Back on topic

Welcome to Feb... Another new month already here! Time just seems to fly by these days!
I hadn't played a huge amount of poker again so far this year. Started out just playing some smaller tourneys for fun in Jan and actually picked up a few nice results, albeit with small prize money as they were only low stakes.

Final tabled a smaller $11 tourney on Full Tilt on Jan 2nd paying about $90 profit
1st/199 in a $5 mtt on pkr on jan 12th giving about $250 profit
6/130 in a $16.50 mtt again on pkr on jan 19th giving about $80 profit
1st/36 in a $3 rebuy PLO mtt on jan 30th on pkr giving about $100 profit

These scores helped me to a profitable month showing + $358.41 in Jan
Far from a lot but considering the stakes and amount i played its not too bad.

Feb so far has seen me move back on topic a bit more with this blogs title as Ive started working on my heads up game and been playing (and actually enjoying!) HU cash on a few different sites.

I had quite a bad couple of days recently which got me down a bit as i lost $86 (not a lot considering i was playing $50NL but still a fair bit for me as i am not playing brilliant bankroll management seeing as i only have about 10 buy ins) and this was made even worse by the fact i was almost $100 up then just went on tilt i think, coupled with tiredness made me quite a annoyed with myself! I took a few days off over the weekend as i was quite busy with rallying and ice hockey on the Saturday and away in Coventry for an ice hockey away game on Sunday!
played when i got home the sunday evening though and played quite well i think but ended up down another $85 which was pretty disheartening while my confidence is pretty low seeing as I'm still learning through card runners vids.

Came back to the tables this evening for a couple hours and had a pretty good evening, played a total of 8 different tables and ended each of them in profit! ending the night $156.94 in profit which was nice considering the previous few days results. It was made sweeter by the fact i lost an all in with a full stack in one of my latter matches vs a very aggressive opponent who was 4 betting me 75% of the time i 3bet! i decided AJ suited was well ahead of his 4betting range but got unlucky to run into K's which stood up. I then battled back though as i thought i could outplay him and profit from his aggressiveness which was a good plan as i ended up sitting with $165 in front of me by the time he'd left the table...

I know its only low stakes and not a huge amount of money but as Ive mentioned before, my bankroll is a bit fragile at the moment as i cashed out quite a bit towards the end of last year so having any size able amount of cash at the tables is a bit frightening. lol

The weathers been quite interesting recently with all the snow and ice. Been out skidding plenty of times through the lanes recently and had plenty of dodgy moments where we almost disappeared through the hedges! lol Managed to hang on to it most the times bar one where i was properly messing about and just could get the front end to bite again after a big power slide and we ironically collected an Ice warning sign! lol Was pretty funny but caused quite a bit of damage to the front end so i had to buy a new headlight and spent about 3 days hammering out the huge dents so the cracked bumper and radiator mounts all lines up properly again and so i could shut the bonnet! The cars still looking a bit dented but i bought it for rallying so I'm sure it'll see plenty more in the way of ditches etc before its days are up! lol

Anyway, regarding my new years resolutions:

• Guitars coming on OK... can play a bit and starting to feel a bit more relaxed while playing now which makes it easier.
• No big wins in the poker just yet as Ive already reported, hopefully my steady Jan will be the start of some steady profits this year! The HU games certainly seem pretty profitable, if a little volatile! lol
• MPH Motor sport has made some progress but the previous plans have been put on hold for the time being and we've got some pretty exciting plans on the media side of things though which should hopefully build our profile and make some nice cash on the side.
• Haven't competed in any more rallies yet this year so obviously haven't made any progress here
• Not got any closer to starting up in the hockey
• Done a bit of extra exercise around the house etc but there's still room for improvement! lol

Think that's about all for now.

Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year!

It's 2009 already! crazy... Seems like only a year ago it was the new Millennium.

