April 2015

22.79k hands. 104 hours. 219h/hr.
8k hands HU, 14k 6max. Plus a lot of 6m on SKY.

Bit of a disappointing month. I jumped into 6max a bit quickly and instead of learning my way back into the game at 200nl I ended up playing a lot of $600 and some $1k. It defiantly takes some getting used to - switching between HU and 6m and often playing both at the same time.

Anyway one day I managed to lose £3.7k, which is in the top 3 for amount I've lost in a day. I don't even think I played particularly badly. I lost like £2.3k and was still feeling good and made it to the gym. Then maybe played a little bad later on in my 2nd session. As often happens after a day like this it shattered my confidence.

Ideally after suffering a setback I would nit up my game selection a lot more and not play any regs or even breakeven-ish fish. But for whatever reason there hasn't been nearly enough HU fish this month to wait around for. Ideally HU is my favourite way to make money (least stress, biggest winrate, good for mental happiness) but realistically it's looking like HU alone won't be enough, unless I'm prepared to put hours into my game and battle vs good regs. Anyway, I've bought the tools to give me a fair shot at getting good seats in 6m games, so I'm going to keep trying to win there.

My gym routine predictably suffered whilst I was struggling but hopefully that is back on track now. Also I had a knee injury that kept me out of football for a week - it's still giving me problems but I got a knee brace and that has helped. I'm probably playing way too much football but I just can't turn a game down - often playing 4 or 5 days in a row. Weight loss has been good this month just judging on aesthetics.

I started taking these BCAA's to help with muscle growth/recovery a few days before my big losing day. Honestly sure they were fucking with my head - I took them for 5 days and started feeling depressed beyond believe and was close to tears one night and couldn't explain why. I'm just glad I did some digging and found out that they have been known to lower serotonin levels which affects mood. I was taking them on top of a protein shake that also included EAA and BCAA, which was probably a mistake on my part - but I'm sure that is quite common and I've seen programs recommend it.

Anyway. Onwards and upwards. I'll be playing as much HU as I can in May as well as trying to get into good $200 upto £300 6m games.

April wasn't so bad, I still turned a profit and I'm still doing OK for the year.


JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645
APRIL = +£2,551

TOTAL =  +£27,545

March 2015

24.67k hands, 108 hours. 228 hands/hr

Total profit = £6,645

I'm very pleased with how this month has went - particularly the second half and how I managed to recover from being down around £3k by 12th. It was a frustrating time at the start of month and I was making some mistakes constantly - just never folding nice looking hands when realistically I was beat and not making any kind of creative bluffs. Also bluffing in the wrong spots - just playing shit basically.

Anyway I renewed my RIO membership and started focusing more and it worked out. There were a few days when I lost £1k to 1.5k early on and when in the past that would sometimes lead to more losses I managed to tilt less and made some satisfying comebacks on a number of days.

I have also started playing 6m, depositing initially on 888 as a kind of "side challenge" to winning 10 bi at $200 then moving up. Currently up like 5 bi there but started playing a few other sites (traffic dead at the time I play, other than Stars) and have won about £2k at 6m on tracked sites at least.

The redline doesn't look pretty this month and it's an issue I'm keeping an eye on.I think I was kinda playing/running badly at the start of the month and I reverted back to my standard "showdown everything" game - not bluffing and vbetting thin enough perhaps. We will see how this develops anyway.

I will keep playing both 6m and HU next month, I actually get a surprising amount of hands HU at 6m tables.

I finished my 12 week gym program at the end of the month and started a new one today. I have lost some weight overall but the change in my appearance is much more noticeable than any number. My chest and arms look much better and I've lost weight around my face - had a number of people commenting on this, which is great. I feel a lot better as well and I'm sure it has helped my focus and overall winning poker mentality.

Still playing like 8am to 2/3pm mostly. I have mixed it up a few times and went to gym around noon then got a session in after that. Also been playing a lot of football with my usual 3 games per week plus been standing in a few times in other games.

