Long time no post

Apologies to all my fan boys for the length of time it’s taken me to update this blog - the main reason for the lack of updates is a lack of things to post!
My holiday in the US was awesome - ended up getting an extra 3 days too thanks to BA going on strike and cancelling my flight home! I'll post some pics at the end of the blog if anyone’s interested.
Really couldn’t get back into over when I got home despite my best intentions. I ended up experimenting with different options such as playing plo8 cash, just mtts and am now onto playing super turbos.
Despite my best efforts Full Tilt refuse to give me rake back... I’ve tried everything. Signed up years ago before they even offered it which I find quite unfair but ahh well - their loss as I refuse to play there until they give me it!
Stars don’t run any super turbos and i've been fancying them for a while now so I’ve made the switch to playing all my pokerz at Party. If it goes well, ill make it my permanent home... See how it goes I guess.

It’s started pretty poorly. I’ve only played about 110 6 max super turbos so far but am running well below EV in them. It wasn't bothering me as my EV line was climbing but the last 20 or so my red lines spiralled downwards too. I’ve make some poor plays but on the whole I feel like i'm playing well and just getting super unlucky. Just cold decked galore and if i’m not cold decked I get outdrawn! Not quitting yet though! I know the super turbos can have some mad swings - the games feel really soft and a lot less regs in them than in the Stars sngs so hopefully things will turn around soon!

I ended March in profit but only by a few hundred $ but that’s not bad considering how little I played.

Aprils been super scrappy month and i’m only now starting to settle back into playing a bit more but running like death which is annoying. Overall I’m up for the month but only just and all thanks to a 180 man on Stars at the beginning!

Anyway, I'll grind on and hopefully start making some much need $$$ soon!

photo album 1 (theres 4 in total) - should be able to get to the others from there somewhere.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?id=507121323&aid=158974
 
Seeing as i've directed you to my FB page, Feel free to add me as a friend on there and say hi!

Feb review, March plans & Hello USA!

Apologies for my slow updates!

Feb was a really good month but could've been so much better if only id had the discipline to put in more volume. Instead i decided to relax the end of the month and take it easy.

I started a mini plo challenge - nothing official - just grinding my way up from .5/.10c and moving up to the next level whenever i make 20 buy ins... Its just a bit of fun and not too sure how strict im going to be with it yet. Below is a graph of my progress so far... Started well. not too sure what to make of the last few sessions mind!

As i was saying, Feb wasn't a good month for volume but was pretty good for profit - Almost entirely from the 180 man sngs as i couldn't get anywthing going in the 45s. Think i actually ended the month in the red in them. Anyway, below is my Feb graph for the sngs.

As a result of my awful volume in Feb, i failed to even make Goldstar which is a bit poor really! Im stuck as a Silverstar for March and im not very hopeful of getting much more in March. My volume so far this month is laughable. Ive only played 2 days, both of which have been losing ones and only small sessions on both.

I fly out to San Francisco on Monday for a driving holiday as ive mentioned in an earlier post, driving down the West coast then inland over to Pheonix via Palm Springs, up to the Grand Canyon and then across to Vegas before flying home on March 22nd from LA (provided British Airways dont strike and leave me stranded over there - not that i'd be complaining too much!)

It should be fun but is purely a long overdue relaxing holiday before i get back to the grind end of March and big month in April hopefully! Im taking my laptop with me and have tried to ensure i have internet connection at all our hotels so i can keep in touch with people and no doubt play a few hands of plo or sngs in the nights depending on how good the connections are!

Doubt i'll post now while im away so untill i return... adios amigos!

An odd month

About time i did a quick update on Febs progress...

The month has been quite successful so far but almost solely because of one super day! I haven't played anywhere near as much as i should have done and i have little excuse really - just my usual motivation issues!

Below are my sharkscope stats in the 45s and 180 sngs so far for Feb.



As you can see, almost all my profits this month have come from the 180s and almost all from 1 day.
Last Sunday i decided to play 1 small session of 12 games for fun, a mix of 45s and 180s. I managed to get a 1st and 2nd in two of the 45 seaters and Final tabled 3 of my 180 sngs winning 2 of them and getting third in the other! Made for a +$1446.62 day! very nice indeed.

Overall this month im +$1840.38 so far including rakeback and everything played which is already 3x my Jan total so not bad at all. Im still a little concerned at my poor showings in the 45 mans where i feel like im really struggling to do anything but breakeven in them! Toying with the idea of playing just 180s but i think thats just because im clearly running well in them at the moment so should really just push on with everything for the time being. I'm actually running below EV according to HM at the moment this month by a few hundred $ which is nice but means very little in the mtt sngs...

