Building a bankroll: The diary of professional online poker player FishMobJP1

This is all...

2012-01-18T14:20:00.001Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMYNxkCsFgGl at the tables...

Year 2011 Summary and Targets for 2012

2011-11-22T14:36:00.001Z

As always apologies for the delay in this post! I have had a few requests recently so finally got on it today! So... 2011 has come to an end and it's been a fun year. I've had an amazing year and met some amazing people. I have had some good holidays to Thailand, Marbella and Furteventura. I have played lot's of golf and basically almost got good enough to go on the PGA tour according to my instructor Ben (maybe a little white lie). 2011 also saw a fair few boozy Tuesday nights out with Dinesy and the boys.

After reviewing my years results it seems my poker may have suffered from the partying and socializing! The time has come to step up now though. I'm going to work really hard in 2012 and actually try and become a baller! I took a few shots at $2/$4 in 2011 but kept giving up which makes me a massive pussssaaay. If I want to make serious money then I need to step up time and time again until I crush it! I hit a big downswing at the end of 2011 which dented my profits and my confidence. I had my first ever losing month since playing full time followed by another losing month. It was a good thing though as it got me used to losing which is a part of poker but I clawed it back with a few more winning months. I have definitely improved as a poker player last year and my game has come on loads.So here's my results for 2011:

I'm disappointed with the volume and results. I played 447,000 hands of poker in 727 hours and ran $6,000 above EV. I was averaging 60 hours p/month which is well below my 100 hours p/month target. That works out that I was playing around 15 hours p/week.

So I made just over $30k profit and $20k in rakeback and bonuses. This is a wake up call for me playing only 15 hours p/week, I should be smashing this. So to 2012, I plan to play 100 hours p/month minimum. That would mean I would play 1,200 hours in the year. Playing the same stakes as before that would mean I would clear well over $30,000 just in bonuses before even looking at profit which is decent. 2012 goals:- 100 hours p/month- Reg $1/$2 up to $5/$10- Watch a poker video everyday- Cover my balance and check at the end of each month- Post in the blog weekly- Build my bankroll over several sites

Here's a future photo of the 31st Dec 2012...BALLING OUTTA CONTROL with my home boys (absolutely no photoshop work from Uncle Fez).As always good luuck at the tables and I wish everyone the best for 2012.

I predict an earthquake up in here!

2011-10-27T17:19:00.001+01:00

After posting a losing month in September it brings a tear to my eye to inform you that October has been much worse. I have got into bad habits and not been playing great but the deck has seemed to be stone cold this month. With only a few days of the month to go I have found myself on a 40 buy in down swing. Luckily this is a time where it pays to be a bankroll nit as it means I don't have to drop down stakes. I went from being up nearly $4k this month to now being down $4k and on for my biggest losing month to date. It's a big hit considering i'm playing 200NL. I have been lucky enough to not have suffered a downswing this big before but variance has to hit you sometime I suppose. I went through some hands with Bobs and he pointed out a few things that need changing and since then the last few sessions have been much better, I just need to stay positive now and try and play through it and focus on playing solid and hopefully the results will come. I did find that I was 3 betting and squeezing far too much and calling both in and out of position with hands too loose preflop. I have tightened my game back up now and just need to not tilt or play long sessions tired or with my b game.Here's a graph showing this month's downswing:

On a more positive note I got granted a one year tourist visa for Australia. I plan on moving to Melbourne in January 2012 with the muscle shark Fez Jishlock. I have a groin injury which is stopping me from running or playing sports so I have an appointment at the end of the month to find out when I can get an operation to fix this. Hopefully I can get that sorted and be out to Australia as planned in January otherwise I may have to delay the trip a little bit or fly back for the operation depending on how long the waiting list is for it. I lived in Sydney for a year before and it was amazing so I'm excited about heading back down under! I've still been playing loads of golf and I seem to be getting better all the time but just like poker it can be very frustrating some days. My golf instructor Ben is a legend and I keep learning new stuff every lesson to help improve the different aspects of my game. My short game is improved so much, I just need to work on getting my irons more consistent and I will be on the PGA tour in no time. Was sad times for the boys five a side team SPB this month. After winning the 5 a side tournament at goals Southampton they went to Bristol to compete in a regional tournament that would see the top 2 teams go through to a national tournament. It proved too much for SPB in the end and they went out in the semi finals to a team that had a player that looked like Malfoy from Harry Potter, bad times. We did have a boozy night out in Bristol after with some big names attending. This was the team sheet:

Just remember you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink...

Time to step up my game

2011-09-18T19:12:00.000+01:00

The month of September has seen me go absolutely wild for golf. I think I played 4 times this week alone! I'm improving loads and love playing but as a result of this my volume of poker playing has been really low. I'm gonna find a good mix this week and have made myself a schedule and I'm gonna try and get my volume back and hopefully get some good results with it. Following my tough start to the month I covered my balances and played a few sessions and have pulled back to almost break even after being stuck about 14 buy ins! The come back has been good and I hope I can run good when I put more volume in. I'm gonna play until the end of the month without looking at my balances and just try and play good poker and see how I get on! Here's the month so far, poor volume:

Time to grind I think...

Call me Pon Mickleson

2011-09-09T13:37:00.002+01:00

So much has happened since my last post, I have been taking golf lessons and quit poker to join the PA tour...well not quite but hopefully that will be my next blog post in a few weeks! Firstly some bad news, I have indeed posted my first losing month since January 2010. I lost just under $800 in July but it was expected as I was doing a large amount of shot taking and challenging myself whilst working on my game. The good news is that I believe this month helped me massively and improved my game and made me a much better player. Also I had a fantastic month in August to make up for it and get me and my bankroll back on track! I put some money on micro-gaming and now play on there as well as pacific. I started playing 0.50/1 euros and slowly worked my way into 1/2 as i got used to the site and the new software. It took time but eventually I got consistent results and was able to withdraw all the money i initially deposited and leave myself well rolled for 1/2. My plan is to get lots of volume in and build my roll further and start to shot take again at moving up as I will have much better purchase in terms of game selection with two sites now at my disposal. While on micro-gaming I have been entered into 2 monthly freerolls, basically a sit n go normally with 5-9 players. Obviously I won both of them as I'm a boss ;) So on the whole things are going well poker wise. I have had a tough start to September online and can't seem to get consistent winning days going but i'm sure if I can get more volume in then the results will come. It seems like every session I lose like 5 buy ins straight away and then grind it back over a few hours. Got to keep playing and I'm sure things will improve.Here is a graph of my year to date in big blinds:

In other news a young gentleman we all know and love did a big win. Bobs won the UKIPT Brighton and top prize of £70,000, the tournament started with 603 runners. He's almost as big a baller as me now! I was on holiday at the time and gutted I couldn't be there for a boozy rail. Many people have seen a big improvement in his game since he moved in with me and the results are now proof. Jokes aside, my pokering mentor bobs is a very intelligent poker player and I it was only a matter of time before he took something down (and won a comp). I was absolutely buzzing to hear about this result....what an absolute boss! Here's a link: http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ukipt/2011/chris-odonnell-wins-ukipt-brighton-and-a-085190.html

Congrats to Wayne (AKA mini J Bug) on the birth of his beautiful daughter Ruby-Rose, we are all looking forward to meeting her in the future, newbabyLAD! It's unfortunately sad times as we say good bye to the beaver and Nicky. They are off travelling and then going to Canada to live afterwards. We will miss the nights out that never end and the beavers lovely little face! We are all off out tonight for his leaving do, expect it will be a kind of low key event and we will all be tucked up in bed by 11pm.....NOT! I'm expecting carnage, there's even some big names on the way down to Southampton for it tonight...and Edgy, oh James...LOL!

So my new golfing career is in it's early stages but i'm starting to make big improvements. I'm really getting into it and have been hitting the range hard, I want to start playing on the course a few times a week and keep improving. I have been going to the gym everyday with the muscle shark Fez Jishlock and we are doing some decent training at the moment with 5 sets of 5 reps on everything and seeing some big strength gains. The frustrating thing is that I haven't played football since the end of last season. I've been to see 3 physios and turns out I have a sportsman's hernia and need to have an operation before I can play again. I'm gonna get on the NHS waiting list and see how long it will be before I can get an op!

Finally, twitter has gone into shock recently with the arrival of @TheBIgJPizzle. If you're not already following me then you are missing out, get me on there! You might not want to follow wastemen such as @jjmullan1 who has been known for such tweets as 'Double espresso please mam... let's get these blue eyes open' and well...we will leave it at that, that's enough for one day. Also if you haven't seen the film other guys it's worth a butchers 'Thanks for the f-shack, love dirty mike and the boys!'Until next time, so long gay boys!

On route for my first losing month...

2011-07-14T21:11:00.003+01:00

This month has been an absolute journey for me. I decided not to go to Vegas to save some $$ this year and focus hard on my online game. I've been trying to beak into $2/$4 and put in a ton of volume. My game has been improving, I've been watching loads of blue-fire videos and working extremely hard on improving my overall game. I've been battling away at $2/$4 and it just hasn't gone well for me. I seem to pick up KK and run it into AA or AA into KK only to see a king pop up on the flop, thanks for having me. I'm not dealing with these beats well enough and find myself making bad decisions in pots after this which has been destroying any kind of win rate I'm trying to achieve. So it's mid month and i'm down about 10 buy ins at $2/$4. I've also put some money on another euro site. Things started OK and I was playing 0.50/1 euros, I moved up to 1/2 euros after seeing some good profit but had a massive blow up one night and ended up losing a load. After this I took a little break covered my balance and played lot's of volume back at 0.50/1. I managed to run a bit better and and started to do really well. I'm hoping to continue my good run on that site now and steadily move up through the limits. I won't be rushing anything as that seems to be the route of my tilt/blow up problems! So plan for now is drop back to $1/$2 on my regular site and grind some, build the confidence again and carry on whilst building my new roll on the new site. I don't know if I will be able to turn it round and have a winning month, we'll see. I'm off on holiday for a week on Sunday so there's only one working week of the month left to grind. I can't stress the importance of good bankroll management enough to anyone that wants to take poker seriously in anyway. The fact i'm very strict with my bankroll means I can afford bad days, weeks and months without ever having to worry about going broke. I might be annoyed to lose money one evening but the next day I can wake up and get back to it.

I have started to love poker again this month which is a great thing for me. Since I have had to do it to provide an income I have fallen out of love with poker. Over the last few weeks since I have been working hard at it I have started to find myself enjoying the game more again and just wanting to get better, hope I can see some good results from it.

Let's hope to see some run good and get back to profit again. Thank you very much let's have a coffee!

Had my first $10,000 cash money month, thank you very much let's have a coffee!

2011-04-28T23:04:00.014+01:00

Let's get double boozy!

Hey guys, it's been ages since i've posted. As usual, I've been lazy on the blog but I have had a few requests for a new post so here I am! So, let's get down to business...I had a good month in January and then went on holiday to Thailand for nearly 3 weeks and didn't get chance to play in February. In March I played 77 hours and won just under $4k. I lost over $3k at $2/$4 and $3/$6 and won $6.5k at $1/$2 and some at $0.50/$1. It was a solid winning month winning at 5 bb/100 over 43,000 hands, but I knew I could do better.

(ThaiLADs, Martin 'Badger boy' Malone, me, Bobs and Dom)

April came along and things changed. After talking to my parents I realised how little poker I play. I understand poker can be quite stressful at times but I rarely get anywhere near 100 hours in a month which started to tilt me. I really wanted to work hard on my game and put the hours in and start seeing some proper results. The result of this was that I made $10,009 in April. Saying I'm really pleased with the month is an understatement. I played 60,000 hands in 91 hours, the majority of my play being at $1/$2 and some at $2/$4. I ran really good at $2/$4 which was a big help but my discipline and game selection was really good. I want to say a big thank you to the legend Danny Rudd 'aka' the Rudddssssttterrr for helping me set up a HUD. This has helped my game no end and no doubt helped me have my biggest month. I really appreciate his time helping me, I know he is a busy man and while he's not dominating at the poker tables he is out standing his ground with the Cleethorpes Beach Patrol and sometimes the Grimsby hit squad! Anyways, having a HUD has really helped my game in general, now I can think much deeper about certain situations, mainly preflop at the moment as I'm still a HUD novice.

I have learnt a lot this month and feel it's another positive turning point in my game. Key points are that I only went over stop loss once which is really good, the rest of the time I just quit and came back another day. Secondly, I won $6k in 15,000 hands and started to think 'wow, this month will be big' and 'will it be my first $10k boy!?' But then after that heater I broke even for about 30,000 hands. I started to get frustrated, however it made me realise varience is a big part of poker. I believe the most important thing is to play poker when you are playing your best, be patient and don't tilt. These points have made me a much better player and maybe...just maybe now I can become a grinder. I hope that being patient and working hard can help me grind more hours and in effect make more money at the tables! It's important to remember how tough it can be, I believe someone once said that 'Some people, pros even, won't play No-Limit. They can't handle the swings.'

Poker aside, I've being playing loads of football and getting back into the gym with Jez and now new recruit Magic man Marty V. It's been a swingy season for my saturday team Infinity FC, we bounced back from a few loses with a big win last week and hope we can build on that. Our 5 a side thurs night team SPB have been unbeaten and not drawn a game for a whole season but that came to an end and we lost a game last week. People were angry, Jez was livid and lot's of sleep was lost. Good news is that we came back this week and scraped an 18-4 win, we're back baby!

I want to give a shout to a true hero. One of my mates Big Dave Henson (BDH) was injured in Afghanistan in the line of duty and as a result had his legs amputated. He has come through this so strong and he has been such an inspiration to us all. I'm proud to know Dave and he recieved a gong last week when he was honoured for his bravery. What an absolute LAD, big love!

(The legend himself)

April also hosted my birthday, we had a classic LADs night out in Souathmpton, obviously got well out of control. Key points from the evening:

- Mikey climed a tree.
- Big boozy return to town for BDH, a true hero!
- Good level of booziness from all.
- Barl Passey was brilliant and got Section 27'd for giving the bouncer a cheeky slap. I think everyone would agree he was the king of the drinking game Grand National. Section 27 means he was ordered to leave town or get arressted, obviously he stayed out and got more boozy.
- There were more points but obviously can't put them on the blog for public viewing and muckey beuwing!

Think that's about all for now. Feel free to inbox me on facebook with feedback, I love to hear what people think of the blog.

Quote of the month comes from the Muscle shark Jez 'I'm close....close to perfection'....wow!

Let's all go to Thailand, let's all go to Thailand, la la la la!

2011-01-27T17:16:00.014Z

I had my biggest cash game month ever in Jan 2011. It's a sign that all my hard work is being rewarded. I didn't quite make my first 5 figure month but it was really close. I played over 57k hands in 96 hours, 6k hands at a mix of $400NL and $600NL and the rest at $200NL. I was winning at 4.51 bb/100 (HEM) overall. It was a swingy month and I had my biggest ever winning and losing days of all time but that is bound to happen when putting in more volume at higher limits. Most of my profit came from $400NL which is a massive confidence boost for me because I had previously taken several shots at this limit and not had big success. Now I feel I have been playing way more solid and much more confident. My goal now for 2011 is to have the roll and the ability to play all stake levels from $200NL to $1000NL regularly, I feel this is very achievable and I hope this can happen soon and I can start to see some monster months coming up!

