End of the line

Well, that's almost it. I've lost so much money this week, virtually all of my month to date winnings, and I just cannot be fucked with poker any more. I know everyone suffers from variance but I honestly feel that I have been shafted royally for as long as I can remember, having only about 2 months above EV in the 30 months I've been pro. It has been particularly severe this week and I just don't think I'm handling it very well any more. I NEED money with a wedding / vegas holiday to pay for and it is killing me to see others walk off with mine after getting it all in as a 20:80 underdog. Time and time and time again.

So I've taken drastic action and decided to definitely get a job. While I look for work, I'm going to do what I probably should have done from day 1, and claim job seekers allowance. I have always felt that it would be immoral of me to claim it when I am earning a living playing poker, but as I am currently failing in that profession and therefore broke I have bitten the bullet and going to join the Byker masses collecting dole money. I don't actually expect this to be my long term solution as I'm aiming to write up my CV over the weekend and hit the employment agencies on Tuesday next week. No more pissing about, time to get back to work.

In semi poker related news, I'm also moving again. Me and the mrs are downsizing to a studio on the other side of the water, cutting our monthly rent and bills by more than a third. I do like the quayside views from my current location, but we really don't need 2 bedrooms and it seems like a waste of non-existent money when we don't need to spend it - especially when there are other things to think about (honeymoon, food, etc). Although small, I actually think the new place could be really good - it's 20 seconds walk away from the Hilton and we're both planning on signing up for the gym there so we should get some good use out of it. It's also about a ten to fifteen minute walk away from Circus casino so if I ever do feel like hitting the tables again I won't have far to go!

I'm going to play at Aspers on Saturday I think but after that I may well take some time away from poker, especially if I get some temp work sorted. Online poker can definitely go fuck itself for all I care!!!

Job Search Update

Hasn't really started yet!  I am seriously trying to put it off, even though I still feel it's inevitable that I need to get one. The problem is I haven't even sorted out a CV yet so I can't sign up at a temp agency until I get this done. Maybe next week :-)

In the meantime, I've been playing a bit of poker..... and it's been going OK if not spectacular. I'm £350 up online playing NL50 and below 6max. I've also been the casino 3 times and up around £100 from there, and won a freeroll for another £75 so not been too shabby. Maybe if I run good again next week I might postpone the job search. Certainly gives me some incentive to play well I can tell you!

Also been good to have a weekly poker strategy session with Brenos so hoping this continues as believe it's going to help my game massively. He plays far more aggressively (and fearlessly) than I do so will be good to get a different perspective on strategy. Maybe he might even get round to updating his blog one of these days as well...

The fat lady is clearing her throat...

... there are some people on the pitch too.  In fact, nearly everyone thinks it's all over. Including me sadly :-(    Looks like the dream is dying, at the very least temporarily.

I just can't seem to make any real money at the moment, and my diminishing bankroll is stopping me playing any higher in case I have a few bad beats it crushes me completely. I still have a fair bit of savings but really don't want to throw them at something that doesn't look like it is working out so stuck in no mans land at the moment - I can't win that much playing micro micro stakes, but scared shitless of moving up and getting crushed. 

Anyway, here are the figures for the month of October:

6max: £36
Rakeback / Bonus: £296
TOTAL ONLINE: £332
Live Cash: £26
TOTAL PROFIT: £358

Needless to say I'm pretty mortified at the moment. I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to get a job pretty soon, i.e. this month, so will gradually get round to writing up my CV this week and probably signing on while I look around. I know there is fuck all out there and also that I'll be taking a big drop from where I was when I left work so all pretty demoralising at the moment. To be fair, I'm not even sure that I want to head back in to the accountancy world as it did bore me shitless, but the problem I have is that I'm not qualified for anything else. My work life sucks balls at the moment.

If I do end up quitting the poker full time, I won't quit playing on the side. I still think I can win money at this game and actually think having the pressure taken off will help my win rate. I'll probably also spend more time studying and updating this blog - I mean - what else do people do in offices all day apart from surf the web and send emails to their friends?!?!  Whatever happens, it's been a learning experience. At least I can say I tried, even if it ultimately ends in failure.

