A new Dawn

1st of all forgot to say if anyone signed up for the 36% Rakeback deal with Hills on the last post drop me a mail and I'll check if you are set up ok.

The 'Dusk Till Dawn' crew were in St Kitts all decked out in their new branded clothing. For those who don't know DTD is a new poker club that is being built in Nottingham, it's owned by a bloke called Rob Yong. Rob decided a year or two ago that it would be great to build a 'proper' poker club in the UK, and boy does this look like a proper poker club. From looking at the floor plans it's going to be the biggest and the best in Europe. It's also the 1st club in the UK to jump through the hoops with the authorities and actually apply for a licence.

I've followed the progress of the club on the Blonde Forum for the past 12months or so. It's actually quite scary what they have put on the line in terms of the commercial venture. I'd encourage anyone who's not had a look already to take an hour out and read his diary on the Blonde forum it's obvious that Rob is building this club as a poker player for poker players with commercial considerations coming 2nd!



The club is looking to open in April and today sees the launch of the online element. DTD is joining Crypto and has some interesting offerings in terms of promotions aimed at the high end and pro online players. The DTD $$$ club offers a graduated Rakeback scheme for all players capped at a max of 30% gross rakeback for those earning 5000 MPPs on Crypto a month.... about 1k gross rake a month I think.. not the greatest % I know.. but within a month or two this will be as good as it gets on Cypto plus there is added value on two fronts. DTD also allow you to carve up your rakeback and use some of it to buy into major live events as part of the DTD team... now here comes the value....

1: If you cash in the event you will be bought into another event at £5k
2: If you final table you will get £20k of events
3: If you win you receive a £100k sponsorship package from DTD.

This means that any half serious online player will be eating/drinking and playing rake free while playing live at DTD.

Now the value for the tournaments is loaded at the backend I know, you have to cash to get something back... but for the decent players who can go deep its a shot at a great lifestyle... even for just nosing into the cash at one event you get the next one free. It also looks like there will be benefits associated with the club ( club membership benefits and live promos etc) for the big online players as well, it's a good example of the extra value the card rooms are going to have to offer once they all adopt the same rakeback payments for all players. The big plus about Betfair was the way they engaged their player community with Team Betfair etc... DTD looks like it could take this to a new level.

Take a look at the DTD siteand have a read... you can also get a little extra (either bonus or freerolls to be decided) when you enter the bonus code wonky when you download the new online card room from the DTD site.

RIP Rakeback?

Interesting moves are afoot in the online poker world. It would appear that the rooms have had enough of being squeezed and cutting each others throats with higher and higher rake back offers in attempts to lure (or hold onto) the big players. With players playing one room off against another to squeeze a few extra % the average rakeback deal has increased significantly over the past few years... a line in the sand was inevitable sooner or later.

Last week I had an e-mail sourced from the Prima Network, they are capping rakeback across the entire network at 30% gross for all players. Anyone caught offering more than this will be shot at dawn. Further more, affiliates are only allowed to mention rakeback to new signings after they have signed up for the site. So no more dangling carrots. Now I don't play on Prima so not really a problem until it becomes a trend across more networks...errrm....!

A little bird told me about a month ago that Crypto were planning to do a similar cap. Surely not I thought at the time! But it looks like it's going to happen. Apparently, all the Crypto managers had a meeting in St Kitts and it's been agreed that a 30% cap will be applied to all Crypto players early in 2007. From what I was told it's not a 100% done deal yet but looks very likely. For the casual player this is not too much of an issue but if you are raking £8k a month and have a half decent deal at mid 30s% then this is costing you 5K a year... not a massive amount to some high rakers... but it's a WSOP main event buy in and I'd rather have it in my pocket than someone elses.

I've highlighted the benefits of avoiding the rooms that use $ accounts previously , it will be interesting to see where the best value poker room is for UK players once the dust settles with some new poker rooms coming onto the market, the rake changes and the shake up to the US market. What with everyone on Crypto at the same rakeback and BF still struggling to come up with a site that does not give you a migraine and allows you to play more than 5 hands without a disconnect it will be interesting to see what everyone can come up with now to keep their noses ahead of the pack. All the value will be in the promotions the skins run, I'm not talking about $50 bonus, I mean added value in terms of £X rake for an EPT /WSOP package etc.

The deal a group of us did with Hills last month after we jumped from BF was all good value for the player at 36% gross, but may be short lived in light of the news, if anyone wants to get on for a few months before crypto cap it then feel free, clear your cookies and click HERE....

Early exit but everything irie!!

Well St Kitts is fantastic, I managed to bring a faulty plug adaptor and blew up the baby monitor and the laptop but hey… in the Caribbean nothing gets you down. Even a day 1 exit from the main event didn’t dampen the spirits too much. It was a bit of a strange day to be honest. The table I drew was really really tough and I could not hit a flop for about 4hours, AK 4 times and missed everytime and QQ once with an AK flop. Still plenty of play left with 15k starting chips and only 155 runners in a 4 day event and even though the chip stack got down to about 6k I managed to dig in once again and get back up to about 20k by level 6 playing a little on the deserved tight passive image I’d done so well to foster for the 1st 4 hours.

20K was just a touch below ave when I was moved to table one. My 1st impressions were that it was a bit softer (then I spotted a WSOP bracelet on the wrist to the guy to my right! ) won a few then I managed to donk off a few chip with an ill timed move and needed to get busy when I picked up AsAc 1st to act and put my standard raise in. Two callers and I’m liking the 4d 4s 9d flop. Check – Check and last to act bets 3500 into a 6k pot. I tank in my last 11k and he calls with the nut flush draw…. Two diamonds later and its back to the pool for me in about 95th! Again not to worried about the play, get it in favorite and win and I’m sitting OK for day two where anything can happen… just not to be.

The hotel is great, the food is good and WH upgraded us to a suite so it makes life much easier with Jack having a bit of space. I’m about 1k up from the (wild) side action after getting paid in full with quad 8s buy TT!?!?! Me and the Mrs just going to chill for the rest of the week and maybe play a few STTs and a little cash…. Best to take it easy when the rum punch is flowing ;)

Cheers,

Jim

Singapore Report and off to Kitts

Got back on Saturday evening and legged it up to Manchester on Sunday as Michelle had bought us tickets to see The Killers at the Manchester Apollo on Monday… back down to Leamington on the Tuesday to let the guys in for having a new kitchen fitted and start packing for St Kitts …. Head of to Kitts on Thursday 23rd. I think I need to go back to work for a rest. The first few days in Kitts will be strictly R&R.

As for the look back at the Singapore Main event, it was relatively uneventful to be honest all very ABC for most of the time, I got into trouble early on day1. AK on a AKQ flop a fair chunk went in on every street until the river when a J fell…. I just didn’t have him for JT at all but checked the river, he value bet and I called and he shows a fairly disgusting QT!

From then on it was a grind back up from 5k (started with 10k) , I touched 3900 at one point but was not too worried as there was still plenty of play in that stack in the early stages. I worked it up to 15k and then dipped to about 10k as the blinds started to bite a bit, the table raiser made it 2.5k to go and I look down to find AA, it was just a question of when the chips go in, I flat call hoping he catches a piece of the flop and sure enough he bets out when the flop comes Q high… what I didn’t bargain for was the fact that he was holding QQ, I push to his bet and he calls in a instant ..as you do!

I walk away from the table when a collective gasp at the turned Ace has me called back to fight another day. I know I’m going deep from this point.

A little while later and I’m lucky enough to pick up AA again and get action again. A mid stack had pushed to my preflop raise obliged again and I’m somewhat surprised to see Scott Grey push all in behind him, automatic call and its AA v KK (Scott) and AQ. This sees me chipped up for day one in about 10th spot with 68k with 70 of 315 runners returning for day 2.

Day two was spent picking fights with the short stacks and mostly winning. The bubble came and went in a flash… so no repeat of a 4 hour bubble as in Estonia thank god! With about 30 left it was my turn on the TV table next to Tony G, sadly no huge hands on the TV table for me so I will prob end up on the cutting room floor… good fun though.

Eventually went out in 15th after re-raising all in to a Singaporean chap who’d been making some interesting moves all day. I’m hold AJ and more importantly the table ROCK image …. Still he calls with 77 for 80% of his chips. I catch the jack first off the deck but I’m drawing thin as you like when he hits his set on the next card. He finished 2nd for the best part of $300k and I picked up $15k. Better than a kick in the nuts I know but I win the coin flip and I’m on the final table with a shot at paying off the mortgage! It didn't do the confidence any harm...next time!!

Later that evening Rob ended up winning the $500 side event after receiving some very bad news from home, I can honestly say it was the strangest days I've had in a long time. And while the money is no compensation for what happened I hope it sets him and the Mrs up for the next year or two and whatever they may bring!

In St Kitts now, and finally managed to log on… will post an update in next day or two once I drag myself away from the pool. ;o)
Cheers Jim

Singapore Day 2

Out in 15th for about $15k... happy with the way I played and would not change much, but not so happy to miss out on the final table and a shot a being able to pay off the mortgage... will post a few details once I get chance but in the mean time here are a few pics...



Early Day two with Rob looking on.....


Tank in the tank.....



On the TV table :) ....



Tank cashes for 11kUS (18th I think?) , Noseyboy and Tankdad...




Bit crowded in on the final two tables....