I have been playing loads of football this year and my fitness is at it's peak. I usually play football 4 times a week and go to the gym with Jezza most evenings and I'm feeling good for it, my diet hasn't been good enough but I'm working on it. It's time for a break though and tomorrow i'm off on holiday to Thailand for two and a half weeks with Bobby and Martin 'TheBadgerBoy' Malone. I'm a bit frustrated to go away when I feel like my online cash game is at it's best but at the same time it's gonna be so nice to relax for a bit and I'm hoping to come back feeling refreshed and ready to get back to the tables and stack some more papers! lol. We arrive into Bangkok on Friday and head straight down to Krabi and plan the rest of our trip from the islands and Phi Phi. I can't wait, I have been to Thailand a few times before on my travels and it's amazing!!

If anyone needs to get hold of me while I'm away just facebook me as I will be able to get to computers while I'm there but probs not gonna take my phone with me. Also if anyone happens to be travelling to Thailand in February then give me a shout, it's gonna be fresh! Let's get double boozy, let's get double boozey!

Peace and GL at the tables ;-)

It's a late boy but it's here!

2011-01-07T03:23:00.051Z

Hey, hey, hey! Happy new year guys! As always it's been a while so time to update on how November and December went and make some targets for 2011. Since my last post I have seen loads of people who say they regularly read my blog, that's awesome, massive LAD's!

I played a huge 53 hours (27,913 hands) in November. I did have a nice end to the month and won $2k on the last day of the month all at $1/$2 and finished November with a total $5559 profit. It was another solid month and I learnt a lot about playing at the higher stakes and how important table selection is and that it can be far more profitable to play different stakes game selecting well rather than 'just' playing $2/$4 for example!

December went even better than November and I made $6742 in 49 hrs (29,465 hands) with a nice hourly rate of $137 p/hour. I cruised the month with only one losing day. The games were amazing but as usual I just put no volume in. I kind of wish I played more in December because it was my biggest cash month to date and could have been a five figure month with more volume! But the times I did play were high quality so I'm still very happy with the month, can't grumble at nearly $7k!

At the start of December I moved into my new flat with Bobby, a man known for that fact he is a poker genius and also a very destructive chef! It was sad leaving Nathan 'Plasters' Masters place and I miss his little face. I'm all settled in at the new place now and enjoying it. I have been talking through hands with Bobby and I'm starting to learn a huge amount from his analysis.

Here's a few pictures of the new pad as requested:

I had a good Christmas with my family and friends. Was great to see Dave who was back from Afghanistan for a few weeks for Christmas. We had a good few drinks Christmas eve and then a sweet random boozy night after Christmas too with Dave, the Magic Man, Jazzy Fizzle and Jezza! New Years eve was quality. Me, Jezza, Magic Man Matty V and Wilson went up to visit Langdown in London for his birthday and New Year. Langdown was the sickest host, we had a Nandos and then smashed a bottle of goose before meeting him at the club in Leicester Square where he had a table for us with two bottles of vodka and 2 bottles of Champagne and unlimited Jager bombs. We had an amazing night, well as much of it as I can remember! lol! If I'm right I think I ended up in the restaurant part of the nightclub and got 'escorted' out and then Magic Man was 'escorted' out too! We went to get the tube home but went the wrong way cos we were so boozy and then ended up getting a taxi back. I left my phone in the taxi and we had to drive an hour back to get it the next day, Wilson you're a hero for that...LAD!

(Me and Langdown NYE)

So, my first year playing poker full time came to an end. I have learnt a huge amount in 2010 and look forward to big things in 2011! I hit stop loss countless times, went over it even more times, had days were I wanted to cry and days where I was on top of the world but it's all worth it when you stack those papers ;-) Here's my final graph for all hands played online in 2010:

On to the new year 2011. I have some goals for January. I'm hoping to play 100 hrs this month, do lots of learning, talking through hands and watch lot's of bluefire videos. My daily schedule will involve going to the gym Monday to Friday with the muscle shark Jez, playing 5 a side football Monday, Thursday, Friday and 11 a side on Saturday. I am going to try and play 5 hours of poker every evening and I'm gonna flick in the odd weekend evening too as they can be very profitable. I need to work very hard this year. I want to get my head down and play lot's of hours and get some money saved. So far I have played 35 hours this month so I'm well on target for the 100! I did have a bad losing day going well over stop loss this month. I ran really bad but stop loss is there for a reason and could have saved me a few buy ins. I hadn't hit stop loss for a while and so got a bit complacent. Anyways, I won the next few days and won $3k last night cause I'm a massive geeza! lol. I'm up a little bit this month now but time to keep the volume going and grind out some big months.

Hope everyone has a good 2011 and good luck to Toby down to last 48 of the PCA, $2.3 million ftw! I'm on the online rail, but would love a double boozy Bahamas rail though!

GL at the tables!

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink

2010-11-23T16:41:00.026Z

The month of November started with a bit of shot taking at $2/$4. I was dominating and quickly won a few buy ins and went nearly $4k up in about 3000 hands. I was playing solid poker and running well also. But I soon reached a problem, I felt unbeatable and carried on played $2/$4 solidly as my main game and disregarded the good tables at $1/$2. The result was that I was playing in games that weren't optimal against mainly regs. I ended up losing back what I had won mainly due to variance. I got a bit unlucky but had an ear bashing from my mentor for playing in bad games. I was annoyed at myself because I pride myself in my game selection, I think it's so important. So, as you will have heard me say a million times in this blog, I have learned another lesson. This hand didn't help too much though! http://www.pokerhand.org/?5791615

As a result of this I had a bit of a frustrating dip in my graph but I dealt with things professionally. By professionally, I mean I decided to go out and get double boozey for a few nights on the trot and then when my hangover was gone I got back to the tables and crushed! I was back at $1/$2 dominating, it felt so much less after playing $2/$4 and I felt really confident. I'm a real confidence person, when I have it I'm unstoppable and when I don't I can be fairly useless. I played a few fruity hands flicking in 4 bets light but then I calmed down and worked hard again and have had a few decent solid sessions since. This was an interesting hand for you to take a look at: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5806371. So far for November I have played 40 hrs (20,500 hands) and made $3k profit. There's a few days left so will see if I can put some quality hours of volume in. My volume is pretty disgraceful considering that this is my only source of income. I need to be playing at least 100 hours a month.

(I was in the orange, what's a blog without random morph suit boozey mayhem)

I'm moving house on the 1st December with another poker player, my legendary mentor Christopher. We've got a sweet pad, I will hopefully post some photos when we get moved in. This move should be great for my poker career as Chris is a bit of a genius and what some might say a 6 max NLH legend. I have already learned a great deal from talking to him daily about hands and also getting help from other poker hero's such as Dan Rudd, Martin Malone and Seb Powell. Chatting to these guys had helped me improve far more than any other factor, so thanks! Hopefully Chris can help me not only with my game but with the hours I put in online. I want to be making $10,000 p/month and this won't happen unless I put volume in. Maybe we can have some volume prop bets or something?

I went on a night out in London on Saturday. Me and a few of the boys went to visit our mate Langdown. We went out for a meal in a really nice restaurant. Langdown had organised our own VIP table with unlimited beers and 2 bottles of champagne and we had some sweet steaks too 'bruv'! Then we went on to a club where we got a table. One of our mates had a bit too much too drink and was sick in the VIP area so me and Matty 'The Magic Man' Vanders had to deal with him. We had to get a cyclo thing across town while our mate was being sick out of the side of it. Then we managed to get a taxi to go to his place, we had to call his mate to find out where he lived because he was triple boozey and couldn't speak. Then we got to his place and me, Matty and the taxi driver had to carry him into his apartment past the concierge guy and eventually got him in. We put him in the recovery position and left him with his flat mate and went back out to the club. When we got there everyone had gone and we had had enough by then so went to get a taxi back home. No taxis would go from central London to Croydon where Langdown lives so we had to get some crazy guy to take us and a few stragglers that tagged along for free (i wasn't 100% happy) back to our mates house. We got back and no one was answering and Matty kicked the door mat in a fit of rage and a key flew out from under it and we were in...at 5.00am! I have had a few good sessions at the tables since then so I like to think that's karma!

(Here's the Magic Man on the right with broken man Thompo while I went to find a cyclo)

Toby continues to run incredibly bad making the semi finals of the world head's up championship in London (his horse won it by the way for £30k). He then he came 8th in FTOPS 6 max event #32 for $20k. Bit gay finishing just off the final table though and I know he will be gutted with that but I'm sure he will get a jersey soon. Toby you do have a really tough life so chin up ;-) lol.

Unfortunately I have to finish on a sad note, a friend that me and Jez met travelling passed away this week in an accident. He was only our age, we are yet to find out what happened exactly but it's devastating news. He was such a great character and a nice guy so RIP Ethan 'the legend' Chong, you will be missed bro, much love x

(Here's me the and legend himself back travelling in Laos)

October, the prop bet militant month!

2010-11-05T01:34:00.022Z

Hey people! It's been a while since my last post but I do have a valid reason. I spent the whole of October helping Toby with his prop bet V's the infamous White Knight of White Knight Industries. They both had to lose 21 lbs in 3 months. Before my poker days I used to work in the fitness industry and did some personal training so I was drafted in by Toby to help him with 3 weeks of the prop to go... it was time to go militant. He started off finding it tough and the first cardio sessions weren't easy but as the days went on he got fitter and good progress was made. We went militant and said good bye to carbs and hello to chicken salads and bottles of water. I had Toby doing at least 45 mins of cardio every morning before breakfast and some light weights sessions in the afternoons. Calories were restricted and carbs cut right down. I joined in the regime in the spirit of things and to ensure there were no slip ups! The last week of the challenge we flew to Vienna as Toby was playing the 5k euro EPT main event and a few sides. He didn't have any joy poker wise but he had a great time eating tuna out of a tin and getting beasted in the gym with militant circuit sessions for the week!

Congrats to John Eames btw on winning the 2k euro side event for over 100k euros, mbn. At the end of the month the result of the weight loss prop was that Toby lost 23 lbs total and so beat the target by 2 lbs. However The White Knight managed to lose 26 lbs and therefore won half the prop money. Well done to both of you guys. I think Toby was really happy with the results, he worked really hard and I hope he keeps it up.

Poker wise, due to helping in the prop bet and being in London most of the month I didn't play much poker in October. I managed to play 37 hours (19,518 hands) and finished $2334 up for the month. It's still a good profit and another winning month which i'm pleased with.

Here is my full graph for the year with all in EV displayed:

Also this month, me and the Badger went to visit my good friend from uni Anton "The Cat84" in Swansea. I went to uni with Anton and me, him and James "The Wasp" Ash spent the last 2 years of uni solidly playing poker every day. We would have heads up games where the loser would have to do the washing up and these would last all night sometimes, lol. Me and Badger had a great weekend in Wales. We did some online MTT grinding on the Sat night and then played a 3 handed mini cash game where Anton cleared us both out, sigh. On the Sunday we went go karting, it was really good fun. I managed to win all four of my heats but then blew up in the final, where I started in poll position and crashed out to finish 6th i think. It was great to see Anton and his girlfiend Stacey and hopefully he will come down to visit us in the new year :-)

So onwards to November, after taking a back seat from playing in October it's time to get back to the tables. I really want to move up from $1/$2 in the next few months and be up regging $2/$4 and above by the end of the year which is very achievable. I had a session at $2/$4 tonight and the games were good and I finished a little up so fingers crossed. I want to keep improving my game, I have spent a lot of this month trying to get all the advise I can from my fellow poker friends and I feel I have learnt a great deal in both cash game and tourney play this month. I have been railing a lot of Bob's cash game playing online and Toby's tourney sessions and talked about hands and I'm sure it will all help my game. I now have a Bluefirepoker account and hope to learn from the videos on there over the coming weeks too.

I should be able to post more this month so keep an eye out on the blog guys. Also congratulations again to Chris "NigDawg" Brammer cashing in I believe the $100R for over $50k, awesome result and I hope you keep dominating the MTTs sir. Good luck to everyone going to DTD this weekend for the £330 deep stack. I can't make it as I'm going to Bournemouth Saturday night for Nathan "PurchaseBOi" Plasters and Junior's birthdays, should be messy. Happy birthday to Nick "Turkey gobble" Guns too, what a massive geeza. I have a feeling there will be a win for Badger boy or Morgan at DTD, maybe they can both chop it ;-)

GL at the tables. JP

I gotta stop tilting

2010-10-04T00:17:00.012+01:00

I started October winning $1k in the first few sessions and thought 'I'm back baby', however I lost a load today, sigh. I ran bad a fair bit but that's no excuse for tilting off a few stacks. It makes me think about how much I have lost due to tilt...many thousands. It's time to become a machine again, to not worry about winning or losing or getting 'unlucky'. I need to be consistent and let other regs and fish make the mistakes. I went over stop loss today but luckily managed to run like god for 5 mins and recover some of the losses. Mentor BH suggested a little bit of music might lift my mood during the session and it had an instant impact, thank goodness! I got lucky to win it back though. I think Durrr needs some music or something today cos he is doing his absolute brains getting owned by Zigmund at HU PLO on Tilt. Durr for you I suggest some Enrique - I like it ;-) (think he might have heard me and put it on cos he's winning some back now, lol)

I'm up a little bit for the month now but I can't afford to have anymore days like today. I'm better than this, but this blog post is a reminder that I will NOT TILT anymore. Let's gogogogogogo.

Sigh at Morgan's bubble in the HU £1k event at EPT btw, hope your one time comes soon.

JP

Toughest month of my poker career....but I like it!

2010-09-29T20:31:00.025+01:00

September...where do I begin? Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I really wanted this post to be the one where I said I made it into profit for this month, read on to find out. This month I went on a 25 buy in downswing which saw me go from being $1k up to $4k down very quickly. I hit stop loss three days in a row. Things were awful and I felt really down for a few days. At one point I remember saying 'I have had enough of this, I might quit poker and go get a job'. I believe it was a combination of things that contributed to this. I wasn't going to the gym for one and wasn't eating great, also I wasn't doing any work on my poker game. Despite these factors, it's a fact that I did run VERY bad. I had set over set twice and managed to see both these hands get one outed by quads twice in the space of a few days, it was so gross! Check this out: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5690947. That was just the tip of the iceberg, I really couldn't win anything. I did tilt off a few stacks, which is really stupid but I was so frustrated. I had been running so good all year and I wasn't used to this, I had taken run good for granted.

I spoke to Mentor BH and he suggested I take a week off playing, which I did and I tried to relax. I came back and posted a few wins but it still seemed to be one step forward two steps back for me. I made some key lifestyle changes. I started going to the gym with the Muscle Shark (Jez) every day, he is an absolute legend and number one trainer. Going to the gym made me feel great and made me much more positive at the tables. It's also a great chance to get out and socialise mid week because playing poker online can be quiet anti social. It's not like a job where you meet people every day and have office banter and anyone that knows me will tell you that I am naturally a very social person. I covered my poker account balance during sessions so I could focus more on playing well and making the correct decisions instead of focusing on whether I was winning or stuck in the hole. I spent time with friends and tried relaxing in between sessions. I also watched some vids on deucescracked.com thanks to legend White Knight and they really helped me start thinking like a winning poker player again. I began constantly thinking about opponents hand ranges and my plan for each hand.

The result of all this was a slow and steady grind back. I still ran bad and couldn't seem to hold when I needed to but I did start to get a few breaks. Monday night of this week I played 6 a-side football for team Fatside and we won 5-1, it was an awesome team performance. I felt great, came home, had a protein shake and a banana and loaded up some tables. I played the best poker I have ever played in my life. Mondays session was one of the biggest turning points in my poker career. Mentor BH talked about me needing the hunger to play and succeed and it was there more than ever. I played so aggressively and felt so confident. Even when I suffered beats I carried on relentlessly three betting people and raising and dominating. I felt so in control of every hand. That session made me want to become as good a poker player as I can now. The hunger is there. Finally, I played a winning eight hour session last night and I made it into profit for September, it felt amazing and was worth all the hard work I have put in this month.

