Time for an Update........

This isn't going to be a structured update, or I have no idea what I am going to write, but felt like updating, so here it is..........


General Life/Poker Rant

Not sure where to start really, not played a great deal in a past week due to mostly not being bothered, going out and getting drunk and just down right not feeling like it and not needing to play. I have had a cracking start to the year with a brilliant hourly rate and have been crushing $5/10 when I've been playing, and I am confident that I will have a good year online and hopefully live.
Recently I've been thinking a lot of my future both in poker and otherwise and have been trying to make a mental plan for the next few years. I am a carefree person mostly and just let things sort themselves out as they always have for me. Going to live in Leeds again next year with 3 other non-student mates, might be a bit of a pain at times, i.e. getting dragged out/disturbed instead of playing but I think it will be good long-term, better then being bored at home, -ev poker, +ev life......... I do need to start playing more and concentrating when I'm play but I'm doing well enough at the moment without this extra time and concentration so not going to change a winning formula, and I am generally happy with poker to be honest. Been a bit down today, not sure why, think just general shit things in life and feeling crap, been going out and drinking too much and I'm hardly the convivialist come the next day.
Am I happy with life at the moment? Sure, I love life and I love what i'm doing really and its great getting rewarded for something that your good at. However, I want to be more sporty and active again, and its hard to mix the two, as poker generally means pretty unsocialable hours and i'm usually tired or lazy come the following morning/early afternoon. I need to push myself more and get out more in the day, all I same to do is go out and get hammered or hang out with my mates in the night, which is cool, but I do need to get out in the daytime more. Not been gym this week, basically because hungover and had day of sorting things out for Goa, and that sucks, cause i'm trying to get back to some sort of decent level of fitness and I'm a bit annoyed at myself for being lazy/going out too much. Its weird, I feel like i'm getting old and getting half past the going out, downing loads of drinks, doing strawpaedos, and a large conglomerate of assorted shots.... I will obviously miss it, I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, I just feel like I want a decent meal out, then to go to some respectable bars, but I would almost definately feel obversely the other way........Oh well, I think I just need to become really active and push myself to do more, anyway, will have a good think about it and try and get into a routine after Goa... Keeping routines is hard when you have a dynamic 'occupation' like poker I guess.......


Goa

Going to Goa Monday night, well 1am Tuesday morning for any pedantesque twats reading this, and really looking forward to it. Need a holiday I think just to relax a bit and hopefully come with some sort of routine when I get back. Should be good crowd going, Joey, Dubai, Dpommo (hopefully), Milkybar, Gryko, Farrer, and a few other good lads, looking forward to it :). Not got any new injections, hope i'm alright, had Typoid and Hep A for Cancun in the summer, I hope, and the hotel we are in is 5* on the coast, and so there shouldn't be many 'mozzies', as they apparently hang out more inland and are a bigger risk in poorer areas. Buying in for $5300, to treat, and going to try and relax a bit more, rather then getting hammered every night and I want a result, I am definately going to take playing live a lot more seriously this year, and not just be an uncaring twat at the table and try and outplay the idiots instead of just donking off because i am tilted by just sitting next to them! Anyway, not going to play much before then, probably just tomorrow night (Fri night)..........


Oh well, I've updated, going to post few pics of me too as I never have....

Cheers,

All the best......

Ben

Quick Update

I did say I was going to update more, and theres no point keeping this blog alive if i'm never going to update, so here it is........................

January has come and gone pretty quickly, I've not played a great deal this month, but still done really well considering and had a cracking start to the year, with only a few losing days, ironically tonight being my worse, oh well, been pretty golden recently so can't really complain..... lol...


BBV Bolton

Went to Bolton a few weeks ago for the debut of the Grosvenor UK Poker tour, and was quite looking forward to playing as I planned to take a more serious approach to live play in '07, after donking of a stack in Singapore because I just wanted to get hammered,. I arrived at the metropolis of Bolton in good time with a few of my mates who were also playing. It was my first time in Bolton, and probably my last, can't imagine why else I would go there unless it was to watch a game at the Reebok, its pretty shit. I checked into the Holiday Inn Bolton, where I was sharing a room with Dubai because he only booked 2 between 3 of us. Rooms were ok, pretty standard, and we headed down for some very average food which was made all the more sweeter when Dubai lost the 'credit card roulette', holllllllllla.

We found out the casino was only a 10 minute or so walk from the hotel, so much to Dubai's liking, we decided to walk. A few stops for breath later, and via a cashpoint for my buyin, we arrived there. I was a member at Leeds so it should have been easy to get in, however, the others got in fine and I was met with rejection in some broken English from a Polish desk worker..... I asked why, and he said that I had been group-wide banned from Grosvenor for "ATM abuse". I had slight feeling I might have been banned, as I got kicked out Grosvenor Leeds when I was an intoxicated student and my card wasn't working and then I preceeded to curse the machine and give it a 'lightish' slap a few times, no harm was done, but I was obviously asked to leave which I did and he said it would be fine in future etc etc. I got no letter informing me of the banning so I guessed I hadn't been banned, my fault not for checking I guess, oh well..... I spoke to the manager of the Bolton branch who said i'd have to write a letter and appeal to casino that I got banned from etc etc, so off I trotted back to the hotel.....

A few episodes of 24 were watched, after doing my buyin online - was always going to happen, then I fell asleep. At 11:30, (tourney only started at 9:15) Dubai burst in waking me up he had been knocked out, obviously, and we went out and had a half decent night. Come 6am and many drinks later we went back to the hotel, and to our bitter, well mine - he prefers Cristal, disappointment there was no one serving at the bar, so Dubai decided to serve himself, this is where things went wrong. Dispite him leaving double the money behind the bar the idiot nightdeskmanjobsworth or whatever guy wouldn't let it go and we got kicked out.... Off to Chorley and the hotel next to Camelot we went, and they had no rooms in the main hotel so we had to stay in the holiday village, it wasn't too bad. Next day didn't do much, mate had a stack, Protege/Joey, and was a shame I couldn't get in to watch, so we went for dinner, unfortunately the medival banquet was booked for a party but apparently there was a nice Italian down the road, which was on the house for me cursity of Dubai's poor heads up play of rooshamboo. holllla.....

Decided to chill in bar, watch footy/nfl and book another hotel for tomorrow as Joey was still in..... Next day, got suite at De Vere, was nice, Joey went out 5 mins into the next day, but hotel was booked so we stayed around before getting taxi back next day after Dubai losing a coin flip for the room bill lol.......

Beat: No more UKPT/Grov for me till I sort it....

Brag: 2 meals + room bill, hollllllllllllllllla

Varience: I run g00t!


Onwards

Going to keep going as normal over the next few months pokerwise and take it half slow and steady, but need to focus for a few weeks and get some hours in been a bit lazy...... However, I've sorted out my non-poker life really, started going gym daily and sorted sleeping pattern, was f'cked!, but it isn't great for poker but I got to find a balance.... Can't be bothered being one of these 12 hour a day players, its too much, need to get out and live etc.....

A New Year....

*Generic Happy New Year Message*

(use your imagination)

51 to go....

