Daily Grind

Started today awful, losing over $200 in about 30 minutes. It didn't look good, but after a quick review of my losing hands I was pretty happy that I hadn't spewed off chips so didn't feel too bad and carried on. Won back my losses in the same session and ended only $15 down, which felt like a victory.

I caught a glimpse of Mark tearing up the PLO1000 table while relaxing in the Thailand sun / rain, so was tempted in to a game of this too. As I'm a novice I didn't sit down in the seat next to him, instead settled for a more relaxing PLO10 and PLO20 - much more my level :-). Did OK though and won $40 in 20 mins, even at these baby levels, so tempted to play a bit more later in the month.

Final session of today has been a 90 minute blast on Full Tilt, where I won a further $100 at NL50. Not an outstanding day, but until my bankroll is sufficient to sustain me at higher levels, I'll be happy with these regular wins and eeking out a pay day.

Off out for food tonight so unlikely to play later, but plan to hit drunks tomorrow night - either at casino or online.

AGGGGHHHHH!!!!! (annoyed)

Was having a decent day today, winning money at poker and winning at 5 a side football (19-2), so I should have known better than to log back on at 10pm tonight. I started the session $250 up and cruising, and as Ladbrokes was dying I decided to play NL50 on Full Tilt to try and build a bankroll from $500 start. Bad idea tonight.

I proceed to run QQ and AK in to KK pre flop for $50 buy ins, then JJ in to AA for $25. My 2 pairs are counterfeited and someone else hits their gutshot on turn after calling preflop raise and pot cbet for 50% of their chips w J8 on a K97 board. AK never any good for me there.

I only won one pot above $12, when I get lucky to hold AA against KK all in pre flop for a buy in, otherwise things could have been a lot worse. I lose $190 in the session so my profits for day are a measly $60, giving me online profits for month of $250 so far. It's a good job I won the Grosvenor on Friday or I would be a depressed man.....

A crappy day

Lost $250 today, although don't think I played that bad. Boards ran out terrible for me and couldn't seem to hit a barn door etc etc. Will get back on tomorrow and hope fortunes change.

Another Reasonable Day

Rattled off another 1.5k hands today for $200 profit on 6max cash. It's 1:30 am here and I've dropped to NL50 tables on Laddies now as it's full of fish virtually BEGGING you to take their money. Sadly I'm getting tired and need to get up in the morning otherwise I'd play a lot longer... not going to complain though. My kings ran in to aces for 150 BB otherwise this post would have been even more positive.

In non poker news, Northumbria Water tried their hardest to ruin my day by bursting 2 water pipes in our area, leaving us (and at minimum our immediate neighbours) without water for 5 hours. Katrina took the brave option of washing with remains of our bottled water, kettle water and anything else she could get her hands on. Being a man I took the alternative option of stinking like a b@$tard and hoping water came on tomorrow morning. As is my way at the moment, I ran good and the water came back on at 11:30 (after K had crashed) - meaning I got to relax in a warm shower working perfectly. I'll break it to her gently in the morning as she gets up for uni and I roll over for another lie in :-)

Ship It!!

After a rocky first few sessions, October has been smooth sailing so far on the poker front. I've logged nearly 5k hands and about $300 up on 6 max cash, playing well. I feel a lot more relaxed this month and not letting the big losing pots get to me as much, which is still my Achilles heel.

After a winning Saturday afternoon session online I rewarded myself with a trip to Grosvenor with Azz for there £25 + £20 one add on tournament. As value for money goes, this is actually really good, as you start with 6.5k chips with an option for one add on or rebuy for an extra 6.5k. As the blinds start at 25/50 then 50/100 for the first 90 minutes, there is plenty if play. In the olden days, I would have loved it - however my opinion now is that it could be a Saturday night wasted due to missing the drunks online. The fact there were only 29 players in it also meant the prize pot wasn't the biggest.

I had no problems getting to the final table but a lack of hands and plenty of others providing action meant I was short stack at bubble time with 6 left. With 18k and big blind of 3k, I'm looking to push any 2. After an UG limp and SB call, I look down on BB and decide my K5 suited is good enough to shove with - hopefully getting folds - but alas get called by UG AK. I was worried but the river brought me the magic 3rd heart for my flush - back in the game!

I then try to knock out the previous UG limper in the next hand when I shove from the SB with KQ to get turbo called by short stack with AQ. No luck for me this time and I'm back to where I started, short stack. We manage to play another hour without losing anyone, then I get my much needed double up, when my shove from mid position versus UG limper is cold called by the rock BB with JJ. My 77 looks in big trouble, but again I spike, leaving me comfortable at last. 3 people depart in quick succession and after losing a race (AK vs 99) then winning one (TT vs AQ) I go in to last 3 as slight chip leader - 120k vs 95k vs 85k. As it's 3:30 am I suggest a chop and I go home with the £275 split.

I took yesterday off so back to the grindstone today - hoping to run as well as the tournament on Saturday!

September P&L

What can I say? Rubbish stats. Playing so few hands is obviously not helping me (target was 40k), but the hands I did play weren't played perfectly. I ran bad at NL100 at the beginning of the month and then had to spin it back up by playing predominantly at NL50, which I managed to do - hence +ve bb/100 even though an overall loss:

NL Cash: -£60
(19k hands, 2.56 bb/100)

MTT: £20
Rakeback / Bonus: £398
ONLINE PROFIT: £358

Live Tournaments: -£30

Live Cash: £212
LIVE PROFIT: £182

OVERALL PROFIT: £540

Targets for October:

-Get a routine sorted!! My playing times are too erratic and still feel rushed, and I did not complete ANY poker theory revision due to my desperation to play.

-Play 40k hands.

- Update the blog more regularly :-)

Vegas Baby!!!

Unfortunately for Mark (and anyone else interested), this is not going to be a long post outlining the events of our 9 days in Vegas. 3 reasons for this:

1. I was too drunk most of the time to remember all of it
2. I could never do it justice writing it up at 1:30 am even if I could remember
3. Brennan has been tasked with pulling together a monster write up and video montage a la his Thailand efforts, therefore I do not want to steal his thunder.

What I will say is it was a class lads holiday, with some quality comedy moments starting on the flight out there (it was good upstairs) and not stopping until the flight back (was that the Flamingo??). Hopefully Brennan's official report will be available soon for all to see.

On poker front out there, I played a fair bit but didn't win anywhere near enough considering it's my job and most of the 1/2 cash tables were garbage. I ended about $300 up on cash over 5 sessions, mostly waiting for the nuts (or big overpair) to get my money in. As Ad can testify, nobody seemed to be able to find the 'fold' button meaning it was just luck whether your hand held up. I will definitely be playing more if / when I go back - as long as it's not with the mrs of course!!!