Final result for September is 71 hours played (37521 hands) and $146 profit. I ran $5000 under EV (expected value) this month at $1/$2 and I mixed in some $0.50/$1. This come back meant a lot to me as I have never had a losing month since starting to play full time in Dec 2009 and despite this being pretty much break even, it's still a win and I should get a sweet bonus this month too!

Here is my graph for September showing you my results with EV (green is my actual profit for month and red is EV.

I want to thank all my friends that have put up with me whinging on msn this month and for helping me with advice and support. You know who you are and I really appreciate it :-)

I want to list some of the things I have learned this month that I think everyone, both new to poker and those who have played for years can find useful. Bankroll management, I normally have at least 50 buy ins for the level that I play. I went on a 25 buy in downswing which meant that if I had less online I could have gone broke or would have had to move down. I saw a reg considered one of the best on Pacific playing $0.50/$1 and he said he cashed out his roll and went on a downswing so had to drop down. Therefore bankroll management is key, I wish him the best on his grind back...if it is really him and not someone else using his account ;-) A good healthy lifestyle with exercise, good food and socialising is also important. It will make you feel good and therefore give you a more positive outlook at the tables. Next, never think because you are a winning player that you can just keep on cruising without improving. Without trying to learn you will lose the sharpness and you can fall into bad habits. During my downswing I watched poker legend Martin Badger Boy play a session online. He played great poker and I was like, wow I'm calling with a small pair in that spot and I shouldn't be. I started realise my own mistakes while he was playing solid winning poker. I realised I have got complacent and my game had got stale. The point is to keep learning and ahead of the game, which is adapting everyday. Stop loss, tilt control and taking breaks are vital. I hit stop loss and 'felt' fine the next day but in fact I wasn't, I just didn't realise it. When you hit stop loss, take a few days off and relax, don't tilt. Think that is enough learnt from this month, I should be charging for this, it cost me thousands of dollars online and 71 hours of my life this month to learn this, lol.

Finally, if you have made it this far...congrats to Seb 'Genius' Powell on winning the links tourney at the grosvenor for £3k. Also legends Martin and Morgan both final tabled for nice scores. Morgan is a sick heads up (HU) sit n go player on Full Tilt and also a double boozy hero, already been banned from DTD, pokerLAD. Also, I'm going on the record now to say that Seb is not only a great guy but is a genius and an amazing poker player and it's only a matter of time before he dominates the world online or live in the poker world. You read it here first ;-)

So, now I'm taking the last few days off of playing to relax. Went to see the new film The Town tonight with Nathan 'PurchaseBOi' Masters, it was awesome. Seeing family tomorrow and then I will get back on the grind at the start next month. I have fingers crossed for a better month in October, $10k month one time please?

Last of all, I just got a call from the Bagder to inform me that Toby 'I run so bad I never win anything' Lewis just won the EPT £1k side event in London for another large sum of cash, around £60k I believe, congrats mate wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Toby is a top lad and he's winning the world, couldn't happen to a nicer guy and hope he keeps on going. That's back to back EPT wins for him, what a sicko. And I thought wining $146 this month was good, FML lol! I almost forgot, a big well done to Chris Brammer, the man they call NigDawg on coming 3rd in Sunday Brawl on Tilt for over $50k and then winning an EPT side turbo last night for £9k. I railed his FT on Tilt and it was a lesson in aggression, wp sir!

Good luck at the tables all and btw you need this song in your life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9_n8jakvWU.

JP

A bad day at the office, time for a break

2010-09-11T02:17:00.008+01:00

I've not been feeling too great this week in general. I haven't played much cash and instead been playing a few MTT's but not done that great at them. Came 11/762 for pennies in one comp on Full Tilt but that was about it. Sigh for Martin 'The Badger' Malone coming 10th in the WCOOP event. So close to a big score, but a great run deep performance from him and I hope a big score is just around the corner for him! Also good luck to Anton 'The Cat' James back at the tables this weekend, hope you win the world buddy! Also it has been very tough times of late for Toby Lewis at the moment and he came 3rd place in the Party Poker World Open too, run better! Congrats to Sam Trickett who won the event after he got unlucky in the EPT, think he was due a bink.

Just had a terrible night of poker in a short session :-( I had a few beats early on and then I couldn't handle them and went mental! I stacked off like 3 or 4 times which is just madness and went a little over my daily stop loss. I hate to admit it but I was tilting and so effectively becoming free money. This should never happen playing full time. I think I'm having confidence issues at the tables recently and so I've not been on top form. I've spoken to my mentor and he has banned me from playing until he thinks I'm ready. I think this is sensible as I need to be ready to play and I need to be back to my best so I can dominate again. Think I had similar issues before I went to Vegas and I wanted to make the money to pay for the trip and it was in the back of my mind in every session and I couldn't play my best. But when I came back and I felt great and had the 'hunger' to play and I destroyed the games and did really well. I need to find that again before I play again.

I'm glad I have this blog because it's a great way to vent and also for anyone that ever thinks about playing full time it can give you an insight into what it is like. Yes, poker can be great to do instead of a job and the money can be good but there are lows. These lows can be awful and you can get down. However, if you can deal with these correctly they can make you stronger :-)

So now I'm down this month, let's hope I can turn things around and my next post is a positive one. I think I need a great big hug from Dan Rudd to make me feel better so we can be 'blog friends'!

Good end to August for JP, very good end of August for Toby Lewis

2010-09-08T21:13:00.013+01:00

August was yet another successful month and I made $5450 in 92 hours (40,000 hands). Despite my shot on Micro Gaming it was still a successful month again. Here's my latest graph from the start of the year until the end of August. The positives to take are that I have still never had a losing month since playing poker full time. I need to keep on going and improving my game until I am able to move on up through the levels. August was my highest volume month which is great and I now want to make that a bench mark for future months with a 40k hand target. I will never force myself to play when I'm on a bad run of cards or playing bad but I will try to maximise volume when I'm running and playing well. 40k hands is still a very modest target considering this is full time.

It's been a massive month for young Toby Lewis. He seems to have won the entire world! A few of us flew out to watch him in the final table of the 5k euro EPT Vilamoura in Portugal and he didn't disappoint. He took the tourney down for over 400k euros! We had a great day there getting boozy on the rail. We were drinking with a few well known UK tournament pros and the legendary Daniel Negreanu, what a hero! Details of the tournament can be found at this website: http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ept/2010/ept-vilamoura-toby-lewis-new-prince-of-portugal-073075.html

Toby has already been on Late Night Poker and he has a few more televised tournaments coming up in the next few weeks. His friend Jake Cody who has already won an EPT also won the WPT London recently for nearly £300k. It looks like the pair of them are gonna take over the world! Here's a photo of us outside the Casino with Toby and Daniel Negreanu.

So on into September with the grind. I started the month well and then had a bad day today and hit stop loss but luckily I then quit and didn't do my brains :-) I'm even so far for September but haven't really played. After a word from my mentor Bobs I am gonna chill a few days and then try and get back on track and get some more volume in at $1/$2 and get that roll building again and some dollar in the bank! I need to get back to some normality because I haven't been going to the gym lately and my eating has been a mess. Gonna sort myself out and get back to the gym every day mon - fri and I'm playing loads of footy now including playing for an 11 a side team on Saturdays which is awesome. We won our first game 2-0 and of course I bagged a goal ;-)

Any questions feel free to comment or email me at jonprince44@hotmail.com.

JP

Taking shots and downswings...

2010-08-19T10:11:00.004+01:00

I ran super hot in July and dominated making $6415 in 41 hours. I ran really good and was playing my very best. I came back from Vegas fresh and really hungry to play 6 max cash online after playing some full ring live games in Vegas...boring hell. I'm definitely an online player!

August has been a month of highs and lows. I started the month where I left off in July and absolutely crushed every game I sat in. I went $5k up very quickly. As there's not a huge amount of games running higher on pacific I decided to take a 2k euro shot at 2/4 euros on micro gaming. To cut it short I went 1k euros up and then found that I couldn't win a flip and ended up losing the 2k and that was that. This hand didn't help: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5618459. This pot was gross too: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5618456. In hindsight, I should have listened to my more experienced friends who suggested starting at 1/2 euros for a bit and then moving up later but I went for the 'big risks big gains' approach and you live and you learn. For some reason I seem to always learn things the hard way. Anyways, it was only a 5 buy in shot and sometimes you need a few shots to move up levels. Think I will approach things a bit slower next time though. I was having a few disconnection problems which never helps things. Think every poker player in the world know the pain of disconnecting, it's so tilting!

Moving on, I went back to Pacific and proceeded to go on a $4k downswing (20 buy ins at $1/$2). This did include a day where I did double my stop loss which is unacceptable, I was running bad and it was time to stop, not keep playing when you are not at your best. I took a day or so off playing and donked off some cash to the live games. I then got back online and have been back winning the last few days. I have won back $2k and I'm $3k up for August now. I'm running under EV for the month and have been struggling to win flips this month but it's all part of variance. Dealing with a bad run of cards in the correct way is so important and also underlines the huge importance of having a large bankroll if you are going to rely on poker as your main source of income.

The great thing at the moment is that I'm really motivated to play. I'm really enjoying playing online and the more I'm playing the more I want to play and win. I really want to get some money saved in the bank and then get my bankroll to grow.

I now have a few goals that I want to hit. Also I want to try and get into a regular daily pattern, in terms of sleep, eating, gym and football. Last few days I have been going to bed around 11pm and getting up at 7.30am. It's tough because you need to fit life around when the games are good but if I can get some sort of routine going then I will be happy. I have been playing football loads, I will be playing 4 times this week but I have missed the gym which is frustrating. Hopefully I can fit in the gym, football and poker into each day.

My goal is to get 100 buy ins online for $1/$2 and I have a certain figure I want in the bank. I'm half way to both so fingers crossed and keep grinding :-)

Taking shots and

2010-08-19T09:43:00.000+01:00

It's been a while...sorry boss!

2010-07-22T18:09:00.004+01:00

I have been very lazy on the blog and for my readers I am sorry and I promise to start updating the blog more regularly. Anyways, since I last posted I have had many trials and tribulations at the tables but managed to come out on top and make lots of dollar and then go to Vegas and spend it! lol. Right, down to business. After April's shennainigans I got my head down in May and played 85 hours (39k hands) and made $6k profit, I did have a $2500 losing day where I went chasing a few fish at the higher limits $2/$4 to $5/$10 and I got burned but I put that behind me and came back for a nice winning month. June was painful, I kept running mega bad and it felt like every time I had a hand someone had a better hand and I ended up breaking even...well $137 profit after 56 hours play (30k hands). I think I felt a lot of pressure to make money to pay for Vegas and felt like I needed to win. Running bad was making me play bad and that shouldn't happen. Anyone can win when they get dealt the nuts but it's how you deal with a bad run or several bad runs of cards that makes you a good and successful poker player long term. June taught me a lot about myself at the table and I worked hard at the end of it and feel like I'm a much better player for it now. I have worked very hard on 3 betting and 3 bet pots as I was misplaying them against certain habitual 3 bettors and feel like I have improved loads in that area now.

I decided to take some time off playing and relax and then headed out to Vegas for 2 weeks. Vegas was great fun, played a few tournies out there including a $1k WSOP event but couldn't really get going in it. Nevertheless had a great time out there with the boys. We did ball out of control a bit getting nice tables in the clubs etc but if you're gonna do Vegas you might as well do it properly. I was still labelled a massive nit for refusing to flip for bills, once a nit always a nit!

The best thing about Vegas was that it was the break from playing online that I needed. By the end of the trip I was mega excited about getting back and playing online and hitting the gym hard and since I have been back I have done just that! I have been running good since I have been back but I feel like I'm at the very top of my game now and I'm making the right decisions a lot.

Here's a graph for the year so far:

Now is time to get my head down and try to keep cruising at $1/$2 and build up some more money and then have another think about shots at the higher levels again when I'm ready.

Please feel free to email any questions to me at jonprince44@hotmail.com.

Militant March for the win...Alcoholic April somehow also for the win!

2010-03-25T20:14:00.000Z

March turned out to be good month and I managed to put in 70 hours at the tables. I made $6588 profit for the month all at $1/$2 and I was running at a respectable 11.5 bb/100. My non-drinking in March was certainly beneficial, I would go on a night out and then get in sober late on a weekend night and grind a few hours while the games were good, very profitable.

April has been a different story. It's the last day of the month and I have played a poor 44 hours. I finished $5925 up for the month running at 9.5 bb/100. It has been a successful month but it could have been something fantastic. It was my birthday at the start of the month and I had to celebrate turning 25, but the celebrations continued and poker took a back seat while I got double boozy. I did however start to take a few shots at $2/$4 and they went very well. I made about half my monthly profit at $2/$4 which was a nice bonus.

After a stern word from my mentor and online legend 'Big balls' I now have big plans for May. I want to play 100 hours, therefore I will aim to play 5 hours a day. I will be putting a rough day plan in order, I have never set hours because that doesn't work for me but I want to get back to how I was in March. I am setting a target of 100 hours and I don't set profit goals but I do have my eye on my first $10,000 month, one time please! I'm gonna hit the gym hard and and drink a maximum of once p/week. Also I might have a bash at the Nottingham UKIPT so if anyone wants a piece of my action if I play then I will be selling so let me know :-)

When in Rome...

(Grapth since start of feb 2010)

Graphs and stats Feb - Present Day

2010-03-14T20:04:00.000Z

No more slacking on the job

2010-03-11T14:32:00.000Z

Due to popular demand here's a new post. 2010 has gone well so far, posted good results in Jan and Feb. March has been a big test for JP. I broke even for the first 15,000 hands of the month. I had a bad two day period where I went over my loss limit again which was really bad discipline (you would have thought I learned the last time). Anyways, it hurt me and has made me stronger. I am a firm believer that things are best learned the hard way. Those bad days really make me appreciate the good days more and help me understand variance and the importance of not tilting in relation to profit. I also understand how important having a large bankroll is so that the swings don't hurt as much because bad days happen.

I have worked hard on my game now. I have started playing rough set hours of 3-5 hours per night at peak times and have taken things seriously but still never pressure myself to play. I don't have stats for Jan but in Feb I made over $3.5k in 49 hours at the tables plus $1k in rake back. It got me thinking that if I double my hours then surely that's double the profit :-) I have also been studying hard poker wise, reading as much material as I can. Since reading up I have focused far more during key hands and reviewed previous hands and found weaknesses in my game. However, best of all I have a few more moves to my arsenal now and they are starting to pay dividends! I think I have been far to exploitable to regs and found spots where I have been wondering what to do, I am starting to plug those leaks now bit by bit. I try and fit in an hours learning everyday. It's mad that after playing poker for around 6 years I still have so much to learn.

So it's mid March now and since having a kick up the back side I have turned things around and feel like I'm playing very solid poker. Obviously mistakes happen, even the best pros make them in sessions but they are becoming far less frequent and I recognise them very quickly. I had a target for a $10k month in March, a little way off that yet but progress is good, just got to keep the momentum going. I just want to hit my target of 100 hours for the month. I have played 46 hours so far so well on target!

Well done Toby Lewis for continuing to dominate the entire world of online multi-table tourneys and good luck in the black belt tourney which he's chip leader at end of day one, seriously there is something wrong with you boy ;-) Also Dave 'The Guns' you are a hero, geeeeeeeeeeeza!

Oh I have still been strong in Militant March, have a bet on with my mate Karl 'The Hit Man' Cassey that we can't drink in March, we do get one wild card. I have not broke yet and feel great for it. Good luck Hit Man.

