Sunday 28 February 2010

February Ends

February is finally over for me and I did hit my goal of playing 500+ games. It's good to have goals that push you and with the shorter month it was a push to get the games in. I was motoring at the start of the month and felt on course to make a large amount of money, however, variance kicked in and claimed back all that I had won. See PT3 graph:



It was mentally tough during the downswing but just have to remain focused and play through it. There is no avoiding variance and the best way to overcome it is to actually play MORE rather then not.

It was definitely running bad in the $6 games that hurt me the most and at the end of the month dropping approximate 35 buyins. If I had stuck to just the $3 games, I would have continued to crush it. Also this month I achieved the Bronze Ironman status for the second month running.

Friday 26 February 2010

Gym Prop Bet

In a bid to get my arse to the gym, I felt some extra motivation was needed. After reading Bodeye's blog and his gym challenge I couldn't think of anyone better to ask.

The bet
We must both attend the gym 3 times a week otherwise you ship $10 to the other guy

Some Rules
- If neither make it twice then it's a push
- A week is Monday through to Sunday
- If for some reason you cannot go 3 times (eg on holiday) you must inform the other no later than Sunday before the Monday of the week
- If a person is ill during the week then you must inform the other as soon as possible
- You cannot miss two weeks in a row
- This bet will continue on a weekly basis until either person decides to quit

Now I have a cunning plan, my intention is to ensure I go 3 times between Monday and Friday as to put pressure on Bodeye each week as his intentions are to go Wednesday, Friday and either Saturday or Sunday. So by the time he completes one I should have completed 3 visits. As he lives in Sweden and I live in the UK we cannot exactly check up on eachother so this bet is based on goo faith. Also I am already up from last week!!!

In terms of poker, I ballsed up thinking that I would complete the bronze Ironman status by playing today and Sunday. It looks like I have to play on Saturday but I am out all day... oops. So I have now decided to go to bed early so I can wake up at 5am UK time in order to get the necessary games in before heading out for the day.

Currently 3 short from the coveted 500 mark so should achieve that on Saturday morning.

Thursday 25 February 2010

My HUD Not Working

My HUD has not been working since Saturday when my pc decided to install a bunch of windows updates. Now I do not know if this is the cause but I suspect it is. iI need help to get it back because i feel like I am playing blind. There are some crucial stats that I used to make more informed decisions..

I am close to the 500 mark and will probably achieve that in tomorrows session. This month has been tough mentally and the end of month graph will show why. I am just plugging away putting in as much volume as possible. I know the game it there and improving but just need to win my share of coin flips.

On a positive note, I did get abused twice today which always pleases me. I had my longest HU battle and came up on top. It lasted at least 30-40 hands as we were fairly deep which is unusual at these games. Also, he was a reg and we had a back and forth match, in the end it was an coin flip where I was favorite to take it down. Before reaching heads up, I managed to KO the 4th place finisher with 94o against their 99, followed by A3 > AK.

Going to see how to fix this HUD on the PokerVT forums to start and then branch out. So until next time... please denote yout money to ketan7581 on FTP.

Sunday 21 February 2010

3 Months Complete

Today is exactly 3 months since starting the Rainman training programme. This was undoubted the best poker decision I have made and is definitely +ev. I would like to thank MI_Turtle (Nick Rainey) for allowing me to be part of this amazing adventure, secondly to SluttySara69 and Bodeye who have guided me on a day to day basis.

I have made more money in poker these last 3 months then I made the whole of last year. The months have not be plain sailing and there were periods where things were not going right for me. I was always encouraged and told not to worry about the money but to focus on making the best decisions possible.

Other important lessons such as remaining emotionless whether you win or lose, get sucked out on for big pots or win big pots. Also, to try remaining still at all times whilst playing... at one stage my girlfriend thought I fell asleep whilst playing... only to hear beep beep followed by click!

