January End

Played in the WBCOOP ME today and was settling nicely with the confidence of yesterday's performance. The game yesterday gave me some encouragement that I am learning the game and improving. A few months back I do not think that I would have been able to go are far as I did. I finished a lowly 1318 out of 2062. There was a fish on my right that was playing 88/10 over 50 hands and had a 14K stack when the average was still 3K. I decided to try and isolate him most hands or limp behind in multi way pots, wining a large percentage of my chips against him. In the end the fish busted me drawing slim on the river! Oh well gg.

In terms of monthly summary, I did not get any more games in since a previous post but see the graph below:



Although I put in 500+ games, my intention is to play more if possible but since it's Feb and there are less days in the month it will be a tough task. Aim high and you may just reach it! Watch this space.

Personal goals wise, I did go to the gym twice a week but not the 3/4 as planned and so will try to improve on that. Really starting too see the change by going to the gym regularly als starting to feel less tired during the day as my body gets used to the early mornings and late nights.

Good luck at the tables!

WBCOOP Event 6 Result

This is just a quick one to say that I did not win. I came in 3rd and earned a $215 SCOOP ticket. The total field size was 1939 and to finish so high up is a big accomplishment for me.



Along the way I had my coach on the same tabled and got an in-depth look into a genius at work. He not only abuse the rest of the table, I was also not spared. There was a hand early on when I was dealt AA in the BB, Coach raised it just over min as we are taught, I 3 Bet and he folded. Now I am not entirely sure whether it was an error since I know that he is raising loads of hands, he knows I know this, therefore smooth call from me would start alarm bells in his head, by re-raising he is going to fold all the rubbish hands so what do I do? Will speak to him about it.

The best part of the night was actually crippling him to 2-3BB. I raised UTG (just over min raise) with AsKs, table chip lead re-raises 3x my raise, coach shoves! Now if this was any other play I would have had to hesitate really think if my AK was good but knowing coach it was an easy call, table chip lead tanks a little while and folds (stating he had 99 and was insta calling coach)! Coach turns up with Td8d and in Dale Roxxu's live stream says here's the flush coming... unfortunately for him he doesn't get there and I am on my way.

It will be pretty interesting reviewing the HH but will need one of the coaches to assist to see if I was playing too nitty, loose, or donkishly. On a final note, not sure what to do with 2 SCOOP tickets, may look to sell if possible.

Good luck at the tables!

WBCOOP Results

I have participated in these WBCOOP events this month and proceeded to spew off all my chips. There always seems to be one aggro donk who thinks shipping 100BB every hands to pick up the blinds from the people sitting out is a good strategy. I unfortunately, lost patience a few times and called with questionable hands and did not get there. Also got unlucky in some spots but nad neat stories are never good to tell.

Results so far...

WBCOOP Event #1 - Finished 1532/1634

WBCOOP Event #2 - Finished 1152/4913

WBCOOP Event #3 - Finished 1747/1843

WBCOOP Event #4 - Finished 1520/1876

WBCOOP Event #5 - Finished 144/1536 earning a $11 SCOOP ticket

Tonight is the 6th Prelim event followed my the ME tomorrow. Hopefully I can pick something up but who knows. To get far in these type of events you need skill as well as luck.

In terms of my grinding, I will have achieved the Bronze Iron Man status for January and looking to retain or improve that over the coming months. To accomplish the lowest level you need to gain 50 FTPs for 20 days but visit the site for more information.

The games this month have been up and down like I have mentioned in previous posts but had probably my best session of the month last night. Only got in 29 games as I had a group session with the coach.

Summary with 2 days to go:
$3 Games played: 414 @ 19.73% ROI (excluding KO bonus)
$6 Games played: 95 @ -5.63% ROI (excluding KO bonus)
Total Summary: 509 @ 11.84% ROI

As you can see not doing so well in the $6 games but not sure why. The standards are exactly the same and the bubble is slightly tighter which plays into my hands. Could be the case of just running bad but will not know until after a review session.

Good luck at the tables!

Made 5 Final Tables

Today I managed to make 5 final tables from the 21 played today. Normally, I would be happy knowing that by making 5 I will come out with a winning session. Alas that was not to be the case, I somehow ended up finishing 5th x2, 7th x2 and 8th. In general, I do not like to talk about bad beats and so do not want to type them either. Let’s just say when all the money goes in whether behind or in front the outcome was the same... NOT POSITIVE!

