

2008-10-09T02:59:00.001-07:00

Hi all, interestingly enough (is it interesting?!) my next sit n go on Pokerstars will be my 5000th, and it's led me to wonder which is my most profitable game. I've moved to Heads Up over the last few months, with a decent level of success. However, maybe I moved here because at 9man turbos I had moved up to 15 tabling and had a few downswings which reduced my pretty small roll more dramatically than I could handle...but perhaps 9mans are my most profitable game and I'm missing out on a lot of value?!?

So this post, I'm going to break down my lifetime Stars record, with a stupid September 2007 $300 tilt still skewing my results ridiculously!! My best month on Stars in terms of profit has been $1550 in June 2008, which was started 15tabling turbos and finished caning out the heads up games, to a total of 1404 games which is massive!! However, my best month was August 2007, where I made $750 profit from around 190 games, playing at this time some $6 and $16 turbos and some $4.40s 180mans. The worst month was that September 2007, which would have been break even without the stupid tilt but it happened and can't be forgotten about.

So, what are my lifetime stats (on stars) like...

Heads up...

2,927
$0.91
$12
9%
$2,678

This does include the big $300 tilt and my early days when I was way too aggro, but as an overall thing doesn't look too bad.

9-man turbos...

1,693
$0.98
$6
12%
$1,667

180mans...

55
$15.78
$4
364%
$868

So at the minute, it looks like I am actually pursuing my least profitable games. I do really enjoy heads up though, and perhaps destroyed the 9mans by leaving out playing poker and only using a system to beat the games, so maybe moving down to 10tabling these I would enjoy them more. Again, I really want to give the $16s a go and might do if I have a spell of not being up for heads up.

The rest of the games are made up of around 100 $1's I let my Dad play on my account when he played worse than Rookie62 (seriously, anyone who hasn't, sharkscope him!!)

If I include my tournie stats in here, it again makes me wonder whether I should stick with heads up so religiously...

Prizes
Profit
ROI
ABI
AFS
R/A
ITM
ITM

$3,026
$1,801
147%
$7
1893
13%
36/174
21%

Which again confirms I should play MTT's, especially MTT sats. But then I was thinking maybe I should give some 27-mans or 45-mans a go, as I seem to do ok in these smaller field satellites in particular. And 147%...loving that ROI, might not play another tournie again!!

So yeah, I think just because I like them I will keep playing heads up, but I should mix in 9mans as well, and not lose a strong aspect of my game. I haven't played since I won the satellite until today, so hopefully the 5000th game and the next few after that are wins!!

Can't wait til Sunday, one time let me run well!

3n-2(n=integer<4)_star

Temporary Bankroll Boost!

2008-10-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, this evening I have increased my bankroll by just under 1/5, taking me up to $1331.

However, this is broken in to T$ as I shipped the same sat that I did before, the $11 satellite to the Sunday Warm Up. 27 played I think, with prizes of one seat and 2-7 getting their entry fees back. Pretty good structure, and haven't I always said I love the top heavy payouts!!

Some hands that took me to my win...

My double up early on standard 7s vs 2s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288044

Shoved a draw and ran good.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288049

Are 10s a fold here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288054

Key hold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288062

Getting stacked.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288067

I rivered his turn stop and go!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288079

Shocking shove got what it deserved vs player who should have been out with A2 > my A8 a couple of hands before.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288089

Now I got to heads up vs easily the worst of the two players and despite my 2 to 1 chip deficit I felt confident, and luckily along came this hand!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288119

Now the final hand I ran good but was never committing on the river without hitting so had loads of implieds...so pleased I hit!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3288123

So yeah, play or not play...zzzzzzzzzzz...gna grow some and play, though paintball on Sunday may get in the way!! Think I will play the million instead of the warm-up this Sunday if I'm back in time from paintballing and whatever we do in the evening. If not I'll play two weeks after as in the week in between I'm back home. To psychologically help me do this I am going to preserve the T$215 and not use them to play heads up games, as if I did use the T$ I would actually be taking the money out of my BR which would of course be bad BR management!!

So yeah, I'll confirm when I am going to play, and hopefully a few people can rail me and watch me go busto on my first hand probs! Loving that sat, and quite looking forward to going up to Durham tomorrow evening. Should be a sick term before the work etc etc kicks in. Thank fuck I'm not an engineer, they run so bad!!

Rambling now so I'll guess I'll end with some stats.

People who read the blog ... < 10.

People who give a shit about the stats... < or = to 1 (1 if I want to see that I'm running well!!)

Cheers,

147_SundayToAccumulateRoll.

"Duck" and "Heads up"...which command helps you to avoid the bullet?

2008-10-06T06:47:00.001-07:00

Hi, boring post...! Played some tournies last night.

The Sunday 200k where I had 810 vs 10s on a 1086 flop when it had been minned by someone else in to my big blind. Standard...stupid tournie that I will never cash in!!

Some freeroll thing, 100k prize pool...Small cashed for $9.

$2.75 Multi...lost a huge pot with 99 < 66 and then busted out later with AJ < AQ.

$3r...in for about $16, started after the break with an average stack, lost a sick 10k pot with top two vs a rivered better 2pair, dwindled, got up to above average with KK > AJ, but then as the blinds got high I lost a BB v SB battle with my A8 < his QQ (so illegal!!) and then my J8 didn't hit against the most dwelt 6BB call from 7s ever. Finished around 850th, 630 cash. Lovely tournament so might play the earlier version a bit more often.

Apart from that, just been boring playing HU, working up towards the leaderboard. On $2170 now, so just $250ish to go to break on the leaderboard. I'm hoping to play loads more tonight so maybe have a chance before the end of the week.

Roll is at $1121.16, so probably around the time when I might be taking shots at $23s given my thoughts on the standard last time round, but I'm going to stick with the $11s, unless I'm feeling good and then I might move up.

After Nathan's post that he loves "The Gambler", I was thinking about whether or not I should listen to music when playing poker. I used to and used to love it, but never bother any more. I am trying to tihnk if it affected my mood, and I'm pretty sure it kept me calm, so maybe I might try to play a bit whilst getting my jam on and see if it helps! But if tracks start jumping that's insta-tilt so I better be careful of that!

Laters,

EinsVierSeben_Star

Do I bring bad luck to the rail?!

2008-10-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

"All night long!"

2008-10-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

After a break away from poker, sometimes I feel like I can't really be bothered to play. 5 days qualifies as a break away from poker for me, but since I have got back from Camber Sands I have been raring to play! I have played 91 games of heads up and 14 frames of snooker since 3pm...my head/eyes/brain are fkd!

My new cue (for those who don't know as a 21st present I chose to buy a £380 John Parris cue...so expensive but hopefully won't be left on a train like my last one!!) is feeling lovely but I haven't smashed out any breaks with it yet, a 77 the best yet but hopefully can get playing and get that up.

Made $120 from my 91 heads up games, and I think I have been getting a little unlucky, so that's a pleasing start to October. I have made around 270FPPs as well which helps me towards my bonus, which is in sight now!

My roll is nearly at the $1k mark, on $973...I want to get up over that landmark now but my head is throbbing so I can't!

Having the leaderboard on Scope as a target has helped to drive me to play more, which is gdgd. If/hopefully when I've reached it I may move up to $23's again at fruity times like late evenings and weekends and try to get on that leaderboard whilst playing $11s during the days until I'm better rolled for 4-tabling $23s.

I'm on $2009 now on the Scope leaderboard which is $400 away from 20th...so hopefully that's not too far away! My ROI has been 13% over the 1611 games for this leaderboard which considering I'm usually 4-tabling is something I'm chuffed with.

Fuk my life HUSNG's are boring to report, but I have a hand for once...wooohooo...

A sick hand between me and a certain James Keys, who may ship £££s for fun and then still run good vs me!!

Dealt to 147_star [Qh 5h]
skolsuper: raises 20 to 40
147_star: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [5c 4h 8h]
147_star: checks
skolsuper: bets 40
147_star: raises 100 to 140
skolsuper: raises 220 to 360
147_star: raises 1080 to 1440 and is all-in
skolsuper: calls 1080
*** TURN *** [5c 4h 8h] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [5c 4h 8h Qd] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [Qh 5h] (two pair, Queens and Eights)
skolsuper: shows [5d 8d] (a full house, Eights full of Fives

Pure sick!!

But I'm 3-1 up vs him so let me revel in my glory whilst it lasts!!

Tomorrow spending the evening with the girlfriend before she goes to Uni on Sunday so can't play until Sunday, where I'm definitely going to play a few tournies I think, and maybe play a few sats into the Mill.

Night...

OFS_star

September...SO SICK!

2008-10-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

September was such a class month, and the money made over the early stages of the summer really helped me to enjoy myself!

Zzzzzzzzz at happy posts all the time, but it's a good time to post as unless I run bad and degree work gets in my way I should be able to pummel out the hours in October.

Since my last post I have had 3 trips away.

I went on a trip up to Liverpool to see Uni mates which was dead boss man, a golf trip with the Durham Poker lot to Bournemouth where I got a hole-in-one (such a sick luckbox!!) and had cleverly inserted a clause in the facebook group saying that if anyone gets a hole-in-one everyone buys them a round instead of the reverse. Love it.
Finally, I had a break away with Louise just down to Camber Sands which was a quality time away and has helped to make us very close before we part for a while at our different Uni's.

So, poker in September was kind of on the back burner, though as a standard course of events, once a week I will be railing Ptevey or Nathan running deep in a MTT...especially Ptevey who consistently runs deep, usually at times most inconvenient for me!!

Despite this, I have managed to work up a roll from the $39 of a month ago, and currently have $882 in my account. I am still a fair way away from the $240 bonus I am working off, but this should be done by the end of the month I hope. Hopefully I'll have blitzed on to the leaderboard by then...a few hundred $$$ to go but I hope to get there soonish.

September stats...

577
$1.42
$9
20%
$820

So bring on some playing in October, before maybe knuckling down November on working towards a good degree.

Some wps for this post..

1) Keys for cashing in the WSOPE again...the hardest tournie in the world negotiated to the cash twice shows how class he is.

2) Ptevey for being so good online and helping my tournie game come along heaps and bounds, without me even having to pay a learners tax (yet). I'm going to play a lot more in October, mainly because of our hand discussions and how much this has helped my game.

3) Nathan for crushing the low limits all the time, even with playing 100% of flops at $5NL. When he wants to move up he can do so with ease.

4) Gambon for sticking at poker, still enduring a sick downswing but being man enough to post about it and expose his game to improve. The road to crushing it is close imo.

5) Tony for shipping the live tournie..have faith son, u got potential, and online will come soon enough.

6) Me for getting a hole-in-one...and then being such an idiot that I lost the ball I got it with and didn't take a picture of one of the hardest par 3s I've ever seen!

Cheers for reading,

redbrownblack_star

I'm back...

2008-09-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, the break was good!