Well the first week of '07 is over, I've not been very busy, hardly played, went out, got drunk, banged head and basically felt shit since so not really been in mood to play. Played past few hours, played tilty, just cause felt shit, and ran worse but oh well, no real damage, still a few grand up for the year already without trying much.......

Been trying to play more MTTs recently, after I finished 2nd in the Boss $100k guar in December, got deepish in another $100k guar other night (~20th), but just seem to jam AK into AA/KK most the time recently, lol, sure It will turn and I will improve as I do want to improve my general MTT game, especially live.

Thought i'd update in an effort to keep this blog alive, will try and write about something interesting next week, maybe a feature on something. Probably going to the first Grovsnear UK Poker Tour event in Bolton this weekend, £1000+50 buyin, be ok experience and should be lots of fish/nits. Not going to travel too far to play live, especially in UK, as I feel my hourly rate is obviously better online and poker peoples in general seem to to tilt me, whilst playing, whether it be annoying habbits, misplaced arrogance or just general ignorance. I am speaking for mostly the miniority here, not having a go at live players in general, I think I just get too competitive and take things too heart too much etc, oh well. Also its far too slow and I seem to get bored without having 5/6 things on the go at once, I will give it my best shot though and actually try for once, live that is.

Craps

I hadn't played Craps for about 2/3 months, before that I played too much really, but luckily had a few nice wins, so was up slightly/even (which is good consdering...). Played other night again and "ran bad", lol excuses excuses, didn't lose great amount but its a waste and a leak I have to immediately cut out of my life again (apart from social times in Vegas, so basically no virtual/online craps!)....

I do enjoy Craps, a young man called Dubai (pictured below at his favourite home game with his best mate) introduced me to the game in Vegas last year, and we actually won a good few $k each in the end, in a group of 5/6 of us, after having a few massive 'rolls'. Most people always ask how to play, its definately the best casino game to play, if you are that way inclined and if the casino has a table (big 'if' in the UK). Its much more fun to go in a group/syndicate and play craps, and probably more +ev, then going off and playing blackjack or something other boring shit casino game by yourself. If your going to Vegas this year and want a taste of gambling in Vegas, bar calling with your flush draws etc, Craps is the game to play, look at the rules quickly before you go and go with your mates, you can even hi-five and "woop" etc when you win, wooowoooooooooo...funny, as long as tongue in cheek, good luck :). I would go into general strategy, but firstly I don't know much bar the basics, plus you can find it all on the net (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craps) and probably sites like 'Wizard Of Odds". But back the pass when the table is 'off', obv back behind max when 'on' and press the 6 and 8, wooooowooo.

Sorry if a bit off-topic/random,

Cheers, good luck in 2007 and beyond,

Ben

We Have Life........

I thought it was about time I brought this baby back to life. I have not posted since my drunk post-vegas post whilst in Cancun, I keep meaning to update but never really find the time, and I was not sure if it was worth it anymore, but I have decided, for anyone out there who actually cares, to attempt to reinsert some life into this 'blog' and will try and update at least once or twice a week and make it as interesting as possible....


A Slippery Slope

I have been playing online cash now just over a year, it seems like a lot longer, theres obviously been the ups and downs, and my perceptions and exceptions of the 'game' have varied immensely through the year. I have decided to write a review of my year on how I have developed and helping anyone understand the different stages in progressing as a better poker player, in my opinion anyway......

The Beginning

I started as a complete cash novice, and won from the start, as I understood poker well enough, I had managed to grind out some half decent money 4 tabling $33s on Party over the summer, but then my also poker playing friend, Protege, started playing shortstacked on £2/5 cash (£100 stack), and won around £1,000 in two days by just playing ABC V idiots, so I decided to give it a go........
When i started I played clever ABC poker, I knew my limitations and also played as a short stack. Before I knew it I playing the players I could beat and avoiding playing the better players, and making moves like jamming the serial button raisers with Ax and getting called by KQ etc, and I made a few k in the first 2 months not playing much.


Enlightenment

In the beginning I used to leave rather quickly after doubling/trebling up, but then I started staying on the tables and turning £100 into £800 in a few hour session on one of my tables was becomming pretty common occurence. I realised that I was in fact losing money by not buying in full stacked, so this is what I did........ I never looked back since I did that. I only played a few times a week, as I was busy in University (Leeds) and with other sport/social commitments, so I targetted to play every Friday night for around 8 hours and try and make a £1k a week catching all the 'fish' at the end of a week and after a night out. I learnt quickly and by May I was playing around 20-30 hours a week, whilst still at Uni and having an active life, and by the end of May I was around £40k up on the year, whilst having my first five figure profit month ever (shade over £20k in April).


The Inevitable Downswining

Exams were looming over me at the end of May/Early June but I wanted to make the rake for the WSOP ME on Betfair, so it was a a judgling act of poker/revision towards the end of the month, most of the revision balls were dropped though........

Exams over, and I was back to poker, then it started.......

I had a horrible few weeks, getting outdrawn, breaking even on the night, basically I just ran plain bad, but was still playing well..... -£8k later I was starting to tilt, but more so getting impatient to get back to my 'peak', I was obbessed with graphs and always wanting to be at my highest profit point, it was inevitable, I was going to blow up........

I started making marginal calls against poor opponents, thinking everyone was out to get me, and bluff me out of points. I thought playing lag was raising 74s utg, betting the flop of 722, getting called, and calling down thinking I was good only to be, obviously, showed 10s etc......I remember calling $1.4k into a $800 pot with A8 v an idiot on a 887510 board, when there was no way I was good, he obv had 10s. £4k down on the Friday, £4k down on the Saturday and the dream was fading, I lost confidence, was not concentrating, but all i wanted to do was get my money back and get back to 'peak' year profits...


Things can only get better....

A slight upswing came in the form of a 2:1 but then Vegas came, £10k went, but It was worth every penny, I can't wait to go back next year. I played my A game both in the Main Event and the $2k I played, and was very unlucky in both (bubbled in $2k) and AA v KK pre for big pot in main at end of day one...wp gg........

Played Bellagio $1k, and this could have been a turning point, 2nd chip leader big stack playing very aggro, as table were nits bar the chip leader....
One pot cost me a great chance of winning it, and is also the worst hand/weirdest i've played this year:

(Stacks/blinds might be slighlty off but this is the hand) I was raising around 1/3 hands, I made it 3.2k preflop with k4s (600/1200 blinds with ~60k stack) in mid position and its folded around to the nuts, literally mad, Frenchman chip leader (playing ~70k) who calls.... flop comes 5s6sJx, he checks, i bet 5k, he calls, pot is around 17k, turn comes 3x, giving me OESFD, he checks to me, i fire 10k, he calls.....River comes a 5, 5s6sjx3x5x board, he fires 6k into the ~38k pot, I know he has nothing so I raise it up to 30k, looking like I want to get paid, he jams after a few seconds, I have to fold even though its costing me like 12k to call, he stands up and turns over 108s for nothing but a worse flush draw and the sickest move ever, told you he was nuts..... I tilted after that, jammed every hand, some guy passed 88 face up to me when i jammed from SB into BB, even tho i was jamming every hand.....Got back to 30k or something, then bubbled when 19 left! (18 paid)....Joke lol.....

