Tuesday 29 December 2009

2010 goal finalised

2009 has been my first year at blogging, it has been a great help to get down my results, thoughts plans and seen a gradual development.

Over the course of the year there has been several highs and crushing lows, the definite highlight has been the $2k win in the daily dollar, the lows has been the 3 or 4 times I have lost $400-$600 in tilted drunken messes.

The upside of all this is that I think I have grown out of this destructive behavior, I have arrangements in place that if im getting drunk that I transfer my bankroll to a mate so that I cannot be in a position to lose the plot. This may seem stupid and childish but inside of me there is definitely a degenerate gambler, I have probably lost about £1000 playing blackjack over the years which is why I have deposit limits on every poker site and casino so that I cannot deposit and lose money on gambling.

This year is definitely the first year that I have stuck to one poker site almost exclusively, I have a bankroll and I don’t need to deposit amounts here and there on different sites to play a game.

2009 has seen me become almost exclusively a cash game player, I have moved from 4 tabling tourneys to at present 16 tabling $25nl full ring tables and playing $50 heads up when I spot an opportunity, my $25 full ring game is flawed and 2010 is where I hop to work on the game.

Anyways, this blog post is getting a bit over the place so im going to move onto 2010 goals.

I have one main goal and its real simple, I owe currently £900 on my credit card and about £800 on my overdraft, most of this is wedding related but I reckon a good £300 or so is old gambling debts that I have never paid off – with interst I reckon it will take £2000 to clear.

Therefore my aim is to make £3400 (£200) from poker in 2010…. I have my tried and tested start point of $750 and after getting to $1000 I will withdraw all profit in $100 increments….i think this is definitely an achievable goal, I just need to avoid any blow-ups, learn to embrace variance and not spazz out after losing a stack and get in a load of volume, bonuses and rakeback will all help me achive my goal

Be nice to maybe take down a donkament or 2 to get there quicker!!

Anyways will definitely take a break till the 1st January, by then ill be starting the new year with a $150 Iron Man Bonus.

* total idiot, i lost $100 last night went on super tilt when someone called all in heads up with 47 on a 79J back and hit a 4 on the river for 2 pair.

no problems just means start point will be $650 and likely that Jan will be spent grinding up to $100, withdrawals hopefully from February onwards!

Bankroll $650 debt to clear £3400.

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Still Playing (no just self banned till 27th)

been playing a little since my last miserable post, had been winning a bit but experiencing some real swings, went on a minute ago to earn my solitary point to qualify for the one a day freeroll, not really expecting any action and this happens.

Full Tilt Poker Game #17031793959: Table Odell (heads up) - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:51:15 ET - 2009/12/23
Seat 1: kate710 ($33.90)
Seat 2: MRJD1943 ($58.50)
kate710 posts the small blind of $0.25
MRJD1943 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MRJD1943 [Kd Kh]
kate710 raises to $1.50
MRJD1943 raises to $5
kate710 raises to $13
MRJD1943 raises to $58.50, and is all in
kate710 calls $20.90, and is all in
MRJD1943 shows [Kd Kh]
kate710 shows [Ac As]
Uncalled bet of $24.60 returned to MRJD1943
*** FLOP *** [7c 6h 7s]
*** TURN *** [7c 6h 7s] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [7c 6h 7s 6c] [Qh]
MRJD1943 shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
kate710 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
kate710 wins the pot ($67.30) with two pair, Aces and Sevens
MRJD1943 adds $25.40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $67.80 | Rake $0.50

nice. standard stuff i know but really sums up how shit is running

bankroll $700

* edit lost a further $5, absolute miniscule amount but got me a little annoyed, do i want to be annoyed at xmas? fuck no...i have self banned until 27th so i dont even have to think about poker for a few days.

Ill see you and poker on the 27th... aim is to get to $750 ready for a renewed push in 2010.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Break till 2010

been running pretty bad online , lost probably about a quarter of the bankroll and even after putting a little back on my bankroll is still fairly miserable at $660.

just have no motivation or desire to want to play at the moment, the mrs is off work so i dont have the quiet time to play and even when she was out I play for half hour and get bored/restless and tilt so easily, i played a rare Saturday night session last night and the tables were so soft, trouble is that i was getting sucked out so much i was losing and tilting like a madman.

best thing i think is to just put poker on the backburner and enjoy xmas.

ill see you at the tables in 2010.

merry xmas all.

Thursday 17 December 2009

1 Objective met

Finally final tabled a MTT, unfortunately only 180 runners and i could only manage 6th.... still an objective down!!




with my huge $80 I have again decided to with $150 for some xmas costs and a to pay off a bit of my credit card.

bankroll $750

Monday 14 December 2009

Week 2

A small break from blogging as it seems my company is cracking down on internet useage, they have seen my blog being accessed every day and categorised it as gambling which goes on the banned list! Definitely means I will blog less as I am a lazy tool who will write a blog post at work but not on his own time – im actually writing this at work now and emailing it home where ill just copy and paste after adding the graph and stats.

