Challenge Review

Blimey its so good to be able to have a day off, im so relaxed for a change.
Right onto the stats and stuff.

Main games were .5/1$ , 1/2$ plo and the same in plo hi lo.
I did play some low limit holdem to make up the rake but that wont be included in any of the figures below as i dnt have any trackers for holdem.

Across all games on my main site only:

61,453 hands

$8,096 profit (about $1,700 above allin ev)

BB/100 of 1.71

Raked $10,900

promotion bonus of $1,375 (gutted was around $2,500 for last 10days then unlucky last day)

rakeback earned at 40% - $4,360 or 30% - $3,270 (vip level i cash these in for im unsure of yet
and it wont be months until i know and cash in)

Total $ won on paper = $13,831
$ per day = $532
$ per hour (based on a rough 9 hours average) = $59


........individual stats for main game types.........

1/2$ plo
12,209 hands
BB/100 1.89
BB/100 (Adj for ev) 2.30


.5/1$ plo
25,481 hands
BB/100 -2.40
BB/100 (Adj for ev) -2.70


1/2$ plo hi lo
8440 hands
BB/100 6.10
BB/100 (Adj for ev) 5.51


.5/1$ plo hi lo
8340 hands
BB/100 3.15
BB/100 (Adj for ev) 7.50


and other significant stats

2/4$ plo hi lo
3530 hands
BB/100 16.04
BB/100 (Adj for ev) 6.55



Stats confirm the sort of stuff i knew. Whilst plo gives me a steady income i seem to need to adjust my game at .5/1 for some reason. To be honest its probably just the sheer volume that got to my game. Since i got tracker im dead on break even (same ev too) for this stake over 36k hands. hi lo is great but ive only been playing when there is a clear edge and not just a table full of regs and its a lot easier to win vs bad players on that game type.

This has been a very successful challenge and month for me but i wouldnt want to do it more than 2 or 3 times a year max if that.

What it has done is to make poker feel more like a job to me than ever which is exactly what i want it to. Ive been getting up not wanting to play or switch that computer on but once i do i very quickly get into what was a daily routine and, dare i say it, an enjoyable one most of the time !

I think its made me realise if i want to make really good money i have to be prepared to not be as lazy as ive been in previous years. It helps to have something to focus on too like a promotion in this case so theres some extra motivation over periods of time to put a lot of effort in for a good reward. Its also kept me off high stakes and im actually scared money if i move up lately which is a good thing as im not tempted, unless drunk obviously :( and maybe i should be more careful to avoid that.

Where do i go from here ? Well my brains a bit tired still but i think i want to keep a similar volume up for 4 days a week with the other 3 being whatever takes my fancy in terms of playing or day(s) off. Tues-Thurs are 3 main days i think i will try to keep 8-10hrs play on. Ill probably keep most of my play on 1 site but i certainly will be watching other sites to see if its worth mixing more again, especially when games seem dry on my main site.

I also want to keep a good volume for Feb while the weathers bad and to try and keep the momentum going. I havent ruled out a trip to vegas in mid March and depending on how that might go im considering booking wsop time for about a month with the option always being there to change flights and cut it shorter if required.

Day 26/26 (Completion !!!)

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee i made it :))
Excellent day to finish too. Started awful for first couple hours then i had a golden turn around session before adding to it just now.
Also done by 6pm so gnna chill then off out on the piss.

Full review to come, probably tommorrow. Looking like a $2,500 bonus from the promotion although could be a little less or more, should know by tommorrow and gets paid Wed i think. Also obscene rakeback i wont see for several months in the region of $3000-$4500 depending on my vip level in the coming months.

