August 2015

August 2015 was the month that Claudia and I got married! It was a magical day at Errol Park, it just couldn't have been any better and I feel so lucky to have Claudia, my family, her family and all of our friends. It really is an amazing thing having everyone special to you spend a day together having fun and celebrating our love.

So the Wedding was on 8th and honeymoon was for 2 weeks straight after it, meaning that not much poker was played this month. I actually did pretty decent for such low volume though today kinda ruined that a bit. There was so little action that I decided to play 5k hands of 6m zoom at 200 and some 100. It didn't go well and I ended -£1.3k for the day.

Anyway I kinda enjoyed it till I started losing. Gonna stick to HU for sure for a bit now as I don't need any extra distractions - as we have just finalised payment on the house and will have the keys on Friday. It will probably be the end of September by the time we are ready to move in.

So.

11.7khands,  36hrs played, 325hands/hr (must have been way lower before today)

Total profit =  +£7,190

 JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645
APRIL = +£2,551
MAY = +£4,568
JUNE = +£6,166
JULY = +£7,190
AUGUST = +£2,725

TOTAL =  +£48,181

July 2015

19.3k hands. 72 hours. 268h/hr. (played zoom)

Total profit =  +£7,190

Decent month again. Played good for the most part, had one session when I was tilting my tits off at PLO but luckily it was at $100, I did lose 10 buy ins to some clown though.

I had my stag weekend at Loch Rannoch at the start of the month which was good fun. Have been finding it slightly difficult to concentrate the closer it gets to our wedding on 8th August. Not for any particular reason - perhaps just the thought of not having many more days to play or just kinda "end of term" type thing - like I get at the end of December each year.

I can't wait now for the wedding which I'm sure will be a great day. Then Claudia and I are off to New York and Miami for our honeymoon, I can't wait to see the sights in NY then relax the rest of the holiday.

August will be a quiet month for poker I think, I will need to ease back into playing after all the excitement of the wedding and holiday. To top off all this excitement we have also had an offer accepted on a house. It's in a great location has an amazing garden and it's really homely overall. I'm paying my half (at least) with the savings I have amassed from the previous 6.5 years of poker - it feels great to see all of this hard work actually being for something other than numbers on a screen.

Yes!

JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645
APRIL = +£2,551
MAY = +£4,568
JUNE = +£6,166
JULY = +£7,190

TOTAL =  +£45,469

June 2015

13.2k hands. 61 hours. 216h/hr.

Total profit +£6,166

Decent month overall. One day pissed me off this month when I played a half day knowing that I had to be somewhere at noon. These half day sessions never work out for me, for whatever reason - probably to do with my mindset. So I'm going to avoid doing any more half days.

Most of the month I played really solid, mostly vs fish but also some £100nl reg matches. Feel very on top of my game overall but perhaps my intensity tailed off towards the end of the month. I had a great run of 13 consecutive winning days, which sums up this month - slow and steady profit.

Claudia and I completed our 10th Monroe this month, doing 3 in a day up at Glenshee. Also I had a trip with my friends to Dublin to see Scotland get a 1-1 draw with Ireland. Dublin was a great trip but took a lot out of me.

I've been pretty decent with my gym routine this month and have eaten very well (apart from Dublin!). Quite pleased with the progress I have made.

JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645
APRIL = +£2,551
MAY = +£4,568
JUNE = +£6,166

TOTAL =  +£38,279

May 2015

7.01k hands. 41 hours. 170h/hr.

Total profit +£4,568

Appears that it's gotten to halfway through June with out me making this post. May was decent despite the modest profit as Claudia and I had a great week long holiday to Tenerife.

Nearly all my play has been at HU, as tbh I don't have much time to put into developing my 6m game again. HU action was actually better than previous months, but perhaps it was my more laid back approack to getting volume in that tricked my brain a little bit. I've been also toning down some unneeded aggression in an attempt to lower some variance and I also feel it helps my mental game. It's difficult to pinpoint really but I just feel far more relaxed whilst playing.

We bid on a great house this month and missed out by £300, which was pretty devastating. Wedding plans are coming along nicely with everything booked and I can't wait to marry the love of my life.

JANUARY = +£7,823
FEBRUARY = +£10,526
MARCH = +£6,645
APRIL = +£2,551
MAY = £4,568

TOTAL =  +£32,113

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!