More Pics from Day 1

More pics from day 1.....

1 of tank as promised...



Nice Outfit Flushy?!?!?!?!....

Singapore Day 1

Gawd im knackered... anyway just a quicki and some pics of the BF forumites Still very happy to still be in with 70 odd left from 313 starting and above ave chips. Sorry if i miss anyone out or get a name wrong!

Before the kick off... Doob, Tank , Matty , Rob the OEP , Ruru and Dibble



Ken Barlow and Deejay and Gus Hanson..




Matty at the end and Farrer with the nice head gear...




Waheey and Doobs...




Mandyloo and feck knows what sat next to him.. yank fish i was told :)




Pennick giving Tony G the eye on the TV table...




finally Tank stacked up in the biggest game of his life ordering 2 large brandys and 'diet' cokes!?!??!!? Ummm it wont upload... anyway u get the idea...BED! GN!

Singapore!

Well the play hard for the 1st few days in Singa def happened! Sat here in my room with a stinking hangover. Tomorrow is the main event and I’m feeling a bit crap…. Water and OJ today and should be ok though.

The trip has been loads of fun so far, the hummer was entertaining (although the booze they provided was a bit naff) Pic of Rob, Me and Hawko enjoying the ride....




The flight wasn’t too bad and we arrived in Singa on time to be greated by the BF team. The only bad news was that I (and 150 other players) had to swap hotels today due to some ‘over booking’. To be honest it’s probably a good idea considering the state of my head at the moment.

1st night was the BF welcome do few beers then off to Raffles for several Singapore slings. Met a few people who I know from the tables, 350BHP, Mikka plus loads of forumites.

Last night we went out for a meal that Martin Green booked…. Japanese…. So it was sushi and kobi beef all round and much fun was had trying to figure out WTF we’d just eaten. As usual Dubai was on form ordering everything off the menu.




Not played a hand of poker yet. May play a few STTs tonight to warm up!!

Cheers Jim


PS the winner of the 1st annual Singapore Dubai looki likey contests was.....


;)

Sort out the taxi will you...

True to form I've come down with a stinking cold a few days before we are due to fly off to Singapore. Hopefully it will be cleared by the weekend. Hawko and Kirk are coming down to Leamington to stop the night before we fly. Rob (Highstack) was in charge of getting half of Team Singapore Schlong to the heathrow from Leamington Spa... blinded by his new found fortune after his MTT win last week and no doubt egged on by Hawko I came home to find the details of our transport in my mail inbox....







Last I heard hawko was trying to persuade 4 strippers to make the trip with us was busy making sure we had enough bottles of plonk to entertain us on the way down. I can see the bank roll taking a hit on this trip already. I think the best thing to do will be play hard for the 1st few days and work hard for the latter half of the week. At the end of the day this will be the biggest buy in comp I've ever entered. The plan is to take the camera and update the blog every day or so from Singapore. No doubt there will be some entertaining stuff to report on.

Jim

The power of the collective

Well I decided to give BF a go… OMG I can’t believe they managed to get it so wrong. Not only did it have the basic design issues I listed in the last post but there were also problems with cash tables randomly closing down mid game, PLO games paying out to the losing hand and cash outs going walk-a-bout!! BF had such a good reputation and it’s going to take ages to rebuild it now. Real shame.

Anyway this left me and a few other players scrambling around to try and find a decent deal with another poker room. I approached a few rooms on behalf of a number of medium / high rakers I knew and managed to get a decent group deal out of a very reputable crypto skin who also offer £ accounts so no nasty exchange rates to deal with.

The deal included a seat in a major event for the mega rakers (and I mean MEGA) and very good % gross RB deal, in fact about as good as I’ve seen for a £ based Uk account. Just shows what you can do if you make a few calls and have a few people together. I’m not going to spam it on here cos it was aimed at people who rake a half decent amount a month and I don’t want to dilute it for everyone.. but drop me a mail if you a regular player and want the details.

On a side note I noticed last night that BF had me listed in the market for the APT. Mum will be sooo impressed! Congrats to Rob (Highstack) for his big win on BF this week… Good timing !! :o)

Good Luck..

Jim

Times they are a changin!

Today sees the launch of the new BF stand alone site. They have split from Crypto and going it alone. I had an advanced look at the new site last week for a freeroll tournie. I have to say I think BF have got it wrong here. The site looks ok but suffers from some fundamental flaws. For a start I will not play on a site where there are no hand histories stored, not only does this mean I can't use poker tracker but it also means I've got no easy means of auditing monthly progress.. hands played etc.

The screen format is also an issue. I do most of my 'work' laying on my arse on the sofa playing on the laptop and the screen resolution will only support two tables max on the new BF site as it does not allow you to overlap tables. 90% of the time I'm playing on 3 tables so I'm dropping 30% of my productivity by making the move. There are a few other niggles as well, the interface needs some work and it's a pain in the arse to try and raise by a specific amount. Software aside, I have had no doubts that BF now offer one of the best 'poker' packages to the serious UK player. Their promotions, support , RB deals and general sense of community are second to none. I also do genuinely believe that BF listen to their customers and will be updating the new site as soon as possible to correct these problems. I come from a business IT background and it's all too easy to say BF should have put these changes in before they launched the site. I think they would have liked to but I'm sure that things like severance notice with Crypto were also driving the deadlines and what they could achieve in the timeframe. It's also a concern that if they rush the changes in then the system stablility will be comprimised. They have some nice promos to keep people sweet as well but a few hundred quid is not going to swing the issue .... for the time being I can not play on this site.... at the end of the day it's business!

The problem I've got now is where do I play? The Mrs has hijacked my Hills account, it will be interesting to watch the player liquidity levels on Crytpo over the next few weeks to see how much the BF move hits them.. the big fear is that there will not be enough players to support a decent number of cash games on either site. This would be a disaster... it's my livelihood that's being messed around with here!! Add to the mix the turmoil caused by the Gambling bill in the US and it makes for interesting times ahead!

On a happy side note I played a £200 six pack on Friday... i never play sixpacks ! But I played like a looney in the latter stages and won, heads up i got it in with A8 (my lucky heads up hand) vs AJ and spiked two pair on the river! Whoohooo!

A nice problem to have

Keeping a decent P&L account and a careful eye on my bankroll is all well and good. But these sat wins have left me with a small dilemma. How do I account for a $8k package win on the P&L spreadsheet?

Do I stick the full value down in the + column? What happens if I don't cash? Do I then take it out? I don't want a big $11k loss in November because I didn't cash in Singapore or St Kitts do I? I could wait and just stick down any concrete returns from the events? But I want some recognition for what I've won each month... it's nice to look back and the end of each month/year and review the final figure, it gives me a warm glow... usually!!

And then what about all the odds and sods that come with the packages, the spending money, the flight money, the hotel money!?! Do I account for that or not? I'm guessing not but come the end of the year I will have won $20k+ worth of sats and could end up showing nothing for it on the balance sheet. That can't be right ,can it? If I were not taking the family to Kitts then I'd have to fork out a few £K on a holiday from savings and surely that saving should be recognised in some way? And what about the extra money I spend while on the trips on beer, stuffed donkeys and bottles of XO in duty free? .... does that come out of the poker roll or my (joint!!) current account !? Dunno!

I'm starting to see why the guys who play live a lot have such trouble drawing a line between poker bank roll and day to day living money to pay the bills/buy dinner with. I know… It's a nice problem to have, but feel free to let me know if you have a solution.

Another day... another seat!

Well last week was interesting! Lots of cash games with some moderate success and two tournaments, the 1st being a freeroll to the BFAPT in Singapore in November and the second being another BFAPT satellite using 4000mpps (reward points on crypto) to buyin. I've got more MPPs that I know what to do with so I thought why not?!

As with the previous weeks WH Grandprix I was feeling pretty confident in the freeroll and building up a steady stack, I look down to see AdKd and make a reasonable raise from an early position with 1 caller .

Flop comes 4d 9d 8d ... lovely! I lead off and get raised..lovely...i flat call... turn Jd .... I lead off with a modest bet and he calls... river As .... all the money goes in and he flips Jd7d for a turned straight flush!!!! LOVELY


Sunday comes along and there are about 80-90 runners in the MPP tournie all chasing 2 seats. It's not a freeroll as such and people have to play a bit to get 4k MPPs so there were a lot of familiar names in the line up and not too many muppets.

I tick over nicely without looking at the tournament window and after an hour or two I see the field has halved and I'm mid table. Again, i'm feeling pretty good about my play and only took one serious hit for about 40% of my chips when I pushed with a nut flush draw into a short stack who'd already flopped a full house and rivered quads... oops!

It didn't take long to recover and I'm sitting ok with 20 runners left, as one or two more get picked off I'm starting to dwindle a little in chips and decide it's time to move up a few gears... a double up with KK vs AQ helps me along a little but I'm still a little short. I pick up the monster that is T3os in the SB. Everyone folds to me and I push in for 9k to pick up the 2k blinds and antes... but oh no the BB whos also playing 9k decides that this is the time to make a stand and calls with A6!!!! Shocking call imo and he gets what is deserved with a 3 on the flop and a 3 on the river.

I work it up to an above average 26k by the time the final talbe is underway. I'm in the SB and pick up TT ... Mavis is on the button playing 13k and raises to 3k.... I push in (again!! ;o) ) and Mavis dwells for a second or two and makes call with his tournament life on the line with A8os! No help for mavo and im sitting pretty with 40k in chips (about 160k in play and 8 left) , again I don't like this call at all.

