Today is the last day of September, the time to complete my challenge is running out.
I played 7 games on Friday and Saturday, cashed in 4 of them. One of them was just a $3 game on PokerStars though for light relief.
Running Total: Played 130 / ITM 41% / ROI 13% / Profit $147.40
Wednesday was my last day at work and Bishopton Poker League night so I didn't play any online Poker. I placed third in the poker league game tonight, and should have finished higher but I made a bad call, knowing I was almost certainly behind to bust out in 3rd. I did win a cheeky little cash game after the league game though.
I had hoped to get a good number of games in on Thursday and Friday but there is some work I need to get through first. I spent most of Thursday working away inside Second Life and only managed to play one online game in the evening. I did win it though so that's helped the ROI a bit more.
Running Total : Played 123 / ITM 40% / ROI 10% / Profit $107.80
It's unlikely I will get any games in on Friday until the evening so my 200 game / 20% / $400 profit target is looking in grave jeoperdy. There are a couple of things that could help.
1) My strike rate in the $11 games since I started playing them again is excellent, if I can maintain that kind of rate I may reach my $400 target without needing to play 200 games. I've played 7 games since I started back at the $11's and have picked up 2 x 3rd, 1 x 2nd, 2x 1st. That's 5 out 7 cashes which is an ITM of 71% and an ROI of 120%. That's a pretty exceptional rate, but it is a tiny sample size and I don't expect it to continue. Maybe it's things just balancing out after the terrible run I had a few weeks ago.
2) When an entrepreneur is challenged they will usually look to ways to bend or re-write the rules to their advantage in order to succeed. Well, although I called my challenge my "September Challenge" I didn't technically start until the 6th September so it could be argued that I can keep running until midnight on the 5th October.
What a slacker, I only managed two games tonight but I'm really pleased with my play. Everything felt totally in control and I took first place in one of the games, so another positive step forward for my ROI.
Running Total: Played 122 / ITM 39% / ROI 7%
/ Profit $68.80
No update tomorrow as it's Bishopton Poker League night and my last day at work so I might have a light libation to celebrate. I should manage to get a more respectable number of games in on Thursday, the first day of my new life, even though I've got a few things I need to do.
Onwards and Upwards...
I've hinted a few times on my blog that there is something going on in my life that may change things a bit, well it's finally time to spill the beans.
Tomorrow is my last day in the corporate rat race. I decided back in January that I would make some pretty big changes in my life this year. I have been in the same job as Development Director for an Internet Entertainment company for the last twelve years and it's time to move on. In fact, more than move on, it's time for a whole new chapter in my life.
I have been offered a few jobs in London but to be honest I'm looking for a complete change, so three months ago I handed in my notice and started tentatively planning the my future.
Most normal people would make sure they had a new job all lined up before leaving a perfectly good, highly paid position. Well, I've never been one for doing things the conventional way so I don't have another job lined up and I don't have an absolutely concrete plan for what comes next. But somewhere between my dreams and my tentative plans lies my future. It's going to be fun seeing what it holds.
The dream...
Well I love the Internet/Technology and Poker. I'm very good at one of them and still a struggling student of the other, see if you can figure out which is which :-). If I could find a way to make a living on my own from one of these passions it would be great. If I could find something that combined both, then that would be the dream.
From now until Christmas I am going to chill out and let all the stress and hassle of my previous existence fade away whilst I try to figure out exactly what's next. If by Christmas I am getting signals that I can make my own way as an Internet Developer / Entrepreneur or start earning a reasonable amount from Poker (not necessarily just by playing) then I will be able to go into 2008 a happy man with some clear plans and targets. If on the other hand I can't, then I'll be starting to search for a new job in the New Year. Before anybody flames me, and before you ask, I am under no illusion that I could replace my previous salary with earnings from playing poker. I've a very long way to go before I could even consider that, and I suspect I may never be good enough.
With a family, kids and a pretty chunky motgage to support I know a lot of my friends have views of me that range from mild bemusment to thinking I'm being pretty irresponsible, but I have to do this. If I had continued as I was I would have gone completely round the bend sooner or later. If by Christmas I'm starting to pull in a the beginnings of an income from my own ventures then great, if not, I still have options, even if it means going back to the rat race again.