Anyway, back to the important Vegas related stuff:

Nights out were great, SR was great (in moderation), and met some great people, realised that most poker players were broke, and had the time of my life, wish I took more photos, well at least some, and updated this more for memories, oh well, lesson learnt......

Things didn't get better in Vegas btw :)......


Post-Vegas Blues

After going to London for the week, for hockey/mate's Birthday, I was back at home... I played a bit, but the internet was poor and kept cutting out when I was 4 tabling sixpacs, costing me a fortune.... I was losing £500 on days due to Internet, but still wanted to play... I eventually decided to have a break.....

Come the end of September, and my birthday (22), I decided to move back to Leeds as many of my mates were still there at Uni or working there...I had no internet till mid-October, but still tried to play in people's houses, on the University network etc. Results were bad, I managed to lose £5k on Six Pacs, mostly £3k in one night, just running sick...... Roll down to under £20k, but I was still confident.....


The Revolution

Got the net back in my new house in leeds and started playing again and in my mind I was now 'playing for a living' (I don't like calling myself a pro, as I feel I have to have done something big before deserving that title). The hungar for poker was back, and I had a great start. Singapore came and went, and was great fun, but no result there, got stack early and then got to aggressive against stations far too early, dissappointing. Lots of good stories from there, but not going to go into any in depth, went Singapore Gold Cup, out every night (bar before tourney), stayed in brilliant hotel etc etc, and was just good fun..........

Back from Singapore, and I was playing again, November passed with a healthy profit.

December has gone very well so far, playing brillaintly in cash and won $16k in the $100k guar on Boss other day, well over £20k up.

Lessons Learnt

1. You don't have to play high to win big - I feel have I come along way over the past year. I have moved from the mindset that you should be moving up to play, to thinking that staying at $5/10 and 4 tabling that is fine for an income. Whilst I could undoubtably beat £10/20, albeit for no were near as great a bb/100 then $5/10 etc, and $25/50 (selectively) I really don't think its worth the stress and swingyness. I am happy playing in my comfort zone, and playing an aggressive game, willing to get it in with draws/pairs when I feel good etc, rather then turning into a station at £10/20 or higher. I might look into shortstacking $25/50+ in future months, but I am happy at the moment.

2. Wasting money - In my mind, I have spent too much this year (probs £30k) just on going out etc. Its all ok in a while going out and spending a grand on a night out, but I think its a waste really. The amount of money i've spent on Cristal etc, which I don't really even like!, just because others are buying it, is pretty sick, I'd honestly rather give the money to charity or someone that needs it more, like my sister or something. You can sort of self-justify spending this money when you can earn that much in a night, but I still think its pretty sick and doesn't need to happen. Better off saving up and buying a car etc. I will still willingly get the rounds in with my uni mates etc though, but thats obviously much different........

3. Having to play - You don't have to play everyday, bottom line, I was trying to play when tired/hungover to get back to were I was, in May/June, the fact is you don't have to play everyday and I should have just had a week off etc instead of trying to win as quickly as possible.

4. Patience Live - I am badly influenced, naming no names (Hint: UAE), by friends that you have to play stupidly aggressively live to win, I f'ed up in Singapore, I had a stack early (3xstarting) and should have just play clever T-A, with moves ofc, but just went nuts and tried to run over the table on levels 4-6, stupid...... I double average and was no need to be mixing it up so early with 50bb or whatever, idiot....

5. Don't mix games - Only a quick one, but I've found myself mixing Six-Pacs, Limit, an Mtt and a cash table at points this year, its rediculous. Your mind works better when concentrating on one thing, not 4 different discliplines at once. I've found myself jamming ATC in cash by accident etc as well when playing too many differently discliplined tables, 3 cash+mtt is ok, but anything else is stupid, in my opinion anyway...

And lastly the most important one I think:

6. Worrying about money - It doesn't matter how much you are up/down in a day, my year should be seen as one long poker session (with obvious money management, but I am playing low enough, comperatively to my roll, for that to work itself out). During my downsing, I started playing stupid, not getting it in with the best hands, but calling with worse, get it in and worry later is my new motto! Basically the lesson learnt is just to play your A game, or C Game etc (its usually good enough!), and to worry about your daily profits etc, it doesn't matter if you lose £1.5k one day, but can win £5k the next 3 etc.... Just play good and let the money work itself out, it will! This is something I have to get into my head, I moan too much when losing £1k, even if I have won £5k over the past 3 days etc, stupid......

I'm sure there are a host of other things, but my greatest lesson learnt this year, is just the standard improvement at cash. I feel I have it well and truely smashed at the moment, and my A game, at online med-high cash, is as good as anyones. Something has clicked since October and I just keep improving all the time still I feel and am very confident about the coming year.....and with that in mind....


Targets for 2007

I don't really like targets, as you should just play well and things should work out, but some 'open' targets, in no particular order:

• Win 6 figures at online cash (Likely Rating: 85%...confident about this one)
• Cash for mid-5 figures in a live tournament (Likely Rating: 40%...not so confident, plus don't plan to play live too much)

• Improve Steadily throughout the year.....
• Don't tilt or chase or become impatient, things will work out!
• Get fit, I used to be quite the athlete, now I am losing it.....and need to turn it around in the New Year, its not like I don't have time!
• Cut down on HU sngs, they tilt me immensely for some reason when I run bad and get reraised when making plays etc, I take things too personally...
• Update this blog more!
• Keep stress to minimum, happy at $5/10nl making decent money, plus playing for living, so don't want £50k downswings at £10/20 plus +
• Take playing live more seriously.....it can seriously enhance your roll

WSOP 2006

I have decided to update4 my blog in truely druken fashion, as this is what I have motsly been like for the past 6 weeks... and I have not updated it during this time..... If there is/are any spelling mistakes or profeinty I apoligise at this time, If not, coooooool, etc rock on, etc.......I don't care!!!! wheyyy, banter etc =/

Main Event

The Main Event, yuck...... there were more animals in it, then I've ever seen in my life.... Players so poor they hardly knew if a flush beat a straight, and vice versa etc, twats...... I got to 28k chips pretty easily, including a 8k gift of AA v AQs preflop, thanks! otherwise, I got to 28k without much effort, just the general stealing, owning etc..... I was happy at 28k, then I got QQ, and managed to lay it down on a J high flop to AA, which was a half decent laydown..... Evlynn Ng, though it was good anyway..... then I got my stack all in AA V KK preflop. only for the door card to come a King, and I was drawing slim, oh dear, and what bad luck, that cost me a $44k stack, mmmmmmm....after that miscarridge of justice, I had $14k left and got it down to around $12k, even after a great laydown v 1010 on a 10 8 2 flop, when I had QQ and folded it face up to his annoyance and to the meeting of "FUCK", which he never got punished for..... everyone on my table knew I was the 'best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be' etc...and they even addmited it... Istole and owned for the next hour, before getting delt the monster of As3s in the BB 4 handed, someone miniraised and I obv called,....the flop came 4 way!........2s5s9x.....SB checked....me, the BB, checked....the MP checked and the CO decided to bet $2k, the SB minraised to $4k, and I shoved....i.e AI!!! (ALLLLLLLLL INNNNNN!!!!! It was only another $5k.....one folded.....the CO folded...and the SB thought for a bit before saying, "Nice hand, but I have to call", which made me think he had a flush draw or something....he had 7x7x which made me 55/45, I obviously lost the monster pot, and I was elimated, right near the end of day three.....(i.e. Day OneC in real terms, but oh well.... YOu can't afford to turn down this massively +ev sitatuions in tournaments, you have to play for first and settle for nothing, its a the winning way in these such top heavy tournaments......I would have had a $27k stack, again, if I had won that!.....

