So I made it back without any major catastrophe, though it was a seriously annoying month and I won't be in a hurry to move country again. The trip itself went ok, apart from the van rental company putting the wrong fuel cap on the Transit, but it's nothing my mates boot and a wheel brace couldn't get the better of :-) Things nearly got ugly when we went to return the van though!
Also, if you're ever presented with opportunity to stay in one of those Forumla 1 hotels on the continent, DONT! What a nightmare. They're the Ryanair of hotels. You dont even get a toilet in your room, and ones in the hallway are like aeroplane toilets. They auto-lock when you're done and clean themselves. The dining facilities consist of a vending machine, and there's no staff on the premises between 6pm and 8am!
Eventually we made it to the boat, despite the French motorways which have absolutely no lighting or visual aids and are pretty lethal after dark imo. The new Irish Ferries ship is really nice, much better than the one that went before it. Much cleaner and smoother and the facilities on board are much better. We went for the 5 star suite cabin just to make the journey a bit more tolerable and it was sweet.
Back to poker, I only got settled in the new house last week and I'm currently just using a neighbour's wireless internet. NTL are coming tomorrow to install the 20MB package. I played about 1500 hands and I suppose I'm just using the rest of December to get back into things. I think the months break did me a lot of good, and I'm thinking much clearer now, but obviously I'm very rusty in certain spots. I've been posting a few hands on boards each day and I'll keep that up for a while until I'm on top of the basics again. Pretty annoying hand yesterday where I misclick opened 55 on the button to $46 and then the SB who's already gotten ATo in against me with no history shoved. It was obvious he was trying it on and I think I had to call it off but I had no luck vs his KQs! I should get one more update in before the year is out.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Back Seat Time for Poker
I'm currently packing up my apartment here in Belgium. I'm finishing work on the 19th and we're out of here on the 26th. Some friends are driving a Transit over from Dublin (all the way in one day..ugh) and we're gonna pack up our stuff from here and drive to Cherbourg for the ferry to Rosslare. There's quite an amount of shit to do when moving countries and I won't be sad when its all done with. I still have to organise all of the stuff on the other side like a house in Dublin, a car, and thats all before the usual Christmas madness.
All of this means that I'll have very little time for poker over the next while. This suits me fine. My bad run of late culminated on Saturday with me playing 3.5k hands like a complete robot just trying to get unstuck after getting off to a slow start. During the course or my extended downswing, all imagination has completely gone from my play. I just load up 6-8 tables, dont pay any attention to hand reading and wait to run good. The longer this goes on, the more you really forget why you're doing anything. At the end of that session I literally didn't know anymore what hands were good to be cold calling from the blinds vs. certain guys etc...just a total mental block. The auto-pilot thing might be ok if you table select, but of course I just played on any old table waiting to run good.
Anyhows the breakeven stretch is something like 45k hands now which is godawful but that's life. Looking at Leatherass' well it seems that this is possible in the normal run of things though I'm in no way putting it all down to variance. I realise that I'm not very good into the bargain. I ran good all Summer so I can't complain about the year overall. I started with $900 playing 20nl and 50nl and I made it up to about $24k (currently $19k). I'm gonna take out a fair bit as I promised myself I could buy a ridiculous car with a big engine if I took the money for the road tax from poker. I also need to withdraw some for a new TV and various other crap. Might as well enjoy some luxuries to make up for the last 2 months of frustration :)
If I do play over the next few weeks , it'll just be 2 tables where I'm really trying to apply the stuff I pick up from training videos and articles etc. Its really a curse playing too many tables before you're a good player, so my plan is to be able to implement stuff which goes beyond the basics on 2 tables and then hopefully it'll sink in to my thought process and I'll be a much better player on 4-6 tables after that.
When I get back into it properly my main goal is to get enough together for a month in Vegas in the Summer and a maybe a shot at a WSOP-ament or two, which is a very reasonable goal. Obviously next on the list is enough for a new model (like 02-03) 7-series!! Hmm I'm rambling now. Gonna miss this Belgian beer!
All of this means that I'll have very little time for poker over the next while. This suits me fine. My bad run of late culminated on Saturday with me playing 3.5k hands like a complete robot just trying to get unstuck after getting off to a slow start. During the course or my extended downswing, all imagination has completely gone from my play. I just load up 6-8 tables, dont pay any attention to hand reading and wait to run good. The longer this goes on, the more you really forget why you're doing anything. At the end of that session I literally didn't know anymore what hands were good to be cold calling from the blinds vs. certain guys etc...just a total mental block. The auto-pilot thing might be ok if you table select, but of course I just played on any old table waiting to run good.
