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