I'm not a huge fan of the New Year to be honest. I don't really get it... It's an excuse for a party as far as i can see so its not really my scene but you cant really avoid it so may as well join in. lol

I haven't posted in a while, main reason being, i haven't had much to post about! I haven't played much at all over the festive period. Decembers been another flat month in general and continues my dull end to the year. I end December in profit which is one thing i guess, even if it is just +$56.07... the last few days weren't very kind to say the least. I've been playing well i think in the multi table tourneys, as Ive said before, i really feel at home playing them! Just don't have a sensible enough bankroll to be able to realistically play them within my limits! I have my age old problem though still which I'm not quite sure how to fix! I'll be grinding away, playing really solid poker when about 2 hours in I'll just go insane with a random hand. usually having around average chips, I'll pick up say a small pocket pair and then go mad and somehow get all my chips in on 'safe' flop convincing myself the other guy is trying to bully me off the hand. I naturally get it all in, usually V's A's or similar and deservedly lose, often near the bubble. I'm then left thinking how badly i played the hand and not understanding why i did it. lol If anyone can shed some light on why i do this please feel free to tell me as you'll be able to win me a lot of cash! lol

I've had a better time playing the steps on Stars, which i was playing mainly to build my fpp's. i think Ive kinda given in with my attempts of trying to get my bonus which expires end of Jan... i need to find about 2000 fpp's before then which really isn't going to happen at the limits i play and given my current very dented bankroll! I do however have 2 step 4 tickets which i need to play hoping i can get at least 1 step 6 ticket out of it which i plan to hang on to and use to sat into a wsop event in the summer. that's the plan - long way to go yet mind!

So... New Years resolutions, I'll make some up just for fun then see if i can hit them. Not necessarily poker related, just things i want to achieve in 2009.

• Learn to play acoustic guitar to a 'reasonable' standard... I've already started working towards this having bought myself a nice one to learn on for £190 in the sales just after xmas.
• Win over $1000 again in a poker tourney which should be doable.. and I'm going to aim to win over $5000 from one tourney although i think ill struggle to achieve that one!
• Continue to study poker and consistently win online again - i need some help from the poker gods on this one!
• Build MPH Motor sport Ltd into a professional company and hopefully have a turnover in excess of £10,000 by the end of 2009 working on it part time... (My hobby company on the side)
• Compete in a National B status Rally as a driver and win a class as a navigator on a Road event!
• Actually get around to buying some ice hockey equipment and start learning to play.
• Get fitter, kinda tied in with the above, but something i need to do!

Finally, kinda tied in with some of the above, I'd like to become self sufficient! I want to earn my own income as opposed to relying on the company with dad as it's not going to be around forever! Especially given the current economic climate which is hitting us quite hard at the moment!

Anyway, enough of the doom and gloom and apologies for getting a bit personal, i had to type my resolutions somewhere though so where better than the poker blog! lol

Best of Luck to you all in 2009!

See you at the Tables!

Argh

So... Not posted for a while. Just haven't had the time really or too much of interest to post about!
Shortly after my last post i recorded my 2nd ever losing month and my 2nd losing month in a row!!! Things clearly haven't been going too great! Nothing drastic, down $122.03 for the month which is recoverable in a day so not a problem. The only problem is i need money and cant pay myself! lol Ive actually undergone a minor crisis so far this month on Stars having cashed out $500 (couldn't resist the current exchange rate!) and then gone on a big downswing so Ive moved down limits and had to focus on rebuilding! The only good thing to come out of this is that Ive actually found my niche (is that how its spelt?) games in the 18 seat and 45 seat turbo sng's. They're quick to fill, don't last too long so i can be flexible with my sessions and basic strategy so it makes multi tabling easier! I've also been chatting and swapped some HH's with a German gent who i met through the PokerxFactor forums and now chat to online regarding the strategy in these sngs as he plays them for a living at low limits! The one thing i do respect with these guys grinding the low limit games is the time they manage to put in. i feel like Ive played loads if i play say 10 or 12 games in a day but these guys are putting in 40-50 games a day easily and a lot more if they want... I need to find some more drive i think!

