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 :)

Looking after you margins Pt2 .. Rakeback

I’m always amazed how many people playing regular poker at a fairly decent level still don’t have a clue about rakeback. Rakeback can make a bad month look Ok, when it comes to getting an edge it is one of the biggest ways to boost that bank roll month after month.

To be fair most of the mid level semi-pro grinders have decent deals set up, but it’s always worth keeping an eye out and making sure the figures add up, as an example below will demonstrate.

First of all, what is rake back?
sorry to those of you sucking eggs here)

Rakeback usually applies to cash games (but some rooms do offer to return a % of tournament entry fees as well). In each hand the house takes a % of the pot, this is usually 3% capped at £3 (as Rob mentioned in the comments from the previous post there is a $3 cap on the $ tables so why does anyone play the £ table!?!?!?). Rakeback is where the house will credit you back with a % of the rake that you have contributed over the previous month.


How do you get it?

Several methods of receiving rakeback….

1: Contact the poker room direct and ask for a deal, you are more likely to get a deal if you play a lot of poker.
2: Sign up with an affiliate who will pay you the rakeback themselves (some risk here!)
3: Sign up with an affiliate who has a deal with the poker room so that the room will credit your account direct. (as search on the web will reveal numerous examples)
4: Sign up direct with one of the growing number of rooms who are offering rakeback to each and every person on the site, irrespective of the amount they play.


Is it worth while!?…

Rakeback can turn a non-profit making player into a profitable one, it’s as simple as that… it’s not unusual for people to receive £1K + per month in rakeback. As a rule the more you play the better the deal, 20%-35% is the norm. Some of the guys who multi table 24x7 receive several thousand pounds per month in rakeback alone. As a rough guide you will get about £70 per 1000 hands playing £2/5 NL on a 30% RB deal. If you are playing 30000 hands a month, you are earning significantly more than the annual UK wage just in rakeback.


Things to keep an eye out for…

If you are going to do the deal through an affiliate then do some research and get one that is reliable. Try and get one that has the poker room pay direct into your account. There have been some horror stories of affiliates doing a runner with the monthly payments. If in doubt it is possible to negotiate direct with the poker room in some cases.

The headline % is not always what it seems to be. I was caught out with this for a month when a rival poker room offered me a better deal. You need to ask if the % rakeback is based on your gross rake generated or the net rake (after the room has deducted costs).

Several months ago I was on a 25% deal … this was based on the gross rake I generated. So if I generated 4K rake in a month I’d get 1k back.

I was then offered a 30% deal. However, it was not obvious this was based on net rake after poker room costs. The costs were 30%. So the net rake was only paid on 70% of my gross rake generated!

70% of 4K is 2.8K…
30% of 2.8K is 840…. I’m loosing out to the tune of £160 a month!!! WTF!

A lot of players are still on this deal with a well known card room and accept their monthly payments without question…like I said it pays to check the numbers and look after your margins.

For those of you with poker tracker I’ve got a useful bit of code that you can drop into the Access database. This will work out how much rakeback you should be receiving on a monthly basis. Drop me a mail if you want a copy.


Cheers,

Jim

Looking after your margins...pt 1

Now those of you who know me will recognise that I tend to like to do things well, I'm a great believer in you pay for what you get. I drive nice car, I like good wine, good food, good hotels and I'm lucky enough to live in a nice house in a nice area....I like to think that if something's worth doing, and you can afford it, then it's worth doing properly.

Now just because I'll pay an extra tenner for a bottle of vino from Oddbins does not mean I'm going to give free money to others (last night on 5/10 was an exception by the way!) ... and especially not to the poker companies who are already raking it in (literally!)

Poker = business, and in business you look after your margins, so if you can find an edge or a saving you need to exploit it, no matter how small a dividend it pays.

So here's my 1st pearl of wisdom... and I'm slightly hesitant to write this because it does not seem to bother many people...... maybe i'm missing something really obvious.

Most people who read this will be UK based. The on-line poker skins that offer £ accounts are in the minority but there are still plenty of them around.... Hills, Betfair , StanJames etc etc. Most of the US rooms Stars, Party etc etc will only offer $ accounts.

I can not understand why any UK based player would want to play on a $ account.

I'm not talking about $ tables (where you cash in and out at the same rate) I'm talking about the currency of the account where the poker room holds your money.

