2011 Review

Trying to make this as short as possible for reasons in last post.

This time last years quote

"Next year i will treat poker as a job more than ever.  YIP
Would be an easy cop out but to beat 2010 is 1st target YIP. Ideally above £50,000 is 2nd and main target NOPE.
Expect a vegas trip in June and a return to St Maaten early December  YIP. Would be nice to win a package for something but i struggle more than ever to motivate myself to play satellites and im not sure how to fix that. NOPE "

Final figure for 2011 came in at +£33,952
Best months were definitely when i was chasing rake/race or promotion which enduced me to put in more hours.  Can tire me out but if im on 8-10hours a day at some point usually the games are good (even if they are bad for a long period too!)
Had a terrible vegas and its possible i might not go back this year, with all the sports stuff on in the summer.   I would b surprised if i didnt go for 7-14days though.  As above again:
Next year i will treat poker as a job more than ever.
Would be an easy cop out but to beat 2011 is 1st target. Ideally above £50,000 is 2nd and main target.
Havent been able to experiment fully on games yet cos of personal stuff but got a very good idea of what my plan of attack is for 2012.

Dec Final Figs

Just when i thought i was getting over that cold the damn thing moved into my sinuses and ive had as smacking a headache as ive had for years thats lasted 3 days on and off :(   Basically havent been able to play since Wednesday which has been mega frustrating and ultra boring .    I really hope im over the worse of it now but it seems to come back late in the night every night so guess ill find out later :((

Anyways enough moaning, at least its making me crave playing in a big way when i am better.  Final figures clocked in at a healthy £1,867 for December.   I havent cleared any bonuses this month and obv ran opposite to November so im happy with that figure. Also raked out $5,000 on primary site, unsure about others but nothing big.   Theres plenty of promotions about in January so im hoping to clear my head and really basically just play as much as i can.

Tiresome Profitable Play

Frustrating few days away from the tables but ive had such a good time in Oct/Nov and Dec up to 25th that i just see this cold i picked up as bad variance i was due.   

I really wanted to use this last week of the year for experimenting on the poker and trying different stuff but ive only been able to play a few hours (if that) before just wanting to fall asleep or my headache comes back 10fold.  That said ive been in profit nearly every session, nothing big just steady steady and im now sitting on +£1,498.

Havent drank since the 23rd and havent wanted to either but im quite a bit better today so will probably hit the pub tommorrow evening for a session.   Games are good right now but ive stopped for a long break and doubt ill go back on tonight.

Happy Xmas

Had a complete week off exactly from poker before playing last night.   Think its the first xmas eve ive stayed sober since i was in my teens and it paid off for a few hundred quid anyway although i didnt play as much as i could have done.   What i did play seemed very weak so i guess theres a lot of recreational players about so i might try a session or 2 this evening as well.  Was planning an all dayer booze up Mon but have woken with a bit of sore throat and cough so have to see how that develops :(   

Happy Xmas to all readers !

Come Undone

Same stuff as yesterday barring the recovery at end.   Dropped another $2,100 getting coolered and outdrawn again and running $1,000 below ev again.  Think im done with this promotion and the game for a few days at least.

Since 6th December ive raked over $4,300 for approx £450 loss b4 rakeback and promos.  Almost exactly $2,000 below ev.  Looking back at November i was pretty much the reverse ev so its not a moan i just wanted to summarize it on here to clear my head before moving on. 

Theres still a chance ill play later if i dont decide to go out, but assume not unless updated below.  This promotions done my head in the last few days and tested me to the full mentally at a time when it was already a mighty slog.  Anyways its been worth it i guess.  Sitting on +£534 now for December, time to chill out then make better table selection as i wont be just going for max rake.

Was Due A Bad Un

Still playing as ive found a huge fish on 3/6 plo but unless i can stack them quick its gonna be my worst day for months.    Currently im £1,700 down today despite being about £600 up on this table so far.   I was looking at tracker earlier after a bad session and realised i was roughly level on ev for the month so wasnt gonna go about it again.  Today however ive just been destroyed mostly at 2/4 pl hi lo and im actually about $1,800 below ev on the day :(

Well fingers crossed as this guys about as bad as gets and has a $2k stack vs my $1,600 one.  Could get juicy or nasty quite soon.  Update when done, think im sitting back on 5/10hi lo as well now.

...edit  2:20am
Well this is nuts im still playing and have recovered nearly all my days loss.   Only had to survive 1 allin too dodging 4outs from turn vs a reg.  All the rest has come from officially the worst plo player i think ive ever played (worse meaning easiest to win from)    It moved to another 3/6 table then onto 5/10 .  Im wide awake due to the rush and theres no way im going to sleep while this guys still playing !!!

...edit 2:40am
Think hes gone , end result +$100 on the day , still $1,600 below ev but dont care.  Cant believe my luck in finding such a player and hes never even played as high as 5/10 plo before tonight too !!!

...edit 5am details
Failed to get to sleep, checked poker again and fish there again !!! This time though ran bad.  Done well not to stack off with AK76 on a KK22Q board vs a reg that played their hand weird pricing me in with a raise and bet on flop/turn and checking the river behind.  Other Sig pot was getting it allin with AKQ10ddxx on a KJ65xxdd board with the mega fish only for a 6 to river and give his 6,7,8,10 the $600 pot.  Lost about £400 back, fine though.  +£1,920 starting tired today at 11:40am.

Getting Bored And Escaped

Shocker of a day, if it wasnt for a ridiculous AAxx holding up 4way on 5/10 plo for $2,800 i would be around $2,000 down probably.   Havent enjoyed it at all , just too much of a slog and in need of a day off.  Sunday cant come quick enough, only 2 more days then i can play as little poker as i want b4 new year.    Great escape figure for Dec sitting currently on +£2,280.

Still Kind Of Going Strong

Struggled a bit today but fortunately not with winning, was just battling a headache most of the day.  Full volume today and intend to do same next few days as planned.  Didnt manage a full day yesterday but did ok and hit another $750 in the promotion just to ensure im completely hooked until it finishes.  Looking like it will finish late Fri or during Saturday so a bit earlier than i thought.

I did try some different stuff today , namely stacking.  Ive never really tried this before and having up to 16 pl hi lo games going at once was maybe pushing it a bit.  Done a few sessions though and seems i can cope with 13 or 14 without too much hassle , all be it at v v low stakes while i trial it out.   Wanna try same on Stars before the end of the month.  I tried plo yesterday and it was trickier as im more used to playing the player and not so much my cards.

Right im waffling and i wnna get to bed to recharge for more 10hour volume 2moz :(   Just gonna have a look at tracker since last post and mention that below, im currently now on +£2,194 for Dec profits.

+$1,000 , about 600 above ev !   (still about 900 below ev for dec though so profit feels even better)

Bedtime

Quick post as im drained from a full 10 hours day.   Not much to report , only raked 25% of max yesterday making like £50.   Today started well winning a few hundred pound but despite it being a Sat night with lots of good tables about i just couldnt push on this evening and donated some back.  Still happy enough and sitting on +£936 now.  Expecting a full day off tommorrow but hangover dependent i then want to hammer it flat out 10 hours a day until nxt Sunday if possible.

Dec Starts Here .....

Struggled big time Tues/Wed for both motivation and run good, prob not playing best either and started the day today -£1250 after £700 and £550 losses respectively.

Today , well tonight, however is a completely different story.  After a non afternoon break even frustrating time ive just ran as hot as possible tonight and seemed to scoop in on nearly every table i played.  That loss has turned into a +£713 profit somehow although that does include a $750 lucky promotion hit i got as well.  Its the first day ive done $500 rake since ive been back too and im absolutely shattered but so glad i pushed on through.   Prob out tommorrow night and most of Sunday so volumes gonna suffer a bit but barring any bad hangovers i really wnna play flat out the rest of the time until next weekend or so.  Im amazed im still actually below ev for the month by $500 odd so today has really been exceptional given i didnt play higher than 2/4.

After nxt wkend ill play when i fancy it and experiment a bit on diff games and sites just to check im happy as i am and look for other options when my games are dry like they were this afternoon.

Nov Figures

Nov finished officially on 2nd Dec due to holiday overlapping a bit.  Not much to report there, lost a little on cash games but cashed in my first 2 mtts out of 3 played to cover that.  Cashes were small for sommat like 6th/52 and 8th/100  but the blinds were huge so double up on either of the busts could have put me in with a great shot at $5,000-$8,000 for first or 2nd in them :(     Online connection wasnt reliable and i knew i needed time out anyway so barely played.  Was raring to get back into it when i left a few days ago but im knackered still from the travelling and a minor bug i seem to have picked up on the last day.  Today will be my first attempt at getting back to the online 10hrs a day grind while the same promo is on as when i left.   Basically plan is to hammer it until thats over in 10-14days then take lots of time out and experiment a little bit before the new year.

Nov final profit was £8,104 which is my 2nd best of the year.  It also puts me £2k above 2010 total profit so hoping i can stay above that at the least for Dec   :)

Officially On Holiday

Right only bits here and there of play since last post.  Managed 4 hours this afternoon though and ran good once again.  Leave in 15mins for caribbean, no idea if im play much there live or online.  I certainly wont be playing at all if im not in the mood to anyway :)  May blog or wait until return to bother, have to see.  Sitting on £8,161 for Nov so i guess i can afford to do my tits on the live 5/5plo.

Burnt Out

Totally drained today, just had to stop early evening and take rest of night off.    Not surprised and didnt win or lose anything.   Only raked about half of usual.  No harm done and prob do similar tommorrow except reverse as i wont be logging on until the evening.

Steady Enough

Only 3 more days until i will have at least 1 complete day off from online poker.  Def need it.   Today was kind of dull , the games were ok but only got good right near the end when i was tired :(   Got off to a flyer winning about £400 in first 10minutes.  Stayed above that all day until 5 minutes before the end when i lose with a nut flush draw and big wrap for $700 on 1/2 (vs a pair and blocker f draw).  Still finished up just under £300 on the day which is still great i guess.

