Vegas Trip Summary

I am now back in the UK after a marathon journey from Vegas to LA then on to London Heathrow. It is a very tiring journey as I cannot sleep on planes even with my Bosch Noise Canceling headphones on. To my amazement and shock to my girlfriend, I arrived home, showered and headed back out to watch a T20 Cricket game. Let's just say she was not impressed that I was away for 2 weeks and then first day home headed out with my Uncle to watch a cricket game.

One objective I had before getting to the Rainman's was to play over 1k games which I did and if it were not for a few teething problems with PC/Internet the number could have been a lot more. Also, I actually took a day off in the 2 weeks I was there because I wanted to watch the England v USA with a few beers. Grinding is no easy task and those who think they want a poker lifestyle needs to understand this is no joke. I played everyday for 8+ hours and then spent 1-2 hours doing reviews, going over my own hands, going over a few guys hands and then the group house reviews. This is a FULL TIME job and if you do not put in the time then you will not get those rewards you are hoping for.

NestraRasta was already at the house upon my arrival and he was a fellow FTP 90 grinder. We had a little dig at eachother in that I said that before I leave the house my name will be above his in the FTP Leaderboard. At the time I said this, I immediately regretted saying it as Nesta had already put in 3 full days grinding. Uphill struggle from day 1 is not what I envisaged. There was a lot of banter between us everyday as somehow Nesta remained on top day in and day out but I was still very determined to dethrone him. I worked harder grinding then I have done in my entire life and at the end of Tuesday's grind I was a clear 130 points clear - thank you very much and left the house with a little grin. Nesta is a great player and if he applies himself will crush the games even more then he currently does - avoid him if you can.

During my time I managed around a total of 1050 90 mans - that is more then I have ever played in a single month. I hope there is sufficient time this month to push that number closer to 1800 if not 2k. We will wait and see what happens on the volume front.

I played on Pokerstars once during my 2 weeks stay. I somehow entered a $3 1R1A event with Ornopro (up and coming $2 180 crusher) and eBecks18 (already a good 180 grinder at the age of 19). We all registered the event after Nick said we should all enter but somehow never entered himself. By the time we registered we were at blinds 30/60 with a stack of 6K after the initial rebuy, but somehow eBecks must have thought the stack was too small and lost the very first hand with KK vs AA. GG sir we will review it one day - just kidding. lol. Ornopro made a run but did not cash unfortunately. Me on the other hand when on a complete tear, I managed one luckbox move when I was all in KK v AA but the poor guy did not read the script when I flopped a K and he did not improve. With regular raises taking the blind and antes, I had built a $3m chip stack, I was excited when I peaked at $1m, then more excited at $2m but when I hit $3m I felt I was in control. Nick was great telling me to keep aggressive and focused. I was extremely nervous as this was the deepest run I have made in an MTT but Nick just said relax and enjoy it. I definitely enjoyed it but the result was a little disappointing. Somehow I lost a few flips and made one questionable play, instead of shipping $1.4k for first, I came in 5th for $400. This was my best run in an MTT with over 1100 registered not bad for a part time player like myself.

There are a few people I would like to thank:

Nick - thanks for giving me the opportunity to come out and grind with you and the other coaches. The house was amazing and having a chef/cook was genius. Having not to worry about cooking lunch or dinner just allows you to focus on the grind maximizing all the time you have. Nick, gave me a few pointers and went over one HH early on in the week which allowed me to up my aggression a little which was a great benefit for the rest of my stay.

Bodeye - well he is a genius and paying for dinner twice which is always nice. Seriously though he helped review my HH files, some troublesome hands and gave me a better understanding of poker in general. I cannot say enough about him but if you get a chance to work with him then do not let him leave if you can. Did you know that he has earnt $1 million in online winnings since he started. Not bad for a 20 year old.

Aaron - he ran around setting up the house and was giving encouragement whether you were losing money or winning money. The message was always the same, focus and get the games in and do not wory about the result. One funny moment was when he was sweating me on a final table, I made a sick read and the guy was crippled to 4BB, Aaron stood up and said you should have this one and walked away. A few minutes later when Aaron re-appears I give him the bad news of how I come second!

Nesta - man he made made me grind harder then before with our little bet even though no money was involved. He drove me around Vegas to see all the big casinos and the strip in general. Without his contribution I would not have been able to go to a Las Vegas show which was awesome (Thanks Nick).

The two week trip was awesome and if you get a chance then I suggest doing it. One piece of advice is if you cannot follow the details below then it is not for you:
1) Wake up and be ready by 9ish
2) Grind till you have put in 100 FTP or 200 Stars games (normally 8+ hours) in as much silence as possible
3) Review for 1-2 hours
4) Repeat the next day

Seems a simple set of instructions but trust me it will wear you down so be prepared. I have a few pictures that I will add later but suspect Aaron will have them on rainmapoker.net in the future.

Good luck with the grind!!!