88%concentration

BREAK

2008-12-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

it's been very difficult to make a meaningful post over the last few months simply because i haven't got a 5 figure bankroll for so so long, probably the last time was the may30th post which lasted almost an hour. i still play 2-5 times a week but it's been 12 months since my last good upswing (70k highpoint) so i'm going to give the blog a break. it's been poor for ages so i won't post for a few months minimum, maybe never again. i'll leave the blog up for the meantime at least. cheers for all the comments i've had - i won't bother with an end of year review

NO PROGRESS

2008-11-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

several wins and losses over £1k since last post, but lost £2300 last 2 days back down to £200.

WASTED TIME

2008-10-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

after making £1600 and £2300 on sat and sun respectively, i lost £1100 and £3300 over the last 2 days. bankroll £1k. not many big pots, i lost one today when i bet $2k on the river into a $1400 with 3rd pair.

2 DAYS PLAY

2008-10-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

made £1400 wednesday, mainly in one big pot pre, KK v AK v QQ, with the board bricking out for a $3200 pot. yesterday i lost £1k though, making a pot sized call with 2nd or 3rd pair against tptk for most of the money. i won't be playing much over the next few days so next update in about a week

NO GOOD

2008-10-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

i deposited £200 in 5 diff sites and made £80 and £120 in the first 2 days i played (multi tabling 9 and 10 seaters) before losing just over £500 today on 6 seater $2/$4. taking out £100 for personal expenses which means the roll is down to around £1100.

STILL STRUGGLING/NO CHANGE

2008-10-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

got my bankroll upto just over £4k yesterday (the highest in months). but lost £2640 today on $5/$10 and $10/$20. bankroll is now £1500.

i've played about half the days since my previous post and been unable to get anything going.

when i made my last post i didn't intend to leave it so long (sorry for that) and i can't guarantee how often i'll post now but i'll try update once or twice a week minimum.

BROKE

2008-05-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

turned the £500 into £6750 last night, and got up to £15k-18k tonight during the peak of my final session today. then i lost it all within the next 45mins.

CONTINUED LOSSES

2008-05-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

deposited several thousand £ more in the last couple of weeks and lost every day i played or if i won one day i lost all that and more the next. don't think i've had a winning day on 25/50 or above for many weeks. £500 left now.

NOT A GOOD DAY

2008-05-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

managed to turn my £10,100 roll into £1500 today. lost £1500 in the day and then a further £7100 tonight. i played $25/$50 only and against good players. i managed to get 99 v QQ aip and win that for a $7k+ pot, but lost a $15k pot aip QQ v AA. i'm very disappointed in the latter one, it was pretty obvious my hand was beat. the betting went $175 him, $550 me then about $2010 him and i put him all in. may not post for a few days now.

A WIN

2008-05-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

made £100 sunday didn't play monday tuesday and made just over £4k today to bring my roll to £10.1k. i played $10/$20 betfair and £10/£20 littlewoods. i had to lose 3 x $1k buyins on bf before rebuying again for $500 and getting a stack of just under $5k. i was in for a few min buyins on crypto before getting a stack of £5k there. i got very lucky to start with, winning a £1100 pot aip with A8 v AK, and a £2500 pot with 8j v 69 on a 4589 board, after calling an oversized bet on the turn all in. i kept receiving good cards and finally had a 4 figure win for the first time in over 3 weeks.

BREAK

2008-05-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

didn't play for a week, due to internet problems and lack of interest, mostly at having to drop down to $10/$20 and £5/£10. i played thursday though and made £300, but lost £1500 yesterday. £400 rakeback means my roll is £5.9k.

DROPPING DOWN

2008-04-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

lost another $6000 at $25/$50 today. one stupid mistake where i raised his bet on the river when he held the nuts for a $15k pot and another where i was all in preflop for a $4300ish pot with k6o v 88. tomorrow i will be playing $10/$20 and £5/£10 since i'm dropping so much money.

$25/$50 and £5/£10 hu

2008-04-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

another unsuccessful day, losing £2k on betfair $25/$50 and £1500 hu v joeylove on £5/£10. i only have £9800 left now.

CONTINUES

2008-04-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

i lost £4k thursday night with 4 x £1000 buyins on £25/£50. friday and tonight there were no tables that i fancied but i only looked a couple of times. i couldn't be bothered to grind a little lower. i'll see how i feel tomorrow but i do expect to play a bit.

VERY FRUSTRATING

2008-04-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

£5800 up on crypto, but lost my entire betfair roll of £8100 in minimum buyins on $25/$50. played some poor hands but not sure how i lost so much. i'm only £2300 down for the day but a £8100 downswing is very big for my bankroll (£17,300).

COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

2008-04-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

i started playing with 2 buyins of $1500 at $25/$50 betfair. i lost both and lost another $k or so on $10/$20 there. luckily i had a good run on one table of £10/£20 crypto, turning £800 into £8k before dropping back a bit, in particular when i lost a £4741 pot all in on the turn with 6s7s v JdJs on a 9d 8s Qs 6h board. i got out soon after but not before losing a £1500 pot. between the two sites i finished up £1600.

GOOD TWO DAYS

2008-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

didn't play saturday but won £2200 sunday night and £5k tonight. mostly on £5/£10 and $10/$20 ( a very small amount of $25/$50 also). i've got my roll upto £18k (doubling my starting roll). it's taken me 12 days (10 days of playing). i still intend to play £5/£10 & $10/$20, and will only play $25/$50 or £10/£20 on weak tables. with my current rules i'm allowed 3 shots at littlewoods $25/$50 and 2 at betfair $25/$50, so i could easily be back on $10/$20 only if tomorrow goes badly.

£50

2008-04-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

£50 more added to the roll. i played for ages today, and played alot of tables, at one point i was down around £3000, and at peak 2 hours later i was up about £800, but finished after a good 5 or 6 hours playing today, £50 up. i managed to get to $10k on a $10/$20 6 seater before losing a $2900 pot right at the end with a stupid overbet on the end with nothing. something like $1200 into $530. he insta-called with top pair. i got out soon after that.

yesterday i won £2100. i was down or even for a long time and then had some very positive variance near the end. A9 v 1010 aip on £5/£10 for a £2k pot. and 3 or 4 50/50s (preflop and on the flop) that i won. it could have been more but i lost a £3400 pot late on with 66 v KK all in on a 36J (i think) flop, a K hitting the river. i did the same to him earlier though and one other person so it was probably deserved =(.

the roll is £10.6k. i'm going to double or bust soon though, i'm playing too loose and putting alot of hours in so it's inevitable.

FAILING AT THE MID LEVELS

2008-04-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

lost £2200 today at $10/$20 betfair. i'm burning through minimum buyins but i still think min-buying is an ok approach. i played about 30mins of crypto and made £10. roll down to £8400.

A MINUS DAY

2008-04-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

i've undone alot of this weeks running good with a £4700 loss today. i lost 2 minimum buyins at betfair $25/$50 ($1500 x 2) and played a very small amount at £10/£20 but the vast majority i lost on £5/£10 and $10/$20. i was about £450 up at the end of the afternoon. later on i lost £500 straight away at £5/£10 but managed to build my stack to get in the green by £500 on that table as well as doing ok on another. then i lost a £3k pot with a lower flush and was only £150 up. from there it went down and i finished the session down £2800 (-£2350 for the day). i had one more session after midnight. playing 2 tables hu on £5/£10 and $10/$20 vs joeylove. i minimum bought 11 or 12 times between the two tables, and lost it all, in about 20-30minutes. i was probably wrong to play hu against him, as there is little or no value in playing him and the variance hu is too risky for my current roll. i'll be playing only $10/$20 betfair tomorrow and £2/£5 mostly on crypto, unless i have an excellent session and may then move up.