I'll keep this blog updated on latest developments, as and when I have any news.

Sept 2011 results

Well, this month never really got started. As per last post I had a sick sick run which knocked me back from
1. playing A game, as without doubt tilted and stressed myself this month
2. winning enough to return to stakes I should / want to be playing.

All in all a not at all satisfactory month:

6max:  £147
MTT: -£20
STT: £40
Rakeback / Bonus: £485

Total online profit: £652


More hours, effort and tilt management needed for October. Hopefully this will also be the month Brenos finally gets back in the game so looking forward to having some poker workshops to try and bounce ideas off someone - definitely think this is an area I've neglected and could seriously help me.

Sick sick sick

I am running worse than Sogelau Tuvalu in the 100metres at the moment, losing EVERY showdown and unable to win despite the HUGE statistical advantage I have when the cards are flipped. This isn't to mention of course people who call 4bets with A3 suited for 2/3rds of their stack only to hit a flop of T33 vs my AA. Poker sucks balls.

Here's my graph - 2500 big blinds behind EV this month. Awesome.

September so far

Been pretty rough to be honest.  Firstly one of my old football buddies sadly died at the age of 26, having been suffering for almost 3 years with a disease I will only spell wrong so will just say it wasn't nice. Not only was it a sad loss but also actually unexpected, as he had been on the road to recovery before he suddenly died of heart failure following a routine surgery. His funeral was immensely sad but his family were amazing - welcoming everyone and giving a moving tribute at the ceremony. RIP Gary.

With this in mind, my troubles on and off the tables are all pretty small time, but as this is my poker blog I guess I better update it anyway.  I'm running badly on BOSS network at the moment, but grinding through it on the low stakes still. Currently around approx. £300 up for month on 6max cash games, so still a little short of the £500 target I wanted before moving up to NL100 again. Also crashed out of a £1k freeroll STT  through Virgin, losing a race with 77 vs AQ all in pre - very standard but if had won that I fancied my chances as there would only have been 6 left, I would have been chip leader and there was even a guy sitting out who forgot it was on presumably!  Amazing value from Virgin though so looking forward to qualifying again this month.  Rakeback is totting up though so not in dire sorts at the moment, and apart from the odd brain fart I'm actually playing pretty well, getting my money in good a lot but being shatfed by the cards a lot too. Still optimistic for month though.

Running bad also in house buying. Had found an apartment that me and mrs were looking to buy in Battle Hill, and although historically not the nicest of areas the new build estate did look safe enough and a good investment. Even though I can't get a mortgage and count as a 'dependable adult' - i.e. need to be looked after by my mrs do to no official income - we were all set to go ahead under her name only until the building group started being arsey and demanded we move in within 2 weeks. If we were in the same situation next year I'm pretty certain we would go ahead, but with Vegas wedding not too far off now (April next year) we decided to play safe and save our pennies. 3 months double rent / mortgage + bills is no way to prepare for Vegas honeymoon, and despite expert bargaining on our part we could not get building group to give us £2k cashback to help the move go ahead.  Understandable but annoying.

That's about it so far - will try and keep this updated weekly from now on til rest of year at least.

July and August 2011 P&L

Been a long time since I posted anything on here, mainly because of denial of a continuing bad poker trend in the last few months. I've bitten the bullet now and decided to stick on July and August results though, and will have a bit of chat afterwards.

July 2011

6 max: -£134

PLO: -£2

Full Ring: £15

Total Online: -£121

Live Tournaments: -£44

Live Cash: £99

Total Live: £55

TOTAL LOSS: -£66

August 2011

6max: £1,076

PLO: -£18

Full Ring: -£45

Rakeback / Bonus: £409

Total Profit: £1,423

As you can see, a bit of a contrast between July and August. I feel like I've relearnt 6max poker having not really played it for 10 months, and actually really enjoying it at the moment. I'm still on bankroll rebuild mode at the moment, playing NL50 and below, but been CRUSHING on the Boss network so my aim is to continue this and hopefully get back to playing NL100 this month.