I decide to sit tight for a while and let the short stacks donk it out , I also went pretty card dead at the same time... about 6 orbits go by and I don't find a card. Funds are getting towards 30k and I've got Deejay on MSN thinking I'm starting to bottle it and dare not play a hand... as if!?

A Rag raise from early position looking for some respect and I can't call an all in for 18k... down to 25k. A bit of up and down and I'm still on about 30k with 4 players left.... a shortie pushes for 10k on my BB and I've got 2.5k in there already and make the call with pocket 6s. KT is shown and 5 cards later he’s out and it's 3 handed.

I'm on 40k, the guy to my left is on 90k and to his left 30k. This remains as the status quo for a long time, I'm struggling to get at the shorties BB as I can't afford to take the big stack on with a marginal hand. As such I give a lot of my SBs to the big stack uncontested, this is fine as the shortie is getting hammered on his BB and he wasn't attacking my BB much as I'd moved over the top a few times. The net result was I was bleeding chips... but he was bleeding them faster.

This was all fine and dandy until the big stack gifts him a double up and the situation is reversed and I'm on 25k and hes on 37k!! Time to find that gear again and before long i'm on 35k and he's on about 30k with the blinds starting to hit hard at 4.5k every 3 handed orbit.

It's wasn't going to be long until all the chips were in.... I look down to see Ad8d ... now I won the Vegas sat with A8 , i won the CPC seat with A8, karma was calling an I stick them from the button on the shorties BB. He calls in a flash and turns over AKos .... ooooops!

--- FLOP ----- [2d 2h Qc]
Paired board gives me a small life line!

----- TURN ----- [Qd]
Shocking turn for him..splits the pot unless he catches one of two aces or two kings, but I've still got 12 outs to win it...

----- RIVER -----][Td]
Rivers me a nut flush and a $8k seat to the BFAPT.... Had to feel for the chap! Ridding my luck a lot in this one I know, but fortune favors the brave!

Results in these sats are now getting silly.




Cheers,

Jim

‘Bangbus is not a clueless Twat’

I think I’ve had just about the most frustrating weekend of poker I’ve ever had, we had nothing planned for the weekend so I decided to catch up and play some hands. 5000 hands and £300,000 worth of pots later and I was £20 down on the BF account!

To be honest I’m relatively happy. There were some shocking suck outs and I still draw even so I can’t be playing that bad.. and I only tilted once (does not happen too often)

I’d been banging my head against a brick wall for a few hours when the following hand comes up..

dealt to DonkeyJim [6s 7s]
pescados: folds
PokaHunta: calls £5
Bangbus2: raises to £20
mag-c: folds
Isomerkii: folds
DonkeyJim: calls £15
PokaHunta: calls £15
----- FLOP ----- [6d 7h Ks]
DonkeyJim: checks
PokaHunta: checks
Bangbus2: checks
----- TURN ----- [6d 7h Ks][3s]
DonkeyJim: checks
PokaHunta: bets £50
Bangbus2: folds
DonkeyJim: raises to £216 and is all-in
PokaHunta: calls £166

He flips K5os!!!!

Of course the 4 gutshot rivers… well that was it! Bangbus2 makes some comment about ‘Should not have called the raise anyway’ …. I thought it was aimed at me and I went nuts… on reflection I think he was taking about Hunta, but I threw my toys big style. I told Bangbus I’d name this weeks blog entry ‘Bangbus is a clueless Twat’ …sorry Bangbus. It was a small pot as I’d not reloaded , but sometimes the pot does not matter.

Pot of the weekend was running AA into Mikka with KK…nice to see £1200 moving back in my direction. She seems to be bulldozing half the players on 2/5 5/10 at the moment.

With me now playing the on Betfair, the Mrs is using the Hills account, she’s got about £400 in there, so me nicking £110 to play the WillHill grand prix sat was out of the question. I could not be arsed trying to move money around so I decided to enter the poxy £13 sat and have it running in the background. 28 runners and 2 seats in the £110 entry sat on the sunday…. I get sucked out when someone catches a gutshot in 3rd place but still pick up £50 for the Mrs… I threw another tant and jumped back into the 22:15 £13 sat. This time it had 30 odd runners and an added seat… 4 go through and I win it easily. I’m starting to think that cash games are not my true calling.

Sunday night arrives and I make a cracking start in the £110 sat. Theres 2 x 6k seats up for grabs in the WH GrandPrix and the chance to make a total arse of yourself on the TV. I double up at the end of round 1 when some bets the flush draw into my 2pair and misses.

Level 3 and I’m sitting well on 5.5k I call a big raise with 99 in a 3 way pot. Flop comes

K 9 T ….

Lots of raising and re-raising and I’m all in heads up against another bigstack who I just have covered…. He flips AK os and I’m on my way to a final table with a big chip stack…. That is until the turn brings another Ten….and the river a King.

As you can imagine not impressed. I managed to spin a few hundred chips into 2k but was well behind the pace at that point. Running AQ into AA was a sorry end to the proceedings.

Needless to say the lucky sod (Jeff Kimber) who sucked out went onto win it… I checked him out on the hendon mob player database and he's had a few results .. hairy arms though! I told him that he had to tell the TV interview how fucking lucky he was in the sat and if it wasn’t for me he’d be BFH…wonder if he will??

Who needs to pay for a family holiday?

Well after the ear chewing I got from a few people at the Betfair forum game (hi to those who I met by the way) and a few comments on the blog I figured it was about time to update and try to keep regular updates coming, I'll try for 2-3 a month. If truth be known I've just been so bloody busy recently, playing poker for a living is all well and good until living gets in the way of playing poker. The baby makes it tough to get a 'decent session' in ... of poker that is! We've been away on holiday and we are currently in the process of moving house. All this puts the squeeze on the number of hands I can play in a month. From running at 30,000-40,000 hands a month I'm lucky if I can hit 15000 at the moment.

Things have been running ok. At the end of July I accidentally entered a sat for the CPC in St Kitts on Hills, I could have sworn it was an added package, but it turned out to be 1 package guaranteed. 40 players in there meant that there was little or no value what so ever... but that does not really matter if you win it does it? So come November its off to St Kitts with all the family tagging along for the ride. This also has the plus side of not having to pay out for a family hols that we were due, I asked Shell if I could add the 5K saved from the savings to my bank roll... needless to say, it's not going to happen ;)

Almost 100% of my play now is on the Betfair account, I put together a team for the BFAPT Team Rake promo and 'Team Singapore Schlong' (dont ask!) is currently winning by the narrowest of margins. Basically for every 19k we rake we get one $8k seat and travel to Singapore. 10k gets a travel package only and there's a 5k bonus for the team who rakes the most. At the moment it looks like we will hit the £100k rake mark (omg, thats a lot of rake!!) by the time the promo ends on Oct 21st. I'm currently a touch behind the curve in my rake target but one or two people who joined have donated their rake to me (they don't want to go and owed me one) so their rake should get me a package all being well.

The bank roll is recovering to a healthy state slowly but surely I'd still flag it as 'AMBER' but it's just about at a level where I can 3 table £2/5 NL again, but I still need to keep and eye on things. While the cash so far this year has not been the best (it's still +ive but those two shocking months put a big hole in my annual profit) I've been really pleased with the target to attend some big events, Tallin, Vegas (ok I cashed the ticket!) , St Kitts and maybe Singapore is a pretty decent return considering you can count the satalittes I've entered on two hands. Think the long/mid term plan is to stay working part time, keep the cash ticking over and look to hit a little luck in one of these big events and go deep. It may take 3 months or 10 years but as long as I can get into a few a year at no or little cost to the bank roll then I'm free rolling for an achievable (well i think so!) and significant payout.... as with most things poker, a little patience goes a long way.

Good Luck and take care..

Jim

Doing a Hawko

It’s been a while since I posted…. But I’ve not been doing too bad so I thought its about time I gave an update a la hawko ;) To be honest had my hands full with the little man. Hardly played a hand in the 1st few weeks of June and then started playing a little and showed a tidy £2k profit for not many hands played at all.

I’ve mainly been playing £1/2 NL … now not so long ago I’d have laughed at the idea of playing at these lowly limits, but I’ve quite enjoyed it! There’s always a choice of games, you invariably get paid with a hand, the average pots are not a million miles away from the ave pots on 2/5 (which is looking dead on crypto over the past month or so) and it’s populated with total muppets !

Towards the end of June I started to play a bit more and at the moment I’m trying to get at least 5000 hands a week in.

A few weeks ago the invite came through from BF to play in the WSOP 7k package freeroll. This was what I got for the aborted attempt to rake qualify for a full package on betfair. I had £0 in my BF account but logged on and was surprised to see only 12 people show up (from 31 invited) to play for 2 packages! I think the fact that the game was at 6:30pm and BF only gave us 24hrs notice had something to do with the poor show… but others loss is my gain. Perhaps I was a little hasty in condemning the BF account as a cursed account … cos I won the package. After discussion with BF I opted to take the cash as opposed to the trip and after shelling out £500 to 3rd after a 'bit of business' showed a nice profit of £3300 for 90mins effort.

