clarkatroid is not folding

The gibbons in Portugal

2009-11-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

You better watch this you bastards it took me ages to do it

Poker.
I didnt play quite as many hands as normal, which was a combination of going on holiday at the beginning of the month and lack of motivation as i had a good month at the tables and some how managed to avoid the standard 10k downswing. Im hoping this is because i played better and spewed less, but time will telli guess.

With a couple of good months under my belt im hoping to continue this form in the run up to xmas and finish off the year strongly. At the back of my mind though is last years december 30k downswing, which i attribute half the blame to variance and half to tilting. Im determined not to have a repeat performance, so ill be quick to drop stakes, and take breaks if things start to get nasty

hands- 69518
profit - $25981
loyalty bonuses- $4100
total profit $30081

(Not played any mtts)

sept figures

2009-09-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

off on a golfing holiday tomorrow morning , so this just a quick post keep the figures up to date

it was a frustrating month in the main, spending most of it in the hole, which was a result of having a few failed shots at 25/50, and running like death at my normal stakes. i thought another losing month was on the cards with a week to go, but fortunately managed to turn it around in the last few days. im pretty chuffed with the end result all things considered.

Oh and i decided not play wcoop after the first few days as it was just way too late time wise. i cashed in the w$ and plan to play northern lights at blackpool instead

hands - 97876
profits - $17132
rakeback - $5200
total profit - $22332

im playing too many hands from the sb, but im not sure if -18bb/100 is a leak. if anyone wants to compare hm stats then let me know

meeting success and failure with equal measure

2009-09-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Having played this game for around 7 years and around 3 million hands, ive had plenty of ups and downs.

The ups are truly exhilarating, especially in the first few years. you go to sleep at night very content at a job well done. Time and experience help put a perspective on the current euphoria though. You realise you've had an exceptional day, its still very satisfying, but you know its not "normal".

However, recovering from a downswing is a different ball game. These are especially difficult to recover from as there are several forces working against you

1) financially your in the hole. And you want the money back

this is the initial phase, but it quickly turns into,

2) stress, anxiety, and frustration. Is this the end of my poker playing days ?

and lastly

3) you feel dejected. Theres no way out. The cards are conspiring against you

The last part sounds crazy, only the donks talk about it being rigged right? It crosses my subconcious mind when im getting nailed over and over and over at the tables. i know its ludicrous, but in the heat of battle and a downswing its always there. You feel like the worlds against you

Heres the thing though. An this is a mathematical certainty if you play long enough -

At some point you will run worse than you ever imagined possible

You need to be mentally prepared for this steam train, otherwise the results can be completely disasterous.

The worst reaction is feeling sorry for yourself. Your bad run consumes you, its at the back of your mind constantly, always there thoughout every non poker related decision. Everytime your mind has a blank moment, the downswing fills that gap. You start posting bad ev graphs on the forums, backslapping other "run bad" players. Seeking re-assurance from your peers that you are a good player because your beginning to doubt yourself

Theres lot a written on variance and downswings, but not much literature on how to deal with it, so heres my take in one very important sentence (imo)

Meet success and failure with equal measure

Train your mind to accept a good month and a bad month with no emotions. Feel nothing when you win a pot, nothing when you lose a pot. If you can train your mind to do this, then you will be a much much better player. Eradicate the emotional apsect, and you have arrived as a player. Bigtime. Constantly focusing on each decision. Cold, calculating poker decisions, no emotions involved. Not forcing the issue when your stuck, not getting it in high variance spots when your winning, total control.

Thats what the really good players are good at, and where im aiming to be eventually. In a state of grace. Permanently in the zone. As near as you can get to a pokerbot i suppose

Theres soo soo much variance in this game that you have to try to do this. Emotions cloud the decison making process. Im not there yet, probably wont ever get there, but im getting much better at controlling it.

Being self aware is critical also. Poker is the most delusional environment ive ever come across. As a winning player, this is where the profit comes from. A winning player profits from others dellusionality.

I play in a game where another reg calls me a "set up artist" . But the truth is i have an edge on him. His ego wont allow him to see this though. And so he plays in the same games as me. As i mentioned in my last post, id like to think i know when im a table where im outmatched, and , well i just leave. Theres thousands of other cyber games out there, no need to stay.

The point is, there is no room for your ego in poker. If you ego isnt in check, then it suffocates your progress as a player, it blinds your decision making progress from table selection to hand analysis. Ultimately, prevents you from maximising your true potential

thoughts of an insomiac

2009-09-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

Its 2am and im trying to stay awake so my bodyclock is conditioned for what hopefully will be a few night shifts when wcoop starts in 2 days, i dont want to play poker, so heres some random poker blog thoughts

i think theres more variance than most players recognise. Its taken me a long time, and 2 million hands to realise this. last year i went on a 6 month heater at 5/10, winning at an average of 5pt bbs over 1/2 a million hands. At the time i had no idea if this was normal, now i know it isnt.

It all came to an end when i lost 30k in december, through a combination of playing drunk one night, which was the catalyst, and reading coles souths online 6 max poker e-book. I learnt my lesson from the first one and havent played drunk since, but the poker e-book really destroyed my game for a couple of months. It was a fancy piece of reading alright, using buzz words like combinatronics etc. But i figured at 1800 bucks per copy, the content should be shit hot, and i tried to implement the strategies in an effort to improve my game . the general theme is to play tight but fight for every pot. In practice spewed up all the the gaff

It was the equivalent of having a stroke but in poker terms. losing 30k shattered my confidence. That was last december and i havent played 5/10 full time since. i spent 2 months at the start of the year grinding 2/4 trying to find my old game back and barely broke even

What have i learned from that experience, apart from dont play pissed? Well that poker is still in its infancy as an industry and dont believe everything you read. The reality is that you can win at poker playing very laggy or very nitty and everywhere in between. No one system is right. You can also win playing really aggro or relatively passive postflop. There is no one definative guide to winning. just tips and pointers along the way
Its up to each individual to find his on style.