I also played the $1k rebuys, and got knocked out v Negreanu, 8th hand in!!! AkS v 87s! the little **** (insert any 4 letter word, 5 letters if Pixie)....outdraw me and rivered his hand all in preflop...making me quickly realise I never had the money to gamble with these people.....I also played the Bellagio $1k entry, Killing it, till a crazy Frenchman decide to bet $6k into a ~$30k pot on a board of QsJs6x5x2x and I reraised him to $17k knowing he was weak, but hes he shoved for another $11k and I obviosuly had to fold my Asks...yuck! he then flipped over 10s8s for the craziest bluff ever.... SO SICK.....I still had a stack but bubbled in 20th when shoving J9s from the SB with 9bb into the BB, who had KQ.....which stood up....yuck...18th paid $2k+ and I had bubbled, AGAIN, in 20th.....


Non-Poker Vegas

The defination of "non-poker", is not directly poker related stories...obviously all my friends I made/had in Vegas are through poker...however, the stories of nights out etc are not poker related.....at least directly....I think I spent around $15,000 on nights out in Vegas as a whole....A great amb ambassasdor of this was 'Dubai', who taught me that money was pretty worthless, and that you only live once, so spend it etc etc..... I have great memories of spending $550 on a meal, then going out and spending twice as much, then going the stripper and spending a similar amount and these were great nights.... In Cancun at the moment, I will update tomorrow again (probs in 2 weeks!), with stories and banter etc.....p.s. Poker is shit!

$2,000 NL: Day One

Well, I played my first big live tournament today, and obviously my first WSOP event. There were around 2000+ entrants, and a $3,7mill prize pool after the 9% rake/vigor/ripoff etc.....198 paid, with ~$872k to the winner, down to ~$2.8k for 198th.....anyway...

$25/25 Blinds

Started with $2000 stack, so had 80bb..... Had young Scandie to my left, who I recognised, but not sure who he was, he seemed decent though, TA, opposite me was Josh Arieh, who was playing fast, obviously trying to get a stack early..apart from those two, the table seemed pretty standardish, but there was only really 1 donkey, limping lots of hands like KJ utg etc.........

Arieh went out pretty early, with a weird call on a 6 4 2 flop, 2 dimonds, with black ak, against a set of 2's, and was glad to see the back of him. Played around a bit, raising with position, cont betting the flop etc etc, and got my stack to around $3k with not much happening by the end of level 2...had kk once at $25/50, and had one caller, who folded the J high flop.....

$50/100 Level 3

Came into level 3 with around $3k, picked up QQ a few hands in, in a middlish position, and raised it up, no action tho....

QQ comes again in about a round's time, and UTG limps, and UTG+1 shoves for around $1.6k, I don't rate him, so I call pretty quickly, as with these blinds you need to play pretty quickly.....He flipped over 88, and a 10x 8x 4x flop was pretty sick, with a Q or running straight needed, he soon put me out of my misery with a further 8 on the turn and I was drawing dead, and he scooped the near $3.5k pot...which is duely lost after a few more rounds.....

Meanwhile, I picked up KK in the SB soon after, and doubled up from a player in mid posi who raised with AJ and was priced in to clal my reraise, and i was back to just over $2k...I raise a few buttons, bet a few flops, etc and get played back at a few times, and i'm at $1,700... I pick up KK again in late posi, and guy to my right raises to $600, (blinds have just turned $100/200), I shove and he calls with A10c, and my kings hold, and I'm pushing $4k......

Table breaks again, and I end up on a table where I don't really recognise anyone, few 'names' on tables near me, Harman, Bellande etc.....Play for around a level, an hour, and nothing much happens, and the table breaks again, and I'm on around $3700.......

New table again....Not great position, Micon to my left (rusn Neverwin Poker, decent player) and Alan Cunninghams 'partner' to the left of him.....I pick up AQs near the button, raise no action....blinds are $100/200 now with a $25 ante...so i need to move fastish......not much action and blinds go up to $150/$300 with $25 antes.....Its folded to me in the CO and i raise to $1k with 75s and Cunningham partner, or whatever, rerasies me all in, and has me covered, and I have to fold, and i'm down to $3k and looking dodgy to make the Dinner Break which is at the end of the level...... I Pick up AQs again and get it all in against JJ, I had to make a move due to the escalating blinds etc....I win the race with an A on the river and I'm at over $6k......Last hand before the dinner break, a guy whos been raising a lot, raises from MP+2 or so, and I find JJ on the button, I shove him, and he folds, and shows AQx and I'm at around $7,500.......


After the dinner break: $200/400 with $75 ante.....

Only 440 players left out of the starting 2050 with an average stack of around $9,700, so I need to keep moving.....
I pick up KK in mid posi, raise to $1200, but everyone folds....Up to $8k+
Its all downhill from here, SS pushes UTG+1 for around $2k.....and guy in mid posi mini raises to $4k...I have 10s in late posi, and think for a while then fold, better spots i feel......SS shows 67c?!?! and miniraiser shows J9s........board comes 9 high and turn and river is no help to SS and the miniraise wins the pot....mmmmm

All downhill from my $8k peak, tried to steal a few times raising between $1100 and $1400, but I get pushed back at a lot....

Down to $6k, fold AQx utg, and on the button to a raiser UTG who I respect.....

Down to $4.8k, and the blinds raise to $300/600 w/$75, guy being very aggressive preflop to my right, and I can't find a spot to steal or a hand in around 30 hands.....pretty card dead........down to $3k and find 97s in the CO, folded to me, I shove it, and SB, reraises to $10k?!?! oh dear.....Its HU, and he says, oh well, guess its a flip and you got overs..... he shows 99, ouch.....and the flop comes 10 high with a spade, another spade on the turn gives me a gimilar of hope, but 10x falls on the river, and i'm out, in around ~300th place......oh well gg.....I had to make a move before i had zero fold equity....

Thoughts

I thought I made a good showing, considering it was my first tourney.... maybe should have put the pressure on earlier, but just didn't find hands at the right times late on....I got pretty close to the money, but wasn't going to try and limp my $8k stack into the money, as I couldn't anyway, got unlucky with my stealing spots and just had no hands when I needed them, oh well, it happens, and I'm pleased with my performance, and confident that I can beat these in the long run.....

Oh well a good experience, and slightly promising........

