Week 7 - Game Selection

Hey Guys

Hows it goin, sorry for missin week 6 out but I just all mixed up with the weeks by posting mid week. Week 7 has continued well $$$ wise so am happy with that but my move to the $12s has seen me learn a very valuable lesson in game selection. The best time for me to play would be of a night around 6pm-2am because the games run faster which obvs means a bigger $$ per hour/game. I havent really done calculations around hourly rate because for some reason HEM is only picking up 80% of my games and PT3 wants me to manually input all my results, why that is I dont know but the faster the games fill means more games an more money. However this is when I seem to be coming accross alot more regs which is without doubt -EV. Last night for instance I have luvmywife chip210 johnnyhildo and jphillips EeeTee2008 and I GRIND THIS all at the same table of a $12/180 wtf, and all other names I recognised popping up all over the show like 1bigacehole, jbrown877, vertek, longy11 an of course MI_Turtle, plus plenty more even gavin griffin keeps poppin up, I am shocked at how many top players play the 12s tbh, basically all are solid winning players so why would I want to surround myself with them when I have the luxury of being english and able to play say a 9am-5pm schedule when all these guys are tucked up in bed or doing whatever. I really need to do some calculations as to how many games I can play in each 4 hour session etc but I certainly dont mind playing xtra hours to get the same amount of games in if the games are softer at certain times which they undoubtedly are so its time to research the games at each times an see what I come up with. I am no were near as good or experienced as alot of the regs on stars and I dont need to beat the best to flatter my ego, all I need to do is make money.

Its so funny when you hear people talk about 'moving up to were they respect my raises' or 'I cant win with all them donks about' or 'I think its easier to play against the best players' what a load of bull. Anyone who says that again might aswell never player poker again and the funny thing is I used to say the same. The fact is you find the softest easiest game around an play in it cause no matter what the donks throw at you, you play well make the right moves an you'll come out on top.

I squeezed an MTT in this week just the small field $8.80 [500 cap] on stars an managed a final table but the sickness of what happened to me was just sick sick sick. I had 300k in chips an there were 2 short stacks if I remember, I may post the hand history but basically a guy made this like weird shove of 25k, half his stack (or so i thought) but leavin the other 30k chips behind, I misread the shove for like 25k instead of the 250k it was an over shoved with 99 to isolate the shorty, only he werent a shorty an was another big stack with 250k in the middle. I dont know what happened it was pretty weird an quite clever on his part if he meant it but I had been playing about 10 hours an my concentration slipped when I really needed it hold and I ened up out in 5th, I did have 180s up to but it was so sick. I felt by far the best player at the final yet I blew it.

Reviews with nick are still getting better everytime but I am really starting to struggle with the times they're held. I have a 1-2-1 review with him soon which will be my first one and I am really looking forward to it with all sorts of questions on the ready. As mentioned in my previous post the reviews have been going into more around pre an post flop hand reading based on the actions in the hand etc and it really is interesting and I think I am takin alot out of it. We then obviously use stove to measure our hand against their assigned range an make the correct decision accordingly. This isnt to realistic when 15 tablin turbos but will help alot. Yes alot of our decisions are going to be pre flop but you still find yourself in post flop situations, especially if you've chipped up early an people start defending their blind light in the mid stages, on final tables or in MTT's so its important we get to grasp this concept fast. Plus I dont think I want to be on 180 man turbos forever so the course getting more advanced can only be a good thing

Anyway along with the above final which paid $224 I have managed to get lucky an ship 3 12s so far an an a good few finals which has kept my role intact but I am expecting a big downswing soon. Infact I am in a 35 buyin downswing as we speak which is nothing in 180s so I expect it to continue lol. I havent played at all today for the 1st time in weeks. I had 2 seperate universal replayer sessions a 2 hour session with cogs then a 1 hour session on my own then got some hand historys over to nick and basically just chilled as I have played for like 20 days straight in feb.

here is my current graph to date since I started

Moving up to $12/180

Hey Guys

Things have been going ok since saturday I ended up finishing on the $2s this week an starting on the $12s. My total figures for the $2s were:

Played 989
ROI 56%
Profit $1217

I ended up gettin lucky in the sense that after droppin 15 buyins at the $12s I went an took one down just as I was about to hit the drop back down in buy in amount so that has helped me. After paying paying Nick back his 25% profits etc my roll now stands at $1376 which is ample amount to hit the $12s. I am under no illusions that I may have to drop back down and there will be no shame in doing so, hopefully though, that wont happen. I win at least 1 / 180 manner everyday and hopefully today will be no different

I think I may have done enough to get on the sharkscope leader board for the $2s but I dont seem to be on there yet and I am currently lying 700th in the Feb TLB on stars so hopefully I will maintain that an get in the nice 20k freeroll at the end of the month. I have aslo set a plan to get to gold star by the end of the month, not because I want the 3 shitty lil gold stars next to my name but it means I will have played 400 $12s in the next 2 weeks, acheivable but tough. Also Nick asked me to dabble in the sunday quarter mill on stars which I did this week an min cashed but the encouraging thing is that hopefully I will eventually move towards learning to beat MTT's which we all know is where the big money is.

The reviews are just gettin better an better. Last nights went in depth about pre an post flop hand reading and assigning oppos a range etc. Nick really wont give up once he starts and even gets himself all tangled up sometimes when going really in depth. I mean we all know the genral poker maths but sometimes your talkin mathematics that 98% of poker players simply wont get but he wont stop until we all understand. The more I get to know him the more I get to like him tbh and he is a funny guy when he's not pickin on you. However the thing I like is the whole professionalism about the guy. There is no way I could have done this with anyone else an believe me when I tell you the work he is puttin into this course is phenomanal and if you'e lucky enough to get on it, then lucky you!!! Big thanks Nick if your reading this.

Come on the Everton tonight. This is a massive game for us against Lisbon and I think we will progress to the next round. We are playing well and confidence is high, it should also be the perfect game for Arteta to show his skills after a lengthy period out.

Here is my total graph for the programme and good luck at the tables fish!!!

$1k mark reached

Hey Guys

I know I said I werent playing again this weekend but about 1am last when I was going to bed an email came thourgh on the blackberry about a rview w/ Nick but at 5am GMT. Anyway Doris was tired an ready for bed and I felt ok so thought Id stay up for the review and ended up firing 20 tables up an winnin about $200 to put me on the $1k profit mark so it ended up being a good choice even if I am really tired now. My coach told me to let him know when I had reached the $1k mark so I have just sent him an email now and will await his reply before playing anythng else, hopefully he will want me to now move up to the $7s but we'll see

Winning 500 buyins in under 1000 games is a real sense of achievement for me and I am not gonna lie... I am really pleased. However I know its only the begining of a very long road so I am just going to keep focused and keep grinding and hopefully good things are about to happen for me. Febuary so far is whats done it for me, since the 1/2/10 I have played 502 games with a 71% ROI an total profit of $781, all this when I felt I was running bad an seein more bad beats in a month than I have in my life so this just goes to show that discipline an making the right moves will profit over luck when you stay disciplined and put the volume in

Also I am in 909 spot off the stars monthly TLB of playin the $2s so my aim is to stay in the top 1000 which again will be another lil acheivement for me not to mention the $20k freeroll which comes with it

here's my new updated week 5 graph

week 5 - strong learning curve

Hey guys

week 5 has been my toughest yet in poker. I have played alot of games an variance has hit me real hard. I was given a target by nick to play 500 games in feb and I have 460 so far already so thats pleasing. I dont think, up until this week, I have ever experienced the true variance in poker. I am constantly gettin fucked over when deep but I am learning to handle it more an more each time it happens. I mean check these 3 hands out, I was CL on the FT just now and these happened within mins of each other and I was out in 9th http://www.pokerhand.org/?5178524 http://www.pokerhand.org/?5178518 http://www.pokerhand.org/?5178514 . I dont think i could get away from any of them tbh an its just one of them. I havent had a lesson for 2 weeks or feedback off HH's I've sent, just reviews w/ nick but you cant question on them so I will save this one for my coach when he gets back to see what his take on it is. I actually typed all sorts in the chat box to which isnt like me but I was just so totally tilted. I really wanna hit the $1k and I am so close yet silly little things like variance keep knockin me back. The tiltin only tends to happen when am wrappin up a session an 1/2 tablin my last ones so its not to bad as thats often so...