I managed to sort things out I never would have had time to do before. Not so much dissertation work, but I arranged a golf trip, sorted out a voyage up to Liverpool to see Uni mates and booked a short break away for me and the lady. Obviously the money from the withdrawal helped a lot there, and I don't know, the break has really re-vitalised me!

August, despite being my breaking point in terms of poker, was actually break-even, so wasn't anything to be upset about. August 31st, as I had sort of planned in my head, became the date I returned to the grind of poker. However, I still didn't want to play heads up, I just fancied playing the Turbo Takedown, the Sunday 200k and perhaps a couple more tournaments. However, I decided to play a few $2 heads up games, but soon decided the $6 games would be more fun.

Underolled obviously, I managed to work up to around $90, before playing way late into the night, and nearly losing it all and extending my break, only to finish the night on $49 at 6am. The next day I scudded this up to $150, and two days ago I was on $290ish. This sharp rise was all from heads up and from around 4 fairly long sessions, proving to myself I can still crush the heads up games.

6 TABLING heads up became my way of enjoying myself, with 2 $11 games and 4 $6 games to keep me sharp. This worked fairly well, but I'm now favouring 4-tabling $11 games.

Then, a few of us from Durham decided to grind out some $4.40 180-man SNGs, something that really pleased me as I wanted to commit some time tapping in to this goldmine. We were supposed to play every one in a 3 hour stretch, but my head was hurting so I only managed 11. Early on I ran like AIDS, with my AK losing to a check shove from A7 on a K56 board, AA losing to a K3 flush draw despite my 6X pre raise, and other wonderful examples of dirty outdraws. Despite this, in a few I managed to accumulate a stack early on, one in particular I reached 6000chips from 1500 by the 15/30 stage. However, I managed to bust this before the start of the first break by losing a couple of coolers and struggling against some players limp calling hands like 10s, which plays well against me shoving AK on a low flop!

I had a couple of aggravating finishes short of the cash, with a 22nd and a 24th, and was starting to think it wasn't my night. Then on one table I had quietly reached the final table without having any spectacular hands, whilst on the other, after the bubble had burst I built up an enormous chip lead.

This chip lead went after losing a huge chunk with AJ vs A10, on a AQJKK board (he bet so small on the turn and river which at least saved me a bit) and then failing to hit with AQ vs 55 against an aggro idiot. A disappointing 7th considering where I had been, but wasn't really my fault.

Meanwhile, on the other one, the final table arrived, and here I picked up hands. In a 5way pot despite a 3BB raise, my 88 flopped trips on a KQ8 board 2 clubs, and I held vs AJcc and J10...here I had a monster stack and I think I knocked everyone out on the FT, to pick up a very nice win, and bringing my roll over $500 after just 10days (5playing days) since my $39 deposit.

I have played just 8 heads up games since, winning all in my 1st set of 4, and then getting outdrawn massively to only win 1 of my next 4.

However, can't complain, as it seems I have fallen on the good side of variance again in the $4.40s.

In 51 games, I have had 3 1sts, 2 2nds, a 3rd and now a 7th, along with a couple of other cashes, and my stats for these illustrate how profitable these tournies are.

51
$16.51
$4
374%
$842

So, now I have a roll of $519.80, hopefully enough money in bank account to last me until the end of the academic year, and the spark back to work back up to the $23s and beyond.

My September stats so far are...

281
$1.64
$7
29%
$461

This is skewed due to the 180man win, but pleasingly my HU stats are...

269
$1.02
$7
14%
$275

...which gives me confidence that I can keep winning at a decent rate playing heads up. Also, most of this has been when 4 or 6 tabling, which increases the hourly rate quite nicely. I am still miles away from my bonus on Stars, but hopefully getting Silver VIP will help me accumulate FPPs faster and I should have that before long.

I have one aim for next few weeks...get on the leaderboard on Sharkscope for HU $6-$15 Total Profit 2008. Bottom position is currently at $2k, and so far my HU stats for this buy-in for 2008 are...

1,219
$1.27
$8
14%
$1,550

...so I haven't got too far to go, and I can hopefully put in a few hundred games and possibly more in September so I hope to see a nice star by my name some time soon on Sharkscope.

Sorry for the long update, I'll post again if anything interesting happens, and with a 12 hour MTT session a few of us are planning possibly happening soon, the post could be before too long.

Laters all,

RapsFan,

x

Well that's it!!

2008-08-16T21:06:00.001-07:00

Hi, in my opinion, poker is an addiction. An addiction which is no problem at all when everything is going well, and is actually a pleasant and profitable form of occupation. For the last couple of months, I have subscribed to this addiction and enjoyed riding the highs and attempted to avoid the lows.

However, for me, this addiction provides too many unpleasant side effects and as such I need a long break. With my personality, with money in my account, I can't have this break, as I am too tempted to keep playing. I know I am good enough to win a higher percentage of the time than I lose, but at the minute this isn't enough. If I lose, I find it hard to go to bed...now that's not right. I am tired, but I know there is money out there that I have lost and should win back, I stay up and waste the next day...that's when poker turns from a skill game to a gamble. I always say to people when defending poker that it isn't greatly different from the stocks and shares, and involves calculated risks and for the top % of people profits will be made. Yet if a stockbroker always felt compelled to stay after work hours, this would also be counter-productive, and would involve many stretches where the worker is working less than operatively.

Not sure where the analogy is going, but basically I need to take my money out to stop me from playing when I don't want to. The huge selection of bad beats (AS IF I'M THE ONLY ONE ANYWAY!) hasn't really upset me too much...it upsets me more that I stay up all night trying to get back to where I was, as if the game of poker owes me something. Staying up til 5AM is inexcusable, bad for me, and something I want to avoid.

I guess this post and my actions in withdrawing have proven everyone right...grinding poker all summer isn't a realistic thing to do...and you will get sick of downswings or need money or whatever and have to stop. For me, I can't not play if I have money in my account, and , It's not the financial nature of a downswing which bothers me, but the impact this has on my day/night/etc. I have run so so bad over the last few days, but tonight I played bad, for the first time in such a long time. This was the product of overplaying and losing the element of fun from poker. Turning it into a grind has meant this project has to end, but the profits made will be re-invested when I feel ready.

I am going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing friends in the evenings more, waking up earlier in the days and working on my dissertation. Law really interests me when I get into it, so that's what I'm going to do.

The $2310 I've taken off from Pokerstars tonight, on top of the $900 I've already withdrawn and another $300 or so from live/Fulltilt means I have made around £1650 profit in around two and a half months, an amount that has kept me tied over for the summer, and when I get back to poker I am happy to put a lot of this back in to build on the progress I've made this summer.

However, for now I need to have a long break, and have to do what I have to to get back in control of my life, as poker has a canny knack of dominating your lifestyle!!

Apologies to those who wanted me to crush the top games...I will do, just on my terms and not poker's terms!!

Much love to all,

Paul!

Ps...I'm feeling good about this, actually looking forward to sacking it off for a long while!

18/3977 in the 20k freeroll - for $60 ffs!!

2008-08-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, 2 posts in one day...woop!

Yeah, title says it all, scrapped it out in the 20k freeroll to get to the last two tables. How did I go out I here u ask...well I post some hands up and you can see...

Table had started fairly tight...bad fold here?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022402

After getting sucked out playing heads up on my other table, nearly got tilted!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022408

Third time he's raised from the SB...enough is enough!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022420

Nice double up from the table fish.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022431

Annoying split but not a travesty!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022438

Limp me up son!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022447

Erm how did I get called?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022453

Yuk I'm rank!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022465

Finish him off after the last manky hand!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022482

A hold against a light raise from the cut-off

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022491

A nice BB hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022498

Another nice hand limped to my BB

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022510

A stubborn call got very lucky!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022527

AND THE GASH WAY I WENT OUT!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022545

Overall, it was a good tournament for me, with an awful structure where the average stack always had around 10BB's, but I felt comfortable and was so annoyed to lose in the way I did. Stupid payout structure again means I get 2900 or so less than 1st place, but $60 isn't too shabby. 100FPPs is a fair price to pay anyway!!

Night off now and a football friendly tomorrow, before perhaps a day of tournaments and I might try to sat in to the Sunday Mill.

147_i've had bigger breaks in my sleep

I'm back...and ready to show some hands!

2008-08-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have been back a few days, and finally I think my lag and laziness to play poker has subsided. After waking up today (around 1pm as standard!) I must have had a heads up game loaded within a minute. I had some interesting and nice hands (and one shocker, so I will post them here!)

Hmm, slow play anyone?

Seat 1:
dl184 (1520 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1480 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 10dl184: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [9c 6c]
147_star: raises 40 to 60dl184: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [7c Tc 8c]
dl184: checks
147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [7c Tc 8c] [8h]
dl184: checks
147_star: bets 80
dl184: folds

I run good, no I don't, yes I do...

Seat 1: dl184 (2000 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1000 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 25 dl184: posts big blind 50

HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Td Ah]147_star: raises 100 to 150
dl184: raises 1850 to 2000 and is all-in
147_star: calls 850 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1000) returned to dl184
*** FLOP *** [8d 9h Ac]
*** TURN *** [8d 9h Ac] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9h Ac Jh] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***dl184: shows [Js Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
147_star: shows [Td Ah] (a straight, Eight to Queen)

A hand I'm proud of...

Seat 1: Mrfuzztop (1260 in chips) Seat 2: 147_star (1740 in chips)
Mrfuzztop: posts small blind 50 147_star: posts big blind 100

*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [7c 4h]
Mrfuzztop: calls 50
147_star: raises 233 to 333
Mrfuzztop: calls 233
*** FLOP *** [As 8h Jd]
147_star: checks
Mrfuzztop: bets 400
147_star: raises 527 to 927
Mrfuzztop: folds
Uncalled bet (527) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 1466 from pot
147_star: doesn't show hand

A hand I'm ashamed of... (was vs a superfish who I trying to make a play against :-(

Dealt to 147_star [6s 5s]
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c 2s Jh]
147_star: bets 100
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** TURN *** [4c 2s Jh] [8s]
147_star: checks
wolle666: bets 925 and is all-in
147_star: calls 925
*** RIVER *** [4c 2s Jh 8s] [Td]*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [6s 5s] (high card Jack)
wolle666: shows [4h Ah] (a pair of Fours)wolle666 collected 2650 from pot

I also relaxed last night playing a bit of 5c/10c, making a few $$$ profit, hitting some flops and being stacked by a cooler with my top two vs bottom set on the flop.

I had a hand vs Keys where I flopped a set vs his overpair on the flop but couldn't get him to get it in, but another set was paid off vs Isaac when my 66 tripped up vs his JJ. Another sick hand was my 107 suited flopping a boat on a board 0f 7710, and I eventually got ptevey to call his stack on a board of 7 7 10 2 x...no surprise really, as he had 72 for a sick cooler!! Was a good laugh, maybe not the most profitable way to play but got to keep poker enjoyable.