The Tentative Plan...
The logic behind the plan initially is to build up multiple revenue streams. In other words I'm going to try a few things that in isolation might not make a massive amount but combined could be enough. The broad areas I'll be covering are Internet Development / Second Life Development / Poker
As a developer I have some projects of my own that I will be pursuing but I will also be seeking to sell my services in order to pay the bills until I can get some of my own projects running.
The first of my personal projects is a very groovy new poker website that offers something pretty unique. It's already about half built and I will divulge more soon as I'll be needing some poker enthusiasts to give me feedback and help me shakeout any bugs. Watch this space.
I also plan to spend some time improving my poker game and learning more about the poker industry as I am sure there must be openings in this burgeoning industry that somebody with my business, technical and ahem.... playing skills could extract some +EV from.
The Reality...
It's been a while since I've really looked forward to something but I have to say I'm really looking forward to waking up on Thursday morning knowing it is the first day of my new life. Yes, it's scary. I have no job, no income and a family to support, but I've got everything covered for about 6 months so I can afford to spend the next 3 months experimenting and laying the foundations for the next chapter. I feel liberated...
Finally, it goes without saying, that if you need the assistance of a shit hot web developer and poker nut then gimme a yell. Or should that read a nutty web developer and shit poker player. I guess time will tell.
To be Continued...
I only managed 4 games tonight but I was back at the $11 x 10 man SNGs and the results were pretty respectable. I picked up 3 cashes out of 4 games with 1 x 2nd and 2 x 3rd.
Running Total: Played 120 / ITM 39% / ROI 4% / Profit $40.80
I know I'm not getting through anywhere near enough games at the moment but my results have been more akin to normal over the last week so I'm reasonably happy to keep plodding away. I would like to crank up the number of games but my multi-tabling expereinces earlier in the challenge weren't good. At the time I didn't feel like I was giving away too much of an edge but the results would suggest different.
I know for a fact that my new note taking and player categorisation is working as I now have a far better feel for all the players at a table and can put them on tighter range of hands but that is taking a lot of concentration, and is leaving me a bit frazzled. I doubt I could focus that much multi-tabling. Pehaps after another few hundred games this level of focus on other player's habits will become more natural and will allow me to achieve the same results on multiple tables at once.
No online poker on Sunday. I had a lazy Sunday morning, bliss! In the afternoon I got a text from poker buddy Andy and went round to help him finish off the first Bishopton Poker League poker table.
Andy had already cut out the pieces of wood but it only took us a couple of hours to finsh assembling the pieces and put on the foam, cloth and vinyl. We were following free plans from Home Poker Tourney and they worked a treat. We are delighted with the table which seats 6 very comfortably and should be fine for 8 too. It cost about £80 to build which is pretty reasonable and I can confirm that it's very plush and comfortable to play at as we christened it with a little home game on Sunday night.
I'm finally back in the black after playing 5 games on Saturday and finishing 1 x 1st and 2 x 2nd. It's taken a while and been frustrating at times but I'm relieved.
Running Total: Played 116 / ITM 38% / ROI 2% / Profit $14.80
Now let's just hope I can keep it in the black and start moving forward with larger wins, more acceptable rake percentage and and less completely mental play from my opponents. I'm so looking forward to getting back into the $10 games again, but the bummer is that I don't know how much of a chance I'm going to get to play online today! Family stuff during the day and a home game with my poker buddies tonight.
I managed 6 games today, all $6 x 10 player and picked up 1 x 1st and 2 x 2nd so it was another profitable day on my long slow slog back to positive ROI.
Running Total: Played 111 / ITM 37% / ROI -1% / Profit -$10.20
It is looking increasingly unlikely that I will be able to hit any of my targets by the end of the month:
It was after 10pm before I got the computer powered up last night, and I almost fell asleep during the first game. I had a couple of coffees and managed to get 4 x $6 10 player games in but the best I could manage was 2 x 3rd places.
