Farewell 09 and hellloooooooo '10

Short blog. Pretty much finished for year so may aswell publish results. So i finshed up about $80k from cash+ $20-25k from RB too make it a not too shabby $100k year. Last few months have sucked and i fell about $20k short of my yearly goal but it beats a 9-5 im sure.

Goals for '10 are.

1) 600k hands minimum.
2) Play more HU (depends how if the action deteriorates like it did for 09)
3) $150k cash game profit/200k net profit. (Starting off at 2/4 for a couple of months before mixing limits from 2/4-5/10 depending how well things are going)
4) Leave the country at least 3 times next year (EPT snowfest in Austria, march time and vegas in summer plus maybe a non-poker holiday)
5) Cash in a live donkament.

Think im moving back to London for '10 which is exciting. January i'll be taking it easy since the games usually suck with all the SNE chasers and ive suffered a little burnout the last few months. Aim is to play around 30k hands with plenty of HU action.

Happy New year all,

JP

December Update

So far this month ive grinded like a mofo (by my measely terms anyway). Ive managed to put in 27.5k hands in 16 days which im pretty pleased with. Profit is at a mighty $300 :P. Im quite happy how ive played, particularly this last week which is maybe why im not really tilted. Im definitely one of those people who gets tilted more by my own mistakes than coolers and bad beats which i think is slightly more healthy in an insane world.

At the weekend i played a lot of 3/6 (2k+ hands) as the games were fantastic. There was usually at least 1 fullstacked drooler and a couple of half stack droolers at each table so i thought it was too good a spot to miss. Unfortunately as you can guess things did not go so well and i think i dropped 4/5 stacks, where i did little wrong such is the nature of the rigged level 3/6 :P

Here are some of the hands:

www.pokerhand.org/?4986195 Pretty standard flip against a regular.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986198 This is one hand i probably shouldn't have got it in with when he 3bets my UTG. villian is a laggy 27/22 but has a reasonable 3bet 5%. I usually peel in these spots unless i have a specific read when not in steal positions to 4bet and call it off but i doubt its too horrible.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986202 Villian here is a 25/50 reg usually and up around 1/2 million in cash games. He was 3 betting a ton IP against me. I think 4bettting might be ok too but since i was suited i decided to just peel. Dont think i can fold what i figured was a dream turn.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986207 Villan was 38/15 drooler with a 13% fold to 3bet. I hate the fact he open shipped the turn but i dont think i can fold with the Ks, since i doubt he open shoves Nut flush on the turn. His post flop Agg freq was pretty high aswell.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986213 Tough to crack AJ of blue IMO.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986214 cooler

www.pokerhand.org/?4986216 Got to admire his preflop sizing and my table selection.

www.pokerhand.org/?4986221 Dont think i can do much here.

In the 2k hands or so i was only able to stack 1 guy with a set vs overpair, other than that i was feeding on scraps.

Any feedback on the hands will be appreciated. I tried to hyperbole the links for 45mis but i fail athe internet and the internet doesn't like me so apologies for the inconvience.

So 3/6 didnt go well to say the least but i definitely have to take a shot at those games when they are that juicy. Im hoping the games will be good closer to xmas to take some more shots and hopefully things turn around.

I only need to grind another 12k vpps to reach my $4k milestone which is <20k hands so getting volume in is no longer my primary concern. Just need to keep playing solid and finish the year on a positive.

Gl at the tables

JP

Quick Update

Novemeber was a meh month, ended up $2.5k + $2k rb in 49.7k hands. I need to grind approx 45k hands in December to hit the 400k vpp milestone bonus which should be obtainable. Problem is my confidence is ridiculously low. Of my 1st 3 sessions this month, ive been insta stuck 1 or 2bi's in my 1st 50 hands and just decided to quit early as i just know things will not end well. I guess its something of a self fulfilling prophecy, but the grind has simply worn me down and i no longer trust myself to be tilt free.

My cash game target of $100k profit for the year is near impossible now as ive barely made a penny in 2 months. My total profit exceeds $100k which is great in a vacuum, but i havent enjoyed the past 6 months at all and will be looking to take a break or at least not exceed 20k hands in January. Im $24k under EV (60 bi's)in this period and currently on a 100k hand BE run.

I here what your saying " You made xxx this year and ure on an emo rant". This is true but money is all relative and for those who advance or i guess drop in stakes will realise this in due course.

On a positive note im back in Durham on sunday. Glad to wave goodbye to Cardiff since it never stops raining and my flatm8 has worked pretty redic hours, and since i know no-one else in Cardiff ive felt isolated at times during weekdays. Given the choice again i wouldn't have come to Cardiff but hey you live and learn. Looking forward to getting blind drunk and not been an emo when i hear tails from friends of terribly boring, mundane office jobs.

Also check out this badugi website my m8 has worked on, isnt much badugi material on the net so its well worth a read for u triple draw wizards!

Badugi Poker Tips

JP

Blackpool (aka shithole) GUKPT

I arrived on the Thursday and had a few beers with the EMS boys, before getting ready to play day 1b. Online hadn't been going great and i hadn't sold any of my action for this event, so i naturally was hoping for epic binkage and had a feeling i was guna ship big. It kicked off at 2pm, and i would like to sit here and type that i made it to the 1st break (2 hours) but that would be a lie.

I guess i was on the feature table and i didnt recognise any of the players. As it turned out it was probably the softest table of around 175 runners on day 1b. Nonetheless im terrible enough to only last 90mins. The hand which was to be my downfall was the following:

2nd orbit level 1, old geezer limps MP, i iso 3.5k with AQss, bb flats and we go 3way to a flop. flop is 3 4 10 (2 spade flop) bb leads for 3/4 pot or so, original limper folds and i opt to just flat IP (1st Mistake- Since i had seen this guy check back the nuts JK on a 9 10 Q action flop before to get value on last two streets so hes obviously terrible) At this point i figure he has a mid pp/gutterball/medium FD hand doing that "live" trick where they find out where they stand.