Since I have been back I have been running well heads up, mainly one tabling but had 3 sessions of 3 tabling
where I have been 3/3 each time.

My heads up stats since my return are...

42
$6.63
$21
32%
$279

so are pretty sick and not sustainable, but I hope it could set me up for a 20% ROI month...we shall see.

A short post this one, take care all,

Paulinho,x

Golf.

2008-08-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

I love golf. It's superb, challenging and so rewarding. One of the only sports where you go home thinking about the positives, remembering the great shots and not really beating yourself up over the 4-putt. You can always think of shots you could take off your round, and rather than thinking "damn I should be better" you think "I can and will get better."

On holiday, I missed golf so much more than poker, and sports I'm probably more talented at like tennis, football and snooker just can't compare with the enjoyment golf brings. It's nearly been a year since I first bought myself a set of clubs and started playing and just before I went away I hit a personal best of 88. I think I have played around 20 rounds so I'm happy with my progress, and with hopefully ten more rounds to squeeze in before returning to uni I'm hoping to make an improvement on that, though I know it will be tough. I've been warned about hitting the wall, and I can definitely see the bridge in class between the ok players and the "good" players. I may consider getting lessons once I'm earning but until then I'm going to develop my own dodgy style which can hopefully work, a bit similar to my poker!

On a poker front, my last couple of posts were pretty much my monthly update, but just to provide some stats for July, in heads up games my stats were...

619
$1.84
$18
10%
$1,138

And overall...

675
$1.83
$17
13%
$1,232

It was an important month for me because I moved up, stayed there, kept my roll on when I was running bad and found a game which Gamble would describe as my "bread and butter". I took off $400 for spending money on my holiday, but still have a roll online of $2805 so I hope to do well for a few weeks and reach $4600, thus making my $5k target. $1795 to go, with a month in which I can put in a lot of hours, is a tough task but hopefully achieveable.

Whilst on holiday, the $$$ in my account was turning more and more in to £££ in my head, but I played a few today and didn't start too badly which confirmed to me I should keep my money on there. I said to myself, unless the dollar hits a Zimbabwean hyperinflation crisis I have to keep it on there. The fact that I earnt 70cents more per game in July whilst riding out a couple of downswings and moving up in levels has reinforced the fact that I should keep moving up as and when my bankroll permits and only withdraw small amounts if entirely necessary (or to fund golf!!)

August was my most profitable month by far last year earning around $2k due to sng, mtt and satellite wins and I hope this year I can get close to that. I'm going to look out for the sats to the WCOOP and play a few of them as sngs and I have decided if I can sat into the WCOOP heads up event I will play it. So basically, I'm going to try to pummel out the hours this month and try to make some $$$. Standard really.

Golf, tennis, squash and pre-season football should burn off the Devon ice-creams and maybe I can get down from the ELEVEN STONES the scales indicated I weighed yesterday. They say muscle weighs more than fat(?!?) but still it can't be great when I fall in to the overweight category according to my BMI. Bowling tonight for my sisters birthday which should be good and then hopefully a few evenings this month we can have some DUPS 180man tournies and maybe some SNG's for a laugh. And perhaps the sun will shine a little!!

Much love,

Glad to be back,

Paulo,xx

2008-07-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

Need to find time to grind 180men! (Warning: explicit gay content not included!)

2008-07-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hi, due to being busy in the days with golf, tennis and squash, I haven't played much in the evenings because I don't want to play too much when tired! So a short post wooooooohooooooo!

In around the sixth time a few Durham lads played a $4.40 180-man together, I finally managed to cash, and luckily it was a good one for 2nd, scoring a tidy $145. With around 50 left, I made a huge play to near double up, and if my memory serves me correctly should be able to post most of the hands.

I had a stack of around 5.7k ish (won a huge pot with KK vs AJ and something else fairly recently), and had KJ in the big blind. Two limps, the SB completes and I check.

Flop JQ3...SB checks and I put a feeler bet of 400 out here. Fold, call and SB folds.

Turn 7... I fire out 1k, not putting my opponent on a Q and he flats.

River 5...I feel I'm good so check, trying to induce a bluff and also to control the pot if I am beat.

Here, he fires out 3k, surprising me quite a bit. I dwell for around 5 seconds (quite a long dwell for me!) and I call...he has K10 for a missed straight draw and I near double up. This relieved some of the pressure a prominent Mr_Rahl was putting on me, sitting next to me 2nd in chips with a pretty huge stack.

A few hands later I had 77 on the button and raised standard (obv means 599 blinds 100/200)

Flop A97 (weee nice, two spades though) Checked by BB and I raise 999 or something. Flat call.

Turn 10 spade...not too nice...I think about checking to be fruity, but bet 2399 instead. Flat call.

River 9...happy days...I have around 5k, pot around 8-9k...

Here I have 3300 written in the raise column and just about to raise...and I think if he calls that he calls a shove. So I shove. He folds, don't know what he had, probably ace x. Maybe a raise would have been better.

At this point i was in around 4th, Isaac still in 2nd, with 1st place to my left. He was a huge fish and I quite a few pots vs him value betting top pair and calling down with 2nd pair. In no time at all, I was up on 25k, Isaac had chipped up to about the same, and we were in 1st and 2nd I think! :-) I was dreaming of heads up vs him, but as the bubble burst, we went our separate ways, and his luck run out.

He finished in around 12th for a cash but a disappointing end to a superbly played tournament. A bad run of luck and cards at the worst time hurt his chances but he's proving his $515 score was no fluke! (maybe a little bit of a fluke!! :P)

My table had another huge stack and a guy I recognised from a leaderboard somewhere. I sharkscoped xmachine888 and found stats of...

17,962
$1.59
$7
34%
$28,599

Huge 180man grinder with sick results. He doubled up to get a stack near to 20k, but by this time I had worked up to 44k with aggro play and people folding to most of my c-bets.

Here, 6-handed 12 left in the tournie, I took a huge hit from the guy in 2nd. I had k10 on the BB...(blinds 300/600 some ante)

Pre- Limp, Sb folds, I check

Flop...1082 I bet 1.5k...flat call

Turn 5 (2 diamonds now)...I want to control the pot and learn more where I am in the hands so I check. he bets 3k, I'm concerned so I just flat.

River...3rd diamond 7 i think.

I put him on a small pair pre which is why I was cautious because I thought he may have trips...and he bet a large bet of 8k in to the pot. Here I knew he was strong, but couldn't fold, and sure enough he had me beat. He had 910 though, both diamonds, so I was quite badly outdrawn. Still, I should have folded the river and would never have known.

This took me back down to around 30k, and I won a few and lost a few from here, and started getting resistnace from people who were re-popping and I had dwindled down to 20k. I got a double up here from the shark guy who pushed 88 and my AK hit trips. So the final table, and I had 27k. Chip lead had around 50k, and the blinds were still small like 600/1200, crazy for a final table but a testament to the skill-favoured structure of the tournie.

Here, I went on a sick heater. In the space of about 4 knock-outs, I think all by me, I had shoved AA, AK and another couple of hands to knock people out. 5 handed I was tied 2nd place roughly, but the 5th player went and I managed to get all the chips from the guy out in 4th. With an aggro image, I re-shoved AQ to a min raise and was insta-called by K10. I hit trips on the turn leaving him dead and had a huge stack. I looked to dominate from here but faced tough resistance from a player called cellmax. We were passing chips between us as 3rd guy whittled down, but then I lost a huge pot to the guy in 3rd.

I had j7 suited and limped. Bad play #1

Flop, 568...i check called a pot raise. Bad play #2

Turn, j (2 clubs out now)...I led out 2/3 pot, trying to turn a bad play in to a good one and thinking he was weak. He called.

River, 9...(weee straight card...3rd club though...and sure enough he had k4 clubs when it went to showdown. I could have avoided that by simply check-raising or leading the flop...boooo!

So I'm back into 2nd and we are more evens then before...then a stupidly sick hand!!!!!!!!!!

I have AQsuited on the SB, and cellmax on the button raises (as per...up to 6k blinds 1000/2000)

I have 60k behind but still using my aggro image I shove...couldn't flat and didn't want to raise and be 4-bet...he insta-called with AQ clubs. I had spades...little did he know spades are the nuts!!

The flop was a dream, 2 spades and one club...I said to myself, no club on the turn! The turn in fact completed my flush (weeeeee) and gave me a royal flush draw! A little unnecessarily and showing off to the railbirds, I completed the royal flush and re-established my lead at the top!!!

3 handed I had a top pair which I played fairly well against a guy who was chasing a flush in a quite obvious way so I could easily call his river shove with a pair of Aces.

So when it got to heads up, apparently my speciality, I had a 3.5 to 1 chip lead.

Then there was a really annoying hand...

I managed to get him to put it all with A2 on a board of A10K4, only for the river to counterfeit my hand with a 10. Annoying but I maintain my lead.

Then I lost a bit because he was aggro and taking the plays away from me. At a bit less than 3 to 1 lead I gave him the double up I didn't want to give him, with my pushing after a flop raise with 910 on a 89J board 3 hearts and I have the 10 of hearts only to be instacalled by Q7 hearts, leaving me drawing dead to a house.

Sick...then I lost quite a big pot after limping a hand, representing a big hand, I barreled three streets with air and was painfully called (after much dwelling) on the river by his top pair with a decent kicker, showing my play did appear strong. Anyway, I was slightly down here but then managed to check-shove with 2nd pair after quite a bit of action to get it nearly back to evens. Then I tried to be too tricky. he raised button as per, and I flatted AA. The flop was Q72, not too bad for my hand. I checked and he raised his standard half pot. I flatted, knowing the turn bet would appear as well. But the turn was another Q and he bet a bit less than his usual turn bet. I had enough behind to fold but that wasn't really an option, and even though it felt bad I shoved. he flipped his Q5 and the game was over, I was the loser. Thinking back on it, I don;t beat myself up too much if I lose a $36 heads up after having a big lead, and this is pretty similar. The cards didn't come heads up and when I reduced him to 14% to split, he hit!!

All in all I was happy with the game, and if I hadn't have lost with KK vs J9 on the other $4.40 I played and busted in 39th, I felt like it could have been double success. So I definitely like them tournies and recommend them massively.

My stats for them are quite sick, not sustainable because luckily my cashes have been high but still xmachine's stats show massive amounts can be made at them games.

38
$17.26
$4
392%
$656

Anyway, haven't played much heads up, won around $90ish I think since last post playing heads up, with my overall profit now about $4k for pokerstars sng's!

Also, I deposited another $600, to take advantage of the 40% deposit bonus on stars, so in a couple of months time I should get around $240 which will be nice :-)

I'm going to withdraw the $600 when I get a chance and probably $400 more, so will take $1k or which will be nice :-)

My roll (assuming the $600 has been taken off) stands at $3091, so I'm over the $3k mark, yay! :-D

Adding the quick $100 I made on fulltilt and the $150ish playin live, my spoils since my $200 mission at the end of May shows around $3150 profit, or £1580ish, which is a nice feeling. At the minute though, I'm too tired to play too much so looking forward to coming back from holiday August 5th nice and refreshed and ready to make some $$$ and complete my bonus.