Running Total: Played 105 / ITM 36% / ROI -3% / Profit -$29.20
Day off on Friday and I have the house to myself for a few hours so I should be able to get a more respectable number of games in and hopefully get myself back into positive ROI territory.
Tuesday night was the most satisfying night of poker I've had in a couple of weeks. I only played 3 games and felt mentally quite exhausted after them but the results were good. I cashed in all three, 2 x 1st and 1 x 3rd, all in $6 x 10 player games.
Running Total: Played 101 / ITM 36% / ROI -3% / Profit -$25.20
So, 101 games and many hours into my challenge and… I’m almost back where I started. My performance over the next 100 games is going to have to be pretty exceptional, but I'm feeling good.
Yesterday I referenced an article on Pocket Fives by Jennifear, well I re-read it last night and that lead me on to reading an excellent article on Standard Tight Aggressive play and another article on a slightly looser style. I’ve been thinking quite a lot about my game and what I have been experiencing recently, so these articles definitely helped.
I went into Tuesday night’s session with a renewed determination and a refined gameplan:
1) Loosen up slightly during level 1 & 2 playing suited connectors, semi connectors and suited aces, basically anything that can make a good flush or straight, with the view of hitting a monster cheaply.
2) I have been arriving at the bubble with a relatively short stack compared to the chip leaders too often, so I need to be stealing more during level 3 & 4. So when it gets down to 5-6 players or about halfway through level 3 start stealing with any Ace, Two court cards or Kx greater than K-6, but be very aware of position and the opponents current behaviour.
3) Keep stealing as the blinds get bigger and move into ICM bubble mode at 4 players but rather than shoving when the opportunity arises be more inclined to go for a 2.5 – 3 times the blind raise. This is because the players at this level seem to recognise the shove as a stealing tactic but are more likely to take a coin flip gamble and call. If I keep the ICM raises to a standard 2.5 – 3 (or sometimes a bit more) then I can still get away from them if donkey boy calls with his 7-2 offsuit and proceeds to flop the nuts.
4) Heads Up. Just be patient and play my usual aggressive heads up game, chip away at them, wear them down and then trap them when they finally get sick of it. Just remember, patience.
Well it seemed to work a treat. I don’t know if it was my refined gameplan, lucky table selection or something else as the sample size is entirely inconsequential, but something went right so I’m happy. Now all I’ve got to do is hold that moment, and try and continue playing in this style to see if holds over a longer run.
One other thing I did was to concentrate far more on the other players’ hands during the game using the Hand History window and Poker Tracker to note every hand shown down (or mucked at showdown). I did this before but not as diligently and last night I started noting them down in a slightly different way that turned out much easier to read in the player notes window. I felt I really got into a groove last night and my focus on the game and the players surpassed my normal level, I think that’s why I felt a bit mentally drained by the end of it but I’m sure it made a big difference when I was choosing my spots to make a steal from.
Finally after I was finished playing I spent half an hour in Poker Tracker and spotted a few interesting things.
The hands I lose with are when I have just a high card or a single pair, everything else is +EV and the position I lose from most often is the Big Blind. So there are a couple more pointers for me to follow as I tweak my game a little more.
One thing is for sure, playing so many games, at the same level, on the same site and opening myself up to public scrutiny is bringing me a focus and level of self analysis that I don’t think I have achieved before. Long my it continue and hopefully my results will improve accordingly.
Onwards and Upwards….
No report tomorrow, Wednesday night is Bishopton Poker League night.
Oh boy, sometimes poker can be such a frustrating game, one step forward and three steps back. So can you guess how I got on last night? Yup, you got it. The gradual rebuild back to profit suffered a set back last night and my ROI is down a few more %. ARSE!
I started off last night by playing 5 x $6 - 10 player and only managed 1 x 2nd and 1 x 3rd. Then I switched to $6 - 6 Max games and started multi tabling and didn't cash in any of the 5 of them that I played.
I did make a couple of bad plays on the 6 max games whilst multi-tabling, partially because I perhaps didn't have as good a read on my opponents as I would if single tabling and partially because I made a couple of decisions too quickly. Having said that I was on the receiveing end of some pretty sick behaviour.