A half decent few weeks on the cash tables to boot and my bare bones bank roll of £1k form a month or two ago is flying toward the £10k mark and I’ve hardly played! I’m trying to remember what all the fuss was about… maybe less is more .. who knows? Anyway I’m starting to enjoy it again and considering what to do next. Also managed a minor cash at duff home game last week… Nice to meet all the BF forum nutters.

BF have finally got their act together and put together a competitive GROSS rake package… I think this puts them at the front of the pack now. Just hope the room split from crypto does not destroy the player equity of both sites. I think I’m going to give the cursed account another shot.

BF have also launched a team rake promo for the Betfair Asian Poker Tour… If any BF high rakers fancy teaming up then let me know sooner rather than later.

Cheers,

Jim

Jack High!

Jack Joseph decided to pitch up two weeks overdue...mum and son both fine and I'm up to my neck in nappies! If I ever get time for another hand of poker it will be miricle!

Take it easy

It’s been good to have a break. For the past two weeks I’ve hardly played poker. I took the decision to cash all but £1k of the bank roll out into savings and get back to basics. In May I’ve played about 4000 hands so far all at £1/2NL. Normally, I’ve have played about 4 times this many at higher levels.

The shocking run I’d had on the Betfair account seems to have come to an end. I’ve been using the Hills account as I’ve no chance of hitting the WSOP package with the number of hands I’m playing at the moment and WH account is on a better rake deal.

Since the change I’ve even managed to suck a few people out! You know your luck has changed when you call and all in from a short(ish) stack with JK on a J 6 4 flop … he flips 66 and I hit runner runner to make a jacks over kings. Also had an amusing hand this morning and was paid in full after calling a big preflop re-raise with 5s6s only to see a flop of 4s 7s 8s. The only mildy annoying thing is that these are for £100-£200 pots… not the £500-£1000 pots I was getting killed on in March/April. But so far so good, it will be interesting to see if I can rebuild a decent size BR from £1k, it’s already over £2k with no real effort at all… if I keep things simple and ticking over there would be no money pressure to go back to work full time.

I’d like to thank everyone for their support, both in the comments and the people who’ve had a chat on MSN. Rob suggested I have a dabble in a few MTTs and having not played any for a while I thought it would be fun to have a stab at some of the smaller ones… managed a 3rd place at my 1st attempt with 150 runners, it was only a £20 buy in but I really enjoyed it so may well play a few more. Tonight is the Virgin Poker bloggers free roll for a $1500 WSOP seat, I’ve just had a look at the structure and it could be a long slog for one seat!! 70 runners, 2500 starting chips, 15min levels and a 10-20 start for the blinds!

Time for a change

Not written for a few weeks… I guess I’ve been suffering from bad beat blues. The first few days in April were ok but since then it’s been pretty abysmal. I’ve not lost massive amounts as I had reduced the stakes well down. But the beats had been fairly shocking, it seemed like almost every day I would be taking a massive hit or two and struggling to recover. I would be getting it in on a 554 flop holding 54 only to be called by an over pair and end up losing. When I have QQ and the flop comes QJJ the guy has jacks. When I hit middle set he rivers a higher set, it goes in on a AK flop holding AK and he’s been slow rolling AA etc etc etc.

Now taking hits like this day after day, week after week is bearable if you pick up the odd pot as well. But it seems that the gods were not for letting this happen. I’d hold AA vs his AK and flop would come As Ks Js 2s Tc !! This has happened 3 times in a week!

The trouble with a run like this is that it impacts your ability to play normally. After a while you start to see ghosts and become worried about playing the nuts on the turn in case the river does you. You become a calling station, and still end up getting your money in, but on the opponents terms and not your own. As things start to spiral the cards dry up and you can’t find your way into a pot, when you do pick up AKs on a King high flop you cling to it and overplay it walking slap bang into matey boy with bottom two pair. It short you end up playing like a total twat and this simply compounds the miserable run even further.

Things came to a head this week when after a brief resurgence I managed to blow 5 buy ins at £ 1 / 2 NL … It does not get much worse than this, if you are doing your nuts at this level then something is wrong! Afterwards I sat down and reflected. I came across a recent post on Dpommos blog where he quotes someone else’s mantra about recovering from a downward spiral and being a profitable poker player. At the end of the piece there is a sentence that resonated with me.

From time to time I will check my play and if I’m playing badly I will stop playing.

I’m playing badly… so I’ve decided to stop playing. I could go on but I’m sure in this frame of mind I’d dump the rest. So I’m banking it in the baby fund for security, Shell has just finished work for 9 months and now’s not the time to be living on the edge. I’m probably going to go back to work full time.

Poker has always been fun, but the past two months have been no fun at all. To compound this I’ve been playing more and more for the WSOP promo (shame cos I’m not far off on course for it… if anyone fancies taking over the account mail me and we can maybe talk) , over the past few years it’s gradually taken more and more of my time up, ive put on a few pounds and let my social life slip a little. Considering I’m going to be a dad in the next few weeks, now seems as good a time as any to claim my life back.

You could say that but for a small loosing run I’d still be happy playing every waking hour and I guess you would be right, but things have a funny way of working out and in some ways I’m glad to have made this decision. Poker has been good to me, I’ve made a lot of money over the past few years, I guess that’s more than most can say. It was good while it lasted and while I have more discipline than most it obviously is not enough.

I may well continue playing some casual poker for fun… With FUN being the operative word. I’ll probably keep the blog updated once every few weeks of so as well.

Do you really want to be playing full time when you are 80?

March is over, and I don’t mind admitting I’m glad to see the back of it. It’s the 1st losing month I’ve had for a while, so I suppose one was due sooner or later. I’ve been playing more $2/5 in the last week and so far so good, I’ve yet to post a losing day in April. The end of March was quite half decent as well, a nice little run and some good news from Mr William Hill in the form of a $1k consolation for hitting the bubble in Tallinn… very generous and again a big pat on the back for Hills for looking after their clients.

I used some of the money from Hills to enter the $600K on Crypto on Sunday, I was feeling a degree under the weather and should have stayed in bed. I never really got going in all honesty and pushed all in pre flop for my last 1000 chips with AKs, a 5k stack made a call with 99 and that was me heading for an early bath. I was really glad to see Hawko make the final table, I know he’s been having a tough time the last few months and $30k payout is just what he needed!

I’ve been keeping a little graph on my progress towards the Betfair WSOP rake promo. So far so good, up to the 31st March I’d generated about £9k… quite scary when you think about it! This just about puts me on track for the full $15k WSOP package (need £28k rake required by 25th June) however with me playing more $2/5 and the baby due in May I may well have to lower my sights to one of the lesser packages that BF are offering… £20k rake gets you a $4k package and £24k rake gets a $8k package. We’ll see how it goes.


Pensions seem to be in the news a lot at the moment, so I thought it apt to do a little piece. I can see you all stretching for the link to Pommo's blog already!!

If you are playing poker for fun or side by side with a full time job then hopefully you do not need to worry about providing a pension from your poker funds because you will already have a great one sorted out with your work?? Yes??

If however you are working as a poker professional then it is something you really, really need to be concerned about. We’ve all seen the figures on the TV, most people with a normal job can not be arsed sorting out a decent pension so how can a poker pro sort one out?

It’s more a case of how can a poker pro (or anyone else for that matter) not afford to sort one out!! Poker = job, and while I enjoy the work and I will probably always play to some extent until my last days, but I really don’t want to be sat there multitabling 8hrs a day when I’m 75.

With poker earnings not being subject to UK income tax , the tax implications of pensions skew things a little. It probably does not make any sense to set up a traditional pension. The whole advantage of a traditional pension is that you don’t pay tax on the funds when you pay into the pension. If you are not paying tax on the income anyway the advantage is lost. Plus you are restricted in how you can spend the fund, you have to buy an annuity with the option to take a lump sum tax free.

If you are still working part time then it makes sense to put as much of your taxable pay from the job into a pension scheme, this maximises the tax benefits and allows you to retire at a half decent age! This is currently what I do.

If you are full time poker then there are a number of options, you can do worse than stick it all into an equity ISA, you can put several thousand pounds per annum into an equity ISA and all earnings from them are TAX free and not subject to capital gains tax. You also have the freedom to do exactly what you want with the money, although this could be disadvantage if you go through a bit of a lean streak and are tempted to dip in! You need to pick your funds with care as they are subject to the ups and down of the stock exchanges…. but then so is your run of the mill company pension.

These are just my musings, please don’t take them as gospel!! I hope they have given some of you food for thought though. Please feel free to comment if you have any ideas or have been looking at some of the points I’ve covered. Before you take any action I would also recommend seeking the advice of personal financial advisor/ accountant.

For all you 20 somethings who keep putting thinking about things like this off, I’ll leave you with this passing thought.....


If you are 30 years old and wish to retire at 65 with a pension of £23000 per annum (todays prices) then you need to be saving £1000 per month from now on in a private pension!

Live and kicking (myself even harder!)

There’s a good reason why I don’t play many tournaments…

You may have to stick with me on this it could be a long one. After the arrival in Tallinn on the Friday there was a 500euro comp in the evening. It kicked off at 5pm but I decided to catch up on some sleep in the afternoon. If I woke up before 5pm I’d play if I didn’t I would hit the cash tables / single table tournaments in the evening.

I woke up at 9pm and headed down to check the action. Apparently the cash games were getting raked to death… up to £15 in some pots and run in Estonian Krons (it’s a hard enough working out pot odds without having to do a currency exchange as well)

I decided to play a few single table games and relax before the main even. The STTs were friendly and most were kicking off for about £50 with 10 runners.

