2014 Review/Figures

Strange year.  It started huge with a lot of run good in there too.  Pre vegas months weren't quite as good and vegas itself was challenging but I passed missing out on the huge stuff but happy with my play and results which covered my buyins and gave me that shot at huge $ again on another lucky day.  Summer post vegas was really good which is unusual for me but the complete opposite then occurred for the final 3 months of the year.  As a whole its a solid poker year, all be it volatile at times.  The last 3 months have generally been hell ev wise but im still about $6k above ev for the year as a whole.  I wish I could conquer the mental/emotional side of poker as I know when im in the zone and not worrying about it im playing my best game !!!

Figure is +£45,637 just £2,264 short of 2013s profit.  I guess that means I should aim for £50k next year.  Anything over £30k is good though and above £50k would be very very good.  Im also hoping I will buy into more WSOP events this year and may well do about 5 weeks out there, nothing booked yet though.  Last year I bought into about $13k of mtts out there, if all goes well I wouldn't be surprised if its somewhere over $20k in 2015.

Right time for some graphs I guess.  This is my main site which includes plo and plo hilo:

Below is the same graph for the previous year.  In 2014 I focused more on playing better and game selection often on less numbers of tables whilst moving a lot more of my volume over other sites.

Next is secondary site which included biggest variety of games inc plo hilo, limit o8 , plo, NL hilo , NL hilo cap as well as other games not tracked

and comparision for 2013

and 3rd site, note the nightmare last few months on it !

2013 same site

Only other graphs uploads are pure plo on main site just to convince myself that my game is a winning game not just a break even game before rakeback like I used to think and be happy with !  stakes are .5/1 and 1/2 as that's 95%+ of my games.

And finally plo same graph for 2013 comparison

Hopefully 2015 will be a good year with less tilt and less boredom at the tables !  Very close to booking 33 nights in Vegas as I write this even though the full schedule isn't out yet !  Good Luck to anyone that still reads this :)

December Review

Another volatile month but the main difference this month is playing a lot better despite running just as bad/worse than the previous 2 months.   Barring sommat daft later (im not even planning on playing as have mild bug which is spinning my head out a bit) ive still managed to obtain a decent profit.  Checking my ev over 3 sites I would be another £4,400 up if I ran level this month but as it is ive finished up with a respectable +£2,936.  I did final table a 6max hilo event on ftops but crashed out in 6th, theres so much luck at the business end and I generally play to win so could just have easily crashed out on the bubble in 20th odd or won it.  Wasn't a huge field and cant remember the figures exactly but think I got $2,000 which covered my buyins for other evens + a bit of spare.  Top maybe was $10k?

As ive mentioned before I shouldn't focus on the ev as im probably still up on it over the whole year (figures on that to come in annual review) but its difficult when its been 3 tough unlucky months in a row especially outside of summer.   Ive still found myself tilting a bit and even had to shut down some decent tables 2 nights ago as it seemed like most allins were going against me regardless of %s.  I took yesterday off to clear my head and it kind of worked until I woke up feeling rough today !  Ive not boozed since Boxing day and intend to try and keep this to a minimal level in January.  Ive also put half a stone on in the last 6 weeks and let myself go on the exercise front.  Done a little the last week when I haven't been stuffing my face with food or booze but its gonna be a tough road to get back just to where I was !

Will adjust above if I play later, depends how bored I get :(

Happy Xmas !!!

Right where to start.   Much of the same since last post (until today).  Was still playing well but running awful.  I did manage to get a bit going then got whacked right down to level for the month again a few days ago.   Anyways stuck with it and finally rewarded with a huge day for me considering its all cash games.  Made +£2,500 today (its incredibly rare I get a day above £1,000 these days to put that into context) and there wasn't even that much high stakes in there.  Just hoping I can not donate it back any time soon although pub tomorrow/xmas day family/pub boxing day so it shouldn't be too soon ;)

A couple of days ago the EPT Malta schedule came out, nothing booked yet but seriously looking at playing a 1100euro stud hilo out there along with a week or 2 spring holiday in March.

http://www.europeanpokertour.com/tournaments/malta/

In April im heading up north to Scotland (non poker) and this year im considering doing 4-6 weeks of the WSOP from the end of May.   That full schedule isn't out yet but they have released a teaser with a few key events listed.

http://www.wsop.com/news/2014/Dec/5157/WORLD-SERIES-OF-POKER-ANNOUNCES-2015-DATES.html

Good Old Rant

Lets take a trip back to the good ole days when I used to moan on here a lot ! 
Started this month terribly,  was really determined to have a decent month but im sick to the core 4 days in.  Running $2,700 under ev over 4 days.  Behind on ev on all sites and down on all sites.  Actually don't think im playing that bad but the beats/lost flips and set ups as well are so frequent sometimes I just have to shut down to calm down a bit.