"There go his toes!"

Thank you stop loss

2010-02-16T19:52:00.000Z

January went well and not too sure the exact figure but I managed to post around $3-4k profit including rakeback at $1/$2 with some $0.50/$1 mixed in. February started a bit shaky, I took some more money offline for living expenses for the next few months. Then I saw a fish sat at $2/$4 and decided to have a shot, within a few hands I managed to get a flush all in v's him to find him snap call me with a bigger flush. I also had a few tables running (bad idea) and got set under set in which was unlucky and then AK v's QQ with now joy and tilted some off and before I knew it I had gone well past my stop loss. I then had to grind the next few days at $1/$2 and managed to earn all those losses back and get back into profit for Feb. After this I decided to take my stop loss more seriously and it's the best thing I have done. I NEVER go over my stop loss now and it's such a good thing to have. Sometimes in life and poker the only way you can learn things is the hard way, I learnt things the hard way at the start of Feb and since then things have gone well. Sessions have been swingy, which is natural at $1/$2 but when I hit my stop loss (5 buy ins) which I have done twice, I turn the games off and try to relax for the rest of the day.

Thanks to The Whiiiiiiiiiiiiite Kniiiiiiiiiiiight, I have now got Hold Em Manager working which is fantastic. Now i can go through hands and I find having my profit and loss tracked so visually makes me even more competitive about my game and I really ant my win rates and $ p/hour to be the best they can! Unfortunately I hadn't saved any data from Jan which is heartbreaking and my stats only start after my spectacular downswing at $2/$4 and doesn't include my start of February profit but despite that I'm up for February at over $20 p/hour and over 5 bb/100 which isn't great but it is profit which is good. I want to build on that and start getting my graphs, figures and most importantly profit in good shape.

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

On the grind

2010-01-24T01:22:00.000Z

I took a large ammount of money off my roll to pay for moving out and getting an office set up for poker and now that is all ready, although I may soon need to invest in a second monitor as one isn't too great. I've had an eventful few weeks since the new year. I have put in a number of hours this month with mixed results. The overall gist is that there have been numerous swings, not helped by me ignoring my stop loss for the day and tilting which really isnt acceptable now that poker is my sole income source. I made a fair bit then lost a bit then made a load and lost a load. However I have pulled things back a little and will continue to grind. I have readjusted my targets and hope to get back to where I was before. Thousand dollar swings are very common at $1/$2 and I now feel like I'm ready for it. I am going to give myself a $1k stop loss for the day as I feel like I can deal with it ok now. My previous stop loss was 3 buy ins but you can easily lose a few coin flips at the start of a session and have to cut it short. 5 buy ins allows me to grind yet stop if things do get ugly.

I have joined fitness First and am going to go training daily and I want to get into a routine. I want to start playing some serious hours and making some serious dollar. I'm expecting decent rakeback for Jan and want to do some serious grinding to earn a nice amount. I need to get my hold em manager working and then I can start to see realistic win rates and stats as it is hard to tell currently as I have taken lots of money off the site.

Really want to get back in the profit at $1/$2 and start to get back ready for shots at $2/$4 because I was sooo close!

First downswing...it's not for me!

2009-12-21T14:29:00.000Z

After making $2k for the week I have had a cheeky 8 buy in downswing at $1/$2. That's fine because swings are natural and I was 10 buy ins up so really I'm still 2 buy ins up for the week. It still hurts though and I'm dealing with it in the best way I can. Not gonna whinge about bad beat stories because it's all fairly standard but lost a few buy ins getting KK in pre v AQ and KK in v AA but also tried playing too tricky in a few pots which is uncharacteristic for how I have been playing so far...like a nit! I have found tight nitty poker to work best for me as the value is in table selection and fish. Even though I haven't played too much I am having a little break and then get back on it soon when I'm less tilted. Have taken some money off my roll to make me feel better and still have plenty to play with. Might drop down for a few sessions just to get the confidence back up and then move back up again soon.

Anyways enough of the depressing stuff. I'm really looking forward to the new year. I'm moving out and gonna start getting into a routine playing regular hours online at the tables and try and hit the gym everyday Mon-Fri like I did in Sydney. Wanna try and drink a lot less too because it has been party time the last 3 weeks and I'm suffering now. Ha ha! Well done to Edgy on smashing up the MTT's lately and Seba for having a nice run of late! Toby has been so close to a big score at the EPT and Monte Carlo event with some deep finishes, think he is due a big result soon, glgl. Hopefully there will be a big score for the fish mob in the near future and it would be nice if the Badger could not run like death, gotta work on your respiking ability bro! When in Rome....bing....bing!

First weeks as a "pro"

2009-12-17T13:08:00.000Z

Not played a whole lot considering I'm trying to play "full time" but the important thing is that when I have played I have been very focused with good table selection and I have done well because of this. Took a shot at a few tournaments last Sunday, played the warm up, $200k gtd and million on stars, the $250k gtd on i poker and a few on 888.com. I was the most hungover I think I have ever been so wasn't at my best, don't think the 24 cans and bottle of vodka we had between the 4 of us on sat night before we even went out was much of a help. Got my money in good in most of the comps and got unlucky, most sick was shipping in AQ v KQ on a TQT flop and seeing a cheeky K on the river to send me on my way in the $250k gtd. haha. No bad beat stories on here from me I promise, sorry! I did cash for like 100-200th place in the $200k gtd for like $320 but not quite the $34k I was after in that comp.

I made all my tourney buy ins back on Monday playing cash which was handy! lol. I have been playing $1/$2 and playing anywhere from 2-5 tables at once depending on what donkos are around. I think my cash game is almost back to the best it has ever been. I am a nit and play mega tight but that suits me fine because I'm keeping decisions easy. I have made a few plays though both good and bad but you can't play perfect 100% or you would be some kind of poker freak. Made a nice play raising utg to $6 with KQ o/s and button makes it $21 (which I know he is doing when I raise as he had done it twice already). A donko calls the $21 so I make it $60 and they both call. Flop is 8 high and I lead $102 into about $180 and they both pass. Ship it! Posted over $2k profit this week and have withdrawn best part of that to pay for "living expenses."

On with the grind at $1/$2, I want to keep posting nice results at this level and then I can think about a few shots at $2/$4 soon if things keep going well.

Ship $12k ftw. wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2009-12-07T23:35:00.000Z

Just played the £300 DTD deepstack weekend in Nottingham with the legend that is the badger. Was my first real 'big' live comp and was a great experience. I had Julian Thew on my 1st table, one of the UK's best tournament players and I could see why he is as he played a very solid game. I picked up no real hands to work with all comp and ended up getting AK in v 99 and losing half my stack and then get AK in v QQ and the Q high flop was the end of my tourney. I should be heading back up to Nottingham after Christmas for the 20 20 tournaments and I may try and sat online into the £1000 Monte Carlo comp, would be nice!

Since getting back from Nottingham I decided to play a few online tournaments Sunday night and well.... Entered a $20 buy in R&A with 44 runners and a $75 buy in $50k gtd with 500+ runners on 888.com. I smashed the $20 R&A and took $800 ftw and then focused on the $50k gtd. I was playing my best poker and was in the zone throughout making great calls and played much more agro than usual. When we got down to the last 2-3 tables I decided that I wanted at least a top 3 finish. Prizes were $12k, $7.5k and $4k and that's where I needed to be, I felt confident ftw though! With this in mind I started playing mega agro and putting people all in and playing with no fear, I did make sure I didn't tangle with the other chip leaders though.

We got down to the final table and I was about 4th in chips. I made lot's of blind steal and slowly built a stack without tangling too much while waiting for people to knock each other out. Then I raise 77 and there is a call and a short stack moves in so we both call and flop is 474...ship it! soon after we got 4 handed I was 2nd in chips with about 600k and the chip leader had 1.5m. I started playing back at him to build a stack without getting all in. the 2 others fell and we got heads up. I started off losing a big pot and went down to 200k to his 2m!!! Then I boshed with rags and got a double up and then started playing super agro raising and 3 betting most hands. Due to the aggression I got k5 in v his AQ and spiked, then get the chip lead and get lucky again when he 3 bets and I ship A6, he has KK and bing A high flop. Ship the $12k! wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

So...things are now good. I have withdrawn money off my roll and have living expenses covered for a while and now I can start grinding it out and make some $$$. I have over a $10k roll to play $1/$2 and $0.50/$1. Let's have a bash!!!

Back from Travelling and on the grind

2009-11-30T15:08:00.000Z

Just got back last Thursday night from my travels through Asia. I went to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia with my mate Jez. Had a great time and by the time we finished up I felt ready to come back. I have been home a week now and am playing poker full time. I spent some of my roll travelling and left myself $3k to play with when returning. Since coming home I made $1k in my first week (about 10 hours play) and withdrew that to pay for expenses. So.. I'm at $3k now and the journey begins...

It Helps To Run like God

2009-09-05T16:58:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 20:
Start bankroll: $5,100
End bankroll: $6,550

Had a few short sessions during the week (Monday to Friday) but didn't play too much and finished a bit up. Then the weekend landed and I played a session at $1/$2 on Saturday and finished $1.1k up. Had some nice hands at the right time and had them hold up which always helps. Was lucky enough to get KK in preflop v's AK and AA v KK and held up both times. I made a few aggressive bluffs that got called on one table denting my profits a bit but that gave me a loose image and I was able to bet the pot on the river with some strong hands and get paid later on so it worked out. I always enjoy running good and appreciate it because I have had a few testing days in the last few weeks and I know how crap it is to run bad.

Played another session on Sunday and had mixed results, started really well going a few buy ins up and then made a few moves that didn't pay off and got sucked out on a bit too. I took a break and when I came back I played some solid poker and even had a bash at $2/$4 as one of my favourite fish was multitabling $1/$2 and $2/$4. I actually sucked out on him in my biggest ever pot which was really sick. I had QQ pre and UTG made it $14, the maniac makes it $24 and I make it $60, he smooth calls. Flop is KTJ and he bets $130, I move in for $450 and he calls with KK for top set... bing...turn is a 9 and I scoop a pot just over $1000. It was revolting but he leads out there and folds to a reraise quite often. He had been doing it a lot previously in 3 bet pots when an ace or high card would hit the flop and he would bet pass. I felt it was either bosh or pass and I if I was wrong I had outs which in the end I needed and I got lucky. Nothing wrong with running like God. Later on at $2/$4 I ran a flush into bigger flush where I was the aggressor in a 3 bet pot but I just smooth the river and so lose the minimum. Ended up finishing the day $200 up.

So, $1.3k up for the weekend. I am really pleased now because as long as things stay roughly how they are now then I have enough money to travel Asia with and still come home with a decent roll for $0.50/$1 with shots again at $1/$2.

Here's my latest graph:

Taking a few shots

2009-09-02T00:23:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 19:
Start bankroll: $4,200
End bankroll: $5,100

Had a disgusting session on Sunday with $800 swings. Started going $300 up and had some great tables but then I played a few hands bad and went to break even. Then I get in a $200 pot against a reg with KK and have we both have over $150 back. I check the river to check call and I get disconnected and time out! Was ready to throw my laptop out of the window. I turned off my computer and got myself together and then came back and played much better. I even mixed in a little $1/$2 and finished the day $100 up. Was a very emotional session with some serious highs and lows and highs again, but that's what poker is!

Had a good week so far this week. Finished $300 up on Monday and then mixed in some $1/$2 last nite and finished over $500 up. I find I am playing some of my best poker when I sit at $1/$2 because I'm far more focused and it means more to me. I'm not playing scared though and I am still making bluffs and playing my hands aggressively. However, when I do bluff it's when I'm really confident I can pick up the pot and I make sure my play makes 100% sense, I'm not making too many marginal plays now. This is what I should be doing anyway at any level but it is far more noticable to me now. I am also shutting down early in marginal or weak hands after the flop and pre flop. I have been table selcting against fish that I've now seen and I also look for short stacks too as they are usually worth a punt. I have been having some good battles against the regs at $1/$2 a few which I know from $0.50/$1 but making sure that I'm in position and define my hands clearly against them as oppossed to $0.50/$1 where I can be a bit more relaxed with my position and take a few more risks. Many of the regs at $1/$2 don't know who I am which is a great advantage to me if I play TAG. One thing I have been doing at $0.50/$1 lately is making a few loose calls early in the session and making sure the hands get seen and then really tighten up and get paid. I have been running well, obviously and my hands have been holding up too which always helps!

I will keep grinding and mixing in juicy games of $1/$2 when I see them this week but I'm looking forward to the weekend mostly when the games are better. If I can get some good games going this weekend at peak times and have hands hold up then it will be a great chance for me to move up to the next level. I keep setting new targets all the time and challenging myself for more, now I want to get to $8k by the time I leave australia, then I can withdraw $2k for spends and still have a $6k roll, we'll see.

Another thought, I'm a bit of a bankroll nit these days, I think it is so important. Was reading Cole South's blog and saw the methods he used to quickly rise to fame in online cash. He moved up to the next level when he got to 30 buy ins at the next level and dropped back down if he dipped below that 25 buy ins at that level. I think this is a great plan. For example at for $1/$2 you need $6k to move to that level but you drop down at $5k. This means you get a five buy in shot at the level but if it goes wrong you move back down and have 50 buy ins at $0.50/$1. The reason I think this is good is that the shots moving up have every chance in doing well and you may not need to move back down. But, if things go wrong then you can move back quickly without losing too much and still be very protected at the level below. This is the strategy I am going to try and employ now I think, obviously I am taking a few shots at $5k at the moment but I'm only mixing in one or two tables at the moment and I'm prepared to drop down if I stack off.

Enough crap from me.

Gl at the tables.

FIshMobJP1

Dreams of turning pro

2009-08-29T13:26:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 19:
Start bankroll: $4,005
End bankroll: $5,420 ($1,200 withdrawn)
New bankroll: $4,200

I have put in some good hours this week and cleared my $300 bonus. Had a nice run this weekend and had a $800 day Friday evening followed by a $400 day on Saturday, could have been more but I'm not complaining. I feel really comfortable at $0.50/$1 now and it's great to have a nice roll for it too. I'm 4-5 tabling with some careful table selection which has payed dividends.

My plan when I started with $400 was to get to $2k by the time I left Australia, when I met that target I upped that to $4k. I'm over the moon that I have now made $5k profit in about a month and a half. After some advice from Bobby I have withdrawn $1.2k and cleared my overdraft. Er Bobby, your cut is on it's way mate :-) It's really nice to appreciate the money I have made playing poker. I now want to keep grinding until I leave and stay above $4k that way I have 40 buy ins for the level I'm playing which should be a solid roll. I still have rake back to come this month which should be a good bonus. I will be happy to have $4-$5k by the time I leave Australia so I'm set up for when I get home but I'm gonna keep setting new targets and pushing for more from myself evertime I play. Anything above $5k will probably be withdrawn so I can have a great time in Asia and give me more financial stability for when I return home. Only 2 and a half weeks till I leave now!

I'm loving life in Australia, it's nice having the sunshine in the middle of winter and I actually enjoy my job here (if that's possible to enjoy a job) but I have loads to look forward to now and it's time to move on. I really miss all my mates and family and can't wait to see everyone. Me and my mate Jez are going to be travelling Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for just over 2 and a half months and should be home late November. If all goes to plan when I get home I'm gonna have a bash at going pro. I should have a decent roll and a bit to live off too so it's the perfect time to have a go. Fingers crossed and hopefully this time next year I will be living the high life sipping on Crystal baby!!

Good luck to everyone at the APAT this weekend. Big shout out to FishMob boys, we are gonna tear things up soon! Big shout to Figaro to, he's my boy. Love ya all!