With the upturn in fortunes online I've somewhat abandoned Aspers and the live games for the time being. I was winning a sizeable chunk in July but 2 losing sessions of £185 and £307 - the last while trying and failing at a shot on 1/2 - meant that a reasonable live month was ruined. The games are still soft so I will be returning a bit this month I think, but nowhere near the volume I put in over the summer. I will miss the Asperes points though as loved eating at Freyas for free!

Plans for this month:

- Crush NL50 and below to get to £500 profit for month

- Once hit £500 profit, take shots at NL100

- Watch 20 cardrunners videos - ten on 6max, ten on PLO

- maybe buy a house?!?!

June 2011 P&L

A little bit more upbeat since my last post as I've been hearing some positive noises from a few sources about the likelihood of me getting my money back, so I have decided to err on the side of optimism (strange for me) and NOT write off my Full Tilt account as a loss just yet.

Rush Poker: -£100

STT: -£15

MTT: £931

Rakeback / Bonus: £56

Total Online Profit: £877

Live Tournaments: £199

Live Cash: £1,085

Live Profit: £1,283

Total Profit: £2,160

Unfortunately July has started badly wth a loss of £185 last night. I played for 9 hours and saw one pair above 6's, but was still on course for a small profit at 4 am. Unfortunately I then tried to double barrel someone when I really shouldn't of, then shoved a turn against a decent reg who made a hero call with 88 on T637 board - I showed A6s with nut flush draw - but miss my outs. In hindsight I looked tilty so probably should have just flatted the turn, but also expected him to fold most of his range as he'd raised pre. C'est la vie.

A busy July ahead with stag weekend in Newquay, a 5 night stay in Prague for K's birthday then my birthday at the end of the month.

Run Good --> Run Bad --> WTF Do I Do Now??

Another crazy last few days on poker front.

Run Good

Ran exceptionally well in a 420 player freeroll on Full Tilt on Sunday, playing well and being comfortable - getting it in twice with AK versus AQ for monster pots helped - and then sat tight at the final table waiting for mega aggro players to busto. Got to 4 handed then hit the biggest 10 minute heater of my life:

1. open shipping 10 big blinds from small blind with 56 to beat AQ big blind with river straight

2. open shipping 12 big blinds (after losing some blinds) with 55 to river a straight versus KK

3. 3bet jamming 20 big blinds with T9s heads up to beat KK again with river 2 pair.

Was delighted with the result - probably the biggest single tourney win I've had online - netting $1.6k. Not bad for a nights work!!!

Run Bad

Been pretty much destroyed online since I got my laptop back from the knackers yard (Brennan's PC laboratory), taking way longer than it should of to get used to multi tabling. When I finally figure out how to play again - I started to run bad too - and currently tracking at £100 loss for the month - although this is 6 buy ins short of expectation.

Run bad hasn't been restricted to online either, and I haven't been able to win for a while at Aspers either. I'm not taking big losses, only £100 a time max, but I'm losing all the monster pots. I can't get there with any big draws, and I can't hold with made hands versus tilt shoves either. Biggest sick hand of the week though was when I got £100 in on the turn with 77 full house - J799 board - versus obvious AA/KK - only for 9 to bink on river to lose me another £220 pot. Not been a good week on that front...

WTF?!?!

All the run bad on the tables though pales in to insignificance when I wake up at 1pm yesterday to find out Full Tilt has lost it's gambling licence, and therefore all rights to operate in the world. Crucially for us mere players this means no games AND NO CASH WITHDRAWALS - a bit of a fucker when I have $2.3k sitting online in their coffers.

I was mistakenly hoping that FT were going to be operating normally in Europe after Black Friday disaster - after all, there's a tonne of online sites that do pretty well having never been in the US market - but alas my misguided naivety has come back to haunt me. I wouldn't have minded too much normally as I was only keeping a small(ish) roll online, but 2 days before I take my month end wage out (including tournament bink) the poker client and their website go down, with no likely date to return.