I had a conversation with the (self proclaimed) best player on Crypto 2/5 recently. He'd just joined Sun poker room on the Crypto network as they give a better rakeback deal and via an affiliate you can get a trip to the LV and a few $K to buy in to some of the minor WSOP events. Now the trouble is Sun only do $ accounts. I asked him to check his last withdrawal statement , it worked out at about £1.1k in his bank account, I ran the same transaction through Thomas Cooks web site and they would have given him £1.2k for the same amount in $ he cashed out!!!

This was a month or so ago and I didn't make a note of the exact figures .... but a self imposed gift to the card room of this size is not the smart move for a serious player.... no wonder they can afford to give a few % extra rake. Also, this does not include the exchange hit for moving the £s in either!

Since then I've spoken to a few people (non-casual players) that I know play on skins with $ accounts, I've asked them all about the exchange rates in and out and without fail the answer has been "Umm .... dunno!" ....madness!

As I said, I've not looked into this in detail and measured it as I dont have a $ account anywhere, feel free to comment and tell me I'm talking crap. It would be interesting to run some a tests to see exactly how much the hit is and extrapolate it across a 12month period to see how much it really does cost per annum. I can't find any info published by any of the main rooms or neteller on their daily exchange rates either..... I can't think why!

I have seen somewhere that there are complex ways to reduce the hit by paying in via Switch to Party Poker and then using a $ Neteller a/c, it goes something like this.....

£ Bank Account... switch payment to PartyPoker account in $.... Party withdraw to Neteller $ account.... Neteller to Sun poker room $... win a fortune.... Sun poker room to netteller... neteller to Party.... party $ to switch £ bank A/C


I'm not sure how much this would save (or if they let you do it) , again it needs some measurement........ IMO its easier to play on £ account.

Cheers,

Jim

Two little ducks get fu......

I said that I wouldn’t bore you too much with the days to day hum-drum hands and figures. Well that rule didn’t last long!

I had the misfortune to lose the single biggest cash pot I’ve ever lost today, so that’s got to be worth a post hasn’t it?

I’d had a fairly dull morning session on £2/5 running 3 tables with no action. I decide I needed to do something else and took the opportunity get a few jobs out of the way over my lunch break. A few hours later I returned and spotted some value on a £5/10 table that looked a little lively, so I jumped in and kicked another £2/5 session off. I then proceeded to hit the deck in the face on both tables and within an hour I’d doubled to £2000 on 5/10 and trebled to £1600 on 2/5… lovely!

On reflection I should have jumped ship with the £1000 profit on 5/10, as I told Rob in the comments on my last post, I rarely venture into £5/10. Anyway, to cut a long story short I ran slap bang into the other guy on the table who was anywhere near covering my stack with 22 on a 2s 4d Qs flop... all the money went in on the flop for a £3615 pot! He flips 44.

Maybe I could have got away from his re-raise all-in, but I’m with Harrington when it comes to laying down sets on those kind of flops... I don’t!

You see people get the money in with far less time after time, imo it’s a loosing play laying down this hand in the long run. I probably walk into set over set about once or twice a month. I view it as an expense and I usually pay them off.

It didn’t upset me that much to be honest. It’s not like I got sucked out and I’d basically lost most of what I’d won in the previous hour… easy come, easy go!

The only frustrating thing is that it happened in the biggest game I’d played for some time, while I’m sat with over £2k and against the other big stack at the table.

Them’s the breaks.

Good luck

Jim

First 6 months and measuring success

I’ve be playing to pay the bills now for about 6 months. There’s no doubt it does have an impact on your game, especially when you first start.

I record a daily profit and loss account and operate on a 'month end' basis. At the end of each month the online account is cleared down to a set level (or increased!), the living expenses are deducted from the bankroll, any excess is creamed off and the bankroll and reserve figure for the month ahead are calculated.

So far it’s been pretty good. Of course success is relative, some people win or blow my annual income in a single session! Having said that the sums we are talking about are significant.... but not obscene.

A basic measure of success is paying the bills, as I've already stated, the agreement with the Mrs was to stump up a poker subsidy of £1k per month to the house current account. If this dries up then I have to go back full time. If I can pay this out without touching the bankroll then its a neutral month. In reality my rakeback (more on rakeback in a later post) should more than cover this, so all I'd have to do is keep out of the red at the tables to meet the basic objective. Easy huh?....