Im really enjoying the Winter Olympics at the moment! soooooooooo much better than the Summer games but i am quite a fan of the snow and ice :)

We'll close on a recent picture of some British snow

January Review, WBCOOP update & Feb targets...

January really hasn't gone to plan. I started the month on a bit of a downswing in the $16s so made the move to the$12 mtt sngs. Since making the switch my results have been a lot better and on the up but I've struggled to find the motivation to put in the kind of volume I'd like. I'm feeling more settled in the mtt sngs now though and am planning a much better month in Feb!

I ended Jan +$604.40 for the month which is very substandard but when you take into account the downswing at the start of the month and my lack of volume - it's not actually too bad an outcome...
Below is my Sharkscope graph for 2010. It's actually missing quite a few tourneys though as my monthly total includes a couple of mtt cashes, rakeback and as I've mentioned in earlier posts - quite a few hyper turbos.

WBCOOP

I've only played this half heartedly, when I've been around and missed the grand final all together as i was at an ice hockey match where I'm a season ticket holder. My only cash of the series was ironically in the 8 game where I had to have a quick tutorial on how to play the draw game in it! I was actually feeling quite confident with my play though and managed to go quite deep and pick up a $16.50 ticket. Should've gone deeper but got unlucky when my AK ran into AQ and the Q on the flop spelled the end of my tourney!

Feb targets...

I want to play at least 1000 mtt sngs and earn at least $1500 for the month which should be easily doable if I can find some discipline and motivation to play a bit more!

I also plan to dabble in a few of the higher buy in sngs, mostly the $27 45 and 180 seaters as it should improve my $/hr even if it lowers my roi slightly. I have the bankroll to play them - I just don't quite have the confidence yet! I like to tread very carefully when moving up stakes. I seem to have it in my head that every player will be a pro at the next level up and that I'll lose all my edge at the tables! lol

I also want to at least maintain Goldstar status on Stars and will hopefully be in a position to shoot for Platinum by the end of the month if things go to plan although this isn't a priority for me. I'd just like to have a nice month of earnings as I'm going away touring the West coast of the US in March for 15 days so any extra money I can earn this month will all help toward having some fun in March .

I'll probably mix some multi-table tourneys in again as i've gone deep in some of the one i've played recently and wouldnt mind scoring a nice result in them again!

I'll post again in a few days and let you know how well (or more likely badly) Feb is shaping up!

Until then... Thanks for reading & GL at the tables!

WBCOOP Event # 1

This one will be a short post as theres not a lot to be said....

I raise AK suited, get flat called by Q9 and lose about 300 chips.

a few hands later...


PokerStars Game #38722848824: Tournament #280000001, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2010/01/25 22:11:47 WET [2010/01/25 17:11:47 ET]

Table '280000001 28' 9-max Seat #4 is the button

Seat 1: Ivydrive (1610 in chips)

Seat 2: dEuCeWilD77 (1925 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 3: ButtonDog (1925 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 4: Cdub512 (1265 in chips)

Seat 5: cctruckee (2585 in chips)

Seat 6: DennisC98 (1940 in chips)

Seat 7: Durrrell (2810 in chips)

Seat 8: mclaughlin04 (760 in chips)

Seat 9: While25 (3180 in chips)

cctruckee: posts small blind 15

DennisC98: posts big blind 30

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Ivydrive [Jc Js]

Durrrell: folds

mclaughlin04: folds

While25: folds

Ivydrive: raises 60 to 90

dEuCeWilD77: folds

ButtonDog: folds

Cdub512: raises 1175 to 1265 and is all-in

cctruckee: folds

DennisC98: calls 1235

Ivydrive: raises 345 to 1610 and is all-in

DennisC98: calls 345

*** FLOP *** [3s 9c 3c]

*** TURN *** [3s 9c 3c] [Qs]

*** RIVER *** [3s 9c 3c Qs] [4s]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

DennisC98: shows [Qc 9s] (two pair, Queens and Nines)

Ivydrive: shows [Jc Js] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)

DennisC98 collected 690 from side pot

Cdub512: shows [4h 4d] (a full house, Fours full of Threes)

Cdub512 collected 3810 from main pot
 
Admittedly... a bit of a loose call however being a freeroll i thought i'd gamble early on given the opportunity to try to build a nice stack to play with.
 