On Day: +£486
On Month: +£8,752

......Drunk Mug Edit
Oooooops 5/10 hi lo lost chunk, got back, lost it again, got most back and game breaks.
Move sites and get slowrolled quartered for stack after losing a bit , still 5/10. Go nuts in chat livid etc etc. Mugs try to get me to sit back in which i would but 3 or 4handed game has gone 6handed so im not about to so just wind them up and leave.
Move back to original site and mug sit on 25/50 hi lo hu. Bust shortie and take a bit more off and escape as crapshoot dumb stupid game to have sat in.
Got away with it and made £150 but seriously WTF am i doin, flaming drunk dumb poker :(

Day 25/26 (Early Start And Early Finish)

If i play later ill update below but ive cleared the rake by 5pm. It wasnt intentional but i woke up for no particular reason at 10am so went straight on. Was a lot of 1/2 and 2/4 going too so cleared the rake quicker.

Unless i spoil it later its been a very good day and much better than yesterday. So chuffed to have almost completed this and its sorted my game out a lot. Will prob do a comprehensive review on Monday.

On Day: +£383 (Rake $404)
On Month: +£8,266

Day 24/26 (Another Nothing Day)

Not much to report. Didnt really enjoy playing today and overall dont think i played that well. I even misjudged the rake and almost played an hour more than i needed to :(

Happy to almost break even though similar to Wed and only 2 days to go before some well earned time off.

On Day: -£21 (Rake $447)
On Month: +£7,883

Day 23/26 (Top Day)

Very rewarding day of which, rarely, i was in profit from the start to finish.
Tables standards were shocking and after a solid start i did get outdrawn a bit to drop back to almost level. Fortunately with the tables so bad i managed a decent profit once i started hitting some hands and in the end was very lucky on the day as well for sure.
Only 3 more days sooooooo close and ive gone past raking $10k tonight since day 1 on my main site.

On Day : +£705 (Rake $401)
On Month : +£7,904

Day 22/26 (Another Early Bath)

Once again i finished around 10pm. Was a tough day and i went down over £400 at one point, mainly due to cooler type hands that played themselves again. Anyway i struggled back to almost level thanks to some shocking players being around :)

On Day: -£9 (Rake $408)
On Month: +£7,199

Day 21/26 (Earliest Finish)

Reached rake target just before 10pm !
A swingy day where i went almost £400 up first half before seeming to catch every cooler going as well as outdraws. Hardly touched anything above 1/2 either. Still happy to finish so early, gnna chill out now for hours before bed.

On Day : -£250 (Rake $405)
On Month : +£7,208

Day 20/26 (Into The Final Week)

Only 6 days to go. Today was a task at times. I shook off a mild hangover with exericse early but i was knackered in a couple of sessions after. Still happy with how i played and overall another solid day. Dropped some at end to ridiculous runner runner so bottom line only a small profit.

I see WSOP 2011 schedule is out so might take a peek at that in a moment and try to get some early ideas of dates and possible length of stay etc.

On Day: +£89 (Rake $421)
On Month: +£7,458

Day 19/26 (No Drunk Damage And 1 Week Left)

Title says it all really although i was well up playing slightly higher as i do when im fearless drunk. Still happy to escape without a loss in whats probably my latest finish of the 19 days.

On Day: +£138 (Rake $405)
On Month: +£7,369

Day 18/26 (Excellent)

Not too many dips today and an excellent bottom line. Some juicy high low games still going but im tired and dont wanna mess up tommorrows slog and piss up.

On Day: +£685 (Rake $418)
On Month +£7,231

Day 17/26 (Steady)

Actual profit fluctuated a bit but ev line was straight and good pretty much the whole day. Finished below it but dnt care as in profit nearly the whole day. I did get a bit bored at times and even resulted to a couple of beers near the end.

On Day: +£247 (Rake $422)
On Month: +£6,546

Day 16/26 (Back In Profit)

Just finishing and off out for late night snooker. Amazed how well i slept last night which is made today a lot more enjoyable and profitable. Also it helps to have pulled back the golden +ev lever at the same time. Over $1000 ahead of ev on plo and hi lo.