Just done another bit of analysis and im $9,300 under ev since 1st Oct although I know this doesn't include a one off freak session abroad where I lost about $1,600 when I should have roughly broke even if even luck.

Anyway rant almost over, dumb time of year for this as I want to play a lot of online poker in the winter time.  At this rate though I might end up under ev on the year.  It all evens out in the long run/end but it doesn't seem to help my temporary day after day faultiong mental state of late .  arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Oct/Nov Stuff

Been a strange couple of months.  I guess I was due a downswing but after 3 really good summer months it sure hurts to have a couple of losing months in a row.  Lots of bad luck in there but I haven't been playing as well either and have got petulant far too often during sessions. 

Had my annual trip to the Caribbean for the 10th year running but it was a bit early this year and with less people out there that I hang around with I found it to not be a good trip at all.  Lessons learned anyway.  I did buy into a $1,100 main event out there and lost AK vs QQ for a top 5 stack with 20% of the field left (150ish runners started) but was happy with how I played given how little NLH I play these days.  My only cash out there was a tiny plo one which I hung on to mincash after losing a massive chipleader pot with 7 left 80/20 when chips went in on flop, again happy with it.  PLO cash game destroyed me out there and holdem was like break even most of the trip.

As said above online has been a struggle but I have done a lot of soul searching/experimenting/analysis the last week or so and feel I am playing well again and my attitudes a bit better so I am hoping to crush December and play a lot of volume at the same time.

Anyway here is the final figures for the last couple of months, nothing too much to worry about.  I know if I had run better I might have played better and luckily I have won some back the last few days as this month was closer to -£3,000 a few days back !

October:      -£1,669
November:  -£1,882


December I want to play a few of the next FTOPS series but other than that its revert to regular games although might avoid stars a bit more as I am already supernova there so wont reach any new bonuses this year.   After the 2 bad months I would need a +£5,200 month to equal last years profit but barring anything extreme either way I should finish somewhere between £40k and £50k.

September Profit

Another solid month with a bit of run good in there for good measure.   Wish the run good had been at the business end of any of the 3 scoop mtts I cashed in as it could have a been a huge month with a few more slices of luck deep.  Anyways cant complain as final profit was £5,621 even with taking nearly 5 days off at the end of the month.

Don't think im going to play any of the EPT London mixed game events, was tempted but just doesn't seem worth it when I factor in all the costs and effort for what's likely to be smallish fields.  Save those sort of buyins for next years WSOP methinks. Off to Caribbean for the 10th year in a row during November so plenty to look forward to at the moment.  Even though there's still 3 months left of this year it feels like im kind of winding down for 2014 already :) and I seem to have been more chilled the last month so hopefully can keep this mindset going.  A good example was the test today when I went up £600 in an early session before returning to a mental swingy session.  Rivered for a pot where I would have gone up to +£1,500 I went on a big downswing and was probably down over £1,500 before finishing -£660 but was still happy with that strangely enough.  Graphs say I should be £1,200 better than that so its just evening out some of the run good of late.    Actually hope that 5/10 game runs again as it was a lot of fun and I can take the hits and devolve myself from the money at the moment when im playing which is essential at those stakes for sure.  Anyway hopefully can get back into a good routine once the small bug ive got clears and exercise and grind the poker well together like most of Sept.  GL at the tables !

August Profit

Another good solid month which, once again, im very pleased with given it's summertime still !
The only blips were mid month for a few days and didn't finish well the last 2 or 3 days dropping a bit.
Final figure of £6,033 taking me to a year total of over £40k.   Was hoping for a £4k/month average at the start of the year and nicely above that although its probably all run good that makes that bit up.

Obviously going to try and keep the same going in Sept, will also try and play several WCOOP events some of which I can play for free as I have lots of fpps to use up that I haven't included as rakeback profit anywhere.  GL anyone that still reads !

