Thats it for 2009

Well, its the final post of 2009 and it was all set to be how bad a year its been at the tables and y worst year since 2005, however December turned all that around. Luckily a few good results on MTT's meant I finished the year $5328.03 in profit, $2600 of this being in December Alone.

I guess on reflection it was a poor year, I finished about 13 buyins down overall on the cash tables in a year where I really thought would be my first +ve. However I can look back over the year and those 13 buyins can be put down to a few sessions where I tilted badly, in fact I did have one day where I lost 13 buyins in one session alone. It just goes to show how over the long term a few bad sessions can really add up and turn you from a losing player to a winning player, every pot and decision really does count at cash, so if like me, you tend to be playing cash in the background while fucking around reading forums and playing Farmville, your $ per hour is really going to suffer. Hopefully this can be addressed in the new year.

I had another small tournament win on laddies, not a big win, but it did take over 5 hours and I believe I played very well and didn't make any mistakes during the whole tourney, sometimes this is more satisfying than winning big $$$, well almost lol.



Tried a few different things on the cash tables this month, even tried a couple of sessions shortstacking on 9 tables. I sat with $10 on $50 10 seater tables playing push poker and some blind stealing at the end of the session I had played 3000 hands and was $135 down looool. It was unreal, variance at its worst. Out of the 20 all in pots I got called on I only one 4 !!! losing 16 of them, worse of all I only got it in bad on about 3 of them, with most being an 80/20 fave getting called by lower pocket pairs which spiked there 2 outers.......So that idea got dropped quite quickly.

I finished the month going back to play 6 max and trying to play an optimum style, I managed to pull back all of the shortstacking losses doing this and finished off the month about a buy in up.

The original plan for next year was for volume, I have been practicing 9 tabling full ring on iPoker for a couple of days, sitting with $30 and seem to be doing ok, but it is still a problem with the shortstackers. Although, looking at the forums, there seems to be quite a few rumours that they will be changing the rakeback method from dealt the contributed, which will change a lot of peoples strategy I guess, but hopefully will make for better tables. The other big change on iPoker is winning players getting banned from playing. Victor Chandler, where I am playing the moment have blocked quite a few of the big winners from playing cash because of a new fine system being imposed by iPoker, which is a complete and utter farce. This even includes losing players who make money by rakeback alone, which in essence is me at the moment, so when I do start to win, it might be shortlived and I will have to start all over again on another skin if I want to play on iPoker, I guess I will see how it goes.

So the new plan is now a mix of volume and quality, alternating from multitabling full ring and playing 2-3 tables of 6 max. I also intend to play a lot more tourneys next year and also trying to sat into the bigger events, especially things like wcoop and ecoop etc. I can't go to vegas this year as where I work we are opening a new hospital in June and it will be chaos, we have even had a 2 week leave ban in the middle of the world cup ffs !!!! that could prove interesting when they try and drag me out the pub. lol

So, my goals for next year are basically to have my first winning year on the cash tables. Hopefully this will make the year my most profitable yet, $10k would be an ideal target overall, but that is what I said last year, but you never know.

Thats if for now, I hate new years eve, so will be staying in with the wife, but I love New Years Day, its like a big broom sweeping all the bad behind and everything ahead is positive. I intend to make it the best year of my life so far, lets hope it is yours too.

Goth

Joy Division - New Dawn Fades

A nice XMAS Bonus

A bit over due, but as you can see by last months graph, I now consider myself a professional rakeback monkey, playing crappy break even poker. Starting the month off well, then just getting in to the old calling station rut, I don't know how many times I have mentioned this leak while blogging, but it is still there, I'm prob losing at least 4 buyins a month just not believing big value bets on the river and paying these people off., this month is almost exactly the same. I do however believe that if I fix this leak, I can be a good winning player at the level I am currently playing at, that along with the rakeback should make for a good year next year. So for the time being the crossroads is straight ahead and carrying on playing the cash tables, I will review this after the first couple of months of next year.


It was a tricky decision, as you see by laddies pic, I have also had my biggest win ever playing MTT's shipping €1500 when I took down the monthly Rake the Rake laddies 5k freeroll. I normally would of been running around the room like a chimp on acid, but I was feeling really ill, so when my AA stood up post flop all when heads up, I thought, oh a win, thats nice !!!!!

To be fair, I did get a bit lucky, as when we were down to the last 5, I shoved from the cut off on a steal while fairly short stacked with 10 7 os and got called by QQ, the flop was a total miss leaving almost drawing dead, then the miracle 7 on the turn and the 7 on the river kept me alive, I think once after that suckout my name was on it.

The win saved my year to be fair, taking my winnings to over $5k for the year, which I thought I had no chance of achieving, I guess it just shows that I still need to keep playing the odd MTT to keep my eye in and have a chance for the big wins to give the bankroll a boost.

Saying that, I have decided to take £1000 out of my bankroll to pay for xmas and also put some towards the canada holiday next year.

Hope to get at least one more blog in before xmas, so keep on muffing and gl at the tables.

The Ting Tings - Great DJ

A Dilemma

Well, I think I have come to a crossroads in my poker life, after two years playing 90% cash, I am really starting to think if it really is for me. If I actually compare the profit from my early years which was all sng and mtt I think the figures tell there own story. Taking into account I played a lot less in those days and got NO rakeback and NO bonuses at all. At the moment, I am still a small loser on the cash tables overall, but making all my money in rakeback and bonuses.

So the dilemma is, do I go back to playing sngs and MTTs ? or to I still stick to cash and work hard on my game, so that when I do eventually become a winning player at the tables, this along with a good rakeback deal and 30k hands a month should then bring some decent $$$.

I have been looking hard at my figures to try and find out why I lose at the cash tables and it comes down to a plain and simple fact that I pay people off too lightly, I just don't believe them and I always thing they are "at it" and look them up light. I am also sad to say, I still tilt off a couple of buyins a month at least, this really does add up over the course of a year.

The month started off very well on my new site, but as you will see at the end of the month on my graph, the steep climb of profit for the first half of the month is far outwayed by the dramatic fall from grace as the decent is steeper coming down. I actually had another tit attack on friday morning and withdrew most of me money from the site, which I now regret, as it hasn't cleared and I only have 3 buyins left in there at the moment, so I can only play two tables max at the moment (which probably is a good thing)

Maybe only being able to play two cash tables, will give me the opportunity to play more MTTs as well. I have played a couple recently and done well, I should of made a decent score the other day when I was sitting 3/21 in the laddies 2.5k guarenteed out of 698 runners, I got dealt QQ and raised, 1 caller. Flop Q95 all clubs and he insta shoved, I called and he showed 55 and the lucky fish hit his 1 outer for quads on the river, was unreal, I wudda been a massive chippy at that stage as he was quite big stack as well, but eventually went out 15th....sigh. Also managed to make the FT of the 1111Poker Kracked Kings special, which I was really pleased with as there were a lot of good players to get through.