My Full Tilt Poker graph (entire history) from Sharkscope:



As you can see there was an initial dip (where the A is) as I started to learn the various pointers that I was getting. Then it is all uphill with the odd dips to remind me that it’s all about long term results and that I still have a lot to learn. In general, I am not setting the poker world alight but people just need to be aware that I am always improving thanks to the Rainman training scheme. If you wonder if the system is worth it then just look at the graph and think that there are some students in the scheme who are crushing it at least twice as much if not more.

Just to let you know that as I mentioned in my last post: "I did eat variance and shit $$"


Today was a good day! LOL

Friday 19 February 2010

Funny Story

Started the session in high spirits having watched a Spacegravy video on PVT, reviewed about 20 HH and winning a £3 10 man SnG on Victory Poker. My spirit was definately tested during the session, here is a classic example:

Table 1 - dealt KK
Table 2 - dealt KK
Table 3 - dealt QQ

Within seconds (I estimate 4 seconds) I was crippled in all 3 tables!

Table 1 - KK < AA
Table 2 - KK < AA
Table 3 - QQ < AK

Now the funniest is 3 minutes later I managed to double up a short stack twice in 2 consecutive hands, AJs < 33 and AKo < AQo. Having doubled him up twice h now has more chips then me!!! At the time I was definitely not laughing but never lost emotional control during the session. In fact I plan to have a cold beer after writing this whilst watching Lost.

With 3 tables remaining, I hope to make all 3 final tables and win them... hold on I must have been asleep dreaming. If only I could do what Vertek said in his blog: "I will eat variance and shit $$."

Will definately give that a go next session!!

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Two Sick Sick Hands

I played a session today the standard weekday 25 or so games. Came out of the session a loser for the 5th session out of the last 6. Yes, its a bad spell and I am working my way through it!

The main reason for this blog is that I had to sick hands both for different reasons.

Hand 1:



This was all in preflop! I could not believe what I was seeing and then a sudden sickly feeling hit me... how are the poker gods going to make me lose this one!!!! Thank the heavens I held for once but could not complete the win coming in 5th.

The second hand was on the FT:



The UTG+1 insta shoved and the UTG+2 insta shoved over and then it folds to me! These two have been playing fairly aggressive but thought that one of them should have a monster and folded. If I had called I would have been up against AKo and QQ in that order.

So managed a few final tables but just not getting the top 3 places but more importantly not winning hence the losing sessions. I write this as a note to myself and others... stay focused, play the best you can and the results will come through the volume of games.

Monday 15 February 2010

Valentines Day is Over!!!

In my previous blog entry I entilted it "Early Valentines Dinner" without explaing what the hell that meant. In the last few years the girlfriend and I tend to go out before or after the day, one because I am cheap (not really) but I hate the fact that on Valentines day you must order off the set menu. I mean WTF if I don't like anything on the set menu and secondly its that same S**T that you server on normal days but 2x more expensive.

On Friday, we went to our favourite Chinese restaurnat and it never ever disappoints. The same old waiters have been there for years and years. Great food and great service. The place is always jammed pack and it wise to book up early.

Saturday was a day for the 6 Nations Rugby. Wales V Scotland and the big one France v Ireland. Wales rode their luck and won the game needing 10 points with 10 minutes to go. In rugby terms it is had to achive such a feat but they managed to score 17 which was more impressive. I was then supporting Ireland partly due to the fact I was out with 7 Irish lads but we all hate the French too. Ireland go destroyed by the tourney favourites and the day ended in disappointment. The only upside was the beers flowed from 2pm til 1am and it was definately a struggle to wake up.

On Sunday, I woke up fresh as never before especially having consumed a large number of Guiness'. After a spot of breakfast and some food shopping I actually managed time to do some poker related activities. First step was to do a review before the England v Italy rugby game. After the match I reviewed some more for another 30 minutes to re-engage the poker brain and we were off.

Even though I spent 2 whole days with the girlfriend it was a constant reminder that Sunday was indeed Valentines day so only got a small session in. OMG there were a bunch of donkeys playing but it was the day for the donkeys! This week I intend to kick it up a gear and play more... I feel like I have dropped the ball and let everyone surpass me this weekend! Watch out.. I am hungry for $$$!