GG me. Roll on Event #2 tomorrow

Update...

I havent updated for a while so thought i'd pop a few words up on the blog.

2010's been a bit tough so far in general. I hit something of a wall in the 9 man sngs and was getting somewhat disillusioned with my long breakeven stretch followed by a downswing rather than the upswing i was waiting for! As a result i decided to leave the 9 man sngs and make the transition across to the mtt sngs with some success. I've been playing a lot of the $12 45 and 180 seat sngs. I had a few early results in the 45s and then started running bad and the opposites happened in the 180s. I won a $12 180 man sng a couple of days ago which was nice.

I've started throwing in a few mtts as well on the side and went very deep in a $5.50 mtt on Stars the other day. Eventually busting in 23rd out of 5926 players which i was reasonably pleased with. Shame my AK didnt flip a bit better else i felt i could've gone a lot deeper and probably made the final table, or even taken it down... Im currently playing the nightly $70k on stars as i forgot to unregister from it after I satellited in.
It's currently going quite well though. Well above average chips and fast approaching the money... I seem to have found my tourney mojo again that i was moaning about having lost a few posts ago!

As well as playing the mtt sngs, ive found a new love for the 6 max hyper turbos. They're quite fun, push fold poker from the word go and can be reasonably profitable if you put the volume in and do some table selection... It's just a shame Stars don't run them more often or to some set schedule! I've emailed them twice asking for the schedule but they say one doesnt exist (i find this hard to believe though - how can a schedule not exist...) and tell me to just use the search facility - Not quite what i was looking for but oh well.

I've also found a little trick with them to improve me rakeback. Rather than relying on buying the cash bonuses where even the $4k bonus open to just Supernovas works out as $0.016 per fpp, if you play the hyper satellites with your fpps instead, you can achieve in the region of $0.018+ per fpp regardless of your vip status (if you're a reasonable player) then just unregister and have the T$'s instead...

I am slacking a bit when it comes to volume though and changing from the $16 9 mans to the $12 mtt sngs has affected my volume even further as ive been playing lower volume and opting to tile the tables instead of stacking them. I may move back to stacking though and increase my volume in them then unstack them once i make the Final Table. I'll see how things pan out for the rest of the month. The lower volumes really not helping me in chasing Supernova this year though. I'm going to have to rely on moving up stakes later in the year if i want to make it i think. Either that or seriously increase my volume.

I've recently treated myself to a nice new quick PC on Windows 7 with dual screen set up, and moved my old pc upstairs, wired it up to my 42" plasma screen so i have the option to play there now too as a backup option which is nice. I'll try to get some pics of my new set ups in the near future up here along with some graphs and charts. I've just made the money in this $55 mtt so i think i'd better go and concentrate on turning it into a win seeing as its made me stay up all night to play it (05.53am here now in Wales!)

Oh how could I forget...  Ive booked some flights over to the US today! Flying into San Francisco on March 8th, driving down the coast through Big Sur, etc then inland across to Scottsdale and Phoenix, up to the Grand Canyon, across to Vegas for a few days and then over to LA to fly home 15 days later. It should be a nice break from the same daily routine and grind i've become stuck in recently. A nice holiday's somewhat overdue! I've been before but my girlfriends never been to the US and it'll be our first proper holiday abroad since being together (over 6 years now!) so she's really excited. It should be a blast :) I'm in Vegas for 3 nights but am undecided as to whether to play poker or not yet. I may try to avoid it as I find live poker a drag and have every intention of going back for just poker in the near future so may keep it to just tourist stuff for the first time... I'll see how i feel.
If anyone has any tips on things to do or places to visit while over there it'd be welcomed. I currently just have my route planned, tickets booked to the Ducks v Avalanche game in LA and a few other things in mind to do so my schedule is open to suggestions :)

Finally, Next week is the WBCOOP so i look forward to seeing all my fellow bloggers grinding it out at the tables. Say hey if you're at my table!

All the best for now!

First time for everything...

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: 427465

Let me know if you're also playing and ill keep an eye out for you. Feel free to follow me at the tables. I'll post updates as the events progress.

I'll make a proper post shortly regarding the sng grind so far in 2010.
Its been quite a nightmare to be fair so far... Info and graphs to follow :)

Thanks to DaleRoxxu and his excellent blog for informing me and encouraging me to sign up for this excellent promotion from Stars... check out his blog if you haven't already! http://daleroxxu.blogspot.com/