So unless anything exciting happens before then I'll post in a few weeks :-)

Gl all

147_574R

I can't wait...for the weekend to begin!!

2008-07-20T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I have played heads up only since Sunday so this will only be a small post littered with a few stats and comparisons! (That's the plan anyway!)

I have been fairly busy but have still managed to squeeze quite a few games in, mostly due to extending the day more than most non-nocturnals. The birds do sound amazing in the morning though, but it's tough to finally get to sleep when it's light!?

Anyway, quick sum up. After the last post, I have played just under 200 games, and for the most part it was immensely frustrating. I started quite well winning a few and by Tuesday(((/Wednesday/days really mean nothing when you're on 4 months holiday!! ))) I was on $2715...

...well this became the figure of doom as at this point I told Nathan and Keys how I was getting on and showed them my sharkscope graph. I didn't mean it in a way to show off or be arrogant, and yet karma still had a shark-size bite out of my ass. The next couple of days, I ran pretty badly again, and more annoyingly I was losing to some stupidly bad fish getting lucky. Again something that aggravated me was whittlig my opponents down to 750, giving me a 3 to 1 chip lead, only for them to win nearly all 40/60s from here and get back to evens. I played a little badly for a while but luckily stayed around break-even, and by this time I was around $2600. I couldn't break the $2700 mark until Saturday, when I won my first game of the day (getting lucky to hit my up and down vs trips!) to get back to the ill-fated amount of $2715!

Luckily for me, it was a Saturday, and I got going around 1am ish to play a few. A note, Saturday's are full of aggro idiots and pure fish. :-) I quickly scooted up a couple of hundred $$$, playing quite well according to the opponent I was faced with but also getting lucky quite a lot. :-)

Unfortunately for me, I was too tired to play by around 3am, but I went to bed with my roll on $2916. A new high and approaching my figure of $3600 to play the $35 heads up. I'm really hoping the standard on Sunday will be just as bad as Saturday and hopefully the weekends will be really lucrative.

A few stats to end...

Overall since $200 deposit.

147_star
Games 2,126
Avg Profit $1.21
Avg Stake $10
ROI 11%
Total Profit $2,565

Heads up since deposit.

1,250
$1.62
$13
13%
$2,027

And the interesting one, $23 heads up

370
$2.21
$22
10%
$818

This I am happy with, as I'm not convinced I've run very nicely, and I think I have been a few games below expectation. Despite this, and despite the buy-in being double the $11 heads up, the standard isn't really any better, and there aren't as many regs as the $11 I don't think!

I wanted a 10% ROI and I have this bang on atm, and I'm hoping to boost it up to closer to 15% if things go well.

A few more stats that may be interesting,

Since $200 deposit Heads up Wins - 739

Losses- 511

This I think means I have won just over 59% of my heads up games. I think this shows 66% to be maybe too ambitious a target but I hope to get it closer to that, and I hope that having a couple of downswings and staying relatively calm will put me in good shape to get closer to 66%.

July stats..

590
$1.69
$18
8%
$998

The ROI has gone down from June, but the average stake has gone up a lot due to the $23 and the average profit has gone up accordingly. The ROI is quite interesting because atm, my total Stars stats are..

147_star
3,887
$0.99
$8
12%
$3,845

Nearly $1 a game now, and the shape of the graph is becoming more like the x squared graph I would hope to see if I'm moving up. The swings look more dramatic, but this means an upswing looks dramatic so it's pretty cool (when I'm winning of course!!)

The final stat I would like to include would be my hourly rate, as this is an option cash game players can work out pretty well.

Based on playing 13 heads up games an hour (4 sets of 3 and a little bit of 3 is around fair I think) and assuming I am averaging $2.21 a game as I have been in the $23s, I am making $28.73 an hour.

I'm not too sure what the cash game equivalent of $23 heads up is, and I'm not sure what hourly rates people at similar cash levels would expect, so any input on this would be great because I really don't have a clue.

Finally, how awesome is golf?! My new favourite sport, and I'm somebody who doesn't like doing this he isn't good at!! I can't wait for my next round and hopefully in Durham or before Keys' success in London this year we can get a round in with the PokerSoc, that would be sick.

I'm not so good at golf, but parts of my game are coming together, and nearly a year on from when I first started, I'm hoping I can break 90 before that year mark, around 30th August. I'll need to get a few rounds in for that to happen, but I hear Gamble and Ptevey are golf sharks so I want to hit form if we do get the PokerSoc game going.

Oooooops, sorry about the lengthy mcpost...

Cliff notes...run/play well,

break even and run/play not so well/lose a bit

Saturday $$$$

blah blah blah

Thanks all, and I'm loving the regularity of blog updates, your work is being appreciated by me!!

147_rats [ star backwards sucks! :-( ]

PS, if u believe me when I say it's going to be a quick post, I'm sorry!!! Have to keep you reading though you see???

You're only swinging when you're winning!

2008-07-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

I wrote this all before, a page wasn't working, closed it and it closed these all. Therefore, I'm going to summarise more than before! (Did i hear cheers?!!)

Anyway, for a while the other night I thought I may be posting at 7am saying about my win in the tournie as I hoped. After an uneventful rebuy period where I was in for $35 but ended on 9k after k6 tripled through, I didn't really have many hands but managed to chip up. A couple of draws hit and though I took a couple of knockbacks I was steadily in around 150th place, and made the cash fairly easily.
Then I got put on a nightmare table, with an aggro and solid player to my left. He shoved over so many of my button and cutoff raises and hands like 33 and 77 had to hit the bin. Annoying! Anyway, I exacted my revenge when I hit a straight with my JJ vs his QQ, though I was nice enough not to use his Q! From then I was 50th with around 120 left, but I ran very card dead and other stacks were pushing me around a little bit. I finally made a stand with AJ on around 13BB and was called by AQ. By J on the flop was nothing compared to his Q on the turn, and I busted in 82nd place.
Wooo, beat so many players, must be a nice cash right. Nope, 701st gets $31, 1st gets $11.x k, and 82nd gets $96. Stupid top heavy payout with too many people getting paid!

Still, not a bad return, and OPR indicates that in June I have made a $100 profit at 87% ROI and in July $77 profit for a 73% ROI. Not too bad really and supplements my heads up quite well.

Apart from the tournies, I have exclusively played heads up, and it has been SWINGY!!!! I have been basically running really badly at times, with 6 all in flip losses in a row and at one point in 7 of 9 games I lost when they had roughly 10%.

The first bad spell was the 10% outdraws, and this was just a sick horrible run after I had worked it up to around $2300. I dropped right down to $2050 ish, and was very close to tilting. Fortunately, I managed to bring it around that night and finish up slightly up from what I had started on, and began the next day on around $2300. Some fairly breakeven play from here, winning a little, before a sick spell of losing 8 in a row! :-( I didn't deserve this, though my play was a little worse than it should have been. Won 2, lost 6 would have been fair as twice I flopped sets only to be outdrawn by a runner runner. After being at around $2250 after a few more wins than losses after this sick run, I put on an 11 game winning streak, the last 9 won whilst 3tabling, for a quick rise up to $2480. The next 6 were 3 and 3 and this is where I left it. After donking off a few $$$ playing HORSE and Omaha, my roll is now at $2466. I am possibly on for the $5k by August, as I have moved up and hopefully with average more profit a game.

I have been exploting the advanced search on Sharkscope, and have the following stats.

Heads up $23.

Games 183
Avg Stake $22
Avg Profit $1.76
ROI 8%
Total Profit $323.

Heads up since $200 deposit

Games 1060
Avg Profit $1.47 (SICK SIGN!!)
Avg Stake $11
ROI 14%
Total Profit $1560

Heads up wins and losses since deposit

Wins- 633
Losses- 433

Overall Stars sharkscope

Games 3696
Avg Profit $0.92
Avg Stake $8
ROI 12%
Total Profit $3400

The wins and losses thing is interesting, because I think I should be able to get 2 wins out of 3, but that seems a very high estimate. I will see in the next few days if I can run better and will see how it changes. The average profit has increased at $22, despite the lower ROI, and I do think over 10% is achievable given the standard of play. I have been talking to a few players in the higher games today who say that every level plays basically the same, so that's something to look forward to! :-)

Anyway, I'm off for a round of golf.

Gl all!

The $5k by Sep 1st bet at 1/1 is still on if people fancy it, I'm hoping it will be close.

Paul :-)

Moooooving On Up!

2008-07-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hello, an amazing thing happened today. My balls grew and I took the plunge and played a $22 heads up game. I played a guy with around -25% ROI, and thought hello this level isn't so bad!

Since then I have played 32 games for exactly $100 profit at an ROI of 14%. Early days, but something over 10% ROI will guarantee at least $2 profit a game which should hopefully see my account soar (TOUCH WOOD!!). Using sharkscope, I didn't play against one player I would class as a solid reg. There was a mix of average stakes $40 and around -5% ROI who knew how to play but had flaws and just a few who had a decent ROI. I will play a lot more this evening and see if it toughens up then. I imagine it will be more polarised, with more strong players but hopefully more super-fish!

To get me the balls to play, I worked my roll up to around $2100. Since my last post, I have only had one session of 9man turbos I think and lost around $40 from 15 games running pretty badly and not playing great. Apart from that it's been exclusively heads up, which seems to be my new direction atm.

Sharkscope shows that since I started with my $200 deposit heads up I have the following stats.

Games 904
Avg Profit $1.45
Avg Stake $9
ROI 15%
Total Profit $1,310

The 9 men are pretty much the same as before so I won't bother re-posting them.

So yeah, I'm not on a super-hot sicko luckster run atm but the heads up is staying OK and seems to be the most profitable way to play at the minute.

Also, I can play heads up whilst I'm playing in tournies, which I did last night. Spurred on by the 2X prize pools on Stars, I played the 5rebuy, the $11 and the 3rebuy.

I managed to cash in the 5 rebuy and 3 rebuy for $31 and $52 respectively after being in for $15 and $12. Not bad but I made a few errors which Nathan (who railed all night!) was witness to but generally played OK. I busted out of both from a reasonable-to-weak position running in to hands when making a stand but it's good to learn lessons and i can't expect a big score yet. I will play the same set of tournies tonight I think and hopefully can run deep. Though unless I hit the final table the prize money won't really be lucrative which is an annoying feature of these huge field games.

My roll at present is $2186 and my next mini target is $3200 or so before I might move up to $33 heads up. I was also sent $39 from Isaac on FullTilt that I earnt playing 1p/2p at the mighty Aidans cash game at Uni. I decided to play a $34.50 heads up game to try to spin it up and won 2 in a row. I withdrew the $100 or whatever because without a job I need the money and I was going to lose it all playing that high! Having a bit more money in the bank takes away the urge to withdraw from Stars so that's a good thing.