Thursday 11 February 2010

Early Valentines Dinner

Before starting the session I reviewed a lot of the games I played yesterday to see if i made many mistakes. On the whole I felt that there were a few spots where I was lots and had to pay off the river even though it cost me my tournament life. It is hard to fold full houses and sets on uncoordinated boards but hey ho life goes on.

Today I played another bunch of games and was really focused. I have never been more focused then this before. My girlfriend even shouted at me for not listening.. listen to what? All i hear is beep beep meaning it's my go to make the best decision possible. Probably the fact that I spent an hour or more on reviewing my HH from last night may have helped. Will try to incorporate this before every session.

Reminder to oneself: Always listen to Nick "MI_Turtle" Rainey - he knows best

In today's session there were 4 separate occasions where I felt I made the decision possible. The only reason I know this is that on all 4 occasions I was berated in the chat box:
1) fuklukr (repeated about 4 times)
2) fuuuking donkey
3) Piece of S**t
4) why push retard?!

Now these name calling really upset me... NOT. In fact sucking out on them and then knocking them out the very next hand is special. i love getting abused it make poker just that more fun. if i am not insulted in a session I tend to lose sleep wondering did i play correctly! Focus was definitely the key.

Ran a little better today but having read JonnyHilldo's (another MI_Turtle coach) blog, I am not going to mention running good or bad until i reflect on the results at the end of the month. Total of 244 games played so far; nearly 50% of the 500 target so definitely on track to complete this goal and hopefully play more.

Its midnight and I am up in 6 hours to go to the gym before the day job!

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Another Bad day in the Office

The only good thing today was that I attended the gym. Had a personal trainer for today and he always pushes me to breaking point... I love it after but not during! I think that getting fitter will only help improve my poker and help me play longer hours.

Today at the real job, it was was boring as hell and nearly fell asleep at my desk. If I did fall asleep then i know the dream would have been about playing poker. I think the poker bug has hit me had since training with Nick and Boedye.

So in the poker today, I lost another $100 in 25 or so games. The PT3 graph looks a like bad but its only the 2nd day losing and still up massively overall. I have been on worse ones since starting my training so I am not overly worried. The moves I am making the right ones and it's a case of waiting for this small variance streak to go away! You know its not yuour day when you are all in against 3 players with KK and up against AK, AJ, A3 and the A hits the flop... You have got to laugh! Or flopping a full house for a guy to hit quads on the river in a hand he should never be in.

Yesterday, a fellow member showed me a link from youtube on how to play JJ. After watching it, I think I got cursed as I lost with JJ at least 3 times that I can remember. Oh well nevermind but for a really good laugh check out the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP9CBtSW0kA

Going to do a review now of the games I played today to ensure I DID in fact play well and not like a donk!!!

Hoping to crush it tomorrow!

Monday 8 February 2010

Bad Monday

Well, I normally play 5-a-side football on Mondays so do not get to play poker. Today was an exception where I essentially could not make it so decided to play a few games. With good results from this weekend my spirits were up and felt that I was going to keep the good run going.

Unfortunately, that was not the case and dropped $70 (mix of $3/$6) in the process of 23 games. The difference today from the other days was simple:
1) People decide to trap me with hands like ATo, 33 and 66 even 8h7h (then complained I hit with my 5s6s - lol)
2) Did not run well in the all ins being favorite or not
3) It was simple the day for the fish

I am not bothered or frustrated and its good to keep playing. At the moment the day job is slow and boring. All I want to do is play poker and think constantly about it when I have minute to breathe. The only thing that I was upset about after the session was the fact no berated or abused me for playing like a donkey. That kind of BS is what I live for and am going to try best to keep a record of the funniest insults I receive! For the abuser(s), I am not allowed to respond by writing in the chat box but please know that I find that s**t hilarious!