4 DAYS OF POKER

2008-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

i'm still yet to sell the house but hoping for something soon. i have released some equity though and managed to pay off my debts and have £9k available for bankroll. 4 into littlewoods and 5 into betfair (more there because of sports betting). i've played about 12-15 hours in the last 4 days, 80% of the time on $10/$20 and a little on £2/£5 and £5/£10. the first day i lost £1700 but i've still managed to get my roll to £15,300 (rolls combined). the last couple of days i've ran very well- getting it all in pre with A2o v AA for $2600 at $10/$20 with the river bringing me trip 2s. i got lucky against the same player again today, making a stupid check raise with 3rd pair and a flush draw on the turn. he had kings but i made my flush. that pot was about $4k. i'll hopefully be moving upto $25/$50 soon. i've written some detailed rules covering most things. let's hope my desire to play on when im way down or play above the limits i'm allowed to has ceased, and maybe with an above average run of cards i can have a good streak.

PLAYING SOON

2008-04-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

i've played about 7 sessions since the last post mostly at low levels without success. i did try to get to monte carlo and reached £2900 before blowing £2600 of it in very quick time and the other £300 the next day. i'm hoping to get back in the game again very soon at the £5/£10 and $10/$20 limits. i'll post more in my next update.

BUST

2008-03-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

lost the £300 rakeback plus a few hundred more that i'd withdrawn before going broke. don't expect any more posts for a few days.

-£5000

2008-03-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

just busted 5 shots of £1k at £25/£50. after 30mins i was losing and just wanted to get even, get out and play lower. i didn't get back to even though and lost nearly all of my roll - still got the £200 plus £96 rakeback.

STARTED WELL, BUT ENDED VERY BADLY

2008-03-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

played $25/$50 only today. started with just the 1 table but after a few hours i had 4 tables on the go. i was up about $14k very early on, getting dealt some excellent cards but then i ran QQ into AA and AA into 1010 on a 10 high board pretty much at the same time over 2 tables and that cost me about $8500. i went up and down quite alot, most of the time i was up for the first 2/3 hours but after that i lost several $10k (or in that region) pots and started to drop money all over the place. i finished down around $24k. my bankroll is now just £5.2k. the hand history is far too awkward to go through to find all the good hands but there weren't any huge pots anyway. i think the biggest was $16k when i pushed all in on the turn with J10c v AA on a xxAcKc board. he called and i missed.

UP A LITTLE

2008-03-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

played 2 tables of £10/£20 in the afternoon and won £9k. later on i bust my betfair roll, very softly (just under £4k). i had one more session later on which started with two tables of £25/£50. i bought in for £1k 4 times and then £1700. i finished the table £20 up after playing for a couple of hours probably. from there i moved to $25/$50 and played for hours staying around even/$1k up. at about 6am i opened up a £10/£20 table as well. i won a small amount there and on the $25/$50 to finish the day with a bankroll of £17.4k.

ZERO DISCIPLINE =(

2008-03-01T00:54:00.000-08:00

i tried playing 2/5£ and $5/$10 tonight (the night of the 29th) but there were no big fish about, so i played a little £5/£10 and that was still fairly competitive so after a couple hours watching i joined £25/£50 with my crypto roll at £4k. i bought in for £1k and busted that fairly softly. then i bought in for another £1k. the table went to 3 handed. i was on the bb when the button raised to £150 or £175. the sb re-raised to about £600 and i pushed for £2100/£2200. the button passed. the sb called quickly with JQ, which was way ahead of my 95o. i floppped a pair and won the pot. soon after i re-re-raised all in with 66 and got called by AQ, flopping a 6 for a £9k pot. i got upto £12,5k before busting that over several medium sized pots. very disappointing but i should have lost with the 95 and none of that would have happened anyway. i had £2k left and put that into a different £25/£50 going. i managed to get to £3k, when i picked up AQo. i raised from the button and the bb called. the flop was Jc10cXx. he checked i bet £200 and he made it £750 after a little delay. i should pass here but i called, maybe the prospect of hitting a gutshot was good enough. the turn was of course the K giving me the nuts. he bet £1300 i pushed for £700 more and he called with KJ. river was safe and i got upto £6k. i finished that table on £7k. i played a little after that on $25/$50 and £10/£20 but only made a small profit. i played 15-30mins on betfair today and that was only on $5/$10. i made £60 there. my combined bankroll is £11,600, which is pleasing as a stat but today was the first time i went over £2/£5 (or $5/$10) and now means my bankroll is at risk to all go in one day since i'm not going to be able to drop levels.

LITTLE CHANGE

2008-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

the first 3 and a half weeks since my last post i played very little, i had a few hundred £ in the bank primarily to pay bills but hardly used any of that for poker. i did enter a $62 1 table sat and won that to reach the tournament which i made a low cash on ($989). i got upto $2497, withdrew the $497 and bust the $2k with 2 min-buyins at $25/$50. last sunday i played the betfair $100k and stars million totalling about $1080 in tournament costs. i didn't cash in either. that left me with less than £200 in my bank and £0 in any poker accounts as well as feeling quite depressed. thankfully (i had to ask) i got lent £5k more. that was wednesday i think. i put half in betfair and half in littlewoods and made some rules. i broke the rules thursday but thankfully no damage done. i lost wednesday but won thurs and friday and my bankroll is now at £7.2k (combined).

thankyou very much for all the comments in the last post. alot of mixed views but some excellent comments from a few in particular. i'm still going to sell my house. it's not my ideal house anyway so i won't miss it much or at all. the main arguement for not selling my house is because there is a big danger i will lose all the money i generate from the sale. not selling the house wouldn't cure my brm problem anyway. when i sell the house i will have much stricter rules. reading through the comments there are a few ideas, i may well look into the possibility of these. i may have someone who i can call at any time. stop losses will definitely be put in place, and if i want to be extra safe have someone else hold my money and transfer me a specific amount each day (or just on losing days), regular withdrawals and i may include penalties to stop me breaking the rules (i.e. as deterrents), for example breaking the rules could mean a large donation to something i'm not particularly keen on giving to. again, all ideas are welcome on how to keep my bankroll and employ good brm (with the house money). with my current bankroll i don't expect to achieve much too fast with it, hopefully keep things ticking over until the house is sold.

IN BAD SHAPE

2008-01-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

put £5k more of borrowed money in on wednesday afternoon and made £12k (£8k of it on $250/$500). went on in the evening and bust it all (the profit, not the £5k). i put £10k more in of borrowed money but didn't play any more that night.

today i played a few rounds of $25/$50 and a couple of hours of $50/$100 and $100/$200. i was up a few $k at one point but was down to my last $11k or so a couple of hours later on $100/$200. i doubled up soon after with kings againsts queens to get to $33k ($3k in the profit) but bust it all except $1200 very soon after when i called an all in on the turn drawing dead for a $62k pot.

bar my final £600 i've bust everything i've been lent.... so i've decided to sell the house. it's something that's been on my mind for awhile. whenever i'm broke it always seems stupid having money invested in the house but having nothing to play with. obviously it's a big decision for me but i'm pretty sure. it's gonna take several weeks probably to sell so i'm going to be skint for awhile but when i do finally get the money i think i will be able to hold on to it this time. although i'm not sure my confidence is justified.