Again, another stupidly long post but it has been over a week. I haven't really played much due to seeing the girlfriend but I have taken the step to move up so it's been a productive few days that I have played. I had an amazing hand the other day where I had 66 vs 52dd on a board of Kx6d4x4d3d which made me laugh and a few hands from the tournie I wish I had saved because they were dubious so I will make sure I save these in future.

Hopefully, I'll be posting at 7 this morning having taking down one of the big tournies2nite :-)

Gl all. 13:47_star

Monthly Updates:- Heads Up(Swings!)

2008-06-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

Good evening. Whilst railing Ptevey going deep in an MTT for the second day running, I thought why not provide the monthly update!

I have to repeat what I said in my last post. This month has been so so sick! I knew from when I started playing with the concept of a bankroll on FullTilt and was maintaining a good ROI that this poker malarky could be profitable, but I am astounded with how much I have made at the low levels!

The last few days I have been running so well heads up it's just wrong. I have won 30 of my last 34 heads up games (obviously 30 of my last 35 but why would I include a game 35 games ago!!!) and as such have finished the month with a flourish.

My roll = $1887.
Stats for June-

Games- 1,443
Avg Profit- $1.1
Avg Stake- $7
ROI- 14%
Total Profit- $1,585

Heads up- (Same order as above)

665
$1.46
$8
16%
$971

9- man SNG's-

740
$0.9
$6
13%
$668

Overall Pokerstars stats-

3,301
$0.87
$7
13%
$2,874

I am probably ready to move up in the 9-man Sit N Goes, but I may play a few more heads up SNG's and I'm not sure I am ready for the $22's yet, as I expect they will play very differently! I will just take it easy, do what feels good and hopefully next month's downswing won't be too severe and I hope I can have a few more upswings!

I have played a few more tournies over the last few days to no avail. In basically all of them I haven't really had cards or when I did have pairs they have attracted overcards and in nearly all of them I have finished pretty much middle of the road. Despite this, I feel like I am learning fast and hope to play a few more over the next month to improve and maybe hit a good return a.k.a luckbox my way to a big win!!

Thanks to all the people who read this and leave comments etc, I appreciate all the help and advice I receive! :-)

147_insert any good star gag here!

sAt 'n' go

2008-06-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

An unusually quick update on my blog!

Reason:-

I decided to play an $11 satellite to the Sunday Warm Up today after a couple of hours of uninspiring heads up sit n goes. After rocking it up early on and then doubling through with QQ against AJ I managed to chip up, delve a lead and on the final table dominate proceedings despite starting with just 9 BB (after taking a hit bluffing a rock!) to win a seat in the Sunday Warm Up. 6 handed I felt like I always had a shot despite the blinds getting big and I barely showed my cards to move from level 4th with 6 left to chip lead with 3 left (2 players getting seats!). Here the play was all pretty standard with me aggressing them both and finally after getting down to 3 BB the shortie pushed the button, I called with 7 2 in the SB and the BB also called. My 7 2 held to win a place and relieve the pain from coming 2nd in the 375FPP sat to the Sunday Million despite having a 4 to 1 chip lead heads up a couple of months before (with 2nd place winning sweet FA!!).

If I win these types of sats in August I hope to take the seat to take a few shots but building a roll is my priority atm, so I took the tournament dollars. A nice $215 to add to my roll, which has now reached $1716 :-)

I really think I should play a few of these Sats every week. Looking at thepokerdb.com I have played 10 sats on Stars and have won 4 for a total of $990 from roughly an initial $100 overall. I also bubbled that 375FPP one and bubbled another for $190 a few months back. I think the standard is quite poor and the games play very similar to a 9 man turbo for the most part. So therefore, I am going to have to get over the fact that my ITM will reduce and start looking for the most profitable areas of poker. In the same way, I may start attacking the 45 man SNG's because I haven't given these a proper go and I hope they could be very fishy!!

I have a couple of days of June left but to be honest it has gone so much better than I could have imagined. Hopefully I can have a good day of tournies 2moro but if not over $1500 profit on Stars in less than a month is overwhelming and I just hope I can run as good next month!! Especially as I should be moving up soon, so wish me luck!

A monthly update will recap and hopefully concisely summarise my last few posts on Tuesday, so look forward to that :-)

Much love,

147_.... of David

Quick Update 2

2008-06-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

When I write so much, I forget that I actually kept the title as quick update. I think I have broken a lot of statues regarding description of goods but I hope it is an interesting read anyway.

FINAL POINT:- If anyone else is going to play or try to sat into the $1million Turbo Takedown on Sunday I would firstly recommend it as it is very good value (5000FPP's is a lot but there are lots of I expect weak sats) and secondly post on here or wherever if you want to perhaps swap percentages of each other and we can try to get some value out of Pokerstars generosity.

Isaac special offer (only applicable if your name is Isaac and you run like God!) - 25% of your potential win for 2% of my potential win...u know that's +EV!

Quick update and some delightful hands!

2008-06-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi all. My account is on $1495.15 now, which I would have taken 1000000% at the start of the month, but I have been stuck in the $1400's the last few days which has annoyed me. I have made another $40 in a short session with a few mates to increase my live winnings (though it swiftly went towards a day out to the beach with the gf!!), mainly from one mate in particular who has more gamble in him than Lassey! (and nowhere near Lassey's ability)

To be fair to myself in this breakeven stage, I have been running pretty badly so I am always pleased to come out of the bad sessions breaking even. I was around the low-to-mid $1400's at the start of the night tonight but I continued to start my session with some $11 heads up (2 at a time) and after winning a few was over $1500 for the first time. Anyway, then followed 15 SNG's for a small loss which was pretty annoying seeing as in two of them i bubbled after having a dominating stack and one of them i snatched 2nd from the jaws of 1st (and one bastard I was sitting out of the whole time and still bubbled)! Can't dwell though, I know these things happen!

A couple of delightful hands in this session were promised, and I hope they won't disappoint.

The first one I just knew was going to happen pre flop and even on the flop. Seriously, I have a sick read on Pokerstars now!

PokerStars Game #18406043780: Tournament #93521318, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2008/06/26 - 21:30:33 (ET)
Table '93521318 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: menaheme (2788 in chips)
Seat 5: mascherano10 (4386 in chips)
Seat 6: 147_star (2420 in chips)
Seat 9: Georgenia213 (3906 in chips)
menaheme: posts the ante 50
mascherano10: posts the ante 50
147_star: posts the ante 50
Georgenia213: posts the ante 50
Georgenia213: posts small blind 300
menaheme: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 147_star [Ad As]
mascherano10: raises 1200 to 1800
147_star: raises 570 to 2370 and is all-in
Georgenia213: folds
menaheme: folds
mascherano10: calls 570
*** FLOP *** [Ac 6d 7h]
*** TURN *** [Ac 6d 7h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 6d 7h 8d] [Td]
147_star said, "lol"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mascherano10: shows [Kd Qd] (a flush, King high)
147_star: shows [Ad As] (three of a kind, Aces)
mascherano10 collected 5840 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5840 Rake 0
Board [Ac 6d 7h 8d Td]
Seat 2: menaheme (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: mascherano10 showed [Kd Qd] and won (5840) with a flush, King high
Seat 6: 147_star (button) showed [Ad As] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 9: Georgenia213 (small blind) folded before Flop

Yeah, that hurt a lot, mainly because my Ad took away one of his outs! lol cooler and exacerbated as it was on the bubble but kq suited couldn't do anything and it happens! I will post one of my outdraws (sometimes I am behind Isaac!) to show that I don't just dwell on my bad beats.

So yeah, that was enjoyable, but provided nowhere near as much pleasure as this hand gave me.

PokerStars Game #18405378981: Tournament #93521277, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/26 - 20:56:04 (ET)
Table '93521277 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: skydiver1212 (1345 in chips)
Seat 2: gstvbrjs (1270 in chips)
Seat 3: Mongo_1254 (1570 in chips)
Seat 4: seethesun (1395 in chips)
Seat 5: 147_star (1470 in chips)
Seat 6: Dbert88 (1925 in chips)
Seat 7: lifes3ps (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: almostawinnr (1610 in chips)
Seat 9: wintermagic (1445 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 15
Dbert88: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 147_star [Jh Js]
lifes3ps: folds
almostawinnr has timed out while being disconnected
almostawinnr: folds
almostawinnr is sitting out
wintermagic: folds
skydiver1212: calls 30
gstvbrjs: folds
Mongo_1254: folds
seethesun: folds
147_star: raises 90 to 120
Dbert88: folds
skydiver1212: calls 90
*** FLOP *** [5s 5d Jc]
147_star: checks
skydiver1212: checks
*** TURN *** [5s 5d Jc] [5c]
almostawinnr has returned
147_star: bets 120
skydiver1212: calls 120
*** RIVER *** [5s 5d Jc 5c] [5h]
147_star: checks
skydiver1212: bets 660
147_star said, "sooooooooooo sick"
gstvbrjs said, "vnh"
147_star: folds
Uncalled bet (660) returned to skydiver1212
skydiver1212 collected 510 from pot
skydiver1212: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 510 Rake 0
Board [5s 5d Jc 5c 5h]
Seat 1: skydiver1212 collected (510)
Seat 2: gstvbrjs folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Mongo_1254 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: seethesun (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: 147_star (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: Dbert88 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: lifes3ps folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: almostawinnr folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: wintermagic folded before Flop (didn't bet)

That is just truly gorgeous. You can't buy that. Again when the third 5 hit I thought a fourth 5 may hit. As I was playing 15 tables, I saw the bet on the river by my opponent of 660 in to a 510 pot first and thought happy days, then I looked at the river. Anything under 300 and I call for humour purposes (perhaps) but lol later I said I had JJ and he informed me he had an Ace. Would have been a sick bluff but the revelation of the A didn't surprise me!

So yeah, things are OK, ROI has slightly reduced for the month but that's fine and I hope to have $1600 before the start of July. This way I could go in to July starting on the $16 SNG's, and who knows, could be on the $27s by August if things go very well.

Some stats to conclude (why not, if my mate has signed up to Sharkscope I assume he wants me to use his searches!!

Total June: -

Games - 1330
Avg Profit $1.02
Avg Stake $7
ROI 13%
Total Profit $1357

Heads up June: -

Games - 587
Avg Profit $1.22
Avg Stake $8
ROI 14%
Total Profit $714

Sit n Go June: -

Games - 700
Avg Profit $0.90
Avg Stake $6
ROI 13%
Total Profit $631

At the minute I'm considering which would give me the higher hourly rate, heads up or sit n goes. I can probably squeeze 45 sit n goes in around 2 hours 15. And I haven't really established how many heads up SNG's I can play in an hour but I can cope reasonably with 3 at once. I guess HU is on average 12 minutes (possibly less), thus meaning I can chuck in around 33, but as I can play these continuously it will probably be slighter higher. If I chuck in my avg profit and ROI (and I have to borrow Isaac's maths to draw up some sort of comparison), and of course get a much larger sample, it may work out that I avoid one form of game. But playing both suits me and if I want to watch something on TV or chat on MSN I can stick a couple of heads up on at the same time. Plus, I am learning not to tilt when I get outdrawn playing heads up. I may actually switch some funds to FullTilt because they have a rematch feature on their heads up games which could be extremely +EV.