What im trying to say is watching poker videos or reading tons of strategy doesnt make you a good player as theres so much contradictory and misinformation out there. This is a different outlook from when i first started playing, when i thought pokerxfactor and pocket5s were the dogs balls. I was in every training site, now im only in one. i used to read all the forums, now i only read 2p2 msnl and hsnl. i find most training videos boring. Im not trying to say i know it all because im still an average reg, but ive watched maybe a hundred vids, and to be fair i dont think theres much else to say.

Ive learnt more from playing volumes, and watching other good players at my table than any training aid

Ive learnt to learnt to leave virtual felt when i have no edge a the table. this happens a lot. Most players think they are better players than they are. I used to think i was gods gift to poker when i was slam dunking 40k a month last summer. Now i know my place. I know which regs i have an edge on, and why. i know who has my number, and why. Poker is the most dellusional game ive ever played. Everyones an expert

people from outside poker cannot in anyway relate to what a grinder does. Most people look down on you as some sort of degen gambler

i still get really mad when i get outdrawn. in every pot. i cant help it. The stress of playing is huge. its the most stressful job ive ever done

its the most lucrative thing ive ever done. thats why i play tons of hands each month but its still less than 35 hours a week. It all feels too good to be true. Im playing a lot, as i dont think i have much time left before the games are too hard. im amazed at the lack of volume some of my peers contribute

you go on huge heaters and long coolers. trying to keep a level head when things arent going your way and not tilting is the hardest part of the job. working for 15 days at the start of the month, grinding up your profits to 15k, then getting them wiped out in 2 sessions is damn difficult to handle. but it happens. i usually have at least 2x10k downswings a month so you think i would get used to it, but i still want to jump off blackpool tower everytime one hits me

im boring myself writing this so apologies to anyone reading it, im just trying to send myself to sleep

year to date figures

2009-08-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

i got nowhere near my goal of 200k hands, barely breaking the 100k mark. Im not too worried about it though as ive had a decent month at the tables, hitting the 30k mark for the second time this year. To be fair the hand target was unrealistic, i should have tried for 120k hands, which is my goal for september.

September is the month of perpetual eternal dissappointment, sitting up playing poker until 8am after playing 12 hours in a tourney , only to bust out just before the bubble because ive fell asleep at the helm. Yep its wcoop month. Last year cost me a small fortune in ev from not changing my sleeping patterns and being unable to finish strong and alert. i went really deep to a big score several times and really regret not being mentally prepared for the long haul. And they are long long tourneys.

i spent the last 4 weeks playing on pokerstars, and everytime i won a buy in, i swapped it for a wcoop ticket. then i played a few steps games and was very lucky to get 2x5k tickets on the second day. The upshot is ive now got a full schedule which equates to 20k of tourney entries at a 4k outlay. Im certainly -ev at stud , omaha and razz, and logically i should cash in my 2k omaha ticket for cash, but i want a shot at getting lucky so i might as well be in everything. Im way behind last years cash earnings, which i expected, but a decent hit in any of these bad boys will change all that.

this year looks likes this .
jan . +9695 rakeback +7500
feb +13900 rakeback +2600
march -980 rakeback +3000
april +28624 rakeback +1500
may +24027 rakeback +5500
june +31529 rakeback +3800
july -2518 rakeback +3800
aug.+31663 rakeback +5500
total 136922 rakeback total 29400

total 162326 plus 20k profits in mtts
overall running total $182326

720k hands at 2.34bb/100

my winrate has basically halved since last year so to make up for that im grinding more hands. I should easily hit my 1 million hand target for the year

200k hand month - pissing in a bottle

2009-08-09T00:26:00.000-07:00

Im 2 months behind in posting of my results , but for those who care, which i doubt is anyone, i hit 31k in june and -2.5k in july.

August is a free month schedule wise, so ive decided to push my limits by targeting a whopping 200k hands this month, which is 2.5x more than my normal monthly goal. The most ive ever done previously is 109k hands. i strike around 900 hands an hour so im looking at 220 hours of poker . About 70 hours a week. Thats a shit ton of stress, pressure, and concentration considering i can only play in 2-3 hours bursts

kims going to be doing the food shopping, the house will be a shit tip, and ill be pizzing in a bottle no doubt.

So far im on 30k hands and thats including two marathon 8k , 10 hour sessions. This puts me well behind schedule already

In all probability, i dont have the stamina to make this challenge, but ill give it a good go. My worst case scenario is putting in this kind of volume and breaking even/losing. This is a distinct possiblity as im going o be knackered and not on my "a" game for parts of it

The main reason for attempting it is greed basically. I want to win enough so i can buy into all wcoop events in september for free, and pay off the expenditure on my car last month. Im not thinking about win rates though, as i obviously have no conrol over that, im just trying to concentrate on the volume.

losing month in the post..........

2009-07-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

unless something miraculous happens in the next 24 hours.

im about 5k downish, but cant be arsed playing after our trip to vegas. Same old story, you go on your jollys somewhere nice,come home, cant be bothered with work. We've all been there. Ive done jack shit for 4 weeks apart from buy a new motor, which is the dogs tallywhackers, and practice my golf swing at the driving range

Gearing up for a huge second half of the year though, starting next month where im planning to challenge myself to play 200k hands, mainly because i just spunked most of this years winnings on an audi RS4 last friday and im going to do everything possible to see if the poker community will contribute to the purchase. im also drifting behind my target of 1 million hands for 09.

