Gimme Strength

So glad its new year tommorrow so i can put an end to this month of b*******. Wasnt gonna play then saw a hu hi lo game and went in it for over 90 mins. Swings up and down but always ahead then a 3rd guy joins, busts and reloads. He then loses big pot vs my hu guy then next hand sums up my month once again.

He raises button to 70 i repot to 230 but matey in bb flats it playing over 2000 at this point. Other guy only has 570 so his hand irrelevent but i hope he repotting as i have AA25 1 suit. He calls and flop J54 (2 clubs) i pot and bb raises and button allin (god knws what he had as irrelevent). Turn K river Q all clubs i have Ac but no other and pot gets shipped to bb with A245 (just 45suited). Come on gimme a break ive been playing the guy for 90mins straight and he makes the worst play of the session (such an easy fold preflop but he such a fish) only to be rewarded with the biggest pot, god i hate poker at the moment and frankley couldnt give a *** that ive made so much this year, the game sucks as does my health, my weight and my fitness level. So i say go *** yaself 2009 and go *** yaself poker.

Blehhhh

Loss was getting smaller in last week until yesterday. Was playing steady on good table then with pot at $1000 on 10/20 i got another $3000 each in on a AQ96 2 heart board with KQQ10 only for Ax9h7h7x to hit their 9 outter on river. $7,000 of sickness which would have put me +£1-3k ish for month. Instead im left in the -ve again and of course get done by runner runners a couple of times after just to complete a lovely -£4,000 day. -£5,874 currently for Dec , dunno if will play any more in the year. Got a stinking cold just to top it off so stuck indoors too, arrgggh.

Im hoping the new year i will launch myself back into the game. Was hoping to go for a 6-8 table low stakes grind 5 days a week but i know if the games are good higher i will have to play them. My roll is taking a massive hit with the house ive bought(im buying) so i need to have some sort of plan in case i go on a nasty downswing. Only problem i perceive is how lazy and undermotivated ive been the last 2 months but turn of a year is always a good time for change so just have to see what happens. As for the blog i intend to keep it going for now with at least a few updates a month if worthwhile. Some sort of year review due soon i guess but i will keep it short this time i think.

1st - Top 5 2009 Personal Poker Highlights

On Wednesday 27th May i flew to Las Vegas after a monster month and incredible 2009 so far in a very confident and optimistic frame of mind. I had never stayed more than 15 nights before and that time it was too long and did my head in. That said i knew i had matured more now and was really looking forward to seeing if i lasted the 6 weeks, let alone come away with a profit ! The condo i shared for the 2nd half of the stay worked out at only $40 a night so i knew i could afford to just ditch it and fly home any time after 3 weeks so the pressure of definitely staying there 6 weeks wasnt a factor at all.

I paid for extra legroom and managed to get the seat right by the exit door which meant i got off the plane 3rd. Hate queues and it was the quickest i ever got through customs. I had never taken > $10k through customs before but filled in the form and got no hassle, in fact i got a friendly "are you gonna play the big one ?" comment which is totally out of character for the normally stern customs staff.

My best poker highlight of 2009 was the $1,500 omaha hi lo limit event early at the WSOP from 29th - 31st May.

Normally my 1st night in vegas is booze 1/2NL for fun and stay awake till midnight+ to try to get on a decent body clock. Knowing i could play limit omaha hi lo almost with my eyes closed though i sat on the 30/60 game in the Bellagio and left a few hours later +$1,100 to crash.

The next day i entered a $1,070 Caesars game. They reduced the buyins shortly after this as they just werent competing with Venetian. Extract from post that night :

"Basically 138 players and i finished 30th. Final pot was AJ vs KK vs J10 to have got back to a under average but chunky stack. My key pot earlier was 22 vs AK to have prob gone about 5th with 40 left but i lost the flip and was left on only 10xbb. Overall was happy with my play and surprisingly i wasnt pissed off at all after busting 10 hours in. "

Fortunately for me if i had made the final table i would be playing the next day at 2pm and i would not have entered the $1,500 omaha hi lo limit game that night which started at midday. Lots of what ifs in poker which shouldnt be dwelled on imo (good or bad) but definitely a key good one for me this year.