I've been playing tight in the early stages of these SnG's only getting involved if I have a big hand, but have been finding I can cruise up to the bubble OK but am often relatively short stacked by the time I get there. Normally, that's OK. I'm more comfortable playing when it gets down to three or four players and big blinds as I can get a better read on my opponents, I can start bullying a bit and I can start bringing in some ICM bubble play, but in these $6 games they will call an all in a lot looser than at higher levels so I need to be more cautious and that dillutes any bubble play advantage I may have had.
I'm toying with the idea of playing a bit looser in the early levels, keeping the pot small pre-flop and playing more of a post flop game. These guys at the $6 level seem to call just about anything pre flop but will often laydown hands to a relatively small bet on the river. I'll maybe try loosening up and playing more of a post flop game tonight in a couple of games. There was an article on Pocket 5's by JenniFear that I must dig out and re-read as I seem to remember it advocating this style.
Running Total: Played 98 / ITM 34% / ROI -8% / Profit -$67.20
Revision on yesterday's weekly mini target:
1) Be careful multi tabling, don't make decisions too quickly, try to take the time to study the hand and opponent to help me make a better decision.
2) Profit is more important than number of games played, don't rush to Multi table if it's going to have a negative effect on my ROI. I would rather get to 150 games with 15% ROI than 200 games with -5% ROI.
nuff sed
I had quite a quiet Sunday, spending time with the family, so I only played 5 games today but managed a small profit for the day so musn't grumble.
Sun 16th Sep: Played 5 / 1 x 1st (10 handed) / 1 x 2nd (6 Max)
Running Total: Played 88 / ITM 35% / ROI -4% / Profit -$32.20
I'm slowly working my back to breakeven ROI for the month and the bankroll on Party is back up to $215 so I 'm nearly ready to step back up to the $10 games. If I have a good night on Monday and can get my bankroll back to $250 I should be able to move back up again on Tuesday.
I've still got a long way to go to get to 200 games and 20% ROI, but at least I'm in a better frame of mind than I was a week ago. If my first couple of games go well tonight I will start multi-tabling again. I really need to be playing more games but I also need to be really careful in case multi-tabling was the cause of some of the pain last week.
This week's mini targets:
1) Increase the number of games per day - Aim for 10 per day
2) Get back into the $10 games and maintain +ROI in them whilst multi-tabling
Saturday was a more enjoyable day, didn't play much due to the cinema outing but the results were good, played 5 cashed in 4. The Bourne Ultimatum was brilliant, and all the better for watching the Supremacy the previous night as the Ultimatum is a continuation of the storyline set up in the Bourne Supremacy.
Back to the poker...
Playing a lot of games at the same level on the same site is giving me a focus I don't think I've managed to achieve before. I now feel I know my game better and can see the effect of small changes much more easily. I used to skip around from site to site so it was never as clear how small changes effected things as all the other variable in the equation were changing too.
Sat 15th Sep: Played 5 / 1 x 1st / 3 x 2nd / EV +$27 (4 x 6-Max , 1 x 10 Player)
Need to spend a little time brushing up on my Heads Up play today, too many seconds yesterday.
Running Total: Played 83 / ITM 35% / ROI -5% / Profit $-37.20
Little baby steps, but at least they are in the right direction.
Saturday morning is double update morning.
On Thursay night I did indeed drop back down to the $6 level for bankroll preservation reasons as discussed in an earlier posting. I was dog tired when I started playing but managed 8 x 6-Max games before calling it a night.
Thu 13th Sep: Played 8 / 1 x 2nd / 1 x 1st
Only played three games on Friday night, watched the Bourne Supremacy on DVD in preparation for a trip to the cinema to see the Bourne Ultimatum tonight.
Fri 14th Sep: Played 3 / 1 x 1st / 1 x 2nd
Running Total: Played 78 / ITM 32% / ROI -9% / Profit -$64.20
A small step in the right direction, but I won't be able to play much today so it's going to be a long slog back to +EV
No update on my September challenge today as I was playing live last night in the final game of The Bishopton Poker League, a local league run by me and a few of my buddies. I went into the final in joint 3rd place in the league, needing a strong finish with lots of points and for the first and second positioned players to bust out early, oh, and I also needed a busy night so there would be lots of points for a strong finish.