FishMobJP1

p.s. below is my latest PT graph since changing sites.

Get rich or die trying.

2009-08-24T01:14:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 19:
Start bankroll: $2,900
End bankroll: $4,005

Had a few sessions since my last post and it has gone quite well. I played another mid week session and finished one buy in down. Then it was the weekend and I decided to drop my tables right down and really focused on finding the fish. I made about $400 on Saturday and around $800 on Sunday. I took a small shot at $1/$2 on Sunday as the mad genius Bobby pointed out a fish that was playing like a maniac on his table. I sat for about 15 hands and made over $300 profit and when some donko stacked the fish and he left I got up and left straight away. The hand I got him with was when I picked up AJ and 3 bet the fish after he had min raised pre and he called my 3 bet along with 2 others. Flop is AK9 and I lead for $30, the fish min reraises and I bosh. He calls with A3 and I hold. A few hands later I raise with 88 and flop a set and I employ the classic Prince betting the flop and turn and check calling the river allowing him to bluff. This little adventure at $1/$2 was a great boost to the roll but that is it for now. It was a small gamble that went my way, but had I stacked off $200 then I would have got up and left and gone back to $0.50/$1. Anyways ,it was back to $0.50/$1 for the rest of the day and on with the grind. For the rest of Sunday I used good table selection and it payed off.

I'm gonna enjoy this run while it lasts again, feels real good when things go your way. I want to concentrate more on table selection for now more so than grinding because I believe that is where the value is. However, I think if I want to go pro at some point I will need to grind for the rakeback to create a regular monthly revenue. Quote: "If you’re playing $1/$2 NL, 6-max, four tabling, six hours a day, then even if you only broke even on your playing you could still be making $5,202 a month just in rakeback. Throw in a decent win rate and you’re earning well over the national average salary sitting at home playing poker!" http://www.rakebackreport.com/how-to-make-a-living-playing-online-poker/

It was really good to catch up with everyone this weekend online, all the hardcore FishMob were on, Seb, Edgy, Martin and Bobby. I love chatting about hands and the banter is always good. Aparently if me and Bobby can win on the site we play then it must be easy? Thanks Badge!!

Wow, lotta action, a lot of action!

2009-08-19T00:41:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 18:
Start bankroll: $3,510
End bankroll: $2,900

First of all forgot to say well done to Martin "Thebadgerboy" Malone on winning over $2k in the $30k gtd on Will Hill, would have been a win and over $8k if he hadn't had KJ sucked out on by QJ....standard. However it was a much deserved result after running so cold recently and it's good to see the big man is back on top of things, nice one mate! Also got a shout out for the big man Mikey "unpredicatble" Harris for reminding me today that I have never beaten him heads up! Thanks for that mate, will look forward to a rematch when I get home!

Where do I start with my last session? Had a 6 buyin down day, not great considering my stop loss for the day is 4 buyins! Was a sick day because if 2 pots go my way I finish the day much closer to $4k! This session was definately the coldest run of cards I have had since starting this roll.

Within five minutes into the session I had a set of 9's done by TT getting it all in on the turn and he hit a gutty. I got generally screwed for a while, I miss all my AK's and have overcards to my pairs etc etc but I slow down and grind it back to break even for the day but then things went very wrong! I get a set of 5's all in against a nut flush draw for over a $400 pot and he spikes the turn, no respike for me WTF??? At the exact same time I get a set of 4's all in and this guy actually has a monster draw (open end straight flush draw) and he hits on the turn too.

I stacked off at least twice out of frustration during the session which I'm not too proud about. I should have finished about 3 buy ins down really. Being able to finish a session down is a very important part of winning poker long term. I could have saved a few buyins here but I played on frustrated and tired which wasn't good.

Anyways, I'm gonna put this session behind me and continue grinding. I was gonna drop to $0.25/$0.50 but I'm crushing $0.50/$1, so I'm gonna get back on it tonight but have a strict three buyin stop loss so that there's no more tilting. I also want to change my stop loss to 3 buyins for a while because I felt like crap after this session and I think I wouldn't be too bothered about dropping 3 buyins in a day. If I drop another $700 or so then I will drop down levels but let's hope I can get back to winning again.

Here's some good and mostly sick hands from the day:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 15271532 *****

$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 20:24:31
Table Valdivia (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 4: gongora_ ( $64.30 )
Seat 6: cirrusxx3 ( $129 )
Seat 7: JackVegas ( $191.01 )
Seat 8: I_Like_Bacon ( $165.30 )
Seat 10: FishMobJP1 ( $100 )
cirrusxx3 posts small blind [$0.50]
JackVegas posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ 9d, 9h ]
I_Like_Bacon folds
FishMobJP1 raises [$4]
gongora_ calls [$4]
cirrusxx3 folds
JackVegas folds
** Dealing flop **
[ 4h, 9c, 8c ]
FishMobJP1 bets [$5]
gongora_ raises [$10]
FishMobJP1 raises [$20]
gongora_ calls [$15]
** Dealing turn **
[ 6c ]
FishMobJP1 checks
gongora_ bets [$10]
FishMobJP1 raises [$71]
gongora_ calls [$25.30]
** Dealing river **
[ 7h ]
** Summary **
gongora_ shows [ Td, Th ]
FishMobJP1 shows [ 9d, 9h ]
gongora_ collected [ $126.10 ]

This hand happens 5 mins into the session. Not a great start but I played my hand well and that's all that matters.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 15278436 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 21:56:33
Table Leiden (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: rammelaar ( $254.49 )
Seat 3: Cissoko21 ( $100.50 )
Seat 6: UniQue19 ( $100 )
Seat 8: FishMobJP1 ( $211.99 )
Seat 10: karaguna ( $132.58 )
Cissoko21 posts small blind [$0.50]
UniQue19 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ 5d, 5s ]
FishMobJP1 raises [$4]
karaguna folds
rammelaar raises [$14]
Cissoko21 foldsUniQue19 folds
FishMobJP1 calls [$10]
** Dealing flop **
[ 5c, Ts, 7s ]
FishMobJP1 checks
rammelaar bets [$15]
FishMobJP1 raises [$36]
rammelaar raises [$75]
FishMobJP1 raises [$108]
rammelaar raises [$150.49]
FishMobJP1 calls [$53.99]
** Dealing turn **
[ 6s ]
** Dealing river **
[ 9h ]
** Summary **
rammelaar shows [ Qs, As ]
FishMobJP1 shows [ 5d, 5s ]
rammelaar collected [ $421.48 ]

Usually I would say that rammelaars play is good here cos my head was spinning when the action went off on the flop as he has played the hand mega aggressively. I think about his 3 bet pre flop and the hands I think he plays this strong on the flop are AA, KK, QQ and AK spades. He could have TT or 77 here for set over set but I'm never passing my hand here. I don't think there is any value long term in ever passing a set on a non straight or flush board. Turns out he has really overplayed his hand here as we are so deep and he commits over 2 stacks with a bare flush draw and I get done. I don't like how he has played it this especially when our stacks are this deep because the best hand he is up against is QQ or JJ and then he is only about 50/50.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 15278433 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 21:56:31
Table Valdivia (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: 1000kg ( $115.72 )
Seat 5: Cissoko21 ( $110.80 )
Seat 6: e6ypawka ( $100 )
Seat 7: UniQue19 ( $107 )
Seat 8: Kebun1 ( $70.18 )
Seat 10: FishMobJP1 ( $270.76 )
Kebun1 posts small blind [$0.50]
FishMobJP1 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ 4h, 4c ]
1000kg folds
Cissoko21 folds
e6ypawka folds
UniQue19 raises [$3]
Kebun1 calls [$2.50]
FishMobJP1 calls [$2]
** Dealing flop **
[ 9s, 4s, 8c ]
Kebun1 checks
FishMobJP1 checks
UniQue19 bets [$6]
Kebun1 folds
FishMobJP1 raises [$17]
UniQue19 raises [$39]
FishMobJP1 raises [$250.76]
UniQue19 calls [$59]
** Dealing turn **
[ Qd ]
** Dealing river **
[ Jh ]
** Summary
**UniQue19 shows [ Ts, Js ]
FishMobJP1 shows [ 4h, 4c ]
UniQue19 collected [ $213 ]

Hand plays itself really and just got unlucky.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 202717849 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 20:51:07
Table Palmdale (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: FishMobJP1 ( $95.46 )
Seat 3: rubiton ( $128.96 )
Seat 4: otemeones ( $191.50 )
Seat 8: 1000kg ( $100 )
Seat 9: medienve ( $96.76 )
Seat 10: bobomagic ( $98.50 )
rubiton posts small blind [$0.50]
otemeones posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ Qd, Qs ]
1000kg foldsmedienve raises [$2]
bobomagic folds
FishMobJP1 raises [$8]
rubiton folds
otemeones folds
medienve calls [$6]
** Dealing flop **
[ As, 6d, 6s ]
medienve checks
FishMobJP1 checks
** Dealing turn **
[ Ts ]
medienve checks
FishMobJP1 bets [$10]
medienve calls [$10]
** Dealing river **
[ Kc ]
medienve checks
FishMobJP1 checks
** Summary **
medienve shows [ Js, Qh ]
medienve collected [ $35.63 ]

Medienve shows us how to call on the turn with 4 outs, make his hand and then not get paid, great poker! I bet when I'm ahead and check when I'm behind.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 15273998 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 21:01:27
Table Leiden (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: I_Like_Bacon ( $217.95 )
Seat 5: DATUSO ( $26 )
Seat 6: mar7tin ( $111.10 )
Seat 7: villem ( $179.74 )
Seat 8: FishMobJP1 ( $172.65 )
Seat 10: karaguna ( $121.38 )
mar7tin posts small blind [$0.50]
villem posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ Tc, Kc ]
FishMobJP1 raises [$3]
karaguna foldsI_Like_Bacon folds
DATUSO calls [$3]
mar7tin calls [$2.50]
villem folds
** Dealing flop **
[ 6d, 3c, 7c ]
mar7tin checks
FishMobJP1 bets [$5]
DATUSO raises [$10]
mar7tin calls [$10]
FishMobJP1 calls [$5]
** Dealing turn **
[ 8c ]
mar7tin checks
FishMobJP1 checks
DATUSO bets [$13]
mar7tin calls [$13]
FishMobJP1 raises [$34]
mar7tin calls [$21]
** Dealing river **
[ 7h ]
mar7tin checks
FishMobJP1 bets [$125.65]
mar7tin folds
** Summary **
DATUSO shows [ 5c, Ad ]
FishMobJP1 shows [ Tc, Kc ]
FishMobJP1 collected [ $75.05 ]
FishMobJP1 collected [ $41.95 ]

I know both of these players in the hand are really loose here so I just call on the flop with my flush draw. Usually I would like to raise it again on the flop but they are so loose that I can't win the hand right there. I check the turn when I made my hand because I know DATUSO is boshing and mar7tin will call allowing me to pump the hand up further and commit mar7tin to a big pot. Gutted he passing the river here, I bosh because I think he is calling all day with a medium strength hand. Still a nice pot though.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 15273697 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 18 08 2009 20:57:00
Table Leiden (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 4: I_Like_Bacon ( $224.45 )
Seat 6: mar7tin ( $178.62 )
Seat 7: villem ( $184.24 )
Seat 8: FishMobJP1 ( $92 )
Seat 10: karaguna ( $126.50 )
I_Like_Bacon posts small blind [$0.50]
mar7tin posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP1 [ Ad, Kc ]
villem folds
FishMobJP1 raises [$4]
karaguna folds
I_Like_Bacon calls [$3.50]
mar7tin calls [$3]
** Dealing flop **
[ 7c, 4s, Ac ]
I_Like_Bacon checks
mar7tin checks
FishMobJP1 bets [$8]
I_Like_Bacon folds
mar7tin calls [$8]
** Dealing turn **
[ 7d ]
mar7tin checks
FishMobJP1 bets [$19]
mar7tin calls [$19]
** Dealing river **
[ Qc ]
mar7tin bets [$147.62]
FishMobJP1 calls [$61]
** Summary **
mar7tin shows [ As, Ts ]
FishMobJP1 shows [ Ad, Kc ]
FishMobJP1 collected [ $184 ]

Here is mar7tin again, I know he is mega loose and capable of big river bluffs, I had him on AJ or AT the whole hand but when he boshes the river I tank before making this call and I was right.

Back after a week off

2009-08-18T00:13:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 17:
Start bankroll: $3,196
End bankroll: $3,510

I withdrew $3.2k from Pacific and then deposited $2k on my new site. It worked out that I got $1,880 for my $2k withdrawl! Got a bit screwed by the "exchange" rates losing $120 but I got an instant $100 sign up bonus on my new site so it levelled out and I'm not too bothered now. I will now get to clear another $300 bonus over the next few weeks which is all good too! I now have $2.3k in my poker account and $1.2k in the bank. After some good advice from Bobby I will leave the $1.2k in the bank and if my roll gets to over $4k online then I will spend that money but until then I will keep it there as part of my roll if I need it. It's true that you have to treat yourself for all your hard work once in a while.

Felt strange getting back on the grind after a week off. Made a few mistakes straight off the bat and at one point early on I found myself 3 betting 88 from the sb pre flop against the cut off and cont betting a KT rag flop out of position. My opponent calls and I have to give up the hand. Although I play the hand strong it's not too great really. However I recognised my mistakes and got back to playing solid hands from POSITION. I know it's a well known fact but when analysing my stats on Poker Tracker I could clearly see how much money is made from the button and how much is lost from the sb and bb, position is so important. Played some good poker and some average poker tonight. I loosened up a bit pre flop and it payed off against overly aggressive players. I stacked off a few times tonight, but I was making moves and it's these moves that frequently make me money so I'm not annoyed about it. I had 2 players donate to me for a whole stack. In one pot I had 99 on an 894 flop against A7 and he stacks off the turn which is a 7. lol. I had someone else bet pot into me on the river and then stack off with QJ on a board of 7QTAJ and I held KQ. I had reraised him on the flop and he called and bet out real small on the turn so I call in position. Somehow it all kicks off on the river and it's Christmas for me :-)

I now have a month until I leave for Asia. I need a solid roll for $0.50/$1 when I get back to the UK. Really happy playing at this level at the moment. I'm planning on not drinking for this last month. I want to do some good training in the gym and and it's also so I can save some money. I will most probably be drinking everyday while I'm travelling too which is standard! Going to the gym before I play online seems to help. I get home from work, go to the gym, come home, shower, eat and then get ready to play. I'm always in the right frame of mind to play that way.

"They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time."

Poker Tracker graph and stats

2009-08-12T12:34:00.000+01:00

Here is my latest graph and stats from Poker Tracker. Click on each to view in a new window:

Patience is a virtue

2009-08-11T03:03:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 16:
Start bankroll: $2,805
End bankroll: $3,196

Finally broke the $3k mark today which gives me over 30 buy ins at $0.50/$1. I want to get up over $4k-$5k so I have a fully protected roll at this level. I will post some charts from my Poker Tracker soon with my stats etc, but I'm being a retard and can't get the print screen going on my laptop! My bankroll does include sign up bonuses and money converted from FPP etc, I'm not recieving any rakeback at the moment but should be getting that sorted soon and will factor that in some how.

Played a 4 hour session last night, was a bit longer than planned but playing conditions were really good. I dropped a buy in straight away getting it all in on a low flop with QQ against 99, naturally he hits his set on the turn. I was really focused during my session, I started playing just one table and played some of my most solid poker and then I increased from one table to four tables with table selection. It was failry reggy early on but I was playing very TAG so it wasn't too much of a problem and then the tables became really juicy later on. I kept going a buy in up and then down again but managed to stay in profit for the day. I was gonna call it a day about one buy in up but I had three really great tables going so I gave it a bit longer and it was really worth it. I made almost all my profit for the session in the last half an hour. I wanted to stay on longer as conditions were great but I was starting to get tired and thought best to call it a day.