So, until the money clears back into my bank account, so I can then put it back into the poker site I took it out of, I guess its just gonna be 1 or 2 cash tables and mtts on laddies, so watch ya back on the tourney tables, Goth is back ;-))

Lush - Hypocrite

All Change

Well the old saying goes "a change is good as a rest" So a change it is. Giving laddies and the 6 seaters a break for a bit and for my sins, I am going back to iPoker and also back to 10 seaters full ring.

So its a new site and a new nickname, keeping it stum at the moment, but its prob not that difficult to work out who is me if your trawel the 50NL tables, i'm very much a creature of habit !!!

Managed to get a good deal with an afiliate, hopefully it will work out, if not, I guess theres a lot of iPoker skins to have a pop at, but will stick with it for a couple of months at least just to see how the rakeback comes in.

Played a few hands at the end of last month on the new skin just so I can get my hud etc set up. Its been a while since I played full ring, especially on iPoker and I can't believe how many short stacking mother foookers there is, there abs everywhere, at least 5 on each table. The good news is that, as far as I can see, they are all shite lol. Just wait for the right time and value town them and never ever fold top pair post flop vs them.

So started in anger on 1st november and so far, touch wood, things are going ok, a couple of buyins up, just playing quite nitty and getting it in good where I can. One thing I had forgot about was you can't resize the tables and the mini ones are a bag of wank. Also the play is sooooo slow, after playing 6 seaters mainly for the last 18 months, it seems to take forever for the fish to think about folding there 72 off suit under the gun !!! I guess I might have to play 8 tables to counteract the hands per hour rate, been doing 4-6 for that first week, will up this if it continues to go ok.

Other good news, managed to get my first live cash at Broadway Casino in Brum on Friday in the £20 rebuy, was only 64 runners, but there was a 4.5k prizepool up for grabs. I did manage a couple of pieces of luck to get there. At 15 left I was down to 800 chips after the utg limped, I shoved with TT in mid pos and he insta called with his QJ !!! WTF !!! two hands later, there was a raise in early position. i shoved me 35 os in for value with me lat 800 chips. He turned over AK. I had a big smile when the flop came down 345, big sigh on the turn bought the 2 for his straight, then a big fook off grin when another 5 dropped on the river to boat me up looooool.

A few hands later, there was a couple of limpers and I shoved me AK, got called by one of the sneaky fookers with QQ. The flop came down 2QK and I was on me way to the bar but the poker gods were with me, with the turn coming an Ace and the monster K on the river to give me the bigger boat lool. Live poker is soooooo rigged.

After that, managed to get to final table, kept me head down while still short stacked watching them knock each other out. With 6 left I was guaranteed £220, with 5th paying £280, I only had 3 BB left and I did a deal for £300 with all of the others who were pretty even taking a bigger cut, but all playing for the remaining 1.6k. I was happy with that and eventually went out shoving with KJ and walking into AK right behind me. But overall very pleased and really enjoyed the banter. It def gave the confidence a bit of a boost.

So all is rosy again, apart from the fact that I can't seem to sleep at the moment, hence writing this at 2.45am (oh and homes5 was whinging I don't update it enough *blush)

So thats it for now, hopefully will get a shed load of hands in tomorrow, although if I pop down the pub at 14:00 to watch the rugby, it may get a bit messy as they normally turn into an all dayer....c'est la vie, its a hard life.......

Todays song is just a plain and simple happy song, seen the band live twice, always make me smile.

The Wannadies - You and Me Song

Dummy, Pram.....Out

Right, thats it.

Had a great holiday, came back soooo relaxed was untrue. Played some pokes, played well and got back into the grind, has a few outdraws yesterday, but nay bother, I'm relaxed.....

Tonight, 5 buyins down, on such setup hands its untrue, set over set. full house, vs higher full house. In BB with Q3 sooooted, flop A65 all my suit giving me the flush, but the utg fish has limped with KT sooooooooooted to flooop the nut flush....FML

Ladbrokes can go kiss my arse I would of withdrawn all my money if I foooking could, everytime I try to withdraw or even transfer, it says I'm not logged in and gives me a login box, so I login, try again, noooo but i'm not logged in !!!! I'd phone them up, but I would end up smashing me fooking phone if I talked to any prick on the end of it !!!!

Time for another site..........................Can't believe my fave site to play on is the only site that I can't win on 6 max...........

Sigh !!!!!

So the irony of todays song, is that next week I am back at work and it will not be........

Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

Late night update

Not updated for a while, its seems my apathy for poker at the moment has crossed over into other areas of my life, just can't seem to get going with anything at the moment, plodding along halfheartedly. Def need a break from it all, luckily, got a holiday coming up soon and will be getting away from the rat race for 10 days or so, time to reflect on where I want to be with it all.

On the poker front, last month didn't turn out too bad in the end, I never did quite recover from the experiment at the start of the month, but pulled it back enough that after rakeback etc was almost $90 up on the month. Could of been a lot worse.

This month, I have stuck to me guns and only played a small amount of poker, only about 1.7k hands so far and I am a couple of buyins up. I am sure I will get back into the groove in the near future, hopefully put 20k+ hands in November and get ready for the push for 2010, where I def wanna get back to playing 50NL at least, with the aim of being able to play fully 100NL by the end of 2012

Not really much else to say, will be looking to remap me life out during the break, set new goals and lifestyle changes, using the time for positive thoughts, rather than the current negativity that I seem to be shrouded in at the moment. Also gonna look at changing my writing style, mix the blog up abit, seems to have gone a bit stale lately. Would love to get into a situation where I have the enthusiasm to be able to update it 2-3 times a week, I find looking back over the older posts sometimes quite surprising in what my thoughts were at the time, its quite amazing on how over the years your views and goals in life change and you forget what you used to strive for.

I guess I am just going through me mid life crisis. I have earned it and boy am I gonna have it !!!

Tata for now........

Fallen Angel

Getting Bored

Don't know why, but I am really struggling to find any enthusiasm to play over the last couple of weeks, every time I sit down to try and grind a session out, I get bored after a 100 hands or so, I don't think I have played a session of more than 350 hands since the first week. Its strange cos I have been running ok over the last 3k hands, pulling some of the bad start back. I think I may be about even for the month taking into account the rakeback.

I had already decided to take a bit of a rest in October as we are off to sunny yorkshire for a relaxing week, if the 3G holds up on the lappy, was just gonna play a few sngs and MTTs for a change, but I'm not sure I'm even gonna bother doing that.

So all my aim for this month is to reach the Laddies gold level, which I prob only need to play about 700 more points to get there, then decide what to do. Will def be back for a big push in November, as I don't want this year to end with less than $3k profit, as that is def a big step backwards.

