Another year goes by

So im back home and after an enjoyable xmas period am sat on my ass a little heavier pondering the year gone bye. December has been pretty decent, up $14k in online cash games in 16k hands and up £2.5k in live cash which i played after i busted the monte carlo event midway through day 2. Finished about 50th of 250 or so, had chips omst of the event until around 70 left where i lost AQ to QT AIPF for a 200k pot, which would have given me a 300k stack (easily top 3 at the time) and a chance for a deep run. I played really well so can't complain and its just a matter of keeping the faith. Ive also managed to bink an EPT seat to Deauville which starts on 25th January after putting in a sunday MTT grind. My 1st online MTT grind in forever and although it started appaulingly i managed to bink this seat and go deep in a $22 cubed on stars and a $75 on tilt. As a result one of my goals will be to grind at least 20 sunday MTT sessions as i think i may finally have the patience and willpower to play online MTT's.

This year pokerwise has certainly been a game of two halves. Pre vegas and Post Vegas.

Pre Vegas i'd had a bad year breaking even in midstakes cash games, winning nicely in live cash games, and bricking live mtt's (although this was a common theme throughout the year). The highlight was winning a $33r 6max mtt for around $5k and in April winning the $215 HU tournament for around $16k.

Vegas itself was a blast, i did well in cash games at 2/5-5/10 (made $5k+) but bricked 3 tournaments i played inc ME where i bought 1/2 my action so i certainly ended the trip down after expenses.

2010 Monthly Breakdown.

January- $9k profit online in 45k hands (approx $2k RB), + £630 live cash 1/3 session

February- -$5416 online in 47k hands (approx $2k RB), + £922 live cash in 6hr 2/5 session. Approx £800 down in UKIPT MTT's

March- $11.5k profit in 40k hands (approx $2k RB), +£1k from live cash games. -€2.2k from IPT Nova Gorica MTT, +$5k from online $33R 6max MTT.

April- B/e + $2k RB, + $15.5k MTT score, -£2.8k in live cash

May/June/July- Hmm failure to blog so no records, but IIRC i made no more than $5k from online cash games and made approximately $8k from live cash games inc Vegas. was probably down in the region of $8k from Vegas mtt's and Nottingham UKIPT.

August- +$5k in 22k hands (approx +$500 in RB) Switched to HU here, +£3k at 2/5 cash, -£300 from DTD Deepstack MTT.

September- +6.5k profit in 15k hands (approx +$350 in RB), -€2.5k in Live mtt's in Ireland across UKIPT and side events.

October- +15k in 19k hands (approx +$400 in RB), +£4k in a few live cash sessions. -£1.5k in HU EPT mtt.

November- +$18.2k in 18.5k hands (approx +$400 in RB) + £500 in live cash, -1.5k for World HU mtt.

December- +$14k in 17k hands (approx +350 in RB), - £2.5k in live cash, - £750 for DTD monte carlo event.


So very roughly my figures are:

Online cash games- + $78,784. Pretty dissappointing but given how the last 6months have gone im reasonably happy with things going into 2011

Rakeback- Very rough estimate of $12k. Alot lower than last year naturally as from August onwards ive played solely HU cash.

Online MTT's- +$13k net profit + EPT deauville package. played less than 200 MTT's this year managed 2 wins (1st 5 figure score) so a fairly pleasing effort.

Live cash games- +$15,331. First year playing live cash semi regularly went well apart from a couple of £5/10 sessions towards the end of the year.

Live MTT's (aka my kryptonite)- -$21,690. This figure is likely worse since ive ran bad at staking and the expenses gathered on getting to these events.


Overall it works out to be a Net profit of $97,437 which is way short of my original goals, variance hasn't been kind at Live mtt's. Having said that ive done remarkably well post Vegas and with an EPT package in the bag im hoping to get off to a flyer in 2011 and will be looking to outline my 2011 goals early in the New year. Have fun everyone!

Uncertainity in the online poker world!

Over the past few days i've found myself pre-occupied with the uncertainty around the future of online poker. Those of you aware will have heard that Senator Reid is intending on attaching a bill to regulate online poker to a greater bill, which will see Americans free to play online poker again.