Turn brings something of a blank (think it was an 8) and he checks so i fire planning to bomb nearly every river. He tanks and makes the call. At this point im thinking "wtf are you doing u massive mouth drooler". River i fade again and its a huge brick pairing the board (3 i think). He then proceeds to lead the river for a little over 1/2 pot. I tank for ages thinking how terrible this guy is and contemplating the fact he may have a worse draw which is feasible (like a 56ss or 67ss) before calling and been told " Your good". I turn over AQ rather proudly only for the huge ape to go "oooooo i got the Q10". GG wp nh sir. Now die in a waterfall.

I struggled from here on in and was getting owned it seems in every pot (almost definitely just the top of there range etc etc) where id fire 2 barrels with TP and get raised on the turn to be shown the epic combination of gutterball peeling and binkage.

I was down to around 40bb's when i opened JJ utg, old geezer 3bet the btn and i kinda sigh-caked. I tank for a while for the 2nd time of the day. I had seen him tarp KK with a call previously so i was maybe wishfully thinking he had AK. Also my image was rediculously loose as i had played and lost a number of pots.I looked at the clock and saw the blinds were goin up in 20 mins and i would be nursing a <<20bb stack if i folded. So i got it in and he has the bottom of his 3betting range (AA). First card i see is a J ( Boom i think!) before the Ace peels as the 2nd card.

gg life.

Had a really fun weekend nonetheless. Dropped £200 in an EMS cash game, where we included the 72 game. Bas managed to bink a 300bb pot 72o>>AA AIPF vs Palmer haha.
Managed to make about tree-fiddy (£300 really but tree fiddy sounds cooler) in a £1/2 casino cash game, to restore a tiny shread of confidence to my fragile game. Also congrats to Steve Talbot for his 5th place finish. By all accounts he played brillant and im sure this score will help him progress to levels more suiting his skill level.

Since ive got back things are still going pretty badly. Ive played 12k hands in 4 days or so for a little over $1k. My redline is plummeting which is very worrying as ive always been a winning redline player. Its possible im just fading every draw and making huge laydowns when villans get there on the river, but with how things have been goin for around 6 weeks its very likely im playing weak tight.

It really is the time to take a pro-longed break but, im really close to clearing a $4k bonus and am only 49k vpps from the 400k vpp milestone which i have a $500 propbet on to reach. So i kinda feel obliged to play to make this $9k even though i really dont think im in a great frame of mind to grind. If things don't pick up profit wise, i am giving serious consideration to shortstacking for the last 2 weeks of December to reach 400k vpps. I figure i should be able to 16 table short-staking and it will be easier to reach than 8 tabling full stacked and playin the streets. Obviously this would be bad form on my behalf but its only for 2 weeks and i see no other option at present other than gaining my confidence back.

I'll update at the end of the month for results of November

Gl at the tables all

JP

Downswonging pretty hard.

Title says it all really. From around the 20th October since i got back from Bristol, ive been on my biggest downswing approx $12k and am b/e over my last 60k hands. Part of this was unsuccessful shot-taking, playing pretty bad and not running too good. Ive struggled to put together decent winning sessions. Im still in a decent mind-frame and hopefully things will turn around soon.

Unfortunately this could mean i dont hit my $100k cash game profit goal for the year as at present im just under $25k short so its unlikely i'll get there but you never know. This month ive played 18k hands already (Grinding hard, obv means trying to rostucko :P) for a loss of around -$280 which isn't much. Obviously this downswing coincides with clearing the $4k cash bonus.

On Thursday im going to Blackpool to play the GUKPT ME. Figured theres nothing quite like chasing losses, by playing a £1k live donkament :P. Should be a good laugh as theres a bunch of people i know going so hopefully i or sum1else i know who is playing can make a deep run.

Hopefully my next blog will mark either a massive heater or a big Gukpt ship. Meh maybe even both! im not greedy.............

JP

Bristol £550+50 Coral poker masters.

On saturday i made the hour long train journey to Bristol, to play the Coral poker masters Bristol Leg. Previoua events had around 80 runners so i figured it might be good value. I arrived at my hotel around 1:45pm before heading to the casino to buy in. Kick off was to be 3pm

To my surpise when i got there it had sold out! 140 runners had already registered before me(160 after all the alternates), but fortunately i was 2nd on the alternates list so it wasn't really too much of a problem. The tournament had a decent structure 1hr clock and 10k starting chips.

45 minutes into the tournament and i get the call and take my seat. I dont think i played a hand for 1/2 orbits partly due to getting dealt trash and finding out how people are playing. As it turns out i have a young internet pro to my immediate left, which isnt ideal as hes playing 30% pots and very aggressively so i nit it up a little. I played a few pots here and there taking them down with c/bets and little resistance in the main.

1st key hand i raise QQ in MP at 50/100. i get two callers from the blinds. flop is Q 5 3 but all spades so i fire out a largish c/bet, and get one caller. Unfortunately the turn brings the 4th spade and i check behind hoping for the board to pair which it doesn't and im forced to fold a 3/4pot river bet. Id expect most players to c/r sets on that board so i think he has As alot. Later it turns out hes quite a bad player but with the info available to me at the time i think its an OK fold. THe next hand of note i flop a set 4 way with 6's on a J K 6 board two hearts but get no action as orginal raiser bet/folds and shows QQ.

About 5/6 levels in and i find myself shortish with 15bb's due to facing resistance with c/bets and card dead, so i was looking for good re-shipping spots and opening quite tight. Luckily i looked down at AA in the SB after a tightish btn opens. I ship it in and then the BB (who has 12bb's, tilting after bluffing off 75bb's or so) overcalls. Btn mucks and BB shows A4o, which i think is really bad and i hold.

So with a half decent stack of around 25-30bb's 7-8 levels in and 80 players left or so i get moved to a new tbl. The tbl is very weak tight, so i find myself opening a ton of pots since antes have properly kicked in and facce little resistance. Things do however start to go downhill, i had been opening liberally and opened JKss UTG. i get 3bet by UTG+2 so i fold and he shows AK. Later in the same orbit i open J2dd in the CO vs a very tight bb who decides to c/r a flop which i whiff and leaves me with the dreaded 15bigs and around 45 players left.