Worst And Best

Worst day for a while actually losing money at the tables.  Wasnt too bad though in region of £400-£500.   Best though was a promotion lucky hit of $1,100 and i also cleared my last bonus for a while of £380.  Hit new peak of £7,174 for the month :))

Hangover Of Hangovers

Somehow still managed to rake $380 today.  Only did $150 yesterday.   Intend to try and rake $500 a day Mon - Fri this week before a well earned holiday.   Made a few hundred £ yesterday but today ive made in the region of £600 + a £380 bonus.   I expect to hit a wall soon but i keep pinching myself thats its not happened just yet !   Profit sitting at a huge +£6,505 :))

Another Mentally Draining Mental Day !!!

Another $500 raked.  Seemed easier today apart from the first 90mins at 10am.  I should have slept more and napped midday-2pm which sorted me right out.   Another crazy winnings day, games were just brilliant pretty much all afternoon and evening and i wasnt disappointed again running well in most of the bigger pots.

A key pot of the day was 3 handed at 3/6 hi lo where i saw a raised pot with KQJ10ssss.   Flop was Qx8s6s and i led with a chunky bet into the short stack who chucked his $90 in.  The big fish flatted as did i and the turn was Kx.  Fish leads 150, i put him in for 300odd more and he shows A488 !!!!  .   Ive still got plenty of outs and a king hits the river to take down roughly a $1,200  pot .   I just run good this month.  Im probably miles over ev but i dnt wnna used tracker at mo as it would probably scare me, lol.

Total profit for day including one of them £380odd bonuses i cleared is a massive £1,505 taking me to £5,343 for Nov.  No joy on spiking that $5,000 and i definitely wont play as much 2moz as im out all evening.  Still ill try to hammer it from Sunday again if not too hungover ;)

Very Long Day

Right 1:15am and just finished.   Longest day for ages and raked the target i was hoping.  That said i dont think i can handle this volume daily in any shape or form and will probably ease off to somewhere around 50% of the $500 gross rake ive achieved today.   I started just before midday and had 2 x hour breaks in there and obvious several 5-10 minute ones so reckon i played about 10.5 hours in the end.

Its been another great day with most of my profit coming from juicy hi lo games in the middle of the day.  £2,858------>£3,554 (cleared one £380 bonus in that and about to clear another early tommorrow).  plo was a big loser today, i just wasnt in the mood and it probably showed through into my results especially when i felt tired playing it.

OMG lol just realised ive hit another $450 in that promotion right at the end of the night again.  Happy days profits just gone to £3,838 !!!!!    Nice but still got tough decisions now whether to keep flat out and try and spike the $5,000 which is within my grasp, hmmmmmmmmm.

Dried Up But Sucked In

If i wasnt about to go on holiday i would only see the good side of what appears to have just happened.  I wont go into detail but the promotion i was half chasing has just lucked me $650.   Its highly likely i will get another $450 at some point but now because of those prizes theres a decent chance of a $5,000 bonus.    To achieve this i would need to be lucky and/or put in huge volume to maximise my chances.   Theres no clear reward though and i could in theory end up with little more.   Whilst ive felt ive put good volume in over the last 3 days i would need to almost exactly double that to maximise my chances and it would need to be every day really.  Im not playing more tonight as im drained and need to sleep on this and think about plans of action. 

Games were dried up today for me but maybe that was because they were just sooooo good Mon/Tues.  Didnt really make any money but cleared bonus on another site for about £120 and that $650 for the promo was credit too so its pushed me up to peak +£2,858.   Very close to clearing another £380 too so hopefully more good stuff to report in another 24 hours :)

Bottle That Attitude

Must be sommat in the water at the mo as im putting in great volume, enjoying the majority of it, and both playing and running good.   Made most of my money at the start and end sessions today but in the middle i should have been stacked 3 or 4 times in quick succession but managed to only get stacked once. I might have got away from that had i not used part of my timebank before the hand.

Raked in the region of $400 , cleared a £380 bonus (and 60% of the next one!) and made poker profit in the region of £600.   The best bit of it all is i didnt play any hands at all above 2/4 (and most was 1/2 or .5/1) so it was truly a really really good day.  Getting committed to a promotion a bit although its weird and i might achieve the bonus i "should" get in the next 24hours or in weeks, theres a luck factor to it.  Ideally this will come before i go on hols as i dont want to feel obliged to play online at that time.  Still anything that motivates me to put the hours in is only a good thing while im not sick of it for a change !

Peak of  +£2,440 for Nov, expecting similar volume tommorrow if in the mood, hope to keep it going up.  Sorry for lack of hands, i did try to memorise a few interesting ones today but im so tired i cant even be bothered to think about them.

Decent Day

Despite drinking 3 days on the trot i still managed to play about 8 hours today.  The latter ones were all break even but my afternoon session was excellent with lots of fish about and lots of run good to report.

Since 2nd Nov i've kind of been in freefall and dropped from +£2,000 to only +£600ish over several days and sessions.  Today however saw me rake a lot and build that profit back up to +£1,380.

Played my supernova 1million$ freeroll Saturday and got the usual reminder of my hate for nlh.  Sit there building stack from 10k up to over 20k without any allins.  Call an allin for 1/3 stack with KQ and lose to A9off.  Rebuild stack back up to 22k with blinds now at 500/1k it was still a good stack with 2000/5500 left and 1000 getting paid.  Average stack 26k and i get it in KK vs QQ to lose a 48k pot :(  

Plan to try and play a lot this week starting with 2moz and hopefully up to Friday unless i get sick of it.

Hindsight Day Off

Stuck between thinking i was just being lazy cos ive started so well and not being in the mood to play.  Decided it was the first so played anyway and escaped a level afternoon.  Wasnt so fortunate in the evening though and shut down after less than 2 hours when i realised i really just wasnt in the mood today and should have had a day off.  Result -£500 and only self to blame although i did run bad on high mixed games again, will have to give them a wide berth from now on.

Good Day, Bad Finish

Bit frustrated as i write this as nothing seemed to go right in the last session.  Games were limited but i did find some juicy ones but rivers were killing me and right at the end i got 1 outted to pretty much sum the post midnight session up.   Lost £300 that session but overall it was another really really good day making about £500 profit and clearing that bonus for nearly £400 more.   Must not get carried away though, that last session reminded me how easy the profit can get wiped out.  Didnt play higher than 3/6 today and that was only like 12 hands.  Ran well early on 2/4 plo scooping a $1,200 pot and generally the hi lo alongside was very steady too.  Oh did play 10/20 8game for a small period as big fish there but no joy and took a knock there also in the last session as well.  Another solid day under my belt anyway.

Bumper Start

Pretty wild day overall, try and sum it up below.

First session was best in terms of winning stacks but was at lower stakes.   It gave me a cushion though as i started the next session about +£600 and soon lost that on 1 huge pot at 5/10 missing up and down straight and flush outs vs a made straight in a reraised pot preflop.  Fortunately on a diff site i ran good at 3/6 an hour or so later and left a $600 buyin table with about $1,500.  

I played a lot more hi lo games today for a change but still mixed in a reasonable portion of plo as well.  The dabbles in 3/6 and 5/10 were small and majority was 1/2 and 2/4.   The hi lo went really really well, only really losing near the end to a couple of runner runner types but i really cant complain as its been a really decent day to start the month on.  

Im sitting on +£818 and probably raked over $300 today.   Almost cleared a £380 bonus so it will be interesting to see if the curse of last months bonus clearing is still there when i return tommorrow and try to wipe that out before i make it !!!

October Figures

Just about to tally up final figures and take an early night after playing over 10 hours today at the tables.   Was a volatile day losing loads to start with and i was down about £1,200 wiping out my months profit early during that first session.   That session lasted 5 hours and by the end of it though i was only -£600 for it.    

The 2 shorter evening sessions saw me fair better.  All sessions have been on anything from 1/2 up to 5/10 and there was a point i almost sat 10/20 where a big fish was but couldnt do it as i knew i would have played a bit scared which you just cant do in plo.  

I think i will continue with the stakes ive been on the last few days and see how i fair.  I should probably put some sort of stop loss in place but i wont be playing much after the 19th when im abroad anyway so i think this month i will just stop if i get into an comfortable hole or at least ban myself from certain stakes should the need arise.   The next 2 months will be full of experimentation just like last year so see what games i will attack in 2012.   I think ive got a good balance going at the monent and seem to be enjoying it a bit more and even coping better than i would expect to when i do lose a stack or 2 in a row.  Will definitely play some live plo in the Caribbean too which is normally 5/5.

Final figure is  +£1,904 which im happy with.   Ive cleared a lot of bonuses which essentially make up that profit but on the other side ive probably raked somewhere around $4,000 which is more than i normally would have.   Looking back i know i hardly played the first week or 10days so actually ive done really really good volume since then and of course theres more rake at higher stakes.

Happy hunting people !

Back On The Big Screen

Desktops back so im back to my better set up.   Played a 5 hour non stop session as soon as it arrived but was to no joy losing a few hundred in the end.  Amazing pattern this month, every time i get near clearing a £400 bonus i lose £300-£400 in the last 10% of clearing it.  Ive done this every time on maybe 4 or 5 bonuses :(

Annoying thing about today is i was looking forward to chucking everything into pokertracker and seeing how i ran etc but its playing up as i know ive played more than the number of hands its imported.   I did win the biggest pot i was in today of $2,000 but i lost a few $1,200 pots and others so it would have been nice to have seen an overall ev line.  

Biggest cooler ever that pot above calling a raise with KcQxJx10x and flopping AQJxcc .  Got all excited when other guy couldnt get it in fast enough thinking prob vs a set but he turned over AAQ7xcxc but i managed to survive the ridiculous sweat.   Sticking it into an odds calc now , gnna guess im 53% fav for fun.  LOL shows what i know i was a 46% underdog, my 3 blockers obv dnt count as much as i thought !!!

Right ive been able to tally the month now this desktop is back and im pretty much where i was at start of today at +£1,190.   Not sure if will play much 2moz as out in evening , have to see.

Thurs - WTF

Well im hope im done cos im exhausted.   Just played as highest stakes across several tables more than ive done for probably 18 months.

Earlier was normal but bad afternoon losing to fish at usual dull stakes.   Didnt even fire the laptop up in the evening until nearly midnight and in hindsight probably should have just stayed off.   Anyway im too knackered to discuss hands but i reckon i went about £2,000 in the hole but this was on high stakes but kind of acceptable as it was hi lo and my fav fish was sitting.  