I'm keeping fingers crossed, worshipping my lucky poker buddha and praying to my poker pope - both of which sit next to me on my poker laptop - hoping that the hearing set up for next month in London will grant them a licence again - or at the very least let them get back online so that players can get their money back. At the moment though I'm probably just going to write this off as money lost though, as with US players still without their funds I think the chances of UK players getting theirs back first are even slimmer. I just wish the whole online industry would sort themselves the fuck out so I can figure out which site is safe and which isn't.....

..... which leads me to the initial question - what the fuck am I meant to do now? I can't play online really, as have minimal bankroll and wouldn't even know where I could safely play in the future - maybe Ladbrokes I suppose. I might have to start looking for work again, as not sure 50p / 50p games at Aspers can really sustain me in the long term. Or I might sign on and claim all the benefits I can before axing it all and going to live in Thailand doing TEFL / scuba diving instructing!

Decisions decisions......

UKIPT and June review so far

UKIPT

After bubbling the big £50 rebuy satellite at Aspers last Sunday, I somehow managed to run good and get myself qualified the very next night in the £10 + £10 + £10 game, meaning I got to play the main event this week. Due to huge number of runners and the fact the buy in of £550 was a bit bigger than my normal game, I decided to sell some shares in me meaning I'd get back £190 ish even if I failed to make cash.

Was a bit nervous when I arrived but after a couple of rounds of blinds was pretty happy with the standard I was up against - a few decent players, a few average and some obvious internet qualifiers who were pretty naive. I managed to chip up fairly early from my starting 15k to a healthy 32k, with the biggest pot being my trip 2's holding versus a medium stack shoved flush draw. I was then card dead for the rest of the day, losing a few small pots and making one hero call that was wrong for 2k but basically not playing a hand for 3 hours - meaning I'd made it to day 2 but with only 18 big blinds and 15k.

I was still mildly optimistic going in to day 2, knowing that a double up would put me back in to average stack territory but also knowing I'd need some luck to get it. As I'd been so card dead I was sure I was due, so when I shoved over a raise with AK I was certain I'd win the pot - even after he tank called with TT. Alas, it was not to be and I bricked all the way to the river, sending me home after a mere 20 minutes of play on day 2. My woes were not as bad as Brenos though, and my 5% stake also sank when his KK ship pre ran in to the mighty 56 suited which made a miracle straight to send him home 7 places from the cash. Gutted for him obviously, but also for both our sets of investors who we let down without being able to show them a return! Loved the experience though and will be looking to qualify for some more of these as did feel comfortable and would like to test myself against some of the better players who play these...

June Review

As my laptop has been completely dead, I've been forced to grind the live 50:50 cash game at Aspers as my only source of income. I started like a house on fire, but had a couple of iffy nights to lower the unrealistic target I set myself for the month. I am still nicely in profit though, winning over £800 in the ten visits I've made so far this month. With my laptop now back I will probably play there a little bit less but as it's been going well I think I'll still head there 4 or 5 times a week, just for less than the 10 hour sessions I have been putting in so far this month.

May 2011 Results

Been unable to post on here for a while as my laptop has been dead for 3 weeks and not been able to see my May figures until now, as Brennan has thankfully managed to save all my vital files and I haven't had to buy a new laptop - thank fuck.

Here are my results anyway....

Online cash + rakeback ~£540

Live Tournaments -£55

Live Cash £555

TOTAL Profit £1,040

These are only rough estimate results, as I can't get concrete online cash results but I think this is a pretty close reflection. Pleased that live cash continues to go well and will continue to keep plugging away at this as still think the live games are softer than online at the moment...

Uncle Ben!

Again!