On Day: +£589 (Rake $401)
On Month: +£6,299 (Peak)

Day 15/26 (So Tired)

Surely i will get to sleep before 5am tonight !!! . Im shutting this shortly and going straight to bed. Im sure now that my play is totally being affected and its hitting my bottom line unfortunately. This also makes it less enjoyable too :(
Loss most of day and chasing ev of -$300 most of day. Pretty much levelled out in both respects though just as i finished. A break even day feels good at the moment given the last few days and how i feel.

On Day: -£36 (Rake $402)
On Month: +£5,710

Day 14/26 (Bad Bluffs)

Bad day. I got called on 2 chunky bluffs near the end which were fine, i just had target the wrong players so i know it was my fault. EV shows - $50 so once again im miles behind on the allins as over $600 down.

On Day: -£444 (Rake $462)
On Month: +£5,746

Day 13/26 (Halfway)

Wanted to use the title "slog" cos thats what its been today. A mild hangover didnt help one bit.
I was steady for first few hours then the shit hit the fan. 3/4 of the day in i sat $500 down and couldnt resist checking tracker to see i was $550 below ev.
A long break and returned after dinner and fortunately it turned. Finished in profit and only $140 behind ev.
Ive just looked at my stats for .5/1 and 1/2 combined and over 35k hands at one point i was $2,500 ahead of ev which is nuts, im now only about $500 ahead, guess it had to average out :(

Boy i could do with a day or 10 off, im so knackered mentally. $5,500 raked in 13 days so far on main site. Only 13 days to go :( ,and another $5000+ rake.

On Day: +£118 (Raked $416)
On Month: +£6,190

Day 12/26 (Drunk Again)

Ill keep it short cos i dnt remember a lot of it !
Went about $800 up during the day then lost it back and went down a peak of -$300.
Did ok though drunk and finished +$300 and actually ahead of ev which was pretty much bang on even.

On Day: +£202 (Rake $460)
On Month: +£6,072

Day 11/26 (Hard Work And Tilt)

Im knackered, still maybe ill actually get to sleep before 4:30am for change. Just finishing up now on whats feels like a slog of a day. Was a day of 2 halves.

First half i didnt go up or down more than $250. Actually was thinking to myself during this that it was a bit boring.

Second half i got punished for complaining and got totally bashed up on my main site again. Ended up -$500 and 350 behind ev again. At the same time as this though i was on 3/6hi lo on another site and i probably went down over £1,000. I was steaming and let it out in my aggression at the table, definitely tilting a bit but i managed to hit some hands and actually took a big chunk back playing heads up. Fortunately what i can only describe as the worst player ive seen in years also donated a large chunk to me almost drawing dead twice for his full stack. I followed him around a couple of tables before he bust and left.

At this point i took a long break but still had a couple of hours to play. Was more relaxed now but just wanted to finish and was glad when i raked my lot shortly ago. Didnt do nothing on main site last session but secondary one gave me a nice chunk and i somehow managed to finish in profit on the day.

To be honest im just glad im not £500-£1,500 down as this could have happened on another night.

On Day: +£242 (Raked $422)
On Month: +£5,870 (Peak but god knows how)

Day 10/26 (Back On Track Even If EV Isnt)

Excellent day today, im very happy with it. Was up from the start all afternoon although to a max of £300.

Returned in the evening to what can only be described as the worst standard ive seen on my regular plo tables. Was truly shocking and im not complaining.

I actually lost loads to suck outs though to begin with and even dropped briefly down on the day, all be it £50 or so. I didnt tilt in the slightest though as i knew just how bad several tables were. At one point i think i had 8 tables going with at least 1 really bad player on each and often 2.

Finished around $900 up but 400 behind ev. Hopefully Saturday night will be as good. I almost wish i hadnt raked all i had as i could still play now but im done for the day.