DEPRESSED

2008-01-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

put £10k borrowed money back in and spun it upto £44k on $100/$200 in the morning/afternoon. withdrew the £10k leaving my £34k bankroll. in the evening i played $250/$500 and lost it all. lots of small pots where i was behind, 35/65ish, and then a $60k pot to finish when i pushed with A10 v AQ on a QJ8 board and missed wide. after doing (running) so well this morning i feel very deflated about this latest loss. i can't hold a roll at all. as soon as i have some money i seem to lose any game selection or if i go on a soft table and it gets harder i still don't leave till i'm even.

2 SESSIONS AT BETFAIR

2008-01-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

put the £5k into betfair. played $100/$200 and got upto $43k. played $250/$500 later and bust it. made 2 very bad moves on 250/500$. the first one i made a check raise bluff all in for $19,8k. that was a $44k pot i lost. so upto the river i'd only committed $1750 (3 players to the flop, turn, river). the second one. utg raised to $1750, i called on the button with QJo. flop was 1087. he bet $4k and i pushed for $13k-$14k. he called quickly with QQ and i missed. i also won a lucky pot early on, 55 v Q10 on a Q32 board when the turn and river came A, 4.

ALOT OF HIGH STAKES ACTION

2008-01-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

i've put in alot of hours over the last couple of days mostly at $100/$200 but also 3 very short sessions at $250/$500. the £5400 i had left in betfair went down to less than $2k and i was all in with a gutshot and over on the flop and hit. from there i built up to $53k on $100/$200. i gave back $20k-$25k on 250/500$ later though. next day i got upto like $50k/$60k and took out the money i needed to repay the loan (although i'm yet to pay back). today started good on $100/$200, making $20k quickly but finishing the session only $4k up. later on i play $100/$200 again and made a quick $10k on $250/$500 also. i reached $33k stack on $100/$200 with another $37k behind but lost all of it except for $13k. i rebought again for $5.5k (i.e. another $7.5k behind) and built upto $30k-$32k but lost it all in one hand, AKd v QQ all in on a 8 or 9 high flop. i put my final roll in and doubled early on AQd v JJ. i reached $25k, dropped back to $22k and then pushed all in against top 2 on the flop but missed my draw. that was the end of my betfair roll. i've got another £5k outside of poker sites which i'll prob put back in. i'll prob pay back the loan. i'm playing far too riskily at the moment to gamble that.

POKER & SPORTS BETTING

2008-01-25T07:28:00.000-08:00

lost £3k on poker tues and wed morn, but won £1k back on wed night plus another £k thurs morning. today i bet all my sports betting roll (£1700) and a little of my betfair poker roll on djokovic to win half way through the third set. that won me about £1180. i'm currently £1000 down on poker though. i've joined my sports betting and poker roll. it's currently at £5400

DOWN, FAST

2008-01-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

i've borrowed £15k and left £1k of that aside for mortgages/bills, £1k for sports betting and the other £13k across 4 different sites. i bust 3 of those sites today and lost $75 in the 4th site, leaving after one round of $25/$50. i'm so disappointed in myself and concerned also. i still have the one site remaining though and will play a whole lot better i'm sure.

i didn't break any rules i set for myself for today i just ran through so many buyins playing so carelessly.

BUST

2008-01-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

put my roll into 6 different sites and gradually lost in all of them, maybe getting as high as £4k after a session (total roll). finally lost the last of my money today playing $10/$20 and then $25/$50. i was on £1600 at start of the day. down to £950 after 1st session. 2nd session i had 2 tables going and got up to about $7300/$7400 combined. then i made a huge call with AK on a 43223 board for $2500 into $1200. it was wrong of course. i put the rest of my money into $25/$50 and busted after 4/5 hands with 7 high v AAA for a $6700 pot.

BUST IN A BIT?

2008-01-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

played about 4 sessions since last post, 2 of them were near equal but other 2 i lost £18k on betfair $100/$200 (incuding a $60k pot, where i overplayed my set against a made flush) and $10k just now on crypto $25/$50.

£2500 left.

END OF YEAR REVIEW/START OF YEAR PREVIEW

2007-12-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

firstly, tonight's proceedings- there was a $100/$200 game running that looked fairly loose so i decided i was going to gamble my final £2900 there. i put $4k in and was all in, in the bb with A4o v A8o and rivered the 4 to survive. i lost a couple of small pots to go down to $2800. then trebled up with 88 v AK (other players folded after raising or calling a raise). i'm upto 8k$ and then double again soon after to $17k, getting it all in pre with 10s against 6s. i stay on $17k and about 20 hands later, i get 75c. utg raises to $700 and i call behind. 3 more call as well so 5 to the flop, which is, Ak3 all clubs. first 2 players check, then sinceroo bets $3500, i call behind, pass, pass, back to flavorflav who pushes for $39k, sincero calls all in for $22,4k more and i call for a further $12,800. the turn brings the 4h and the river 5s, giving sinceroo the $19k sidepot and me the $52,5k main pot. i peak at $61k before getting disconnected from betfair. i restarted the comp but i get kicked off by waiting list, so i go on waiting list and get back on 30-60mins later, put $20k in $100/$200 and $10k in $50/$100. i bust off the $20k once and $16k more on there but make $14k on $50/$100 to finish for the whole day up £17,500.

very unlikely i play tomorrow so i should finish the year with a roll of £25,500.

my bankroll is £4k more than it was this time last year which is not amazing ;) but i have paid for just over 50% of my house and living costs. i failed to make my £500k for the year target but that's not important.

the biggest pot i won was vs. holein2 for £54,803 (trips against overpair)
the biggest pot i lost was also against holein2 in the same session. that was £82,564 (lower flush)
my biggest winning day was £70,400 against bloeffer.
my biggest losing day was in that session against holein2, where i lost £83,447.50.
my peak money is £235k.

this year i want to win a £100k pot at some time as well as make more than i did this year (£155k or thereabouts). as to how i'm going to keep hold of my £25,500 i'm not sure. i'll think about that tomorrow.

gl to all in '08

NEAR BROKE ONCE MORE

2007-12-29T21:34:00.000-08:00

lost £5,500-£6k vs gulkines last night or night before then lost another £17k-£19k tonight nearly all to gulkines again. i've broke my crypto roll but may re-deposit. i've got £5k in bank which i count as my roll and £2900 in betfair. so £7900 roll effectively and about a £k behind to cover mortgage and bills for next week or two.

i'm glad it's the end of the year now and i am still above the line. hopefully i can find some confidence and concentration from somewhere and have a run in jan '08. 50/50 i play one more sesh before new year.

SLIGHT DOWN

2007-12-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

i lost £5k a few days agothen made £4k back today some at $25/$50 and a min buy-in at £40/£80. i was £10k up but i lost a £12k pot when i check called three times with a very medium hand. i left straight after that hand, which is good in a way, stopped me tilting some more off. i didn't intend to play 40/80£ but it was the only table going and i thought there was a little value. on the £5k losing day i misplayed one hand very badly, losing nearly a full buyin at $25/$50 (9800$ pot) when i called a re-raise then a bet on the flop and an all-on the turn holding 43 with just a pair of 4s and no draw (he had aces).

bankroll £31k

LOST £40,000 IN UNDER 100MINS

2007-12-16T19:26:00.000-08:00

i got up to £72k, with 2 good sessions and one small loss but i've just come off the tables with a £40k loss to make the roll £32,000 (playing £25/£50 and £20/£40)

it's very deflating since i'd been making good progress.

my alias on crypto is '_Goku_' for any viewers interested. i've taken £8k out of goku acc. though and will depo on betfair, prob under name 'Supagrass'.

i won't post hh today, maybe in the next sesh.

not sure what my plans are now to get back on track, will think about that tonight/tomorrow.

i've paid off debts also.