I guess tilt monster kind of got me although i didnt chuck anything away on the tables i just started searching higher games to find something i could take a shot at with at least 1 big fish in.  I ended up playing 2/4 3/6 5/10 and even 10/20 plo.   The hi lo i lost (2-3stacks) on was 10/20 (800buyin) pl too although i also got coolered for loads on 2/4 which helped induce the craving to chase higher.  

To cut the story short as i wnna go bed (5 hours solid session and 5am now)  i won and lost some huge pots but ended up winning the biggest one of $4,000 vs a reg and then bust the $800 fish a couple of hands later on the 10/20 table.   Great escape, im not sure what the figures are for the day as i cant really remember where i started.  Im definitely level or up a few hundred anyway.

Note the plo stakes are huge compared to the hi lo as i only buyin for 40xbb on hi lo in higher games where as i buy in for 100xbb whatever stakes plo is.

I guess the interesting part is where do i go from here.   I was playing those games properly without being scared and really enjoying the rush in the big pots.  Normally i need to be drunk to achieve this but im craving more now so i might have to set a serious roll aside and take at shot back at the stakes in played regularly in 2009.  Tough decision and i dnt wnna rush it but at the same time i dnt wanna leave my roll too high before i get drunk at the weekend as i dnno if i trust myself after tonight.  Watch this space i guess.

Wed - A Bit Tipsy

Only squeezed an hour in during the afternoon losing a little chunk.   Didnt play then until midnight for a few hours.  With maybe 6 pints in me i played some higher games but made sure there was at least 1 fish at the table.  Ended up on 30/60 limit hi lo where i lost about $800 before finishing a $200ish up.   I was chasing the whole session really though as lost 3 buyins of $240 at 3/6 within 10minutes of sitting down (not cos drunk cooler ul type hands).  Fortunately i ran better in the limit and mixed games and finally ended up somewhere around level or mayb $100 or $200up.  Levelish on the day anyway.  

Writing this before i start today.  Looking like im gonna play 3-4hours ish now then return 8 or 9pm later for 3-7hrs more.

Tues - Mixed

Weird day.  Wasnt feelin it in afternoon even though i was winning.   In evening i got into it more but went quite a chunk down before an ok recovery.   Cleared another bonus and was playing higher stakes than usual as the games were going and good.  Somehow ive managed to carry on until after 4:30am despite feeling sluggish earlier.  Highlight of day playing 10/20 pl hi lo for a few rounds b4 shitting my pants allin pre for a $2,000 pot with AAQJ which split vs AKJ4 and leaving on next bb ;)

Mon - Good

Title would be excellent but ive no idea how much i won but it probably near best this month.  Bit disappointed to be feeling shattered at only 2am but ive still put in between 7 and 8 hours total today so i guess its fine !   Also my desktop got damaged in transit but they have agreed to build me a completely new one because of this and i shouldnt lose any saved work as the hard drive was fine.  Obviously gonna be a delay in getting that , maybe another week i guess but if todays anything to go by its not a problem.  I barely went above 4 tables at any one time today.

Hungover Update

Rough today after 2 days on the booze i wont be touching a drop at the pub tonight.   Put in some really good volume this week Mon-Thurs including 2 x 6 hour sessions Thursday.   Only played an hour Friday and less yesterday and its highly unlikely there will be much today.  Not making massive amounts but not losing and rakeback will be good alongside small steady enough profits.  Still not got my desktop back but im used to the laptop again now anyway so not a major issue.  I guess it should be back 2moz or prob Tuesday assuming there was nothing sinister wrong with it.  Obviously still dont know months profit at mo, will be interesting to see when i get back on my spreadsheet.  Hoping its in the region of +£1,000 but really not sure.  Prob aim to do a similar week coming with good volume Mon-Thurs b4 i knw ive got another session out Friday and will be similar Sunday following. Less than 4 weeks to Carribean , yeyyyy !

Breaking Down

Strange last 5 days or so.  Dishwashers playing up.  Handles falling off doors.   Then to cap it all off my 7 week old desktop decided to pack in Saturday night.   Appears to be the psu but i dont know if this will take days or weeks to fix in terms of it being picked up and shipped to where ever it was built up north before being delivered back.  

Poker pretty nothing, seem to break even at best although i guess i did put in a lot of volume up until the desktop failing.   Ive no idea on figures as i dnt have my spreadsheet on this laptop but ive just been destroyed today after not playing Sunday at all.   A couple of standard coolers with top2 vs top set along with lots of other run bad .  Remember top set losing to a draw after i had top pair and flush draw miss against top and btm a few hands earlier.  Maybe its a good thing i cant tally up, probably talking losses in the region of $700 which is pretty sick for a couple of short sessions on .5/1 max.   Not enjoying playing on laptop even before i started but this is just compounded now by such a shit day at the tables.

Nout Appening

Sorry for lack of posts.  Excuse first few days since last post was lack of volume although when i did play i got bashed up really bad.   Saturday i think i only played 1 hour and done £600 as an example.  My losses went as far back down as -£1,200 since that then they seem to yoyo between -£500 and -£1100 since.   Put quite a bit of play in the last 3 days and considering how bad the tables are im disappointed not to have run better and at least got back into a profit.  Ive cleared £750odd in bonuses too so when factor that in its not good at all.  

Anyway just ran a lot better at plo on last session of day just now.   Gonna tally up now.  Was at peak for today of +£150 before i started so ne nice to have wiped most of that out  (was down £400odd earlier !!!) .  Lets see....... LOL yeh it was a good one ive made it back into profit for the first time since the last post a week ago and sit at +£23.

Time to push upwards not fall backwards yet again please.

Oct Starts Late

Todays the first proper day of poker (9hrs) ive put in with no more than 2hrs played any other day.  Havent been in the mood at all with a few bits here and there and a shockingly bad drunk session             (-£800) Sunday recorded.  Wasnt the end as i lost after that too and at worst was -£1,200.   Seem to have had a great day today though and along with clearing a £375 bonus i was around £700 up on the tables to put me into profit for the first time this month at just over £100 ! 

Would luv to say im gonna do more of what i did today but with options to go out 2moz and Saturday and definitely out Sunday it could be another low volume poker weekend swapped for a high volume beer weekend, we'll see.

End Month Figures

Managed to just tip over the £6k mark in the end (barring a drunk 2am session 2moz !!!) and finished at £6,015

Last session was nuts.  Was playing hu 30/60 hi lo limit for 2 hours, 45minutes of that on 2 tables.   Went +$500, then down $1,100 before finishing about +$300.  Sooooo tired now though, it really took it out of me.  Busy day 2moz but no poker thankfully !

Finish It Like I Started

Since Monday i just cant seem to lose on cash tables.   Im probably an obscene amount above ev, its exactly how i started the month as well.  I havent even been playing large numbers of tables but fish have been around a lot and the situations u want against them just seem to occur a lot !   Yesterday maybe broke my days record from earlier in month (havent checked what that was) as i made almost £1,200 as well as clearing a £375 bonus.  Think it was about £600 day b4 and today its around £400. 

Still amazingly im a bit disappointed though as i entered 2 mtt on ongame for their gsop series.  Obv both hi lo $55rebuy and $5 rebuy.    After 5 hours i bust both within 15 minuters of each other to finish 25th/399 and 25th/660odd for only $200 profit.   Didnt enjoy it at all as really tired and wouldnt have played tonight if these werent on.  Still i guess it was worth it all the same for the cash games alongside as well. 

I wont play at all Friday as busy and tommorrow maybe just in the evening based on how i feel now.  Barring a -£400 day tommorrow it will be my 2nd best month of the year so far and its currently at £5,631.  Hoping for a +£4,000 month next month before i take half of November off to lie on a beach in St Maaten. 

Drunk Poker Escapades

Right ive no idea wtfs goin on but i think i just lost a shed load then got a load back, maybe more ?   i know i won a big pot on 5/10 but i lost a lot of allins before that so dnnno wat stats are.   gonna tally up now im think it was a big escape neway.

Yeh big escape hope i dont play anymore 2nite.   TBH its a massive escape i was just hrowing it around .    stop nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Tough Comeback Day

Started ok today making £100 first session then the 2nd session destroyed me.  I basically did fine on all tables apart from the one 2/4 table i had going where i lost 4 allins for £200 a go pots where i had 50%ev or bettor in the pot when the cash went in.   Licked my wounds finding myself below £2,500 on the month and wondering if there was a low point at which i should ban myself from anything other than sngs for the rest of the month.

Had a long dinner break and fortunately it came back together in the evening.  It wasnt on as big stakes so it felt like really good grinding winning sessions and by the end of the night (10mins ago) i can see im sitting -£20 on the day (LOL) at +£3,071.   Thats fine, ive put in near 10 hours today so rakeback will easily more than cover that anyway.

Unsure of weekend plans, i expect volume to suffer as usual and it will do me good to have at least one whole day off anyway.

WCOOP 51 - $320 pl hi lo (in running)

Wasnt sure about this one after a shocking day yesterday but ive made about the buyin on cash games earlier and took a couple of hours off to see if i was up for it.  Just logged in at 7pm and missed 1 min of play but got there for my first hand to hit nut nut and get a healthy 800 added to my 5k starting stack, hopefully its a good sign.  Just hope i dont lose in cash games alongside, heres a to a long night with any luck !

8:40pm
after first hour i had peaked at 7500.  just been slipping back since and now 5k again :(    All decent hands came in first 15mins really !!!    as i write this im committing to a Q43 rainbow flop with AQ38 but mateys folded his cont bet.  AA45xccc nxt hand minraised and been reraised so gotta pot it right up now.   only 930 preflop but with 2 low cards i cant really fold postflop i think.   flop K108xcc so im committed.  6200 now and signing off here for a bit.     generally a very nitty table so am trying to get involved as much as i can but no easy $ really.

11pm

Out absolutely livid.  Missed a load of outs to scoop or chop for 9k pot when i pushed putting guy on a weaker hand fair enough but left with 3800odd.   Sit tight and at 100/200 get it in on turn when committed on flop 3way on a Q749 board with AA39.   Im against A278 who should have raised flop to shut other guy out and J456 (J456 WTF).  River 6 and they chop , come on WTF is this.  If i wasnt already chat banned i would have got one there, so mad.  Cash games no better, only reason im sitting on +£2,864 is cos i cleared a £375 bonus a few mins ago.  Might play later but off for an hour break min.    1 more WCOOP left but its Friday at 10pm and i might b out boozin, $215 NL hi lo , just have to see.  Not Happy.