August i'll be grinding like a bastard basically. Time to piss in a bottle like leatherass.

this is an interview i did last week with ukpokernews.................

http://uk.pokernews.com/news/poker-player-interviews/2009/07/adam-clarkatroid-clark-1285.htm

celeb hunting in vegas

2009-07-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

The only people i can think of who wouldnt like vegas are those wierd ones on holiday showdown who take their families on a survival trips in wales, or maybe want to go sight seeing in afganistan. For the rest of us its simply the dogs innit. Whatever your tipple, vegas has it nailed down. Hotels the size of small countries, the best shows, the sun, shopping, golf, amazing bars and clubs. Its tacky granted, but its tacky with billions thrown at it. Its also gamblers dream come true, which was the primary reason for this trip. The wsop main event.

I hate live tourney poker, i just cant get a result in it, which pisses me right off as the players are downright terrible taken as a whole, although there are obviously exceptions. And its not even close. online cash players are the grade A players, online mtt pros know their shit, but when you switch to live, the droolers come out enmasse, like extras from dawn of the dead. but i cant beat them. i cant even get chips off em

The wsop main event followed an identical pattern to the last 2 years of live tourneys. No cards, ducking and diving pulling off the odd bluff here and there to maintain my stack, and going out on the last hour of day one with a premium holding, This time it was aces in a 3 bet pot getting cracked by 89cc 70 bbs deep.

It didnt spoil the holiday though as we where in vegas this time, not the G casino in walsall.

It irks me that i grind away good living online, and donate some of it back to the live poker plonkers who wouldnt know a 3 bet was if it slapped em in the face.At the same time, i realise they are a chance to score a life changing sum, which is probably why im getting so miffed with them.

I had a love affair with online mtts, as these got me into poker from the very beginning, but in the last couple years, as i got more and more into cash poker, my passion dwindled for these too. 6 months ago i was playing 2k of sunday majors every week. Last month i only played a fraction of that. I would imagine that i may quit them altogether soon

1 million databased hands in 1 year

2009-06-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

this is my first database that i havent actually managed to lose through hardware failure.

ive posted it on 2p2, http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/1-year-1-million-hands-519211/ for anyones who might be interested

teh shot at 25/50

2009-06-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

....To say it started off badly is the understatement of the century

It lasted 28 hands and 14 minutes . I lost 5k , calling 2 shortstackers all in and lost both races, and felt pig sick

There were 2 donks at the table as well which made it even worse, but i didnt have the stomach to reload, and that was never the plan. Back to msnl with my tail between my legs . Luckily i walked straight into a heater at 3/6 and got my 5k back pretty quickly.

So i got my month back at 25k and felt completely unsatisfied with my faggoty shot at high stakes .Bollocks to it, grow some balls *troidy. I had another shot this morning. I was really nervous and made a conscious effort to play well and not spew.

this time i ran good, and played good. barmpfh!!!!

Biggest winning day of the 09.

I promised myself i wouldnt play at these stakes regularly, and that this was a one off because id run good this month, but now my tiny brain is full of 25/50 thoughts, and im going to play it again tonight

the run good has rocketed junes garph to a stomping 34k, although theres a week to go and it could go either way from here.

ship ship

A shot at nosebleeds

2009-06-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

Poker has a habit of dramatically twisting your mental state. In december i hit a 30k, 50 buyin downswong, Needless to say i felt like a shocking player. As a result, in january, i banned myself from playing 5/10 and decided to play lower in an effort to steady the ship. In february i broke even at over 100k hands 2/4. Then lift off, with March, April and May all returning +20k months.

So in my mini journey i went from decent to donk and back to decent all in 5 months. Until now its never crossed my mind to have a shot at nosebleeds, ive always been a bit scared of them, with good reason. The players are shit hot /end of.

Now i should end this post, and abandon this dumb idea after that last sentence. But that aint gonna happen. The time is coming to donate to HSNL

Its niggling at me. Im thinking if i never take the odd shot im never going know. After all i got to 5/10 pretty quickly by taking shots early in my career, and enjoyed a good long run there for almost 10 months until the wheels fell off in december. Also the degenerate in me wants to put 10k on a single hand. I want the buzz of a shot. What if i double up to 20k. What if i win 4 buy ins at 50/100. Thats 40k . Just plain greed i suppose and there no point pretending its about anything else. Greed and Glory. GG NH me

My game might have some leaks but bankroll mgt is my number 1 strength. Im very cautious with my dolla, probably over cautious, as i have now have over 300 buy ins set aside for when it rains (not online of course. fxxk you hack monkeys). I realise this is OTT but i think one of the the biggest problems a player faces is funding. Funding to last out a huge downswing. Ive built up a large roll for insurance purposes. To minimise the chance of living in a town called busto. My worst nightmare is going broke and signing up with bad beat, giving up 50% my winnings and forfeiting any rakeback, having my acount stripped searched every day, and answering to a mentor when i tilt off a stack or 2.

So i carry this excessive bankroll. It helps me play better knowing im well funded

THE STAB-
the shot will be 1 buy in only for 10k. I lose it, game over
stakes will be 50/100 on full tilt
the shot will only happen when i hit 25k profits for the month.

I figure if im in profits for 25k, then i can afford it. At present im on 8k, so it might happen this month depending how stuff pans out

when i do it, ill blog the time im going to do it so anyone can pop over and have a butchers and watch the carnage.