DOUBLED MY ROLL

2007-12-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

made £45k mark but i'm still yet to pay off all my debts. i've not played many sessions since last post. 3 or 4 perhaps, losing 1 and winning the other 2/3. i won't be buying a pool table unfortunately as i don't have a big enough room and i'm yet to get a car.

i'm unable to give hh (in response to last post's comments) incase my opponents recognise it and then i may get less credit and make fewer successful bluffs.

FINALLY IN THE GREEN

2007-11-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

my debts are currently at just under £13K, but i at last have that covered with £20k to spare as well but i'm likely to spend a few £k of that soon on a car and possibly a pool table. i can't give hand histories as i don't want to give away my alias just yet. i'm not playing with better brm and still playing as loose, if not looser, as i usually do. the only thing thats changed since the past few months is that i'm playing marginally better, for whatever reason. it's unlikely i'll be posting every day while my alias is anon (as far as i know) but i will return to daily posting when my alias becomes known.

DEBTS

2007-11-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

I've borrowed a few £k more and currently owe just over £12,5k. i've got a roll of £1700 and £500 free for bills. i was doing ok but lost £8k saturday night. i had a break for maybe a week after the last post but have played quite a bit since (by my standards) without getting anywhere.

-£100

2007-10-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

lost £100 more yesterday, don't see things changing much at the moment. just to let you guys know, i probably won't bother posting for a couple of weeks. lost alot of motivation and feeling fairly depressed. i might play a bit but its gonna be a dull post (low levels and what not) so i'll update when i break even (or maybe get close to that), or if i decide to make a financial decision like selling the house or getting a decent loan.

with regards to the stake offer in the previous comments i'm going to decline as i wouldn't feel comfortable losing someone's money who i didn't know. thanks very much for the offer though.

EMPTY

2007-10-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

lost the £480 in the last 2 hours on $2/$5. some bad calls and bad folds, not tilt just lack of ability. not sure where from here.

THINGS NOT GOING TO PLAN

2007-10-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

yesterday, after posting, i had a bad cash session and had all my money at one point on a table, £22 on £2/£5. i hit a good run of cards then for the next 30-60mins and finished on £420, halving my roll but ultimately surviving losing everything. today i started well and quickly went £300 up, winning a 45%-er for £400. but then i made one bluff too far and went down to £110, on £2/£5 again. i got up to £330, down to £150 and finished on £480. i'm playing bad atm, but not terribly, as is so often the case these days. the result of today's play is a profit of £60.

LARGELY UNEVENTFUL

2007-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

continuing the trend of previous posts... i busted off that $150 either that night or the next one. i deposited £25 more and lost that over 2 days and then stopped until this monday when i withdrew the £200 i've earned from the banner on my blog and put £100 of it in a different account. i made £28 that night but lost £107 the next night. i had £21 left on wednesday and lost that quickly so deposited another £100. i was playing a load of multis the 2 days before and that day also and things started badly as well that day. i went down to about £18 but was still in a couple of multis ($10 to £20 ones) and managed to win one for $600 as well as 3rd in another $320ish after entering a couple more with the 1st tourneys winnings. i finished the day on £418. today i won just under £400 in cash on $2/$5. i ran pretty good though, getting my hand in with small draws/overcards and winning.

so my roll is £800 and i need to get to £6600 to pay off debts/mortgage by the end of the month. plus another £600ish for food/bills/going out money. so lots of work to be done.

i almost made a plan/-set of rules- to get to the target but i'd only break it.

anyway £800 to £7200 in just over 2 weeks

LOWEST POINT YET

2007-09-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

emptied out the other account on £10/£20 just now, playing incredibly recklessly. as soon as i lost the money i realised how stupid it was and just thought now that i'm relying on being lent more money to be able to play. i still have $150 in stars, i'll bust that off real soon probably, but i'm going to try and spin it up into $2600 for sundays tourney. it's possible i may not play for a bit now.

GAMBLED

2007-09-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

lost the £5700 on $25/$50 and £10/£20 with some real bad calls and general bad play. i lost a $9400ish pot when i raised the button to $150, the bb made it $550 and i made it $1400 or thereabouts he pushed all in, another $3300 to me. i didn't like it much but maybe he has AK. he had 1010 and it held. i lost another all in for about a $6800 pot, all in pre with 66 v 1010. i sucked out for a $3k pot with QJ v AA on a KQx board. that was on the $25/$50 table. on the £10/£20 table i won a pot with 89 v 99 on a J10x board for about £1500. 10 minutes later i lost the last of my money in a £3200 pot, re-raising it in the sb with J7 and being called. the flop was 109x and i pushed for £1400 into £387, he made a good read and called with K9. the turn was a K giving me 8 outs but the river missed and thus concludes my charlatan account for the time being.

i have £1k left in my other account but probably best if i wait until tomorrow until i play that.

LOSE A BIT, WIN A BIT BACK

2007-09-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

with the £2k left i lost £300 of it on pokerstars. i withdrew a couple of hundred for personal expenses and put another £100 of it today into pokerstars which i turned into about £170. i borrowed £500 more to cover bills (that £500 won't be my roll) my final £1400 i put £400 into Charlatan account and the other £1k into a different account. i lost like £20 in 2 very short sessions in 2 days where the table fish left just as i was sitting in both occasions, i didn't fancy any of the other games so that's all i played for those days. the next day i put the $750/$760 onto a $5/$10 get upto about $3800 at peak before cashing out at $3200/$3300. that was yesteday. tonight i used the £1652 to buy into £40/£80. i got upto about £4500 before dropping back below the £1600 mark and once again getting to about £2800 before going below my buyin mark again. the cards were still going with me though and i managed to climb back upto £5700 and cashed out there. i got my money in early on in the session with the worst of it but otherwise i just hit some nice flops rather than outdraw constantly. no great hands. one i played ridiculously badly where i called 2 pair on the flop, checked behind on the turn and let him hit a straight on the river and then called off a big bet for a £4100 pot. anyway, i run good.

i'm going to gamble the £5700 probably, ideally at $25/$50 but £40/£80 if its running.

£1K GONE

2007-09-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

deposited £1k into crypto, played £5/£10, lost £300, put £700 more in and got upto £2100 before losing it all. played real loose and bad.

CANT GO 20 MINUTES WITHOUT MAKING A CRAP DECISION

2007-09-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

i've just reduced my stars roll to $184. i failed to cash in several multis and just scraped in the cash for my 2 cheapest tourneys so tried to make it back in sngs playing in $119, $335 & 2 x $555 turbo 6 or 9 seaters. i cashed in none. awwwwwwwesome. cash session tomorrow i think with the £3k.

GOING DEEPER

2007-09-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

managed to win a few hundred £ on stars in multis and sngs over the last 3 days. and now have a £k roll there. good news is that i've been lent £3k more, but this time i have to pay back £3500 by the start of next month and £100 extra for every week after that. it looks very unlikely i'll go to london ept even if i go on a killing spree in the next few days. most likely my next live event will be dublin ept, but of course, results dependent.

i'm not sure yet what limits i'm going to play, with the £3k. it'l be somewhere between $5/$10 and $25/$50. if i can help it then it will be towards the lower end. my blog has been pretty poor of late so i'll try update as soon as i have my first cash session.

thanks alot for all the advice given in the last comments section. several comments made me think hard about what i want to achieve in poker and more closely about what i'm going to do now. i don't want to sell the house if i can help it because i am enjoying living here. doing a few multis and doing ok (no final tables though) has brought a little confidence back but i'm still not playing my best poker.