I had so many big hands today with lot's of money going in the pot. Have posted quite a few here as they are all quite notable ones. Please if anyone has any thoughts on my hands let me know. If you disgaree with any of reasonings post a comment on here, this would be a great way to help me improve. One hand that really bugged me here is the AK pot I gave up against DergyXBodrey. I think there is a lot to be learned from this pot. I have my ideas on it but feel I wimped out a bit here. I think the hand can be solved by me leading out on the turn and I can pass to a raise. Anyways, would love some feedback on this as I have been analysing it loads in my head. What are your thoughts??

Here are some winning and losing hands from the day:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 87072778 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 11 08 2009 00:22:46
Table Umea (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: FishMobJP ( $305.87 )
Seat 3: radzko ( $99.50 )
Seat 6: niniglator ( $26.44 )
Seat 7: heartrate ( $40.85 )
Seat 8: ufficiale81 ( $96.55 )
Seat 10: Crystal92100 ( $111.25 )
heartrate posts small blind [$0.50]
ufficiale81 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Jc, Ac ]
Crystal92100 calls [$1]
FishMobJP raises [$4]
radzko calls [$4]
niniglator calls [$4]
heartrate fold
sufficiale81 calls [$3]
Crystal92100 calls [$3]
** Dealing flop **
[ 9s, Tc, Kc ]
ufficiale81 checks
Crystal92100 checks
FishMobJP bets [$12]
radzko folds
niniglator folds
ufficiale81 folds
Crystal92100 calls [$12]
** Dealing turn **
[ 5c ]
Crystal92100 checks
FishMobJP bets [$24]
Crystal92100 calls [$24]
** Dealing river **
[ 3d ]
Crystal92100 bets [$60]
FishMobJP raises [$265.87]
Crystal92100 calls [$11.25]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Jc, Ac ]
Crystal92100 shows [ 8h, 7d ]
FishMobJP collected [ $231 ]

I was so pleased that I lead out again on the turn here. When I bet out the flop and he smooth called I was actually hoping he was on a flush draw too and made his flush on the turn. As it turned out he did all the work for me on the river making a big bluff after missing his straight draw and donated a nice pot. He is clearly represnting the flush and is a bit unlucky that I had it but the thing is if I have a big hand on the flop already (set or straight) and bet out I slow down when the flush card hits and I'm checking behind on the turn and then check calling the river (or betting if he checks again), just an example of why having the button is so important.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 87072937 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 11 08 2009 00:25:07
Table Umea (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 2: FishMobJP ( $422.72 )
Seat 3: radzko ( $95.50 )
Seat 6: niniglator ( $22.44 )
Seat 7: heartrate ( $40.35 )
Seat 8: ufficiale81 ( $95.16 )
FishMobJP posts small blind [$0.50]
radzko posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ad, As ]
niniglator calls [$1]
heartrate calls [$1]
ufficiale81 raises [$5.50]
FishMobJP raises [$14.50]
radzko folds
niniglator folds
heartrate folds
ufficiale81 calls [$9.50]
** Dealing flop **
[ 8h, 6c, Kh ]
FishMobJP bets [$20]
ufficiale81 calls [$20]
** Dealing turn ** [ 9h ]
FishMobJP bets [$387.72]
ufficiale81 calls [$60.16]**
Dealing river ** [ 3c ]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Ad, As ]
ufficiale81 shows [ Qs, Ks ]
FishMobJP collected [ $189.32 ]

Standard donko stuff, lol.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14244340 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 10 08 2009 22:58:50
Table Miass (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the buttonTotal number of players : 6
Seat 1: ed2214 ( $101.51 )
Seat 3: giardini ( $46.97 )
Seat 4: Crystal92100 ( $69.02 )
Seat 5: DTH1970 ( $18.42 )
Seat 9: FishMobJP ( $145.69 )
Seat 10: burnle96 ( $101.18 )
FishMobJP posts small blind [$0.50]
burnle96 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ts, 8s ]
ed2214 foldsgiardini calls [$1]
Crystal92100 calls [$1]
DTH1970 folds
FishMobJP calls [$0.50]
burnle96 raises [$4]
giardini folds
Crystal92100 calls [$4]
FishMobJP calls [$4]
** Dealing flop **
[ Th, 3s, Tc ]
FishMobJP checks
burnle96 bets [$7.60]
Crystal92100 calls [$7.60]
FishMobJP calls [$7.60]
** Dealing turn ** [ 2c ]
FishMobJP checks
burnle96 checks
Crystal92100 bets [$12]
FishMobJP calls [$12]
burnle96 calls [$12]
** Dealing river **
[ 8h ]
FishMobJP bets [$121.09]
burnle96 calls [$76.58]
Crystal92100 calls [$44.42]
** Summary **
Crystal92100 shows [ 3c, 3h ]
FishMobJP shows [ Ts, 8s ]
burnle96 shows [ Kc, Kh ]
FishMobJP collected [ $204.06 ]
FishMobJP collected [ $64.32 ]

This hand is an absolute cooler for Crystal, thing is I have both players here marked as loose so I'm never passing my hand. If river isn't the golden 8 then I check call but I got lucky as I'm a card rack! Burnles call here is awful.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14250972 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 11 08 2009 00:11:15
Table Miass (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: Crystal92100 ( $194.17 )
Seat 5: scruffy105 ( $99.71 )
Seat 6: calicvol ( $103 )
Seat 7: k1team ( $66.51 )
Seat 8: radzko ( $97 )
Seat 9: FishMobJP ( $292.08 )
FishMobJP posts small blind [$0.50]
Crystal92100 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Qd, Qc ]
scruffy105 folds
calicvol raises [$3.50]
k1team foldsradzko calls [$3.50]
FishMobJP raises [$10.50]
Crystal92100 folds
calicvol raises [$24.50]
radzko foldsFishMobJP calls [$17]
** Dealing flop **
[ Jc, 7h, Ts ]
FishMobJP checks
calicvol bets [$46]
FishMobJP raises [$264.08]
calicvol calls [$29]
** Dealing turn **
[ Ad ]
** Dealing river **
[ Qs ]
** Summary **
calicvol shows [ Kd, Ah ]
FishMobJP shows [ Qd, Qc ]
calicvol collected [ $206.50 ]

QQ seems to not be favouring me at the mo. Had lot's of QQ v AK and been on the losing end of it. I like to raise or fold usually with QQ pre flop but this time I decide to play for a safe flop, get it in and get screwed.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14234467 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 10 08 2009 21:02:46
Table Miass (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: ilidadon ( $54.39 )
Seat 5: DTH1970 ( $32.62 )
Seat 7: jo9876 ( $99 )
Seat 8: florianf1885 ( $70.49 )
Seat 9: FishMobJP ( $131.13 )
Seat 10: bonytodu93 ( $100.99 )
jo9876 posts small blind [$0.50]
florianf1885 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Qh, Qd ]
FishMobJP raises [$3]
bonytodu93 folds
ilidadon folds
DTH1970 folds
jo9876 calls [$2.50]
florianf1885 calls [$2]
** Dealing flop **
[ 4d, 8c, 7d ]
jo9876 checks
florianf1885 bets [$8.55]
FishMobJP raises [$21]
jo9876 folds
florianf1885 raises [$58.94]
FishMobJP calls [$46.49]
** Dealing turn **
[ 9s ]
** Dealing river **
[ 4h ]
** Summary **
florianf1885 shows [ 9c, 9h ]
FishMobJP shows [ Qh, Qd ]
florianf1885 collected [ $139.98 ]

More love with QQ. Was happy with the hand, got it in good on the flop and got 2 outed on the turn, enough said!

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 127507842 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 10 08 2009 23:34:57
Table Lampang (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: FishMobJP ( $100.25 )
Seat 2: AreYouKiddin ( $99 )
Seat 3: becckss ( $97.74 )
Seat 4: regis49 ( $103.43 )
Seat 5: DergiXBodrey ( $147.37 )
Seat 6: murecek ( $133.68 )
AreYouKiddin posts small blind [$0.50]
becckss posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Kc, Ac ]
regis49 calls [$1]
DergiXBodrey raises [$4.50]
murecek folds
FishMobJP calls [$4.50]
AreYouKiddin folds
becckss folds
regis49 calls [$3.50]
** Dealing flop **
[ 9c, 3c, 4h ]
regis49 checks
DergiXBodrey bets [$9]
FishMobJP raises [$22]
regis49 folds
DergiXBodrey raises [$71.25]
FishMobJP raises [$73.75]
DergiXBodrey calls [$15.50]
** Dealing turn ** [ Ts ]
** Dealing river ** [ 9h ]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Kc, Ac ]
DergiXBodrey shows [ Th, Td ]
DergiXBodrey collected [ $202.50 ]

This hand was annoying. I smooth on the button preflop with this hand because the table had a few regs on there and it was an absolute squeeze fest. I wanted to call with AK here and then bosh a 3 or 4 bet from behind me. Anyway, we see a flop and I still love my hand, a bit to much and prob shouldn't be calling his all in bosh here. I'm not in too bad shape on the flop really and this is a hand I will play very agressively all day but it was overplayed here against a reg and I gave myself a slap for it. Would have been loving it if I hit though, still had 15 outs.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 127510341 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 11 08 2009 00:09:26
Table Lampang (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: FishMobJP ( $139.71 )
Seat 2: ilidadon ( $19.98 )
Seat 3: becckss ( $116.71 )
Seat 4: regis49 ( $187.21 )
Seat 5: DergiXBodrey ( $199.22 )
Seat 6: murecek ( $99 )
murecek posts small blind [$0.50]
FishMobJP posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Kh, Ad ]
ilidadon folds
becckss folds
regis49 folds
DergiXBodrey raises [$3.50]
murecek folds
FishMobJP raises [$8]
DergiXBodrey calls [$5.50]
** Dealing flop ** [ 2c, 9c, Ks ]
FishMobJP checks
DergiXBodrey bets [$10]
FishMobJP raises [$30]
DergiXBodrey calls [$20]
** Dealing turn ** [ 4c ]
FishMobJP checks
DergiXBodrey checks
** Dealing river ** [ 6c ]
FishMobJP checks
DergiXBodrey bets [$57]
FishMobJP folds
** Summary **
DergiXBodrey did not show his hand
DergiXBodrey collected [ $74.58 ]

This hand has been driving me up the wall. Somebody give me some logic on this please!!
This is my thought process on the hand:
Pre flop is standard. He is a reg and when he calls my reraise on the flop and a club hits the turn alarm bells go off. What hand does he call my reraise on that flop with that he calls my 3 bet pre flop with? I'm losing to AA, KK, QcJc, 99, AK, AQ. What concerns me is that because he is a reg could he be floating me here with QQ or its possible he could have AK or AQ and wants me to do my stack on the turn. I shut down when the turn hits. When he checks behind I sniff some weakness and I am check calling or stopper betting the river if its a brick but it's another club and I give up. I could throw a stopper bet out but can't see what he calls with that I beat.
I think where I went wrong is checking the turn. I should have bet out 1/2 pot on the turn and thought about passing to a reraise or maybe just getting it in as my hand in on the turn as it is so strong on the flop. Think I went with my gut on this and it just felt a bit wrong. I only lost about $30-$40 in the hand but what a frustrating spot to be in.

A testing day on the grind

2009-08-10T02:05:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 15:
Start bankroll: $2,470
End bankroll: $2,805

Today I played a few short sessions. I started off badly, making a few moves that didn't work out and also losing a flip with AK v QQ from SB to BB, standard! I went about 3 buy ins down early and grinded for a bit but wasn't really feeling it so I took a break and relaxed, got some food and then decided to get back to it. When I resumed play I started to grind it back a bit but everytime I made a few buyins I would lose a race and everyone seemed to be making their flush or straight on the river v's my overpairs etc. Then I had a period of about half an hour to an hour of serious joy. A few maniacs sat on two of my tables and I sat and waited them out. One guy would call or min 3 bet every raise I made pre. Usually here I would tighten up but he was calling on the flop to then pass 95% of the time on the turn or river. I didn't have position on him but it didn't seem to matter and I was always in control of the pots. So I started raising with any ace, any marginally decent hand and bet every street and he would pass on the river. Another maniac sat behind him though and this slowed me down as he was 3 and 4 betting back at me so I had to tighten up a bit and wait. It was worth it and then a big pot went down, fairly textbook stuff (see hand 1). Also the same player that boshed into me in that hand stacked off again to me on another table, which was great timing for me to get the right hand at the right time. Over the next hour I went from being about 2 buy ins down to 5 buy ins up! I started making hands, flopped a few sets and I also used the momentum of running well to make moves and open up a bit (see hand 3). I had a little dent near the end of the session getting AQ in pre v's TT and A8 with no joy and I overplayed AQ on an A high flop running into a set but it wasn't bad luck I just played the hand real bad and committed way to much with a marginal hand and wasn't concentrating enough. Mistakes happen so I wasn't too bothered and even the great Phil Ivey says he always makes mistakes in every session. I had another break for the day and then had one more short session late in the day and made about half a buy in, just standard grinding. I hope I can keep running well and I still have a target of $4k by mid September! Fingers crossed.

Here's some hands from the day:

Hand 1:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14112577 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 09 08 2009 16:53:49
Table Indio (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: FishMobJP ( $237.88 )
Seat 5: CHTAY15 ( $122.73 )
Seat 6: impaulin ( $243.07 )
Seat 7: mandrei2 ( $100 )
Seat 8: e6ypawka ( $187.52 )
Seat 9: mrmguts ( $155.78 )
mandrei2 posts small blind [$0.50]
e6ypawka posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Qh, Qc ]
mrmguts calls [$1]
FishMobJP raises [$4]
CHTAY15 calls [$4]
impaulin folds
mandrei2 raises [$17.50]
e6ypawka folds
mrmguts folds
FishMobJP calls [$14]
CHTAY15 calls [$14]
** Dealing flop **
[ 9s, Js, 3h ]
mandrei2 bets [$82]
FishMobJP calls [$82]
CHTAY15 calls [$82]
** Dealing turn **
[ Jh ]
FishMobJP bets [$137.88]
CHTAY15 calls [$22.73]
** Dealing river **
[ 5d ]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Qh, Qc ]
CHTAY15 shows [ 2d, Ac ]
mandrei2 shows [ Qs, As ]
FishMobJP collected [ $298 ]
FishMobJP collected [ $45.46 ]

Hand 2:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 201884577 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 09 08 2009 17:02:46
Table Tarija (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: e6ypawka ( $326.47 )
Seat 2: AMartynk ( $80.50 )
Seat 5: FishMobJP ( $190.39 )
Seat 7: blue8101 ( $105.61 )
Seat 8: LANARY ( $37.14 )
Seat 9: mandrei2 ( $120.74 )
e6ypawka posts small blind [$0.50]
AMartynk posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ks, Kc ]
FishMobJP raises [$3]
blue8101 folds
LANARY folds
mandrei2 raises [$10.50]
e6ypawka folds
AMartynk folds
FishMobJP calls [$7.50]
** Dealing flop **
[ 9s, 6c, 2d ]
FishMobJP checks
mandrei2 bets [$16]
FishMobJP raises [$40]
mandrei2 raises [$94.24]
FishMobJP calls [$70.24]
** Dealing turn **
[ Jc ]
** Dealing river **
[ 5d ]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Ks, Kc ]
mandrei2 shows [ Ah, Qs ]
FishMobJP collected [ $238.98 ]

Hand 3:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 127425409 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 09 08 2009 21:32:26
Table Sumare (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 2: GodzilLa76 ( $60.08 )
Seat 4: DergiXBodrey ( $100 )
Seat 5: rwBArBEr ( $55 )
Seat 7: FishMobJP ( $101.50 )
Seat 10: sticke5 ( $101.56 )
GodzilLa76 posts small blind [$0.50]
DergiXBodrey posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ 6d, 5d ]
rwBArBEr folds
FishMobJP raises [$4]
sticke5 calls [$4]
GodzilLa76 folds
DergiXBodrey calls [$3]
** Dealing flop **
[ Jd, 7d, Ks ]
DergiXBodrey checks
FishMobJP checks
sticke5 checks
** Dealing turn **
[ 5c ]
DergiXBodrey checks
FishMobJP bets [$8]
sticke5 folds
DergiXBodrey raises [$21]
FishMobJP calls [$13]
** Dealing river **
[ 9d ]
DergiXBodrey bets [$37]
FishMobJP raises [$76.50]
DergiXBodrey calls [$38]
** Summary **
DergiXBodrey shows [ 8c, 6c ]
FishMobJP shows [ 6d, 5d ]
FishMobJP collected [ $200.50 ]

The big man is back!