Will prob play some cash later on tonight when the fish come back from the pub, lets just hope they ain't got their lucky boots on and suck out on me.

Hope the fun comes back into poker soon, or I will end up going to the Gym every night like I used to before I found poker !!

Gonna take a couple hundred quid out of me bankroll as well to pay for a Rammstein gig at the NEC in Feb, awesome band live. By using a piece of me bankroll it will at least makes it seem that it is worth while sat in front of a PC for hours on end.

So here are the boys live......

August Round up

August sought of fizzled out a bit, I ended up playing a bit robotically and it showed in my results, going back to my old calling station routine. Was a decent month, but should of been my best this year, but it was not to be, but was still $660 up overall, which was originally my target per month at the start of the year, but that idea has gone up the swanny.

I am off work this week, so decided that this month was the perfect opportunity to grind out 40k hands plus and get the laddies VIP and some nice rakeback etc. I also chose the 1st sept to try out loads of new things in my game. What happened was the singlemost worse day of my poker life, I finished the day 13.5 buyins down. Yep you read it right, 13.5 DOWN !!! That was in approx 3.3k hands. The crazy thing is, it don't matter, I learnt a lot, yep expensive, but I did learn. It didn't help in the fact that every fooking muppet and he dog hit everything against me, I also lost about 5 buyins overall with some shocking calls for 25bb+ "just to see if my read was right" lol, well thats my excuse and I am sitting to it.

Had a lot of strange thoughts during this massacre, ranging from "ok, I am gonna get a coach and destroy this game" to "thats it, i'm taking all me money out of every fcking poker site and giving up" The latter one normally came when the fish hit there miracle two outer to stack me after I have played the hand perfectly.

Think I will however drop back to 4 tables from 6 for a while, mainly due to the fact that if I get a beat, I def find myself chasing on other tables to get it back, that prob contributed to a couple of buyins, I suppose it was tilt, but it didn't really feel like the adrenaline fuelled tilt that I have had in the past.

So I guess for now, I am still gonna grind it out, target for the month is to just break even now loooooool.

Good Luck at the tables.

Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight

Running Hot

Well warm at least, for a change I have been dishing out some muff twice I have got it all in with QQ on a low flop only to walk into AA/KK and both times been awarded with a two outer to stack my oppo, on one of them, he was as tight as a nats chuff, so I decided to ck raise him post flop to see if he really did have AA/KK, of course he shoved so I had my answer, then before I could fold, the iccle gremlin in me head goes, "ah call anyway, just to see" I did manage to fold AA post flop after doing the same on a 468 double suited flop vs two fish, they ended up all in, one with a flopped set of 4's the other with the nut flush draw which he duly spiked, felt pleased with my laydown and saved meself 70BB. Its these sorts of laydowns that build up and save you a lot of $ p/hour in the long run.

Been 4 tabling comfortably for a while, but I have upped this to 6 tables and seem to be coping quite well with it for now, think I am gonna play most of my week like this then choose maybe 1 or 2 sessions a week where I just play two and try some different things out.

Also revamped my bankroll strategy, basically building for the future. Decided I am definitely going to stick to a 100 buyin rule now, but as added protection, I am gonna make this in ££ even for the €€ tables. This should also then allow to have some room to play 10-20 MTTS a month as well, I do enjoy them now and then, but have to be in the right mood, I find after playing cash tables all the time now, I have lost a lot of my patience in MTTs, which obviously, is a big no no.

Overall, played about 13.5k hands this month and running about 3.5ptbb/100. Which is not the best stats in the world, but I am happy to run at that, my minimum to move up the levels is 3, so I am above that at the moment, but over such a small sample, 1 session can change that quite a bit. Up about $650 on the month and I think I got a $90 bonus to come next week, so looking good. Almost certainly won't make the 30k hands I had hoped for as I have been distracted on quite a few evenings and I got a weekend on the piss coming up at the end of the month. Still hope to play well over 20k hands, which will probably be the most I have done.

Lets hope things can carry on like they are at the moment and I can make the most of this hot streak and clock up some $$$.

PJ Harvey - Down by the water

A welcome bankroll boost

I know a few posts ago after I managed to muff my my to 3rd in a $20 donkament on LuckyAcePoker I said I was gonna play a few more tournies, but like most things men say, we just don't get round to doing them, it came as a great surprise when last Wednesday I entered the 3€ 19:15 High Stack on laddies and even more amazingly enough managed to win the foooker. The €222 1st prize was a welcome boost the old bankroll. Throughout the tournie, I did nowt special, just took my time, played big pots with big hands and got away cheaply when I hit nowt. The only real bit of luck was when I was down to about 8 big blinds with about 16 left and I was dealt AT in mid position which is really an automatic shove and got snap called by the button who turned over KK, not an ace in site, but the TTx flop did help a tadge. After that, just played solidly till the last 5. One player (can't remember his name) was dominating the play raising 4 out 5 hands, he was on my button and must of had my blinds 10 rounds on the trot before I found a hand I could defend with, he was soooo annoying, but only in the fact that he was playing the game hard, he eventually went out 3rd after overplaying his agression. Heads up I managed to get a decent 2-1 chip lead when I was dealt JJ, I raised, he re raised and I shoved, he flipped AK and hit the ace on the turn and I was back fighting again. After about 10 mins I got slightly in the lead when I raised with Qc9c and he flat called, the flop was 345, with two clubs on the board, I bet, he raised and I shoved. the chips went in and he turned over J5. I rivered the floooosh and he was not a happy bunny. It was just a matter of time before the victory came. He started whinging about my luck, what he doesn't know is how much I bluffed him off pots leading prior to the muff, sometimes when you are heads up, you are happy with 2nd and just don't care, so I butchered him, nearly all of my grinding pots were none showdown, if I can get the hand history up in some sort of replayer I will, just to show him how outplayed he was (blatent brag I know, but so true) I guess he just annoyed me saying it was all luck after he called an all in with J5 on that 345 board after I had raised pre, he obv did not give any consideration to my holding, he just thought " I have top pair" Overall though, was very chuffed with the win, that along with the support on www.krackedkings.com made me feel great. If your not a member get you ass over there, it is def the best community on the net, you will be made very welcome. I do have to give a special thanks to Lexus and Kaz who kept me company on MSN and gave me incredible support, special friends indeed.

On the cash front, been another up/down week, played about 8.7k hands so far this month and I am just over a buyin up, better than being down.

So overall, poker life is rosy at the moment, long may it continue. Having a night off tonight as I have been down the old rub a dub and can feel the muff coming out in me, so keeping away from the felt. Lets hope next week can be as good.

Current Bankroll = $7450 (exchange rate helped this week !!)
Years profit to date = $1937.36

As i'm having an early night, summat to help you sleep.