BUSTING BORROWED MONEY

2007-09-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

i got lent a £k from a friend and lost it over the last 2 days on $5/$10 and then later $2/$4. i'm not 100% sure what the plan is now. will have to do some serious thinking. maybe on my game also.

PROPER STRUGGLING

2007-09-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

done a couple of hundred tennis betting, and just lost $2000 on party poker tonight, (alot of days not playing in between last post as i am still lacking motivation). i only have £350 left in my betfair account, which is my total bankroll. outside of that i have £1k lifemoney with about £400 of that going out of my account for various stuff in the next week.

things are clearly going very bad now. i need to make £500 minimum by the end of september or i will have to borrow money to pay the bills.

tonight was a big blow. i didn't feel that i played too badly. at the end i did put too much at risk though and paid the price.

ROLL ALMOST GETS GOING / BUST

2007-08-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

not played a great deal since last post except for a couple of days. i put £775 in 3 diff sites. bust one site, withdrew £825 from another, so i was in for £1500 effectively across these 2 sites. i got upto like $16k in party poker and upto $6k in betfair. i withdrew £1k yesterday and had at the start of todays play $10,8k in party and $6,1k in betfair. i got upto about $14k in party before busting that in about 30mins, then i went straight on betfair and busted the $6100 in 3 hands of $50/$100 hu.

£2700 life money left. aug bills to be paid from that as well.

excellllent

NO CHANGE IN FINANCES BUT STILL FAILING

2007-08-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

didn't play for a couple of days. then i put £1k in, got up to £5k, withdrew the £1k and lost the £4k (this over the last 3 days). i'll re-deposit £1k more into crypto tomorrow probably and see how it goes.

thankfully i don't feel too bad at all right now, since everton are top of the league and look good for the title. otherwise i'd probably be more concerned about the pressing matter of paying the bills for the upcoming months.

anyway, bit of a dull update, will try and make more of an effort with the next post, hopefully reporting a decent win.

ANOTHER LOSS

2007-08-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

that £300 from last post became £4100 before disappearing. and then i added £1600 more (from the £3500 safety net), made that into £6200 before losing that all. i just had a conversation about how bad i have been playing and that i will focus more to change that. no more trying to win every pot. but then i lose $5k on $25/$50 raising a river bet all in on a Q39Q3 board with J6 v AQ. the rest soon followed. i duno why i'm playing so bad, so much. my funds are real low now and i can't win shit for a couple of days running. i'm concerned now about paying the bills and stuff. i've got enough money spare to last me a month but i need some for my roll so...who knows?

NOT GOING WELL

2007-08-08T04:44:00.000-07:00

didn't play for another couple of days, then made £200 yesterday but lost £900 today. i'm not sticking to last posts plan. 5% of a winning session is so small it's pointless. i'm just gonna gamble my last £300 of this roll and then worry about the consequences later. if i do get to £15k/£20k then i may well take out £6600 and have a year's mortgage locked up (as steve A suggested in previous comments). but i'm a long way from that at the moment.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT

2007-08-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

i put my whole roll on the table 3 days on the run as follows. £2k on £40/£80. cashed out on £7800. then next day i win £400 at £25/£50 and find myself in for all £8200 on £40/£80 later on and lose that before re-depositing for £1600 more. i put that onto the same £40/£80 game and finish on £12800. then today i play £25/£50 hu and 3 handed for only 15 mins and in that time manage to lose it all. i only got like £30 rakeback for july because i changed usernames on both betfair and littlewoods. i kinda assumed i would continue to get rakeback because i've changed aliases before. prob lost out on £500+ =(.

overall then the last 3 days i've lost £3600 today.

i've still got to buy a few more things for the new house, which should total in the region of £1750.

i've got like £6800 in the bank, of which £6k was supposed to be used for safety net, so if i buy that 1750£ worth of stuff its gonna leave me with £5k so i've ballsed that.

so... i'm making this up as i go along... since i've been a complete prick in the last few days on the tables (with my play and level selection) it's left me real short. i'll leave myself £3500 spare as a safety net which i will not touch, hopefully. then i'll have £1k as a roll and £2300 spare for new house stuff/one-off bills.

i will have to get serious now as i've played far too carelessly. any winning session i'm taking out 5% of that session's profits to add to my safety net, 15% to pay off my £110k mortgage, and 10% more to become my secondary roll, since i can't trust myself wholly. i intend to put in alot of hours at small games now for a couple of weeks minimum. this unfortunately means my roll will build quite slowly but i have little choice.

i've had a lot of abuse in the last few comments. i really did try to finish the bluescouse/amatay challenge but i find brm so difficult. i've accepted now i will never be able to grind for a sustained period. i need to work on controlling my gambling stakes alot though, and this is something i will try for the time being. i won't play standard brm levels in relation to my £1k roll but i hope for something not too far off. don't think that i think that playing my way is the correct way or the best way to build a roll - the way i see it is that i am incapabe of playing steadily. anyway all commets, abuse, advice or support are welcome and i hope for a return to the mid/high stakes asap.

as far as epts/wsope are concerned- barca looks unlikely. the other 2 are also unlikely but if i get to choose 1 then it would be the wsope (but buyin is almost 2x as much) since it should be a real good prize pool & structure.

£4K BUSTED

2007-08-01T23:27:00.000-07:00

just busted off £4k. i got up to $13k but lost that all inside an hour on $10/$20. i was so lucky as well for long periods. quite depressed after i finished. i've not spent as much as my budget allowed on furniture so i've had a few £k spare. however, i lost most of that tonight. maybe ive got £2k/£3k left. i'll check what the definite situation is tomorrow.

DAY 7 - I LOSE - AND BUST MY £4K TOO

2007-07-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

i lose £800 more at betfair limit. so stuck final £3200 on £40/£80. first £1600 i got all in with 55 v 66 and spiked a 5. then i build up to £3700 before i get 36o and raise the button to £240. bb calls. flop 592, all spades, i dont have a spade. he checks and i check also. turn is a 7 non spade. he bets £480 and i call. river is a 9. he bets £1280 and i push all in for another £K or maybe a bit more. he insta-calls with the flush. i put my last £1600 in and double up with QQ v J9 on a 9 high board. then re-re-raise pre flop all in with 3s and lose to 10s for an £8k pot.

Amatay Wins

DAY 6 - BETFAIR FIXED LIMIT

2007-07-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

earned £850 before midnight and stopped playing for 6 hours before finding out i could buy in for $500 on betfair $50/$100 fl. i quickly do $2k and then another $1500 or thereabouts on $25/$50. and $600 more on $5/$10 nl. pretty tilted by the end and threw away my last money on a very soft table.

Amatay - £3150

Bluescouse - £4k.

DAY 5 - ANOTHER STEADY DAY FOR ME AND ANOTHER POOR DAY FOR AMAFISH

2007-07-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

i managed to break the £5k barrier at about 5am today so i thought i could finally play £5/£10 and $10/$20. then i realised that £4k would have been sufficient on crypto and i'd needlessly spent a day at 5/10$. anyway i went in $10/$20, put $400 in, got up to like $1k before busting and rebuying for $400 more. then i get up to $3300, winning a big pot with fl draw v top pair. i left the table at this point but come back on later and get upto about $3700 before i lose a $5950 pot bluffing all in on the turn for $2400 into a $1k pot when my opponent had the nuts. i lost another $2200 pot making a re-re-raise with AQ and getting called by AK. that was so stupid. i bought in for the 3rd time for $400 more and finished on about $1700.