After a long day 1 in the Omaha hi lo event this is extract from my blog, basically i was sitting 26th :

"Made day 2 of the omaha hi lo limit. At one point i was prob top 10 or so chipleaders with 40% of the field left and 3.5 x the average stack. Peaked at 46k but last level hit me a bit and final count was 34,300. Average is just over 20k so sounds good but blinds are getting nasty so 1 or 2 lost or won scoops can swing the stack big time. Over 900 entered with 197 left and pays 90. "

A quote from a random guy who approached me a few days later. "I was on your table in the Omaha hi lo the other day (day 2 of the event), how u get on in end etc etc ................." "My table was really tight and easy then Annie Duke turned up followed by you and the whole table dynamic changed with at least 1 of you 2 in nearly every pot" :) I should mention as i dont go into specific hands in this that it amazed me how many limpers there were in this event. For anyone with a basic knowledge of hi lo it was huge value although of course being limit theres a lot of luck in it too. Anyways after another long day (down to 19 players not the final table as scheduled) extract from blog was:

http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-3/chip-counts/day2/

"Back at 2pm today (10 hours time) 3rd/19. What will be will be and im remarkably relaxed about the whole situation. The type of game helps big time as i know if i was this deep in a nl holdem tourney i would be 100 times more nervy i think. I havent even looked at the payouts since day 1a start and wont unless i get a weaker stack as laddering is more of a tactic in omaha hi lo limit used for medium to weak stacks."

More extracts to cover day 3 :

"I was hoping day 3 would be a long day and it didnt disappoint. My 3rd place 387k stack (about 4 million in play) went straight down in the beginning with 19 of us left. Basically then i floated between 200 and 300k until we hit the final table. A couple of key hands just before we went 10handed were as follows:

Reraised an 120k stack with AdKxJdJx , blinds were 10/20 20/40 . and he called . Flop was huge Jd10x7d and he led at me obviously committed/ing so i raised. Turn 5d allin but river came a low card to give his AQ52 the split pot. If i had won that pot i was back to about 360k.

This other hand was last hand before we split and went 10handed. After this hand i was mad and it took me a long time to calm down and stop shaking my head in disgust. Was probably only time i got like that the whole tourney and thankfully we had 10mins break and time to chill a bit b4 goin 10handed.

Called a raise from sb with AK46 1 suit but not relevant. Flop came Q23 and i chk raised to 40k. Turn was a monster king d for me and i bet and was called. River was a sick 3 and also a 3rd diamond and i could not find the fold and had to check call after tanking for so long only to be shown 8834 no diamonds. If i scoop that pot i would have gone to 460k and my tourney could have took off from there with some extra lives to attack the many short stacks left 10handed.

So i hit the fake final table (10 handed only time in tourney) with only 100k at same blinds as above. There were actually 2 or 3 shorter than me but as much as i wanted to ladder if i found a good starting hand it was time to gamble. Couple of shorties doubled up and i stole 1 lot of blinds that gave me a tiny bit of room to go through the next blinds. Then came a hand i lucked out on which made me probably $40,000+ when i was out if i missed all.

I had AdKd9x2x and had raised but got 3 callers. Flop of 10,5,3 so i knew this was never being folded. 3 of us went to the river and it had come runner runner high diamonds for my nut flush. Instead of being just over 100k at start of hand i almost bust but i now had just under 400k !!!

Managed to push on from there and by dinner break i had peaked at 560k but lost some back to 460k and was joint 3rd with 2 others. We had lost players too including Freddie Deeb who had blinded out to like 3 chips in order to ladder for $4k more. Was unbelievable to watch i dunno what goes through some peoples heads sometimes. He got $4k more but had like 1% or less chance of winning now and justice was served when he quickly bust after. I say justice cos he had a go at the dealer 10handed which was nothing short of a disgrace in my opinion. Jordan bust shortly after in 6th i think before we lost the shortie friendly French chap.

Being the short stack in 4th i looked for any hand to shove with but actually blinded out more than i wanted too gettin junk like K975 all 1 suit and stuff . Final hand i was in with A,3,10,8 against Thangs AKxx. Board had come K229 and i tanked for over a minute on the turn as i knew i could be drawing dead but only had 65k left. I finally made the call with too much in the pot and was drawing dead. Most of online followers were probably misled following updates as i believe most if not all of them got myself and the chipleader mixed up by name despite us telling them throughout the day to change it.

I started 3rd that day but never got above 3rd in chips and my best position was at dinner when i was joint 3rd/6 with 2 others and i never got above 15% of chips in play. Anyways i busted 4th for $73,412 for my biggest single win ever but i think more importantly i did make a wsop final table :) at the 3rd attempt. I hope to return to one sometime in the future, watch this space :)

Merry Xmas

Still didnt feel like playin much since last post. Did sit down one day though about a week ago and done my nuts on 10/20 25/50 and limit 200/400. Basically lost £12,500 that session wiping out all Dec profits and more. Obviously struggled even more for motivation after that and only played a couple of times since losing another grand before winning a few hundred back yesterday.

Head seems a bit clearer today despite the 9 pints of lager last night so finally seem to be getting it into perspective. Still dunno if i will play much before the new year though, just see what mood im in and how the games are.

Dec So Far

The last 3 days ive played once for 5 minutes. Too hungover to play today really and busy all day tommorrow. Its been a lazy month so far. Basically made £0-£1,000 per day for 4 or 5 days then had 2 +£3,000 days. Even been on 25/50 as fish there whom i bust within 2 hands before the game stopped :) Might try and put some volume in next week but not concerned if i keep the laziness going really as long as i dont donate any profits back.