My sister managed to pop out her second child last week, this time a baby boy, and even managed to do so without being filmed for national television! Luckily for me my sister gave birth on Friday, meaning me and K were able to zoom down on Friday night and spend the first 3 days of his life with my folks. See cutie in pic below - and the baby :-)

Since we came back I've been informed that the baby boy has now been named - Jet Johnson. Although I personally think that he now sounds like a cartoon character from the future, my sister and her fella are angling for the 'rockstar' sound to his name - let's hope he prefers guitars then and not flying scooters! I'm just pleased I (i.e. Katrina is pleased) that we can now buy baby boys clothes (ie miniature spurs football kits).

On poker front, things have been quite good actually over the past couple of days. I was struggling at the beginning of the month but now up to a healthy 1k profit - including rakeback. This has been primarily due to 2 awesome sessions at Aspers playing 50p 50p - I followed up my £290 win with a £220 win and am thoroughly enjoying the live experience. I should try to get there more really but there's just too many other things to do in the evenings.....

Been blogging here while playing some Sunday freerolls and just busted out in 4/21 with top prize being an ipad - bit gutted as was leading going in to the last 4. Still hanging around though in the Full Tilt one though so hoping to sneak in to the cash to add $50 or so to my roll. Will no doubt bust just before the money but can always hope for that big score :-)

EDIT - just busted 3bet shoving with AQ only to run in to KK in the small blind - AND AA in the big blind!! I run so bad :-(

Rising from the dead....

I'm going to try and kick start my blog again. I've been a lazy bastard and it really only takes a few minutes to write an update so I figure I should really do it. Reasons are as follows:

1. I think I run better when I think about poker / write about it

2. It gives me an excuse to have a nosey at how well other poker players are doing through my following list

3. Main reason - I'm becoming more and more stupider, with my IQ actually dropping 8 points in a year since I've been full time pro. K (psychologist) says this is the rate of dementia, so I figure I need to do something quick as I'm only 31 and don't have too many IQ points to keep losing at this rate!

So how has May started poker wise? Shit. At least it was until yesterday. I ran terrible, trying to run up my Full Tilt balance to play NL100 rush again but as soon as I tried to play it I lost 3 buy ins in 20 minutes so been back grinding the NL50 again. I'm now £236 up for the month from online, and won £290 at Aspers yesterday playing 50p/50p - hitting EVERY draw and getting paid in every spot. Makes a change as I lost £64 at Aspers at the weekend, highlight being getting all in (bar £5) for a £140 pot with 93 on a 9935 board versus A9 - only for him to bink on river. Such is poker....

Anyway - all in all I'm about £400 up now for the month - and hoping yesterday (and this blog post) will help me run good for the rest of the month. I definitely need it as have some wedding deposits to pay for. And I REALLY want to buy some new golf clubs too :-)

April 2011 Review

What a crazy month!

First and foremost, had a great 9 nights in Vegas with the mrs and booked up the wedding venue for next year - the Wynn. The chapel looks pretty good, but the main appeal was the terrace with open bar we've booked up for the reception that looks on to the 'lake of dreams' - proper swanky. Very much looking forward to that next year :-)

With the US government then fucking over the entire online poker population, my money has also been in and out of limbo all month. I withdrew the lot from Full Tilt on the day the shit hit the fan, but have since reloaded £300 to try and rebuild a roll there as now hoping everything is sorted legal wise. I'll not be keeping as much on there as have done in the past, that's for sure.

By about the 15th of the month, I'd been able to do fuck all work, bar a couple of live sessions in Vegas, and with online off limits I was forced to get out of the flat and play some local live poker. Went OK all in all, with only 2 losing sessions out of 7 and a tidy profit. Nice to know I have an alternative income possibility if online does die permanently.