Amatay - £2710

BlueScouse - £5070

the brit bloggerment was also today and i crashed out in the very first hand pushing my flush draw against an overpair and missing. wales had 6 competitors and only 1 managed to make the top 15 (of 39 entrants- top 15 get points). that was disappointing. have to wait another 7 days now until the next round.

DAY 4 - SCOUSE STRETCHES LEAD AS OPPONENT IS LEFT WONDERING WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

2007-07-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

amazingly i'm getting used to these limits, just coming on at 2 to 5 am and picking off a few fish at £2/£5 $5/$10 for a few hundred £. amatay decided not to play tonight (as far as i know, he hadnt played at 5am) so, hopefully in the next couple of days i might be able to double his roll. i did run pretty good today though. a couple of times in preflop dominated and managed to come out the victor.

Amatay - £2950

BlueScouse - £4010

DAY 3 - FINISH- BACK IN FRONT!

2007-07-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

a poor day from amatay and a small win for myself means the tables have turned again. i only did 15minutes (for £9 profit) for my first sesh at about 1am. then at about 3am the tables got a little softer and i sat down again. i quickly found myself down about £300 but managed to turn it around nicely right at the end, winning a $1600 pot without sucking out. i finished £725 up for the day.

Amatay £2950

BlueScouse - £3340

DAY 2- FINISH

2007-07-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

just kept losing $250 $250 $250. i didn't play well, but i reckon i didn't run great and ended up the night just under £200 down. i was so close to being able to play $10/$20 and £5/£10 but it all went wrong.

Amatay - £3300

Bluescouse - £2760

DAY 2 - UPDATE #2

2007-07-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

at the time of writing the last post i had a $3100 stack in $5/$10. i managed to lose all of that. i got frustrated and overplayed everything. i've lost $775 more since but won a couple of hundred on littlewoods. i needed to post to get it out of the system and try and rebuild. (this may be last post of the night)

Amatay - £3300

BlueScouse - £3160 (and i am yet to withdraw 20% of todays profits - if there are any)

DAY2 - UPDATE #1

2007-07-26T19:25:00.001-07:00

probably most of the way through play today for the both of us. neither of us got much work done until past midnight. at 3.30am the scores are (bankrolls not profit)

Amatay - £3200

Bluescouse - £4800

AMATAY VS BLUESCOUSE

2007-07-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

for the next 14 nights of playing (tonight being the first) me and amatay (see links) are going to see who can earn the most. for full details see his blog. i'm doing this to try and learn a little brm (although i don't expect i'll be able to go the full 2 weeks without breaking the rules- if i don't, i will come clean though) and for the competition of course, which should in itself make me try a little harder as well as put the hours in.

the first night has completed anyway. amatay finished on $700/$800 (can't remember what he told me) and i was up over £1k at one point but had the biggest super tilt that i can ever remember and gave back loads of $100-$250 buyins. i'm gutted how stupidly i played. really is a new low from my tilt aspect, that said, i didn't break the rules and finished the day with a profit of £560. 20% of that is to be withdrawn as per the rules so i've taken out £112.

after day 1 i have (starting with £2500 against his $5k and working on the basis that £1=$2 for this project) i have £2948 against his £2850/£2900. a pasting if ever i saw one.

LOST

2007-07-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

busted the £4k in under 15minutes hu on £25/£50. i kept pushing with shit hands and getting insta called. very bad play again.

TILT, DONK, SUCKOUT. REPEAT. LATE EDIT- BUST. LATER EDIT - NOT BUST

2007-07-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

with the £2k i had spare i went on £5/£10 and £2/£5, 2 tables each and won £450 before getting off. then i buy in for £1600 on £40/£80 with £850 behind me incase things go wrong =). i make £4k profit there and finish for the day. next day i turn my £6500 into £29.5k on £40/£80. i won a £22k pot with 2nd pair and flush draw against bottom set. he made a huge raise all in on the flop, so it was about £9k into £22k where i'm 25% to win the pot. another poor call from me and another suckout. today, i played very bad, very. massively tilted (including me pushing all in pre on the button 3 handed first to act with 27h for £1600. i actually got called but failed to win against k10o) and so many suckouts (from me) to claw back. i finished £500 up on first sesh (after being down about £12k/£13k), £4500 up on second sesh, but -£34,800 on the third sesh - i just bust my roll in the last 30 seconds as most of this post was written just before my 3rd sesh. i was quite optimistic today as well but that's really fucked it. i withdrew about £500 yesterday and £1k today.

ok, i just checked my account now (to see what figure i did get exactly at peak) and, i'm not broke. i still have £5,083 left. i honestly thought i was broke and it has cheered me up a lot since a few lines ago. i think what happened was that i had bought £4k x 3 and lost it. put £8k more in. got upto £11k, before making a stupid call for a £22k pot. then as the hand is completing but not quite complete i put in my final balance. since i had £11k before the hand it only allowed me £9k more (£20k max buyin) and i just assumed that was all i had but i still had £5k after that. i've withdrawn £1k, so i've got £2500 spare if i bust this £4k.

i now own a house as of a couple of days ago, but won't be moving in for 7-14 days. once i get settled down i'll have a more regular withdrawing rule as well as a rule for paying off a piece of my mortgage with each win.

i also need to get some money sorted soonish for the barcelona ept (with a 600 cap, that could be filled quite a few days before the event starts), and then the wsope and london ept. if i have the money then i'll probably go to them all.

aside from my poker now, one of the guys who does the bloggerment (9pm sunday on stars, private tourney section , under 'bloggerment rnd 19', password 'donkament' if anyone's interested btw) is having a charity tourney on the 29th, you'll find all details here - http://beatme.wordpress.com/ it's a $5 tournament with $1 rebuys (there is a cash prize also for first i think). if you're looking for a reason to play the tourney read this http://reelingsilk.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/ellies-story/.

right, £4k roll, thats exactly 1 minimum buy-in at £100/£200. if there's a fish on there i won't be able to help myself, otherwise i'm going to try and do 10x £400 shots on £10/£20.

£40/£80 £100/£200

2007-07-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

i managed to create £4600 from my house extras money. i'm doing without alot of stuff now and giving myself only 3 months safety net instead of 4. i played £40/£80 yesterday. buying for £1600 (min.) and if i lost that i would go and play £5/£10 or $10/$20 until i had a £4k roll. well i lost that A4o v KQo for £2100 (i folded alot of hands until i finally moved in with that crap). i didn't want to leave and decided to put another £2k in. i doubled through with QQ v 99 for £4800. and finished on £5300. £1700 up for sesh. came back later on and turned my £1700 profit into £8k with 2 double ups (and a bit extra). AJo v J10s and AKo v A10s. i had £12600 in my account then and withdrew £2k.

today i buy in for £1600 on £40/£80 and get it all in with 77 v 99 pre for £2700 and spike a 7 on the river. i doubled again but can't remember how. and got up to like £6k before dropping a £k. then, playing 4 handed. utg makes it £320. i call on the button with 53d. sb passes and bb makes it £1280. utg passes and i call. flop is 510A. he bets £2k and i insta-push. he hesitates but calls with KK and i miss turn and river. £10k+ pot him. i rebuy for £1600 and lose an all in for £3200 1010vQ8s. i rebuy again. lose £520 before the table breaks up and everyone moves up to £100/£200. i didn't really want to move up, well there's always a part of me that wants to play higher, but i was happy playing £40/£80. i had like £6900 left. i bought in for £4k. lost a few hundred and bought in for another £2900. i won a few very small pots then and had a fraction over £7k when i raised the button (playing 5 handed) to £600. sb folds and bb pushes. so another £6400 to me for a £14k+ pot. i wasn't happy about calling with such a shit hand but i felt i was probably favourite (going on past information when i played him as charlatan). so i call. he turns over 89c and i show A7o. flop comes 6710 for his straight. turn is a 10 and i have 4 outs to the river, but miss, somehow. could have done with that pot big time. i've got that £2k which i don't see lasting long as i just can't get any brm going whatsoever. it's worse than its ever been. i just can't not play the highest game going on the site. ideally i need to play when there's no big games going but still juicy £5/£10 games, whenever that is...probably when i sit down =(.