The Cure - Lullaby

Grindaments

Managed to finish July in profit at the tables, not a big profit as you can see, but none the less it was in the black which is more than the previous two months were, with some rakeback + bonuses was about $300 up on month over the 18k or so hands played.

The drop in levels and the adjust of playing styles has def helped, although over the 18k hands I only changed my vpip + pfr by about 3 points each. I was hoping for this to be higher, but a few coolers 1/3rd way through the month made me slightly more cautious, this is an obv leak and is something to work on, each hand should be played on its own merits and previous wins/losses should not change that.

Gonna start a new health kick today, I have not managed to stick with any of the previous ones, hopefully this will also help with my concentration and confidence.

Augusts aim is to try and grind out 30k hands at a minimum, ideally would like to make the laddies VIP, but at 20NL where I am going to stay for this month, thats going to be quite tricky, if I get close 3/4 way through month, might move back up to 50NL, but only if I feel I am playing well.

Also gonna try and post more, maybe even put a weekly graph up, not sure yet.

Thats it for now, this mornings session finished in 1/2 buyin profit after 700 or so hands, so its back to the tables to catch a fish or two.

Current Bankroll = $6850.
Years profit to Date = $1507.64

Garbage - Paranoid

Time to Learn

Current Bankroll = $6257

It was def a time to change my game, so I over the last week or so, I have done what I set out to do. Dropped down a level and changed the way I play. So far it has paid off, almost 5 buyins up over 2.3k hands and feeling much more confident about my game. Its actually amazing how if you crank up the aggression, you feel much more in control of the hand when you are in play and the decisions seem to be easier, also I was surprised in the difference in play at 20NL, the players are much much poorer than I thought and you can just value bet them to death, they just don't know how to fold, this obv means they hit there gutshots, but these tend to stick out like a sore thumb anyway and are quite easy to get away from. I also actually feel like I am putting in to practice all the stuff I have learned off cardrunners over the last year or so. So many times at 50NL, I think to myself I should do this because, and then don't do it. Dropping down a level has now allowed me to test these theories and moves and not worry about the $$. I feel like I have been released from my chains.

Will prob stay at 20NL for this month and maybe next month to boost the confidence then move back up and try and play the same. I was definitely stagnating at 50NL before and I feel I have made the right decision even though my bankroll is much bigger than needed for the levels I play at. You may of noticed I have also decided to publish my bankroll on every post now, I know people are nosey and hopefully I can start seeing that grow again.

Played a couple of MTTs on lucky ace again, cashed in both, so looking to play a few more of these over the next few months, Ian managed another 3rd in one of the challenges for a cool $1.3k, if that fish can do it, i'm sure I can sneak into a couple of $1k + paydays.

Anyway, thats enough for today, played about 500 hands this am and was up just over a buyin, but its as I am off work till weds now and the wife is in Spain visiting her parents, its time for the Pub. Gonna cheer the lions on, I know the series is lost, but with all the bad blood around the eye gouging last week, I reckon there could be a big punch up on the cards, which should be a laugh.

Catcha later and good luck at the tarbs.

So when the wife is away and the suns out theres only..............

One way of Life - The Levellers

Darkest of Times

Well, I thought it couldn't get any worse, but it has. My last post mentioned about trying to win on a saturday, well I actually managed it for the first time in about 6 weeks, I finished the day after about 1.2k hands $10 profit, the downpoint was that I was only in profit due to one massive winning hand, I think prob my biggest ever, bear in mind that this is euros not dollars, it def made me smile for a change. Heres the hand

And that is that, the rest has been a downward spiral, kings running into aces at all corners, Aces getting cracked everytime I play them (apart from the above of course)

Over the last 2 months, I have played 26k hands and I have ran at -5.52 ptbb/100, when the previous 4 months, was ticking over comfortably in profit at 3ptbb/100 and thinking about moving up to 100NL, what a difference two months makes.

Of course the confidence is in shatters so I have decided to rebuild my game from scratch, I am definitely 2 nitty to be a big winner, but at 50NL I believe my current style of play which comes in about 15/11 can make a steady profit as long as you table select well, but thinking about the long term future as we all want to move up, I need to open my game up a lot more.

Its prob not the best time to change, but I think it is necessary, ultimately I wanna be averaging out about 18/16 depending on the table conditions of course.

Will prob drop down a level and only play a max of 3 tables, maybe 2 at 20NL and still 1 at 50NL.

One big of good news was that I was soooooo pissed off with the cash tables I decided to enter a donkament last night, the $20 $3k G on LuckyAcePoker on the pacific network, considering I wasn't really concentrating and was playnig Bejewelled the whole time during the tournie, I somehow managed to get to the final table with a medium stack. I then got lucky when getting down to about 12bb when I shoved with AQ only to run into QQ, but for once the river was my friend and the Ace popped out, from then on it went well and when we got to the last 3 I was Chip Leader on about 120k with the other 2 on about 90k a piece. Already guarenteed $300 I was happy, but $600 and $900 beckoned and I could do with a boost. The crucial hand came when I got dealt AsAd on the Big blind. Button folded and the small blind, an agressive fcker limped. I bet the pot and he insta shoved. I called obv and was chuffed to bollocks that the fish flipped over KdQh. The flop came 4s5s7s to also give me the nut flush draw. We were soon to be heads up................................but noooooooooooooooooo. The turn bought the Kc and I screamed out, "DON'T you FOOOOOKING DARE" of course we all know this is totally in vain and the river bought the case Kh for him to scoop the pot. "ooops" came the reply in the chat box. FOOKING OOOOOOOOOOPs my arse !!!!!!!!!

I couldn't belive it, to cap it all, I then pushed with A8 the next hand, and the fish snap called with KQ again and K on the flop and Goth was out 3rd. I was still in shock and not a happy bunny, but after reflecting for a bit, I did have my bit of luck with the AQ and as its only about the 4th tourney I have played in 3 months, I can't really complain.

I still don't know where I am really heading with my poker, we have booked a holiday for Canada in April next year which has come in at a hefty price and was really hoping that this years profits were going to pay for it, but as the only profit I got now is bonuses and rakeback, 1.3k is not going to go far !!!!!

Surely it must turn, I am a sucker for punishment, the money don't matter any more, its the challenge that I can actually beat this stooopid fish game. I need to take a step back and look at how I am learning, or in fact, if I am actually learning anything at all, or just blindly plodding on. Only time will tell, but for now, I am not gonna give up. July is gonna be another new start (how many of them do we have ffs !!!!! )

One day, the tables may fear me, but for now, I am just another fish in the pond.