Alas, it was a quiet night, probably due to the Scotland vs France match, and we only managed 9 players. Even though I won the game it didn’t yield enough points for me to leapfrog either of the two league leaders who finished 3rd and 4th positions. I played well though and am pleased with my 3rd place finish in the league. If I hadn’t missed one of the games due to work commitments it could have been a different story.
My win has boosted my confidence a bit and I’m looking forward to getting back to my challenge on Thursday night even though I’ll be dropping down to the $6 tables.
When I went to bed on Monday night I was sure that I had put my losing streak behind me, so when I sat down at about 9pm on Tuesday night I was looking forward to seeing my bankroll and ROI starting to climb again. Alas this wasn’t to be. Tuesday night was another horrible session.
I started playing 10 player SNGs and only cashed in one of them for 3rd place. I then moved back to the 6 Max tables and played 7 of them only managing to cash once in 2nd. This has to be the worst streak I’ve had in SNGs in well over a year, if not ever and I have to say it’s got me feeling pretty frustrated. I’m sure it’s just variance but I’ll be spending a little while in Poker Tracker reviewing some of my critical hands before I play any more of my challenge.
I also have a bankroll related decision to make before I play any more. The last 3 sessions have been sufficiently bad that my bankroll has taken a hit. I should probably have stepped down a level after Monday night but I was pretty sure that Tuesday’s session would reverse the trend, I was wrong. I still have $170 in my Party Account, I think I have 3 options:
1) Try and ride out the variance, continuing to play the $11’s. I’m tempted but logic tells me not to. I’ve always been quite good at bankroll management, just because this is a challenge doesn’t mean I need to throw my normal bankroll rules out the window.
2) I’m having a particularly bad run on Party but have decent funds on quite a few other sites, why not switch my challenge to another site. I could but it seems like a bit of a cop out. Normally if I was selecting an SNG or a cash table I will go where I feel I am most likely to win. Poker tracker shows me which sites / levels / structures I have historically done best at so I normally wouldn’t think twice about staying on a site where I was having a tough time. However, I have historically done well on Party and I don’t feel I have played badly or that my opponents have outplayed me, I certainly know the latter isn’t true, I’ve got the Hand Histories to prove it.
3) Manage my bankroll sensibly and step down to the $6 SNGs on Party. The number of Donktastic muppets I’m going to encounter will be frustrating but if I’m going to take heed of all the wise words I’ve read, then I need to choose this option.
I’m tending towards option 3, just knuckle down, ride it out and don’t let it get me down.
Having said that, I won’t be able to play online tonight because it’s the final in the local poker league that I run with a couple of my poker buddies. I will defer my bankroll decision until just before my Thursday session. Until then, here’s the sorry stats.
11th Sep : Played 10 / 8 x DNC / 1 x 3rd ($11 10 player) / 1 x 2nd ($11 6-Max)
Running Total: Played 67 / ITM 30% / ROI -10% / Profit -$70.20
Sunday was a bad day, perhaps the worst I’ve had. It left me frustrated and I spent the night and most of Monday contemplating my play but although my results on Sunday were definitely getting me down I was pretty convinced it was just bad luck / variance.
I wasn’t able to get started on Monday until 9:30 pm but I sat down at the screen with a renewed determination. “I won’t let these Donks get me down”. Trying to be sensible I decided, no multi-tabling until I get a few wins back under my belt, just incase that was having a detrimental effect, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. I also decided to play 6 max tables rather then 10 max. Whilst my ROI to date on 10 player tables is positive, my ROI on 6 player games is higher, and I’ve played a shed load more of them.
Despite my best efforts, Monday was completely horrible too. I felt I was playing really well but it just wasn’t going my way. To say the Poker Gods were frowning on me is an understatement, they were standing in the heavens on their little clouds with their trousers round their ankles, pissing all over me. My nut full house gets cracked by Quads, I hit a set and get beaten by a higher set, and on and on it goes. What does a guy have to do? However I’m not going to let it get me down.