DEMORALISING

2007-07-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

put £150 in betfair and littlewoods. i managed to make £60 the first day with littlewoods and not play the second on that site. i lost £30 with betfair the first day but won £50 the next. i was playing lower down so i was pleased that i was up but it was only 2 days. then sunday night i play the stars million, a smaller $55 crypto tourney and the brit bloggerment. i run bad in the stars and crypto tourney and this puts me on tilt and decide to put both my full rolls on the highest table possible. i more than double up on both before losing my betfair roll, but on littlewoods i manage to keep building and finish the day with £3600. very pleasing. next day i win £700 first session but then some poor calls in the next session sees me drop £2100. so i have £2200 left and that goes the next session. it was more bad luck than bad play this time but i tilt off my final £500 which was unneccessary. so i'm desperately short on funds now. the money i need for the house has left my account now so no going back there. i still have maybe £15k for household stuff so maybe i'll do without something. otherwise i'll have to grind it out at the low limits.

£3K MORE

2007-07-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

i took the £3k in shares that i had in advance from the money i would use for furniture etc. i lost it all on £25/£50. here's my final hand. playing a £4.2k stack i raise on the cutoff with AQo. £2k stack behind me calls my £150 bet. folded to bb who has me covered. he makes it £550. i call as does the player behind me. flop A94. pre-flop re-raiser bets £1k out. must be AK but i call anyway and the player behind me passes. turn is a 4. pot £3673 and i have £2600 left. he checks and i check behind. the river is a 9 and he waits for a couple of seconds then pushes. i really feel like he has AK here and use up all the time before eventually calling because i'm not good enough to pass. he could well have been on tilt at the time as he had lost several £k so it's possible he's bluffing but i think it's unlikely since i called his bet on the flop. anyway he had J4 for the house. i got a few hundred £ left which i'll gamble tomorrow or soon.

MONEY FROM HOUSE FUND

2007-07-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

i re-calculated what i needed for the new house and managed to scrap some stuff i wanted but no longer needed in order to give myself a £4k roll. i put £2k on betfair and £2k on littlewoods. i played the first £2k yesterday on crypto. i put all in on $25/$50 and yo-yo'd my stack for an hour or so before bluffing off my chips with 32 on a 994J 2 hearts board against 1010 for $10.3k then today i played $25/$50 buyin again for £2k on betfair and was on just over $7k when i overplayed queens for $14.5k. i won't take any more money from the house fund but i do have £3k in shares which i'm cashing out and that will be, bar for a few hundred £ lying around, my final roll.

BUST

2007-07-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

i managed to blow £64k tonight, £50k on crypto £100/£200 and £14k on betfair $250/$500. therefore the money i set aside as my roll has all gone. i can easily muster up a few hundred or maybe a couple of thousand but it's gonna be a big knock down to my confidence and happiness playing £10/£20 and lower.

i should mention a few pots but i don't feel overly enthuastic. there was one decent pot. i think it was £52k and my final hand on the crypto table. i had K6o and called a £600 raise from the button. the flop came K10x with 2 diamonds. i check called a £1000 bet. the turn was the 6d. he bet £3200 into the pot of £3298. i made it £9000 and he quickly called. the river was a 9 not a diamond. completing the QJ straight if he had that. i pushed in for whatever i had left, £15k maybe and he called with 97d for the flush. i still fully intend on getting the house. i'm disappointed of course atm but i don't feel terrible, i knew this was a possibility and i've got ages to build back up again.

£40/£80 then $250/$500

2007-07-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

i played 2 tables of £40/£80 buying in for £3200 on each, then another 2 more buyins for £12,800 total. i made some very profitable bluffs as well as turning a full house against my opponents straight and straight flush draw (would have been royal draw also expect i had the A of that suit) and took that £20k or so pot. at one point i was up around £20k but a serious of bad bluffs and not passing against a set when i defo should have, meant i finished the session £300 down. i was pretty tilted and put my entire crypto roll on £100/£200 (£19,700). no-one came though for the first few minutes. so i opened up betfair and put my entire betfair roll $45k on $250/$500. i couldn't afford to lose both if i wanted to get the house i'm looking at so whichever table started first i would close the other. a player on betfair joins me after awhile so i close down crypto. he buys in for $50k. first hand i raise pre and he calls. i bet flop and he check raises me. i call him down on flop turn and river when he pushes with K high and my top pair which i made on the turn was good for a $90k pot. he still has a few $k left over from the $50k and that goes shortly. he buys back for $20k and a couple of hands later i re-raise to $4500 pre with ak and he calls. the flop comes 6810. not a great flop but i commit myself by betting $7k/$8k of his $14k and change (pot $9k). he moves in instantly. i call. turn Q river A. he shows Q9 and i win the $38k pot. he leaves. i almost went back to £100/£200 as there was a player waiting but before i decided to go back he sat out and then left. +£35k for that betfair session. since i'm trying to keep most of my roll safe for the new house my roll is just £64k. if i do bust off that £64k i'll still get the house hopefully as i'm keeping 4 months of bills/interest re-payments safe.

JUNE 29TH

2007-06-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

right now i can't be bothered to play low. i only want to play high games but i'm afraid of losing my money as i'm looking at a house atm and can't afford to lose £30k/£40k. i haven't played a few days on the run for a long time now and i think i'd like to get back into playing 6 days a week but i can't find a table or site that i'm prepared to play regularly.

off topic, poker utd (part of ipoker) are doing a competition starting in july called the king of cash. it's designed for high stakes cash players, ideally for the biggest earner as they can win other people's rake as a bonus. the details are here - http://pokerutd.blogspot.com/. if i can motivate myself enough i may take a shot at it and see how i'm doing in the first week. i think it's a week today since i last played and i am getting very bored.

BRIT BLOGGERMENT

2007-06-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

i played the bloggerment tourney yesterday for the 2nd time and managed to win, defeating amatay (see links) with ease =), well hu only lasted 1 hand, i pushed with 22 for 20bbs and he called with a6 and missed. we both agreed this hand was played poorly by both. i played the sunday million also, paying $1050 for 15-20mins play. i lost 1500 chips early on top pair vs set and then my exit hand (i have 9k from 10k starting stack), i call a raise with 99 in late for 200 (blinds still 25/50) and the bb makes it 500, we both call and the flop comes A9x, he has AA and i don't get away from it.

i did play one cash game since last post, only for 35mins, i bought in for $10k (minimum) on $250/$500 4 handed and cashed out £18k better off. i wasn't sure whether or not to play as the table was fairly tough and i hadn't played so high for awhile, but it was very loose so i thought there was possible value if i played a little tighter. before i played i decided i would only lose $40k max (4 $10k buyins) but i only needed the one buyin so it turned out well.

i'm really not playing a great deal atm. i want to buy a house really (i now believe i can cope with a mortgage), if i don't get one bought in the next few weeks i expect i will probably start playing $100/$200 & $250/$500 and that'll probably mean i bust.