10 Game FTOPS Time

Im hoping i'll go deep and update here as I go but this could be a big fail :)

7:30pm start and I have multi entered so its 2 x $530 so its an expensive one if I don't cash.   6 max so gonna have to have hardly any cash games alongside.

Have started the month well though so its out of profit.  had a few days off over the weekend as was away for a friends wedding.  hoping to motivate myself to play 2 or 3 others this week at $215 a pop. Justifying the large entry as I ditched the £550 plo option at DTD this week which had 1 re-entry and still unlikely to go to Barcelona.

edit 25mins in , structure isn't brilliant for a $530 more suited to a $215.   not hitting well maybe missed couple of bluff spots in plo but overall shocking start on both tables.  2803 and 3913 from 5k starting stack  :(

8:55pm  settled in but stacks nvr been above 5k on each table./// survived one allin and got back only to lose a capped pot pre in limit holdem board ran out a9756 with me holding aa and matey 88 rivered it urrrgh.... cant hit up and down straight and flush draws and low draws on 7th in stud8 missed a few of them for not even half the pot./....mega frustrating but enjoying it and just glad to be alive in 2 still.

9:20pm out of 1 got crippled on plo hand before busting in nlh aq vs QQ with 15xbb.  only 3300 in other one which could fly in shortly

9:55pm break 3100  :(

22:08 haha get above starting stack first time vs guy calllin all way with Q83 in stud8 and nothing apart from a gutshot on 5th , even paid me halfbet on river off with king high. .........next hand k9k vs a 9 raiser I reraise and same guy has aa(3) disguised and I have to call it back off.....sums my night up at moment 2600 .....2mins later back to back aaxx in plo and got bit action without allin on both ...back to 4900 lol ........ couple mins later double up to 10k aj107 allin on k97 board vs 3pair...had been check to me in position and I bet big for fold equity so easily committed when he chkraise...average chips aint gonna sit on them though :)

10:55  22k peak stack as said above not sitting back and a lot more luck lately but people don't fold often ....LISTEN TO SELF DONT BLUFF MUCH AT MO :)
av 15k  11th/48 pays 18

11:55 another good hour and nice scary scoop pot in o8 right at break....47k   6th/20  hoping to at least cash and get my money back !   crazy razz 6mins level was in 90% of pots and dealt huge hands although didn't really progress was fun :)

00:16
in money 7th/18 still not in profit though $1060 entries , $937.50 cashed lol.  

00:55   11th/15 was up to 4th but lost couple of key pots in stud8 happy though but relying on that luck more again ;)   37k av 49k  money doesn't really jump much until final 6 table so certainly not waiting too long.

01:24  crippled lost a key big pot in  o8 with A294dbl std vs A2106 flopped flush draw on a kj10 flop but matey chk called with bottom pair.....mayb could got him off it on jack turn but chose to take free card at flush ...chk chk river :(   12/12 in need of a lot of luck but still in with a good shot

01:36 gutted could get anything playable the rest of o8 and dribbling away in stud I went with K98ddd, improved to a pair and flush draw by 6th but was against naked jacks from the start that held up.  $1,275  , the most annoying bit is the stacks had evened out ridiculously.  with 12 left there were top 8 stacks between 65-80k  so a double up would have been even more valuable than normal.  bust pot was about 45k I think :(   For the record top 3 paid 20k,13.5k and 10k  148 entries but only 118 unique ones as most people entered it twice !

Guess that rolls me into the others I wanna play.  As noted earlier did ok on the few cash games I had alongside until the later stages so made just under £500 on the day :)

July Review

Summer months are historically slow for me except the odd vegas bink but this was my 2nd best ever July at £6,811.  Was slow but steady the first 2-3 weeks but running ok.  Finished off with a bang though finding the right games and playing well and running even better in them.  Actually ahead of ev across all 3 sites ive played.  Volume wasn't huge but was ok given the weather which I still found plenty of time to enjoy.  Overall though im still struggling a bit to enjoy the games and find myself getting worryingly bored very quickly in some sessions. More of same for August planned, been indecisive about trips to Nottingham and Barcelona and currently think im going to skip both unless I feel it will help me as a last minute thing closer to the time.