I played 7 games on Monday and finally cashed in my last game of the night. In fact I did better than cash, I completely decimated the game, took 1st place and was able to go to bed with a feeling of satisfaction rather than despair. Hopefully that’s the losing streak over and I can return to my winning ways tonight. If I don’t, I fear I may need to drop down a level if I have another bad night, and I really don’t want to have to do that. God knows what level of donktastic muppetry I'll encounter if I have to move down to the $6's, hell it's daft enough in the $11's.
10th Sep : Played 7 / 6 x DNC / 1 x 1st (all $11 6-Max)
Running Total: Played 57 / ITM 32% / ROI -1% / Profit -$4.20
Yeuch! I've had a pretty horrible Sunday.
I've played 13 games today, 10 online and 3 live games at a friendly local home game. I did OK at the home game but my results online have been dire. I know I busted out from one of the online games because I made a bad play but I think my plays were correct in the others. One thing is for sure, you need be very carefull with ICM bubble play at $10 on Party as you are far more likely to get called. Lesson learned, assimilated and ready for a better session tomorrow.
I'm working tomorrow so I probably won't be logging in until about 9pm so not sure how many games I'll get in.
9th Sep Online : Played 10 / 8 x DNC (did not Cash) / 1 x 3rd / 1x 2nd
9th Sep Live : Played 3 / 2 x DNC / 1 x 1st (winner takes all)
Running Total : Played 50 / ITM 34% / ROI 7% / Profit $36.80
I actually starterd playing towards my challenge a few days ago but only mentioned it on my blog yesterday, so technically this is the first update even though it's the 9th September.
Only played 5 games yesterday, a couple in the morning and three in the evening after I got the kids to bed...but before the coverage of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. By the time the qualifying finished it was after midnight and I was feeling pretty tired so I decided to get some sleep rather than play tired.
Running Total to 9th Sep : Played 37 / ITM 38% / ROI 20% / Profit $71.80
ROI on target but I need to step up the number of games I'm playing else I won't hit my 200 games until about the 40th of Sepetmeber!
I mentioned in my posting last week that recently my discipline had deteriorated a bit. Well it's time to step up my level of studying and set myself a challenge for the month.
For the studying, I'm going to watch at least one training video per day from Poker X Factor. I always find my game improves imediately when I watch these videos, it just tends to drift again if I don't continue to watch them and play a sufficient amount to keep everything at the forefront of my mind.
I'm also going to devour some more books and spend time reading articles online. I've just started reading a new book from Two plus Two publishing called Sit'n'Go strategy by Colin Moshman. I've already read about one third of it and it seems pretty good. I'm also plannig to go back and skim through Harrington Vol2 again and spend some time working on my poker maths, Pot Odds and ICM theory.
What about the challenge. Well I'm going to try and play 200 $10 Sit and Gos on Party Poker by the end of September. The logic behind this is that I will be playing sufficiently frequently that it will help me get some consistency back into my game. With my renewed appetite for learing and a focus on my discipline I am hoping this should also help my bankroll too. I am striving for a 20% ROI. I will be multi-tabling, probably only two at a time but by the end of the month I want to be running 3 or 4 tables without getting overwhelmed. If all goes well this should give me the confidence and bankroll to start dipping my toe into the $20's next month.
It may not be the most extreme challenge, but at least it gives me a goal to work towards. I've already made a start on it in the last couple of days and I think I'm up to about 30 SNGs already.
I'll try and post a little mini update every day, wish me luck.
This week I got my first chance to visit the Stanley "Mint" casino in Glasgow and take part in one of their tournaments. I've wanted to go to the Stanley for simply ages, but never seemed to get around to it. That all changed this week when i tagged along with a few of my local poker buddies to the Thursday night £25 Freezeout.
A couple of the lads I was with play there reasonably regularly and are pretty good players. I wasn't sure how I would fair. I guess I was reasonably confident that I would hold my own and not look like a complete donk, but more than that... I wasn't sure.