However, all is not as it seems. A 15month "blackout period" will insue meaning US players won't be allowed to play for this period so that online poker sites have a level playing field (Seems the big casino players MGM and Harrah's are throwing substantial amounts of money at this having seen the success of stars/FTP). On a purely selfish note this is likely to have a huge effect on the games with traffic been more than halfed. Granted im not a huge grinder but it is a worry and i feel sorry for those big grinders like Nanonoko and Gregy in the US who really will have big decisions to make if this passes through.

Another bone of contention is the lack of clarity after the 15month blackout period. Rumours are circulating that stars/FTP will be frozen out of the American market for a further two years (almost as punishment for accepting US players whilst poker wasn't regulated in the US). At A-level i studied abit of American Politics and i remember all the beaucracy, back scratching and corruption that is a result of a proportional representation electoral system. Throw in an industry where money is like confetti and those with the deepest pockets (Harrah's/MGM) and there perogatives will prevail.

Enough of the depressing stuff anyway. November was great made about $20k online in 18k hands. Live didnt go well, i dropped about £5k in two sessions. Running a huge bluff in a 3bet pot which wasn't great for £5k pot and losing set under turned set in another session for a £5.5k pot. Can't complain things are going well. December has followed in the same vein up around $7.5k in 5k hands, so hopefully i can churn out a decent month before the sky falls.

Next week im going to DTD. Still debating whether to play the Monte Carlo MTT or just play live cash. I'll make a decision nearer the time hoping i don't downswing to hard between now and then.

Looking towards next year, i may have to play live alot. I currently intend to play IPT Lugano (15th Jan) EPT Deauxvile (25th Jan) and Stars Estrella Madrid (2nd Feb) assuming i can sat into 1 or 2 of them. I'll almost certainly play all 3 if the blackout period is in place by then.

Got friends visiting this weekend for Sunderland vs Fulham match. Probably won't be a classic but looking forward to seeing m8's i aint seen since before Vegas (Aint been home since June :S). After DTD i'll head str8 up north for Xmas celebrations and hopefully a good few boozy nights in Newcastle/Durham.

Lets hope we have good news in the coming days.

JP

A regal performance worthy of a crown, although deep rooted problems threaten immediate future!

For my regular readers (all 2 of you) you maybe aware that this blog post title is somewhat more cryptic, than my usual run of the mill blog titles. So far my volume has been lame this month, ive put in 7.5k hands for $14k profit which is pretty good and im still riding the heater. Im also up around £3k from 2 sessions at the Vic.

Now the reasoning for the title is non-poker related. Around about 1 month ago i had a crown put on my tooth, which set me back about £200. For the past week ive been suffering tooth ache which got progressively worse under the crown, to the point where at 6am Saturday Morning in extreme pain i rolled out of bed to look for emergency 24hr dentists online.

Luckily i found one and got an appointment that morning, at an address called non other than XXX Dr Watson chambers, Baker st. So i hopped on the rattler for a short 10min tube journey. Once i got there the waiting room was full of people looking rather grim (naturally) but i managed to see a dentist quickley, who took an x-ray and discovered i had developed abscess on my root under the crown and would therefore need a root canal (sigh). Not only this but for the pleasure it would cost £500 on the day in total for consultation and the 1st stage of treatment, and then a further £250 when i go back in 10days time for the second part of the treatment. So in total its going to cost around £1k for work on one tooth which im assuming the 1st dentist i saw and made the crown (who i disliked and had absolutely no faith in) made a botch jump letting my tooth get infected. After surgery and the numbing injection weared off i was in severe pain and my gumaround the root causing the trouble had ballooned, luckily towards the end of the night anti-biotics kicked in and now im in no discomfort which feels truly awesome. One downside is i can't touch alcohol till after stage 2 of my root canal surgery.

cliffs: Look after your teeth

went to see Kevin Bridges last week which was com at the Hammersmith apollo, but now i need to get back on the grind since im not on course to hit my 20k hands a month goal. On my way to the Dentist i swong by the Vic to buyin for the World HU championship MTT which starts this coming friday, surely this is the mtt to break my live MTT duck right?

JP

October recap

So October was my best online month this year, which ironically coincided with it been the least volume ive put in a single month in over 2 years. Not too surprisingly since its 95% HU and a few successful hands bumhunting 5/10-10/20 6max. I played alot of live cash early in the month with EPT in town and a ton of tables running at the Vic where i pocketed £4-5k making it around a $25k month which is pleasing.