Not playing any WSOP events till Sunday ($1k rebuys), but will play some cash/stts tomorrow....Knackered now after 8 hours of poker.......Tv and sleep for me...

Cheers,

Ben

Vegas

Wrote this last night when in Gatwick waiting for my flight for Vegas, here now, its great, great room etc, so tired though, so just waiting for food and then to crash before playing the $2k nl tomorrow, anyway....:


Well I have been pretty bad in not updating the blog, and I have been running pretty bad at poker as well since my last update, so maybe they go hand in hand, oh well......anyway.....

Congruadations!

Well I managed to bluff myself a 2:1 degree from Leeds in the end, which is brill considering the amount of time I have spent doing anything remotely academic during my time there. I've had a great time there, and pleased that I took the plunge and moved away for Uni, its a totally difference experience to staying at home and going to to Uni there i guess.........I've met some great friends, had so much fun, matured a lot, enjoyed the freedom, pissed around and still got a 2:1 etc etc plus you apprecate home comforts so much whenever you go home... Oh well enough of that, onto the important stuff!

Vegas

I don't think I ever confirmed that I was going in any other posts, but I am.... Flying out at 10:55am tomorrow morning with Virgin, and really looking forward too it. 22 nights in the Rio and 4 WSOP events woooo.... ($2,000nl, $1,500nl, $1knl+rebuys + $10,000 Main event)....the last which is paid for by Betfair :) due to raking myself to "level 7" on there Rake scheme, and getting a full $15k package! They now have another rake reward program about to start which involves a trip to the Betfair Asian Poker Tour in the fall, and I'll be definately going for this too :).....

Should be a great experience over the next few weeks, and thats as long as its that (a great exp), then I'm not going to be too pissed off/annoyed if I finish OTM in all my 4 events, which is very likely anyway, seeing the small amount of events I am playing and my limited live tournament experience. Heading to Cancun in Mexico after the Main Event for 2 weeks with my mate from Uni, which should be great as well :D. Be nice to do well in the cash games in LV, and I will be playing as much as I can, I hear the Rio is poorish though, so might have to head over to the Bellagio for some fishy action.. (probably from me....).... I am going to try and update regulary though, mostly for my friends at home who are interested, and for anyone else who is interested.......

I've had a bad spell on poker on the net, i'm not going into the details, its not diasterous, but still obviously hurts quite a bit..... I'm too tired to go into what I think i'm doing wrong now, as had busy day travelling and got even bigger one tomorrow! Just been playing because of "boredom" and not concentrating etc etc........

Anyway, will try and update Thurs or Friday after I bust out of the $2k nl!

Viva Las Vegas,

Benno

Student days are over.......

Finished my finals last week, and I can safely say I'm not gonna miss the academic side of university at all. Hope to stay around here, Leeds, next year maybe and play poker to make a living, but not decided yet, and in no rush too really......

Not been playing poker too much recently, been trying to get a few hours in during the day and going out in the nights.....anyway.....

Miserable May

Well May started well with me being £6k up in a matter of days, which was nice. After that went on a £9k downswing, with a half recovery in the middle, before having a -£4800 day, record easily, and hitting rock bottom. Played a bit during my exams, mostly some £50/£100 thunders, and ran really bad, racking up losses over £700 for stts in May. Played on 29/30/31 and made around £2k over the spell which put me just under £3k up in cash for May (bar £450 I lost at Ultimate Bet)

Played Ohama a few times pissed, and lost the best of $1100, oops......

Played both the Stars Million and Party 500k (or whatever)..... started really well in both, was in top 10 on Stars after the first hour and 20mins or so, then had AA V QQ pre, KK V JJ pre and finally AK v 77 which all but basically wiped me.....was doing well on Party,and just to rub salt into the wounds, had AA Into QQ beat again preee, d'oh, feel like I could beat the $215 mtts, its just a long road....so -$430 there....

So overall in May I made around £1000, had a horrendous swing, and was still up, also generated nearly £6k rake, so should expect a healthy chunk of Rakeback too, (£1.7kish)........



Whats Next?

Well i'm going to keep playing as much as possible until this WSOP rake promo is over (25th June), and solely at Betfair for now. Going to continue playing £2/5 and a lot more £5/10. Need to work on my game a lot, and review my sessions a few hours per week as I feel like I have been misplaying hands in certain situations and overplaying/overcalling :| AA KK, eurghhhhhhhhhh, normally good, but sometimes find it hard to let go even though deep down I know i'm beat, and its cutting into my profits..

Going Vegas for the WSOP Main Event, as long as I play enough which I definately will so no worries there. Going to book flights this weekend and sort out hotel for week before Main Event so I can get some experience in and relax a bit, as I've never played a live Event larger then a £20 rebuy! never mind $10k. So that will be 3 weeks in Vegas, then off to Cancun, Mexico, to meet up with my uni mate for 2 weeks, which will be great too, so great summer planned......

After WSOP promo, I hope to look at playing $5/10 and above UB/Party and be a bit more table selective as I won't always need to be playing 5 to get the rakeback, but I feel/know I can beat every table anyway at this level.......Also going to play the Sunday MTTs on Party/Stars for large field experince mostly, and I feel they are still obv +Ev.........

June 1st

Wierd day today, bit tilty at the moment, just dropped $5.5k in past 2 or so hours, was $8.6k up.......Sick, AA into QQ £2.2k pot, then a misplayed KK when opponent turned 2 pair....then just now idiot raising 50% preflop, i shove kk to his stupid reraise, and he has AK and spikes an A for £2.1k, sick spell, hurts losing £3k in under 3 hours....oh well, still a profit so far, still could have been a golden day.....(edit make that £4k in 4 hours, nearly even, joke......sick really)

Oh well, gonna call it a night/day soon....

Back tomorrow or at the weekend with an overlook of the year so far.......

Cheers

Benno

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 8029769

The Update.....

Well I've been meaning to update this for ages, but went away, came back uni and all time spare for poker I'd rather be playing then updating this!

Anyway.......

Amazing April

I had broke 5 figures, $ wise, for the first time ever in March and would have been happy to get anywere around that figure again, I however smashed it......

The month started well with that £7.7k night, this record was later broke a few weeks ago with a massive £8.4 night which was lovely. I'm not going to go into details of certain hands etc on the month but I played well and got paid on those two nights with a few grand or so nights here and there. Made an awesome profit cash-wise for April and i'll be made up if I can better that in a single month this year....

Cash £21,900
MTTS/Sats -£125

Edit - 15th May
Going to update after exams, finish 26th May, played tonight and lost £1k, on around an 8 or 9k (£) downswing, pretty sick at the moment, varience has hit me in the face and i'm down in May now after being £6k up.
On a brigter note the WSOP Rake is going well for the $15,000 package and I should get it, predicted it at the moment and I've got all June (well till 25th) to get to the remaining level... Even if diaster strikes and I fall short, which I won't I don't think, I still get $8k package...........