Vegas And WSOP Review 2014

Was a late booking this year as no decent bargains were grabbed early like the year before.  In the end I plugged for a flight+hotel combo on expedia which seems to often be the cheapest way of doing vegas these days.   Stayed at the same place as the winter trip which meant I had to taxi everywhere due to the heat.  The plus side though was being right next to a CVS pharmacy, no resort fee (equals the taxi fees nearly), having no casino in hotel, and a comfy hotel I like and have stayewd at many times before.   Trip over wasn't great with delay then sit on tarmac delay (due to our food going on the plane next to us apparently! , don't think captain was bluffing as he sounded shocked - maybe a double bluff though )   Case was within the last 10-20% and then the close taxi rank was shut.   Don't get me wrong I wont let any of this ruin my trip and I was glad all this wasn't on the way home.  Finally on arrival my luck changes and without asking I get a free upgrade for the full 23 nights im staying.  1 bedroom suite with separate living area and kitchen > 1 room with microwave and fridge.

Back a year ago I was eyeing up doing the full 5 or 6 weeks of the series but when it came to the crunch i left it so late the schedules were all out and apart from missing a good first week it made sense to go mid series as there was a 7 day gap before that with only 1 decent event in it.  

Right rather than try and do the trip as it went i will just try to summarise different aspects overall:

Food/Booze/Exercise/WSOP/Nugget/Binions/Venetian/Aria/Gambling/Cash Games/World Cup

Lets start with the shortest one, WORLD CUP.   Poor poor watching but it did allow me to have a mental break from the poker with lots of booze the first game but not so much the second.  The best part of it allowed me to catch up with some old poker mates from years gone by, some of which not seen for years.

FOOD:   Similar to last year as a whole i ate a lot healthier than i do at home and less of it as well !  Very please with that as it seems to have started becoming a habit over there which is good for the long grinds required at times

BOOZE:   Drank about the same i would at home which is still a bit much but needed to odd blowout.  Summary:  completely wasted once, drunk twice and tipsy twice.

EXERCISE:  Similar to last year and to food.   Somehow my motivation for the gym goes up in vegas and i probably averaged 6 out of every7 days with an hour in the gym usually just walking with a little light jog in there but it tied it perfect with a half of football usually and set me up so well so the day ahead often.  Note to self was to try same at home but my motivation slides and it happens a couple of times the first week back before ive got into old habits.  The 1/3 stone i lost out there has nearly all gone back on too :(

CASH GAMES:
Managed to go the whole trip without running any part of a board twice but this obviously affected variance more.  Saw myself go nearly $4,000 in the hole in the first 6 days with all 5 days i played being losing ones !  Managed to play a bit better and run a bit better the rest of the trip generally though and i think only 2 days of the 11 i played on were losers after that first week.  The amazing part of it all was after all that i finished +$50 overall !!!   Biggest losing day was -$1,200, biggest winner was +$1,880.   Won on big O, Lost on 4 card pl hilo, Lost little on plo/nlh/o8.  If i read this before my next trip, advice is stop trying to make things happen and be more patient.

GAMBLING:  A loss but one i was ok with and didn't spend too much time on casino gambling this trip.

Right onto the tournaments section which really forms the make or break of any wsop trip for me, start with the lesser ones and leave the wsop ones until last:

ARIA:  Had a plo one lined up here but didn't play for good reason elsewhere but did play a nightly 7pm meeting up with some other brits and hitting the booze hard.  It was fun and despite entering right at the break my stack actually went huge pretty quick before the luck changed and i bust a few tables out.  Mission accomplished though, was fun kind of night off

BINIONS:  Only played 1 plo8 mtt here and it wasn't great.  Was my only re-entry of the trip and still didn't make it deep.  Dealers weren't great as they never deal it so didn't get many hands per level.  Standard was bad but i wasn't patient that day and looked to get stacked or go home.

GOLDEN NUGGETT:   Played 6 games here (costly in taxis :(  ) but it was worth it.  With a limited schedule on the venetian this year it meant downtown trips were plentiful which was fine as its a different vibe which is fun for a change.  I played 6 x $240 mtts here but didn't cash in any.  That said i got a good stack a few times but never sat on it as i know how quick the blinds go up later in the tournament.  Best one was having 3 x average with about 30 players left of the original 100 but still bust that 3 tables out not even near the bubble :)   I don't regret it as it seems to be the style im more comfortable in mtts these days, esp live, just don't like to fold into the money unless i feel its worth it.