Late edit.  Ok returned about 12:30am for 90mins or so.  Did a lot better and finished at +£3,091.   So knackered, def time for bed early at 2:10am !!!

Poor Week

Nout great since last post.   Had 3 awful days losing between £300 and £600 (earlier today) .   Rest between boozing was break even, small loss, or small wins.

Playing a bunch of mtts tonight, mostly small for  a change.  Interesting to see if tilt, get bored, get angry or whatever.  Might update below later.  +£3,150 b4 i started this evening.

EDIT:

oh dear , only played 6 mtts and was just plain bored throughout.  I havent gone deep in any and ive only got 1 left.     Obviously more concerned with how much im hating this.   I guess after such a good start to the month it was only ever gonna hit a huge frustrating wall at some point.   The question is do i carry on and which games do i play.  Mayb should try just sngs again but ill probably struggle to focus on them given the stakes relative to the profit ive done so far.    Arrrgh in theory this is a nice problem to have but im not so sure.  After such a poor 4months prior i just cant help but think about the chance it will keep going bckwrds.   Sposed to be playin pl hi lo 320 wcoop 2moz 7pm too hmmmm.

2nd edit:   yeh worst day in weeks.  min cashed in that last multi but just got completely destroyed on the cash tables on fairly high stakes.   Now sitting just under £2,600 .... yuk yuk yuk

Dnnno How But More +

Days been a blur.  Tried to play here and there inbetween paracetamol breaks.  Seems it wasnt a hangover only and ive got a mild annoying headache/chest infection. Frustrated but still managed really good profit and had won an ok amount yesteday too so its all adding up nicely. 

Missed the WCOOP badugi which i almost played but got distracted around the starting time and was looking for an excuse really.  Still planning on playing the 11am NL hi lo tommorrow as long as im not too tired. Option of an evening 8 game too but cant see me playing both.

Decided to cash out a bonus on party.  I had originally been planning/hoping i would reach top vip level to get equiv of 40% but this seems very unlikely in the near future as my games are spread across 3 or 4 sites regularly so figure its time to cash in these points for 30% rakeback equiv. which will clear gradually over the next few months.

The only thing thats changed since last week is i dont seem to find time for sngs.  Not an issue while im still playing and running good on cash games but i do keep meaning to play some more sessions of these along with more mtts too, we will see.  Sitting on +£4,394 for Sept currently, no complacency please !!!

Double Hangover

U know it was a big big booze up when u still feel almost as rough on the 2nd day after.   Brain not functioning right so while i havent lost ive hardly played and when i have its not fun.   Gonna try jogging in these gales in a mo to try and get rid of this sluggish sickly feeling.  Sposed to be playing some tiny freeroll later so cant give in and just another day off really but i suspect it will be an early night.

Break/Booze/Ban/WCOOP/Profit

Lots stuff happened since last post.   Dnno where to start so ill just waffle on in rough order of that title.

Much needed break 2moz (maybe from evening and maybe including sunday if hangover bad).   Put a lot of hours in this week and its showed today.  Im not nearly as focused, im not enjoying it as much and i found myself losing my temper over daft things again which has resulted in yet another chat ban.  Looking fwd to hitting the booze pretty hard as i was close to doing it tonight but have to go out tommorrow and am trying to only get drunk once a week at the mo !

My 1st WCOOP was unsuccessful.  I lasted errr quite a few hours and had 3 or 4 pretty crucial pots in that time.  My table was tight preflop so i fished and fished and fished and when i did hit i got paid off but simply just didnt get enough good situations and these players were not giving away large chips easily.  In fact no one bust on our table for 3 or 4 hours.

First pot i had minraised the button and called a underpot reraise (very deep so stacks dont matter) .  I think i just had top set on flop (might have had bad low draw)  but mateyboy had AA2x wiht nut flush draw and nut low draw.   Low came but flush didnt so i split a huge pot that could have gone either way.

2nd pot i think i called a minraise in position with A266 and flop wasnt a great AJ6ddx.   Still when the only other active player (only guy i bluffed big once when he chkraised bluff me and i rebluffed him on the turn in an earlier hand)  led for pot i was happy to get it in here putting him on a 2 pair or draw type hand.   Turned out he had AJKQdd.   I havent run this one through %odds but as above its pretty much a cooler that could go either way.   Turn blank but river shipped him with a J.  (he finished top20 or so)  We were deeper when that pot came so pot would have put me 40/240 550ish entered but instead i was left on 10k which while weak it was still a managable stack.

Exit hand i dnt think i can remember exactly but again it was a cooler as i saw it.   I think i had 2 pair,2nd low and a double gutshot on a low flop but matey had nut low with a pair.  It either conterfeited me or gave him 3 of kind by river but i had a similar number of outs to scoop it as he had no extra low protection. 

Was happy overall but table could have been easier.  Think i lasted around 5 hours and cash games were good alongside.  By time i stopped for break 6.5hours in i had covered the buyin back short of £50 .  ($615 to enter that mtt)    Later i ran well and finished up 2 or 300£ on that Thursday.

Didnt make much today but im happy as it could have gone a lot worse with some bad swings a few times before recovery/get out of jail.  Decent games still seem plentiful but that also means i could lose what ive won quicker if i hit another downswing.    Profit now stands at +£3,453 .

Beware Of Carnage

It was sooooo almost another massive day but i finally hit a wall about an hour ago and lost loads back.  Earlier i had made a small steady profit in the afternoon then hit some higher stakes games later on.  They all went really really well again including winning a $1,400 flip allin on flop on 5/10.   I peaked at over £1,000 up but lost lots of buyins in the last hour and finished up at only +£375.  Dont get me wrong im still very happy with this figure but its reminded me how volatile the games are, especially when i play at the higher stakes.

Still hoping ill get up in time and be in the right frame of mind to play the 11am WCOOP.  Finished early tonight becos of above really but i had planned to try to shut early to encourage me to get out of bed early 2moz.  May do an in-running if bothered to try and focus me more but will see.

Best Online Cash Games Day For A Long While

Amazingly it only gets better after that last post.   Early in the day i received a credit of £310 for an ipad2 rake promo instead of waiting ages for one which i would hardly ever use. I had a couple of steady decent sessions prior to the football this evening but was knackered so figured that would probably be it for poker today.  Well things changed as i fell asleep during the football so figured i could play for another 4 hours or so from 10pm.   So glad things fell into place like that as i had one of those sessions (especially the first 2 hours) where i was hitting nearly everything.  Its been so long on cash games since ive had anywhere near as good a run in a short session that i certainly thoroughly enjoyed it !  My confidence was good even before that session and im finding the desktop so much better to play on as i get more and more used to it with every hour played.

Anyway lets talk figures, when i sat at 10pm i was about +£1,850 for the month and when ive finished after 2am im now on +£2,682.  No games higher than 2/4$ and most were lower.  I know this start to the month cant last forever but im kind of in shock how everything appears to be turning around the last couple of weeks.  I started the day at £1,295 so ignoring the credit i made almost £1,100 on the day !  More run good to come tommorrow please :)

Desktop Works .....So Far !

This is taking some getting used to (since it arrived fri evening) but its all going almost too well so far.  I havent put in that much volume due to the weekend but when i have its just been a combination of good luck, playing well and finding some really bad players at my tables for a change.  Im not really changing the number of tables much having played 4-9 most of time compared to the steady 5-6 the 2 weeks before.  It must have been 4-5years since ive not played on a laptop but i probably should have made this move sooner. 

Right i havent had a losing day yet so lets curse that here !   Now sit on +£1,295 .  Appears i will have $500 added to that (prob 2moz) for an ipad2 i had raked in a promotion, happy with cash alternative for all i would use it.  

WCOOP on pokerstars, appears 1st game i should play is 11am !!! on thursday $215 6max 1 rebuy, 1 addon so if i make it up in time lets hope its a long day.

I havent felt this relaxed, confident and happy with my game for a while so im really hoping i can push on from here and turn in a really really good month.

Not Quite To Plan

All over the shop today.  First 2 sessions were bad then really good at normal games.  Evening time though there were some juicy higher stakes cash games around and i couldnt resist dabbling.   Rollercoaster downwards to begin with led a frustrating time but it came back eventually and on the day i lost about £50.  Still leaves me in profit as i got £120 rakeback at the start.  Supposed to be getting my new desktop tommorrow early evening now so looking forward to that.

August Figures

Turbulent is probably the best word to describe this month.   Fortunately its finished on a reasonable note after an ok last week or so.   Finishing up early tonight as can hardly keep my eyes open so definitely not in the mood.   I played a fair bit earlier anyway so not an issue.  I know i said i would write down figures to work out accurate figures but i cant be bothered to get pen and paper so ill try and do it below.

o/b -£600 (when other laptop broke)    = -600
tfrs/rakeback received                          =   320
boss (781-650)                                    =   131
party (2189-2500)                               =  -311
ipoker (2551-2700)                             =  -149
pokerstars  (4735-1040)/1.6                = 2309

if my brains working that gives +£1,700.  shame about last session which knocked that back 2 or 300 :(

i will take it anyway, pretty much a breakeven month with a bonus accounting for nearly all that.  that said im gonna work out my rough rakeback on the month anyway below to get an idea of volume and true profit, so to speak.  right done that and its difficult with some of the weird schemes around at mo but its definitely over £1,200 anyway.

As for September.   Gonna try and keep with my sngs 18mans which seems to be working so far.  Desktop should hopefully be up and running by end of next week and that will give me options to return to more than 6 tables at once although it remains to be seen whether i should add many more tables, time will tell.  Will combine with some cash games as ive been doing when i think its worth it or when im right in the mood.  Also hope to play more mtts including some of the hi lo ones in WCOOP on pokerstars.  Some big buyins but i may target some satellites or just allow the hit and hope i cash in some !