Last week has been disappointing poker wise, I lost $120 or so on the Monday and spent the rest of the week winning it back… come Saturday twice I had won it back getting to the $900 mark before losing a couple of bigish hands which I couldn’t get away from.




Last night was my monthly freeroll through rakebrain (links up side), very very strange event, normally people who have qualified will register manually and you have about 300 people fighting for the $5k spread over 90 paying places… yesterday was utter madness everyone who has qualified was automatically registered…. first table I have a full table of sitouts and im raising every pot stealing the blinds.. this lasts for 50 hands before im frustatingly moved.. the next table has 2 other active players, I was tempted to strike a deal in the chat box but seeing as they both went all in against either other with a straight draw which hit for a straight and a split pot I decided to try and bust them.



Sure enough within 20 hands I dispose of one luckily with A4 on a AK10 flop…villain has K10 but I hit runner runner flush…. 2nd person tries sem bluffing a gut-shot into my two pair which holds.

From then on I am top 10 all the way till the bubble burst…. I then get a bit reckless as I had been drinking and eventually bust around the 50th mark when I get called blind on blind my ace 9 losing to ace 2.

All that work for $13.50 – barely worth it!!

Especially as I use that and the other $10 I had left in my bankroll (I had transferred the rest to a safe place as I knew I was drinking) to shortstack a $100 cash table and lose after about 5 hands

Not really sure how much ill play this week, I just don’t seem in the mood at the moment and hate forcing myself to play just to hit 50 points a day, hopefully get to play a birthday live game Saturday which should be a laugh.

Bankroll is now $830

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Bum Hunting

last night was a much needed winning session but it did not really feel satisfying... i did a fairly decent grind of about 700 hands at $25nl and lost about $4, only hand i can remember is getting it in preflop with AK against two half stackers with $10 each, one had QQ the other K10... King on the flop, 10 on the river - standard.

i took a little break and loaded up footie manager as im well into my game at the moment, but i left the poker client open, in between games on FM I holidayed through the weeks and i used this time to look through the heads up tables looking for people with less than $20, every time i found one i'd sit down and within 10 hands i would figure out if they were worth playing, if they seemed ok i left with my tail between my legs.

so here lies the problem, i won about $50 over the 200 hands or so i played but the feeling that im avoiding the good players made it seem like a hollow victory, i feel like such a pussy scrolling through the tables thinking dont play him, he's too good etc etc.

any thoughts on this? do you guys table select this much? do you leave the table if people start 3 betting and floating on flops and firing out bets on the turn? or do you man up and play through trying to work out who to beat the players?

i guess thats where im annopyed with myself, i should be working out how to beat the players and playing challenging games?!

bankroll $840

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Stop Loss invoked Again

damn, lost $120 last night dont want to turn this into a bad beat post but KK lost to AJ for $50 and AA lost to Q4 for $100 - my own fault on the 2nd hands in a way for letting them catch up and turn it basically into a flip.

Bankroll $780 - some work to be done!!

Monday 7 December 2009

Week 1 Review


a winning week but half my profit has come from a drunken session and i have not been playing well at my usual $25nl Full Ring games.

had to evoke my stop loss yeterday as i was $100 down heads up when i played too agressive at a person who wasnt folding, logic dictated i should of stuck around to stack him but the stop loss is there for a reason.



i have withdrawn $100, i said i wasnt going to till i reached $1500 but i needed money to cover not going to work Saturday morning and im out in town Friday for a works do and need money for drinks!!

aiming for a sick grind tonight as the mrs is off to London to watch the saturdays, hopefully she'll take some pictures!

Saturday 5 December 2009

Supernit to Superdrunk

my head hurts.... awful feeling this morning knowing that I got battered and was playing on my Full Tilt account, normally if im drinking I transfer my bankroll to a mate but he was out on a xmas do and likely to play drunk when he got in!!

anyways, ill start from the top of the night.... I settled down for the $100 rebuy event and also played a $10 1000+ mtt on the side, I was watching the Poker Millio final which i had a vested interest in as I had £10 on FullFlush at 3-1.

I basically played like a super tight bastard in both tourneys, I came 400ish in the $10 game, in the big game i was so tight and card dead im sure my opponents thought i was sitting out.... i didnt even see a flop till about 30 hands in!!

in the end i only played 2 hands, a double up with A8 before the break, and then my exit hand.... i have 2200 with blinds at 100/200, someone raises to 600 and i gets round to me in the cutoff, the bloke has an average stack of 4000ish so i reckon he will fold to my shove...i shove with QK and he calls with J10hearts and rivers a flush.... i finish 1000/1600... grrrr the pot would of put me in the 400 mark with some room to play... anyway, that happens and i do a few super turbo 45 manners coming 6th in one to break even... Full Flush gets bounced in 3rd in Poker Million and i open a bottle of wine and play heads up poker!

i was up about $130 and then lost a big hand...my last memory of the night is cursing as im looking at my results in Poker Tracker and i was very worried when i logged on this morning...