My exit hand was pretty standard. A competent northern european opened the CO and i re-shipped 88 with 14bb's from the btn. He calls and shows 99 and the board doesnt improve my hand. I went out in 45th around 25 from the money. I played pretty well and if things went well when i tried to change gears when the antes kicked in i could of made a deep run with a stroke of luck. £25k up top, but wasn't to be this time. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will be playing GUKPT Blackpool next month to get my live poker fix!

Online has been pretty rough recently. I took a shot at 10/20 earlier this week which didnt go well and im on a $6k downswing or so. So im up just under $10k+RB this month in 42k hands. On a positive note im crushing 2/4 HU, but just need to figure out the code to break the riggedness of 3/6.

GL at the tables all

JP

Little Update

Put a decent grind in so far this month. Played just over 35k hands for just under $16k profit so far which im pretty pleased with. My redline is +8k or and im running slightly above EV so im probs running like jesus. Ive also shipped just $2k in W$ playin PCA/EPT sats and taking the W$.

On Saturday im making the short journey back into England to play the £500 coral masters poker tour event in Bristol. Its not got a bad structure and should only get around 80 runners so hopefully either myself or bas can get a lucky break. 1 time plz dealer!

jp

Warning: rant ITT!

This blog post is just going to be a rant about HU pokerz!

Recently ive tried to play more HU pokerz as it is easily more fun than the 6 max grind. However the state of HU games has changed drastically over the last 18months or so. If u open the stars lobby on any given weekday u will find 30 or so 2/4 HU tbls open and usually only 3/4 running. Bumhunting has been taken to a whole new level and its killing the game. I PTR'd most of the guys and only a handful were big winners whilst the rest were b/e or small winners, fighting over the scraps of fish that trickle of to 2/4. I do exercise table selection myself as i wont play the biggest winners since ive only played 9k HU hands at 2/4 lifetime, but almost all will simply not play in the hope than a drooler randomly clicks open there table.

Ive probably played 100k hands HU lifetime mainly at (1-2) and hit and running has always been the standard by fish and some regs, i never used to let it effect me, but these days i get pretty pissed about it (probably because ive waited 90mins, for sum1 to win a >$200 pot and insta quit).

I don't even know if im a winner at 2/4 HU yet because there is never any action. Im going to concentrate on 6max for the coming months and shipping 400k vpp's b4 the end of the year.

September finished with a little heater and i finished $11.1k up + about $2k RB which once a decent effort considering how i ran. October has started in similar vein, up around $8k in 13k hands and im running 12bi's above EV so im probably not playing amazing but meh. After 60bi's below in 3 months i'll take it.

GL tbls all

JP

Wake me up when september ends!

Well September has been something of a washout after a promising 20days or so. Nearly 30bi's below EV and i tilted like a mofo one nite at 2/4 HU against sum1 playin 87/79 with a 43% 3bet and lost 10bi's in no time (can you guess where on the graph this occured?). I mean surely if i tilt like a mofo vs a 87/79 fish A/K high's and any pair will be ahead of his range.He is also a semi-regfish and huge loser according to PTR but everytime he stacked me he would make a "humerous" remark which i somehow refrained from replying. I have howevver been making remarks in the chatbox recently which i shouldn't but ive just been going through a rough patch.
When im up and running again i'll definately hunt him down as i have sum really good reads now.

Ive taken a few shots at 3/6-5/10 this month which have gone ok. I was insta stuck 2k at 5/10 after AK<<10 AIPF against aggro fish and losing K7Here are a few of my biggest winning and losing hands this month:
Winners
1. http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736151 I have a pair vs a maniac fish. Not folding ever
2.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736160 spazzy reg spazzes again
3.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736162 against the mental fish again
Looking through my DB there arent many interesting winning handsm but there are some hillarious osing hands
1.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736164 My biggest ever losing pot. Just 4bet jammed cos he was a whale and him flatting my 4bet IP would suck.
2.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736171 This hand is vs a reg. His bet sizing is terrible throughout and its pretty lol to think that K7o is profitable to open vs me bvb.
3.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736177 Im not sure if hes betting for value or as a bluff. Im playin all overpairs and a high % of sets in this manner HU. Guess i got towned.
4.http://www.pokerhand.org/?4736189 . Without doubt the most hillarious hand of the month.
All in all ive really struggled to deal with this month. Its certaintly the worst ive run since october/November last yr and ive struggled to shake it off the past few days as its my 1st 8k downswing. One positive is the volume i guess and im on course for my 1st 50k hand month!
Im moving to Cardiff for 8 weeks at the weekend in a sick condo, so that should be fun.
Goals for October

1. 45k hands
2. 5k hands minimum of HU
3.5k hands of shot-taking 3/6-5/10
4. $15K profit+

Im currently on 294k vpps so only need 6k or so to reach the $3k vpp milestone and im nearly at 200k fpp's so should start clearingn the 250k fpp $4k bonus in October.
I decided not to go to Barcelona since i didnt win a seat and have a few bits and bobs to sort out for moving to cardiff so decided to spend a week and abit at home. I'll probably play the Coral Masters in brizzle next month just for giggles and a live event.

GL all

JP x

Overdue Update IYAM.

Pokerwise August ended pretty meh where i ended up +$9k + RB for the month, although i was up 9k after my 1st 10 days or so. Obv going a little emo here but i was fairly disappointed, as despite having a good few months my HEM showed me down 35bi's ($12k) below EV since July and i feel ive definately been running as bad as last November but im just not as bad as i was back then and im still making decent enough money not to be pissed too much :P

September started in the same vein until saturday, where ive played about 8k hands since for $11k profits (weeeeeeeeeeeee). Its a pretty sick heater but id like to think its due. This game is so god damn dellusional how your thoughts and mindset changes, its differcult to predict one week to the next. Ive now been playin 400nl for over 120k hands and feel like im doing pretty well running at 2.75bb/100 which im sure is in the top 10% at this level. Ive also started and plan to play sum more 3/6 over the coming weekends or if i spot decent games. Im really happy with my progress thus far and well on course for my targeted $100k cash profit this year (B4 RB)

I still haven't played any WCOOP events yet. Mainly because my lust for mtt's has dissappeared completely (thank god!) and everytime i contemplate the idea of entering i know i'll get bored and donk out 2 hrs in or summit. I really dont have the concentration and patience to grind thru big fields although i mite play the $1k 2day event on sunday if i feel the urge to donate to the mtt community. Im also most likely to go to Barcelona to play the FTP espana series from 28th altho i haven't satted in i mite buy in and sell sum action or just go to top up my tan and watch boobies on the beach and not play the tournament.