Ill be pretty nervous so no monkeying around on the rail telling me i got AIDS pls

may review - Playing poker after 10 pints of stella....

2009-05-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

.....is not good for the bankroll. Im not sure why its taken me 7 years to realise this. but heres the news. i dont play pissed anymore. im 2 months poker+alcohol free now. This is one of the ways im finding more consistancy in my poker.

I suppose this is a bit like saying you have to play with your eyes open but maybe im a bit slow to pick these things up. This was confirmed in the small hours of sunday morning following a Leo Sayer with Ed , doublebubbles and Jase "the nut peddler kely". I woke up bollock naked at 10am with the laptop strewn across my knackers, the full tilt poker client open, and the remains of a mexican quarter pounder from burger dome smudged across my hands, the laptop and half my face. Classy

I immediately opened HEM expecting a massacre of epic proprtions but found i played only 2 hands. What a result. I feel cured, my sober serious subconcious reaching out and giving an almighty Bollocking to the dumb pissed up ninja at the helm. " dont be such a wanker and turn this shit off you muppet". Surely this is significant progress

It was the end result of a day that started with a team of us playing the monthly 100 at the G. This is a great tourney and a great excuse for a booze up. Our second time we've played it and none of us have cashed yet. lol. I suppose it doesnt help having a shot of tequila with every pint starting at 2pm. By 4pm i was rat arsed, had built up my stack to about 30k. blinds are 400/800, and i have 89 clubs in MP, i make it 2400 to go, or at least i thought i did until the dealer announced my raise was 17k!!!!!!!! i stuck 3 black 5k chips in the middle in pure ninja mode. lol .Anyways it was a quality day. I will be definately playing it next month as a prelude to wsop the week after.

Not good signs of form going into the biggest tourney of my life next month in vegas but hey what can you do.

Enough messing about and onto real poker........on tinternet. These days, the line up of my average 6 max table consists of 2 slightly better players than me, 2 slightly worse players than me, and 1 fish who more often than not is playing less than a full stack. This leaves little room for error

Ive mentioned b4 my problems dealing with tilt, and thats something ive been working on hard to minimise. I basically cant afford to do it, the games are too unforgiving these days. Finding consistancy is the key.

Consistantly, robotically making the right decisions. In the end game, its the players that achieve this consistancy that will ultimately take home the bacon. Thats where im aiming to be

For me, my results have improved in the last couple of months for this reason. Im finding more professionalism in my game. I never played pissed anymore. period. thats what kicked off my 30k december downswing. Friday night, 9 pints of stella, lappers, kebab, home at 2am, play 9 tables of 5/10 . wake up the morning with that sick "zomg" feeling knowing ive donked off a wallop online. shorter sessions have also helped tremendously. and a 5 buy in stop loss. no more than 12 tables either. Ive also decided to spend less time on sections of poker forums that dont aid my progress as a player. That means less NVG BBV AWOP etc and more time viewing msnl/hsnl strategy sections, which i have neglected too much in the last few months

Strategy

Well it seems im now a 23/17 player. Im sticking with my plan to open more cut offs/buttons and tighten up the blinds. Im really pleased with myself on this for spotting the positional leak and actually fixing it ( hats off to 2p2) It has made me more laggy as traditionally i play 20/16 ish but i honestly cant see me reverting back to those figures

figures.................

MAY 09

cash play $21027

hands played - 99210!!!(most ever)

loyalty bonuses - $5500

weekly hours 43

mtt results -$2500

total profits $24027

worryingly, im losing mre in the bb even though ive tightened up a bunch, -30bbs as to -27bbs. So ill keep an eye on this stat next month. The month started off terribly with the "A" typical 7k /15 buy in downer. I thought it was going to be a break even month at best but some hardcore 100k hand grinding got me out the hole and ended up with a really pleasing result. This puts me right on schedule to hit my target of 1 million hands this year.

And so in 4 weeks im off for my shot at 13 million in vegas. i dont think ill be going again, as i dont play any satellites for it, so this really is my one and only shot. i hope i have the honur of playing on the same table as this guy, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the poker world.............

but id have a better chance sat on a table with this guy

word

newsflash - another huge wsop freeroll at centrebet

2009-05-06T01:25:00.000-07:00

Yes this is a blatant advertising plug for my chaps at centrebet. but make no mistake, you would be stupid not to get in this freeroll

i won the seat for the last one of these they did last month, which ended up being a

4 man sng freeroll with a 1st

prize 15k package to the wsop

main event

. Its needs putting in bold because its a ridiculous package i won. and now its happening again!!!

i have no idea how many will be in this event in 4 weeks, but like i said in my last email, this site is offfering huge value at at moment with these competitions as they try to establish themselves as a major player in the ipoker network.

These opportunities dont come along very often. In fact the only time i can ever remember such value was when mansion had a a 50k overlay for their tri-weekly 100k guaranteed freezeout.

If you want in,leave a message here with your email address and ill get you a decent loyalty deal on top. be quick though, the promo has already started 4 days ago

heres a link to the promo -

http://promos.centrebet.com/poker-wsop-2009

ah those where the days

you only blog when your winning..........

2009-04-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

which makes my lack of blogging of late noteworthy by it absence. And theres some truth to that but inherent lazyness is the prime reason, as i have a decent 4 weeks on the cyber felt but still not posted

09 Poker Summary -ok here we go then. My well documented and now very boring 30k december downswing(not that im holding a grudge) was followed by 3 months of treading water and making a small winrate, at lower stakes, and gradually regaining this loss. Its been slow and painful but i got it back eventually. Im not complaining though as i know im very lucky to be doing this for a living, and its nada like a real job in the real world, but it is bloody stressful when things aint going your way and something probably only a fellow grinder will appreciate.