I lost the first one with a stupid move, by the time the 2nd one got going quite a few players were out of the 500 tournament and we were joined by two of the Hills sponsored pros (Julian Thew and Steve Vladar) a few locals and a few scandies and Brits. I chopped the 1st one with a local when 50/50 in chips (he had to go apparently and with the half the locals in there having mob connections I was in no mood to argue!), it was interesting only in the fact that I got down to 3 handed without having to show a hand, for some reason I was getting respect. The 3rd one I won as well and in the 4th I cashed in 3rd place. So far so good, it was good to meet a few people and have a chat with Julian Thew… nice chap!


A decent nights sleep and I was ready to go for the main event! It was looking pretty well set up for my game… hour levels, 63 runners , 15000 starting chips and with William Hill adding 25k we were playing for 151,000 euros with a final table of 9 getting paid. There was the expected invasion of Scandies, a few internationals and locals,and about 15 Brits. Hills are obviously targeting the Scandinavian market at the moment and deserve credit for adding the 25k.

My table looked ok. I had Steve Vladar two to my left and having played with him for a few hours the night before and seen him play on TV a few times I was happy have known player near by. Also on there for a short time was Matt Tyler who had a finger in every pot going until he was moved.

1st hand and I’m not off to the greatest start. I pick up AJ and put a raise in I get a couple of callers including Mr Vladar. Great flop for me … Jd with two rag hearts. I decide to lead off with a mid pot bet and get raised by SV, this chases everyone else out of the pot and I flat call. I thought about a re-raise but I know he’s very tight, and I’m little worried he’s got the over-pair or hit his set. Turn is a black rag and I check he bets about 1300 into the 2000 pot. The one place I didn’t put him was the flush draw, so I call and decide there and then that if the 3rd heart drops I’m betting it after I’ve checked the turn… The heart comes on the river and I lead off with a 2000 bet and he thinks for a few seconds and calls showing JhTh flush.. not the best of starts and 4500 down.

This changed the game plan a little, as I could not really afford to take another big hit, so it was batten down the hatches see if I could grind it up again. I then go card dead for a long time, picking up the odd pot here and there but drifting down to about 8-9k by the start of level 4.

I then pick up 44 in a pot with 4 limpers, flops comes 4 K Q. I fire a small bet in looking for a bite and sure enough one of the other three has hit something and puts a raise in. I smooth call. Turn comes an ace, and I stick a mid sized bet in and he flat calls. OK he’s on K rag. River is a great card for me, another K. I bet out and he flat calls and mucks showing a king. Back up to about 14k.

I then limp with Ah3h and call a small raise from Steve Vladar. Flop comes 3 3 J, I lead off and get the raise from SV. At the moment I’ve got him on AJ and I think I’m going to get paid in full. I flat call his raise, turn another J !! Bugger! I check and look up to see him checking and looking like he’s lost the winning lotto ticket. Crafty sod had the Jack beat and has QQ, KK, AA. I stick a little value bet in on the river and he shakes his head and folds. I asked him in the break if I got lucky with that jack and he said yes I had the jack beat. I’m starting to enjoy myself!

Things go quiet through levels 5 and 6 and I pick up a few chips here and there. I’m up to about 20k when I get moved to a much tougher table. Within a few hands it’s fairly obvious that there are several scandie ‘at-it’ merchants who are re-raising with rags every other hand. I’m safe in chips and keep my head down until I get a better feel for the table picking up the odd pot here and there to keep my nose in front. The scandie to my right was all over my blinds and I was looking for a spot to take him on. That came when everyone folded to his SB and he raises to 1.2k, I’m 99% sure he is at it and re-raise him to 4.5k playing 5h6h, I’m a bit worried when he calls but when the flop comes 5d 8h 4h I’m over the moon.

He pushes all in for 24k and has me covered… I’m not laying that down, I think I’m already in front with the 5 to be honest but even if hes on AA I’ve still got 17 outs twice to improve. With 10k in the pot and I stick ‘em in. Sure enough he sighs and flips Q7os. Just to rub it in a bit the river is the 7 making his over pair and my gutshot straight.

I get moved again they announce that play will finish ahead of schedule in 2hours time. The new table was again a tough one with lots of scandies. Including one hyper aggressive chap in a suit (who I later found out was Ken Lennard) who was two to my right on my BB. I had Steve (another Hills qualifier) on my SB and it wasn’t to long before we locked horns. I re-raise him with KK and he calls… the flop comes 6 7 T (two clubs) and he pushes all in… again he has me covered and I have a think, I’m 50/50 on the call, one of my Kings is a club…and my calling station instinct kicks in. He says “oh shit!” turning over two total rags that just about give him an up and down draw… 4 8 !! He does not catch his straight and I’m up to 60k ish.


I bleed off 15k to Ken Lennard when I call his 'button steal' with A9s flop comes T high and I bet after his check and he pushes all in.... it was only 17k more to me to call but I fold… if I lose it I’m back in the shit with 20odd thousand.

There’s only about 40mins of play left in the day and I tell myself once more not to do anything silly. Steve Vladar is now again to my left and has not played a hand for about 2 hours slowly bleeding off his chips. He’s playing about 28k and I’m on about 47k. It’s all fold to my SB and I wake up with JJ and put my normal raise in. He pushes forward for all his stack and I’ve got a decision to make.

Ok, I know he’s tight so he’s probably got a hand. I also know he’s a half decent player and if he’s not played a hand for ages and is getting low on chips then he needs to get paid. If he’s got AA KK (maybe QQ) he has to gamble and let me see a flop in order to get paid. So it’s not AA KK … that leaves me with mid pocket pair or AK/AQ. If it a mid pair I’m miles in front, if its AQ/AK I’m favourite and I’ve got chips in the pot, if it’s QQ I’m still in the game 20k or so left if I lose it… CALL!

He flips AK and picks up an extra two outs on a Q T Rag flop… another Rag and another Q seals his fate and I’m up to about 80K. Play finished shortly after and I’m happy to see that there is no massive chip leader… but 3 of us on 80K!!


DAY2

22 returned for day two, the average stack was 40k, so I was very happy. There were a few short stacks and being scandies they were not hanging around. The starting requirements for a push from these guys was not high and I called a 15k all in preflop with AsJs and he flips AQos, we both catch our kicker but no more help and I take an early hit.

Decided to be patient and find a spot to take on one or two of the guys who were getting desperate. I didn’t have to wait long and I raise with KK and find action from a mid stack who pushes all in with AKos… No help for him and I’m up to about 100k.

We are down to about 15 when all fold to my SB. I raise with A6suited and get the call. The flop comes A 6 Q. I put in a probe bet and he takes the bate and pushes all in, I beat him to the pot and another 40k comes my way after he flips JT!

It then took a while to get down to 11 players. It was tough to find a spot with Ken Lennard still raising a lot and playing his flops pretty well. I did take him on once or twice and I think the score was probably 2-1 to him.

The play went on and on and the blinds steadily rising started to bite into my stack as I dwindled down towards 100k and was pretty much card dead. Finally the 11th player went and we were hand for hand on the bubble. There were no really short stacks but the blinds were putting pressure on everyone. Play went on and on and on! I must have watched about 5 all in races where the short stack could have easily gone out, Matt Tyler got very lucky when his tournament was on the line when he pushed with TT and was called by QQ. He caught a ten on the flop and it was to prove costly for me.

I really needed to start playing some hands but short of re-raising with total trash I was drifting into trouble. I picked up A9 and put my standard raise in and get re-raised all in. I did the same with KK and everyone folds! The guy to my left is getting into a little trouble on 35k and I’m on about 85k. All fold to me on the SB and I push in with 83os looking to pick up the 9k blinds and 2500 in antes. I think he’s got enough to fold on the bubble, especially as there are shorter stacks on the other table. Unless ,of course, has a monster… sods law being what it is… he calls with AK, and I’m relieved to have live cards but he picks the pot up with A high.

This leaves me around the 50k mark and in the shit along with 3-4 other players. I need to find a spot urgently with it costing 11500 every 5 handed round as we had been playing on the bubble for what must have been 2 hours. I push with AJ and all fold, a few more races on the other table can’t give us a bubble boy! All fold to my BB and then I have to give one up to a raise. I’m still hanging in there with 35-50k.

I then pick up TT under the gun. No way on Gods earth am I passing! ALL IN! My mate Ken calls and flips AQos… the poker gods waste no time is putting me out of my misery with a Q on the flop and I’m out in 10th, 9th place paid 4.5K.

With so much bubble play it did not take long for players to fly out on the final table. Matt went deep with a 4th place finish and Ken L continued his run of good fortune and good play out drawing AQ with A4 on the river to seal the critical pot of the final stages and form there went forward to win it taking 55k.


Needless to say… I’m a bit gutted! The money is not the end of the world but missing the chance to get interviewed by Rhowena Colclough on the TV is the real sickner :o)

Ken L came and had a word with me after and told me I played too tight on the bubble. He’s right. I just could not believe it was to last 2 hours combined with the fact I was pretty much card dead for that time.

As you can imagine I’ve been replaying things over and over in my head seeing where it went tits up. Other than trying to bluff some pots on the bubble with trash (which I did once or twice) I’m not sure, I probably need to take a look at this area of my game. Watching that man Mr Lennard has given me some food for though.