To run bad only final tables is probably worse than not making the money at all. You spend at least 1.5 hours to get there sometimes as CL but mostly in the pack and not to make it to heads up is disappointing. Overall, i played solidly and should have been rewarded a little better financially. I am running at an all time low of 9% for the month over 444 games.
Good luck at the tables!

Poker After Dark

I watched Poker after Dark (Nicknames Week) and was in tears. In fact they were tears from laughter... If you are cleaver and seen the episode then you can read the next extract otherwise skip over.

Oh my god Phil Helmuth I am not an 11 times bracelet winner but everyone knows that in tourney poker that getting anted off is the ultimate NO NO. To be honest, I love watching him play, the rants and blow ups are great entertainment and I think he actually does it for the cameras probably in his PAD contract. The last two episodes were just hilarious with Antonio and Laak just taking the piss out of Helmuth


Well in terms of poker my PT3 graph has more peaks and dips that the Alps. It's up then down then up and then down and up and down... you get the picture. To be honest, I have been a little frustrated that I cannot maintain the upwards momentum for a sustained period but that is just poker and variance. I also think that since I am in the process of learning more and more about the game the adjustments being made are costing me. With anything you learn or so I have found there is always a little dip before things improve. It is just key not to get discouraged; I will be a winning player (getting there) in the long run so these daily short term fluctuations should not matter. There are so many fishes that it's only a matter of time before I am crushing every session. I am working hard every time I play with my concentration up as close to 100% every time.

In terms of emotional training, I have greatly improved and did not have a single outburst of joy or frustration which is great. I am trying my best to be as emotionless as possible but I have to take it day by day session by session. I will have another day off from poker and then back to the grind on Tuesday. Monday is my 5-a-side football night which I have been doing for the last 10 or so years. It's great to get out and do something different to poker. Also, decided to add a few more life goals to achieve:

1) Attend the gym 3/4 times a week
2) Eat more healthy in terms of a daily meal schedule
3) Help the girlfriend around the flat a little more

Poker is very important to me in that i want to make it my main source of income onday or allow me the freedom to work less hours or even get luxury items that I would not buy normally. However, I had a small argument/heart-to-heart with the girlfriend and she expressed that I have become slightly obsessed. I need to pay a little more attention to her and the household stuff. Online poker is always there and will not go away. She is willing to support me in terms of my poker aspirations but told me not to control our lives which is totally true.
Good luck at the tables!

Emotionless

I mentioned about my coaching in an earlier blog and to say that it's the best decision ever is an understatement. The bonus of the system I am in is that I have a head coach and an assistant coach. I work mainly with the assistant coach as he works with me on a day to day basis but still get advice from the head coach and review sessions with him individually or as a group of students.

To cut the rambling short, head coach sent out an email a few days ago stating the objective is to be robot like. He said that I should play emotionless whether I got a bad beat, put one on someone else or just ran good. Also to minimize all distractions and movement of the body. So taking that into account the last two sessions I have failed in the motionless aspect as I cannot sit in a chair for hours without moving... it is just impossible I tell ya. However, I have had my emotions in check the last two sessions so much so my girlfriend has not heard me once in the last two days. I unfortunately managed to see someone suckout on me AK vs. my KK and an A on the river for $40k with 20 people left which made me say something. Other than that I have tried my utmost to react to nothing that happens and stay focused.

I ran pretty well yesterday and managed to take one table down after finishing 9th, 4th and 3rd of which the last two were in the $6 KO rather than the $3. The one where I was 4th had 4 regs so it was a shove fest and whoever ran good was going to win. I think everyone had a short stack or the chip lead at some point... it was crazy to see and be part of it. Today's action was a grind and did not run as well, only making 2 FT finishing a poorly 5th and 9th although I am happy with how I played. It was brutal to finish two games in 11th and 10th but it is always my aim to have a bigger then average stack at the FT. So if that means me pushing (if it's the correct play) then I will do it bubble or no bubble... it's the way I roll... also the fact Head coach will KILL ME if I didn't!!

Today is Friday and I am going to play a long session. I prefer the longer sessions then the short ones I have on the weekdays, makes me feel like I am a poker grinder to a small extent. So all the little fishes that read this... please pay the $3/6 KO tourneys and hand me over your money.