The first 12 weeks of 2009 would look something like this. 14 days into the month i would might have grinded out maybe 10k-15k profits, then got "doomswitched" and drop 10k in 3 days and 3 sessions and we are back to where we started. Alternatively, id drop 10k in the first week of the month and spend the rest of it trying to get it back. shite

So ive been constantly playing under pressure basically and hating every minute. Ive was dreading logging in to play a session, nevermind taking the time out to write about said misery on these digital pages

So i figured somethings gone wrong somewhere. Although generic winrates are decreasing and the games are infinately tougher than they were, and this trend is set to continue, i cant have gone from a solid winrate of 4bb/100 to a break even/ 0.5bb winner overnight. Which is whats happened. In context, i was winning between 15-50k a month and now i consider 10k a result with march break even over 90k hands.

im still playing sunday tourneys, and this wasnt going well either with 0 cashes from 40 starts

So yeah somethings definately gone wrong. First up, im tilting. not raging tilt, although i blow up after i lose 5-6 buyins ins in a single session wit the ole "fxxk it" move, and throw my dolla in the middle knowing im beat and refusing point blank to logically analyse the hand.

So, and ive said this before, im going to quit sessions after 5 buy in loss. i mean it this time.

and secondly, and this is a massive spot, my positional sense has drifted completely out of synch, which i realised last week after posting this on 2p2

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/56/medium-stakes-pl-nl/6-max-winrate-lossrate-position-467019/

i cant believe my stats last month where so bad positionally. shows me ill have to review sessions more and not let this leak creep into my game again

so march was my 2nd losing month, and looking at this image, its easy to see why. i mean playing only 23% from the button is a unforgiveable, and im annoyed with myself for not spotting this earlier. Defending blinds too much and not playing co and button enough. Basics. Ive got everything back to front. With that in mind, ive re-energised my game recently.

These are my positional stats from last week, since i spotted this bullshit

a drastic improvement basically.

figures

MARCH

CASH PLAY - $-980

hands played - 73025

loyalty bonuses - $3000

weekly hours 33

mtt results +$23337

total profits +$25357

It was looking like another dismal month but was saved by a donkament strike on the 30th when i won the 50 rebuy on stars for 32k.(900 runners). Again, i looked hard at my mtt game, watched some videos on lego poker, which helped tremendously. My mtt had rotted away in a similar fashion to my cash game, and watching these vids made me realise how out of synch i was in relation to how the game had progressed in general. It provided instant results and a much needed boost to my confidence just at the right time.

The 30th march donkament win proved to be the start of better things. I won an all expenses paid trip to austria on a freeroll thanks to my sponsor, centrebet for this. Didnt cash but really enjoyed the trip and the people we met.

April - WSOP main event here we come!!

Better things continued in april and ive turned in a decent profit at the cash tables after plugging the leaks and generally playing better, with more logic and composure, and less desperation

figures

APRIL

CASH PLAY $28624

hands played 82671

loyalty bonuses $1500

weekly hours 46

mtt results -$1600

total profits +$28524

I won a WSOP main event seat last week in a freeroll on my site, that had only 4 players in it!!!!
serious, centrebet poker has tons of value at the moment, as they try to grow their client base. if anyones interested, drop me a line and i can hook you up a good deal. i mean 4 players, and a free seat. jesus!
This is my first ever wsop, and obvously very excited about it all

this is how my year cash graph is shaping up

and this is my 12 month graph which visually depicts why ive been whinging better than any words can

update on my year goals

weight loss - slow progress but progress nonetheless. Currently im at 13st10 pounds, from 14/2. i want to be 13 by year end

hand target of 1 million. which equates to 83k hands a month. as you can see fromt he graph im at 330k after exactly 4 months which is 82500. so im bang on the money here

omaha - play 1 day a week. im doing this at .5/1 heads up, not 1 day a week but a couple sessin a month and slowly picking things up

heads up play. plan was to learn this and its took some time to get to grips with. ive purposely been playing the regs rather than bumhunt , and ive lost.............

but i won last month

and i like it. and im getting better at it i think. i never expected to win at hu at the start, but im pleased with the progress and hopefully next month with exercising game selection ill post another win

Shares - im in gold silver, and im about the short the markets if they rally a little more. total portfolio down 7% atm, but this includes dealer charges and bid spreads. 90% my positions are in precious metals and these are for the mid to long term

car -

long story here, and its a pain in the arse tbh, but its coming along, just need some wheels and interior trim now. heres a peak

All in all things are pretty damn good atm

hurricane swings - feb round up

2009-03-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

A great time was had by all skiing in obertauern, Austria. Fantastic place, great sport, good crack. This is my first attempt at video editing. Pretty chuffed with it, something for us all to keep and remember. its just missing a bit of kajagoogoo soundtrack in the background

Poker.

month end result

profit - $13900

hands played - 66000

loyalty bonuses - $2600

weekly hours 29

Total profits- $16500

( figures need sunday mtt results subtracting. 0 cashes, circa 4k down 09 so far)

Things move fast in poker. very fast. It reminds me of my previous existence, running nightclubs and bars, where one minute your king of the world, then when a new club opens and decimates your revenue and profits overnight, your the worst manager in the world, and you got a head office wheasel invertebrate "yes man" on a secret customer visit, reporting back to head office that the reason your business has dropped from 50k a week to 9k is because your ashtrays are cracked. ( Darren lea and Graham peel spring to mind ) Of course it had nothing to do with the 3 million quid oceana nightclub that opened nextdoor.