Taking the positives from the weekend… I finished about a £1k up and it was great fun.. and I’ve got a William Hills cap! I met some great people… big hello to Gav, Steve, Jake , Julian etc.

I just need to put it behind me and look forward. After the Broadway and Tallinn it’s given me some confidence that I can go deep along with some of the best players in Europe. But there is still room for a massive improvement especially in one or two areas!


As for the reason I don’t play many tournaments…I’ve forgotten already! ;o)

Good luck
Jim

Tallinn bound

I’m starting writing this on the plane out to Estonia. Despite Robs advice I’ve decided to travel with laptop and plan to do one or two updates and maybe a couple of pics while I’m out there.

It’s not been the best preparation so far! I got to the hotel at Stansted at midnight and had the alarm set for 5am after a fitful sleep. I also managed to leave my contact lens box at home and had to sleep in them, my eyes are like piss holes in the snow at the moment.

Any thoughts of sleep on the plane were soon scuppered as just behind me is a group of lads on a stag do. Most of them are ok but in amongst them is the MOST ANOYING COCKNEY I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting in my entire life. He reminds me of a cross between two Fast Show characters, Colin the annoying office prankster with the voice and laugh (every 30 seconds) of Arthur the not very funny old time music hall comedian. He’s just offered the air hostess his passport in exchange for another round of beers, I encouraged her to take his offer on two counts, the first being with any luck the Estonian police would subject him to a rubber glove job if he pitched up without his passport and secondly we would not have to put up with him on the way home.

It’s good to get a break away from March. I can’t remember a time when I ran as bad as I have been doing. Things have perked up a little in the last few days but prior to that it was scary. I’ve always laughed when people talk about golden accounts but I’m starting to believe it! I switched to Betfair from Hills for the WSOP promo towards the end of Feb and ever since its been 3 steps back and one step forward. I’ve had some shocking beats, set over set more times than I can count and everytime I hit a decent flop the turn and river seems to deliver 4 to a flush or straight. I could probably bore you with about 60 such hands but I won’t.

Having said all that the bank roll is a touch bruised but far from knackered and things have definitely been on the up the past few days. I plan to enjoy the weekend in Tallinn and come back refreshed. I may well drop a gear and beat up the lower NL tables for a week or so.

Good Luck,

Jim

Perceptions

It’s been quite and amusing 10 days since my last post. A number of the regular players from £2/5 drop in here now and catch up on the blog. The last entry was a post about losing months and the damage they do to your average earnings, it was prompted by a losing week. Quite a few people have taken this as some indicator that all is not well at Wonky towers!! The bank roll can handle a losing week/month, but it does not mean I have to like it.

Advice has been flooding in from all corners (thanks by the way!) What has been so strange is the range of advice. I’ve been told to loosen up, I’ve been told to tighten up, I’ve been told to move up in stakes, I’ve been told to drop down in stakes! If there was a crisis at Wonky towers I don’t know if I’d be coming or going!?

This got me thinking of people’s perception of me and how I play. I’ve been getting a fair bit of ear ache at the tables (nothing really nasty, just comments) in the past month or two from various players, but again the range of abuse has been from both ends of the spectrum.

Take DavidJames who’s a regular on the £2/5 Crypto tables… it’s an apt name as he’s partial to the odd calamity. He’s constantly having a dig, I’m too tight, I’m easy to read, I’m sooo lucky , he's no idea how i ever wi a hand... when it comes to people like this then I’ll let the stats do the talking. The flip side of the coin is “OMG u fish!!” crew, again I get these comments all the time! So am I tighter than a gnats chuff or looser than a slappers knickers elastic?

Who knows? All I can say is that if I’m pissing people off to the point where they have to give me an ear full everytime I play them, I must be doing something right! ;)

Good Luck,

Jim

The curse of the poker player: Losing months

Well the 1st week in March has almost been as good as the 1st week in Feb! CRAP!

Considering that I took the Mrs away for a long weekend in Brussels and I’ve been away for 4 days in March the poor performance is pretty impressive. It must be something to do with getting a good month closed down and then relaxing and playing like a total arse for 3 or 4 days. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that as far as trends go, months where I have a bad start usually end up ok and visa versa! So it’s up hill all the way from here to avoid a poor month I guess.

I need to sit down and have a good look at the stats and hands where I’ve been getting hammered. Periodic lessons learned sessions are always healthy. I usually do this after each month end. Look back and identify where things went wrong and what can you do to stop it happening again… this months start would suggest I need to work on it a little!

I’ve been trying to boost my average monthly earnings. Now this may sound really obvious but I think the impact of a bad month is seriously underestimated by most people. If you are playing for a living then losing months are a pox on your balance sheet that will kill your average income.

Looking back at my 2005 I had a really good month in early summer where I cleared more than £15K, this was followed by a bad month where I dumped £8K and a month where I just about broke even. I have no doubts that the 8k loss would not have been sustained if I’d not won so much the previous month. At the time I justified it in this way. The figures sound fairly impressive for the level I was playing at but when you look at the impact of such wild swings on your average monthly earnings …..

Net 7k profit across three months… 2.33K ave per month. Now don’t get me wrong this beats a loss but it’s only marginally more than the average rakeback per month. Compare to someone pottering along playing a less volatile (dull?) game and creaming 4k a month out without too much effort.

This all sounds fairly obvious, but I’ve lost count of the number of good players I know who go on a decent 3month run, think they can run over everyone and then throw it all away in a short space of time.

There’s nothing more depressing than losing 6k in a month and working hard the next month to get it back… you look back at the past 60 days and think “Shit! I’ve played 50000 hands and I’m exactly where I started!”

If you can turn your bad months into a break even months then in this example you’d have 3k a month ave to show for your efforts. Work hard to avoid losing months and when you come to your year end audit the healthy profit will look after its self.

Thanks for all the feedback by the way! Much appreciated.

Good Luck,

Jim

February Review

It has to be said that 3 days into the February campaign things were pretty down cast. £5k deficit and an amber light on the bank roll. Since then I’ve managed to put together a great run and with the exception of the last week which has been a bit rollercoaster I was playing solid winning poker.

In the end the net positive after rakeback was getting on for 5 figures. I’m really pleased with this especially considering the 5k I had to make just to get back in the black. Throw in the Tallinn trip as well I think this is one of the most successful months I’ve had for a while….. all the more to spend at Mothercare!

Last night I decided to go down to the local pubs £10 rebuy after a bit of prompting from Rob. The month had been good and the opportunity to lock in the profit, sink a few pints and blow off some steam was appealing. I’ve got a pretty good record in the local game, over the past 12 months I must have played it about 8 times. So far I’ve won once, 2nd once and final tabled on one or two other occasions. Last night I managed to make the final three with a small chip deficit when a 3 ways equal split was proposed for £350 each. 3rd place payed £150 so it was a pretty good deal for me and a nice way to finish off the month.

I mentioned earlier that the last week has been a bit of a roller coaster. I think this is down to two factors. The first is that there seem to be loads of crazy players hitting the 2/5 tables at the moment. The volatility at the tables has been high. When half the all in calls you face are stone cold bluffs you are going to win some big ones with not much but also look a little silly on occasions when you walk into a monster.

The other factor is that I’ve been playing a few more hours and playing 4 tables on occasions as opposed to my usual 2 or 3. This extra play is chasing the Betfair promo WSOP $15k package, it should be achievable with a little extra effort. As a result I’ve lost concentration on occasions (i've not idea how some people can play 8 tables!!) and it is more difficult to play anything other than ABC poker when playing more than 2 tables, you become more predictable and stop picking up the little steals here and there that keep the balance healthy.

In order to combat this I’ve come up with a little handy hint to keep the mind fresh and your opponents on their toes. Nominate one of your multitables as your focus table and put that at the front in the centre of your screen. Play ABC poker on the other tables, but play ‘real poker’ on the focus table, make some moves, steal some pots, keep them guessing. Every 30mins or so, rotate the tables so one of the ABC tables becomes the ‘focus’ table. A simple and effective means of preventing stagnation when multitabling.

Good luck

Jim

PS: It’s good to see that the Blog is getting lots of traffic! The comment button is there for a reason! Say hello! Tell me I’m talking crap! Whatever! Just use it!


EDIT: Bugger!! Rob just pointed out that an option for me to approve all comments had been set. I've just had a look and ive got 20 odd comments for approval from the past month! Doh!! A few of u have asked me for info, i'll reply/send it out today. SORRY! Normal service has now resumed.

MONSTER!!

This was a hand of interest from last weekend, it kind of played it's self but took a few years off my life! It was the single biggest pot I’ve seen on £2/5 NL tables on crypto and was a nice one to pick up. I’d only been playing for about 30mins on Sunday morning and on one table I’d already managed to turn my £500 sit down into £1165.

Hawko was at the table and we always seem to have fun running moves past each other. I’m on the small blind and first to act makes it £15 to go. Hawko smooth calls and I look down to find AA and smooth call as well.

The big blind who is playing £937 decided to push all in!! Magic!! But wait! The initial raiser (only playing £257) decides to join the fun and calls all in!

Without 2 seconds thought Hawko adds in his full stack of £548 all in!!

Action on me, preflop pot of £1757… 900 odd to call and I’m on AsAd!!