IRL it looks like im going to be moving to Cardiff next friday for 2-3 months. My flatm8 has a job in film (Ironclad) there and i said id go for the crack as ive heard good reports about the city and we have the most baller pad ever. 5 star complex with swimming pool/gym/sauna etc etc facilites overlooking the bay which should be sweet. We will probs leave early December time and return to Durham for Xmas which is ideal, while new year we'll likely head back down to London and maybe live in East London which has a more up and coming scene than where we live at the moment.

Hopefully get an update in b4 Barcelona but who knows...........

gl all

JP

Torrequebrada Trip report!

I arrived at our villa to meet bas and jono last monday afternoon after flying in from Birmingham. After a few hours sleep we went out for a few beers before, the other two lads sharing our villa affrokjell and welsh will arrived. The first 2/3 nights we spent getting pretty drunk drinking till 7-8 in the morning which im pretty sure is ideal leading up to a tournament.

By the time Friday evening came round i was ready to play a little live pokerz.The field had 208 runners with a 1st prize of €110k. I took my seat to which i was extremely pleased. There were 3 females at the tbl, 2 of which to my immediate right (Ship the blinds! :P) and alot of older spanish guys. There was 1 young scandi at the tbl but he was at the other side so no problems there.

A couple of hands in i get QQ in the sb after about 4 limps. I make a 6/7x raise or so and get 1 caller. Flop is 678 2 tone, i cbet 2/3 pot and get insta raised 3.5x my cbet so i hit the muck. It turns out the guy is a huge whale so i think its an ok fold, but this was to set the pattern for my tournament. Nothing else really of note for a few levels other than the play is terribble with a mixture of 10x raises pre and insane limp action. early in level 3 the whale opens for 10x the btn 3bets and i look down in SB to see QQ. sighhhhhhhhhhhhh i muck, fish calls and folds an 8 high flop, 3 bettor shows deem aces.

I then get AKhh otb. same fish limps who's now accumilated a nice stack running hotter than the sun. I isolate his limp and go to a 347hh flop. I cbet he flats, turn is A spades. I decide to check behind as i have the deck pretty crushed and he will be peeling so light he cant take the heat of a 2nd barrel and mite payoff on river. River is 5c. sighhhhh, he pots the river i fold he shows 68o for the nuts.

For the next few levels my stack dwindles down to around 12k from 20k starting stack at 150/300. 3 limps i 5x KK limper UTG shoves, i snap he has 66 and i hold. I manage to get my stack up to around 29k going into last 2 levels of the day which is just above average and put me in good shape for day 2 with 160 left.

Its around 4am at this point goin into final level and im pretty tired and bored. I look down to see Q9dd otb and raise to 1.25k at 250/500/50. Unfortunately i didnt realise UTG limped so i end up getting called by both blinds and orignal limper.
Flop comes a pretty awesome 37kddd. Checks to me and i cbet about 3k into a 5k pot, SB folds and BB asks how much i got behind so i spread my stack and he just flats, whilst UTG folds. At this point hes made it hugely obvious he has Ad but i have a 26k stack and he has around the same. Turn is a blank i cant quite remember i bet 8.7k into around an 11k pot leaving about 12k behind. He tanks for ages before calling. River is the dreaded diamond and he leads for about 3k into 40k pot so i make the call and he shows Adkx. I think my turn betsizing is bad in hindsight,i shoudld either bet smaller like 5k or just ship it in. At this point i had the sympathy of the lady to my left anyway who berated the other guy after anyway lol (she was a scouser!) The misery ended a few hands later when UTG limped BTN iso raised and i shipped in KK for around 16-18bb's. The guy gave me a gentle slowroll with Aces but i couldn't be arsed to rant. I was on tilt from the Q9 hand before really and resigned to the fact i was guna donk out instead of coming into day 2 as a ss.

I made some pretty huge laydowns for me throughout and ran pretty terrible. The field was softer than anything ive played b4 and even I was hugely +EV. Everyone in the villa (Apart from Will) + John Eames went out day1 including Affrokjell in the 1st hour on the feature tbl (LOL).

The next 2 days was spent been sick as i had sum kind of food poisoning time illness along with Jono and Will. I finally plucked up the energy to rail Will as he hit the FT and eventually shipped €32k of which i had 5% of so not a completely wasted trip :P. Final tbl was pretty dull to watch but i was chuffed for Will as the money really is a lot to him and gives him a good chance to build a roll.

So with 1/2 hr sleep in 2 days i went to the airport and eventually arrived back in London Monday afternoon.

Ive grinded online a decent amount since which has gone pretty terrible. Running terrabad at the mo, so my month sits at about +$6k in 25k hands. Plans for the next few weeks consist of grindin alot online and maybe playing GUKPT Cardiff but i'll make a decision closer to the time.

gl at the tbls all

JP

What a weird month!

Well July was very frustrating even though i made decent enough profits, I feel like i ran really badly with numerous coolers of boats vs quads, getting setmined in 3 bet pots and generally gettin in cooler spots pre. The month got off to a flyer and the rest of the time was pretty frustrating. I was on roughly a $6k downswing at one point (easily my biggest to date) b4 i shipped a much need $4k day to recover towards the end of the month.