All in all, a good month, stressfull, but a good month. After a mammoth 120k hands in jan, february was always going to be less volume. The month kicked off with some graph meandering, dipping in negative territory several times, followed by a huge bull run from 0-24k, then crashing down to earth with a 10k downswing. i think im playing well at the moment but for some reason i cant enjoy a steady month, its a horrible rollercoaster every month and im not enjoying the pressure one bit. Pokers certainly the most mentally stressful thing i have ever done. The heaters and coolers are coming at me enforce, all at once. Im not going to moan at posting a good profit though, but its become a job now, i dont enjoy playing anymore, and ill do anything other than play, the stress is so high. Im winning and losing 4-5k per day and im constantly fearful of dropping another 30k like december. One day i cannot do anything wrong, next day im running jack high flushes into queen high, set over set and so on

Share trades

"If you don't trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a pine tree, worth $4,000-$5,000, cutting it up, turning it into pulp, putting some ink on it and then calling it one billion dollars?"

I got my money back last week, and liquidated all my positions. Including dealing costs, im 4% down in total and a little wiser. The main reason i cashed in was to invest in the yellow stuff as there is a market correction going on at the moment that ive been waiting for. With goverments hellbent on printing off trillions to bail out financial institutions, ive made a very big decision to switch my portfolio to gold. At the moment its at $940 and taking a breather after hitting $1000 a couple of weeks ago. My entry point is $925 . This is more about repositioning where my money is than making short term trades. most of the deals will be insitu for 3-5 five years i think

A great time was had by all skiing in obertauern, Austria. Fantastic place, great sport, good crack. this is my first attempt at video editing

And finally, centrebet have very kindly donated a return trip to Austria in 4 weeks, sponsoring me to play the euro city poker cup in salzburg, a grand total of a 5k package, starting 5th of April. This will be my first mtt of the year and very looking forward to having another pop at skiing

http://eurocitypokertour.com/

Staking ( + bonus whoring )

The staking project is going along very nicely. The plan is to stake a friend of mine, jase"the nut peddler" kelly 1k. He plays exclusively full ring at .5/1 on a site that gets $600 bonus startup. When the bonus is realised, we cash out and move to another site. We started on full tilt, and so far, 6 tabling, the bonus gets released at a rate of 10 bucks an hour. So if we break even we get £3.50 an hour pay and play wages. So far hes doubled his roll to 2k in 4 weeks. Now we need to make a decision to start cashing out or increasing stakes.And we cant decide which way to go with it yet

JANUARY REVIEW

2009-01-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

First up , share deals.

Im not going to go into detail as to the reasons why i hold each share, as its boring and better explained elsewhere, but at the end of each month im going to post my share trades,and results. Im doing this to 100% guarantee im honest with myself about whether or not im making a profit.

At the moment, im not, im 5% down.

Now if i blogged this yesterday i would have been 16% adrift, but last monday i was 5% in profit. This is what im doing with my poker profits from last year, and ive been having a heart attack at various times this month as the portfolio swings 10k a day one way and the other. Longer term, ie at some point in 09 ill be investing positively into the market, but for the time being im bearish on everything

I have found it really exciting though, probably because it taps into the inner gambler thats in most poker players. 6 months ago i used to wake up and my first job was trawling the 2p2 forums, now im checking market movements and reading the financial times, which is probably a sign of getting old as much as is it getting giddy about share dealing

Even though im down 5% atm, i like my positions on all of the 4 options, or i would have sold them. However i have made a mistake in my entry point though, buying in at slightly the wrong times, which im going to concentrate on for my next trades.

Basically, ive bought 4 covered warrants. 10k on a copper put warrant that profits as the price of copper decreases. This is the most geared and most risky warrant i hold, it got hammered 22% last monday, but gained 20% on tuesday. I bought at 64p, the current price 65p, and my target to exit this is 90p.

The other 3 are all put warrants on the FTSE100 which again go up at (a different pace) as the ftse goes down. I bought in at the wrong price ( around 4100 ) . If i had better timing, i would be in at the 4300 mark.
i will sell all the ftse put options if the market hits 3700, which im relatively optimistic it will before the end of march. and i should show around a 10% return

My stop loss is -25% on everything, and if that happens, that will be the end of my short term trading experiment. The bottom line is ill get wiped out if the markets rally in the next couple months. This very well could turn out to be a story of money won 08 in poker then frittered away in 09 in the stock market, but we will see.

Poker

My set up in action now looks like this. At the minute, best practice is 3 screens from 3 sites as per image, although frigging hard to execute.

month end result

profit - $9695

hands played - 113099

loyalty bonuses - $7500

weekly hours 46

This is the most hands ive ever played in a month, and the largest loyalty bonuses. Crap winrate, but im really pleased to be in profit after last months debarcle. All in all i gotta be pleased. i think my winrate is going to be much much lower than last year as the games are much harder, so i gotta play more hands, simple as that.

At the moment im in prime position to win a seat in the euro city poker tour competition in Salzberg, which is a 5k prize including 5 nights in a 5 star hotel. poker and skiing a sexy combination. Barring a catastrophe, i reckon i got a realistic 75% chance of winning this.

http://ecpokertour.com/

http://www.hotel-alpine-palace.com/en/alpine-palace/the-luxury-hotel-in-saalbach/?PHPSESSID=895ca7b4e7da71c79840d7b488161ff0

The joiners arms in hunwick

Sunday night we were treated to the delights of hunwick, which was our destination for a piss up at the richmeisters boozer. A few pints in the newly refurbed and very impressive joiners arms followed by a ruby murray and a bit kareoke, with the highlight probably being the big man falling down 3 flights of stairs and ending up on his back like a stranded giggling turtle.