I think about letting it go for a split second! I’m already £665 up at the table, I’ve only got £15 in the pot and it’s going to be one hell of a 4 way race and I’m 50% fav at best. But to cover my money I only have to beat the BB as his stack is so much bigger than everyone elses. I call and we flip over….

1st to act short stack AcTc
Hakwo KdKh
Me AdAs
Big Blind QcQh

Now I don’t like the all in by the QQ… it’s a muppet move, especially with a big stack, I bet he plays a lot of tournies.

The AT call is a tilt call by the short stack looking to get lucky.

Poor old Hawko has been stitched up like a kipper by the big blinds all in. He fancies him self to be in front as his smooth call with KK shows no strength at all and the BB all in just stinks of a vulnerable pair. He can’t put me on a hand either with my smooth call so he drops his pants and sticks in all his chips. As soon as he sees me call he knows I’m on AA.

2d Td Ts is the flop.

Now while not the best flop in the world, I’m not too bothered as the AT is only playing for a 1k side pot. Providing I can avoid a K or Q I’m still going to pick up a nice pot.

Turn is 4d

My eyes now flick to the suits and a moment of panic as the 1st one I see is Hawkos Kd… back to mine and I breath easier as I spot the Ad.

River Jd …. Gives me the nut flush and a very health pot of £2691.99 … £1754 of which is pure profit!!

Nice! Needless to say after the bad start Feb is now cruising along nicely.


On a side note Betfair have just announced a series of guaranteed WSOP packages for high rake cash players. At my current average I’d get a $8k WSOP package if I move to BF for the next 4months!!! With a little more play that would become a $15k package!! WSOP here we come!!

Live and kicking (myself!)

Live play is something that I’ve only dabbled with over the past year or so, I quite enjoy the live cash games at the festivals as they tend to be really loose and full of action. When it comes to live tournaments I’ve only played a couple of the smaller buy in events at one or two festivals and the £25 weekly buy in down the local pub.

The Mrs always groans when I go to play live because she thinks I’m going to lose. But thinking about it my live record is not too bad considering the number of event I’ve played. I won a £20 rebuy Super Sat at the Luton fest last year for £500 (and took the money), apart from that I’ve only played in a £50 and a £100 at Blackpool last year and Duffs (from betfair) £100 home game.

With Estonia looming I thought it would be a good idea to get a bit more live experience under my belt. The £100 rebuy and the £300 at the Broadway Heart of England Festival looked like good candidates. They were both 2 days events with hour clocks and room for plenty of play.

The £100 on Tuesday was a bit of a none starter as far as I was concerned. In the first 4 hours the best hands I picked up were 99 (twice) and AKos. I managed to pick up a few pots here and there but eventually had to get my dwindling stack in with AT on a QQT flop… a big stack obliged with JK and a 9 on the turn sent me packing a little frustrated at not being able to get going.


I was in two minds about returning on the Thursday for the £300. The 5am finish to the day before didn’t leave me feeling on top form. It would be the biggest tournament buy-in I’ve paid in direct (both live and online) but having said that it's no big deal when you consider the level of cash games I play in everyday. I finally decided to drag myself over to Brum to see if I could improve on the previous days outing. I’m glad I did.


The field was rich and varied. There were a few people who had never played a game before and then a load of seasoned pros arriving for the bigger comps later in the week. When I went to take my seat I had Steve Jelinek to my left and Bambos Xanthos to my right. I’d recently seen both of these on the William Hill Grand Prix that is being screened on Sky Sports at the moment (on every Tuesday and one of the best poker shows I’ve seen in a long time!) and so I had half an idea on how they played.

The guy to Jelineks left was knocking down the pints and had never played in a comp before. He devoured Jelineks chips almost as quickly as his lager with a Khigh over flush. I had a fairly patient start and managed to accumulate about 8K (6k starting) by the end of the 2nd level.

As the night progressed I gradually started to settle down and become more comfortable. I don’t think I take to the live game naturally like some players. In the past I’ve found myself making decisions that I would not make online and playing hands less subtly than is normally the case. The same was true in this game to a certain extent. Every now and again I’d find myself making silly bets or calls and 3 seconds later thinking… WHY DID I JUST DO THAT?!!?

Myself and Bambos both got moved to the same table and I was nursing a 10-15k stack for some time as more and more players were making an exit. I made a conscious decision to step up a gear and really started to enjoy my self. I re-raised Bambos three times preflop and he was starting to get the hump, the only time we saw a flop he walked his AQ into my AK.. which was nice. On the 4th time he layed down he said …

“Next time I call you!!” … he showed AJ and I declined to show my AK.

10mins later he was packing his bags so we never got to lock horns again.

The chap 2 to my left was a decent player (he was Welsh and a mate of Ewan Jones, I may be wrong but I think he was called Nick). I’d played a few hands and had not lost many but was still stuggling to push past the 15k barrier. I finally found a spot on the BB after ‘Welsh Chap’ had min raised it to 1600 from an early position. He picks up 3 callers and I look down to see AQ, I don’t have to think about it too hard… No one is showing much strength (except maybe the early position min raise) and with 7600 in the pot I push allin looking to pick it up.

Everyone folds apart from a short stack who has about another 4k left. He flips Q8s and I’m VERY happy. That is until the flop comes 456, the turn is a killer 8… and the river a very welcome 7 for a split pot!!

Shortly after that I pick up a 15k pot from the table rock with a total bluff into a scary looking flop and turn of Td Jd Ks Kd. I’d re-raised him preflop with 6d6s and he obviously gave me credit as I pumped a couple more strong bets in.

I’d raised the Welsh guys BB a number of times (including the occasional ham fisted raise) and he’d passed a few and called a few but was generally coming out with the worst of it and was starting to get the hump.

I picked up QhJs on the button and everyone passes to me. I raise to 4k (about 3 x the BB) and my Welsh friend calls with a hint of irritation. Flop comes rags with 2 spades and we both check. Turn brings a third spade and he checks. I chuck in 3k and he flat calls.

The river comes Qs. He reaches for his greens and launches 7k into the pot. Now, I thought at the time he was a bit too confident in the way he did it, I just had the feeling that he is simply betting out on the scare card, what more I know he's capable of the move- or maybe I’m just a calling station!? I flat call and pick a decent pot when he flips Kh rag.

By this time it is pushing 4:30am with play due to complete for the day at 5:15am I’m sat on a very healthy 50k stack, there are about 22 runners left with 720000chips in play and the blinds at 800/1600. I actually think to myself..


“Bit tired, nothing silly , come back tomorrow fresh and ready for action”

Unfortunately, it was not to be! After the QJ incident my Welsh mate is passing quite a few comments and appears to be a bit unhappy with my assault on his BB… we tangle again when I raise his BB with KQ. He is lucky to catch one of his rags on the flop but we both check down and he picks up the minimum.

With about 15mins of play left it’s my SB and again I’m in a pot with my mate. He raises to 2.8k from an early position and everyone folds to me, I wake up with AK and make it another 5K to play… saying “It’s nothing personal” as I chuck them in.

He snaps back “No..neither is this…ALL IN!!”

The situation is about 18k in the pot, and he pushed for another 30K. I’ve got just shy of 45K left in front of me and a decision to make.

Up pops the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other…..

Angel: Jim, you’d pass this normally.
Devil: Fuck that! There’s 18K in the pot your getting about better than 3/2 on your money.
Angel: Yes, but look you’ve got 45k left…. That’s a big stack!!
Devil: But look at the prize money … only £700 for 10th… 15k for 1st!!!! Play to WIN, get this pot and you will be chip leader. There’s only 19 players left.
Angel: But he must have a pair. It’s a race for most of your chips.
Devil: Don’t be a pussy, he’s really got the hump with you messing with his BB… I bet hes got TT or JJ at best. CALL!
Angel: Oh fuck it CALL!

And so I call… I know I’m behind. I normally would not have a problem passing this… Perhaps the fact it was 5am and I’d been playing for 9hrs came into it somewhere. The ‘play to win’ element is also something I’ve been trying to work into my tournament game and may have also skewed my judgement a little.

He flips KK and it’s 70%/30%

I pick up a gutshot draw on the flop with a Q and a T. I then pick up a flush draw on the turn… 14outs on the river … but it was not to be!

I know it’s a poor call. File it under lessons learnt… Please feel free to comment on it.


A blind goes through me and I’m down to about 10k, there’s 5 mins of play left in the day, and I look down to see AcKc. I make it 5 to go and everyone folds to the BB who puts me all in. I call and he flips…KK again!!!!

No help again and I’m out in 18th (120 runners). The only silver lining is that I don’t have to return today to play a micostack.

I shake hands with my Welsh friend and confirm that there are no hard feelings. I wonder what he thought of me? Probably, that I’m a bit rash and inexperienced, and I guess he’d be right. There is one way to fix that though ,isn’t there?

Despite the manner of the exit, I really, really enjoyed myself. Once I’d picked up a few hands I got into the swing of things I surprised myself with how much confidence and lack of fear I played with. It was a quality field and I was happy to go so deep. Although a little foolish and unlucky not to cash, it’s given me something to think about and now I can’t wait until the next one…roll on Estonia.


Good luck,

Jim

Wild start to Feb and Estonia here we come!!