Played a bit at the start of the month, +$69.31 by the 3rd. I had a few days off then as had a pretty busy schedule for the next few days -Rally GB :) The Thursday was the ceremonial start in Cardiff and shakedown in Swansea (although i ducked out of shakedown as didn't fancy the 2.30am start!). The rally was pretty cold as its been well below freezing most nights here and only just above freezing during the days, especially on top of the Welsh mountains. At least the rain held off though else it'd have been awful! Even managed to rush back in time on Saturday evening for the ice hockey and Devils won 2-1 in OT (although they should've put the game away a lot earlier than they did against the Stingrays!). Anyway, once I'd returned and got over the long weekends rallying, i settled back into some poker on Monday (well... in between sleeping and going out to some mulled wine and mince pie charity evening!) although the session wasn't too productive. 7 games and -$34.70 profit halved my months total profit...
Tuesday was far more productive however, playing 15 games and ending the day with +$105.30 profit bringing the monthly total to a massive $139.91 - doesn't sound like much but today's session pretty much doubled my Stars bankroll so its not too shabby considering it was done playing $6.50 sngs.

I've got to admit to having another lazy day today - I'm still not totally over this long bout of flu Ive had! Still feeling pretty drowsy and under the weather! Didn't get up till late then went out to Maenllywd for a pub lunch before popping over Emma's mums house for a bit for some coffee... Then the evening was taken up by a trip to the Millennium Centre to see Jimmy Carr. Pizza Hut takeaway on the way home and then i fell asleep for a few hours! lol So much for work... (or poker!) Managed to squeeze in a 8 game session at about 4.30am (after i'd watch the UFC which was pretty brutal tonight!) and almost wish i never played. busted the first 2 18 seat sng's in... 18th place. lol and yes, i do play tight to begin! i cant remember exactly what happened but i know i had an overpair v someone who turned trip 7's because they'd called a preflop raise with K7os and then a pot size flop bet with middle pair... Then out of another shoving 8's from SB, BB called with A4 and of course found his A on the flop. In another i managed to run pocket J's into 8's all in pre in a big pot only for them to spike the 3rd 8. and it goes on... I just found it such a frustrating session.

The games at low limits are generally bad but i hadn't seen it this bad for a while. Push fold just had no value as people were calling off their entire stacks with J high and so on, i was getting zero respect with my shoves and even though, i couldn't actually beat J high (they were still +EV shoves) i was never very far behind, both live cards yet couldn't catch once!!! (and believe me, it happened a lot!) i bubble both the 45 seaters i played. So frustrating but i guess i have to just plug on and grind it out as these players are gonna make me rich in the long run! i just need to remember to run my poker tracker as i didn't today and it could've saved me from some of these people who seem to have no concept of push fold or ICM. To top it off i then got slow rolled 3 handed. Blinds were big and we were in the $ in an 18 seat, i had A9 in the BB and the SB (who had me covered) limped in i shoved and he then thought for about 15 seconds before calling with AJ.... i mean GRRRRRRRRRRRRR WHY! lol

I think i should return to bed now as I'm tired and clearly taking things a bit too personally! lol

Current December profits = +$120.31

So Close! :(

I haven't player too much the last few days for various reasons but decided to play the free roll satellite into the World Cup of Poker. Basically there were 2 free rolls and top 9 from each go through to the final on the Sunday. fields of around 400 in each of them. I donked out of the first free roll in about 50th place but managed to qualify in the second which meant I'd made the final, top 18 shootout where the top 2 go though. The final started today at 2pm local time and I'd been out night rallying in Brecon all last night and didn't get home till gone 5am! Add to that the fact that it was probably -5 up there all night, ice everywhere (meant for plenty of action on the event and some interesting driving conditions through the lanes but that's another story!) and I'm still unwell! its been about 4 weeks now and still drags on :( i actually have no voice at all for the past 2 days! i can only whisper. lol Anyway, all that meant that i wasn't feeling my best when i clambered out of my warm bed at just gone 2pm to force myself to play this tourney. The entire way through, as ever with my tourneys, i was nursing a short stack... Managed to keep clawing my way up the places though until i eventually found myself 3 handed and on the bubble of being part of Team GB albeit as the short stack. Anyway, i turned my hand to some power poker and managed to clamber into 2nd place with about 7.5k in chips to the shorter stacks 6k. In the BB and the big stack, once again raises so i reshove with AK suited, don't think theres much more i could do, then the board bricked out... and his pocket 4's stood up leaving me cruelly out on the bubble! Always the way. grrr nothing to show for it either which makes it even more annoying! Neither of the other 2 players were that good. I think my results were about the most solid of them both but there were go. it's all irrelevant. The one odd thing is that the guy who knocked me out is 'Purr of Aces' who has a won a seat into the WCOP GB team a couple years back! but he's not even a great player. After being at his table 2 days running, he just seems to run incredibly hot and get lucky all the time. Perhaps I'm just sour but it does seem a bit fixed. lol (even though i don't believe in poker sites fixing things. especially stars!) Oh well. there we go. I'm sure ill get lucky one day! :( Perhaps i should've flatted with the AK and seen a flop but it just feels so weak against a serial raising big stack who had already folded to a few of my reshoves...