The Cardigans - Higher

Variance

Hardly played this week mainly cos I am running colder than a penguins chuff. I thought last month was bad, in the first 8 days of this month, I was already down more than the whole of last month, in fact if I take the last two weeks of May, I have managed to lose my whole years profit at the tables in just over 4 weeks, unbelievably sick poker. If it wasn't for rakeback and bonuses I would actually be at a loss over the year, but somehow I am still $1.3k up, which is way below where I wanted to be.

Luckily my nitty bankroll management is keeping me alive and also reading "The Poker Mindset" has helped me cope with all that is going on.

Not gonna give up, gonna just try and concentrate more.

Thats it for now, lets see if I can get a winning saturday under my belt for the first time in about 6 weeks !!!

NIN - Hurt

May....sigh

Well thank fck may is over with, just plain and simple a bad month. I have looked back and gone through all of the big losing pots I have had and to be fair its about a 50/50 split between bad play and sick beats.

The only saving grace is that I will get $500 of the months losses back in the next few days when all the bonuses are paid back.

I didn't get anywhere near the 30k hands that I intended to play as after that mad tilt day I had, I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and 4 table for hours on end, so I finished up doing about my normal amount of hands which was about 16.7k

Gonna take it a bit easy next month, only playing when I feel like it, not cos I have to get a certain amount of hands in. Will probably play a bit more on NOIQ again, just to ensure I get some rakeback next month, as I am not sure I will play enough hands on laddies to get into the decent cash. The exchange rate is hitting the bonuses a bit as well, which doesn't help, been taking most of me $$ out of my accounts where I can, seems like the £ is only going one way at the moment.

Some good news in the fact we have decided where we are going on holiday next year, its the wifes 40th, so wanted to do something special. We have chosen Canada and are looking to book an all in one trip for 16 days with all of the tours booked in, if we get the trip that we are after it should be pretty cool, as there is a 3000 mile train ride across the country which I am really looking forward to, gonna have to do Niagra Falls as well, as its one of the places I have always wanted to see, I guess being an ex swimmer, I will always have a fascination with water.

Also starting "another" diet/fitness tomorrow, 1st June seems as good as any other day to start, really gotta stick to it this time, I look back through a lot of my old posts about all the positive thinking and fitness goals that I keep setting and yet none of them have paid off. I guess this time its now or never.

So lets hope June turns out to be a good month, 1k richer and 1 stone lighter, well, thats the plan anyway.

Todays track is from prob the best band around at the moment.

Foo Fighters - The Pretender

Time to reflect

Poker is the strangest of games, massive highs followed by the deepest of lows. At the moment, I am in an all time low in my confidence. After the major tilt I had last week, I managed to pull myself together and pull back some of the loss over the 7 day period following, I did not play much, but when I did, I didn't make any mistakes.

Tonight however, I was back in my old calling station mode, stacking off too light yet again, I thought this was one of the leaks I had removed from my game, however it def reared its ugly head again. 3 times tonight I walked into sets and stacked off. Once with KK and I couldn't lay down post flop, even when I put him on a set or str8, I still called the river shove. Then stacked off with AQs on a QTx board after I had 3 bet pre and he flat called with TT. The final one was just a cooler after I raised pre with 88 and the board came T82. I bet the flop, got raised, I min raised and he shoved. My heart knew he had TT, but I am never folding in that spot, there are so many other hands he could have, I just would have to pay him off if he had it, which of course he did.

So after a good start to the month on laddies taking me 5 buyins up in the first two days, the next 17 days have been a 14 buying downswing, by far the biggest of my cash game playing days.

I thought I was prepared for it, but I guess I am not. the strange thing is, its not the actual amount of $$ that I have lost as I am well overolled, but its the blow to the confidence that I may not actually be able to make a profit out of this game and that I am not getting any better.

I really would like to take a couple of weeks off, but I might have to wait until June as of course if I stop now, I would end up losing my ground in the rake race on laddies which at the moment, if I can stay at my current loss for the month, will still make the month profitable as I would be getting $600 courtesy of lads/rake the rake.

The other annoying thing is that I always like to reach milestones, only small ones, but they provide me with incentives to play, the last one was just getting my laddies balance above £1000, which by the 8th of this month I had managed to do, however as you can see by the last 10 days or so, that balance has almost halved, again its not really about the money, its more about the failure.

So its def time to reflect on what to do. Some people say take a break, others say ride it out. I was one of the people that would always say ride it out if you are playing well, but at the moment, I don't think that is the case.

I think I will see how tomorrow goes, then I have got a live event down me local on weds, then a few winonas at the quiz on Thursday, so that will be a couple of days off at least. With the bank holiday coming up I think it might be a good idea to do a couple of day trips to take my mind of poker for a bit, hopefully this will clear the mind so I can get my focus back and start getting the graph pointing the right way again.

Anyway, for those of you haven't seen this clip, if you are as down as I am with poker at the moment, things could always be worse........always makes me smile



Oh, and if your not a poker fan and don't know who Dave Ulliot, the song is loosely based on one of my fave bands at the moment

The Ting Tings - Thats not my name.

Lessons to be learnt

Well, today I have learned a very valuable lesson. I am not ice cold emotionally at the tables. I thought I had learned to control myself and take all on the chin. But not today. I thought I had tilted on the odd occasion, but I was wrong, I now know what it is like to tilt properly. I just lost the plot and in the space of 3 hours, lost 7 buyins playing like a complete aggro fish, just trying to chase all draws and push everyone off whatever they had. Of course, I didn't hit any of the draws and they always had the nuts when I pushed in. The annoying thing is, I actually got me cards in ahead on some of the tilts, ie in the case where I 4 bet with 88 then snap called his 5 bet shove for stacks with it, he showed up with AK and the river obliged him the Ace for a juice 220bb pot.

Another annoying thing was that I had pulled back all the losses from last weekends muff beatings and was back on track for a good month, now I am only about $94 in profit after the rakeback and bonuses......Such a fooking fish. Still $2000 up on the year, but this way behind where I want to be.

Seriously thinking about getting some coaching, so might blow $500 of me roll on some of this, got a couple of peeps lined up from card runners who look like they would suit my personality. Maybe they can teach me a bit more about self control, which I obv have not got as much of as I first thought, maybe some meditation is needed.

Oh well, rant over, tomorrows just another day.

April Roundup

Another good month, getting a bit worried though, I set some strict bankroll rules a while a go for moving up to 100NL, mainly being $7.5k bankroll and running at least 3ptbb/100 for the last 30k hands. I have ran at about 3.3ptbb/100 the last two months and my roll is now at $6.7k with all of this months bonuses to come, which means if all goes well this month, come the Start of June, I may have to jump out of my comfort Zone.

There was nothing special about this month, the only difference was actually winning on the laddies tables, as the players on Microgaming network def seem to gamble it up more than on NOIQ, getting it all in on flop for 100BB with an open ended str8 draw seems common place, even with 3 to a flush on board in some cases, abs bonkers. So obv plays like that ensures you get some crazy beats. Had my fair share of monsters getting cracked as well, had AA/KK cracked 4 times in 4 bet pots where they flat called my 4 bet pre and the chips went in on the flop, 3 times Q high flop, once a J high flop, obv in those cases they had QQ and JJ. So thats 400euro up the swanny str8 away.