August has started ok im up about $2k mainly down to shippin 8bi's at HU in 500 hands yesterday.Feel like im playin poorly now at 6max and calling down way to light with stuff like 3rd pair to 3 barrels from abc regs.I'll maybe play more HU this month i think, especially with been out in Spain and not having a monitor available. Im sure if i can put 50k hands in $15k profits is pretty attainable if i run ok. (/me prays to the poker gods)

Last night i watched the p/stars stream where i watched Matt Perrins take down the Italian poker tour Venice event for €150k+. Must admit just watching it kinda got me excited for the Malaga event which i'll be flying out for on Monday. I intend to update when im out there but if im hungover in a ditch sumwhere i'll post a trip report on my return.

Peace x

JP

Viva Espana!

Last week i managed to ship a $3k package to play the Fult tilt poker Espana tour in Malaga.Played pretty well around the bubble so happy to finally secure a seat and a nice little holiday for the middle of August.

Cash games have gone ok this month. I was up $10k in my 1st 8k hands this month, but have b/e for the rest of the month. Sessions have followed a similar pattern, of getting stuck around $2k (2/4) and robustoing back to near b/e. Im playin pretty well in general but have begun to spew sum so need to pull the reins in. So far ive put in around 31k hands which is decent so i think 45k hands is possible, although ive got friends from home coming down for a week 2moro so probs wont put many hands in this week.

I'll try and post sum hands for my next blog to highlight my recent spewing exploits.

JP

Time fly's by when your running good!

With just over half the year gone i supposed its a good time to recap on the 1st 6months of the yr. In an earlier blog i outlined the following goals for 2009:


1) play 40-50k hands per month. For the 1st 6months this yr my monthly avg is 39.5k hands per month. However in January i only played 30 and every other month i have played in excess of 40, with June been my biggest hand count month just short of 50k hands. Ive definately improved my volume now playin 1500 hand sessions as opposed to 600-800 i was playin at the start of the year.

2) Make $100k cash game profit+ RB. So far im slightly behind pace with this although im already up $5k this month and mainly playing 2/4 so its definately attainable. So at the midway point im at around $43k+RB (between $8-10k so far this yr)

3)Play more live donkaments. So far ive only really played the £1k WSOP 5day event structure which i did enjoy as a break from the online grind. I also intend to play the FTP espana series in Malaga in August and will try and play 1 or 2 GUKPT's b4 the yr is out. I'll maybe try and sat in online to EPT comps.

4) Play more HU and less 6max. This has kinda been an epic fail. My hu game isnt great at the moment and i had a losing month last month (HU only) so ive played less as my confidence is fairly low. Ive gone from a 11bb/100 winner over a 75k hand sample to probably a b/e player in my last 20k hands (ridic small samples i know but its all i can compare to) However my 6 max has gotten alot stronger and i feel im in the top 5-10% of players at the levels i play on stars.

5)Score a big 4 or 5figure donkament cash. This yr ive played very few donkaments (certainly <<100). I did manage the huge luckbox in the turbo so im happy with that score and doubt i'll eclipse that as i have no intention to really grind them out apart from the odd sunday. I will play Wcoop events so maybe i can luckbox a decent score in September time.

July has started well. in just under 11k hands im up $5k, would be nice to hit another 5 fig month but i'll just concentrate on getting the volume in and playing to a consistently high level.

Life in general is going well and it looks likely that i'll be staying in London to xmas time and maybe longer.....who knows

JP

Luckboxing June!

Just a quick update

So just over week ago i was feeling a little under the weather and unable to grind the cash.I then entered the donkaments of all donkaments, a super turbo and managed to ship it. Ran insanely well, binking various gutterballs along the way although i felt i played the FT very well and managed to KO all 5 on the last table. I also managed a 3rd place in he $55 6max on stars while at the gutshot with Sang for just short of $1k, so my ROI has definately had a massive upswong although i dont think ive played more than 10 mtt's this month.

Cash games have been great also, with decent volume. So far for June im up $13k in cash within 39k hands. Ive played quite alot of 2/4 this month and made around $8k of my profits here which is pleasing. Earlier in the month i also purchased $2.5k cash credits in FPP's and am only 4k vpps from the $2k milestone bonus, which puts me on course for my 1st $25k month. My previous best was March where i made around $15k net so obviously im delighted with this.

Life in general is going good, been living in London for around 5 weeks and i cant say ive missed home 1 bit so far. Going to try and win a seat in the coming weeks for the Espana FTP series Live donkament in Malaga mid august time, and may play the £300 at DTD early next month but im undecided at the mo.

JP

DTD £1k trip report

Well before the event began there was a little a somewhat unexpected £50k+ overlay with around 192 entrants ensuring a first prize of around £84k IIRC. I was really excited before the start of play and once i was at the table for a few orbits i began to feel settled. Day 1 was rather uneventful on my behalf, i was pretty card dead throughout so had a rocky image and my table was actually really solid (Especially compared to some of the stories about the action on other tables!) I took down a few pots with C/bets etc but in general didnt get out of line (apart from 3betting a CO open OTB with 22 :P)

The live RNG was particularly rigged on day 1 however where we managed to see 3 sets over set and KK V AA with no one going broke, which is a measure of how good the structure of the tournament was and how cautious the live game plays. One hand involved Henning Gradstad (GUKPT Newcastle finalist and mulitple WSOP cashes) raising 88 utg and been flatted by an Irish dude UTG+1.

Flop came a pretty harmless 3 6 8 two diamonds. Henning c/bet, Irish nit raised Henning(probably has the loosest image at the table at this point) jammed and Irish gezzer goes into the tank for about 8 mins b4 calling with 66 and having Henning covered. I was convinced this was a slowroll, but Henning tabled 88 for top set vs middle set. Everyone at the table was saying how they could probably fold bottom set in that spot to which i sat blank faced in bewilderement at the table chat.

I was allin at one point on day 1, I raised UTG with 15k stack and AK whilst a new guy to table calls from BB. Flop comes 34 k 2 hearts.He donks 1.2k, i raise 3.2k he flats. The turn brings a J of hearts and he insta jams. I tank for like 5mins thinking live pro's are more than capable of playin a low flush this way but decided to take into account the "Moran Factor" and make the call. He tbls Ah Jd (LOL) for a flop donk/float OOP, turned NFD and 2nd pair. Im pretty sure he just viewed me as sum kid he could push around, but i got a fair bit of respect here where the players at the table couldnt believe i made the call. Day 1 finished and i had around 30k stack from 20k starting stack which was just below avg with around 60 runners gone on day 1 already.