Anyhows the breakeven stretch is something like 45k hands now which is godawful but that's life. Looking at Leatherass' well it seems that this is possible in the normal run of things though I'm in no way putting it all down to variance. I realise that I'm not very good into the bargain. I ran good all Summer so I can't complain about the year overall. I started with $900 playing 20nl and 50nl and I made it up to about $24k (currently $19k). I'm gonna take out a fair bit as I promised myself I could buy a ridiculous car with a big engine if I took the money for the road tax from poker. I also need to withdraw some for a new TV and various other crap. Might as well enjoy some luxuries to make up for the last 2 months of frustration :)
If I do play over the next few weeks , it'll just be 2 tables where I'm really trying to apply the stuff I pick up from training videos and articles etc. Its really a curse playing too many tables before you're a good player, so my plan is to be able to implement stuff which goes beyond the basics on 2 tables and then hopefully it'll sink in to my thought process and I'll be a much better player on 4-6 tables after that.
When I get back into it properly my main goal is to get enough together for a month in Vegas in the Summer and a maybe a shot at a WSOP-ament or two, which is a very reasonable goal. Obviously next on the list is enough for a new model (like 02-03) 7-series!! Hmm I'm rambling now. Gonna miss this Belgian beer!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Fuck
Title says it all really. Was going along ok for the month...gettin to grips with 400nl then came the disaster as you can see on the graph. I'd say at leasy 1k of the downswing is pure tilt, where I valuetown donks for 2 streets and then they shove the river when the board pairs and I tilt call just to verify they have trips (they do). I really played shit for the last 5k hands and paid for it. Dropped to 200nl there today after dropping 1.2k at 400nl and then got stacked twice with QQ aipf. When it rains it pours obv. Pretty much feel like breaking stuff now and had the usual thoughts of withdrawing the lot. Standard. That'll subside in a few days and I'll start afresh for November and hopefully not spew so much. I might just play 200nl coz I'm so fucking bad and sick of donating at 400nl for now. Now its time for an exceptionally large beer and to find a bit of perspective on the fact that I'm enraged that I 'only' netted $2k (after RB etc) for playing a game on the PC for the month.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
One Orbit of HSNL
I decided to move up (3) levels on Saturday when I saw some complete idiots at 10/20nl. The 3 of them had about $400 max so I bought in for that much. First hand I played it was folded to my SB and I had ATo, and the BB had $100 so easy ship and hold up againstK3s. Next hand is here: http://weaktight.com/451096. I laughed a lot and then sat out when the BB got around to me again, for a profit of about $650. Great fun...must keep an eye out on future Saturday nights.
Today, like a moth at a lightbulb I played cash at B2Bagain and dropped e380 in 450 hands. I'm running 8 buyins below EV there in 7.5k hands and now for sure am not playing there anymore. Doing pretty good on Everest though even after a terribad start to things, the graph is below. Might play a bit tomorrow, then its back to Ireland for the IPO, which I'm lookin forward to. I'll write a report on my run there, however short it may be!
Ciao
Today, like a moth at a lightbulb I played cash at B2Bagain and dropped e380 in 450 hands. I'm running 8 buyins below EV there in 7.5k hands and now for sure am not playing there anymore. Doing pretty good on Everest though even after a terribad start to things, the graph is below. Might play a bit tomorrow, then its back to Ireland for the IPO, which I'm lookin forward to. I'll write a report on my run there, however short it may be!
Ciao
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
End of a Long Month
Tough month. Feel like I ran bad for a LOT of it, but everyone says that when they're not kickin' ass. It contained my epic-est breakeven stretch of my 'career' to date. Obviously because I was struggling, I played the most hands I ever did in a month. 5k hands of 2/4, where I made exactly nothing and ran $1k below EV....standard for me at 2/4 :( 1/2 wasn't great either where I won at 3.3 ptbb over 16.7k hands and the same rate at .50/1 over 3k hands.
Stats look good all the same at 20/15/2.8 with 44% W$WSF, which is a record for me.WSD is at 27% and W$SD is at 56% which are both solid too I think..and yet I'm on my worst stretch in ages...conventional wisdom is wrong. Still 3-betting virtually never which is probably bad, but the way I naturally seem to play...I'm happy to take regulars on under my terms in single raised pots where I think I play better. I should try and do it a little more, but they pay me off on my big hands anyway so why bother! Twice this month aggro guys have gotten in A7 pre-flop against me (both won against my JJ and AK of course).
Bankroll currently stands in the mid 19's. Need to get motoring if I wanna hit my year end goal of 30k. It should be doable, I don't think $3-4k a month is beyond me.
With any luck I'll win the IPO in October and that'll do the trick ;-) I'll write a trip report of it anyway, which should make for more interesting reading than these mundane updates I normally make. It should be funny. I've barely played a hand of live poker in my life, so I hope people don't get too annoyed at my inevitable stream of mistakes.