LOL!!! bit naughty playing $100 heads up, but that is tame to previous drunken messes... a few hands, not pretty stuff at all, apart from the end one!!

Full Tilt Poker Game #16534871568: Table Gravel (heads up) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:51:47 ET - 2009/12/04
Seat 1: mich_alumni ($137.15)
Seat 2: MRJD1943 ($109.50)
MRJD1943 posts the small blind of $0.50
mich_alumni posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MRJD1943 [Ac Jd]
MRJD1943 raises to $3
mich_alumni calls $2
*** FLOP *** [Qc Jh 7h]
mich_alumni bets $6
MRJD1943 calls $6
*** TURN *** [Qc Jh 7h] [9h]
mich_alumni bets $18
MRJD1943 calls $18
*** RIVER *** [Qc Jh 7h 9h] [3d]
mich_alumni bets $54
MRJD1943 calls $54
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mich_alumni shows [Qs 9s] two pair, Queens and Nines
MRJD1943 mucks
mich_alumni wins the pot ($161.50) with two pair, Queens and Nines
MRJD1943 adds $71.50
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $162 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Qc Jh 7h 9h 3d]
Seat 1: mich_alumni (big blind) showed [Qs 9s] and won ($161.50) with two pair, Queens and Nines
Seat 2: MRJD1943 (small blind) mucked [Ac Jd] - a pair of Jacks

Full Tilt Poker Game #16535247114: Table Gravel (heads up) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:07:32 ET - 2009/12/04
Seat 1: mich_alumni ($239.85)
Seat 2: MRJD1943 ($118.50)
mich_alumni posts the small blind of $0.50
MRJD1943 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MRJD1943 [Tc Ad]
mich_alumni raises to $3
MRJD1943 raises to $10
mich_alumni has 15 seconds left to act
mich_alumni raises to $25
MRJD1943 raises to $118.50, and is all in
mich_alumni calls $93.50
MRJD1943 shows [Tc Ad]
mich_alumni shows [9s As]
*** FLOP *** [Jh Kc Kh]
*** TURN *** [Jh Kc Kh] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Kc Kh 9c] [6h]
MRJD1943 shows a pair of Kings
mich_alumni shows two pair, Kings and Nines
mich_alumni wins the pot ($236.50) with two pair, Kings and Nines
MRJD1943 adds $100
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $237 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Jh Kc Kh 9c 6h]
Seat 1: mich_alumni (small blind) showed [9s As] and won ($236.50) with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 2: MRJD1943 (big blind) showed [Tc Ad] and lost with a pair of Kings

Full Tilt Poker Game #16535260607: Table Gravel (heads up) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:08:03 ET - 2009/12/04
Seat 1: mich_alumni ($357.85)
Seat 2: MRJD1943 ($100)
MRJD1943 posts the small blind of $0.50
mich_alumni posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MRJD1943 [Th 9h]
MRJD1943 raises to $100, and is all in
mich_alumni calls $99
MRJD1943 shows [Th 9h]
mich_alumni shows [Ac Qh]
*** FLOP *** [7h 4s 5h]
*** TURN *** [7h 4s 5h] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [7h 4s 5h Ad] [6h]
MRJD1943 shows a flush, Ten high
mich_alumni shows a pair of Aces
MRJD1943 wins the pot ($199.50) with a flush, Ten high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $200 | Rake $0.50
Board: [7h 4s 5h Ad 6h]
Seat 1: mich_alumni (big blind) showed [Ac Qh] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: MRJD1943 (small blind) showed [Th 9h] and won ($199.50) with a flush, Ten high

Full Tilt Poker Game #16535285130: Table Gravel (heads up) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:09:00 ET - 2009/12/04
Seat 1: mich_alumni ($253.85)
Seat 2: MRJD1943 ($203.20)
mich_alumni posts the small blind of $0.50
MRJD1943 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MRJD1943 [3d 3s]
mich_alumni raises to $3
MRJD1943 calls $2
*** FLOP *** [Kd 3h 2c]
MRJD1943 bets $1
mich_alumni raises to $9
MRJD1943 raises to $18
mich_alumni raises to $58
MRJD1943 raises to $200.20, and is all in
mich_alumni calls $142.20
MRJD1943 shows [3d 3s]
mich_alumni shows [Ah Ks]
*** TURN *** [Kd 3h 2c] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 3h 2c Jd] [9c]
MRJD1943 shows three of a kind, Threes
mich_alumni shows a pair of Kings
MRJD1943 wins the pot ($405.90) with three of a kind, Threes
mich_alumni adds $49.35
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $406.40 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Kd 3h 2c Jd 9c]
Seat 1: mich_alumni (small blind) showed [Ah Ks] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: MRJD1943 (big blind) showed [3d 3s] and won ($405.90) with three of a kind, Threes

Hmmm.... down $200 before tilt donkey shoving 9 10 suited and sucking out...then getting on the right side of a cooler.

no drink tonight.