Day 2 i picked up a few hands early on and became more active, i gradually built my stack up to around 45k within 90mins b4 i had an interesting spot.Laggy good HJ opens for 2.5x to which rocky Btn 3bets around 3x orignal raise. I look down to see JJ and decide to cold 4bet which gets through ( Later found out LAG had AK and rock had AQ and ended up finishing 2nd for £45k). The tbl dynamics by mid afternoon day2completely changed also. A huge whale running hotter than the sun joins the tbl and is limping into every pot(sum old guy with to much business wealth apparently).So bascially the action tames down alot and consists of isolating the fish etc etc. I even managed to flop top set vs him but he insta mucks an action 6 9 J flop FMMFL. John Kalmar later joins my tbl which was pretty cool. I raised UTG+1 2.5x the blinds with 33 which happens to be Kalmars BB which i was told previously by a friend is defended vigoursl. flop comes J 10 2, Kalmar checks i c/bet and he folds showing 93hh giving me a gentle rubdown about how if i make stupid little raises pre hes guna defend with trash which i thought was funny. He did seem a really nice guy though.

My exit hand was pretty sick where i finished in 68th. fish limps in MP at 300/600/75,SB a TAG reg at DTD iso's to around 2.1k. I wake up with qq and have around a 40k stack whilst the reg has me covered. I 3bet to around 7.2k, fish passes and SB flats. Flop comes 4 6 9 2diamonds, SB checks i look to see if i have Qdiamonds which i do b4 betting 11.8k. SB insta jams i sighcake, but with 1/2 my stack already in pot with 60bb b4 hand i decide he can have TT/JJ/ random draws/overs enough of the time to be in good shape however he flips 99 and its a good night for me on day2.

Overall thought it was a great structure and was pleased with how i played. Im sure i couldof had a deep run if i win that pot but meh till next time..........

JP

London Baby!

My blogging has been pretty lame lately so heres a quick update.

On friday i finally made the moved down south on friday. Me and a friend from home are living in West London (Acton area) until the summer and have a really nice deal on a flat is which has just been re-decorated and fully furnished. This weekend we've just been sorting flat stuff out and getting accustomed to the area. We did however get out to see the footy in Ealing to see Newcastle get relegated :P good times!

2moro im heading to Notts to play the £1k, 250k-5day event. Will be rooming with the lunchbox bas and am really looking forward to playin wot is comfortably my biggest live tournament. The structure is amazing with a 2hr clock and 20k starting chips so im sure my biggest challenge will be patience and enduring the long hours since online i only usually play 2 hrs at a time.

Online pokerwise April was my worst month since Nov 07. I finished down around $2k and playing 200nl again. May has been decent though, up around $5k in cash and $1.5k from WSOP sats in around 40k hands. Ive even managed to drop $2k at 2/4. Im 99% confident i'll be a winner at 2/4 but i need to adjust alittle quicker. Stars have also put on an awesome promo for Uk players giving them 80k vpp's if u gain 7.5k vpps this month. This is effectively worth $3k to myself as i should now be able to reach the 300k vpps $3K milestone bonus.

I'll make sure to update this blog with a DTD trip report early in June.

Gl at the tables all

JP

Overdue Update!

Ive let this blog slip a little so its time to get it back on course. March was my best month ever pokerwise and i managed to book a $14.7k month + RB which was really sweet in 45k hands at a mix of 1/2 -2/4 on stars. This month started off with me grinding solely 2/4 but about a week ago i dropped $2.4k in a session so have moved down temporarily to grind it back. Ive only managed 17k hands so far this month which is wayyy behind pace as i took about 6days off earlier in the month to play sum poker in nottingham (meet up with jeffchef and bas) before heading down to London for a long weekend. Until last night i was actually $2.4k down for the month until i hit a purple patch and made $1.8k in 1k hands at 1/2 HU.So now im around $750 down for the month but im pretty happy with the way ive handled the break-eveness. In a couple of sessions i had $3k swongs (both for the worse) and i was pretty pleased i was able to just shrug it off. It seems I have a better grasp of how big variance is in todays tougher games and at the end of March it was likely a tougher month was likely in store for April.

So for the rest of the month i intend to try and grind out 15k hands at least online at 1/2-2/4, hopefully bringing my month into marginal profit but we'll see. Stars have also just added WSOP sats today so its my intention to maybe grind the sats to the $650 sunday qualifers on mondays/tuesdays when the ring games arent so good and either sell the $W or play the $650 as id imagine these are super soft like the EPT sats and definitely a bankroll booster.

Outside the realms of online poker i went to Nottingham to meet up with bas and jeffchef for a little live poker before heading down to London. I only stayed for 2 nights, the 1st of which me and bas grinded the $500 6max SCOOP which i had a fairly deep run in although the payout was only around 2.5x the BI amount :(. The structure was pretty awesome and i built a pretty big chipstack playing alittle too gung-ho before dropping to 1k at 100/200.Amazingly i won about 4 flips in a row running insanely good before being a mincash warrior!

The Thursday night we went to DTD. Bas and Jeff played the £50 crapshoot and i just played sum £1/2 cash sitting £500 deep. The table was absolutely incredible, there was 3 huge whales who must of been playin 85/0 in my 2hr stint at the tbl. There was also a Nottingham Forest footballer (i forget his name) who's standard open was too £20 (10xbb) and then he would still often get 4/5 callers. I managed to stack the fish for just short of £600. 6 limpers gets round to my bb so i pump up the action to £16 with JJ and recieve 3 callers.The board runs out a pretty harmless 3d 5s 9c i bet £52 into a pot of about £70 and recieve 2 callers, the turn is a 5h. I thought its possible its given sum1 trips but also these whales cant wipe the drool from there chin and are probs peeling extremely light with gutterballs so i jammed. 1st guy folded and the greek looking fish snapped it off with the river a blank 7x and he shows A9 in a rather "OMG such a badbeat fashion" to go bust with a pair of 9's 150bb deep. Nothing of any real note happens apart from playin extremely tight and taking a few small pots before leaving just over £300 in profit. It was strangely differcult as i could never get in a pot HU or with just 2 players so there so it becomes pretty differcult to win a hand without having the best of it at showdown which isnt ideal, but my experience of live cash games is that they are really fishy and even the regs have fundamental technical leaks.There edge probably comes from right place right time for getting good tbl selection- almost a hustler type mentality.