.....EDIT 13th Sept haved now recovered data from laptop, actual profit was +£1,497 :(

August In Profit

Finally got just back into profit earlier and followed that with clearing a $2,600 bonus so im sitting
on a more respectable figure for once. Roughly around the +£2,200 mark.  Got a lack of enthusiasm though, im pretty sure i can put that down to low volume due to my 2nd hangova in 3days.  Been bashing a few sngs out this week and it seems to be working for making a steady profit. Its giving my brain a different challenge which seems to have led to a somewhat calmer week as well.  Still yet to venture into mtts though, really hoping i can motivate myself to enter some this week though.

Caribbean all booked up for 2 weeks from mid Nov back for my 2nd visit to St Maaten.

EDIT:   i knew sommat was wrong when i worked out figures above but couldnt see it.   Just realised my error doing things in my head without lack of an excel spreadsheet i forgot to add on the -£600 so i really was about +£1,600 at this time.    3:40pm  31st Aug now and slowly progressing and sitting around £2,000 if i havent made more mistakes !!!   I will get pen and paper later to check final figures !  Not sure if i will play much later.

No Change

At least im not losing much more i guess.  I havent updated cos theres not really much to update about.  I keep thinking its all about to change and some ridiculous play or cooler or otherwise just comes back again and again.   Im actually playing a few low stakes sngs for a change and if anything at least im a little bit calmer doing this.   Still cant face any mtts and since last post ive dropped about £100 so im sitting on -£700.   Theres still a £1,600odd bonus i may clear b4 the end of the month but depends which site i play and volume etc.    In really must try some mtts though, im hoping to want to play over £1,000 worth in the nxt stars series as there is a handful of hi lo type games available.  Also still waiting on delayed desktop so stuck on laptop for at least another week or 2 :( 

More Smashing Material

Got a cheap laptop so back playin a little after many days off.  Also bought a decent desktop and big monitor which should turn up sometime this week or next.  Moving my whole set up to a new room (once that arrives) and hoping it will change my focus, luck, motivation etc etc blah blah.  Anyways aint been able to recover stuff from old laptop yet so need to make a note of rough balances before i resume playing so i dnt lose track of this months figures.

-£600 on month
PS: $1040
IP: £2700
PTY:  £2500
BOSS: £650

A River Too Far .....(For That Laptop)

Usual bad session , 3-400 under ev $ and just let one river out on laptop.  Been giving it a good slap a lot lately but this one was more like a punch and now the screen seems completely f**ked.  Im on old one now that havent even used for 18months and i guess its time to order a new one online or pop to shops later.

Week 2

Pretty much had the weekend off save a few hands and 1 more crap session friday after i blogged.  Sit on -£393 going into week 2 and hoping it will be a better one.  I think i will clear a $2,600 bonus this week so heres hoping i dont lose £1,500 in the process like i seemed to do last month.  Probably just stay on the same games atlhough i guess it would be handy to play some mtts if i can face them.

Wound Up Again

I think im stopping early for the day.  I just had another one of those carnage sessions where nothing goes right and its just plain laughable.  Only -$160 ev on my tracked sites where im nicely in profit but ive lost loads today on other sites on higher stakes.

Heres 3 examples of hands in the last 5minutes before i just shut everything becos of it.

15xbb preflop A234xxdd 4way.   flop is Q83xdd and i lose a 3way allin vs QQ23 and AJ109.

AA57ccxx vs A239 on a raised flop of 64ccxx .   of course no club and middle pin 5 hits the turn to lose all that one.

allin preflop AAQ8 vs AQJ8 80xbb each and lose to a straight.

Annoyed as i won £300 first session today and broke even on the 2nd one but its a roughly level day and sit on -£640 for the month ,  arrrg so frustrating but at least im raking good volume.

EDIT:
Went back on as couldnt be assed to do anything social and tv was rubbish.
Glad i did, havent calc ev stuff but ran a lot better across all sites.  Even managed to scoop a 200euro pot with a royal flush vs quad queens !!!
Now Sit on -£188 :)

Partial Recovery

Ran about $600 above ev for a change and ended up making about £500 profit on the day.   Was very volatile at the end though as i found a big fish on 20/40 and 30/60 limit that i played heads up as well as 3 and 4 handed.   Heads up i actually destroyed him and at best was +$2,000 but despite nearly felting him about 6 times he came back and i only won a few hundred $ in the end :(   Still be interested to see how much rake i managed when its updated 2moz.   Only thing i hope now is i dont follow the pattern fromlast month when i follow a good day with a truly awful one.

Just As Bad As It Gets

Another just plain brutal session just now.   This blog is just becoming a moanfest while this just continues and continues.  Honestly you just have to see this to believe it.   Every time i return to the tables i think this will be the time it will turn around and it just doesnt stop.   The session i had just now just, once again, sums up just how bad im running and there is just nothing i can do about it.   

Nothing played higher than 1/2 today and the 2 tracked sites show me as -$600 on ev.   Same stuff was happening across untracked sites too though and its just laughable really.  I guess in one sense i should move to multis or play plo only but i just think it will change the next session.  Apart from a few tilty allins im doing nothing wrong and everything im losing is just through the worst luck i now officially ive ever had over a continuous period.   2 days in and already at -£1,138 :(

Back To The Pain

6 days off from poker fully and returned to tables yesterday all set for a new attack.   Unfortunately the pokergods had other ideas and had obviously missed f**ing me over.  Within the first 2 hours i had lost £830 playing purely pl hi lo.  I had not bought in for more than £100 in any game and once i had put it into tracker i realised what i already knew.  It was just bad luck once again having run -$1,200 under ev on the allins.

Took 1.5hrs off to cool down having slapped the laptop, thrown the mp3 player across the room and punched 2 doors i felt i needed a break :(      Was a lot better the next 3 sessions and i ended the day down just £360 , although still about -$1,000 for ev on the 2 sites i track.

Just about to start todays grind , hoping to do about 8 hours (was close to that yesterday in the end).   I keep telling myself even if i break even but have 20+ days grinding like this a month ill make over £2,000 in rakeback.   It dont help much though when ya keep gettin it in as massive favourite or as 50/50 and just losing the majority of time.

EDIT:  AUGUST CAN F** OFF  , JUST HAD ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME SESSION AS YESTERDAYS FIRST ONE.  ONLY DIFFERENCE WAS BEING ON LOWER STAKES BUT COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DESTROYED IN THE MAJORITY OF FLIPS AND IT DONT MATTER HOW FAR AHEAD I AM THE PERFECT CARD SEEMS TO HIT THE RIVER FOR THESE IDIOTS 90% OF THE TIME IN ALL THE BIG POTS.   BYE BYE ANOTHER £470 , THIS IS JUST PLAIN RIDICULOUS.

Some Analysis

Just spent a decent amount of time looking at statistics for my 2 main sites (the only 2 i track at the moment).

Across all pl hi lo stakes im a regular at ive run below ev this month.   The one that sticks out is .5/1$ hi lo pl on party poker where ive gone -$584 over 6700 hands.  Doesnt sound a lot but i usually buyin for $40 so its a lot relative to that.  Also on allin ev im -$600 (should be +$40 if level).   This is just for this month, but as mentioned above all stakes are on a -ev swing.  No wonder ive got so disillusioned with the game right now.  Combine all that with terrible downswings generally and awful luck on short high stakes sessions on limit and even with the £2,500 bonus i cashed in its pretty amazing im still in + overall. 

Ive tried to play a bit of plo but am just not enjoying it enough to focus fully on it.   Only 1 night did i play multis this month too as i knew my patience wasnt right which is daft given just how bad some of these remain as well.  

Anyway lots of stuff to think about before i resume next week  :)

On Holiday ?

Kind of given up on this month and by telling myself that im effectively "on holiday" and seem to be more relaxed immediately !!!

Unless i get an urge (or i play a possible freeroll Thurs) i will return to the game on Monday August 1st.  Got plenty of stuff to do around the house and the weather being so good is also a factor in this decision.

Ive kind of been battered by the game since the start of May and a few days off to focus and decide what course of attack to take can only be a good thing.  I wont put final July figures down yet in case i change my mind. Its only around +£1,000 now after another 3 soul destroying short days often losing a large chunk in just 1 session.  Still dont think ive played bad just that same bad luck i cant seem to shake off.

Treading Water

Kind of anyway.  I did lose a huge chunk since last post but it was days back now.  Basically a horrendous short session on high stakes limit = -£1,000. 

Won a bit back Sunday then last couple of days i seem to just go up or down a few hundred and then finish around level in the end.   Would say its boring but im still earning rakeback and after the downswing breaking even seems almost like winning !   Think ive put in around 8hrs a day too Mon/Tues and hoping to keep this up as i expect it to drop right off this weekend as usual.

Still not playing any mtts, just dont have the patience.  I also still lose my rag too easily and after getting sick of constant emails for chat bans on stars ive now permanently requested no chat.  Just a shame i cant apply that to all sites as a test :)   Speaking of volume, ive done rough figures and ive made over $2,000 in rakeback this month so far.  Sitting on profit of +£2,372 at mo.

Another Wild Day

Started really bad on a short afternoon session and the evening didnt start much better.   The games were good though and there was a lot of higher stakes stuff going on than the norm so the swings were big.  Fortunately i was on the better end of the bigger pots and finished about +£600 on £2,841 for the month.  Good volume with pretty much 5-7 tables going all the time.   Emotions been down and up today on the rollercoaster, keeping a clear head is vital and at times its was great and at others it was awful.  Anyway im not overally excited about a possible upswing yet but at least its another decent day completed.  As usual not sure how much i'll play at the weekend, depends mainly (as usual) on the booze intake and hangover levels :)

Ok So Where Are We Now ?

Been such an up and down few days since last post.   I had a day where i had a golden hour near the star making a ridiculous amount for the lowish stakes i was playing.  Anyways roughly +£500 it kind of lasted until on slightly higher stakes at the end of night i managed to lose a $600 (highest pot of day) getting it allin on a flop of 954ddx with A295 vs KK36 (no f draw).  It doesnt sound that bad until i mention it was 3 of us to a flop which had $24 in the pot on.  Mug check raises me from the sb when ive bet 20 into 24 with raiser behind me and is only too happy to get 280ish in each.  of course it comes 7A.  On the day i was -£8 after losing a bit more after that hand as well as losing my cool yet again.

Yesterday just resumed the pain ive endured the last 7-10days and nothing went right.   Ended up losing about £800 to reach a new low for this month.   3 hands within 10minutes on 2/4$ pl hi lo pretty much summed up how its been.