bubble boy...



Apart from this tourney, as i say, i haven't played too much. Thursday saw me lose all 6 tourneys i entered. Wednesday was a bit better - played a mix of 12 sngs ranging from stt to 180 seaters. scraped into the cash in 22 and won one of 45 seaters outright but all the other loses meant i only had a slightly positive figure at the end of the day so another waste of time. I really need to get a half decent bankroll again and go back to the mtt's i think. They suit my style so much better as i think Ive demonstrated in these WCOP free roll donkfests (although that said, compared to other free rolls, the standard was a lot higher in these as a general rule).



I'll leave it there for now as i feel awful, cold and am being moaned at to take recycling out by the missus so I'll be back with another, hopefully more positive post soon :)

Life Tilt...

I genuinely am suffering from it!

I've been feeling quite positive and happy in myself the last few days which is odd considering how tough a time I'm having of it at the tables. I had a good time on the weekend, let my hair down a bit after the rugby at a [spunge] gig - went and did a spot of skanking in the pit while a bit drunk. Was good fun, made better by the fact there were plenty of decent girls around. lol
Ice Hockey on Sunday was decent with Devils winning 4-1 and we went out to celebrate after with a nice meal. It was Emma's birthday Monday so had another relaxing day ending in a pleasant meal out... Dad went into hospital for his operation which went OK but he's not able to do much other than hobble around! I think a lot of my positive feeling has been down to me sorting out my sleeping pattern! I'm sleeping at almost normal times now; for the first time in a long time! The only bad thing at the moment is that I'm STILL feeling ill! its been about 3 weeks now! i went to the doctor who was no help and said it seemed viral so they couldn't do a lot but i just cant shake it off! Hopefully it goes away soon as i don't feel great with it! Just constantly under the weather :(

At the tables its been a pretty dismal time as late, my bad beat stories continue and just seem endless. i don't think I'm playing badly, just not getting any breaks but then again, i am starting to question my play which probably isn't good for my confidence! I've moved down stakes to an extent, playing $6.50 tables now! and $11 non turbo sngs to try to reduce the variance. I have to admit, the non turbo's seem a lot softer than the turbos although that said... i still cant win at them!!!! i keep getting unlucky on the bubble and busting out either just short of the cash or in 3rd!

I may have previously mentioned that I'm chasing a bonus on stars which is actually going to take some achieving to get! I'm also trying to get to Silver star on Stars, i only decided to pursue this about couple of days ago though so i basically have to get over 1000 fpp's by the end of the month! It may not sound too hard if you play higher stakes or are higher up the stars reward ladder but at bronze star and with a FAR FROM HEALTHY bankroll after my recent bad run its looking almost impossible!!!! After cashing out $500 from stars a few weeks back, Ive done nothing but lose money and have dropped about $400 in just over a week! that's basically like a 35 buy in downswing for me with the stakes i play and it shows little sign of slowing down! I refuse to play any lower than I'm currently playing because its just not worth my time! I may, for the first time in a long time (probably over a year!), have to redeposit to help boost my bankroll there! and just when the £ has lost all value against the $! i should be withdrawing now, not thinking about reloading! :( I'm going to struggle on with $135 bankroll and hopefully start picking up a few scores again before the bankroll evaporates but if if continues as it has been, ill be depositing long before the week is out! lol