Anyway, I have reached 19,000 words for this post. My avg words for my posts is around w100000 and my ROI on time and words = high because I blag a load of bog on the blog.

Seriously though, anyway, finally, to conclude, etc, I was going to call this post quick update! What a dishonest assessment that would have been!

Much love and wish me balls so I move up!!

147_star_probably a red dwarf_especially since the beach was hot 2day!

+$1k :-)

2008-06-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 weeks since I deposited $200 on Pokerstars and I am pleased to say I am up to $1240. Combine that with my live profits of $130 and I am up around $1170 in quite a short space of time, which I will attempt to sustain!

Playing 13 $6.50's has been my recent approach and I am enjoying it greatly. The last 3 sets of 13 I have been running around $2.5 a game which I know isn't sustainable but I hope to settle in to over $1 a game. It would seem that playing more sit n goes reduce the quality of decisions and the ROI should reduce accordingly but I think playing so many helps me in many ways as I just play the hands and position in a set way and don't get involved in marginal situations too often! I hope to be able to maintain long term at least 16% ROI at this level though pretty soon I guess I will be moving up because I shouldn't be a tart!! Hopefully I continue to run well and play well and the $1600 figure will be reached soon.

I would say another reason for my recent success is taking down more firsts than seconds, and this has been largely in part to the heads up games I have been playing in June. I feel that I can push people around and have been using some strange psychology to try to get people to fold which has given me a bit of an edge.

For example, I have been raising and leaving $1 behind from a stack of say $2500 as a way to indicate strength and I also did a sick thing in the chat box in a game earlier.

With the bubble upon us, and two big stacks (me and another) pushing around the two others who had dwindled really low, I pick up 2 5 in the SB. The big stack folds as does one of the shorties. (On around 1000 by now with blinds 300/600 50 ante!). The BB has 935 chips and i know that I am going to stick it in because I don't want to sacrifice the odds and fold. So I write in the chat box gl sir and min raise. I don't know if this caused him to fold but he did and I felt slightly responsible for his super-tight fold by reminding him of the bubble scenario.

So yeah, atm I am getting much better at working with a roll touch wood. If I haven't felt like playing I haven't and when I feel tired I find something else to do. And I'm not missing out on social things due to poker because I know that makes me feel bad and play bad. So I'm finally getting somewhere near the discipline of Isaac. Playing 13 at once means you don't really see the beats anyway which is a good thing!!

Now I just need to stick a couple of tournies in there at some point and hope for a big score, maybe when I get home on Saturday I will start pursuing some of the guaranteeds on Stars.

So, an update on the June stats.

June total.

Games 1059
Avg Stake $7
Avg Profit $1.04
ROI 14%
Total profit $1099

June Sit n Go 9-man

Games 556
Avg Stake $6
Avg Profit $0.99
ROI 15%
Total Profit $552

June Heads up

Games 461
Avg Stake $8
Avg Profit $1.17
ROI 14%
Total Profit $541

I haven't put in as many hours as I could be because the days have been busy but that's kept me fresh I think, though over the summer I am looking forward to some really long stints, especially if I can't find a job.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Paul 147_star

Crowd Pleaser!

2008-06-17T18:12:00.001-07:00

This post is designed to satisfy the demands of an update from many fellow poker bloggers! I guess only Isaac hears most of what's going on with my poker, so for the rest of you not so in the know, here is a quick breakdown of how my poker has been in the last quite a while!!

My Fulltilt poker roll didn't go so well. I started trying to play a heads up game at the same time as a few turbos and didn't adapt to this change well. I also ran really bad at the turbos and after reaching $500 in quick fashion had a downswing and ended up cashing out around $420 after a bit of recovery at cash. A very nice return from $65 a few weeks back but still not a step towards my attempt at moving up and building a roll. Unfortunately, timing was also a factor contributing to my withdrawal as it was too tempting to play poker with a roll in my account and with the exams looming I couldn't run that risk. (Results come out tomorrow and a determination not to wake up too early means I am having a late night poker blogging session!!)

As such, my mission to build a bankroll failed and I was left with a nice bit of money in the bank but no roll online. Before my exams I switched to Pokerstars and played for around 5 hours overall in a month and a half and was running at 50% ROI in the $6 turbos to soar up to $200 (from $65 again) in late April only to lose around $130 in a TWENTY GAME NON-CASH STREAK IN May.

After finishing my exams and returning home from a trip to Wales with the girlfriend and her family I decided I will build another roll over the summer!! I deposited $200 (MY BIGGEST DEPOSIT----I know I am such a nit!!) with a view to playing a lot and working it up! This was on 30th May and the last two days in May were pretty break even with only some good heads up results keeping me around $200.

So, to June. With still around $200 in my account and just a few more FPP's to show for my efforts, I decided to start playin 9 tables at once. 8 9-man $6 turbos and 1 $6 heads up game. This started remarkably well and I soon realised that this was a number of sit n goes I could cope with. I could concentrate on the heads up game and let the turbos play themselves basically, reloading the heads up games if I won but sometimes if I lost as well. From these 9 games I would estimate I was running at around $0.8 a game (13-14% ROI) and if I wasn't ready for a set of sit n goes i would play some heads up, usually $11, and in these was achieving around a 12% ROI. I knew when i got to heads up in the turbos I was losing my edge due to the different game i was playing by multi-tabling and as such being push or fold and was trying to work on this to increase the number of firsts I was placing. I hope this has gone well!

From the start, I had set myself the target of getting to $800 and then moving up to $16 turbos. As you will have probably seen from my Sharkscope on Tilt or Stars, I have played a huge number of sit n goes and have definitely got the experience to move up, plus I hope the ability, so it was just a matter of reaching the bankroll. As a lot of my rise up the $$ was based on heads up results I was feeling a bit reluctant to move up when I reached $800, so at around $500-600 on around June 10th I set a revised target of $900 and aimed to reach that before moving up.
Piling up the sit n goes due to more multi-tabling moving from 9 at once to 10 and then 12 at once (whilst not really exerting myself and having more breaks than usual stints!) I managed to reach my $900 target by around 15th June!

So here I move up right, erm nope because I am still too nitty!!! I'm not a bankroll nit don't get me wrong, I used to consistently deposit $65 and play $6.50's until I got to around $180 and then would withdraw!! I know I have enough buy-ins for the level. I am just a bit apprehensive for some reason! Keys and Isaac were telling me to move up and play less tables. I was thinking seeing as I have acquired the skill of multi-tabling my game would be hindered if I stepped down the tables, and this combined with a bit of fear about a downswing when moving up meant I decided not to move up straight away when I hit $900. Soon after hitting $900, in the evening (is 3AM classified as the evening?!) I had a bit of a downswing in a couple of sets of SNG's and went to bed with $840 in my account. The next day within 2 hours I had restored that back up to $920 and told Isaac on MSN that i was going to play a few $16. I felt good so why not!!

I ended up playing 6 $16 SNGs and stupidly loaded up 2 $6 turbos as well (which i was bound to not concentrate as much on as left myself too short to even moan about being outdrawn against!) and was very pleased to finish 1st in two of the $16 plus two bubbles (one unlucky!) to record a tidy profit, $39 from the 6 $16s.

Happy days, I was now up to $980 and I chilled out until the evening when I planned to put in another session! In the meantime, using remote assistance (which is so sick!!!!!) I was playing on my mate's computer but through mine (WTF!!!) and managed to win 5/6 $11 HU sit'n'goes and place 2nd in a HU shootout which made me feel good about my heads up game. Usually I would take a cut for playing for him but he is a good mate and is a bit of a gambling degen so I was just pleased to build his roll for him. Anyway, inspired by this and not in the mood for too many tables, on a Sunday night I decide to play some heads up!! BAD IDEA!! The standard was woeful but how much worse does that make you feel when you lose. And I was running bad. I ended the night on a much more relaxin game on 5-card draw after having the second bad evening in a row dropping down to $918.

This blog has become more of a diary but as i am somehow remembering these facts I may as well chuck them in! Now we reach Monday. (yesterday -- assuming today is in fact Tuesday and not Wednesday morning!!)

I woke up feeling like I wanted to play poker and I was looking forward to making the money back I had lost the night before. I also decided that even a 12% ROI at $11 games heads up wasn't enough to outweigh the potential tilt heads up gives me and I decided to give these games a break for the near future. So, I thought about playing $16 but as I was feeling a little bit vulnerable due to the loss the night before I stuck with 12 $6 instead. 3 sets later and I soared up to $1068.85, which is the amount my bankroll currently stands on!! My last 8 results are something sick like 2nd, 1st, 7th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 6th and running well and playing better poker over a couple of sets of 12 $6 turbos saw to rises of $80 per set (not sustainable but feels good!!).

The great thing is whilst I am clocking up the sit n goes (and hopefully the profits with them!), as I am multi-tabling so much more than before I am playing probably less overall with a greater hourly return. Having more breaks I think keeps me fresh and helps me play more consistently good poker. Plus, working on a roll has made me think Forget (maybe a stronger F word!) Sharkscope, the important stat is what $$ my roll is on!

So, from the 30th May I have worked up from $200 to $1068.85, and using some mathematics JV or Sam Wong { who is a <)))>< !!! } would be proud of that is $868.85 profit in around 18 days. I like to think this isn't an upswing as such as I have been achieving an ROI of around 14% which I have maintained for a while now and I hope I can sustain such levels of profits and hopefully keep a similar ROI when I do finally step up to consistently play the $16 games.

I have set myself the target of $5000 by the end of August (which if I can make $800 each 1/2 month I will achieve!?!), and I will accept any bets against (as long as they are kept fairly small) at a price of evens as a way to inspire me to carry on with my roll!!

So, I have given a complex rundown of my last few weeks and the rise from $200 to what I have now and what I hope will become a huge bankroll (got to be optimistic!!). I have highlighted my aims for the next few months. I have decided i want to multi-table $16, maybe playing 12 and as such will aim for a roll of $1600 before I do this. This means a little more grinding for the next couple of weeks or so.

To finish, I will post a few statistics from Sharkscope (using advanced search for a really nice breakdown and accurate time frames) on my month in June and why I really really should move up to $16 and stop being such a pussy!!

First, June overall stats.

Games 962
Avg Profit $0.96
Avg Stake $7
ROI 13%
Profit $928

June Heads Up Stats

Games 455
Avg Profit $1.14
Avg Stake $8
ROI 14%
Profit $519

June Turbo Stats (factoring in the move up to 12-tables!)