So hows it gone so far....?

I'm not sure its a great idea to plaster the £ figures all over the blog, I certainly won't be doing it on a daily basis as a lot of people do. However, if people are going to read this and continue to read it then its only right that you have an idea of what a good/bad month could entail. Poker, afterall, is all about the "money" and as such I'm happy to list a quick summary of what it's been like for the first few months with some figures to back it up....

August: This was a good month, we were thumping the Aussies at the cricket and confidence was high for the new venture, with a full bankroll to start off. A hospitality invite to day 2 at Trent bridge from Betfair did nothing to dampen the mood! I'd also just received an annual bonus from work that took the pressure off the finances for the 1st month. Things went well at the tables and month end saw me looking at a positive of around £8k. This was a great start, the bank roll was maxed out and this enabled me to boost the reserve fund, pay the bills and squirrel away a nice lump sum away from the poker funds.

Sept: Things went a little quiet in Sept. I had a bad start and then spent the rest of the month struggling to get it back in the black. I've found that i'll often have a dip after a good month and it's something I need to work at sorting out. The 2nd half of the month was better and once the rakeback was paid in I was able to pay the bills and cream a little off as well.

Oct: Hmmmm here where it all went wrong! The first 20 days were very good. Heading for a month somewhere similar to August, then for some reason a few bad days put me on tilt and before you know it I'm a few £K in the red for the month... this is not good and a big swing considering my bank roll. I've had a few swings like this in the past and fortunately they are becoming less frequent. I think the key is spotting it early and walking away for a few days.... this time I didn't!! After I'd 'paid the bills' the bank roll was about £3k down and would need to be topped up from profit over the next few months. It's worth noting that if I'd not had such a good start to the month then the roll would be in dire straights! Maybe the roll level I maintain needs to be upped? Having said that I feel that if I've not had such a good start to the month then I would not have tilted so badly and reality would have kicked in a little sooner than it did.

Nov and Dec: These were carbon copy months, the bank roll was down and needed a top up, so solid, low risk poker was the order of the day. I started off playing more $2/5 as opposed to £s to make it easier, a good start saw confidence return and I was soon on the £ tables with the odd dabble in $5/10. I managed to deliver and both months showed a healthy £5-6K positive. This was helped in December by a 17th place in the Crypto Christmas Cracker Tournie (I tend only to play in the odd big prize tournie) for about £1.7K. The roll was topped up, the bills paid and nice sum creamed off the top again.

So all in all, not a bad 2005. Room for improvement? For sure... but I'd consider it a success. I've definitely been playing a little better since I went part time. I'm slightly more thoughtful in the games now and have cut down on the 'bad months' that can damage your average performance so much.

Targets are being set for 2006 and a modest £40k pa should be very achievable playing £2/5NL with a level head. We shall see!

PS... I've enabled anonymous comments on the blog so feel free to say hi, it's good to know people are reading. Also if anyone wants to swap links to their blog, then drop me a mail.

Cheers,

Jim

ActionJack slips Wonky a big purple one!

Last night was the Blonde bash at the Broadway casino in Birmingham, 100 odd members from the Blonde forum made it to Birmingham to play a £30 double chance frezeout. MrsSplash tagged along for her 2nd live game ever and lots of fun was had by all. Great mix of people from beginners to seasoned pros from the circuit.

I had Paul ‘ActionJack’ Jackson to my left in the tournie, nice chap. Things were going pretty well at the 1st break, I’d turned my initial 5k into 9.5k and was well above ave…..

AJ was friendly enough and with regards to the big purple one….. it was a 5k chip!

I’d like to talk you through the pot where I got my hands on it but he actually just needed change. I told him I’d title todays blog “Action Jack slips Wonky a big purple one!” , he said “No… people will think I’m gay!!”

All I can say is……….. I’m comfortable with my sexuality! ;)

After the break played one pot badly and lost about 4k. As a rule it’s not the greatest idea to try and bluff at someone who’s just picked up 400k in Monte Carlo… especially in a £30 comp!