2009-08-08T14:52:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 14:
Start bankroll: $1,900
End bankroll: $2,470

I decided after yesterdays winning session at $0.25/$0.50 that I would move up to $0.50/$1 again. Dropping down to $0.25/$0.50 was a great idea as I didn't feel the beats as much and it helped build my confidence again as the play is easier at that level than it is at $0.50/$1. When I got online today there were no regs and the games looked real good so I had a bash. Also I set a limit that if my roll was to drop to $1,500 then I was stop for the day and move down limits again next session. As it turns out I had a great session and finished $570 up for 2 hours play. I tightened up a bit, firing less 2nd barrels on the turn and also less continuation bets. I'm not saying this is better, it just reduced varience a bit and I felt in control of all my hands today.

Here's a few notable hands from the day:

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14012580 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 08 08 2009 18:29:26
Table Conakry (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: kornel1977 ( $28.38 )
Seat 2: 83jafo ( $65.67 )
Seat 6: 11jb11 ( $41.68 )
Seat 7: IIoPIIIEHb ( $101.41 )
Seat 8: FishMobJP ( $132.83 )
Seat 9: DergiXBodrey ( $108.55 )
83jafo posts small blind [$0.50]
11jb11 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ac, Kc ]
IIoPIIIEHb folds
FishMobJP raises [$3]
DergiXBodrey raises [$9]
kornel1977 folds
83jafo folds
11jb11 folds
FishMobJP calls [$6]
** Dealing flop **
[ 6s, Kh, 9c ]
FishMobJP checks
DergiXBodrey bets [$14]
FishMobJP raises [$32]
DergiXBodrey calls [$18]
** Dealing turn **
[ 7d ]
FishMobJP bets
[$91.83]
DergiXBodrey calls [$67.55]
** Dealing river **
[ Js ]
** Summary
**FishMobJP shows [ Ac, Kc ]
DergiXBodrey shows [ Kd, Qs ]
FishMobJP collected [ $214.60 ]

This hand was key for a few reasons. Dergi had been 3 betting a lot in position. a few hands ealier I made a stand and flat called pre and played him off a hand. When I got AK and he 3 bet I decided to play the hand slow because I think if the right flop comes it could be pay day and also because I know his range is wide from here so I want to keep him in the hand with a weaker or more marginal hand. I usually 4 bet AK as standard pre but because of the player and positions I decided to smooth pre flop. After the flop the hand played itself and it looked like I was making a move really.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 14009157 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem
- *** 08 08 2009 17:08:31Table Conakry (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: debter ( $19.50 )
Seat 4: zantonsus ( $117.01 )
Seat 5: jackhass ( $94 )
Seat 7: SalsaDancer ( $176.58 )
Seat 8: FishMobJP ( $101.24 )
Seat 9: exrental ( $109.53 )
exrental posts small blind [$0.50]
debter posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ 8s, 8h ]
zantonsus folds
jackhass folds
SalsaDancer folds
FishMobJP raises [$3]
exrental calls [$2.50]
debter calls [$2]
** Dealing flop **
[ 3d, 8d, 5h ]
exrental checks
debter checks
FishMobJP bets [$5]
exrental calls [$5]
debter folds**
Dealing turn **
[ Kh ]
exrental checks
FishMobJP bets [$14]
exrental raises [$28]
FishMobJP raises [$79.24]
exrental calls [$65.24]
** Dealing river ** [ 4h ]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ 8s, 8h ]
exrental shows [ Ts, Kd ]
FishMobJP collected [ $201.48 ]

Don't even need to comment on this hand, except to say table selection is so important.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 239151212
*****$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***
08 08 2009 17:04:19
Table Reykjavik (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 5: Nordiz ( $86.21 )
Seat 6: pepeprawn ( $107.90 )
Seat 8: BManB55 ( $161.58 )
Seat 9: FishMobJP ( $108.69 )
pepeprawn posts small blind [$0.50]
BManB55 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ 7h, 6h ]
FishMobJP raises [$3]
Nordiz calls [$3]
pepeprawn folds
BManB55 folds
** Dealing flop **
[ Tc, 4d, 5s ]
FishMobJP checks
Nordiz bets [$4]
FishMobJP raises [$10]
Nordiz calls [$6]
** Dealing turn **
[ 3c ]
FishMobJP bets [$15]
Nordiz calls [$15]
** Dealing river ** [ 3d ]
FishMobJP bets [$29]
Nordiz calls [$29]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ 7h, 6h ]
FishMobJP collected [ $111.50 ]

Didn't get to see his hand here but I'm gonna assume it's something like KT or QT maybe. The key here is my aggression on the flop. I'm out of position so make my own position by checking. When he bets and I raise and put the decision back on him. Here he can pass so many hands to my raise and if he calls then I can out draw him or play him off on the turn by betting out 1/2 to 3/4 pot and shutting down if he calls or raises and I don't improve. Classic Super System stuff to be fair or just me being a luck box, lol.

***** Cassava Hand History for Game 239154121
*****$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***
08 08 2009 18:22:43
Table Reykjavik (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: DergiXBodrey ( $140.26 )
Seat 3: bronko36 ( $294.36 )
Seat 4: IIoPIIIEHb ( $105.85 )
Seat 7: BobbyK71 ( $34 )
Seat 8: BManB55 ( $257.59 )
Seat 9: FishMobJP ( $181.09 )
DergiXBodrey posts small blind [$0.50]
bronko36 posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ 9d, 9s ]
IIoPIIIEHb folds
BobbyK71 raises [$4]
BManB55 folds
FishMobJP calls [$4]
DergiXBodrey folds
bronko36 calls [$3]
** Dealing flop **
[ 3c, 2c, Jh ]
bronko36 checks
BobbyK71 checks
FishMobJP bets [$6]
bronko36 raises [$12]
BobbyK71 folds
FishMobJP calls [$6]
** Dealing turn **
[ 6d ]
bronko36 bets [$12]
FishMobJP calls [$12]
** Dealing river **
[ 6c ]
bronko36 checks
FishMobJP bets [$29]
bronko36 folds
** Summary **
FishMobJP did not show his handFishMobJP collected [ $57.48 ]

Here I flat call pre with 99. I quite often will 3 bet here but raiser is in 2nd position and I get to act last post flop so I'm happy to play the flop.
On the flop my bet is standard as they both check. When the BB min reraises I'm not convinced so I call to keep the pot size small as my hand isn't strong but I feel it is ahead, it's also showing I won't be pushed around. I also want to see what he does on the turn. His bet on the turn is really weak like he has a Jack that he hates or a flush draw. I call here but a raise would probably be better than my call as he probably folds and if he calls I can check behind or fold the river. On the river when he checks I know he has given up the hand. I think he either has a small pair or a Jack he doesn't like and feels is beat. At this level I don't think he would check a flush on the river, usually people would bosh or bit bet for fear of missing a bet with a flush here. I bet out strong here, prob a bit loose but here's my reasoning. I don't think he has a flush, I can also represnt that as I have called twice in the hand. He can pass if he has a weak Jack so gives me another way to win the hand. Strange hand as I call on the flop feeling I'm ahead and end up what is feel is bluffing out the river and taking advantage of weakness. Let me know your thoughts.

Right enough crap from me. Until next time!

Discipline is the key

2009-08-08T14:45:00.000+01:00

Daily update 13:
Start bankroll: $1,750
End bankroll: $1,900

I dropped back down to $0.25/$0.50 after my last session which was really bad and it was a great decision. I felt really confident at this level again as the play is easier and beats didn't effect me as much as I was playing for less money. The last session I played and the dent in my roll made me realise you should NEVER take the level you are playing at forgranted. It doesn't matter if you are playing $0.25/$0.50 or $10/$20 you have to earn the right to be there and be disciplined. I had played for too long in my previous session I was "chasing losses" which is a bad place to be and what I used to do previously. I'm glad I came off when I did though as you always see things a lot clearer the day after a losing session. I will try for this not to happen again and limit my sessions to being short again, not a 12 hour decline playing well below optimum.

I played really well again today though at $0.25/$0.50 and felt good so let's hope I make it back to how things were before. The way I deal with the downswing of bad luck and bad play from my previous session is important if I am gonna make it to poker stardom. jokes! Major hand of the night was getting J10 all in v's KK on a flop of AKQ and holding! We were both very deep, about 2 and a half buy ins deep each. I raise with TJ suited and he min 3 bets from SB so I call and the rest is history, all in on the flop....ship it!

The roll is building, daily updates! Part 2

2009-08-08T14:25:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 5 & 6:
Start bankroll: $1,400
End bankroll: $1,560

I have moved up to $0.50/$1. Thought I would take a shot and I can move back down to $0.25/$0.50 if I drop below $1,000 so I gave myself a $400 shot roll. Things have been bumpy. Lost most of my big pots, TPTK v flush draws etc but the grinding has been good. Lost a sick $300 pot last night in an agro blind war.

Hand:$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 27 07 2009 23:26:01
Table Thanyaburi (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button Total number of players : 6S
eat 1: BRTARP ( $100 )
Seat 2: erzzor ( $119.54 )
Seat 3: cypher23 ( $98.50 )
Seat 7: _Supernova_ ( $122.53 )
Seat 9: c4s1n0t1lt ( $170.78 )
Seat 10: FishMobJP ( $149.10 )
c4s1n0t1lt posts small blind [$0.50]
FishMobJP posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ad, Jh ]
BRTARP folds
erzzor folds
cypher23 folds
_Supernova_ folds
c4s1n0t1lt raises [$3.50]
FishMobJP raises [$8]
c4s1n0t1lt calls [$5]
** Dealing flop ** [ Td, Jd, 6s ]
c4s1n0t1lt checksFishMobJP bets [$9]
c4s1n0t1lt raises [$25]
FishMobJP calls [$16]
** Dealing turn ** [ 2s ]
c4s1n0t1lt bets [$39]
FishMobJP raises [$115.10]
c4s1n0t1lt calls [$76.10]
** Dealing river ** [ 7d ]
** Summary **
c4s1n0t1lt shows [ 9d, Kd ]
FishMobJP shows [ Ad, Jh ]
c4s1n0t1lt collected [ $294.20 ]

I owned this lad in the pot, was annoying. Despite this, i have finished up in both my sessions since moving up. Went $200 down tonight and was gonna quit but there was so much value on the table and it payed off and I finished up, just hammered the blinds and played TAG, no more calling!!I'm now 50% towards my $300 bonus so just want to keep ticking over at this level and clear that bonus and hopefully get near the big $2k mark.

Daily Update 7:
Start bankroll: $1,560
End bankroll: $1,720

I've been playing much shorter sessions now too. I play for like 1-2 hours and then take a break and if I'm doing well I carry on. I'm practising treating poker as a part time job so I'm disciplined for when I come back. Playing long hours isn't good for concentration either. If I fell tired or I'm tilting and playing too loose or too scared in pots then have a break and chill out. I didn't do this before and it's all good. I'm a bit worried about the gap I have between travelling and getting home. My 6 max game is at a peak now and I'm learning more everyday. I need to be at my best to stand a chance of playing pro so I will keep reading about poker while i'm away and work really hard on improving my game as soon as I get home. I'm trying to erradicate calling from my game now. I only employ calling for Pot control with marginal hands etc. This has mainly helped me preflop. My preflop game has seen the most improvement and made my life so much easier post flop. Hands like AQ and JJ used to be a problem for me but now I'm playing it fairly ABC, lot's of 3 betting pre to take control of the hand and i can get away when there is too much heat.

Daily Update 8 & 9:
Start bankroll: $1,720
End bankroll: $2,340

Things are still going good and I broke the $2k mark this weekend. Played 2 sessions and finished first session just over $2k and then did well in my next session too (bout 3 buyins up for both). The second session was helped by a donater that I made sure was on ALL my tables and it paid off. He got it all in pre with A10 suited v's my KK and made a flush despite a K on the flop but I waited him and out and ground money off him from many tables! Was a strange session, I flopped a set of 3's after a min reraise pre from JJ and we get it all in on the turn in the first 10 mins so I started the session well. BUT then I got too agro and got QQ all in pre v's AA and stacked off. It was a mistake and I wasn't happy so I cooled off and started grinding again, broke even for about an hour and then things picked up after I switched a few tables and sat on the left of the donkos, made a huge difference. I was raising almost every pot in pos and getting folds to most of my cont bets and no resistance which goes to show table selection and seating is key! Also I specificly played my sessions in the morning here (aus) so it would be 2-4am for the UK and French players, it's a great time to play as people are either pissed or chasing profits. When thinking about playing pro I think I may play some strange or late hours just because the level of fish and profit at these times can be so high! Check out this hand against DelPiero6600 - I know this player really well. He is a reg that likes to regularly make wild bluffs. I had called him on the river several times with weak hands that were good and I owned him here. Made a sick river call that I was so sure was good!

Cassava Hand History for Game 201173928 *****
$0.50/$1 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***
02 08 2009 13:51:57 Table Copiapo (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 3: FishMobJP ( $150.33 )
Seat 4: zicfriz ( $23.13 )
Seat 6: nachunja8888 ( $196.34 )
Seat 7: DelPiero6600 ( $130.75 )
Seat 8: Juffa ( $14.16 )
Seat 9: mtlpeete ( $84.74 )
mtlpeete posts small blind [$0.50]
FishMobJP posts big blind [$1]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to FishMobJP [ Ts, Kc ]
zicfriz fold
snachunja8888 folds
DelPiero6600 calls [$1]
Juffa fold
smtlpeete calls [$0.50]
FishMobJP raises [$3]
DelPiero6600 calls [$3]
mtlpeete folds
** Dealing flop **
[ 9d, 2d, Kh ]
FishMobJP bets [$6]
DelPiero6600 raises [$12]
FishMobJP calls [$6]
** Dealing turn ** [ 4c ]
FishMobJP checks
DelPiero6600 bets [$31.35]
FishMobJP calls [$31.35]
** Dealing river ** [ 3h ]
FishMobJP checks
DelPiero6600 bets [$83.40]
FishMobJP calls [$83.40]
** Summary **
FishMobJP shows [ Ts, Kc ]
DelPiero6600 shows [ 9c, 8d ]
FishMobJP collected [ $258.50 ]

Few stats after 32 hrs (9,679 hands) so far:
bb/100: 14
$/hour: $60
$/hour at $0.50/$1: $96

I understand this is a very small sample but there you go. If I can get close to $4k by the time I leave Australia then I will have a great roll for $0.50/$1 when I come home and be able to think about a few shots at moving up so fingers crossed.