I then headed down to London to meet a mate for a couple of boozy days over easter weekend. The friday was spent in Surrey and the Saturday was spenting watching the footy and jumping from pub to pub starting at Camden and ending in Trafalgar. London is pretty awesome and i do enjoy the hustle and bustle of the place. On saturday i also played golf for the 1st time since October. I had the most bizarre heater where i managed to shoot an 86 whilst my previous best was 95 so i was pretty shocked. My putting and driving were fairly solid and its noticable how much easier the game is when you aren't hacking around the bushes on the wrong fairway!

I intend to update this blog at the end of the month to record April's results so until then GL at the tables all.

JP

Up she goes!

So March so far has been kind to me and pretty similar to how Febuary went. Up just under $6k with 1/2 the month left so the plan is to basically put in another 20k hands (15k-$1/2 5k $2/4) before starting April only playing 2/4. Feel like im playin well but is probably due to running good and feeling confident.Im also well over 1/2 clearing the $4k stars bonus so should hopefully get there by the end of the month, which is a great incentive to put in the hands.

Here are a few hands ive played this month:

http://weaktight.com/893815. This was my biggest pot of the month. Didnt like the turn card so i bet a fishy 1/2 pot as i wasn't sure what to do, although in hindsight i think checking behind can be ok too, when considering getting value out of his range which is unlikely to be happy with the turn card. Gin on the river tho!

http://weaktight.com/893825 Soul read!

http://weaktight.com/893834 FPS turning my hand into a bluff

Dont really have any interesting losing hands. Mostly just coolers or getting setmined by tagfish in 3bet pots. Happy days!

JP

Grind on the mind!

So while im clearing my $4k bonus ive been sacrificing souls to the doomswitch demon hoping he doesn't doomswitch me, although its probably inevitable whilst clearing a stars bonus.haha!

February was kind to me, where i ended up about $9k from cash games + $1k RB on 40k hands. I ran well which is nice and its nice to feel confident when playing and getting out of the mindset of booking wins by grinding a set amount of hands in a session. Donkaments were pretty brutal as per usual and i probably B/E at best despite a $2k cash and a couple of SM cashes.Ive decided its probably best to avoid online MTT's full stop apart from SCOOP/FTOPS which will be an occasional treat. I just feel the MTT'S on stars/FTP have fields that are simply to big to justify playing, whilst the payout structures are too top heavy so finishing in the final 2 tables can leave u on life tilt with maybe 2.5-3x ure original investment which is a joke. If i ever feel the urge im more likely to play the majors on the softer/smaller networks which don't exceed 500 runners whilst the standard is without question worse.

In the real world it seems the stock market has just about crashed, i currently have nearly 4 figs in a banking companies shares reccommended by my brother (A financial adviser!). Needless to say they are worth about 1/2 of wot i bought them at which was already at an all time low point for them. Hopefully at some point the market recovers and many moons down the line i can churn a profit out of them. Hopefully when/If the market becomes morestable i might look to research stock dealing more and make a few bob buying in at good entry/exit points but at the moment its perhaps to early to say.

So March has begun and im around -$1.4k down in 2.5k hands. Ive ran bad but im not moaning its pretty much fair game given how i ran last month but im happy with how im playing. My intentions for the month are to grind out 45k hands. Recently ive decided to more actively stake MTT's players so i still get my "fix" in a peculiar sort of way. I have one player from the EMS forum whom i will be staking regularly as he seems successful from his short time playing and hopefully i can help him improve whilst we both make a little $$$ but we will see.

Away from poker, this weekend i'll be watching Durham City have an epic (potentially) title decider v Halifax Town on saturday in the Unibond 1st division before heading up to Newcastle to reunite with my uni flatmates for boozy fun, which should be good times.

Gl at the tbls all

JP

Going nicely!

So Febuary has been relatively kind to me so far. Up around $7k in cash games and put it decent volume (For me anyway!) and i hope to put in another 15k hands or so before March where im unlikely to be playing as much due to other commitments. Ive played mainly 1/2 HU and 6max with a couple of thousand 2/4 hands thrown in at weekends.Of the limited 2/4 ive played it would seem that the regs spew less at 2/4 than 1/2 and have a better awareness of there percieved image.Ive also managed to reach the 250k fpp $4k bonus along with the $250 milestone bonus although these will probably take another 6 weeks or so to clear.

Not much to report on the donkaments front.Min cashed the SM again and didnt pretty rubbish in the majors i played on softer sites.So the plans are if things go well to play more and more 2/4 and hopefully move up by April full-time provided its going ok. I'll also be moving to London around the 6th March time for a couple of months so im anticipating i won't be playin so much poker next month whilst sorting everything out whilst im considering playing a few GUKPT side events towards the end of March although im told the structure ain't the best.

Here are a few hands i have played recently.
http://weaktight.com/822341.
Fairly deep villan was some crazy 84/30 maniac or something similar. Checked the turn to let him bet a random spade or protect a Q and was the easiest way of getting the money in since a ton of rivers could kill the action.

http://weaktight.com/822347.
A high is the Nuts HU.

http://weaktight.com/822349.
1/2 reg monkey spazzes out again.

http://weaktight.com/822354.
Nearly folded this. Villan was 85/30 and just split up with his G/F apparently. Id seen hiim go crazy with TPNK so i felt i had to go with it FML.

http://weaktight.com/822359
Villan was a 2+2er and my plan was to c/c 3 streets since this type of player is always 4 betting AK and his combinations of KQ are significantly reduced since i hold 2x queens. Obviously sucks to call river to split but i doubt he values shoves 99-JJ and he almost never has a K or an 8. I think his preflop is bad 100bb deep on his behalf as we have zero history and i think betting the flop is pretty marginal but meh.