Well Feb has been a little crazy so far. I got off to the worst possible start as I managed to drop 2.5K on the 1st! This was swiftly followed by more losses on the 2nd , 3rd and 4th!! The month had hardly started and I was already staring a 5k negative in the face, the bank roll was flashing amber and it was time to sit down take stock and see how the month could be rescued.

I decided to take a day off and have a look back at how I had been playing… the answer came back- not very well. I managed to get my head straight and for the next week played some great cash poker, making great laydowns and some good calls. Hey presto 4 days later and I’m back in the black and showing a 2k plus for the month to date.

Now, obviously I’m really happy with the recovery. It just shows what you can achieve if you really put your mind to it and your back is against the wall. But it would have been very nice to win 7K in 4 days without having lost 5K beforehand. All I need to do now is more of the same and make sure I post a bumper month.

On Sunday evening I spotted the Hills Baltic Open Super Satellite about to start. It was great value, only 36 runners at 220euros each playing for 4 x 3.2k packages which included the buyin to the 2000+200 main event.

The game was also a 6 seater which suits me just fine. It was one of those tournies where I ducked and dived without putting my stack in jeopardy and before you know it I was chip leader with about 15 runners left. I managed to blow half my stack when my flopped set ran into a made flush on the turn, but the table was fairly passive and I managed to grab most of it back fairly quickly. The chip leader status was maintained more or less until the last six. The final table started fairly even in chips… three players between 11k and 16k and the other three around the 8k mark. The other big stacks wasted no time in paying off the short stacks and everyone played tight for a long time on similar stacks until we lost the 6th player.

Here was where my stack started to dwindle, I had trouble finding a decent spot and had to lay down a half decent hand on the SB after I’d raised the BB and he pushed for all my chips. Patience was the order of the day! But I was looking increasingly like the table short stack on 8k with the others between 12k and 20k. With the blinds at 300/600 with rolling antes the pressure was starting to mount playing 5 handed on the bubble at 1200 a round.

I managed to nick a few pots to maintain my chip stack around the 8k mark when two similar sized stacks got into a preflop raising war and ended up all in, this obviously was great for me as the loser would either be out or down to just a few hundred chips.

Mateyboy #1 flips AcKs and my heart sinks as mateyboy#2 flips AdKd, a split pot looms and it looks like I’m going to have to gamble to survive…. that is until no less than four diamonds hit the community!! Mateyboy #1 curses his luck and is out the next hand as 3 players check him down for his last 800 chips.

I’M OFF TO ESTONIA!!!! :o)

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not the biggest win ever at a 3.2k package but I’m really, really chuffed.

I’ve often looked across with green eyes at friends winning these sats and jetting off to the far flung corners of the world. But playing 99% cash games I was never going to join them was I? One of my goals for 2006 was to enter some satellites and qualify for a few bigger buy-in events. Well get that box ticked!

The only downside is that Shell is well into her 3rd trimester (everything going well so far) and she can’t fly. So it looks like I’m going on my tod!

Two sides of the same coin

Tournament or cash? A recurring gripe from many people takes the form of…

“I’m a successful tournament player and I’ve spent 6months building up my bank roll, last week I decided to give the NL cash tables a try, it’s full of fish but I’ve blown 80% of my roll, I can’t understand it!”

So why is it that so many people who are perfectly competent STT and MTT players struggle so much when it comes to playing with real money. I think there are several reasons, first of all the bank roll required to play successful tournament poker is much smaller than the roll required for cash games. The no limit cash games can be especially brutal and your hard earned can evaporate at an alarming rate. Before you know it you’ve reloaded 4 times and your sphincter is tighter than a multi-tabling Scandinavian. It maybe that these losses are in permissible range for a decent bank roll but the impact on the average tournie roll can be catastrophic.

It’s about this point where the tilt monster raises his head and it’s harder to draw a line under a loosing cash session than it is a tournament. In a tournament, you lose, that’s it, you’re out! You can’t get back in and get revenge on the fishy bastard who just sucked you out, in a cash game the option and the temptation to reload is always there.

There is also a massive misconception held by the majority of tournament players about cash games as well. I was playing in a live cash game recently and a chap who has a reputation for playing solid tight tournament poker made a call for all his chips with 2nd pair with 3 spades out in the community. He lost and when I questioned the call, he said …

“It’s a cash game isn’t it? I can reload. I wouldn’t have called in a tournie!”

Now it may have been that he was just blowing off a bit of steam, but you hear the sentiment repeated time and time again. They think that you should play looser in a cash game when in fact the opposite is true.

In a tournament the blinds are constantly moving forward, putting you under pressure. This pressure towards the middle/end of the game forces you to make more elaborate ‘moves’ and get your chips in with half decent hands more frequently. Top pair could be a behemoth of a hand in the latter stages of a tournament and may well merit getting all your chips in, thanks to the ever increasing pressure a lot of the time you will get action from an inferior hand.

But is the same true in a cash game?? Without the pressure of the increasing blinds the value of your hands is reduced…so why play looser?? No one at the table is being forced to overplay their hand and if you start to over play your hand the only action you are likely to get is from someone with a better hand.

Doubling up is a frequent occurrence in a tournament due to the nature of the game. In a £1000 sit down NL cash game you can blow it in one hand with ease and if the cards are not going your way you can wait all day for the chance to get it back!

In my opinion betting out (or as is more frequently is the case , calling) with a good, but not great hand is the main reason why tournament players come unstuck in cash games.

They sit there thinking….

“I can always reload! It’s a great hand!”

When they should be thinking…

“I value my chips! Is this the best spot to get my money in!”

Post Christmas Depression

Well the January month end has been and gone and looking back Jan was a pretty disappointing month. It saw some big up swings and some big downswings. I somehow managed to get to the 20th Jan looking at a 5k loss for the month to date. This was (as always) due to 3 or 4 days of nasty beats and no action followed by a tilt day where the best part of 3K went south. It always amazes me how easy it is to blow a stack in minutes that may take weeks to rebuild.

I have ventured more onto £5/10 in Jan and when reviewing the tracker statistics to see where it all went wrong I was half expecting to see the majority of the losses coming from those tables. True, one or two bad sessions did stick out but there were more than enough good sessions to compensate. The true culprit was some shocking sessions on 2/5.

On one occasion I was overflushed 3 times in one session, each time it was marginal… 7 high into 9 high, J high into Q high and then to cap it off Q high into K high with the Ace out in the community. I also felt that I was getting hammered when I held big pairs more than usual, I lost count of number of times AA and KK got cracked once a flop was out.


Poker tracker confirmed this, the % win with AA was low 80s and only 75% when it saw a flop! I’d expect these figures to be around 90% and 85% respectively.

Kings faired worse; in Jan I picked them up 126 times and only won £880 with them!! I made more that that with every other pocket pair bar 22 and 33. Any month where your premiums are being hammered to this extent is going to be a struggle!

Fortunately, the tide turned in the last 10 days. Some solid poker meant that the loosing sessions were minimised and when the cards were going my way the profits for the days were well into 4 figures. The only cloud has been twice in two days where I have been sat on a 1K+ profit for the day and I managed to piss most of it away in one evening session! The 2nd of these occurred last night where I walked into some monsters to blow away earlier positives. It does not get much better than AsQs on Qh Ts 6s flop…..unless the other guy is nursing 66.

In the end I turned out to be a fairly neutral month, the best part of £2k rakeback helped keep things afloat and a modest profit made it a just about acceptable if not decent start to 2006.

Looking forward I need to stamp out the big swings. The current bank roll is not robust enough for prolonged sessions on £5/10 and needs to be bolstered further over the next quarter, the next target is to work it up to a £20k baseline. I may well dabble in some live events in Feb as well, there’s a Festival at the Broadway in Brum and I quite fancy some of the midweek events.


Cheers,

Jim

Life without poker tracker

For various reasons I’ve been without poker tracker for the past 10days and I’ve come to realise even more what a great bit of software it is. Playing 30k hands a month it’s impossible to remember and classify every person you come across. I’ve been using PT for so long now it’s quite scary when it’s not there, I’ll often make a call based on just the basic info PT provides. I've only ever used it for cash games but recently they have added support for Crypto STTs and MTTs.

Also, a must have is GameTime+, it’s a free add-on for PT that overlays the key PT stats directly onto the poker table. You can configure it so that hands are uploaded every few mins and updated on the screen in real time…. Very useful when some bloke you have not played against for 4months sits next to you. I’ll get round to covering some more detailed aspect of PT in later blogs. I’ve added a link into PT here on my page, and yes it is my affiliate link, I shall spend the $10 for each purchase wisely! :o)






On the game front, I didn’t play much over the weekend as we were away visiting friends. After a bit of a turbulent week everything came up roses on Friday as good cards were paid off hand after hand for a nice £2.5K in double quick time, that was on £2/5 as well. It put a ray of light into what was otherwise a poor January, but more of this later.

The hand of the day was a joy to behold and more or less played itself, however it does validated the point I made a few blog entries ago about not laying down bottom/middle set.

I picked up 4h4d on the button and called £10 to see a 3 way flop.

4s 2c 6h

All the money from all three players went in on the flop for a £1302 pot…. First guy flips 77 and the second flips 99!! There were no miracle cards for anyone and I was left there and updating my player notes for these two jokers with a smile on my face.

If only it was always this easy, it just demonstrates the crap people will not only stick their chips in with… but call with as well!!

GL

Jim

PS Congrats to Hawko who finally won a seat to a EPT event :)