We are still looking at houses and this week we put our first offer in for a house that we really had our heart set on. We knew our bid was going to be the highest and had a good rapport with the owners. So when we discovered that they had already accepted the lower bid the day before we even viewed it - we were gutted! Not as gutted as the people selling it as they apparently didn't know the legal ins and outs and were not aware that they had agreed to sell it! This was yesterday this happened and now today it has come out that they have taken their house off the market completely as they did not have the winning bid on the house they were set to move into. So we are still hopeful that we might get a second chance at the house! Time will tell on that one... It's an old cottage with a huge front garden in a great location. Some of the rooms are a little small but we could totally picture ourselves living there so hopefully there will be another opportunity there eventually.

JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645

TOTAL =  +£24,994

February 2015

12.38k hands, 59 hours. 200hands/hr.

Total profit of £10,526.

Playing good and picking battles carefully. Many regs refusing to play and the ones that do are generally good. Some moron-regs still play but never for very long. So mostly been trying early to get action and tables then settling down and waiting for fish. Been finishing up early a lot and going to gym. Playing like 8 to 2 on average I'd say. Still up for debate if this is optimal but it's working at the moment so I will stick with it.

The 59 hours played is defiantly lower that I would have liked but that is reflected in the 10 days that I took off. Went to Liverpool (Merseyside derby) for a weekend and Newcastle for an extra long weekend (6Music festival - Fat Whites, BSP, The Fall, Django Django, Wave Pictures, The Cribs, Mogwai). Was also at rugby Scotland vs Italy yesterday, which Scotland lost in the last minute after leading the whole game. The Celtic 3 - 3 Inter Milan game was also a highlight of the month, this time a last minute equalizer the right way!

Another thing worth mentioning is that I am doing pretty well in Fantasy Football this season. I'm in a few month leagues and not to jinx anything but there is the chance for maybe £1k to £2k profit... could all easily go tits up but been enjoying it a lot this season.

JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526

TOTAL =  +£18,349

Also been working on that song - which is still a work in progress!

January 2015

88 hours, 17.76k hands.  222hands/hr

Hardly any 6m played but lost 500 there

Playing better and much better routine (playing mostly one session and then gym/football each day)

+£7,823 profit

December 2014

15.8k hands, 73 hours, 216hands/hr
+£4,000
6max breakdown: 3k hands, +£1,270

December always seems to be a difficult month for me poker-wise. So although £4k is nothing to write home about I'm pretty pleased with the month. I still don't fully understand why I struggle in December; but I do. It's probably a combination of less action, bad weather effecting my mood/routine, "end of the year totals problem" and the fact that I generally take 1.5-2 weeks off and do more socialising/drinking than usual.

The total for the year is £62k, which I think is respectable for small and mid stakes but there is definitely room to increase that figure.Various changes throughout the recently are leading me to worry about the future of poker, particularly heads up. Over the last couple of years we have lost HU on 888, Everest, Boss, Stars.fr, Winamax. Sites are focusing way more on getting fish to deposit (which is good), but they are really making it difficult to players to be able to profit in many different types of games. Although not much of my action has been on Stars it is extremely worrying the stance they have taken regarding increased rake in many games, especially HU. In a time when players willing to start games or play against someone who isn't a drooler should be being encouraged, Stars new owners have decided to punish these people with increases in rake. Serious reg matches at 100 and 200 have become a death-wish usually for both players, 100 and 200 zoom seem to only run when there are whales in the pool - even then I'm not sure how profitable it can even be - I've left zoom alone for months now.

I've tried various things to play more hands. The problem is with HU if someone is prepared to put in serious volume against me, there is a good chance that they are solid and could well have the edge on this "old timer". It's hypocritical of course to complain about weaker regs not playing me whilst not being will to constantly battle vs the toughest at my stakes. I guess everyone is just trying to make some money. The way it is going though I forsee HU steadily declining.