General Thoughts:
I'm in limbo in life at moment, so its not amazing, but alright. Exams for next 10 days, gonna try and get working, its not even revision, its learning from stratch! I should just work hard for the next 10/11 days and then I'm a free man, and no longer a student...scary. I'm going to be playing poker full time for the short term future, 1 or 2 years minimum continously reassessing the situation, as long as I'm earning £50k+ a year tax-free (which I consider extremely modest, and will be looking to break 6 figs), and I'm not that stressed and I'm happy, I'll continue playing I think, unless a better opportunity comes along, but not sure what that could .

I should manage a 2:1 in my degree, Management, but only if I get a good few hours work in these next 10 days, which I'd be stupid not too! As i've done sweet FA for 3 years at uni bar complusory assessed coursework, just!, exams and going out and getting pissed.......brilliant..oh and of course playing poker etc :p
Anyway, I'll be updating this blog after my exams plus taking an even more serious approach to poker, analysing my past play and updating this blog regulary as I, hopefully, progress as a poker player all round........

Heres to the future...
Now get these exams out the way....

Cheers

Benno

April Fools

Well I'm actually writing an update within a few days of the last! A new era for me perhaps......anyway, here is a quick update:

Oh well, didn't get to play Friday night as went out for mates 21st, was ok but I don't like missing Friday nights, especially considering I'm going to miss the next 3 due to going away and another 21st!


Sick Saturday

After missing Friday night I decided to have a monster 10 hour session on Saturday night. I started around 8pm and was £400 up within 30mins. I hovered around this mark for a while before hitting £1k profit and then pushing £3k by 12pm. Then ensued some horrible situations, such as AK V 66 on AK6 flop, try getting away from that... and I was soon back to £1k profit, oh well.

I was playing full of confidence and getting the hands, I was getting called/raised when I had the hands and was taking down pots when I didn't...I felt I was picking my spots very well. I called my this entry "April Fools" but too be honest there were no absolute idiots, just the regular poor players, some guy did push £600 into a £300 pot with nothing when I had the nuts, but apart from that they were few and far between.

Success continuedand by 6am I had completely smashed my previous record of £5.2k in a night, which I had never dreamed to have beat so soon. I was at around £8.5k profit, but then I got delt QQ on the button (£900 stack and covered) and reraised the guy who raised UTG who flatted it. Flop came Q 6 2 with flush draw, he leads for 3/4 pot so I 3bet him and he flats. turn comes an Ax, hmm the pot was pretty big at this point and he checks, I bet around half the pot and he reraises all in, and so I obviously call as its not much more and I assume he has AQ, 66 or 22. He flips AA and i lose a £1.8+ pot, ouch! He wa a donk too, so I think I would have took it all anyway if a anything but the A falls on the turn, oh well.

I decided to call it a night at 6:30, £7,700 up....get in. I'm now over £20k up this year, including rakeback, which is sick really considering i've hardly really been playing either. Oh well, keep plugging on and see what happens..


The $600k

Quick report on this as its not that interesting....

I had been out drinking since 1:30 and 7/8 pints later I got home just after the start and find myself with 2.25 out of the first 2.5k starting chips, oh well i'll soon that get back....
I played nice LAG poker which definately suits the 6pacs. I managed to get upto 6k without much trouble. Then I had an all in v a short stack, for a 4k+ pot, with my AQ v his A10 which lost and I was back to 4k. Few hands later this happened:

Game #1887928954: Hold'em NL (50/100) - 2006/04/02 - 20:23:49 (GMT)
Table "SIXPAK $600k GTD 1870789 - 51" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: kingsix (3805 in chips)
Seat 2: Devman (6725 in chips)
Seat 3: Handball (3980 in chips)
Seat 4: Phoenix8 (4305 in chips)
Seat 5: Broonto (2995 in chips)
Seat 6: Benno (4345 in chips)
Devman: posts small blind 50
Handball: posts big blind 100
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Benno [Jd Jh]
Phoenix8: calls 100
Broonto: calls 100
Benno: raises to 400
kingsix: folds
Devman: folds
Handball: folds
Phoenix8: calls 300
Broonto: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Th Ah Js]
Phoenix8: checks
Benno: bets 600
Phoenix8: raises to 1200
Benno: raises to 2300
Phoenix8: raises to 3905 and is all-in
Benno: calls 1605
----- TURN ----- [Th Ah Js][8d]
----- RIVER ----- [Th Ah Js 8d][6s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Phoenix8: shows [Kd Qd] (A Straight, Ace high)
Benno: shows [Jd Jh] (Three of a kind, Jacks, Ace high)
Phoenix8 collects 8860 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot 8860 Main pot 8860 Rake 0
Board [Th Ah Js 8d 6s]
Seat 1: kingsix (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Devman (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Handball (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Phoenix8 showed [Kd Qd] and won (8860) with A Straight, Ace high
Seat 5: Broonto folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Benno showed [Jd Jh] and lost


Oh well no worries, couldn't put him on it, 10's, A10, AJ I thought really, oh well...was still 40/60, shame I never spiked it!


Rake

In the 10 hours or so last night I managed to get around £1.5k raked of me, sick really, but means I should get a nice wad of nearly £500 rakeback plus its a nice contribution towards my wsop promo target.......

Anyway, boring update! Back before I go away......

Cheers

Ben

March-ing On

As another month draws to a close I thought it was about time for an update. To tell you the truth i've hardly played this month, a mere 66 hours to be precise.....
Before I played on Tuesday, I hadn't played for 12 days. I do want to play as much as I can, but with it being my final year at uni its pretty hectic workwise and I want to still socialise as much as possible, so have been doing work, going out and sorting our hockey tour (for 80 people!) instead... Oh well priorities I guess......


Oh What A Night

March was plodding along rather slowly till Friday 11th, and I was only just up for the month. I didn't get started till nearly 10pm, which is late for me on a Friday as I usually want to get going at 8, but I relaxed before had dinner etc and prepared myself for a nice sesh. I started slowly, but after the usual routine of turning a few small stacks into medium stacks and then doubling them it was going pretty well and I was soon £1k up. I met a lovely bloke on one table who was bluffing every hand, so I waited and luckily flopped 2 pair against him (73 from BB on a 7 3 2 flop!, bang. Against any other opponent, or anyone remotely sane, you obviously would be slightly worried if he is trying to get 120BB at £2/5 in on this flop in an unraised pot, but this guy, no.... I bet, he mini reraises, I 3bet, then he miniraises again?!?! and so I just shove..... I thought he must have outs and put him on something like A7, but he flips J8o and fortunately he doesn't hit any mircale runner runners to beat me and my hand holds up for a nice £1k+ pot. Similar play continued against this ATM and he gladly "handed" me around £1.5k in just under an hour, cheers mate..... I was confident, sharp and playing well, and to cut a long story short, I ended my session after just over 7 hours a massive $9.1k up, huge for £2/5, $2/5 and $5/10. Thats around £5,200, a lovely payday and destroying my previous record of around £2k. Brilliant.....

The following day, I came in and lost £400 in the one of the first pots I played JJ on J 10 2 flop, with 2 hearts, got it all in against AQh on the turn when a harmless looking 7x fell, he obviously rivered the heart and I just closed it down as I decided to go out after that to wind down...