VENETIAN:  My favourite room where i spend >90% of my winter trip in.  Unfortunately there was only 1 of my mtt types on while i was out there this year.  $600 plo8 but fortunately this was a good one for me.  I had already bust the noon golden nugget in plenty of time to play this 4pm and i was surprised it got 160 runners as they had capped the plo a week earlier at about half that.   Ended up chopped it 5 ways as the shortest stack but i was last to agree just to make sure i was happy with 3rd place money, chipleader only got close to 2nd place money so i was happy with $10,300.   This was 9 days into my trip so i had already lost $5,000 on mtts and was $3,000 down on cash at the time so was good timing.

WSOP:  In Order i guess

$2,500 Stud8/Omaha8,  Made day 2 of this it was the only highlight of my first week in Vegas which was terrible overall.  Unfortunately i had lost a few key pots in the last level of day 1 so wasn't stacked at all and went out 30minutes into day 2 about 70-75% into the field.

$1,500 HORSE,  Truly awful and summed up that first week as this was on day 6 and i didn't even make the 2nd break.  My table draw wasn't great but it just didn't happen

$1,500 PLO:  Only event i turned up a little late to as taxis were slow around that time.  I lost 1/4 of my stack in the first few hands playing everything and not long after i called a reraise and bluff check raised the cont bet on a A83rainbow flop convinced the guy didn't have AA.  Fortunately he folded quickly or i was left with even less than half stack :)   VS same guy i got allin on a 664flop with AK44 vs A567 in the 2nd level only for the turn to come 5 but the river was my quad 4 !  Actually got quite a decent stack after that and made it pretty deep.  After moving tables twice i hit a table i knew wouldnt break until we hit the money.  This table was a lot tougher though and i had to survive another allin for my life once i had dribbled chips away.  I missed an opportunity to gamble with a 2nd nut flush draw vs 2 made straights which would have hit but at the time i felt one of them could easily have my hand crushed with the nut flush draw.  Other than that i went against my morals a bit and limped into the money right at the end of day1.

Day 2 checked table redraws and made notes (as i do for all day 2s) .  Think i had about 18k but average might have been about double that or more at that time.   As it turned out i managed to chip up to 30-40k uncalled pushing my draws on flops and getting folds where i was expecting to be called more.  Massive key hand came when button big stack limped nad i raised pot from the bb with KQJ9hhdd.    Flop came A,10,8xhh .  He tried to push me off with a jack high flush draw and i hit my straight on the turn.  Flopped a nut flush draw soon after with aces against a tough thinking played.  Flush came on turn but i guess i bet too big on the end trying to make it look like a dry ace.  That took me to peak stack of about 100k with average about 75-80k at that time i think.  Went wrong after that and i lost 2 flips to a dutch chap to my left.  Both of these were huge key pots but the hands played themselves. eg 2pair vs pair + f draw.and flush draw and straight draw and pair vs aces in reraised pot.  That guy finished me off AQ23 vs AQ9J when i was really short, he went on to get 2nd for $180k i think, i finished 50th/1000ish for just under $5k.

$240 NLH Deepstack.  Was in the mood to play one of these one day.  over 1000 runners so decent prizes up top.  Hit loads first table and had a huge stack but soon lost it after my table broke.  Ended up about 200th but it was ok for a change, blinds go up very fast really.

PLO8 $1,500  Made mistake of playing this the day after arriving last year, not good.  This year i hoped for a deep run and it seemed on at times but at other times it just didn't happen.  I lost a chunk early and got caught bluffing in a tricky pot too.  Survived an allin though and just seemed to push on from there.  When i moved tables i had a key double up almost immediately in another tricky pot where i hit the perfect river card to make my hand look bluffey and get paid off after the longest tank vs me the whole trip.  Again i thought i would push on from there but 1 guy was literally hitting flops 90% of the hands he played.  It was sick to watch but i didn't mind as it was another brit and that table ended up being one of the most fun tables i played the whole trip.  Cant remember my bust position but i had been crippled by another allin gamble and dribbling away in other missed pots before then.  I think i finished between 150th and 200 out of about 1000 runners. 

8GAME, This was the day after the above and i hope for a good table draw having cashed in the 10game last year i knew this was key.  I was rewarded and it was clear 2 of 3 of the players were NLH players and the others weren't much better.  Fast forward 6-8 levels and i was the only survivor on my original table of 7.  That said i never had a huge stack just a good one or an average one.  Table was completely the other way then with 2 guys that played the $50k HORSE and only 1 weak spot left (other than maybe me now !)   Overall i was happy with my game though and i held in there until busting the last level of the day.