So I'm diversifying. Having tried learning PLO on numerous occasions I have decided that is a no go for now. I think the best plan for me is to continue sitting HU for 6-8 hours a day (Mon-Fri in general), but I'm going to add in 6m to my morning session, possibly afternoon too if I feel fresh.

Anyway this has been super long. Going out with my pals tonight and looking forward to spending Christmas with Claudia and our families - and not having all the attention of our engagement to worry about this year. Relaxing time.


JANUARY = +£7,300
FEBRUARY = +£2,250
MARCH = +£5,100
APRIL = +£3,440
MAY = +£3,220
JUNE = +£11,690
JULY = +£3,630
AUGUST = +£4,190
SEPTEMBER = +£10,980
OCTOBER = +£3,960
NOVEMBER =  +£2,350
DECEMBER = +£4,000
 
TOTAL = £62,110

November 2014

13.77k hands, 75 hours, 183hands/hr

Played less hands than usual and I'm not sure if it was because of a lack of action or because I took many days off. I played 19 days so that is a little less than usual but action hasn't been great too obviously. Plus I've not been playing small EV matches or fighting for tables too much on MG (like 2 days there). Graph includes ~£400 profit that was caused by a mistake in importing hands in PT4, which is going to be a pain in the arse to fix. Not happy with profit this month but could have been very different if I had won a couple of matches at my bigger stakes on SKY. Sadly I lost to two pretty big fish there. Got to take those chances at higher stakes as they don't come along too often at the moment. Some rakeback will be added to next months totals too.

I've set up HUDs again on 3 sites for 6 max and have played a few small sessions there, if lack of HU continues I will have to add more. Tried PLO again this month and again gave up after 3 or 4 days. That is on the back burner for now.

We had a spur of the moment trip to Iceland for 3 days which was great, as well as our 4th Aberfeldy festival.Other highlights of the month includ watching Scotland beat Ireland at Parkhead, as well as seeing Beans on Toast, Eagulls and Malcom Middelton live.

Joined a new gym which should be helpful witha new routine. As usual can't wait till winter is over.

JANUARY = +£7,300
FEBRUARY = +£2,250
MARCH = +£5,100
APRIL = +£3,440
MAY = +£3,220
JUNE = +£11,690
JULY = +£3,630
AUGUST = +£4,190
SEPTEMBER = +£10,980
OCTOBER = +£3,960
NOVEMBER =  +£2,350
 
TOTAL = £58,110

 

October 2014

26.2k hands, 100hours, 262hands/hr (too many hand/hr?)

Bad winrate on my sites but somehow saved by the untracked ones, plus clearing some bonuses and rakeback I guess. Really haven't been playing my best. Need to get back to basics once again.

I'd have blogged earlier but Interpoker and Betsafe decided to make nearly £10k vanish for 6 days. This has been on my mind whilst playing the first 2 days of the month and I've got off to a not so great start, could have been worse though I guess.

I'm gonna bumhunt hard this month and just accept it if there are long quite spells with no action. I'm going to start by watching some NL videos then if I get a decent run going I will start watching and playing PLO. I will play only on networks tracked by PTR and will only play fish who are over 20bb losers. This sounds terrible but I don't even know if I can beat the rake at low stakes PLO, it will be difficult for sure, so this gives me a better chance to succeed and actually stick with it, whilst trying to improve to be able to play more people.

The new UK licensing laws that affect online poker came in this month. That means no more Stars.fr, Winamax and Pokerheaven. Pokerstars has also increased it's rake for HU. It's redic tbh, short term thinking by their new owners. I won't be battling any regs any more, that is for sure.

We will see how PLO goes and maybe if I'm more disciplined with NL I won't need to think about branching out. But I was thinking of going back to 6m.

Anyway.

JANUARY = £7,300
FEBRUARY = £2,250
MARCH = £5,100
APRIL = £3,440
MAY = +£3,220
JUNE = +£11,690
JULY = +£3,630
AUGUST = +£4,190
SEPTEMBER = +£10,980
OCTOBER = +£3,960
 
TOTAL = £55,760