2nd - Top 5 2009 Personal Poker Highlights

I started Feb in Thailand and quickly turned an £11,000 profit in the first four days. I then dropped it all in one 2 hour session on the 5th. I was still full of motivation and confidence though and stuck many sessions in to finish +£4,000 upon leaving Thailand a couple of days later. The next week back home was a good one running that up to £40,000 by the end of the 14th after 7 winning days ranging from £800 to £8,550.



Number 2 on my list is Sunday 15th Feb running late into the morning of 16th.



I quote from my blog on the Saturday " It would be nice to enter some tournaments tommorrow for a change but easier said than done when the usual omaha urge kicks in, will have to see on the day" If you regularly read this blog this year you will often see this sort of comment kick in once a month or so when i try to motivate myself into entering a wad of tournaments for a change.



The usual omaha urge did kick in during the afternoon and the 10/20 and 25/50 games were kind to letting me log a +£10,500 session. Despite this i still hoped to enter some multis later and i think i played 5 or 6 in total that evening ranging from $129 to $530 buyins. The smallest one and the one i really entered for fun was the $129 ftops bounty game ($20 per player you knock out) which started with 9061 players.

I played this game for fun like i said to begin with. Any marginal spots were gambled on and it worked pushing my stack up early. I somehow managed to ride this stack through the field and was golden when i did make bad overaggressive plays. Four betting 66 and running into AA rings a bell , first card out 6. Oh then about 30mins later i did exactly the same thing and again first card out 6 :) At this point i had a huge chiplead and i was directed to a special thread on 2+2 about a "fish on a heater" obviously refferring to me. I know i had knocked out a couple of good players as thousands of railtards started abusing me in the chat so it was funny to see how they had looked me up one of them pokerstats site and assumed i was a terrible player as i had only played 1 game on full tilt in the previous 3 months. Anyways i must have done something right as i had the chiplead almost right up to the final table.

At the final table my stack moved up and down and all over the shop. A few times i had 40% of chips in play but the standard of the play was rediculously good for only a $129 game and a minefield of 9000+ players. I remember being only joint chiplead with a few others with 5 or 6 players left but i had been so active i got a near double up in a blind battle with KK vs AJ despite the 2 of us being 100xbb+ deep. When we got to 3 players left there was a lot of plays going on but it was clear that one guy was the weaker of the 3. Eventually he had lost chunks and shoved an A3 into the other guys JJ. River Ace cost me $38k more and a HU match. Soon after i committed to 77 preflop against the A3 guy but he had 99. The 7 flopped but a 4th diamond hit the river to give him a flush.

12 hours after it had started i was left with that feeling of sickness at not getting 1st or 2nd but it was still a massive result to finish 3rd for $54,366 which overtook my previous online mtt record win from Oct 2005 of $51,810. On the day though combining my cash winnings meant i was +£47,000 which remains my best day to date although "no 1" comes in a close 2nd in profits only.

3rd - Top 5 2009 Personal Poker Highlights

Jan was my best month to date but i was soon to dwarf it in Feb. The majority of the games were 10/20 or 25/50 the whole month and the swings were pretty scarey when i look back. That said i was high in confidence and fearless and found it easier back then to devolve myself from the money and just play poker. I had one of my best days on Feb 15 (see next post) but this post is about the day a week later whilst still riding the highs.

Number 3 on my list is Feb 23 when i had my best ever cash games only day in poker.

The two previous days were class examples of the stakes i was playing and the volatility. Saturday i had quickly dropped £6,000 before recovering and finishing £13,250 up. Sunday was even crazier. An earlier grind saw me lose £2,000 but when i returned i dropped to a low of - £32,000 missing everything before recovering to a loss of "only" £11,350. This almost felt like a win given the day i had endured.

Monday 23rd i actually woke up really late so didnt play until evening time. Games were slow and bad at first i just floated between £1,000 and £2,000 up for a while. When the good games did kick in it was mainly 25/50 but some 10/20 too and i managed to finish £9,500 up on the day. I took a break and assumed that would be end of play for the day but later on i spotted a bad player on 25/50. Ended up playing 2 tables with him for 90 minutes before recording a £13,000 winning session. Total profit on the day for cash games only (remains my best) was £22,550. It scares me a bit talking about these swings and its a tad worrying that as i write this party poker have finally introduced 25/50$ plo tables so temptation will be there a lot more often now.

Nov Review

Very happy in the end. The last days days saw a drunk poker session and a bitty one hopping around the best tables and £2k each profits. Final profit of £14,783. Havent played even half of what i did in October so its a great figure in terms of volume put in.

No plans yet for Dec, i hope to have another solid month to prop up my bankroll and pay for some fixtures and fittings for my house (still no completion date yet, hoping start of Jan ideally).