Gl at the tables all

JP

Top Banana!

Thought it was perhaps long overdue that i added a semi nude photo of a bird in this blog.

Poker wise ive had a really good start to Febuary. After a nasty downswing (briefly documented in previous blog post :p) Ive managed to turn it around and am up around $4k in cash games. This was obviously helped by a tilting guy at HU 1/2 who dumped me $1/2k in 120 hands! I managed to book a $2.5k win that day which was really fortunate straight after the crazy downswong.Since then ive been on a heater and this weekend i took a couple of shots at 2/4 6 max and managed to make 2bi's in 500 hands which was nice, so i will continue to take 2/4 shots at weekends until i feel more comfortable.

Ive also played few of donkaments this week mainly because of the FTOPS. Never really got anywhere in both short handed events. I did however manage to final table the $40k and ended up 7th for $1.8k ($75). Was dissapointed again going into the FT 2/9 but lost a biggish pot with AK V AJ which crippled me.Last night i only managed 1/11 cashes which was quite brutal although i epically min cashed the Sunday Million.All in all i can't complain much at a $6k week so let the heater continue imo!

Away from poker it looks like i will be moving to London with a mate from home who works in T.V for 8 weeks.Should be a good laugh and a nice change of scenery although i will have to put up with a few southern fairies! Im sure there will also be some good opportunties to play some good value live donkaments.

Here are a few hands from the week...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3834270. After looking at this hand im not 100% about my line. I only really beat KQ and i think bet bet bet/fold river is probably the best line.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3834279. Nothing much to say here other than i think the opponent was on crack at the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3834295. I let him use this line succesfully a hand earlier in session so was very confident he was FOS.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3834300.Turn my hand into a bluff only to find he has backdoor spades :S.This hand is very much Overkill though and i think a standard river bet as opposed to shove will be just as successful/ less expensive when i get my soul purged.

Downswonging!

Currently on a nasty 15bi downswing ($3k) and my online roll is down to $17k which is like the lowest in 6 months or so. Guna chill for a few days and get my head together. GG life!

Gl at the tables all!

Ship it holla bolla! oh wait :(

Ok so i haven't updated my blog in a little while so i'll start with my session yesterday.I decided to play donkaments like a true degen and fired up 10 and figured i needed to make $1k to b/e. Well a few hours in and i was still in 7 and ended up getting really deep with no FT's :(. Finished in the last 30 of the prima $60r 150k gtd (1st prize 37k) where i kind of spewed a few chips despite been CL and then shoved A9s with 11bb's and got snapped by AK.I also finshed around 25th in the Cake $109 50k gtd where i was sitting pretty in the top 5 until i 4 bet jammed AJ v the CL bvb who woke up with AQ.I also finished just outside the top 100 of the daily 125k $55 for $300.

Im pretty disappointed after eying up a $50k (lolz) day to only make around $200 profit but such is donkaments i guess and i certainly feel a big win is around the corner.

The only other donkament session i put in at the start of the month i managed to come 3rd in the prima $25r for $3k which was nice where i lost a huge flip 3 handed with QQvAK.Also like everyone i know that plays the $22 cubed on stars i managed to bubble the FT. So for 2 donkaments sessions im really happy with how im progressing as i seem to have a more balanced game than in the past so im going to keep grinding them on sundays hooping for a big win.

Cash games have also gone well this month where im definately running nicely.My volume as always has been pretty lame (around 25k hands so far) but im up around $3.5k which is nice and puts me up around $7k for the month. Ive also started taking 2/4 HU shots on prima (up around 1bi in 150 hands) and will be taking shots at 2/4 on weekends on stars from now on. Theres a general consensus that the jump from 1/2-2/4 is huge so aslong as i dont become a paranoid monkey like the rest of the 1/2 regs i have a chance of succeeding.

Here are a few interesting hands i have played this month.....

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3769811. I like my line here on a dry flop. Leading out is so string and pornat*r is a monkey who can't help himself so i managed to trap some dead money here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3769817. He proceeded to call me a donk :(. Obv calling 4bets this deep with 6high is standard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3769820. Villan must have been so pissed here haha. When he C/R this flop his hand really is polarised to FD's/sets/air and i dont give him credit for c/r AQ/AK if he slowplayed.Guess i cant blame him for calling the river since i show up with a 6 almost never.

And the losers.......

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3769828. Not much to say here other than i got owned pretty hard.

www.pokerhand.org/?3769834. Insta snapping of with AQ is standard these days.Can't complain tho!

So a good month so far and nearly made my $4k stars bonus. Roll on Febuary and gl all at the virtual felt!

Happy New Year

So i lied and didnt post another blog in 08 but since today is going to be a right off im going to outline my goals today before beginning the grind tomorrow. Yesterday was a crazy good night. Watched 2many DJ's at a club in Newcastle who i thought were awesome and brought in the New year with old school friends which was cool although i was feeling under the weather and could barely speak as i had a real bad throat.

Anyway back to poker related materials and here are my "poker goals" for 09:

1.Play 40-50k hands online a month
2. Make $100k from cash games+ RB (Obv dangerous to set monetary goals but this is very possible if things go steadily at 2/4 and i progress further)
3. Play some live donkaments. Would like to play some GUKPT event and have highlighted the London leg (March time) and Newcastle leg (May time) as the events im interested in.
4. Play More HU and less 6 max. (Mainly because its my stronger game i make a better hourly and therefore it makes sense although can make u goa little insane!)
5. Score a big 4 or 5 figure donkament cash

I think my biggest leak is definately MTT's. Im probably a B/E player based on 08 but the amount of times ive blown up late in MTT's is pretty stupid. I usually have no trouble building big stacks and i used to struggle with mid-stages but now i think i need to improve my end game in order to be more successful which is obviously the most important stage. Maybe i should seek some advice from someone like Jagz7 who's "end game" is awesome when u considering how many 1sts/2nds he achieves.

Happy new year all. Good health and success for everyone IMO!

JP