Bank roll $1020.

Friday 4 December 2009

ECOOP V Event 12

Playing in a big tourney by my standards tonight, the $100 rebuy which is part of ECOOP V.... my dad won the entry but cant play in the event so he's asked me to give it a shot... not too confident, especially as we satetelited into it and he said i can only rebuy once... hoepfully will pick up some cards early so i have a safe stack to get into the money!!

it starts tonight at 8pm and ill write up a report tomorrow.

Cash has been ok, been losing at $25nl but only down 2 buyins over about 2k hands, at the same time im up 2 buying at $50 heads up.

bankroll a healthy $837 with rakeback to come tomorrow.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Titan Poker is Fish Filled

went on early doors, lost about $20 playing my usual grind, not feeling to confident at the mo... as i knew i was hitting the drink to watch Arsenal later i transferred my bankroll to a mate so i couldnt go on later and have a drunken gamble.

watched the game had a few cans and guess what i fancied a gamble... i rembered i had $22 on Titan so i logged onto a 25 euro table with about half a stack and this happens....



Nice. if you fancy playing against people who call bets with bottom pair then use the sign up links on the side.

bankroll $780

Wednesday 2 December 2009

1st Day = Routine Day

So day 1 was completed and it ran like such a typical day for me...

I logged on at about 7pm with two of the kids in bed and the wife working in the other room and with my youngest running all over the house doing what she wanted!!

the aim was to bang out 100 Full Tilt points so i 12 tabled $25 full ring for an hour, listening to music on the tv to get me in a rythmn and the session ended an hour later with a loss of $11 - this was mainly due to 2 stupid misclicks, first hand blind on blind i want to bet $1 with bottom pair on the flop and somehow manage to end up betting $9 into the $1 pot.... big blind thinks then shoves for $20 later claiming to have top pair.... a bit later on im embroiled in a hand at the bottom of my screen and see that i have KQ suited on a table up top on the big blind so click call... whoops a dirty slag shortstacker has pushed all in for $5 and im calling that not 25 cents, even worse he has AK.

I also ran $12 under EV but thats to be expected.

anyways keeping in mind of completing 4 Acamdemy Challenges i notice i have a couple of tasks left in my bankroll managment one... i have to do 5 stts and one mtt which cost less than 2% off my bankroll - easily done i register for 6 $1 super turbos winning one for a $3 loss which only took 20 minutes.

at this point i have lost $14 but have cleared $10 of my holiday hundred and decide to log off, the mrs is still beavering away so i stick on Footie Manager and watch some Tv with a couple of tins.... a couple of hours later ive got promoted at the 4th attempt with Lancing in County Div 2 and have drunk 4 cans of Strongbow..

Feeling a little brave and bored i head to the $50 heads up tables and search for the dirty shortstackers who stack off with A3 preflop.... 100 hands later ive won $60 and the day seems right again...

all in all such a standard day, i grind at the $25 and eithr win or lose a minsicule amount for pathetic bb/100... i then go on later semi drunk and crush the bad players for a good win-rate, be interesting to see how this pans out and whether the trend continues, i really want to be winning from my sober bread and butter games not relying on finding drunks at heads up!!



ah well profit is profit and i have a $802 bankroll

Tuesday 1 December 2009

New Month - New Grind

So December is here and Novembers lean month is over, i amd fresh after taking 3 days off and looking forward to the grind.

Bankroll is $750 and my initial target is to double this and then withdraw $500, i will record my daily results and keep track of rakeback bonuses etc, i want to do one of the those target graph things that a few blogs have - if anyone can help with the coding let me know.

Have some non profit/bankroll related goals this month, first i want to get to Gold Status on Ironman, Silver is redic easy as its basically 20 minutes a day for 25 days so i think i can play a bit more and move up a level, also iron man related is i want to earn a point every day to qualify for the 1 a day freeroll. finally i want to do at least 4 academy challenges this month, looking at it there are some decent things you can buy in the store and if youre a playing a decent volume you might as well register for the challenges and take advantage.

i will update my gagdets on the side to show these challenges.

bit of a rubbish post but i havent played for a few days, will post daily on results which may be a bit boring but i need to keep track and keep focused on my goals, maybe if i know i have to post the sessions results means i wont stack off with ace 9 on a 9 high board.

Bankroll $750.