After conversion to $$ finished the month up about $750, slightly less than last month, but I have still got $300 bonus off laddies/rtr to come, which will go into Mays profits, so overall, quite happy.

I'm off work now until next weds and the wife is on the piss in spain with her mates, so its gonna be some serious grinding over the next few days. I am gonna try and make 30k hands this month, just need to keep away from the pub for the next few days, which could be difficult as theres some good footy on over the weekend. I can't believe we pay about £55 for sky and multiroom so I can watch the footy at home and not disturb the missus and I still fook off down the pub and spend £20 watching the game down there !!! Still always good for the craic, if not the liver.

So back to the grind, i-tunes blasting out proper mans tunes of course.......

Evanescence - Everybody´s Fool

Feeling Positive

Woke up this morning feeling strangely positive about everything, dunno if its the chemicals from all the easter eggs, but I def feel different, almost as if all of a sudden, everything is gonna go my way. So, I guess I'll just have to wait for summat to come and smack me in the face and but me back down a peg or two.

Poker been going very well, had a great weekend, being up almost 6 buyins after converting to $$. Moving up the laddies rake race a lot easier than I thought I would, although I am going away this weekend, so will miss 3 nights of what would normally be my biggest points earner, which is a bit of a wounder. Might give it a real go in May if they keep the payout structure similar, I hear they are extending it to the top 3500, which is a shame, as it will surely mean the $$ being spread out more, but I'm gonna aim to come in the top 1000 at least and see where that gets me. Looks like I have found a way to get double rake payout as well, which will mean at least 60% rakeback which is cool. Not everyone can qualify for this as it depends on how you joined ladbrokes, but email me for details if you want, there is no harm in trying.

The $$ are also rolling in on NOIQ as well, not through rakeback, but through actual winnings at the tables. Since I have adopted a better table selection strategy on there, my winnings have gone through the roof, prob winning 800euro over the last 8 weeks on there since making the change, I didn't realise what a difference it makes, there is so much money to be made on that site if you find the right fish (and they don't suck out obv)

I also gotta give a mention to Ian, who was the subject of my post a couple of weeks ago. He got to the weekly final of the Littlewoods WSOP qualifier and was chip leader with 5 left, with the winner getting a $17k wsop main event package, he played some awesome poker, but it was not to be, eventually going out 3rd. I was absolutely gutted for him and I bet he feels the same. I think its only a matter of time before he brings down something real big, I think he has got a great future ahead of him in tournies, might have to get him to teach me a thing or to.

Off out this afternoon to visit my Mom, but hopefully will get a few hours in later in tonight and keep the good run going. So Ta Ta for now.....

Crank up the sound, its time to get spooooooky

Lush - Undertow (Spooky remix)

March - Sooo different to last year

March has turned out to be a very good month, in fact, at the cash tables its been my best month ever. Played just under 16k hands at 50NL and have ran at 3.42ptbb/100. This believe it or not is bar far my best winrate over a semi decent sample. It also should of been a lot better. As you can see by the months graph, it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the first 11k hands, as I was up and down like a crack whores scutty red G string. I made way to many river hero calls and stacked off light too many times. Sometimes you need to be burnt a few times before you stop putting your hand in the flame. I think I am starting to learn when I am beat and have started keeping away from marginal situations, where I am pretty sure I am beat, but would always call out of curiosity. I think I have mentioned this on my blog before, but sometimes you really have gotta go with your gut instinct, your not always gonna be right, but in the long run, making those big laydowns are probably gonna save you more money than you are going to make.

The last 5k hands it looks like I have ran hot, but I don't think I did, one thing I did change is table selection, before I would just look for a table with 3-4 full stacks and 1-2 60bb stacks. I still do this, but I now re-evaluate the play on the table as to whether or not its gonna be profitable to stay or not. If I don't think theres gonna be money flowing, or theres no fish, I get up and leave, there are plenty of other tables out there and better opportunities.

I know the winrate on my last 5k hands is unsustainable as I ran at nearly 10ptbb/100, but I can definitely see an improvement in my game, something I was beginning to wonder if was ever going to come.

I still have a problem value betting the river when big danger cards hit. This hand is a classic example. When the river hits, my mind automatically thinks he is calling with his set and has just boated up, or even worse has been slo playing his str8 flush, monsters under the bed as its called I think and I then check behind for safety. The crazy thing, if he had shoved, I would still probably have called, so why the fck don't I value bet it !!!

Still $900 profit for the month, I guess playing 50NL in euros helps, as the its sort of playing at 70NL really in terms of $$. I slight shift up I guess, i'm such a nit ;-))

I guess I still have a lot to learn and have to control my fears more and take the fish to value town........Until the next post, GL at the tables and don't be fooled in the morning.

Poker = Easy Money

Well the headline of this post may shock you, but it must be true I now have overwhelming proof.

One of my bestest buds Ian (tipster), who was me best man when I got married in Vegas plays a bit of cards himself. In fact he does know a fair bit about texas holdem poker, however as I've know him for 20+ years now, he is, and always will be a big floppy fish to me.

To be fair, the guy is quite an intelligent little muppet and the aging process has been fairly kind to him over the years, he even has a few marbles left in his bag at the age of 50, although he does have a remarkable resemblance to Mr Bean, which his kids remind him on a daily basis.

So, back to the reason why poker is easy. Tipster has recently being dipping his big fishy gills in a proper ocean, namely the poker one that is called Pacific. He has been mainly playing sngs after he managed to con a free copy of sharkscope of some dodgy affiliate probably. Even more suprisingly, he has been doing quite well. In fact so well he has started playing way above his station and entering the 50$ 20k guaranteed. After a few near misses, the big fat tench made a final table and cashed for about $1.1k, which is bigger than any tourney win I have had so far, I couldn't believe it, he must of dished out some serious muff on the way. However the man did not stop there, a few days later, the whale did it again, this time he came 3rd pulling in an even nicer $2.4k. To say I was stunned is an understatement, but I was really chuffed for the little fella.

So you may think it stops there, but no. I was grinding away at me normal 50NL 6 max on Friday night when shortly after midnight I had had enough and decided to hit the sack early for a change. I always take me mobile to bed as I am on call for work, but I was soon spark out asleep. At about 01:45, my phone started buzzing and I was relieved it was just a text, which at least it meant it was not a call off work. But intrigued to know who the fck was texting me at that time in the morning I checked it out and almost passed out with the shock. The text was from Ian and simply said "Ooh, Just WON 20k G, 5.4k - I am legend"

Well what can you say, I was speechless, the fish had grown up into a shark. It can't just be luck to make the FT of that tourney 3 times in 10 days, I really have to bow down to the man and smile with extreme happiness and and green with envy.