 AA56ss on a QJ47ss board misses and i pay off a river bet as another J looks blank.   KKJ4 called raise from sb, too good for me :(

A234cc on a 10K76cc board vs A10106.   Obv blanks out.

Then the 3rd killer.   Similar to the 954 hand above.   Basically raised pot by me with A2Q8.  Only too happy to get it allin on a Q83flop but it turns out im vs 8845 and it comes xA to lose another $600ish pot.

Today however has been much more promising.  I seem to have played better, enjoyed it more and obviously run better overall.  Also found a really bad fish that donated a sig chunk to me middle of day and got back the day befores losses and a bit more.   Im trying to avoid a lot of limit hi lo and the mixed games for the time being as that seems to be where a lot of my downswings have come and , fingers crossed, it seems to be working.   Even redeposit on a site i bust 2 months ago and enjoyed a change of scene and some truly shocking players.

Anyways still wanna win a lot lot more but sitting back on +£2,224 (was £1,000 less 24 hours ago) so content for the time being.

Any Worse ?

Yip, since last post i lost another £1,000 playing drunk.  Didnt throw it away though just lost as usual on highish stakes i had to play as known total fish was there.

Didnt play at all Saturday as generally major pissed off bout how this weeks gone pokerwise.   Wasnt sure about tonight but felt good after a snooze so logged in to play first tournaments since i got back. 

Only 19 in $120 and awful standard as usual but its quite turbolike.  Anyway get to last 5 (paying 3) and sitting joint 2/5 when i top up bb of 800 with AxJs7s5x into the big stack.   He checks and flop is K52xss.  i min bet and he pots to 4000.  So im playin for stacks but im happy to with a middle flush draw, an A7 lowdraw and a pair its a good spot so i shove in my 10k.   He shows AxJx10s,8s.  Pretty much the best shape i could be in but of course it comes KxQx and im gone in 5th.

Before that i had doubled in $109 and playing 6k managed to get 1400 (4bets) in preflop vs a guy who only had another 2600 behind with AA78 dbl suited.  Cue K96xdd flop (not my suit) which i figured was a gr8 flop vs someone who has reraised me preflop.  Oh no he has AK29ddxx and cant get it in quick enough. 

These mtts reminded me i need patience and i need it fast.  I couldnt believe how bad some of the play was but as usual i was mad as can be after busting.  Prob broke even on cash alongside but again was frustrated to hell vs fish.  Best example getting 15/40bb in preflop with AKK2.  Flop K35 rainbow and i lose to 10,10,6,4 but plenty more where thats came from this week.

Im amazed i havent got any more chatbans this week.  Ive totally lost it many times.  Going from one of my best weeks of the year to one of my worst has just been too tasking and i fast need to refocus and just hope that my luck changes sooner rather than later.   Ive cashed in $4,000 in bonuses but ive lost all of my profit i made the previous week and £500 more.

Now sit at +£2,090 for the month (bear in mind £2,500 from bonus) so not happy at all.

Might play later, theres no shortage of action but just cant face it right now.  Oh and to top it off my laptop keeps crashing on some sites, could b on the way out.  Nice to wind me up even more though until i replace it.

Backwards Backwards And Backwards

Hellish frustrating week.  Just cant seem to clock hardly any winning sessions.   Games are as bad as last week but im just running awful and dropping money almost as fast as i made it last week.  I peaked at the weekend at about +£2,400 for the month and its just been shocking since. 

Basically losing £300+ a day and just lost £500 in my only session of today running so bad on the limit games.   Now sit on almost £1,000.    Will clear a bonus shortly but i just havent put any volume in this week so its just been poor all round.

3/4

Another good day (3 out of last 4) to bounce right back.  Couple of really good sessions early then break even on the last 2 shorter ones.  Moved to peak of £1,379.  Wont be playing Saturday as busy all day.  Wont play at least until evening tommorrow and could be hungover dependent how much i play Sunday.  Still ive put good volume in last few days so not worried either way.

Anyone with a party or pokerstars account, theres reload bonuses on both at the moment.

Mini Streak Over

Couldnt make it 3 winning days in a row.   Put more volume in today but the cards were definitely against me.   Still i think i played well and didnt get too angry or tilted at all for a change.  Dropped £446 which sounds a lot but (easily could have been more and) had such good run the day before im still on a solid +£731 for the last few days.  At end of the day if i put the sort of volume ive done today in 5 days a week and break even i think rakeback for the month would be in the region of $6,000 anyway. 

Full Tilt a gonna, seems ive lost $8 in there although i guess i had over $100 in points sitting in the account as well :(    Not really a hit at all compared to others and compared to my UB loss of $1,250 which doesnt look like it will ever materialise.

More Jetlag

Been so tired and giving in to the jetlag big time.  About to head to bed in a mo and hope i can get up mid afternoon at latest.  Managed more hours today but still all in the early hours of the morning, still traffic seems ok.   Think im playin well but im def running well so far, but its only been a few sessions so nout to get excited about yet although it was a little higher in stakes today.  Made £795 to take me to +£1,177.

July Starts Early

Bit jetlagged and/or drained from the travelling but did login to play for a couple of hours earlier.   Managed a decent profit and add that to £51 rakeback and good start to what i hope to be a big comeback month which also should include clearing some big bonuses to boost funds.

+£382 and off to bed to hopefully get back on a sleep clock of 4am-noon asap.

Vegas Stats / June Loss

-$9,320  mtts   (0/11 cashes,deep in only 3)
-$175  satellite  (test water early but structure redic. fast)
-$2,389 cash (breakdown below)

PL Big O 5/10:  +$2,055  (11 sessions)
PL Big O  1/2:   +$1,415  (12 sessions, often drunk)
PL O8      5/5:    +$1,861  (9 sessions, game not available every day)
PL O8      1/2:    -$    135  (1 session, game replaced by big O)

O8 75/150:        -$5,985  (3 sessions, see prev. post)
O8 20/40:          -$    650  (2 poor sessions near start of trip)

PLO:  1/2           -     850  (1 win, 1 loss, game played a lot higher)

NLH:  1/2          -      100  (1 drunk tired session 1st night to get onto a vegas body clock)


OVERALL TOTAL :-  - $11,884   =  -£7,428 for June (based on 1.6 rate used every month this year)

Any online stuff before July 1st will be included in July profit/loss to keep vegas separate.

Disappointing fail to vegas in terms of making money but lots of lessons learned and confirmed a lot of stuff i already knew.   3rd worst month ever on record (and worst for over 2 years) but im craving online poker so im confident i will bounce back stronger. 

Worrying stuff ive heard from what seemed a reliable source is that lots of others are following the Italy and France model and this could soon include Germany/Spain/Poland and Australia.  Not sure what to believe any more and its just a matter of rolling with the punches as they come and adjusting as best as one can, oh , and keep on smiling :)

Brutal Brutal End

Friday started well going as much as $1,000 up on usual games before hitting a wall on 5/5 plo8.  It was fun though and i just got outdrawn a bit towards the end which sealed a -$195 day in the end.

Today however was a completely different story.
After checking out 11am i left my luggage at front of the rio and settled down for about 7 hours of poker.
Again it started well turning my 5/10 big O $700 buyin into $1,700 when i changed games 3 hours later.
I was craving one last session of 75/150 limit O8 before i left and got into a game at 3pm ish.   Well what a mistake that turned out to be.  I could not win 100% of a pot and i realised when i finally scooped 100% of a pot it had taken 3.25hours to do this despite being 7 and 8 handed often as well as 9 handed as standard.  I left 15 minutes later posting an astonishing loss in that game of -$5770.

Im now at the airport waiting on a 90minute delay to my flight which will probably result in me missing my connection in Toronto but its out of my hands now anyway.

I think ive learnt a lot this trip and its obviously disappointing to post near to a -$12,000 loss even if 50% of it was in the last 3.5hours of a 26 nights stay !  Guess ill do some sort of proper summary later or as soon as i can be bothered.  Got plenty of time to kill right now.

2 More Cash Sessions Left

No good in final mtt.  Chipped up early but table was just too tight, needed to hit to get paid and its tricky to run many bluffs in big O.   Key hand below:

peaked at 60k (started 25k), about 45k start of this hand.  tight guy raises button at bb1600.  i reraise pot to 11600 with AA249dbl std.   he flats although originally thought i had only raised to 6600 as he didnt realise the diff between 5k and 10k chip.  flop is 853rainbow. we get it in and he shows A23310 to 3/4 after the standard blanks hit.  3 allins after that at 1/2k chop/chop/lose to bust about 70/160.

Seem to have picked up a mild cold/chest infection so hopin it wont get worse.  Gonna head rio in mo for cash games all day if my headache doesnt get stronger.   Originally thought i would play higher last day or 2 but if my heads not clear its prob not worth trying.   Tommorrow i check out 11am but dont leave vegas until 11:50pm so will dump luggage at rio and play cash again until 7pm.

Expect to blog again at airport while waiting as free wi-fi there.   Part of me very happy to go home and other part happy to stay as enjoyed the last week more than i thought i would.

Softest PLO8 MTT Ive Ever Played

Played a lot of cash the last 3 days including 9pm-12:30am after busting a $210 plo8 mtt at binions 7 hours in.   Not been winning though but still think im playin well, just been having to make more laydowns and conquer the bad swing.  Only lost 300/100/100 the 3 days though which is good really i think considering some of the situations ive been in.

Anyway on to the mtt.   This was just a complete limpfest and so many players just didnt have a clue what sort of trouble they were getting into and would never fold to a raise preflop and often not give up to huge bets postflop so bluffing was few and far between.   I didnt win a pot for 30minutes despite being in 80-90% of flops and my 15k dropped down to 12kish at only the 25/50 level but i knew if i hit sommat i would get paid.  I was 100% the only player raising preflop without aces !!!   Once i won my first pot i went on a mini rush and quickly got back to 15k before busting one of the dead money guys and a short stack in the same hand to go up to 30k.  

After this though i just went plain card dead and couldnt seem to flop or hit anything.  My stack stayed the same from first break right through to 2nd break and by now blinds were getting a lot chunkier.  I dropped as low as 22k but finally hit a couple of hands just before the dinner break and went to peak of 41k at that point.