Bonuses/Tourneys: $1300
Net profit: $3750
Stats look good all the same at 20/15/2.8 with 44% W$WSF, which is a record for me.WSD is at 27% and W$SD is at 56% which are both solid too I think..and yet I'm on my worst stretch in ages...conventional wisdom is wrong. Still 3-betting virtually never which is probably bad, but the way I naturally seem to play...I'm happy to take regulars on under my terms in single raised pots where I think I play better. I should try and do it a little more, but they pay me off on my big hands anyway so why bother! Twice this month aggro guys have gotten in A7 pre-flop against me (both won against my JJ and AK of course).
Bankroll currently stands in the mid 19's. Need to get motoring if I wanna hit my year end goal of 30k. It should be doable, I don't think $3-4k a month is beyond me.
With any luck I'll win the IPO in October and that'll do the trick ;-) I'll write a trip report of it anyway, which should make for more interesting reading than these mundane updates I normally make. It should be funny. I've barely played a hand of live poker in my life, so I hope people don't get too annoyed at my inevitable stream of mistakes.
Winnings for the month: $2450
Bonuses/Tourneys: $1300
Net profit: $3750
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Pretty Sick
Sick in more ways than one. I've been off work the past couple of days with a cold/flu type of thing. Great, I can get some hands in! No. $1700 down in 2k hands, $1200 in all-in EV. That leaves me up an awesome $1150 through play in 18.3k hands for the month. Not really in line with the $4-5k/month I thought I could knock out. I'm not really that bothered.
As I said before, I would like to get together enough to put together a deposit for a house through poker as I'm far too bad at saving to do it in real life, then I'd probably consider the whole venture a success. I suppose that about $40k or so would get the job done. We're gonna rent a place for a year when I get home to Ireland in November so that gives me a bit over a year to get it together (though I'll be taking bit for a holiday next Summer too), so $4-5k a month gets me there, which I think I can manage at $1/$2 if I carry on playing 20k+ a month.
My motivation to move up is pretty low. From $2/$4 up its mostly regs at the tables, and I just don't have the interest in eeking out a slight edge over them getting in 3/4/5 bet wars and dealing with the increased variance. I've worked pretty damn hard to get from $10nl to here in less than a year and I feel like I'm getting to the point now where the extra effort to get better is greater than the reward for gettin there. Most people say 3-4ptbb/100 is very good at 400nl. But if I can beat 200nl for 5 or 6ptbb, play more tables, way over-rolled and have less stress and variance then why not?!
That reminds me, Everest is starting to get annoying. The utterly retarded speed of the software (80hph max) and the top-up feature along with the growing number of decent aggressive regulars makes me wanna move some money elsewhere. I was going to put some on Stars, but a) I dont know if it'd be any better, and b) gettin a large sum of money on there is painful to the max.
Meh.
As I said before, I would like to get together enough to put together a deposit for a house through poker as I'm far too bad at saving to do it in real life, then I'd probably consider the whole venture a success. I suppose that about $40k or so would get the job done. We're gonna rent a place for a year when I get home to Ireland in November so that gives me a bit over a year to get it together (though I'll be taking bit for a holiday next Summer too), so $4-5k a month gets me there, which I think I can manage at $1/$2 if I carry on playing 20k+ a month.
My motivation to move up is pretty low. From $2/$4 up its mostly regs at the tables, and I just don't have the interest in eeking out a slight edge over them getting in 3/4/5 bet wars and dealing with the increased variance. I've worked pretty damn hard to get from $10nl to here in less than a year and I feel like I'm getting to the point now where the extra effort to get better is greater than the reward for gettin there. Most people say 3-4ptbb/100 is very good at 400nl. But if I can beat 200nl for 5 or 6ptbb, play more tables, way over-rolled and have less stress and variance then why not?!
That reminds me, Everest is starting to get annoying. The utterly retarded speed of the software (80hph max) and the top-up feature along with the growing number of decent aggressive regulars makes me wanna move some money elsewhere. I was going to put some on Stars, but a) I dont know if it'd be any better, and b) gettin a large sum of money on there is painful to the max.
Meh.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Wake Me Up When September Ends
So it goes on. Got off to a slow start this month down $1k after 3k hands, but I''ve been on a bit of a heater since and I'm up $1.3k now and Everest gave me an extra bonus which I've cleared about $250 of, then I won $350 in some Betdaq free tourney so that's a total of just shy of $2k for the month, and the bankroll stands at $18k or maybe a shade under.
I'm a joke though. I'm still not happy at $400nl playing nitty coz I'm not happy losing that much at once. That's just ridiculous really...45 buyins and still affected! I suppose I'll get comfortable eventually. As it happens, it doesn't really matter as MSNL on Everest appears to have dried up completely, so I'm left playing $200nl most of the time, which is fine as it lets me keep working on things and ramping up the aggression and exploring new lines vs regulars I have good reads on and the money is pretty good there too.
If I were to set a goal for the month it would be to be over $20k, but goals are silly.
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