The only thing the mupp did wrong was to tell the wife, which has now cost him a trip to Barcelona and a kitchen refurb, when will he ever learn.

So, I guess this little tale should be inspiration to everyone who plays poker. You def don't need to be the best online poker player in the world to bring home some decent bacon, just a little effort in learning the game properly is required, along with a few prayers to the poker gods that dish out the muffs and we can all be running around our lounges at 1:45am in the morning in our underpants screaming "WHOSE THE DADDY" !!!!

Time to get me canoe out on that ocean I think. Its Poker Time for me.......

So todays song is dedicated to you dude, you are truly a god amongst men and when I grow up, I wanna be just like you.........you are my hero

Milestone Reached

I know this milestone is not much for some people, but for a small stakes player like myself its quite a psychological boost.

I have always kept very accurate records of my profits and loss since I first started playing in December 2003 and as of last night, I officially went through the $20,000 profit margin since I first started. I am really pleased, as I have been hovering just under it for quite a while now, but never going above it, but 5 winning days on the trot on the cash tables got me head above it, and hopefully will stay there.

I guess the next milestone is $50,000 profit. Lets hope that can come before the end of 2010 !!!

One can but dream and reach for the stars.

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

Been Busy

Yep, actually been playing some poker for a change. So far this month I have played over 11k hands on NOIQ and I am running at just over 1ptbb/100. Which although not outstanding, is at least in profit. Been a tough grind though. I have been muffed, given out some muff and made some muff calls. So, you could say its been a bit of a muffy month !!!!!!!!

Managed to win me biggest pot so far, all in 3 way for stacks post flop and of course, numpty here, has to get it in with the worst of it, pretty positive I was behind, but with an almost certainty that all 3 were going in, I thought it was worth a punt.

Heres the hand

Also managed to get it all in pre tonight with JJ against a loose muff who I thought was at it, only to find he actually did have AA. But the poker gods were with me and a flop of J44 bought a big grin to me face, especially as I didn't even see it as i had the reload window up and only realised I had won the hand when I got the transaction failed message on me reload as I was above the max, always a pleasant surprise that one.

If you looked at my graph over the 11k hands, it looks like one of those blippy things on a life support machine, so up and down its untrue. I am still making some horrific calls, especially when I get raised on the river. I totted it up over the month and I have donked off over 4 buyins with shitty river calls when if I actually sat back and thought about the way the hand had played out it was an obvious fold.

Overall enjoying it on NOIQ, there seems to be a lot of regs, and as I can't datamine, I end up having to play with them to build up some stats to find out which ones are just nitty rake racers as opposed to the ones that can actually play.

Getting the bonuses isn't as easy as I thought it was gonna be, prob only gonna get about 100e max + $100 from my affiliate, not like the good old days of sun when they were on crypto, getting $200 bonus easy and then your 40% rakeback on top !!! Although to be fair, the bonuses on NOIQ do look good better value the more VIPs you get, but you realistically gotta be playing at least 100NL, or be 6 tabling 50NL for 60 hours a week to get summat decent. Maybe one day......

Still, will keep on grinding on. Ta Ta for now and keep on muffing.

Dexys - There There My Dear

Bad end and a good start

Feb ended with big slump, was up on the month going into saturday night when I started having disco problems on Sun Poker, I spent half an hour trying to sort it to no avail, so decided to call it a day for the month so mooched around on the forums for a bit, it was to be my last day on there for a while, so wasn't that bothered, being up on the month was happy too. While mooching the forums, found a couple of people having the same issues as me, so I thought I would try a couple of the resolutions. At first they didn't seem to work, but lo and behold after 30 mins, it seemed stable enough to play. Well, I think you can guess what happened next, yep, I played like a complete and utter cock and managed to donk off almost 3 buyins and ended up the month $84 down overall, was sooooo mad at meself. I still seem to play solid poker for 90% of the time, then have 1 or 2 days when I have a rush of blood and lose 2+ buyins in short succession through bad play. So following this, I did what any normal person does and withdrew my whole roll from sun, that will teach them to fck around with me !!!

So, 1st of a new month, new hope and a new site, well, not new, but back to NOIQ now on the enteraction network. I had played a few hands on there last month, just to test out holdem manager and get some sort of hud set up. I wasn't to be disappointed, the players on there seemed awful and for once my hands held. For the first time since I have being playing 50NL cash, I actually finished the day over $200 up after conversion (Was approx 160euros)

Was looking forward to getting some more hours in on there tonight, but it looks like the site is fcked at the moment, with waiting lists 18 deep on my tables and constant hangs on my PC, so might have to have a little dabble on laddies cash, see how it goes.

Full of hope and optimism at the moment, poker is such a wonderful game when your hands hold up, lets hope i don't lose the plot and try to avoid the temptation to try to outplay my opponents who have no fold button on there little scandi screens.

New Order - Temptation

Frustration

Been a real frustrating few days at the tables. It seems that when I play bad I just lose loads of money, no muff reward days for old Goth, unlike the fish who constantly play bad and seem to get rewarded all the time. When I play well, I either have smallish winning days, or I get muffed to fck.....This weekend I feel I have played quite well and just got a bit unlucky. I guess thats just the way it is. I so want to stick with 6 max as I really do enjoy it when it goes to plan, but at the moment, i'm not sure I am good enough to be more than just a break even player. I guess for the time being I need to ensure that I am getting some decent bonuses just to cover the learning stage, which at the moment seems to be taking longer than it does to teach a blonde to tie her shoe laces !!!

I have therefore decided to go back to NOIQ next month and try and grind out some bonuses and maybe even make a bit in some of the races. Although I am away on courses for work for 6 days out of the month, so will be missing a bit. The wife is away in spain for a week though, so might be able to do some serious grinding at the tables.

Ignore the two previous posts, as I am just gonna use them as blog entries to keep a track of me big winning hands and losing hands from a link at the side of the blog.


One good thing is that I am no longer losing it when I get stiffed on the river, days of flying mice and roaring expletives that make the dog shoot up the stairs in shear terror. The tilt is well under control, well for now anyway.

Gary Jules - Mad World

Goths Big Winning Hands 2009

15th March 2009

Two for the price of one, managed to stack this fella twice in about 10 hands. Sweeeeeeet......

Hand 5
Hand 6

-----------------------
13th March 2009

My biggest pot to date at 50NL. Got it in behind vs two oppos, but sometimes you just gotta gamble ;-)

Hand 4

------------------------
8th Feb 2009

For once going with my instinct payed off, put villain on AJ and stuck to my guns.