When we returned i won the first pot i played and went to 45kish with the average bang on 45k.   There were now 37 players left of the 111 starters and it paid 12 with winner getting $5,800ish.  The very next hand i raised AsQx7s4s to 4000 (1600bb) and both blinds called.   sb was a brash guy looking ridiculous wearing sunglasses (in a $200game) who i had already tangled with just before the break when he chk called 2 streets before making me make a correct tough river call by leading allin into me.  He announced , rather loudly i check in the dark.  Anyways flop comes down K83sss, other guy checks to me and i bet 6k.   sb instantly shouting allin allin allin almost falling off his chair in excitement.  Obviously i call even faster and table my hand without saying a word.  Instead of dejection this guy now says its great as hes gonna win and hit quad kings tabling KK103.  When one of the 3s he's blocking does hit he gets even cockier and still expects another king on river but a blank jack does the job and he celebrates like he has just played his best hand of poker and won his biggest pot and cash ever. 

To be honest it hurt for about 15seconds but i was just trying not to laugh at how little class this guy shown and how excited he was despite being no where near the money (1/3 field left)  and gettin 40k into a 12k pot in such a bad spot.  I knew i would rather lost a perfect pot 7hours in there than go another 2 hours and do the same to bubble etc and ive seen this type before at the table so just find it funny.   Left with 3200 i get it allin nxt hand to x5 but got protection so only AQJ2 vs AA77 vs some guy that called his last 20k off with J853dbl std or sommat ridic.  AA held and i was out , another nail in the mtt coffin.  Im 0/10 now and will probably only play 1 more tommorrow.  Bit gutted about not having prob top 4 stack , mayb even chiplead with 36 left but out 37/111 on a huge pot was obviously the best way to go but it would have been fun to play even deeper with a large stack at that table , not even for the money :(

Odds calc says he scoops 14% time and we chop the pot 9% time.  Arrrgh.

On the plus side im enjoying playin more now as i know ive only got a few days left out here    Gonna attack cash games all day today i think then caesars 4pm mtt big O tommorrow at 4pm.  Friday same as today i expect then Saturday i leave in the evening so unsure what i will do during the day, maybe just chill.

More Cash

Its a shame i cant seem to get myself playing a lot more cash games out here.   Occasionly i get a tough table and leave but generally theres normally 2-4 awful players at the lowish stakes games ive been playing.   Yesterday was no exception (after taking 2 days off from poker!) as i only played about 4 hours in 2x2hours sessions but spun 250 up to 1080 in the first one and returning just +90 the 2nd one.

Ive only had 13days where ive played any cash and 7 winning days out of that so its doesnt sound that amazing but when i play the right game with the right players it is truly easy stuff.  Here are my current plo8 and big O stats:

5/10 big O :   +$565 from 6 days  (rarely play this now as i find 1/2 plays more like 2/5 and standard is so much different)

1/2 big O :  +$1795 from 4 days  (ive got stacked once in this game for $500 when i missed with 3rd set,nut low draw and nut flush draw vs top set from flop, main problem i get is boredom and often play this drunk to conquer this)

5/5 PLO8 : +$2560 from 4 days  ($1,000 of this was a ridic runner runner pot i should never have been in.   This is clearly the best game for me though but it doesnt always run every day and when it does it can be tough to get into it from the waiting list length)

Anyway -$6,200 overall now with only 1 tournament left unless i head back downtown for a smaller game.  Guess i will try and chip off more of that loss although i still might play the 75/150 game im keeping an eye on which could prove volatile either way again.   Gonna try and stay sober for 4 or 5 days too, my bodys all over the shop at the mo with all the crap ive put through it.   Prob pool or gym it for now and head over rio about 4pm when they seem to get a new batch of dealers and open more tables.  Waiting lists have been a nightmare the last 2 days so be nice to avoid some of that today.

No 10 Game

Not in mood for it.
Had the softest 8game table in golden nugget $240 yesterday and managed to lose 1/3 of my stack by first break.  Then when i returned to raise nearly every hand in the 20minute level of NLH with little resistance  until i managed to flop Ad9x3d with my A3ss only to see opponent had limp called with 99.

Headed to the Venetian $550plo 3pm.  10 hours later i guess i got my wish as i went deep finishing around 65th/450 but this time i was annoyed about bubbling.  i was up to over 80k while average was only 45k but nothing seemed to go right from there on what was a ridiculously tough table out of the ones probably left.  Also i had a couple of tougher guys to my left so i couldnt really try and make anything happen. $47k for first although i would have happy to just say i had cashed in sommat !

As Dry As The Nevada Desert

If i had come back to my room and done this post immediately last night after busting it would have been one hell of a rant.    Instead i got drunk on 1/2 big O and got a portion of my $2,500 investment back.

Lets be real here ive only played 7 tournaments so its hardly a sample to moan about but aside from making day 2 of the first one before hitting a wall ive pretty much got absolutely nothing going in anything.  The 8 game was exactly the same and i didnt lose huge chunks on the NLH or plo, this was just pure run bad at all the horse and 2-7 triple draw games.   If i played these games 100 times i honestly only think i would bust quicker once or twice.   Im not even making the 2nd break in all my tournaments, let along the dinner break and its really starting to get to me now.  

Yes im in profit on cash games but im not here for them, im here for the chance to play live mixed games multis that only comes once or twice a year.   Im really not sure now if i can face the $2,500 10game on Thursday and maybe will stick to $500 or lower ones, i'll see.   $2,500 is my biggest direct buyin in 2 years and to do so bad in yesterdays really demotivates me when i think about doing it again.

$wise im -$7.960 for tourneys,+$1,825 for cash,-$175 for one satellite =   -$6,310 overall.
It isnt the money thats bothering me though, it just frustrating that i cant get any kind of run going in the last 2 weeks.  Im even craving online poker for the change of scene and the multi tabling.  I guess i shouldnt be that surprised, its been pretty bad since beginning of May but im sure it will turn around soon.  May drop and play some $200mtts in the hope of finding an easier path.

Back to 2009 Favourite

Finally hit the 75/150$ O8 game and ran so bad to begin with.   Managed to go $3,000 down before making a comeback and only finishing $440 down (obviously happy with that).  Game was ok to good but dried up and i left immediately it went that way.  Also witnessed a russian chap get ejected (and probably banned) for threatening a guy 2 seats to his left and pushing his glasses off the guys face.

Sat in a 1/2 big O game after that and managed to win $320 so only -$120 on the day.

Ive bought into the $2,500 8 game 5pm tournament tommorrow and hoping ill do better than my shocking runs so far.   Its a tad annoying that they have scheduled the $1,500 plo at noon on the same day but i prefer 8 game so im 95%+ gonna stick with that one only. 

Unappealing Cash Games

Since Friday im not sure why but ive just not been enjoying the cash games and craving them as much.   This new "big O" game (5card pl hi lo) is just weird with a lot of variance while trying to guess at someones range and when to make a big fold or commit to a hand.  Up until yesterday i saw this as a challenge to take seriously playing 5/10 or get drunk while having fun and enjoying 1/2.  Lost a chunk yesterday but it wasnt just the money as im in profit across both stakes for this game.

Im thinking about trying the 75/150 limit O8.  I vowed not to play this again after pretty much spending all of wsop 2009 on it (when i wasnt in tourneys) and going about $10,000 up before finishing break even and feeling like i had wasted a lot of time. I know im a different and better player than 2 years ago though so i guess it could be different this time round.  Im also risking a lot of my $roll ive got here if i go on a downswing playing this.

  Im really craving more mixed games tournaments and its a bit annoying wsop spreads $1,500 PLO noon on same day as the $2,500 8 game tommorrow.   Im almost tempted to play the noon and enter the 5pm if im bust but the 5pm is the more fun game i want to play which is my main reason against this.   My other options are to play some lower $200ish tournaments at binions/nugget/caesars just to get some more plo8, plo and limit o8 tournaments in.  

Been pool for 3 hours just now and actually thinkin of my first gym session shortly before heading off to rio later.

Hoarse Horse

I am hoarse after a night on the tiles with Karlos and his mate Mark.   Managed to mix lots of different drinks and seem to have escaped without much of a hangover although i dont think i will do the same tonight.  Info for any fast pint drinkers reading and coming out.  Todd English P.U.B.  at Aria (well just inside crystals) has a 7 seconds pint challenge.  Finish within the time and get it free.  Mark and myself both passed the challenge.  Its a 2 a day maximum but i only did it once as i couldnt face another after Karlos made me drink a shot of 75% proof bacardi which tasted more like tequila, weird.

As for horse games i can sum them up pretty well.
$550 venetian (Wed)
Ridiculous tough table and ran awful
$1,500 WSOP  (Fri)
Very good table and ran as bad as can after the first 2 levels.

I was actually up to 6200 from 4500 after 2 hours yesterday.  I thought i went card dry levels 3 and 4 but it was nothing compared to the card dead stuff level 5 and 6 (in which i bust).  

Final bust hand 1000ish chips 150/300 button limit holdem AKstd raise, sb reraises to isolate with A5off and he sees my hand and says ahhh u got me.  I oblige with dont worry the 5 will come as ive just gone ultra negative after folding a ridiculous number of hands across all disciplines.  5 is 2nd card out and its goodnight, not even making the dinner break.

Favourite hand was capping in Razz on 6th street 3 way with a 7 high low which couldnt be beaten at that point and still getting the other guy to stay in.  This was early though and gave me a lot of hope before it just all went backwards.   Saw people callin with a jack and even a king in razz but it was another "it just wasnt my day" stories.  Seem to be gettin a lot of these but what the hell , i only think im due to be luckier in the next one.   This will probably be the $2,500 8 game on monday at 5pm.  

Unless i go out on the drink again today i guess i'll head over and attack the cash games for today/tommorrow.  Maybe pool or gym which i havent really done since the first 6 days, pool looks amazing here. 

Vdara

Just moved into Vdara and hotel and room is the nicest ive ever stayed in.  Could blog about soooooo much stuff from the last 10 days but i dont wnna spend too much time on here so ill try and mention some of it in bits spread across the coming days.   Im now online daily thanks to a compulsory resort fee so i expect ill blog almost daily if theres much to report about tourneys or the cash games.

Right onto some figures.   A few days back i was at my lowest with -$3,400 in mtt and -$1,700 in cash games.