Daily Update 10:
Start bankroll: $2,340
End bankroll: $2,525
Had a quick session last night, it was a reg fest so i didn't hang around. I played AK like a twat and got lucky. Get it all in on flop AQT v QQ and spike a J on river. I wasn't even happy about winning it because after I get repopped on the flop it is an easy fold and I felt like a fish playing so bad but hey I'm a luck box. I did sort my head out and started playing well and making disciplined folds and played well in the end. I did have a decent hand though:There's 1 limper and I make it $4 from bb with KK, he calls.Flop 4cKsQs. I bet $5 and it's called.Turn is Qh. I bet $10 and get called.River is 9s. I check. This is the money card (brings flush or straight) I wanna look mega weak and let him bet into me so we can get it all in. After I check he bets $30 and I move in for $80. He snaps with Q6. Wot a guy. So close to the $300 bonus now. Oh yeah, checked my will hill and got 50 quid rakeback from last month. Happy days!

Daily Update 11:
Start bankroll: $2,525
End bankroll: $2,250 ($300 bonus met so will be $2,550)

First proper losing session since starting at $400! Had a huge session and cleared the bonus, haven't recieved it yet so will chase that up! Sick sick session. It was one of those "everyone's spiking" games. I got QQ all in pre for my whole stack v's A6 and he spikes an A on the river. Had KK done by KQ after he calls a 4 bet pre from the sb and then makes runner runner on turn and river. he even apologised. I made a sick move against a reg who kept floating me and it turned out he made his straight which was annoying as I read him for top pair shit kicker or a missed flush draw and thought i could move him off, turns out he had called my 3 bet with 45 suited lol so was hard to read that. Played some average poker and some really good poker but things just didn't go my way. Ran AK into a set, got nut straight all in on turn v's set for massive stack and board pairs, all that jazz. I was 5 buyins down at one point but did some solid grinding to get back a bit.It may sound nuts but I'm kinda glad this session has happened as I have been running like god lately and it's just a bit of varience. I do believe table selecting is amazing, hence Mr A6 pre flop, I insta called with QQ pre which I usually don't do as I was 100% sure i was good. lol. First losing sesh but I'm loving life and loving poker. Gonna take tonight off to gather my thoughts and then back on tomorrow to smashing it up again!

Daily Update 12:
Start bankroll: $2,250

End bankroll: $1,750 ($300 now included)

This was the message I didn't want to write! As you can see my roll has been dented. My good run has come to an end and things went bad yesterday. I was running like death and instead of coming off like I have done the last few weeks I decided to play through it and played a shitty 12 hour losing session (huge mistake). It started with me running bad but then I just started making wild moves and the regs spotted it straight away and cleaned me out :-(It started when I got QQ v AQ all in pre and he made a flush on the river then I was chasing losses and the whole site was a reg fest and instead of coming off I tangled with them all. It was sick because everytime I got my money in good I got screwed and everytime I was behind I sucked out. Basically I finished 8 buyins down. I was annoyed as well because 888 took ages sorting my bonus out and it wound me up. This has annoyed me as I felt like I was back to my old ways. Anyways, I'm gonna chill out and get back to winning. If I can deal with this downswing then it will be really good. I need to take all the adivce I have been given now. I gotta take a break, drop down to $0.25/$0.50 and get back to smashing things. Dropping down will show I can be disciplined and if I get a few beats it won't feel as bad :-)

The roll is building, daily updates!

2009-08-08T14:10:00.000+01:00

Daily Update 1:
Start bankroll: $962
End bankroll: $1,000

Finally made the big $1k last night, had a mental session. Went 2 buy ins down very quicky. Things weren't going my way and then I (tilt) overplayed AK v's a donko. He started giving me abuse and I said keep the chips warm for me sweetheart, 2 hands later and same guy min raises UTG, I caller and I call from BB with J9, flop is 7h 8h 10c. ship it! I bet pot on flop and get 2 callers, turn is As, i bet pot and donko calls, river is a 9c and I bosh, he calls with Ax hearts and the table were cracking up :-) I grinded for 2 hours and finished up, annoyed about losing money with AK or would have been more up but you live and you learn lol.

Daily Update 2:
Start bankroll: $1,000
End bankroll: $1,137

Started off dropping 2 buyins, not in one go but over time, missing ak and seeing overcards with JJ etc and having all my cont bets called so not much I could do. Had a retard on my table who was sat with over 5 buyins and had taken one off me so I waited him out and the wait was worth it. I pulled off my classic JP hand: He limps (he limp calls everything pre as he is a station) from the CO, I make it 5 x bb with AJ from SB, he calls. Flop A - rag - rag. I bet 3/4 pot on flop and he calls, rag turn and I bet 1/2 pot and he calls, river is another blank and i check, he boshes and I call. He missed his gutty. lol.vHand 2: Against a tight weak player I reraise pre with AA, he calls. flop is AK9, i bet pot on flop and turn which was a blank, he calls, half pot on river, he has a set of nines and check calls the whole way. Happy days!

Daily Update 3:
Start bankroll: $1,137
End bankroll: $1,240

Had a solid night tonight, a real grind but enjoyed it. Had one idiot slow playing everything, he limp calls from the button with QQ, i raise it from SB with JJ. Flop is low, i bet pot and he calls. Turn is a K and i check raise him all in, he calls. sick really as he said after he hated making the call. Had a real sick $166 pot: Guy raises 4 x bb UTG, i smooth on button with AT hearts. Flop Jh7h8s. He bets $3.50, i make it $9, he smooth calls.Turn Ks. He checks and I bet $12 and he smooth calls.Tiver 3h. He bets $24 and I move in for $81, he calls with 8h9h. How sick.......ship it!!!I have to keep grinding now, almost 1/3 way to making the $300 sign up bonus. If I make that I could be able to have a bash at $0.50/$1 before i leave Australia in Sept. I'm $740 up this week.

Daily Update 4:
Start bankroll: $1,240
End bankroll: $1,400

I spoke to my mate Bobby before my session today and said "shall I have a bash at $0.50/$1 tonight?" and he said to prob wait until like $1,500, which is sensible. I think I will try and keep playing $0.25/$0.50 while i'm running so well and keep the momentum going. I'm feeling comfortable and playing with no fear right now at this level so prob stay at this level for a while instead of playing too tight at the next level up. I started the night about 1 buy in down, had AK all in pre v 910 for 1/2 my stack and he hit. lol. Not much happened for about an hour, had a donko on my direct right limp calling everything and I lost a stack to him when he limp calls out of pos. i have A10 from the button and he limp calls from CO on a 4 10 4 flop, he check calls flop and turn and 1/2 pot bets river with 10 4. I had his number and half an hour later I build up my stack and get in a $160 pot with him, hand:Mr 10 4 limps from the button (limp calls everything pre). I have 99 in SB and make it $2 to go, he snap makes it $3.50, lol. I smooth it. Flop 669. I bet half pot $3.50 and he reraises to $9 so I smooth call to check whatever turn there is so he can bet and thinks he has me, he has no idea i have a monster! haha.Turn is a 10. I check (this is one of the first plays my good mate Martin taught me - the raise-call-flop-check-turn-standard-badger-monster.com/i-love-this-play), he bets $10 and I make it $22 hoping he boshes but he only calls, ruh-tard.River is a K and i move in for like over $60. He calls with QQ.SHIP IT! I keep thinking that I'm due a bad run cos things are going so well but everytime someone spikes me I wait for a half decent hand and get it in and they double me up again. Players love to call an over the pot sized all in bosh with top pair average kicker on the river when I have the nuts at the moment. Happens ALL THE TIME, so you can't lose in that spot, it's free money. lol. Loose guy calling all in on river when they can't win = Zero variance. :-) I will have a big bloody wake up when I move up levels. haha. Well i'm gonna make the most of this run while it lasts :-)

The good news continues...

2009-08-08T14:07:00.000+01:00

My roll is now at $850! Whoop Whoop! I want to make it to $2000 by the time I leave australia in September so I'm well on target. I'm now 4 tabling $0.25/$0.50. I have played 4,000 hands at over $24 p/hour. I'm gonna try clear the $400 bonus though and the $100 they give you straight away was a great pad to my roll so can't complain :-) I read some articles about poker that I thought were really good by an online pro and I have been emailing him and asking him questions, he's a legend and has given me some real good advice which is awesome. I had been playing bad the last few months and I was only profitable because of rakeback which is obviously not good so I have been working on my game now for 6 max NLH and i'm starting to get there. I have changed up the way I play AK and JJ now too. I also now try and set specific hours for poker and have set up a little office in my place where I play. My problem before was that I wasn't focusing fully on the games and my sessions were too long. Now I play for an hour or so then take a break and come back, it has been really good for my results.

The start of things to come - $400 starting roll and the $0.25/$0.50 grind

2009-08-08T13:52:00.000+01:00

This is the start of my roll. I deposited $400 onto Pacific Poker and got the $100 instant bonus which is awesome.

Session one: I played a session at $0.25/$0.50 last night and finished $55 up so now I'm at $555. I would have finished way more up last night but got AJ all in after a donko calls behind on my reriase fom the bb v's the cut off on A102 flop v A4, the turn is a 4, lol and in another hand I bet two pair on flop and turn against a guy who then checks his back door flush on river and i check behind, what a ruh tard! lol. I also had KK and a guy calls me pre, on the flop and turn with 33's and the river is an ace so i check and call a half pot bet and see he has 33's. Happy days!

My story so far...

2009-08-07T05:51:00.000+01:00

I have decided to create this blog for my own sanity. As you know, poker players need to tell someone about their sessions, both good and bad, so why not start a Blog. Hopefully by the time anyone ever reads this I will have made it and be a successful professional player, let's hope so!

I'm 24 and have been playing poker for over 5 years now. I started playing online in the freerolls on Betfred poker and after becoming slightly obsessed and playing like 3 a day for a few weeks I finally started getting into the money. I read a book by T J Cloutier $ Tom McEvoy called Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold Em and almost straight away I took down a 1,000 man MTT for $60. I then started playing the $2 and $5 SNG's with success and never looked back. For the next year or so I would regularly turn $60 into $400 and then tilt half off in one night and then grind again. I never needed to deposit but never built much of a roll. I then wanted to take poker more seriously and so did lot's of research on bankroll management and read as many books as possible on strategy including Harrington on Holdem Em 1 & 2 and super System 2 by Doyle Brunson. I had been able to grind out a decent roll for $22 SNG's and was making a nice profit. I played live tournaments and cashed in a few but had no major scores. The best thing about playing live was that they allowed me to meet lots of the local poker players. A group of us met weekly and played live tournaments and cash games. I became very good friends with a few of the guys and my game improved so much talking to these players. I soon realised that these were some of the most talented poker players in the area. These guys regularly dominated the local live MTT's, winning what seemed like everything and it was good to see, if only i could get a result!

My hard work finally paid off and I had a big week of results:

Monday: I bought Harrington on Hold Em with my FPP's on Stars and started reading it while playing a $20 MTT Freezeout with 360 runners on Betfred. I followed the section on stack size (Q and M) as well as I could and won the tourney for $1,500.
Tuesday: I then read the rest of the book and played a live $50 rebuy and with only one buyin chopped it 3 ways for $2000.
Wednesday: I played another online MTT and came 3rd for $450 and then went straight to the local casino and chopped the $50 freezeout after buying in late for $700.
Week total: $5,000 profit.

My parents came back from a holiday in France and I had a huge wad of cash in my room and I think they could see that poker wasn't all luck. They hadn't been too keen on me playing but they are so supportive of whatever I do and very understanding. I decided to put all the money from the weeks winnings in my bank and withdrew the entire amount from my Betfred online poker account and just left myself a small roll for $22 SNG's. I was able to clear my entire overdraft and was well in the black thanks to poker.

The reason I withdrew all the money into my bank was that this was a large amount of money to me at the time and my friend and I had planned to go travelling around the world and it was awesome that poker had paid for my ticket and spending money. That weekend I went to play the $40 freezeout in my local casino and a guy on my table worked for Badbeat poker, they are a company that sponsor winning online poker players. I asked if I could get a sponsorship and he said they would review my poker account and get back to me. They then set me up with a daily loss limit of $250 p/day and I would receive 50% of whatever I made at the end of each month. I started playing the $22 & $33 SNG's on Grandslam poker and broke even for the first few months. I was running bad and playing bad because of this, my problem was that I suffered from major tilt. After some sound advice from my mentor, Paul Jackson a highly respected UK professional, I then began winning and did really well. See my chart on sharkscope for FishMobRep on ipoker. I then got given $500 p/day and moved to $55 SNG's and proceeded to keep winning so I moved up again to a $750 p/day loss limit. As I was a Trainiee Trader for Badbeat I could play on other accounts for myself as long as I met the required playing amounts they had set. So I also had a small roll on William Hill, I deposited $100 and played $22 double your money tournaments, they really suited my tight playing style and I made over $1,000 before going away travelling, see my sharkscope for Jon040415 on William Hill Cryptologic network. Probably at the peak of my game I had to leave the UK to travel and I wouldn't play poker for the next 4 months or so. I travelled Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand and finally settled in Australia.

While in Australia I took up my Sponsorship with Badbeat again and moved from SNG's to cash poker. I did really well at $0.50/$1 and got offered a full sponsorship and a $1,000 p/day loss limit, this meant I could only play for Badbeat. I then moved to $1/$2 but the transition didn't go smoothly and I ended up doing badly and after a few bad days decided to call it a day. The swings at $1/$2 were difficult to handle and my playing conditions were awful as I was using a local Internet cafe. The problem there is if you tilt you can't go and watch TV or have a break, you're stuck there and it wasn't great. I stopped playing for Badbeat and that would be the last time I played for them. I do credit a huge amount of my improvement as a player to Badbeat and the training I received from my mentors there. Paul Jackson has a great poker mind and he taught me a huge amount and I was very lucky to learn from his tuition.

I then had another huge break from poker but returned at the start of this year, 2009. I started again on Will Hill (now on ipoker) and played $22 SNG's. I broke even for a few months and turned a small profit thanks to rakeback. I got fed up of breaking even and decided to get serious again and start playing poker "part time" not just play a hobby. I decided now is time to build a serious roll and start on my way to dominate the world of online poker. I read some articles by Wesley Burns, an online pro who plays under the name SmackinYaUp. He has written some really sound articles about poker. See his article on taking shots for example http://ezinearticles.com/?Poker-Strategy---Taking-Shots&id=2084751. I also read everything on his poker website http://www.beatnolimit.com/ and it has helped my NLH 6 max game tremendously. He also has a poker book for purchase at http://www.killnolimit.com/. After emailing Wes he replied with some great advice about the game which has really helped my approach to poker. I was breaking even playing SNG's and was only profitable due to my decent rakeback deal, it was time for a change. The problem was that I got complacent and lazy. I had stopped learning, this was a bad place to be.

After the advice I received and chatting to friends from back home I formulated a new plan. I withdrew my profit from Will Hill and made the following adjustments to the way I treat poker, now as part time work and not a hobby:

- I have put time caps on my sessions, playing 1-2 hours at a time and then coming off for a break.
- I will only play when I feel 100% and I moved my laptop to the living room table instead of being relaxed on the sofa so I was more focused.
- After each session I will sit and review my hands and stats for 20 mins and then read 6 max articles online then have a break and play again later if I feel like it.
- I have also dropped from 6 tables to 4 tables at a time so my thought processes are better.

On July 16th I deposited $400 on Pacific Poker (my profit from Will Hill) and the plan is to try and grow a decent bankroll...