On Day: +£550 (Rake $450)
On Month +£5,628 ( Peak once again for the month :)) )

Day 9/26 (More Woes)

Chunky loss of £418. Was pretty much same as yesterday struggling all day. Almost got out of hole but then dipped again. I guess its just the ev graph levelling out but it dont make it easier to take. I ran over $500 below ev yesterday on my main site and im just loading up tracker now to get a rough idea about todays although i did play more and lose 1/2 that on my 2nd site. Yeh bout $200 below ev but i knw that doesnt take everything into account ( had 2 or 3 set under sets twrds end of day) and i knw i was unluckier on the 2nd site. Would luv a day off right now but that a long way away, at least i finished just after 11pm tonight. Hopefully i will wake up more motivated tommorrow.

On Day: -£418 (Raked $408 on main site)
On Month: +£5,078

Day 8/26 (Early Finish)

Managed to finish just before midnight which im pretty certain was the earliest so far. This was mainly due to less breaks and no jobs, exercise etc :( and slightly higher stakes.

I was pretty much in the hole the whole day but never more than £300. Climbed out of it near the end to about +£50 but the last hour saw me drop back into my 2nd losing day of this task. That said it was only a £82 loss and i know i was up against the pokergods all day but still played well.

To have a bad day thats almost break even is excellent but hopefully i can start a new streak from tommorrow. Just hope i can sleep a bit earlier, im wide awake at mo :(

On Day: -£82 (Rake $418)
On Month: +£5,496

Day 7/26 (PLO Mainly)

Wasnt too much hi lo action today so stuck to the plo 90%+ of the day. Was a pretty steady day which i think i was in profit on from the start. Got a nice hi lo boost of profit on other site briefly as well though.

Im very happy and a bit surprised to have made it a whole week into this. Im right into the whole routine of it now and it really does feel like a job. I get up in morning and dont want to load up but once i do and get the games going i enjoy it, although obviously the good run im on is helping this a lot. Ive raked over $3000 in the last week too which im pretty sure is more than ive ever done in a week.

On Day: +£570 (Rake $401)
On Month: +£5,578

Day 6/26 (Same)

Mild hangover to start didnt help first session but once again similar games on main site and another gave me a similar profit. Havent analysed anything and off to bed so just summary below. Should have finished an hour ago but got distracted so didnt multitable enough :(

On Day: : +£713 (Rake $414)
On Month: £5,008

Day 5/26 (Drunk)

Wasnt gonna drink yet but couldnt resist tonight after bashing the tables in the afternoon i knew i needed to put roughly 3 hours in later on to meet my rake target.
Still above ev again today although not quite as crazy as yesterday. Across all games im up about $1,175 inc $300 above ev.
Started off losing today the first few hours but it turned and once im again im amazed at how good this run has been and long may it continue.
I havent split the analysis of plo and hi lo (and wont cos i wnna go bed) but i played both in large volume again.

On Day: +£772 ($417 rake)
On Month : +£4,295

Day 4/26 (Golden)

Finished before 2am tonight and not nearly as shattered as yesterday.
Just loaded all hands in tracker and my ev is at about +$20 for the day.
Ive done a bit better than that though as my true profit was about $1,750.
Whoops i knew i had a lot of luck today but i guess the couple of chunky $1000+ pots shipped my way made all the difference :))
I even made the move up to 2/4 plo just when a few fish were sat briefly.
I guess i will experience the reverse luck at some point and im not looking fwd to that but hell im that lucky it might not ever happen ;)
Profit split is approx 2/3 plo and 1/3 hi lo.

On Day: +£1,085 (Raked $440)
On Month: +£3,523

Day 3/26 (Slog But Worth It)

Only just finishing raking $400 and its 3am , urrrgh.
Made the rookie mistake of doing too much other activities during the day and paying the price mentally now. The last 2 hours especially has been a struggle and i know i def wasnt playing my "a" game during that. Dropped about £200 back but i had peaked at around +£1,100 on what has been an incredibly golden day.

Started off losing the first 3 allins and i thought here we go again. It quickly turned though and for several hours i just couldnt miss and couldnt lose an allin. Such a contrast to thursday but im not complaining. I was especially lucky on 2/4 hi lo doubling up a few 40xbb stacks earlier. Hmmmm i havent done pokertracker, will do now as still 1 table going.