PLO8 $3,000  This was the big one of the trip and after finishing 11th last year i was hoping for another deep run.  Wasn't to be though as i never really got going.  Bust hand though would have put me right back in as it was 3 way to the flop in a rereraised pot which then went hu.  I hit my straight on the turn but matey hit his higher one on the river.  To be honest it was fine as i had half a stack and was gambling to get a stack again as i knew he had aces and i had a relatively weak high hand only type to try and bust them with.  As it was i went and got incredibly drunk (still drinking 6:30am) on the cash tables and couldn't miss later in the night. Ended up being my best cash session of the trip at $1,880.

So overall i bought into $14,330 of mtts and ended up making $745 profit.  Met a lot of old faces ive played before and got to know them better as well as meeting lots of new ones im sure i will see again.   Socially it was a good trip for the most part, boredom didn't kick in much at all really.

Well that's it for now.  Im not booking anything until August but ive got a few things to choose from at the moment. 

DTD Nottingham   £550 PLO 6MAX AUGUST
EPT Barcelona   1,100 EURO  NL HILO, PL HILO AND LIMIT HILO ON 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS  AUGUST
St Maarten USUAL HOLIDAY/FESTIVAL I GO TO IN NOV , ALTHOUGH MAY GO EARLY.

In decisive on all of the above at the moment.  Too hot for poker but im trying to still put time in online for the time being.  Thanks for reading anyway.

June Figures

Sorry for delay, small loss but doesn't tell full story as been in vegas for most of it.  Hopefully a decent review of that to come, so lazy lately.

June:   Loss of £358

April/May Figures

Both months followed a very similar trend where by I spent the first 3 weeks in a small loss hating playing bad and running bad before playing and running well the last week to 10 days of the month and escaping with an ok profit given a bit behind on ev overall.  Vegas soon.

April - £2,876
May - £2,370

March Figures

I could write an essay about March and would probably enjoy it but im ready for bed so im gonna keep it shortish..  About a week ago I remember saying to someone this months been great even though it was likely to be same as Feb or slightly less profit.  For some reason(s) my work ethic and motivation have clicked somewhat and for the first time this year I felt in a good routine with a good poker/life balance.  I guess its no surprise that since I said that ive been playing some of my best poker and posting some huge results.  Ive ran mega good also to finish well over ev again even though a week ago and the rest of the month I was below ev.  Ive even started playing limit O8 a lot more to fill in gaps and as im not tilting/getting angry as much its going well so far all be it over a smallish sample.

Final figures including rakeback for month was +£7,104 (about double what it was a week ago!)

April hopefully much of the same.  Originally I was going to go abroad around now for a week or 2 but I might just leave it now unless my routine falls off balance I don't want to change anything.  Some ftops to play in the coming days (missed horse today as bit hungover).  I think the best thing about my current game is the pure variety im playing.  Theres so many different variants to choose from I can often mix several different types at same time to fit my mood or whichever games are the best at the time.  GL all

Feb Profit

Off for a boozy weekend tomorrow so doubt I will get the chance to play any more this month.  On the face of it a decent month at £4,488.   Hides a lot of stuff though.  Volume low for various reasons,  vegas for some of the month, jetlag, motivation/boredom, new car searching etc.  £1709 of vegas profit hidden in there too.  Just had a decent final day at +£1,200ish too which obviously helped that final figure. 

March would like to do more volume, I did try a few mtts last night but cant say I enjoyed them even though I went deep in them all and cashed in one I found it ultra frustrating on the final busts which were all for huge pots.  That said I might try some more if cash games are dry which they have been at times this month.  Expect to book a wsop trip too but haven't yet as no major deals around so might wait until venetian bring their schedule out mid march so I can fine tune what I want to play before booking.  Might pop abroad end of March to a warmer climate but nout planned as of yet.

edit: $500 above ev for Feb

London - Las Vegas - Las Vegas

As u might have gathered from previous post(s) I recently went abroad to escape some of the wet winter weather.  Was toying with just going somewhere tropical and playing a bit online but in the end decided there was enough action in Vegas with a deepstack Venetian festival on and managed to tag on 2 days in London playing in their plo festival before I flew out from Heathrow.