Anyway, here's the final P&L:
Rush: £586
Rakeback / Bonus: £98
TOTAL ONLINE: £684

Live Tournaments: -£12
Live Cash: £657
TOTAL LIVE: £645

OVERALL PROFIT: £1,329

March 2011 P&L

At last - a good month. Rush Poker: £1,578 STT: -£4 MTT: -£3 Rakeback / Bonus / Freerolls: £294 Total Online Profit: £1,865 Live Cash: £170 Total Profit: £2,035 Online Review: I ran like god for the first few weeks, winning £1,000 at NL50 rush but being about £500 above EV, then took a shot at NL100 for the last week and played well / didn't get shafted to make over £500 there too. I feel a lot better about my poker life having moved back to NL100 as although it is definitely tougher than NL50, I think it's still beatable for me and can provide me with a livelihood that doesn't involve 50 hours a week and running awesome at NL50. I'll be starting April at the new level and hope to carry on where I left off. Live Review: Played 4 sober sessions of NL50 at Aspers and one highly intoxicated one. Profit for sober sessions was £330, loss for drunk session was £160. Lesson well and truly learned. On plus side I'm feeling miles more comfortable live and do enjoy (most of) the banter so will be heading there a fair bit more in the coming months. They have a NL200 game there which I'd love to have the bankroll to play in comfortably, as sure there is money to be made there, but until I get a roll I'll be grinding the lower level tables to iron out any live tells I'm still carrying. There's a £500 UKIPT game at Aspers in May so ideally I'd like to be a live expert by then and rolled to buy myself in to that one if I can't scrape a satellite seat. We'll see.... Life Review: Everything going well at the moment, happy with life. Off to Vegas on Sunday for 9 nights with mrs to sort out wedding plans for next year, so that should be a class holiday, and got 2 more long weekends away booked in for June / July. Would LOVE to qualify for a WSOP package in Vegas but with all my holidays I don't think I'm going to have time this year even if I did make it! Guess I'll have to wait until next summer to win the $9 million main event jackpot. One more thing - COYS!!!! (we're crocked with injury so expecting the worst but still can't wait to see us take on Real Madrid)

Feb 2011 Results

This has been a really weird month. I started it grinding the NL50 rush tables well, storming to a healthy £400 profit in a week, looking pretty for a good month and hopefully taking some shots at NL100.

Then things went tits up:
1. my internet crashes, leaving me without connection for 5 days
2. my HEM dies, leaving me HUDless for a week and effectively unable to play rush poker for a further week as I try to get it sorted
3. I get dreaded man flu, which mostly stopped me playing, but I couldn't stop myself as bored at home so logged on and lost a fair bit of my profit
4. Full Tilt spazzes out on me, leaving me without a site to play on for 3 days too!

I've also finally started to play a bit live and really enjoying it, however I'm not running the greatest, losing nigh on every race / 70:30 in cash when get it in with the short stacks. TT vs Q2, AJ vs 44, KK vs 99 etc etc etc - all for £40+ pots that would definitely help my P&L. I also had to ship £125 to share luckbox Brennan after we went halves on a cash session at Aspers after I won £175 and he lost £75. As if he needs the money!!!

With all that in mind, here are the final results:
Rush: £219
STT: £40
MTT: -£45
Rakeback / Bonus: £116

Total Online Profit: £330

Live Tournaments: -£12
Live Cash: £110

TOTAL PROFIT: £428


Now for the good news. With about 10 days to go of the month, in the middle of my slow death from man flu and bitching about my shitheap of a computer not working, I get 3 pieces of mail through the post that cheer me up. 2 decent wins on premium bonds (that I kind of forgotten that I had) and a well deserved tax rebate for OVERPAID tax in FY 2010. I definitely didn't know that was coming, but all three combined came in at close to £1300. Helps me through the low income month that's for sure!


Next month:
DEFINITELY get my black card status on Full Tilt - low volume means I'm further away than at the start of last month, but I hopefully will get there towards the end of March.
Keep on playing live cash at the casino.

Jan 2011 P&L

Laziness knows no bounds in terms of this blog.... however have been proper busy this month sorting various shit out, including:

2 broken cars

1 broken laptop

1 set of flights to Las Vegas (April)

9 nights of hotel accommodation (Desert Rose - just off the strip)

All of which finally got completed around mid month and managed to salvage somewhat the losing month that it threatened to be, however not exactly groundbreaking results:

Rush: £755

STT: £15

MTT -£27

Rakeback / Bonus: £242

---------

Total Online Profit: £985

Live Cash: -£41

Live Tournament: -£22

Overall Profit: £922

Rush Poker continues to pay for itself, and now that I have consolidated my bankroll to exclusively Full Tilt I'm aiming to be playing NL100 full ring pretty soon. I'm also very close to getting the Black Card there, within next week or so, which will mean extra points and therefore bonuses, which will help with the low rakeback I'm getting at the moment. My iron man and Full Tilt academy balances are pretty decent too now so should have more bonuses from then soon too so looking a bit rosier on that front.