After 2 great cash days yesterday and tuesday but still no cash in a multi im now -$4,000 in mtt but +$2,500 in the cash games.

Ive played a variety of cash games so far but i seem to be on the big O now all the time.  stakes are 1/2 or 5/10.   big O is 5 card pl omaha hi lo btw.

Attempting a day off today from poker, what with moving and hangover but may play this evening depending on mood.   Already bought into the $1,500 HORSE at rio which starts noon tommorrow so im hoping to do better than the venetian $550 of that yesterday where nothing went right.

Rapid Demise

Quick and painful exit.   split a couple of pots and lot every other pot i entered and bust 45 minutes in.

Done a good spin up on 5/5 plo8 thanks to winning a pot i never should have been in,  but then some good solid stuff after that.   My patience seems to come and go in the cash games so far.   1 hour i will be focused and well for it but another i will get bored and just not seem to care much.

Good record in the 5/5 plo8 so far but shocking in the 20/40 limit o8.  

Only about -$1,000 so far overall which is fine considering i lost my first 4 sessions of cash day1 and ive obv bust a $1,500 tournament.

Prob playing limit o8 $550 Venetian noon tommorrow.   Early night tonight, slept so bad last night im hoping ill do a lot better tonight so i can put in a long slog tommorrow with a deep mtt run again or more cash games otherwise.

Dont expect too many, if any more updates for a week as it seems pointless payin $12.99 when i cant play online poker out here so its just blogging/email really.  pretty sure vdara internet is included in compulsory resort fee so may be daily updates from the 9th when i move.

O8 $1,500 Day 2

Made it to day 2, im short on time so i wont go into any detail.  74/201 pays 90 (925 entrants).  im pretty much bang on average chips but blinds are uncomfortablely high so im short on lives and require a nice slice of luck.   i peaked at over 30k with 100mins to go yesterday but proceeded to go on a shocker losing about 6 hands i entered in a row to drop to 10k but finished on 21,400.

May It Be Over

A strange month and its finished apart from possible sessions at hilton heathrow tommorrow if i cant sleep and fancy one last attack, will edit below figure if do.  I'll treat my vegas trip as my June profit and loss as its close to the dates anyway. It doesnt make sense mixing a few days either side on the spreadsheet anyway.  29+ days of no online poker, will be interesting to see how i cope.  win or lose live i'll probably be itching to play online again once i return.

As for May, certainly had its ups and downs but not massive swings.  Certainly a bad month for me but then to have a bad month thats in profit with good rakeback earned, is that really a bad month ?

My final profit figure is £1,107 hard cash.   If i just look at stars (as the other sites were minimal rake anyway) im 2/3 towards a $2,600 milestone and im over 80% towards a $4,000 cash bonus.  So in reality im over £4,000 up for the month on paper so its certainly not all bad.  

Was good to go deep in lots of big hi lo and mixed games and hopefully i can ride my luck better in vegas.  Im still a bit gutted at that $109 1300 entrants pl hi lo 12th place finish because i had a massive stack and it just didnt work out.

Leave home in just under 12 hours.  Vegas mtts will range from $240-$2,500 and i dont intend to play much/any nl holdem at this time.   Cash games could be from the lowest stakes right up to 75/150$ (with a 100/200kill) limit hi lo or the 5 card pl hi lo game 5/10 with a compulsory $25 button straddle ive been hearing about that ran last year.  Ive no plan as such as to what im going to play although ive obviously listed all potential tournaments with a couple of limit hi lo ones near the start that i will definitely play (including the one i final tabled the last time i was at the wsop).   Ive got a $20,000 roll out there which obviously i dont want to lose, but i have to be prepared to lose it and i think i am.  Worst case scenario is coming back £12,000 down which would come off this years profits and i guess just push me to put even more effort in online when i return.

Nothing Much

Boring title and boring post.  Didnt fancy it yesterday and should have not even played the 1-2hours i did as i lost a chunk (circa £500) fast.   Shame to miss some decent sunday games but the volume of last week caught up with me i guess.  

Today ive played several 1-2hours sessions and im just finishing early now at 1:10am.   Went well up first couple of session but just been gradually donating it back the rest of the day.  Still looks like i finished about £170 up on the day and plenty of rake done.

Fingers crossed this different iceland volcano doesnt disrupt my flight next week, gonna be watching the news daily but not worried as monday is still a long way away so who knows what it could be like then.

Month sits at +£872

Rockin Orse

Horse SCOOP time and it didnt disappoint for action.    Went deep on both but luck eluded me in the $215 (i had been top 20 in this a lot of the time too) on a couple of huge pots and i bubbled 75ish/485 paid 63.  $22 i did better and was a top 10 players with 300odd of the 2800 left before once again luck deserted me and i eventually crashed out in 163rd for not much more than my buy in. 

Cashed in supernova freeroll for $300 but no other cashes but some huge pots and outdraws, especially in the pl hi lo games.   Happy with my game and play and amazingly relaxed about it all tonight for a change.  Prob bought into around $1,400 of mtts all night but i think cash games earlier on subbed a chunk of that winning £400 may be a bit more.

On the day -£200ish, update below if play any more but im not sure right now, prob done although was tempted to 30/60 limit it a mo ago ;)

Another SCOOP Non Significant Cash

3rd cash in a row in the $215 NL hi lo.  Almost didnt play this one cos of the slog yesterday but come 10pm last minute i figured i would just 1 table it while watching tv/dvds as i cant face cash games after a 30min trial earlier.

Need a lot of luck in this one and i had my fair share but got a bit weak at the end and lost a 3way allin AAQ9 vs AKJ4 vs A278 1 suit each on the river.   Pot would have put me 8th/25 but obviously out in 25th instead.   Once again huge prizes as 449 runners and close to yesterday at $17k first and big stuff for top 5 but i was never up there apart from the first half hour when i got an early double up. 

Still its promising stuff for wsop and the $539 is a small profit.   horse mtt tommorrow along with supernova elite million $ freeroll to test my NL holdem skills for a change from 7pm.  +£1,370 for May.

Double SCOOP In Running

$320 340 entrants 8 game, currently 26/34 but things can change very quick in this format.   Money (paid 48) flat until last table or so, lookin to spin up or bust while its like that.  on 15min break at mo as 6 hours in !

$109 PL hi lo  1326 entrants, currently 81/756 (pays 171).   Obviously a long way to go but top payouts are huge for a rare big field online in this format and stake.

11:15pm

sorry for lake of updates, been busy each break.   just bust the $320 in 21st, gutted.   you need so much luck at end of one of these and i was looking good at peak stack sitting about 15/28 left.  it all went rapidly though when i lost 4 pots in a row to bust.   worst one was coming in with A1010 and table donk defending 932 suited in the stud.   he was shortish so pretty much playing for his stack and if won that i jump to new peak but it was not to be and lost the next 3 after that.  $21k for winner and i got a poor $816 :(    honestly shocked at some of the players left in though !

still in the $109 but havent moved and probably gonna try and get a stack or bust now as i dont fancy going deep for small money.  average stack 472 left, 171 paid.

midnight

well gettin involved has worked so far with a bit of bluff and a lot of luck.
key pot just before break. stting on 18k and 15k stack makes 400--->>900 utg , 2 big stacks flat and i repop to 5900 i think it was with AA58 1 suit.  all 3 flat call !!!   flop is a K1010 rainbow and matey leads allin 10k, other 2 fold and i cringe call.   he shows QJ109, and just when i think ah well big pot to nearly bust on = fine, the turns a king, and the rivers a king !!!

gone from average stack before that hand to 19th/343 left.   dnt think ill sit back though and lots chunky stacks on table and we will see what happens.

1:15pm

82/225 pays 171.   30k stack. was 46k last update , went down to 24k before goin up to 36k and back to this.

2:30am

smackin headache, guess thats 10.5 hours straight damage.  cashed anyway  63/162 at mo about average stack but blinds chunky now.

3:45am

just had massive key pot, i didnt realise how bad some people still in were !  raise and a call before me and by no means committed.   i re pop AKK3 and called by shorter (priced in really assuming other huge stack folds).   Big stack calls as well, shorter guy has AQJJ , big stack has J677 .....!!!....neway not a problem as i flop quad kings to leave them drawing dead  on the flop !!! 
blinds are brutal but ive got extra lives now.  5th/60 .

4:36am

lost first biggish pot for a while outflushed, but had been flopping well before that and got as high as 4th so cant compain yet.   sitting 13th/39

4:42am

arrgh got fish on hook but missed about 15outs freeroll to have gone to 3rd allin on turn virtually.

4:45am

argggggggggggggh bad to worse same fish outflop me high board when ive raised AQ23 and chkraises for prob the first time since i sat at this table, had to fold. damaged.

5am
9th/29 reraised AQJ2 dbl suited and matey flatted and folded on a KJx flop.

5:07am

such a crapshoot :(  10k blinds but i just rerraised and got a caller and fold on flop (ideal scenario really as cant b outdrawn or get just half, quarter pot etc).       had AA35 on a K95 flop with as much in pot as my stack left !       6/28, highest for a long time but gonna need a lot of luck.

5:33am
monster pot, allin preflop when i was 7th/20 with AA105 dbl std vs chipleaders AKQ2 and i scooped on a dodgy Qc6c4cQxJc with flush.  3/20 now but kind of joint 2nd-4th.   could easily clash with chippie again as he still leader.

6am  

4th/15 played a flopped 2 pair f draw slow vs aggressive chippie and he bluffed flushey turn then chk called my river pot bet (lookin like busted draw) with just top pair when i had filled up.

first hand back after break lost 1/5 stack (still in 4th)   AQ35 vs KK23 allin preflop

6:19am

got back with AAxx hand then lost 200k shoving into a short stack.     not  good news now as back in pack after losing A234 vs A277 pretty much allin on flop of J56


LOL this stupid things just deleted what i wrote after.   Basically lost 3 pots in a row to bust in 12th.  Could have laddered thousands but was going for win and wouldnt even consider laddering until final table anyway.    2 cashes/2 but no big money yet again.

Anyway +£1,208 for the month (+655 for the day)   14.5 hours session, that last mtt was 11.5hours to bust.   i guess its good practise mentally if i go deep in any vegas multis.  

Possible NL hi lo at 10pm $215 2moz but i have a feelin i need a day off.  we'll see.