Currently completed 194 games approximately 2/5 of the way to making 500 games. My intention is to play more so hope to put in a few long session this week. Its been 10 weeks since training with MI_Turtle training scheme and will post a graph showing my results since I started.

Friday 5 February 2010

60 Game Session

I think this is the longest continuing session I had. It all started of well getting to two FT with a big stack but unfortunately could not take either down finishing 2nd and 3rd. After that it was all down hill. At one point I was down 45 buyins but I was proud that I never tilted once nor got frustrated. I continued with the winning formula that has helped me to build my bankroll so far. In the end patience and good play earned me a win, 4th and 5th place finishes to end the day with a 7 buyin loss for the day.

The following hand made my day!!!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 3.3 Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 250 Ante (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t10130)
SB (t27642)
BB (t46010)
UTG (t9930)
Hero (MP) (t46262)

Hero's M: 10.89

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, 10
1 fold, Hero bets t4175, 2 folds, BB calls t2175

Flop: (t10600) 2, 5, J (2 players)
BB bets t4000, Hero calls t4000

Turn: (t18600) 8 (2 players)
BB bets t4000, Hero calls t4000

River: (t26600) 9 (2 players)
BB bets t33585 (All-In), Hero calls t33585

Total pot: t93770

Villian had AcQs!! - unlucky son!!!

The villain was a very aggressive player and expected him to bet the river hence why I called both flop and turn bets. When the 4th club hits the board i am initially disgusted that he got there and shoved. It took me 3-4 seconds to realize I made a straight flush and called. Now it was not my intention to slow roll the guy but I had to make sure. Thanks for the chips though (finished 3rd)!!!

Progress to date is that I have completed 125 games from the 500 minimum that was set by MI_Turtle. I will play a bunch more during the weekend before the Superbowl.

I'm gonna eat you little fishes!!!

Thursday 4 February 2010

Group Coaching

I had a group coaching session with my day-to-day coach Bodeye2 on Tuesday night. He is a good down to earth person and very talented guy from which I hope to learn as much as possible from. MI_turtle says he will be a phenom in the poker world and after a few coaching session I tend to agree.

This week we reviewed my HH as the guy we were supposed to review was unavailable! Going over the HH, it showed that I have vastly improved. To hear from someone else that I played well is great encouragement. I picked up one thing in particular that I put into practice in last nights session and it worked a charm. There were a few things that I also picked up in my group session with MI_turtle which also helped.

Yesterday was a hectic day for me, I was up at 5:45am to attend the gym for 6:30 completing an 1.5 hour workout. Go to my normal day job for 8:15, travel into the city for a supplier visit, rush home for 6pm, have some dinner, go to a friends pub to serve drinks for 2 hours (to cover a staff meeting) from 7pm til 9pm, watch the 2nd half of Leeds v Spurs, review a HH before the grind. Finish at 1:30am, wake up at 7am for work today!!! Summarised as HECTIC!!!

I have two challenges this month:

1) MI_Turtle has told me that I need to complete at least 500 games. Normally I would not have a problem with this but as it's a shorter month and have a number of social events planned it's going to be tough. MI_Turtle... I will not FAIL!!

2) Within the Bodeye2 camp, we are going to have an internal team challenge where by the winner will get $300 shipped to their account. The parameters of the challenge is that the student that has the best score from the following equation will win: No Games * Ave Buy In * Total Profit. Based on last months results I will not have come even close to winning. This challenge has added to my desire to play/imporve more and I hope to take down my fellow team members.

In last nights session, I had completed 22 games and it was not as smooth sailing as I hoped. It all started off with a number of bad beats being inflicted on me and had a thought that this would not be my day. I remained as focus as ever and made the best possible decision I could in the hands in front. It was not until after the session that I realised that I had a 150% ROI for the day according to PT3 (not including KO bounties). After a quick scan of the results, I managed to bubble on a table where I had the guy dominated but my dreams of a hugh chip stack going into the FT where crushed on the turn.

Going to play tonight... if you do have some spare cash then please look me and my fellow students up and leave it with us we know what to do with it.