Since ive got back from Vegas it seems (touch wood) ive turned a corner finally and although im going to fall way short of my original targets for the year, i should finish the year strongly. November has been positive thus far aswell up $5k online while i managed a £2k win in a £2/5 session on Tues at the Vic in a particularly juicy game.

I'll be playing the World HU championship which is in London on te 19th, currently selling action on 2p2 here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/184/staking-selling-shares-live/whollyflush-selling-world-hu-championship-910481/#post22680491 so if anyone reading is interested in the sweat u can buy a piece while im on a nice heater. Ive recently been buying lots of action of other people playing live events in Amsterdam and various UK events so hopefully someone can bink as im definitely down a ton in live mtt staking.

On a non related poker note it was my Bday on Monday and ive managed to make it to 25 not out, although i feel pretty darn old especially when all the people binking these huge tournaments are 4/5 years my junior.

JP

October!!!

So since my last update things have gone pretty well. Made $8k in about 12k hands last month (all HU and was away in Dublin nearly 2 weeks). I played alot of cash in the Vic while EPT was on £2/5-£5/10 which i did okay and made around £4k over 4-5 long sessions.

I also played the EPT £1K HU which was a slightly crapshooty best of 3 format which definitely suited HU SNG players as opposed to cash. I won my 1st match 2-0 quite comfortably. Managed to C/R 9To on a 99J board and got it in against 43o no draw :) then whittled the guy down to short and had AJ beat his KK. Unfortuntely i busto'd in round 2, Managed to lose A8s to 78s with the guy down to 10bigs. From there he made a comeback to win match 1. Match 2 he also won as blinds were huge i opened A8o with 22bigs, he shipped i called and he had AJ :(. Maybe close but he was an aggro HU sng grinder for a living so meh.

Plans for this month are just to grind HU cash online. Doing well again, up around $11k in 11k hands from 1/2-3/6 across stars and tilt and im pretty happy with my HU game at the minute. I'll also be playing the world HU competition that is at the vic next month (£2.2k buy-in) so i'll probably look to sell some action at mark-up when i speak to a few people.

gl at the tables

JP

UKIPT Dublin

Well could of gone a little better TBH. Ended day1 on 56k (double average) was in good shape but day 2 was a nightmare. Within the 1st hour i won AJ>KJ vs a shorty, then proceeded to lose 77 to AQ (river A) for a 28k pot AQ to A9 (9 river) for a just short of 40k pot and KJ to 66 on a JT4 6 K board where i didnt go broke somehow. My bust out hand wass sumthing o an error howvever, as i opened TT UTG with just over 20bigs. Middle aged guy with large stack 3x 3bets and i jam when i should probably just fold against this guy but i guess i was slightly tilted (oh he had QQ). Got nothing going in the sides either lost a few standard flips nothing particularly exciting.

I did play the €1k HU winner takes all that got just 8 runners. I beat Vanessa Rousso 1st round, i ran pretty nicely and she kinda just let me run her over which was nice. My 2nd match didnt fair so well. i ran a huge bluff 3betting 67o and bombing 3 streets on a 933 T Q board getting called by AT, then with my last 25bigs i got it in with AK against A8. 8 peels off on the turn and its gg me. Ive ran terribly bad thus far so hopefully this SH 6max event will be boomswitch activated. There putting on 6max cash games from 2moro night onwards aswell so i'll get on that grind with alot of french players expected to be playing.

I played online yesterday a little and took 10 stacks off a reg in a few hundred hands to book a much needed $2k winning session. Ran like good (about 3 1/2 stacks above EV)

Quite an important few days coming up i guess as i wat to play a ton of ept stuff but how well i do in next few days will determine this.

JP

Long time no post!

Brief update

Last few months have been decent haa gr8 time in Vegas (not MTT wise as i busted ME early level 2 with middle set). Never got close to money in other MTT's i played but meh made a decent clip at $5/10 live to cover a ton of my expenses so nearly broke even on the trip.

Goin to Dublin next Wednesday for UKIPT and the Euro Short handed Championship which is a couple of days later fortunately so will be in dublin nearly 2 weeks. I'll be updating my twitter for sure.

Online ive switched to playing solely HU. Went well last month, made about $6k in 20k hands which isn't to bad. Booked a £3 session at the Vic last week aswell so can't complain. WCOOP is just around the corner aswell so hopefully i can go deep in a couple of them.

I'll be updating in Dublin and you can follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/whollyflush

JP