Live cash didn't exactly go to plan this month, due entirely to one night where I lost £160 playing NL50. I ran QQ in to AA on a T44 flop, then AK in to AT in a big 3bet pot - only for flop to come out AT9 leaving me in a shit spot. I recovered a bit in the last week though and starting to feel a bit more at ease playing live. I'll be heading down to the casino again this weekend and hope to start showing a profit there soon!

Anyway, for any poker geeks out there, including myself when I look back at this in many years from now, here is my HEM graph for Rush last month. Check out the return of the gay red line!!!

2011 - New Year, New Me!!

Biggest news that I have failed to report on here, mainly due to my shockingly poor dedication to this blog, is that I got engaged over Xmas to my gorgeous girlfriend, now fiance, and we've (nearly) set a date for April 2012. Great news for me is that K is keen on a Vegas wedding - not my idea honest - but also means we'll need to go over this year to check out possible venues etc etc. For 9 days. Nightmare :-)

With 15 or so months to go to the wedding and a Vegas holiday this year, and a stag do to go to it's clear I need to make some serious money to help fund all this! Hopefully this will give me the motivation and kick up the arse I need to push on and move out of the low level grinding mode I'm currently in.

How am I going to do this?

2011 targets:
1. STUDY MORE!!!
One of the main reasons for my fall from grace has been my abject laziness to study poker for over a year. I logged on, played my hands at 6 max, and was on lazy boy mode. When I started losing I didn't have a clue why and felt completely all at sea as hadn't been thinking about hands at all and just played auto pilot. This will not happen in 2011

2. Play live cash
Having visited the casino a fair few times at the back end of 2010, I just can't get over how poor some of the live play is. On Friday and Saturday nights I don't think half of them can even see the cards let alone know how to play properly!! I want to be crushing the low level cash games at the casinos regularly and looking to move up by the end of the year to 1/2. I'd like to think I have the game now to play that level but I know psychologically I'm not ready to risk the £800 in one night I'd need to have to feel comfortable playing there (2 buy ins of 200 bb's). I'll get there though.

3. Play more tournaments - successfully - including some satellites
I'm learning here and now have think I have a much better grasp of what's needed in this sphere. I'm not there yet though so will need to make sure I keep up to speed with target 1 in order to continue my progress. I don't think I'm a million miles away though and as tournaments are something I enjoy I'm going to keep going with this.

4. Maybe (maybe!) learn some PLO
Only if I'm feeling adventurous!

2010 P&L

6 max: £5,896
HU Cash: -£407
Rush: £2,230
STT: -£186
MTT: £641
Rakeback / Bonus: £7,639

ONLINE PROFIT: £15,800

Live Tournaments: £661
Live Cash: £169

LIVE PROFIT: £830

TOTAL PROFIT: £16,630


Sadly this is actually less than last years total, but as 5 of the last 7 months were winning months of less than £720 in profit this is actually higher than I was expecting when I put my figures together. I'm actually quietly optimistic for the new year at the moment!!

Dec P&L

Not a terrible month, and was looking like going to be a pretty good one until the Xmas holidays kicked in. I basically stopped playing any Rush poker after the 18th as was back at my folks then the mrs parents, meaning surroundings not conducive to thinking poker so I settled playing for a lot of tournaments to try and improve my leaks in this area. As you can see still not completed!

6max: -£2 (about 100 hands!)
Rush: £921
STT: -£159
MTT: £98
Rakeback / Bonus: £383

ONLINE PROFIT: £1,241

Live Tournament: -£22
Live Cash: £73

TOTAL PROFIT: £1,292