Despite all the above I have still been slowly profiting and I am happy with the reults so far. I have came so far in a short space of time in terms of what I have learned and I aint gonna let a few bad beats knock me off course. I am having a break now til Monday which will do me the world of good so its plenty of nice food, nice company an lots of grey goose vodka cocktails coming up.

I have gotten to know that fish cogs from RTR alot of the last few weeks an he's a good lad. He's waiting to get on the same course although he is crushing them anyway. He has been railing me alot an me him to which is helping. The main thing we talk about really is just talk about how bad people are tbh and sometimes how we may have played a hand differently but we are also motivating each other to play alot which helps alot. He's gettin bad beated everywere this week an finding it hard to motivate himself so I might even offer him some sort of prop bet for next week to motivate us both even more. We keep coming up up against each other to and needless to say I own him hard everytime, a bit like my Everton owned his Chelsea the other night. He does go on about how bad he runs but really he runs like god an is just a total fish:-) which is also a bit like Chelsa to really

Anyway am off to buy a new shirt for tomorrow night so here's my results for the course so far. Have a nice weekend fish an treat them ladies well.

New set up and Table Ninja FTW

Hey Guys

Before I get started guys check out this new an exciting poker site called victory poker and sign up using this link https://www.victorypoker.com/en.get-started.sign-up?bonus=Nick123 for bonuses etc, see http://www.rainmanpoker.net/ for more details

Got a new set up all sorted. Got a 24" HD monitor for all my tables an my old 14" aside of it with PT3, table ninja, pokerstove and my stars lobby an its definately better havin a solid proper set up

Been gettin used to table ninja an its probably the best $40 I've ever spent on poker I just love it. I am now up to about 15 tables which just means the bad beats come more and faster but hopefully it will mean the profit will come more an faster to. Navigating these 180's is a total minefield so having 15 tables cascaded means you can sort of sidestep the emotinal rollercoaster of sweating every flop turn an river when you're all in. I am not going to lie its a leak that I need to plug. I get so mad an tilt easy which is gonna effect my profits if I dont to get to grips with it long term. I even get tilted by the play when am not in a hand but not seein the flips is certainly helping so am gonna stick to cascading for now.

I have always liked keeping my bets the same but its hard when multitabling and with TN I can have all my pre flop an cbets for each stages of the tournament / blind levels all pre set along with the opener opening all my games for me at a rate I have chosen. There is not many situations you need to deviate from your generall play in these 180s but I can still do it if I need to. Not to mention the way it has got rid of all the little annoyances, such as auto clicks of your time bank, free to check and I'm back button, plus the auto closure of lobbies and the BB indicator on your screen. I also like the hotkeys were you can just CTRL+A for all in, its amazin. I have been modifying my stars tables using http://www.tiltbuster.com/ to which has all good note takin gadgets and table mods check it out if you havent already seen it. I probably post a picture of my set up soon anyway

Things at the tables are still bad although the volume is picking up. I have still been makin enough to slowly grow the roll but it could and should have been higher so I am hoping for a quick upswing soon. I know bad beats come an they're part of poker an everyone gets them bla bla bla but the ones I cant take are deep CL pots on FT's thats when they hurt an thats when all mine seem to be coming along lately so soon as that evens out things should be fine:-). Here's a few of examples of my week so far and what happens when I make it deep http://www.pokerhand.org/?5172175 http://www.pokerhand.org/?5172181 http://www.pokerhand.org/?5172189

I have played 184 games since my last post on saturday an a total of 353 games so far in febuary which isnt to shabby considering I only played about that the whole of jan. As the volume has picked up my gorgeous girl has taken a back seat. She's been very supportive about all this though so this weekend am gonna take a lil break and I am not playing a single game. I wanna really spoil her for valentines an take her out for a slap up meal etc and spend some quality time with her as she deserves it. I am off for a sleep anyway and then a another grind from about 8pm-2am when the games are better. My total figures and graph are below.



