What happens next?

So on Friday the 15th April (now known as black friday in the poker world) THE DOJ in the US banned American players from FTP and stars and Indicted several key figures from the companies on accounts of fraud. Interestingly enough when the news broke i was playing the DTD £1K Monte Carlo and sheet my pants since i had a sizeable 5 figures on both sites. However as things have developed things don't look too bad, MSNL cash traffic has dropped a little but MTT'ers are likely to enjoy the reduced fields and lower variance. Im guessing the worst effected are the SNG players, and of course the American online pro's who have had the rug pulled from underneath them. I truly feel for those guys (even the shortstackers). It will be interesting to see the effect of vegas thats for sure.

So a couple of weekends back i played the DTD Monte Carlo event. I was in the top 5 of chips going into day 2, things didnt quite go my way as i 3/5bet jammed ATo for 45bigs vs Toby Lewis AQ. The day b4 i ran incredibly hot. I was up over 120k with 5 levels and busted 4 people from 30k starting stack, mainly coolers and a hillarious donation. Once again i have no problem accumlating chips, i just need to knuckle down in the middle periods when theres less room to manovre. I think i need 1 or 2 tournaments where i ninja through a load of levels with 20-35 bigs to get use to the disclipline needed in order to improve.

The next day i tried to play the £5/10 VIP game but no-one would start the game but me and Annette Obrestrad who was playing the big game been filmed there. We decided to just play a £2/5 HU game for 4 hours instead which was cool, i ran pretty well in the 3bet pots and won around £750 but decided to flip for £250 at the end, where Annette drew a 4s first and i somehow drew the 2s LOL. She was a nice girl and it was a fun match if not particularly profitable it was an important experience.

Online has been good, grinded really hard at the start of the month and im up around $17.5k playing a mix of 2/4-3/6 6max and 2/4+ HU when i get action. Running good playing okay is the theme i think. May should be exciting, i intend to go home for a few days pre Vegas to see family and also play a few of the SCOOP's which are at favourable times for myself.

gl at the tables all

JP

Decent start to April?

The reason for the question mark is i managed to go deep in the 2.25mill on ftp last sunday, a top 50 finish out of 14k runners and $430k up top, with everyone at the final table getting $30k+. The sunday itself was going terrible, i was 0/14 for cashes until i ended up 1 tabling this for around 7 hours and $3700 to book a $2k winnning session. I ran like god all the way so can't complain really especially since i fired only 1 bullet, but i played close to my best so im pleased with that. I did have a perverse thought though when in the last 100. I felt in a way i didn't really want to win $428k as it would potentially drain my motivation to continue grinding cash which is probably an odd way of looking at things (obviously in hindsight $428k would be a beautiful thing). Maybe its because i've been grinding it out for a few years now and its all that i know, or maybe i have some deep root mental health issues.

Cash games are going ok up around $6k online with a mix of 6max and HU. My 6max game is improving a little as i get used to the pace of the games once again, although the odd hiccup along the way is a regular occurence. With HU i barely get any action on stars, FTP isn't so bad since PTR has stopped tracking for the past 6 months or so and ive only played there since vegas so i can get some action there which is nice.

I played some live cash in the Vic on Tuesday winning £850 for the session. Lost a £4k pot with KK VS AA where i flatter a 4bet called a 78J board Turn J went check check, before he potted the river allin. I probably should have folded since hes a decent tight reg but im a massive POW. I also won a £4k pot with AA vs 97dd allin on a K72dd 9h board. I still don't mind my play since the guy is likely peeling wide OTB when i isolate two weaker players, so feel he can have 86dd/89dd type hands. I also didn't have a blocker to the nut flush draw so opted to stick it in. Anyway river was a deuce counterfeited his two pair which was unlucky for him and he played the hand well. I also won a big hand vs the same guy earlier, peeling a 3bet with A4cc and c/r a 239cc board, turn Ko river 7c. He had KK apparently but i think its standard to c/r get it in here with 54% equity against all overpairs bar AA (i have a blocker anyway) also hes capable of getting it in with dominated draws.

Next week im playing the dtd £1k Monte Carlo event. Great place to play poker and not a bad night out for a few beers either!

JP