I'm delighted to say the evening was a great successs with me taking down 4th place for £110 from a field of 43 players. I picked up a couple of small pots early on but concentrated on playing tight and trying to get a feel for the game and style of my opponents. For the first hour of the game I hardly saw a single face card. When I finally did, I lost a a chunk of chips in two different hands, just before the break. So I went into the break a little unsure if I would last until the next break.
The second session started and my chips continued to dwindle as the blinds increased. Every time I picked up a hand or was going to target a players blind it would be raised before me and I'd have to abandon the hand. I picked up Jacks in late position but there was a raise and a re-raise before it got to me, so into the muck they went. It turns out I was up against pocket Kings and Ace-Queen on a board showing a second Ace, sigh of relief. The blinds were now starting to catch me and it was time to start moving. Luckily I picked up a couple of hands, shoved, got called both times and won both races. So I was back out of the danger zone and back to average stack level.
Then the defining hand came along. I was sitting in the big blind and I picked up 9-5 offsuit. One player limped in from mid position and the Small Blind limped too. I was wathcing the Small Blind as the flop came down, he was a relatively new arrival at the table, had just lost a couple of pots, and was now a bit below average in chips. I knew he was getting ready to make a move and sure enough, shove. I turned to look at the flop and couldn't believe my luck when I spotted a 9-5-X. Could my opponent have trips? Hang on a moment... look at the flop more closely 9-5-9, I've flopped a full house, the high side of it no less. Rock'n'Roll. I pretend to deliberate for another moment then calmly call the Small Blinds 9,100 all-in fully expecting the reamining player to fold.
The reamining player takes another glance at his cards then looks at his below average chipstack, counts off his chips and sticks them in the middle too, leaving himself with just one $100 chip. The turn comes down, it's inconsequential. I hold a single $100 chip, smile at the boy and chuck it in, he smiles back and chucks in his $100 chip. Card on there backs and he has A-J suited and the small blind had a 5 in his hand and had made two pair on the flop. Both were drawing dead and I was now in possession of a very respectable ~30,000 chips. Happy Days.
I've got to rush out now, errands to do, so I need to try and wrap this up.. Suffice to say. I made the final table, lasted longer than my buddies. Made some awesome laydowns and dodged some potentially terminal encounters. Got reads on a couple of guys and managed to use one of them to take a lad out.
I took out a couple of folk at the final table and was marginal chip leader. But as we got short-handed I started playing like a pussy and didn't use my stack to take control the way I normally would in that position. My buddies had left and I would have to get a taxi home, so I REALLY didn't want to buuble. So I played like a complete woos and made it through the bubble. By that time the blinds were getting enormous and it was time to hussle. A guy I recognised from CinCin's, who it turns out posts ion Blonde as BobaFett was sitting to my right he made a pre flop raise on my blind. I was pretty sure he probably had a bit of something but decided to shove my A-5 anyway. He flipped over A-10 and proceeded to crush my already dominated hand by hitting a 10.
OK, I know I played like a pussy when we got short-handed, and it's my own fault, but none the less I am quite pleased with the result.
I've now played 5 proper live games, I don't count the pub league and home games as I treat them more socially, but more on that another time. Anyway, Played at the Gutshot, cashed. Visited CinCin's three times, cashed once. Visited the Stanley and cashed first time. I 'm shocked and stunned 3 out of 5 cashes is very respectable. Maybe there's hope for me yet :-)
I can't believe it's 3 months sicnce I last posted here! I've still been playing poker, and am just as passionate about it as ever. I guess I just lacked the drive and discipline to update my blog. Therefore, it's not entirely suprising that my poker has followed a similair pattern. I have still been doing pretty good most of the time but I haven't been playing with quite the same drive and discipline that I was at the end of 2006, beginning of 2007. My results haven't been as consistent and a few leaks have definately crept into my game.
Over the last couple of weeks I've had my head back in the poker books and have been playing better so it's time to get the discipline back on track, start posting here again and get on with working my poker up to the next level.
Quite a lot has been going on both in my poker life and my real life but I'll not swamp this post with everything. I'll break it up into bite sized chunks and post it over the coming days / weeks.
So here's to a new chapter,
Shuffle up and deal...