I suppose a quick summary of the month since I am halfway through:
Games played: 312
ROI (excluding KO bonus): 9.11% (definitely below expectation)

Good luck at the tables!

An Honest Reflection

I said that in my last post I was going to beat variance. Well, I had a great day putting in around 60 games and a very good ROI to show. However, it’s been a brutal last 7 days (since 5th Jan except Friday) and I cannot seem to get any consistent results.

Honestly speaking I made 4 fish moves on 4 different FT finishing 9, 9, 8, 7 and these have really hurt me. I am not worried about the financial aspect but the actual plays themselves. I know how to play better then what was shown and that is the most disappointing part of all. Getting coolered is one thing but if you make a bad move like shoving AQo against a UTG 4x raise because you think you can push them off a hand holding 30BB is just f**king stupid, I know that, my opponent knows that and my 2 year old nephew knows that. I have never been so annoyed with myself that I wanted to push myself. There is no excuse, bad runs eventually lead to bad plays and I think that my current form reflects that I am in a rut and making a few questionable plays that I would normally not make.

I am taking a day off to just go over a few HH and intend on not playing a single hand. I think the break may do me a good as I am pretty down beat at the moment. When you are scared to raise with AA and KK because you think it will get cracked it is time to take a break. It is still my intention to one day make poker my main source of income so to learn how hard it can be early on is a good thing and will only make me a stronger person for it.

That’s the doom and gloom out the way but I think I have found another poker goldmine. During my lunch break today, I dabbled in a little 10c/20c limit holdem cash game on Stars. Wow, do those guys not know how to play poker. In just 133 hands I was up £3.48 (equivalent to 13BB/hour) and i know that the sample size is small but what a rush compared to my current 90 man grind. It is a limp fest down at these low limits and so people can be exploited a lot more. I will probably play this game on Stars when I cannot grind the 90 mans and post results every month. I think this game will suit my more mathematical brain and hope to step up the levels. If any one reads this and has any advice on the best way to tackle this game then please leave a comment.

Good luck at the tables.

WBCOOP

Well I heard from my coach that he is entering WBCOOP. Since I have not heard about this before I would did a little research and to my amazement this is going to be the 5th year. Think this will give me a great oppotunity of practicing my MTT skills without denting the bankroll. Hopefully I can win a prize or two so I can enter the SCOOP which would be another first!!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 330353

Today is the day I turn variance on its head. I intend to play between 50 and 60 games today if not more to end this pitiful run I am having. Looking back at a few games in the past three or so days I have missed a few spots and not taken small edges that were on offer also had a number of beats that I will not go into. Staying focused and looking forward to a solid session... stay out of my way!!!

Good luck at the tables!

January... the story so far

I started the New Year off in style with quite a few beers with friends and family but finished earlier then previous years 2am rather than 7am). It came as a surprise when I woke up around 10am feeling refreshed after a quick shower and a bite to eat. Unfortunately, we had some visitors in the house and they were sleeping in the same room as the PC so poker had to wait... damn it I want a big house!!

All I wanted to do was play poker and really was anxious to start the year as I intend to carry on. I managed to get my session in eventually and ran like GOD. Managed to get to 5 FTs and they were all running at the same time. It was unbelievable and finished 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 5th and 6th for a roi of 168%!!

Since that amazing first day of the month run, I have had a mixed bag of results the last 3 days being a little tough and am going to look at the HH to investigate whether it was play bad or run bad. I suspect that it was a bit of both but either way, I am happy my game is progressing. After watching a “Devo” video on PVT I am making notes on players during the breaks on their general stats and labelling them, think this will help me to understand players tendencies. It’s pretty hard to take notes while multi-tabling so if any one has any hints/tips on this then let me know.

So far the month looks like:
Games: 124
ROI: 20.6%



I think these are solid numbers but the fact of the matter is that I definitely feel that I deserved to have a much higher ROI then currently achieving. It’s unbelievable how fishy and stupid some of these players are. Hopefully I can catch them when I run good to prove to them those AK vs 52hh won’t win you games that often you stupid big stack fish!!

Going to have a long review session using re-player and Sit n Go Wizard (two must tools) for online poker. Hopefully did not make too many fishy mistakes!

Good luck at the tables!