The Sunday was pretty good, and to cut another long story short I netted around £1, making it around a £6k weekend....nice..

I had a monster 10 hour session that week going from £2k up from £1k down and ending on £8!!! unreal lol, but then I had the 12 day break from poker, which probably did me good.

I played Tuesday losing £400, the worse being a £1.1k pot, KK V 55 on K5x flop, all in on the x turn only for the 5 to fall on the river, ouchie.

Wed night I pwned and won £2.2k... and then yesterday I did around £1.2k+, bringing a nice £3k downswing as I was up to nearly £4k the night before, but still nicely up over the last 3 days, over £1k including rakeback. Nice.....


March Overview

Well i've made five figures for the first time ever, $ wise ($12.25k), but still its nice:

Profit: £7047
Hours Played: 66.3
Hourly Rate: £107
Exludes Rakeback

I am obviously very pleased at March, only thing I can moan about is not getting enough my MGR (months rake) up to the requiered level I need for Betfair's WSOP $15.5k free seat promo. However, I've still managed to get an MGR of £4.5k, and I expect over £1.5k rakeback on top of my profit, and at least I can always catch up, I do want to make it but more importantly I want to make the most of my last few months at Uni both socially and accademically as I do need a 2:1.... I know I can make this WSOP promo easily if I had the time, i'm just going to keep playing as much as I can and if by the end of May I say only need £8k (out of the £28k), I'll just have 10x10 hour sessions or whatever in June to make sure I get to it.......


April and Onwards

I won't have much of a chance to play over the next few weeks, i'm away in Spain for tour 7th-15th and will need to recover too. I'm playing the $600k 6pac on Sunday which I have just won a seat for in a $110+$10 6pac Sat so thats cool (i'll take that off next months!), I would have just brought in directly anyway, and I'll play cash Sat Night after liverpool match and most of sunday, so will hopefully get another £1.5k towards my £28k rake target this weekend and hopefully make a bundle at the same time :). I'll be back to uni come the last week or so of April and will have to get working coursework wise so poker might have to take a backseat, again :(, but I'm going to try and get at least a session or so in a week, if only to keep up with WSOP dream....


The Big Stack Versus The Little Stack

As a side thought, I've been considering what my strategy should be for buying into these cash games. Obviously most of the pros say you should nearly always buy in for the max and I agree with them really. Up to the past week I've nearly always brought in with the minimum and just used to steal a lot etc, i.e. I see button raising 40% of the time, I reshove with KQ, ax etc and most of the time take the £20, this also works shoving with AJ etc as the amount of calls you get with KQ Ax etc just because you only have 20bb and they think your pushing anything is proftiable. However, I don't really consider myself a short stack player, I have the disclipine to play deepstack and I know how to make money deepstacked and this is where most of my profit ultimately comes from.. i.e. taking 2 hours to turn £100 into £500 then doubling that etc. I also have the bank to buy in for these amounts now (£15kish) but I'm not really sure what to do. I do like buying in for the miniumum then topping up the level which the highest fish/idiot has, but if your a solid player buying in max is the optimum long term strategy.... anyway, something for me to think about, I'll be buying in max I think............

Oh well, back with an update after Sat/Sun cash games and the $600k...

Cheers and GL

Ben

An Update: Finally.....

Its been too long since I last updated this, and to be honest I'm disappointed at myself for not "blogging" more often as I enjoy writing it and getting my thoughts out and I hope someone out there enjoys reading it. This post will hopefully get me into the swing again (hopefully an up swing on the poker too!)...I had a hectic Feb though as you will see...

I'm not feeling very inspired at the moment, so this could be rather dull, but we will see...


February 2006

February was a strange month for me, both on and off the tables. Luckily, I have had a relatively stable life and everyone close to me has remained in good health, but in the same day I heard that a good friend was unwell in hospital in the morning, which was half expected but its still a shock. I thought he'd recover as hes a battler, but when my Dad contacted me the same day in the afternoon, I knew something was up. It wasn't him though, my auntie had died. We are a pretty close family at home, and I suppose you don't know what it feels like for someone to die close to you until it finally happens, and it really puts life into perspective and makes you appreciate all the good things and people around you a lot more. My auntie was a great women, was middle aged, and her death was tragic which made it all the harder. Events like this change your family forever, and it was a very sad time, it was the first time I had ever been to a funeral and hopefully the last for a very long time. Suppose these are the lessons you learn in life through experience.....

I just wanted to say the above, as this isn't just a blog about poker, but the whole picture, which very much includes how I feel.

My Dad also turned 60, so I was home for all that as well, and that was a great weekend, which was needed after the week I had. I also started seeing some girl I had liked for ages, which was nice (albeit -ev!).

Back to the poker anyway...

I had started the month £2.2k up, and then was £4k up at one point, but it soon turned and I had some extremely nasty spells, a few hands against idiots below who I KNEW I was miles ahead of and still got done for £1k+ pots made the big difference to my month:

able "Scorpio" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: SB (£4830 in chips)
Seat 3: Benno (£651 in chips)
Seat 4: Villain (£8688.60 in chips)
Seat 5: MP (£1578 in chips)
SB: posts small blind £10
Benno: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Benno [Ah Qh]
Villain: raises to £80
MP: folds
SB: calls £70
Benno: calls £60
----- FLOP ----- [8s As 3s]
SB: bets £120
Benno: calls £120
Villain: calls £120
----- TURN ----- [8s As 3s][Tc]
MP: checks
Benno: checks
Villain: bets £400
MP: folds
Benno: raises to £451 and is all-in
Villain: calls £51
----- RIVER ----- [8s As 3s Tc][2s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Benno: shows [Ah Qh] (A Pair of Aces, Queen high)
Villain: shows [Th Ks] (A Flush, Ace high)
Villain collects £1499 from Main pot

I lost most of the big pots, even £900 AA V KK preflop, and this made a massive difference to my month, as i came out only +~£700 in the end for a measely 53hours play, due to going home/uni etc...

I still finished up for the month and earned around £1k rakeback (including £109 rake comp from thisisthenuts), so its not the end of the world......

Profit for Feb 06: £699
Interpoker Rakeback: £750
Need to check Betfair Rakeback, be quite a bit...

Hours Played: ~53
Profit per hour: ~£13 (excluding rakeback)

Oh well, a poorish month.......


March 2006

To cut a long story short, this weekend was pretty good neting around ~£2k, however, its all gone wrong since then. Got done nastily in a few pots Monday night, and ended up from £300 up to -£250, oh well nothing much you might say. Tonight was a complete diaster, stable for an hour or so, before dropping £1k in an hour to some of the sickest beats i've had consectively, 10's v J6 on 9 7 2 board against complete donk who shoved my pot bet only to river a J, and the usual, mostly donks pairing up their kicker when all in against my TPTK, sick. Also, girl I said I was seeing decided she didn't want to anymore last night, which was "brilliant" as well...Was pretty upset really, but what can you do, her decision and I realised she wasn't the girl I thought she was, so hardly deversated, even though I did like her a lot, oh well +ev event and all.....

