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