Hand 3

-------------------------
4th Feb 2009

As this is in euros, I think this may be one of the biggest pots I have ever won. Was close though, when the chips went in on the turn, I was 50/50 vs one of the other two, always nice to see them hold.

Hand 2

--------------------------
1st Feb 2009

Standard Hand holding up.

Hand 1

---------------------------

Bored Bored Bored

Really struggling to find the enthusiasm to play poker at the moment and I am not sure why. When I do play i don't seem to be doing that bad, cash tables I am up. Struggling to get any momentum going in any mtts, but I always find my tournie results tend to come in streaks , also as I am only playing a few a month anyway, I can't really expect that much.

Had a couple of interesting hands in the space of 5 mins on a 50NL table on iPoker this evening.

This hand was against the table fish and he is the reason I am sitting at the table, typical loose nutcase playing 56/24. Unfortunately I couldn't get on his left, but I still want to get in as many pots with him as possible. Of course the result was not what I wanted and to be fair he actually played the hand quite well. Be interested to hear any comments on how I played the hand and whether or not you think I could of got away from it cheaper at any point.

Hand 1

The next hand happened about 5-6 hands later, I had got dealt AA and had 3 bet the villain pre and he had to fold, so it is highly likely that he may of thought I was tilting a bit when this hand came to fruition. As it happened, I think i played it perfectly, although the flat call pre was possibly the only error.

Hand 2

Only played about 2500 hands this month, which is pretty poor, got a few clear nights now, no more parties etc for a good two weeks, so hopefully should be able to grind at least another 5000 out by the end of the month, will not be the 10k I hoped for, but should do for now.

Very conscious I have not been updating me blog lately, dirk keeps giving me stick for it, so a bigger effort is needed. Gonna try and get a better hand section for the bigger winning hands and maybe a few of the bigger losing ones as well, just gotta work out how to do it within this damn blog dashboard, gotta be an easy way somewhere to store a page with a load of hand history links out there on another page/link, if any of you bloggers out there have any advice, feel free to leave a comment.

Todays track will always bring back memories of my first festival, it was reading in '95 I think. The first artist I ever saw was Heather Nova in one of the side tents. I clearly remember walking in and her first song she played was "sugar" and as the bass bellowed out, I could feel my diaphragm shaking booming, was an awesome feeling. Chose a different track today though, prob cos I couldn't find a decent version of sugar.

Heather Nova - Island

Planning Phase

Been reading through my last post and thinking a lot. I think one of the biggest mistakes when trying to make changes to your life is to just jump in and try an do things to quickly. Its back to the scenario about changing the autopilot. Your can't really just flick a switch on hit and expect to head of in the right direction and stay on course.

So I plan to use February as a phased change. The changes will hopefully work on all aspects of my life and not just poker. Just subtle changes day by day, which by the end of the month will ensure that these are done automatically without thinking.

So thats the psycho bullshit out the way, now what about the poker !! Well Jan went ok, proper middle of the road stuff. Only played about 5k hands in total. But finished the month approx $330 up, most of which was again rakeback and bonuses. Probably not going to play that many hands this month either, aiming for about 10k this month. Going to watch a lot more cardrunners stuff and really try to put into practice what I see on there, which quite often I don't, not sure why as its glaringly obvious that it works. Def need to stop being so nitty and open up my game a bit.

Decided to stick on iPoker 6 Max 50NL for Feb as I have some bonuses to clear off on SunPoker. So will concentrate on playing there.

Laddies are moving over on to the Prima network and are doing some interesting stuff regards the cash tables there. Gonna be interesting to see how this pans out, depending on the traffic and the fish count, might give that a look in during March.

I really just want to settle down on one site that I am happy with, good fish, plenty tables, good bonuses and either decent rakeback/VIP. I think by the middle of the year I will of chosen my cash home and then really try and crank up the hours.

My ultimate aim for the year is that by december I am playing 30k+ hands per month at 100NL and running at least 1.5ptbb/100. Will be happy with that ready to build on it for 2010. Poker is very much about the long term and for now thats what intend to use February to plan for.

Bjork - All is full of Love

Priorities and Decisions

Well the new year started and this was going to be the year my poker kicked on to a new level. The aim was to be a solid winner on the 6 seaters and become a much better player, with the obvious bigger profits to come. Well, I started to play on day 1 and I found it hard to pick up the enthusiasm to play. I stepped back and thought to myself "what do I really want to get out of this year" and I came up with a rather simple answer. Health and Happiness. Somewhere along the line, I have gotten all my priorities wrong. I've been spending far too many hours sat on me fat arse, grinding low stakes cash tables, for what amounts $500 a month. My health has suffered through lack of exercise and I have definitely not spent enough time with my friends and family. I haven't even hit a golf ball since November 2006, A game that I used to love so much, playing every opportunity I got, now just seems a dim memory. So I will be dusting the clubs down and hopefully give my good online buddy jat7065 a whipping.

So a decision has been made. My poker schedule is now going to fit around the rest of my life, not my life fitting in around my Poker schedule. I still intend to try and get 20+ hours in a week, but I won't be putting other things off now for fear of missing a fews hours at the tables, getting rakeback and grinding out some bonuses. Its all gonna be about quality rather than quantity.

Interesting enough, my very first session of the year, I played what I thought was my best poker ever, I felt I made the correct decision on everything I did. My stats were more aggressive than ever,making the right moves at the right time. Yet in the space of 20 mins, I got dealt KK twice and both times getting it all in pre finding my oppo with AA. i eventually left the session just over a buy in down and strangely feeling very good about it. I have managed to get away from a result focused mentality and left feeling good about all of my decisions, which in the long term will make me a more profitable player. I have managed to pull the loss back and I am in profit for the year, but not much.

I have started reading "The Poker Mindset" a book I had for christmas. Nearly all of the issues that it brings up that stop you being a truly big winning player I have and I desperately need to expel these thoughts from my head while I am playing. I def think I will need to read the book a couple of times at least to try and put into practice the ideas that they are trying to put across, hopefully I can use my time more wiseley to do this.

So my first priority now has to be my health. This time I am going to try and reprogram the auto pilot in me, so that I will not stray off the right course. Too many times I have just grabbed the steering wheel and headed of in the right direction for a period of time, then soon as I let go of the wheel, the ship just turns right back to where it is comfortable going. With my background in swimming and training full time for two years, I have all the mental tools to do this and all of the knowledge I gained sudying nutrition over the years now needs to be put into place for ME, not just dishing out advice to others.

As part of an incentive to change, I have started taking a weekly photo in just me tracky bottoms, visual stimulation of seeing your body change can act as a real spur. If all goes well, I may even publish it at the end of the year, maybe for all you fans of my facebook "speedo" pic, do another one, this time i'll tuck me bush in !!!

So for the first song of the year, its one about decisions.

Sleeper - What do I do know.