March so far: +£810

Year to Date



The swings in cash poker are cruel and I need to learn to take them in my stead, i've had poor run really but hopefully things will pick up, and i'm still in profit, even though i'm probably down over the last 3 weeks now. Betfair have a WSOP offer, were if you generate £28k in rake by June 20th (or something) they will send you the wsop for free($15k package), I think i'll get close, but may have to grind it out to fuck over the easter holidays and after exams, I do really want to go but with this being my last year of uni, I have shitloads of coursework and then lots of exams, so we will see.


Not the most exciting update ever, a tired effort and at least it will get me going atgain!

Cheers,

Ben

A Good Start To Feb....

January went well overall, it was a shame to drop nearly £3k in the later stages of the month but least i'm always earning rakeback at the sametime etc and it teaches you to learn to get over these drops and downswings.....

Friday

I kicked up InterPoker on Friday, I decided to play on IP just so I could clear the $100 deposit bonus on top of the 30% rakeback there as well (which I get at Betfair too). The night started badly, the usual stuff, £500 pot overpair + flush draw (not even the nuts flush!), and AA 3 times in a row preflop v KK v 44 V 44, amounting to me losing £450 in stacks, fourking hell... So I was around $1k down, but still playing strong TA poker...

The fish were everywhere and I was determined to plug on and play as usual, and I did, a few hours later I was around $700 up which was nice considering I was "nicely" down before, I had a great spell on two £5/10 tables which turned it around really. Come 4/5am there were a few idiots around betting into every pot etc, and I managed to turn that $700 profit into $2.26k come 6am, with just basic poker against idiots who wouldn't lay down TP no kicker etc. So in all, a nice day :).


Didn't play on Saturday as I was out for the night (and morning - long story).....



"Super" Sunday

Wasn't in the mood for playing poker in the afternoon, never really do anyway on a Sunday. Watched spurs hammer charlton, but the big game was to come later. I was already in a pretty bad mood after the night before and watching us lose to Chelski wasn't any better, with tw*ts like Robben agitating me further. Anyway, I tried to blank that out and watched the indoor hockey championships on sky sports, which were pretty good, nice to see stuff like that being shown on sky. Anyway, I wasn't going to play, but was wide awake and wanted to play some poker, so I did. Another poor start before rallying again, lost nasty £550+ pot last hand AA V KK, but I also had a fair slice of luck, winning a nice pot AK V A10 when I turned 2 pair against his lesser 2 pair after a marginal flop call......Anyway, $1,729 up for my efforts :)

So so far in 2 days play (12.7hours) I'm +$3991.61, which is around +£2270, a great start to Feb....


Rakeback and other things

Got paid my rakeback both from Inter ($302, thisisthenuts.com) and Betfair (£712) for Jan which was pretty nice and about what I expected. Hope to push it a little further this month, but I hope to make £10k alone this year from rakeback, but we'll see how it goes.

Thisisthenuts.com announced a "$2k bonus" for the top 10 people in the MGR rankings this month for Interpoker. I'm currently 4th, I think, but I need to really find out if its $2k divided by the 10, or seperately... $2k sounds a lot to give out seperately, but who knows, unless its an Inter type sponsered promotion. I'll play on Inter for most of the month if its $2k each, if not I still want to play on Betfair a lot, doesn't matter really....

Rakeback for Jan: £885


Will probably not play till tomorrow night now,

Cheers,

Ben

January 2006.....Its over, so very fast.....

Long time no post...
I left off after losing a massive entry and it really destroys any drive to "blog" when you lose an hours writing because of knocking the backspace key...
Anyway, I will continue where i left off:


"and I was up for the year to the tune of around $500."

I had a bad start to the year and was very pleased to recover, but these changes were nothing compared to what was going to happen over the next 2 or so weeks.

Without going into too much detail, as it was a few weeks ago, I had a couple of 9 hour poker stints through the night (8pm-5am etc) cashing over $2k each time, it was a lovely start to the year, and I hit my peak of $10k for the month, very nice......

However, like everything goes up, it has to go down at some point, and over the past week or so I've had some horror sessions and literally nothing major has gone my way, I get my chips in ahead an unbelievable amount of the time and have been getting outdrawn an unbelievable amount, and it hurts. The only think I got rewarded for this solid play, was a $5,000+ downswing, happy f'ing Christmas.

To be honest, i'm not to disapointed, sure it hurts, but I've still overshot my target for the month, learnt a lot, and have a lot of rakeback to come (£800+ i guess/hope). My aim is really to hit £20k+ this year, and that means just under £2k a month, a high target for someone who is playing in his spare time, but I think/hope an achievable one. I don't really want to set any strict targets but i'd like to get in 100 hours a month, I only played 75 hours this month, and I'm overall happy considering I had only played 4 days or something out of the first 14 due to exams. Also, theres no point in trying to make a specific amount in a given time period, as poker is a game of percentages, and so obviously you can't say you want X amount of profit in x amount of time, because it doesn't happen, especially over a month, which is very relatively short term in this game, anyway onto the results.


Tournaments



Other - Played a few tournies and mtts on Cryptologic too, ended up -£30 there in the end.......

So Tournies for the month - -£154


Cash Stats

Oh lovely swingy cash, so many emotions in so little time....



Nice month, could have been epic, but ended up just being good, losing half your profit hurts.

Hours played: ~75
Hourly Rate: ~$70


Rakeback and other

No live play or anything this month, just strictly online, gonna keep it like that to maximise ev over time :P....

I'm actually playing 100% on rakeback now, which last month I idiotically wasn't. Been mostly playing betfair (well 90%+ playing Betfair), PokerTracker definately underestimates the amount raked, theres definately an issue somewhere with it, but that $4.3k "raked" on PT I guess is more closer to $6k, suggesting around £1,000 rakeback, I can hope :), think i'll just report rakeback as rakeback rather then adding it to the monthly profit and keep a running total over 2006.

(Also, recieved $400 rakeback from Interpoker for the small amount of time I did play there in December.)



January 2006 Conclusion and Aims for next month

Total Profit for Jan06: £2,818

January was a nice start to the year, especially considering I didn't go full steam. I have learnt a lot and will work to fix the holes in my game throughout Feb and the coming months. I'm going to stick at cash for now, as I feel I am playing winning poker at the levels I am playing and that I can have a similar month. Do I tilt? Not really, however I reckon i've donked away a few extra £100 then i should have done on my bad nights of losing £1k, it plays on your mind "whats £100 when i'm £1.1k" and I do raise hands I shouldn't etc, but not on a big scale. Furthermore, I need to not force myself to play, one of those dreaded sessions was when I was knackered and I forced myselk to wake up and play, doesn't work.... The stakes are high enough here to only play when I feel vertually 100%, so I keep fresh as well, only need 3 proper sessions a week (5hours+).
So Febuary is going to be a busy month for me in life in general, keep plodding away the poker, lots of Uni work (mainly gay coursework) and lots of social, but I will get through it. I will definately post more next month, as I need to get in the habbit or posting daily or bi-daily.
Enough ramble,
Not playing till Friday probably now,
Hope your Jan went well, and best of luck for Feb and beyond.

Cheers,

Benno