Games 465
Avg Profit $0.87
Avg Stake $6
ROI 13%
Profit $404

These games don't add up to 962 as I briefly dabbled in a few 6-max turbos before deciding these weren't for me!!

And now, perhaps the biggest evidence that I should definitely move up to $16, although obviously the small sample size restricts the validity!

$16 Games

Games 94
Avg Profit $5.54
Avg Stake $15 (probs should be $16, blame Scope!!)
ROI 35%
Profit $521

So, basically June has been a good month for me, but i feel I have just fine tuned my game to be able to play 12 turbos at once and hope to get more 1sts to get the real dough. Whilst the days of 25% ROI as on Tilt when I was 3-tabling won't be achievable, if I can sustain around 15% my hourly rate will increase dramatically (where's Isaac's calculator?!) and I hope to give $5k by Sep 1st a real go.

Plus, I have a roll in an account of over $1k for the first time. It looks really good seeing a comma in my roll. Let's hope I don't run bad after this enormous post because that would suck!!

Finally, a quick update on my live poker. I haven't played much but on Saturday at the Pokersoc I managed to filth my way to a win in the £5 SNG, taking home a nice £20 profit, before taking home an extra £15 from the cash game afterwards.

Then on Tuesday (today?), with high hopes for the Festival, I was essentially card dead for a few hours and despite grobbling bits and pieces to try to keep afloat, a few missed flops and a sick stop and go from a guy Chris that I couldn't call with an underpair dwindled me down to a point where pushing A3 was a viable option. I was called by AJ, the flop offered split hopes with QQK but the 10 on the river sealed the deal and I was left regretting little but wishing I was still in!!
Fortunately, the first hand of the 5p/10p cash game was absolutely sick and paid for the entry in to the Festival tournie.

It definitely deserves a write-up because it was sick!!

5 handed. Gareth folds UTG. Hannes raises the cut-off to 35p. I have 10 10 and decide to just flat call to settle in (this is the first hand after all!!). Isaac calls from the SB and so does Marc from the BB.

Flop 10 9 7, two diamonds!

I have top set which is clearly in very nice shape. But wait, Isaac leads out for 75p and Marc min raises to £1.50. I know Isaac and i don't think he is leading light, and on a very drawy board I dwell and decide the best way to play my top set was to open push for £9.65. Gareth thinks I am some sort of degen and a few people check out what is going on, and I am slightly surprised to hear Isaac call. Marc shows an embarrased 95 and folds. I turn over my 1010 and am very relieved to see Isaac has called with 10 7, an understandable call given the action but the best scenario for me. I avoid the 4th diamond on the river and double through in such a sick start to the cash game! I ended up around £35 up which was nice as I like to work on my cash game when I get a chance and especially because the live game was so enjoyable!

So playing live I am actually £66 up which is a great bonus because with the Pokersoc crowd I would still enjoy myself breaking evens!!

Double congrats to both Isaac and Gamble who took down a $530 and the DUPS Festival respectively and both fully deserved their wins. Not bad for cash game players :P :P

So yeah, that I guess is the end of my post. I should sleep like a log now!! I hope next time I have posted (hopefully in the not too distant future) I will still be doing law at Durham aiming for a solid grade and will be well towards moving up to $16 and working my roll up and up!

Thanks for anybody who read this far. I really appreciate any feedback so feel free :-)

Love your small friend who "doesn't look like he should be good at poker", (according to Marc.)

PS. Mr_Rahl runs so good.
PPS Gamble didn't win the Festival by being aggro, but if the method ain't broke, don't fix it!
PPPS Isaac, when do you want your soul back?!
PPPPS Hannes, I always have the King!!
PPPPPS Tony Paul for next years DUPS Festival!

Update!

2008-03-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Bonjour, just returned from a trip to Bognor with the girlfriend and I'm back on the poker, though I think April will be more geared towards my degree than winning some $$$. March still has a day left though and I plan to put in a mammoth stint before the start of April before work takes priority.
In terms of my "roll", I still haven't withdrawn so that's a positive and I'm up to around $348.68 now which is a roll that can handle swings at the $6.50 level. I haven't played many MTT's but the few I have played I have been too risky in the latter stages trying to get the real money for finishing top 3 and busted out with nothing at all. I haven't really sussed my late game yet but plan to hit the $4.40 180-man SNG's on Stars to try to refine my game.
I have been thinking about if/when I move up and I think the next logical step may be the $16 SNG's on Stars as with a $15 fee and a $1 rake these provide the best value online. I'm a bit fearful of stepping up to these but I think with the regs playing a very predictable game on the most part I can feed off these players and steal their blinds under the radar. Before I am rolled for this though I will try to 6-8 table SNG's as this will be double the amount I play and theoretically returning a similar ROI would mean doubling my hourly profit, which after all is what it is all about!
Apologies the life of an SNG player isn't very interesting but I will try to remember some interesting hands soon and I am going to post a host of scenarios on the poker forum tonight for some consideration.
The full March update will be provided after my mammoth session but at present my stats are,

Games 661
Avg Prof $1.81
Avg Stake $6
ROI 27%
Total Profit $1183

Recently I have had a few too many 3rds but I think I have been getting a bit unlucky in races and I'm not playing too badly on the most-part. Also, I haven't tilted money away in a HU SNG for a long time which is good news!!

Thanks,

Paul!

Building A Roll!

2008-03-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have been running great for the last few sessions, at a profit of around $12/hr. Only drawback - this has been earnt carrying out surveys for Sky, EDF and KTM motorbikes for my job! I have worked 36 hours in the past 5 days and I know this is an average working week but it has knackered me out!

Due to this and seeing my girlfriend, I haven't played much poker since my last post - with just a couple of sessions at uni and a couple of sessions back home to record. After making yet another withdrawal, I deposited $65 and after a few sessions have worked it up to $228.47. To get here, things went pretty well and I reached the $1000 profit mark on Sharkscope, soaring past it with 9 cashes out of 10. Things plateau(d) from here and the next 25 games or so were pretty break even, followed by a late surge of decent results.

This time round I am determined not to withdraw. I will start to build a roll! As I am working and I spend less at home, I don't need the cash so I will work up a roll over easter (and beyond!) I have no aims, just to keep working up and try to take a few shots in MTT's and hope to get lucky. If all goes to plan, the $65 I deposited will be my last ever deposit which is an exciting prospect!

Stats at present are;

Games 574
Avg Prof $186
Avg Stake $6
ROI 27%
Profit $1058

I will learn how to upload graphs etc soon to make things more interesting but before then I feel like having a big session tonight.

Hope everyone is running well.

Paul,x

Tournaments = Way Forward?

2008-03-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Mainly to avoid writing up a tedious criminal law essay, I am updating my blog!

The snooker at the weekend wasn't great. I got a tough draw first round, and with a cue I wasn't used to, played horribly and lost 2-1. Wasn't too disappointed as I lost my chance when I lost my cue, but still would have liked to put in a decent showing and show last year wasn't a fluke! Our team, mainly a team of pool players who to be fair played immense, struggled in a group of death but we regrouped from a bottom place finish to come second in the Team Shield, another BUSA medal to add to my collection.

Anyway, I returned home on Saturday night, absolutely shattered and too tired to even consider playing poker!! After 12 hours kip, Sunday was a day in which I should have been working, but as always end of term complacency kicked in and I played poker instead! This proved to be a decent idea, as I made $82 today.

First, I played a double-stack $3 tournie, which attracted 123 entrants. I steamrollered my way through the field and was monster stack on the FT. At one point, with 4 left I had 240k against 45k, 23k and 50k (or something like that!) Alas, I didn't hit a hand and lost a couple of big pots against the table fish, who kept hitting against me. The 4th place player got knocked out by the decent player at the table, and I ran card-dead. I ended up pushing AJ from the SB against the decent/tight players button raise...and he slowly called with 1010 which held. I then called a push by the fish who was playing any two with ace8 suited, only to be up against 1010. My lead had dwindled and I finally came 3rd, pushing a weak ace in to AJ, which flopped a flush and that was that. Annoying to not get 1st as it was $102, but the $50 I won was still a nice result.

As I was playing the tournie, I was playing a few $6.50 SNGs which went pretty well and I have somehow managed to maintain my ROI, now with stats of:-

Games 476
Avg Profit $1.85
Avg Stake $6
ROI 27%
Total Profit $874

I waited all day for a chance to use a $26 ticket I had won the other night, and decided to play the $32k guaranteed. I had a nice almost double up early on after trap checking the river with AA against a fruity opponent who raised with a couple of high cards. I reached the first break around 220 of 1050 and feeling decent. Then before I knew it I was out!! I had a hand against the table fish (player getting involved in a lot of pots!) Against his min raise, I flat called KJ on the button after the cut-off had also called. Both blinds completed and the pot was around 1200. Flop was K78 and two hearts and the initial raiser bet 600. I had 5.5k behind and raised to 1545. All fold apart from raiser who flat called. I put him on a draw at this point and a trickily paid set was also in my head. Turn was a blank 3 and he checked, prompting me to raise 2125. The pot just had me covered so I thought about pushing but instead raised as felt this was the best way to extract value (thoughts/criticisms?). The river was a blank six but the initial raiser chucked in enough to put me all in, which by this point was only 1700. With the blinds still fairly low and thinking I had let the 910 catch up, I wanted to fold, but knew the pot was too large to and convinced myself he may do this with a missed flush draw. Well, he didn't have 910, but in fact 4h5h for a gutshot straight. Guess I can't really fault him too much and perhaps I should have pushed the turn, but still annoying. I am very keen to keep winning these satellites for these seats though and I know that if I can fund tournaments with SNG wins I can make big money one of these days, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Anyway, I have to be up early to work on my essay so this is a little shorter than usual. I'm looking forward to the end of term now and a few weeks to re-group and get myself ready for a mental two months of work in April and May. So maybe there is room for a little more poker in March!!

Thanks,

147_star

It's been a while!

2008-03-06T04:19:00.000-08:00

So, I guess it's about time I updated people on my progress in the world of poker!

As you may or may not know, I don't like talking about poker when it hasn't been going so well, but luckily this isn't why I haven't been blogging recently. I just haven't had the time/money to play!

Quick February update -

Poker = Good...

From the 154 games I have played (all $6.50 9-man turbos) I made $225 at an ROI of around 23%. I have increased my aggression around the bubble and this has resulted in most of my cashes being 1sts, though obviously getting caught every now and again.

I have played very little live poker, apart from up at college where a regular 1p/2p cash game takes place. (HIGH STAKES!!) I am around £13.50 up here from a few sessions but I play awful poker and have had two sessions where I have been over 4BI down (granted it's only 8 quid but you have to play badly for that to happen!)