Overall graph very nice for 3000 hands today and 500$ above ev always good :)
All profit is hi lo for a change, im actually down $600odd on plo today, most of which was last session !

On day +£916 ($430 raked)
On Month +£2,438

Day 2/26 (Shocking)

Long hard struggle today. Not much went right most of the day and after raking $447 i was over $700 down, and over $400 down on the allin evs. I guess i had to expect a day like this soon as ive run so well the last 10 days but at least i havent given up the ghost yet. Just hope i sleep better tonight then last night :(

Still on other site trying to recover but also trying to shut and get off to bed.
OK im done this is getting silly if i dnt stop now. Got a nice chunk back off table fish so was worth it though.

On day -£278 (Very happy, this could have benn £500-£1,000 easily)
On Month +£1,522

Day 1/26 (Well Maybe)

Im still playing as i write this. Def done over 10 hours now and trying to shut but a couple of ok 2/4hi lo games are keeping me on the hook. Managed to rake the $400 target on a site in about 9 hours. Would have been less but i mixed in a bit of another site when the games seemed good.

Profit was +£100 after a couple of hours. -£300 after 4 hours which it stayed around for the next few hours. I clawed it back though and even went up over £300 not too long ago but went back to level all of 20mins ago.

+£160 in running now but could swing big either way although one table is absolutely terrible.
ideal just hit lovely river for a $1000 pot :) = +£545 in running :)) i wnna go bed though
bed awaits was on last round on 1 table and took a little. other table broke but i took of couple of pots heads up before matey left. +£632 on the day and sit at +£1,800 for the month and year.

Points to note:
$422 rake on main site.
main games of .5/1 and 1/2 plo +$760 but more than double ev
loss on same site on hi lo games of $470

Day Off

In preparation for the long slog of 26 days ($400+ a day rake) im attempting from tommorrow i havent played today. I did play for a few hours yesterday though and again ran golden. Best pot was playing more than double stack on 1/2$ plo holding 7,8,9,J vs A,A,7,8 on a 6,9,10. turn = 8 = ship that $840 pot :)

Profit sits on £1,168 including some rakeback received today. If i do stick to my plan i wouldnt be surprised if i blog most days just to keep me sane.

1st 2011 Slip Up

Only played about 20 mins new years day for a £40 loss which i cancelled out yesterday with a standard hour session making about £80. Then came the drunken attack. If u have followed this blog of late you would know im trying to stick to no higher than 1/2$ plo and 2/4$ hi lo with mayb the odd 2/4plo really bad table in there occasionly. Well i broke that when i loaded up a 5/10 hi lo last night. Fortunately i ran my $400 up to $1,400. I then proceeded to lose back to $300 at which point i loaded up to $1000. Deep stacked players were playing bad enough to justify it although i guess there was a bit of tilt and arrogance in there too. Luckily i hit some hands though and escaped with about £700 profit :)

Still dont expect to play huge volume until 5th from which the plan is to rake >$400 a day for 25 days. We shall see if i stick to this as it involves 8-10 hours on my current tables but will maybe be a good test for me. Havent had any rakeback yet but know i didnt play much on the sites that pay out at start of month so not expecting a great boost there today or tommorrow.

2010 Review

Final profit of £30,310.

A few notes:

Target at start of year was to make at least £50,000 = fail.
Worst year ever in terms of profit as a professional.
One of, if not the most, the toughest challenges in poker is to move back down stake levels.
Personally a very good year, and im still very happy with the above profit (tax free).
Finished on a high with a good idea of where i stand in the game and what i will target next year.

Next year i will treat poker as a job more than ever.
Would be an easy cop out but to beat 2010 is 1st target. Ideally above £50,000 is 2nd and main target.
Expect a vegas trip in June and a return to St Maaten early December. 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.