London was fun, I hadn't played at the Vic since 2009 and lined up a £275 plo mtt and a £220 plo hilo mtt the day after.   Arrived to the plo tired after travelling up from Cornwall in the morning and had a few drinks while playing more to perk me up than anything.  Nothing went right though except outlasting the re-entry period to save another buyin.  Played some £1/£1 plo though and got lucky enough to win back the buyin whilst obviously getting a little drunk. 

The next day I won a bit online in the morning before a 4pm kick-off in what was probably the weakest field in a plo hilo event I had ever played.  Never had my stack in danger until the final table where I was shortish and needed to make a move to make the top 5 it paid.  Got it in a bit bad 3way but had a decent side pot going and knew I was gambling and got lucky to take 4/6ths of the main pot and 3/4 of the side.  I then proceeded to chip up on the bubble and I think I peaked at about 30% chips in play with 6 left.  Hit a wall then though and managed to lose chips in 5 or 6 pots in a row.  Bubble burst though and I ended up 4th for £710.  Decent enough start to the trip.

Monday I flew to vegas on ba for the first time.  Was similar to virgin but staff were a bit more professional imo.  Was lucky to get 4 seats to lie down on way out and got 2 on the way back !
Arrived late evening but pushed myself to stay up beyond midnight to adjust to the time diff.  Weather was warm the first 2 or 3 days but only late in afternoon.  Rest of the 12 nights trip it was too cold to lie outside, I could still have used the hot tubs but managed to pick up a chest infection the 2nd week which is only just finally clearing as I write this.

Most the first week was nearly all cash games, namely 1/2 plo.  I did play at Aria 1/3plo game for the first time as well but that didn't go as well and I didn't really enjoy that card room as much as venetian so didn't return.  The plo went well and I actually only had 1 losing day out of the 9 days I played.  2 or 3 were break even days and the others I ran good on the allins.  The latest thing in vegas now is how nearly everyone wants to run everything twice.  Ignoring 4 handed when we were trying just to keep a game going when the superbowl was on I only ran it twice 1 time the whole trip as I knew I was moving to a mtt shortly after so didn't care either way if I spun up/lost or broke even.  The looks and even bordering on "abuse" you get when you only run it once is ridiculous though, 1 guy even threatened never to run it twice with me because I ran it once with him , LOOOOOL.  Guess they have all seen it with pros on tv and think its the cool new thing to do.  Obviously there are regs that want to lower variance happy doing it but the rest of them are just following the trend without understanding why they are doing it. 

My biggest wins came Fri/Sat at the end of the first week when I spun $300 up to $2,000 on each day.  Only loss was following day for -$380 and I ended up +$4,290 for 1/2 and 1/3 plo, lots of run good there though.  At the end of that first week though I was bored of it and luckily had a run of mtts to keep me happy as 7 days straight of near plo only had taken its toll on me.

I did play a plo mtt the first week but after getting a double stack early bust during the 5th level.  I also played a $400 deepstack NLH mtt to test my patience.  I played it very aggressively but didn't really chip up as I didn't hit enough hands I think.  Was happy how I played though and busted several levels in when I was check raised allin on a KsJs5c3c  board with A9cc.  I had cont bet the flop and barrelled a flush draw on turn with A9cc and didn't take long to call off the rest as was getting near the right price to draw towards a big pot.  As it turned out I was ahead of the 64ss the other guy turned over but river 4x bust me on a pot to go to 30k with average at 21k ish.

The 2nd week I felt I had lost weight as the chest thing meant I wasn't drinking (confirmed 1/4stone loss end of trip, that's last 2 vegas trips ive lost weight lol) but had 5 mtts to focus on.  They were all survivor games and $300 which meant barring deals $2,000 payouts to the top 12% of the field.  I managed to cash/deal for $1,610 in the limit O8 without ever being near the felt the first day.  HORSE didn't go too well Tuesday and similar Thursday with O8/Stud8, realise this trip my Stud8 was weak due to lack of play , need to work on this before WSOP time.  Wednesday though I managed to play the PLO8 really well and never had more than 1/3 of chips at risk on any allin prior to cashing the full amount.  Field was arguably even weaker than the London Vic one, some of the stuff was just crazy.  Friday I was gutted in the Big O to effectively bubble before the remainder did a deal but I was very happy with my patient short stack play to get as far as I had.  The hand I bust on if I win I almost certainly cash the way the table was playing.  Couldn't complain though and met a lot of new people im sure I will bump into again and again in June.