Ive watched a sngs PXF video today with /beanmo who's a sng legend and also invested £66 (damn exchange rate! grr) in SitnGo Wizard software so i could go over my recent sngs push/fold seeing as my problem seems to be around the bubble! Typical that i cant even get it working properly! i can get all my old hand histories to open but not my most recent ones! This hasn't helped with my life tilt. I thik i may just call it a night and get some sleep and hope i feel better in the morning!

Things cant get too much worse in poker terms anyway (or at least i hope they cant!)

zzzzzzzz

Not played a whole lot but thought I'd post an update as its been a few days.

Had a good day on Tuesday, ended up $48 in profit as i won a 18 seat sng. lost a couple too mind. lol
Wednesday ended up $12.10 down so basically break even. just didn't catch any breaks really, losing flips left right and centre so the fact i was only just down is a good result.

Played just one double or nothing PLO sng which i cashed in so was +$9.60 for the day. woo

Today's been a nightmare. still playing now but thought I'd post here at the same time as i cant believe what I'm seeing. lol Never had a day like it!
AK v KJ all in pre - J comes...
Q's v J's, all in pre, J on flop
K's v 9's, all in pre, 9 on flop
AT v AQ, all in on a ATx flop, Q on river
and the best to last... AK v 5's on a AKxx board, all chips went in on turn (5's re shoved!), i called for all my chips with top 2 pair AND nut flush draw... river 5 : unbelievable....

And that's just naming a few hands - there were definitely more. lol

I've kept my cool so far as Ive been playing OK and getting the chips in good but it's slowly starting to get to me as the bad beats are getting a bit relentless! -$76.20 so far today and counting :)

It's a bit rough at sea...

It's been a few days since my last post so thought it was time for a quick update.
Things have actually picked up somewhat recently to an extent... won another 45 seater sng on November 13th for $154 and did some workings on my results, basically trying to get an idea of what are my strongest games. Ive come to the conclusion that its the smaller field mtt turbo sngs as they re basically like single tables only with an inflated prize pool. The fields aren't so big that its a total crap shoot by the end, just solid push/fold strategy. For this reason I've started playing the 18seater sngs as well (although things haven't been too smooth so far!) and we'll review how things progress...

Went to the Wales v Canada rugby game on Friday 14th which was rather dull. Wales playing a young team and saving their best players for the bigger games coming up which meant the game was quite scrappy and although Wales won, wasn't the best watch! played a bit of poker both before and after but didn't have too much luck, ending the day -$47.25 giving a monthly total of +$247.90

The weekend i haven't played a huge amount but equally the games i have played haven't been too kind! Saturday i played two 45 seat sng's and a 180 seater which resulted no $0 return so i ended -$36 and Sunday's been even worse... Two 45 seat sng's and 4 18 seaters with absolutely no return...

Saturday (and the later games on Friday actually) i didn't play too well so im not so annoyed about those as i stopped early and cut my losses. Sundays games have been very frustrating though! early exits out of the 45 seat sngs which perhaps i could've avoided. things like TPTK v aces, etc. The 18 seaters have been annoying though bubbling 2 of them once with Q's v A9 and then AT v KJ (i was the one shoving, not calling in both situations) and got 7th in another which again wasn't too full of luck! It's only a small sample size though so I'll stick at them. Perhaps pokers just not profitable anymore... lol I find it bizarre how even a day of poker can change your opinions on it so massively. The cards aren't noticeably much different, just the outcomes after the community cards are dealt and i think it hurts more as Ive been used to making a lot more than i am at the moment and i cant fathom out why I'm struggling so much these days! Not sure if it's variance, game selection, my play or whether i was just getting it good before... I could really do with a nice score again soon though.

Perhaps getting backing could be an option allowing me to play higher stakes... I'm really not sure! I think even small swings effect me a bit though, maybe not my game but i don't like losing money too much! lol