Played: 776
Roi: 37%
Total Profit: $613

gl at the tables fish

Week 4 - Understanding profitability in SNG's

Hey Guys

Week 4 has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. It all started so well winnin a few tournies and then bang the deck hit me, probably the coldest ever if I am being totally honest. I am finally starting to understand how this game works after reading a great post from one of the students that nick posted on his blog recently an it can be read here: http://chip210sng.blogspot.com/2010/01/starting-to-get-it.html

Now I havent played enough games to come close to knowing my true ROI or winrate and tbh I dont want to be hanging around the $2.20's long enough to find out what this figure will be. So lets say for arguments sake I can beat them for $1 per game its important to remember that everytime I sit down an play I earn exactly that. So doesnt matter if I am on a heater and I take 10 down out of a set of 50, I have only won $50. It's something my coach is drilling into me and I am starting to undertsand it more. My coach has been supporting me through the bad beats on skype an giving little enouraging messages. It doesnt matter how many times top set gets beat by runner runner quads or AK gets beat by Ax orf my JJ is beaten by 88 and the reason it doesnt matter is because we cant control the cards once all the chips are in the middle. We can however control other aspects. Gettin them in ahead or behind as long as its the correct decision in an optimnal spot, managing our stacks correctly at different stages of a tournament, putting in the volume required, studying accordingly etc are all things we can control an the rest will fall into place regardless of short term swings or how cold/hot the deck is running for you. One of the main things that was frustrating me is I believe I am playing better and more now than in weeks 1,2,3 but had worse results but after undertsanding eveyrthing I am learning it just doesnt matter an I just need to keep playing. I have compiled a note pad of calls shoves, folds etc over the last week and sent them over to my coach for a lesson early next week so lookin forward to seeing the results of that. We have also been given a buddy and mine is a young lad from america called paul who i chat with on skype and I am going to try an set up a sweat session with him over next week to. He's a cool lad who seems a nice person. Just like me really, cant be arsed with rat race and wants to learn to beat this game so I think that was a good idea and we can start to bounce decisions of on each other an hopefully learn more.

The reviews with Nick really are starting to get better everytime. Maybe the more its drilled into you the more you understand I dont know but I find they're helping more and more each time. Also he has moved from using skype and now does it using some sort of VPN programme called wbinar and I find it alot better and easier to follow. He has even been doing earlie ones for us european students to and they will be recorded from now on which will make life so much easier for me. The programme were on is just immense and I have looked around out of curiosity and there simply isnt anything like it about so I do feel amazingly lucky. I mean last night we got to live sweat on the VPN, nick an BFizz11 multi tablin MTTs with a rationale behind everything, I mean were the hell would ya get that for nothing anywere esle????? It was interesting to see the way they position tables, note take etc as all these things help. I will have a new 24 inch monitor and the exact same set up as nick table wise. I will be purchasing table ninja on monday for when my new monitor comes. Online poker tools are invaluable and if you are multi tablin on stars without table ninja, PT3 and pokerstove your wasting your time these 3 are just the minumum. Check out Daleroxxus post for more info on each one an get using them http://daleroxxu.blogspot.com/2010/01/pokerstars-multi-tabling-guide.html

I feel I have learned and know enough to hit this game an beat these 180s its just a case of sittin back, putting in the vloume and making the right decisions and am sure, even after a horrible horrible dirty disgusting week at the tables, I will love the results. I have been given a goal by nick to play 500 games in february and I will aim to sufficiently surpass that and be on the $7s (need to earn $1k on the $2s) by march. Here's my figure to date on the programme which btw I started on 7/1/10

played: 592
av prof £1
ROI 30%
Total Prof $391

Here's my graph and I will probably stop the whole week 1, week 2 thing an start making more posts. I will just post my results on a weekly (fri-fri) basis as then when I need to provide them to my coach


Gl at the tables fishes