Props to sav who, adamant he didnt want a curry, and wasn't hungry in the slightest, managed to squeeze in a couple courses for the sake of being social

Next morning we where treated like royalty when we got sainsburys extra special sausages and goose eggs for brekky. Funnily enough richie couldn't remember his accident but when it got mentioned he was mysteriously in agony all over!

rock n roll baby. rock n roll

up and down like paris hiltons knickers - $0 after 50k hands

2009-01-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

I was pretty negative about teh pokers after my last post, the poker devil finally catching up with me and variance slapping me around the felt like randy the "ram" , a simily drawn from a terrific film i watched with teh bird at teh flicks last week, called the wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. definately one of my fav films in recent times.

Back to pokers and nothing much has changed. Ive battered the tables this month playing nearly 60k hands, which i need to do in order to hit my 1 million hands this year. And i have S0 profits, . However i do feel like ive turned the corner a little bit. It kinda feels like a victory after dropping 27k last month. my new goals are to make $5k this month which is in itself a really good wage. Ive dropped stakes to playing mainly 2/4 and splitting this volume between stars ftp and ipoker. I decided to do this so i could table select better and seek out some softer spots, but im finding it difficult. Playing 10 games at once and constantly table hopping is really intense, and although ive got 2x30 inch monitors to help. the left monitor has the action on it, the right the client lobby.

Its early days but im trying to swap the lowest vpip table for the highest one in the lobby, and do this every 5 minutes. Ive got a roll on 3 sites and figure its criminal not to try and use this to its fullest potential. My preferred site is ipoker, i like and know the players, we have good banter in the ipoker thread on 2p2, as its mainly brit dominated, i have a good relationship and loyalty deal with centrebet, but ultimately i feel im losing tons of value by staying there exclusively. I was chatting to a friend last night and he agreed that at 2/4 there are more fish quota per reg on stars and ftp then ipoker, and i have to agree.

The loyalty program is not as good on the american sites though, so ultimately i have to find the correct balance between loyalty bonuses and winrate. Is is better to play 10 tables on ipoker but 5 of those are reg on reg, or 3 tables on each sites, sacrificing loyalty bonuses and being a more technically difficult task to deliver. I dont know is the answer but time will tell i suppose

As for the escort project, the respray is finished and it looks the dogs tesicales, which has cost a straight 2k, and its been serviced. the plan is to have the original looks of the 1969 escort, but with some really nice alloys, and modern mechanics under the bonnet. the engine is a 1.8 zetec with twin twin webbers so its gives out a surprising grunt when its revvved up. im trying to strike the balance between it looking classy but slighly understated but with some poke under the bonnet. that means no furry dice and no snakes graphics on the paintwork. clean simple lines. The main problem now, is its been lowered to the point where i literally cant go over a bump in it without metal bashing onto road and im struggling to find a part to sort this out. The interior needs retrimming, and some nice alloys, but financially this cant happen unless i buck up at the tables, so its 60% finished but the project is shelved for the time being to be resumed when if he money comes back in. Cost wise, it stands me at 7k, and will probably end up around the 9k mark by the time im finished.

2009 musings

2009-01-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

despite having a great year in 08, i have always had a feeling thats things wont last. im not a particularly good player, im just your average joe grinder. as each week passes, more and more avarge grinders like myself join the tables, less and less idiots compliment them, and the tables become tougher. in the last 3 months ive sat at many tables where im the worst player there and have had to hop about to find better tables. obviously that cant continue.

playing poker professionally full time for my first year has way way surpassed my earnings expectations but i have to be honest and realistic. there will come a time for a player such as myself that i cant beat the game anymore. i had 100k online, december i lost 30k of that. if things dont turn around for me, and i keep losing at my current rate, ill be busto my march. 100k is enough to lose, and ill draw a line under it at that moment and walk away, content that ive not given back all last years profits. What i dont want to be is that person who loses all his profits because i didnt spot that fact im not good enough anymore

With that in mind, who knows what 09 will have in store. i have no idea if ill be blogging this time next year, or how long this temporary poker job will last, all i know is its a temporary contract for sure.

here are my goals for 2009

1 MILLION NL HANDS

5K HANDS A MONTH OF PLO

1 DAY PER WEEK OF HU

LOSE 1 STONE IN WEIGHT ( CURRENTLY 14 ST 2 POUNDS)

1 million hands is an increase from 600k this year. its very attainable considering i was only 4 tabling at the start af the year and now i have a professional set up. its a commitment to 35 hours a week. plo is my escape route, by the end of the year i want to be a competant player, and hu is an area i want to improve also, so a commitment there also. 1 stone in weight by the summer also.

TRIP REPORT - THE WORLD FAMOUS GIBBON CUP

2008-12-30T16:02:00.000-08:00

nice to see jase"the nut peddler" kelly cleaned his teeth + plucked nose hair for the event. well pruned for a change

goldeneye ponders his next move with a look that gives absolutely nothing at all away

um little bit worse for wear, no comment on this one

the peddler looking, um a little worse for wear as well. lol

this one is from david attenboroughs' archives. this creature is very rare, with only maybe 1 annual sighting per year in public places.

goldy with his trademark poker look

We thought it might be good idea to host this years gibbon poker cup at the epicentre of the community, the eagle. a good boozer, top landlord, grub at 2 4 6 quid, and a kareoke competition at night.