I also played a 375FPP 36-man satellite in to the Sunday Million, and was HU with a 4 to 1 chip lead, only for QQ to split with KQ (I rivered the split straight on board of 10 J 4 9 K!!), Q9 suited to lose to a runner runner 4-flush from J9 off (that hand was killer!) and then the final hand I pushed with 74...he called with Ace3...flop 765, turn A, river blank. Coming 2nd and receiving nada annoyed me because I played well all tournament and was so unlucky to lose out on a very attractive $215 tournament dollars that I could have sold and transfered to FullTilt.

Life = Not So Good...Well, things are great with the girlfriend and the family are healthy etc etc so I'm not too unlucky. BUT I was an idiot and left my snooker cue on the train. The cue and case cost £185 so that's put a bit of a financial strain on things as I have to start saving for a new one. One of my good mates back home is giving me his old cue to help me out until I can buy a new one, but I have had to tighten the purse a little. Disappointingly, I had to play the BUSA University pool tournament with a borrowed cue and I didn't really fulfil my potential in the singles, losing in the last 64 to a player I should generally beat. To add to this, my laptop is being very temperamental at the minute so I may have to shell out a lot of money fairly soon!!

March assessment -

I have only been able to play three days worth as the girlfriend was up at the weekend, but it has started fairly brightly. So far, I have played 46 games of $6.5o turbos, winning $107 at around a 24% ROI. This included a spell of 9 games in a row where I didn't cash, but luckily I hit two firsts soon after to balance this out. I have been playing without any distractions and have really been concentrating on who is tight/loose on the table and playing accordingly, and I hope playing my opponents rather than the cards sets my apart from other regs who I try to feed off.
I am also up $16 on Isaac's account!! I played a couple of SNG's in his room (with him monitoring), and cashed 2nd in the $22 non-turbo for $54 and lost A9 vs A6 in the $16turbo. It was supposed to be like a lesson (if I'm qualified enough to do that?!) but I'm not sure if he will take on much from my style, especially not if he doesn't make the recommended transition to turbos!
I have also started watching high stakes SNG's and railing players like PearlJammed in the MTT's to try to pick up tips, and I think this is a good way to help me improve my game.

As per usual, I've withdrawn the cash that I have made, but this time it has been essential to live off! Luckily, I think I am soon to be staked, which will mean I can play a higher level without the inherent risk of losing more than I can afford. This will hopefully be profitable for both parties and I just hope I can sustain something like my ROI, mainly because at a $20 level it would = around $5 profit a game! I know this is very unlikely but I hope to keep it above 10%-15% at the higher buy-in, and I look forward to a greater challenge and facing more tricky opponents. I feel I have been ready to move up for a good few months, so will embrace the change.

Wow, once I start writing I just don't stop. Anyway, watch this space as if I do get staked my sharkscope graph will start looking a lot different soon, hopefully for the better!! Before that, I have to try to defend my BUSA snooker title in Leeds at the weekend, let's just hope I run well!

Laters,

Paul.

Good Start And Coping With The Beats

2008-02-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

The start of February has been fairly promising so far. The start of my FullTilt quest began with a deposit of $65 in my account on Thursday that quickly went up to $165 after just 15-20 games. It’s amazing how playing a different site can make you more alert and play better poker at times. I obviously ran very well but played solid and was rewarded. I withdrew the $165 on Friday to pay some bills and when I came back on Sunday night from home deposited another $65.

This went up to $145 on Sunday night but the next few nights were quite evens and I kept getting bad luck at the wrong times, i.e. around the bubble. I kept getting spells of several tournaments where I was getting quite badly outdrawn and one night had played 11 SNG’s with just one win and no other cashes (-$41 at this stage). Luckily, I managed to win 2 at the end of the night to keep it level. I didn’t cope too well with the losses and was made quite angry, but fortunatley winning at the right times in the evenings where I wasn’t running so well helped me stay evens. I withdrew my roll last night as I’m going home for the weekend and had $185 to take out.

However, I haven’t been totally satisfied with my play. I have made a few mistakes and played an absolutely terrible hand on the bubble of one SNG which massively frustrated me! On the bubble with a stack of 4400 and blinds 120/240, I raised UTG with Q9dd up to 720 and the BB flat called. The flop was Kd 10h 4d and the BB (had me covered with the other two at the table short) led out pot and obviously seemed strong. Acting very fishy I called, leaving around 2650 behind to get away from the turn if I he bet again. (bad logic, bad play, thought maybe I had implied odds but it was not good play!) I put him firmly on a King, so the fact that after the blank on the turn I called another pot bet of 2360 is just pure awful. I didn’t hit and rued the shocking play. I will learn from it though.

I think my first post after an introductory post should contain some more targets and reflections, so these are the following.

Targets for February : -

1) Play a few MTT’s. The SNG’s are nice if they can be profitable but some of the profits should be invested in attempting to win bigger amounts. I have won more from MTT’s and satellites despite playing a lot less of these than SNG’s.
2) Don’t play poker on a night when I have lectures the next day! I missed my Thursday 10am because I felt ill because I played until too late. This isn’t what I am at Durham for so I need to prioritise and strive for 100% lecture attendance.
3) Maintain an ROI of above 20% in the $6.50 9-man turbos. This will be difficult but from 250 games at this level I am at around 28% so I hope it is achievable.
4) Walk away before signing up to a new batch of SNG’s. If I go and get a drink, have a little wander or read something online it will help me focus and stay fresh.
5) Stay evens when running bad by scraping and grinding results and profit when the luck changes and I run well.

Positives to be taken: -
1) I can beat the $6.50 turbos if I play well and run decent.
2) My passion for poker has been restored after two months off in December and January.
3) I am getting better at quickly deciding who is tight, solid and fishy on a table and can adapt my play accordingly.
4) My aggressive bubble play is quite effective at translating cashes in to 1sts.

Negatives: -
1) I still get angry when I take a few bad beats in a row. I need to calm down!!
2) I need to get a good night sleep before early lectures. Playing poker until late isn’t going to help me do this.
3) I still haven’t looked in to poker software. I am still too lazy!
4) I abuse bad calls in the chat box. This is poor etiquette and should be stopped.
5) I was tempted to step up and/or play HU SNG’s when $6.50’s weren’t going so well. This is a vice I have to get rid of!
6) I can’t afford to step up. I need poker winnings to live off and have to withdraw if I win.

I did a lot of thinking over the last few days. I have decided that due to finances/lack of I have to use poker winnings for general expenditures. I have enough in reserve to cope with downswings but not enough to step up to higher SNG’s for the foreseeable future. This is a bit of a shame as I want to make more money from the game and play with better players but I just can’t at the minute. The $220 I have made in the last week is needed for other purposes right now and I can’t prevent the need to withdraw profits. For the time being I will have to deposit enough for 10 SNG’s and if I make around $100 profit or I am going home/away for the weekend I will withdraw.

In the summer, when I am working and won't have to pay for as much as I do at Uni, I plan to make a good go at working a bankroll effectively and will take on the $100 to $10,000 challenge and see how close I can get!! For now, I just have to use poker for some money to live off!

Cheers,

(Small) Paul.x

The Start Of Self Assessment

2008-02-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am a young aspiring poker player and I hope producing a blog will be good for many reasons. I want to get feedback and criticism on how I play the game and at times I'm sure I will vent frustration to other people who can sympathise with the bad beats that are part and parcel of the game!

Best to start with a brief introduction I guess. My name is Paul and I'm a second year law student studying at the University of Durham. I started playing poker around 20 months ago, when I reluctantly agreed to play a £4 game with my mates who all knew how to play. Somehow I donked a win and since then I have been hooked.

I started out on Willhill and would consistently make a small profit in the low level SNG's and had a few decent tournament results in the £2.25 MTT's. I also made a tidy sum each night playing 15c/25c cash games. In around 14 months I played a monster amount of hands on Willhill and clocked up around $2k profit (Including all game types).

However, playing on Willhill I picked up a lot of bad habits which I am still struggling to shake off now! These include: -

1) Poor bankroll management. Initially I would play above what I was rolled for, and now I am sometimes reluctant to play what I am rolled for for fear of losing what I sometimes see as personal money rather than poker money.

2) Withdrawing after a decent night. This goes hand in hand with the poor bankroll management. If I make money, I want to keep it, even though if I play with good BR management these profits will be secured.

3) Stopping when running well and moving up trying to recoup losses.

4) Not monitoring effectively enough wins/losses in online/live games. Sharkscope and thepokerdb.com helps, but I don't monitor results closely enough, and I especially don't like to record losses!!

5) Tilting...I guess this is just an inherent flaw in my genetics but I am liable to tilt at times if I am on a bad run. I must find more ways to avoid tilting to improve as a player.

6) Getting in very poor sleep patterns. As the easiest games are late, I often stay up until the early hours of the morning, affecting anything I have planned for the next day.

7) Playing under time constraints. I used to try to slip in a turbo or two in before football training for example, and rushing my game and my hands really didn't help!

Anyway, my game, along with it's multiple flaws, has moved away from Willhill and I now play primarily on Pokerstars and Fulltilt, operating as mainly a SNG player. I think I will continue to prioritise SNG's, perhaps on FullTilt which seems slightly easier, and combine these with some MTT's on Stars for the chance of a big payday. I will dabble in cash for enjoyment at times, but won't grind it out for the time being at least.

My stats for SNG's on Stars and FullTilt are available by searching for 147_star on Sharkscope for these sites, and I think these are fairly encouraging for my first year of turbos. However, one huge tilt on Pokerstars and a general loss at HU SNG's has weakened Stars a little.

Therefore, I will post in my blog to wind down, give myself aims and guidelines for my poker career, and give myself something to work towards. If anybody wants to post something, especially criticism, please do so. I want to get better and that's the only way.

My aims from my initial post are:-

1) DO NOT PLAY HEADS UP SNG'S WHEN ON A LOSING STREAK! This is my biggest weakness and is my least profitable of any form of game. I should stop them all together as I don't have a decent ROI in them.

2) IF I FEEL BAD BEATS ARE AFFECTING MY PLAY, TAKE A BREATHER.

3) MOVE UP TO HIGHER SNG'S. I want to progress from the $6.50 games and move up as my bankroll permits.

4) PLAY MORE SATELLITES TO BIG TOURNAMENTS, I.E. THE SUNDAY MILLION. I want to give myself a chance of winning big and this is the best way to do so.

5) PUT UNIVERSITY WORK ABOVE POKER WHEN I NEED TO. I can't play for just an hour before work as if I lose I will want to win it back. I need to have a few hours set aside for an online poker session.

6) ESTABLISH AN ONLINE BANKROLL. I will try to do this, though I will skim off the top to fund general living costs.

7) READ POKER BOOKS AND FORUMS. I still haven't read a poker book yet but I plan to read all of the major ones and hopefully some specific SNG books to add extra dimensions to my game.

If anybody has read through all of this rubbish, I apologise for the length but once I start writing it's not easy to stop. Plus, the weakness section was extensive!!

Anyway, I will post here as frequently as possible and hope to generate some interesting discussions, most likely by very bad hands I have played.

Cheers,

Paul. (147_star)