Went card dead for a little while and then go moved to the same table as the Mrs… she’d was sat there nursing a mico-stack and seemed happy to see me! Three hands later and I’m on the BB for 800 with pocket Jacks…. I’ve got about 4k left, someone in mid position pushes in for about 3k … everyone else is folding and I’m about to get them in when Jen from blonde pushes in from the SB….. now Jen can play a bit and I’ve got a decision to make…. after a brief dwell I stick em in and I’m happy to see mateyboy on JTos and Jen on AQos….. not quite so happy to see the Ace on the flop and the case Jack is not forthcoming….

The scant consolation was that the Mrs took great satisfaction form outlasting me…oh good!


A few beers at the bar with Rob (highstack) , Lisa (Zelda) and her fella Sven and Ian(Diva) and it was onto a cash game.

To say the cash game was crazy would be an understatement. It was low stakes 1 / 2 PLHE .. most were sitting with £200-£300. 1st hand was re-raise, re-raise, re-raise between Tony Kendall and M3boy from Blonde…. Tikay picked it up with 55 with plenty of nice overcards out! It set the tone for the game to follow....

I didn’t pick up a decent hand all evening, won a couple of minor hands to keep ahead of the blinds and took 2 mid sized pots down betting out the scare card with not a lot (honest ;) ) ….. Apparently in the 2nd of these I pushed Highstack off top pair … sorry Rob!

Shell was a bit knackered by this point so I decided to take the small profit and call it a night. The evening was great fun and very friendly! I would encourage all to take 5mins to check out the Blonde forum on www.blondepoker.com.

Cheers,

Jim

Bank Roll

When it come to playing serious poker…. and by that I mean poker that makes a difference to the bread and butter on your table… not the stakes! … The most important thing has got to be bank roll.

I’ve posted variations on this post on the Blonde forum, the Hendon Mob forum and the Betfair forum in that past and it’s always been well received, while I’m maybe not the the greatest player ever , I’ve got mi head screwed on when it comes to control and discipline. :)

When u have to rely on poker for income it’s simply essential that you avoid going broke.

On one of the shows on the poker channel the other week someone said (cant remember who, may have been Mike C)

A fantastic player with poor bank roll management will make less money in the long run than an average player with fantastic bank roll management.

Ive been playing for about 30months now and gradually worked my way up the ladder playing mainly cash games with the odd tournie dabble. When I was thinking of going part time in Jan 2005 I posted on the HM forum and got a fantastic response from the community (thanks by the way to , Junior and JT etc)

http://www.thehendonmob.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5874&highlight=


Once I’d bit the bullet in Aug 2005 having to rely on poker to pay the rent / keep the mrs happy was a little scary, but it did help focus the mind.

Out of my bank roll every month now I must pay the short fall in wages and top up my pension with the difference, that was the deal with the mrs (plus some DIY round the house )

The only thing that could ruin this new found life style that I love so much is going broke, as such I worked out a fairly robust bank roll system to insure against that eventuality, so far it’s worked just fine………...

The only thing it needs to work is discipline. Harder than it sounds!!

Rule 1: Keep living money and poker money totally separate.

Rule 2: No leakage!! Roulette , BJ, the nags!

Rule 3: Keep detailed daily records.

Work on the principle of having two pots Main Bank roll and a Reserve.

I started out with a nominal figure as a main bank roll. For the sake of argument say £10k.

Out of this I need to pay myself a wage of say 1k a month come hell or high water. If I make more than the required 1k in a month.

50% of the excess is paid into the poker reserve (instant access high rate savings account) and 50% goes to the household slush fund for holidays and fun stuff for me and the Mrs….. as it worked out after a few months this turned out to be the Mrs maternity fund!!!

Continue like this each month until the reserve gets to a comfortable level.... say 5k or maybe 10k?

You can only dip into the reserve when the main bank roll drops to 10% of its starting level (not happened yet, but got close once!!!)

Associated with the BR are strict rules on the level of game I can play. When it drops below 30% of its starting level I have to drop limits to protect the bank roll etc. Having the safety net of a reserve just takes the pressure off on a bad run and building it up in the manner outlined means you tuck away a little for a rainy day every time you have a good month.

To most of you I guess this sounds fairly draconian! It does need strict discipline to enforce, however it was set up to maintain my new lifestyle for as long as possible.

I cant imagine going back to full time work now and if I went bust that’s what id have to do!!

Cheers Jim.