This is how we roll on teh flyde coast bitches. who needs monte carlo when you have anchorsholme

And it was pretty successful to be fair. record attendance at a staggering 36, we arrived at noon and left at midnight. Unfortunately, i cant really give a decisive account of the tournament, i other than the silver bear(cecil) knocked out someone when they both held AA and the obligatory runner runner flush came, and i can name 5 of the final tablists, yours truly, kimbotron, rick gilby, JK, banny, and jacko dealing, although im not sure if he made the money. such is life after a mega 9 hours of stella

If any gibbons want to fill in the gaps then go ahead. Anyways i won it. In the past ive donated bigtime and never cashed in one of these so it was nice to get my name in anchorsholme poker history. again it was a bit sketchy how it happened, but i managed to over come jase"the nut peddler" kellly in a mammoth 2 hands, 5 minute hu match.

here was the celebration

rest assured as the new gibbon king i will serve anchorsholme well over the next 12 months, and spend that 450 quid as quickly as possible

most important post of the year

2008-12-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

having hit a bad downswing at the end of the year, and feeling pretty down about poker in general, i thought it a good idea to publish my year end accounts, figuring it would cheer me up a bit, and help remind that i am actually a winning player afterall

so here they are

ive not decided my new year goals quite yet, but a repeat of this years profits would obviously be tremendous, but unlikely i think due to the changing nature of the games. i think to stay ahead of the curve i might have to deviate from 6 max at some point. 25k down in december and after a few days off ive decided not to play anymore 6 max poker until 09, i need a break, and a 50 buy in downswing sounds too much to blame it on just luck alone. If tableratings covered ipoker, im pretty sure i would be number 1 for biggest losing player of the month at 2/4 and 3/6. That said its been a great year. If i feel the urge to play again, then instead ill watch a few plo vids and make another effort to learn the game between now and new year.

The main reason i started blogging was to keep a permanent online record of my monthly winnings having lost a database earlier in the year. Thus i know exactly where i am, and to keep up my motivation. I am now in a very fortunate position to have some nice winnings behind me from 08, and have decided to share my investments on this blog as an addition to my poker exploits. So for 09, ill be posting monthly updates from this area also.

A lot poker think their skills transfer into share trading. Im not dellusional in this respect, and i know my limitations. Im also aware that by technically gambling with my winnings, and i gamble for a living, doesnt paint a pretty picture of me as a person, pretty degenerate to be fair. I just think that the stock markets are in very interesting times atm and some investment opportunities of a lifetime will rpesent themselves over the next 24 months.

ive taken he decision to reveal exactly what, where and how much im going to invest. So if i go busto, lose or make a fortune, it will be depicted in graphic gory detail here. I believe that the markets are due another tumble in 09, so my portfolio, which ive invested in throughout december is bearish. ie if the markets fall, my porfolio increases, if they go up, my portfolio decreases. Ive have also invested against the £( in a put warrant) versus the euro.

my investments have been in situ for approx 4 weeks. here they are

So at present its a decent start, from 50k invested, its worth 52k, in 4 weeks, the selling of the pound where the most of the profits have come from.

hello 40 buy in downswing

2008-12-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

well what a depressing end to an exciting year. just when i thought id avoided a really bad run all year, variance finally catches up with me in the worst possible form. its altering my mental state to such a degree that think i need a break. the downswing is 28k and 40 buy ins. which i didnt actually think was possible

if im being honest , i think i have contributed maybe 5-10k of this amount through tilting. its hard not to. im actually showing a loss with all premium hands on my db with the exception of AA in which ive been dealt 34 times and im 124 dollars up with it. so if u cant win with these, then u cant win full stop. it feels like everytime i got kings, someone else got ace. im running ak into aa and kk constantly. my sets are losing. my flushes run into higher flushes and boats, and so on.

its pretty soul destroying and has taken the shine off a good year. i cant decide whether to try and play through it, or take the rest of the year off and hit it hard in the new year with a fresh start. i kinda feel that if i play on then im asking for trouble.

centrebet -6k december

2008-12-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

If anyone is looking to switch skins on the ipoker network, or just wants to play poker, i can totally recommend centrebet. its a great site, well run, with lots of great promos and loyalty benefits.

they just sent me some gear to wear at live events.........

eradicating mistakes and constantly improving

2008-12-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

from the master

new kit

2008-12-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

3500 pounds sterling

inspired by a thread on 2p2, it was time i re invested some profits. 2x30 inch bad boys and a dino pc high spec tower. quite excited in the nerdiest possible way to getting this kit installed in the office. if it means i can effectively play just 1 more table and misclick once less per month it means it will pay for its self in 4 weeks

ballin

november review +24k

2008-12-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Strange month for cash poker. A right struggle all month ended with a little rush for the last week of november whilst playing from a hotel room at the hilton in london.

Played the gukpt final, and went out standard gukpt stylin. then proceeded to donk off 3k playing live cash, by basically getting too impatient. ive decided not to play anymore live cash poker as i stink at it. I just find it impossible to effectively switch from playing 70x more hands to 1. it feels like the speed limit has been dropped to 1 mile per hour. i find myself looking around the room for things to occupy my head. as a result i end up having a few drinks, eating a lot, and playing too many hands. so from now on im sticking to what i know and where my edge is. and it isnt in live cash poker. trip cost a painful 7k total

on a brighter note, pablos the pablinator took down the gukpt final, grats man, couldnt happen to a nicer or more deserving bloke. nice to see one of the boys nail down one of these top prizes

ive also been upgrading my equipment this week, and this should be up and running within a week or so. slight techy problem preventing the switch, but the kit looks a bit like this atm

ive decided to experiment playing hu this month, as i feel the need to diversify from 6 max. not having all my eggs in one basket etc. updates to follow