So a nice chunky profit in the end less a bit I lost in the casino.  I split it up into Jan/Feb profits roughly £2,000/£1,700 and more than covered the total trip cost of circa £1,600.  12 days was maybe a bit long outside of WSOP time , if I do this trip again maybe a week - 10days and a week somewhere hotter would be optimal.  Also as noted above work at mixed games and stud8 before WSOP time.

Back home ive been severely jetlagged all week and not played well the 2 times ive had sessions so far dropping near £1,000.  Intend to play a wad today if the tiredness doesn't kick in this afternoon like other days when ive slept !  Thank god for the winter Olympics to cure boredom when ive been awake at 5am most mornings !

WSOP schedules just come out so all eyes on that at the moment.  Events I might play are:
$1,500 O8
$2,500 O8/Stud8
$1,500 HORSE
$1,500 Stud8
$1,500 PLO
$1,500 PLO8
$1,500 8Game
$3,000 PLO8
$3,000 O8
$1,500 10Game

Bolded ones are the more likely ones between 10th and 27th June I would play unless they clash with something PLO8 related elsewhere, eg $500+ PLO8 somewhere else I would play over most of the non PLO8 WSOP ones.

The tough decision at the moment is what to book and when to book.  I could wait for Venetian and Golden Nugget schedules but they might be 4-6 weeks away.  At the moment im thinking roughly 3 options:
1) Fly out 2nd in time for O8 on 4th, Fly back 30th after $3k PLO8
2) Fly out 2nd in time for O8 and do the lot and fly back 5th July
3) Fly out 8th in time for O8/Stud8 and fly back 5th July

Option 3 gives me more events than option 1 but I could always change my plans if its going well if I do option 1.  Theres a big gap between my first 2 events currently being 4th and 10th June.  Ive not priced anything up at all yet but will look very soon for sure.

Anyway enough waffle for now .... :)

January 2014 Profits

+£11,356

Ran good, played good, won in London, won in las vegas (split between jan/feb).  Currently jetlagged so more details on the live trips to follow in another post.  Best month since June last year. Best month online for 22 months.  2nd best overall month for over 4 years. 

Still Run Good

More luck when ive played although I think ive played better the last week as well.   That said I only played 1 hour total Sat/Sun as out then hungover and ive been a bit limited today after still having a headache from walking into a door drunk 48 hours ago (don't even remember it happening!) Not gonna analyse rakeback or ev but profit b4 rakeback sits at a nice £7,857.  A good finish could see me having my best online month for a long while but I think im off abroad so prob wont update here until im back. 

2014....so far

Weird start to the year.  In terms of profit it couldn't be much better but for some reason I just haven't been enjoying it the last week or so and not even playing as much as I would hope to.   Its not complacency which has been a common problem for me in the past. My heads just not in the right place to play my "a" game so I just haven't been playing much because of that.  Strange though as I tanked the first week and was playing well, running even better and rarely feeling bored of it.

Currently around the £6,000 mark including rakeback although £4,000 of that is above ev !!!

Seriously considering a trip to vegas in the next few weeks but leaving that until the last minute to book at the moment.  Definitely feel a week or 2 away to escape the cold gloomy weather here anyway. Anyway not a moan, just thought I would post some thoughts here for a change.

Year Figures - 2013

+£47,901
split approx.:
online £31k / live £17k
online quarters  split (9/12/1/9)
online roughly £16k below ev.

target was £50k which I guess i'll aim for again next year.

highs
first live mtt win
back to back wsop cashes
improved a bit online since September

lows
bubbling final table of $3k wsop event on a flip to get back to average chips (can see both high/low of this but it still hurts)
tougher games and worse vip programs (forced me to improve my game so in a way could be a positive in long run ?)
not controlling temper online well enough
best month online was £5,477 with only 1 other month above £4,000
very poor summer quarter
running £16k below ev


future
hoping to do 4-6weeks in vegas come June
might do 12-14days vegas start of Feb, going to decide last minute on that
likely 1 month in Caribbean Nov/Dec
possible other travelling
online, well much of the same for the time being unless games or sites force me to look elsewhere

gl all, happy new year, lets make 2014 a good un !!!

Dec Figures

Year stuff to come on another post.   Amazingly managed to have two big days in a row to finish, both around £1,100 not including rakeback.   Finished +£3,809 including rakeback.   In the end I was only about £800 below ev too.