$50/$100

2007-06-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

hu on betfair vs xxTheTiltxx, we played 1 table first and i doubled second hand hitting 3 jacks and then a further $6k more ($16k up) before i had a $22k downswing and had just $4k left, i got back to $10k though and we opened another table up then i went on a real rush and finished up a few buyins, no huge pots- the biggest was $31k when i caught a flush on the river (after calling a large bet on the turn out of position with just 3rd pair and nut flush draw). i ran very good, making alot of good hands with him making slightly worse hands.

i didn't intend on playing today but i saw xxTheTiltxx just about to start a session so i sat down to speak to him and we decided to play. despite todays win i still feel a little unmotivated so maybe no more play for a bit or maybe i will, depends if i feel good about playing suddenly.

LACKING MOTIVATION TO PLAY

2007-06-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

i was debating whether or not to make this nothing post, but since i'm not sure i will be playing the next few days either i thought i would. i haven't played since friday night and just can't be bothered to play. recently i've changed my idea of what i want to do from- being one of the best online players (regardless of where i currently am it is just my ambition) to- try and make a slow profit (grinding as such), just for the time being. the idea of making £2k/£3k a day though (if i run ok) does not appeal to me at all. it is perhaps the least motivated i've been to play since i started playing poker so i'm not sure i will ever be a grinder. i'm still waiting for neteller to sort out so i can deposit on party poker because there's often 3 10 seater tables ($25/$50 level) there which i do actually fancy. maybe a few days until i can get money on there and don't know that i'll play even then. the sunday million this week is $1050 though so perhaps i'll play that.

outside of poker i've ordered my guitar, a gibson flying-V model for anyone who knows what that is, i decided not to get a new amp. i'm playing more regular sport now (football, tennis and table-tennis weekly and a little bit of snooker/pool) which is very important to me.

i seem to have lost my hit counter and i have zero idea how, if anyone knows how i can get it back i'd love to know.

BETFAIR RING & HU

2007-06-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

i started out playing bloeffer hu $10/$20. we played 2 tables then 3, then back down to 2 again. the session lasted a few mins over 2 hours and when we finished i was up $2k/$3k. neither of us got far ahead of each other even though we'd both rebought many times (i had $16k stack on one table at the end and he had $14k on the other). we usually would play longer but i asked to stop as i was feeling quite knackered for some reason. half way through playing hu though i noticed a fairly soft $50/$100 6 seater game going and i joined for the max buyin $10k. i played that table for about 90mins and saw some very good cards. AA at least 3 times, KK, QQ twice, AK 3 times (although i lost with 2 of them). with some very good flops as well it meant i built a $40k stack before the table got harder and i decided to leave.

i've taken a few £k out to get some stuff (new guitar & amp top of list, maybe a new laptop also), since i don't usually spend the money when i have it.

+£16k today

WEEK OFF, RESUME TOMORROW HOPEFULLY

2007-06-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

probably at some time tomorrow i'll get back into it. i can't believe i haven't played for a week. i think for each of those 7 days though i've watched a bit, not got away from the screens =(. the only thing i've accomplished is some thinking time and i've decided to play a few more sites. i've deposited in ipoker. and getting my deposit limits increased on the stars, party, microgaming & ongame networks (hopefully). i'm going to try and be more selective! but it may involve alot of hours of watching. bloeffer & xxthetiltxx - i will play you both hu sometime soon, i'll speak to you on the table sometime. i can't promise anything exciting though as i will be more focused now to keep hold of my money and making a steadier profit.

sorry for not posting for so long btw, more regular updates again now.

£225K GTD

2007-06-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

just busted 65th out of 197 of the £225k gtd after 5 hours and 9 minutes. final hand i ran 88 into AK. i played well i reckon but didn't gamble perhaps as much as i should have. my final hand i had 88 v AK aipf. i was short stacked (7000 stack, blinds 300/600). very disappointed to go out, have to see if i can stay off cash for tonight otherwise i could be tilting some off. i wanna take a break from it anyway try and re-assess my poker/life again. i played the friday £100k gtd as well and played crap in that busting fairly early.

BIG WIN

2007-06-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

i played bloeffer again today at $50/$100 hu, 2 tables and continued where i left off from yesterday except i was running much much better (and i was running good yesterday). i flopped full houses probably 7/8 times and trips 10/15 times and often he would hit top pair when this happened. the deck was incredibly kind to me and i stayed focused and managed to capitalise on this winning £55k in about 2 and a half hours. bloeffer's account was empty then and asked me if i would play him on loislane's account. i wasn't keen to play just incase it was lois (loislane is a regular $100/$200 and $250/$500 player, hu and short handed and very aggressive). eventually i agreed to play bloeffer under lois' name after much talk. we kept it at $50/$100 2 tables and then he became very aggressive, re-raising me alot preflop, so much that i had to ask him if it was really him but he assured me it was. as the match went on though his post flop play calmed down quite a bit (although not his pre-flop play) and i was able to build my stack a bit. i had been playing for just over 3 and a half hours and i wasn't overly keen on playing bloeffer under lois' name so i told bloeffer i would leave in 15mins, which he said was ok and i stopped then (after the 15), £15k up for the second half of the session. £70,400 up altogether.

if i at all make bloeffer sound like a shady norwegian then that is not how i mean it to be. he is always very nice in the chat whether he wins or loses, i even feel a bit bad for winning against him, but i don't like the fact that he wants to play me under a different username. i probably should be more firm and say no to playing him on other accounts and stop then.

the roll is now £125k. i've withdrawn a load from betfair to put into crypto and maybe a few other sites over the next few days. i guess i'm very lucky to be in this situation as running average or worse yesterday and i would have gone broke. i've got the crypto tourney tomorrow that i want to concentrate on. if i bust early i might go out and if i go deep then maybe a film or something afterwards, unlikely i will play cash again tomorrow, i feel quite exhausted after playing a few days of hu and 3 days of sport in a row. probably cash again saturday but no guarantees, see how i feel on the day.

ONLY £197,600 DOWN ON BETFAIR

2007-06-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

at last a long needed winning session. the hu match i mentioned in the previous post concluded with me winning £36,600 over 2/3 hours (i ran very good and i picked the spots to bluff much better, except for one where i misread him for AK, when he really had AA, when i pushed with 7 high, no draw at all on a J high flop for a $22k pot).

a situation occured during our game and i wasn't completely sure what to do. i won about £31.7k from bloeffer when he said 'gg' and left. then 'bolikk' came on (from the waiting list) and i felt my hu was done but i hadn't taken 'autopost blinds' off and so i raised my sb took his bb and said 'no hu with u' or something like that in the chatbox. then i left. then i felt bad for taking his $200 bb, as it was not really his fault i had left autopost on. so i went back on and offered to give it back to him. i said u raise my blind and i will fold regardless. so i sat back in and he let the clock run down and wrote 'it's me bloeffer'. he passed his sb and i sat out (with $300 of his money to return now). i told him that i didn't believe him and if it really was bloeffer then i'd play him under the name bloeffer tomorrow. plus he had said gg as bloeffer suggesting he was done for the night. then he explained that after he left he had changed his mind and was going to have a go on his friends account (bolikk), since he had no more money in the bloeffer account. he asked if there was anyway he could prove and suggested if he logged on to bloeffer and deposited a few $ then said it was him, would i play him then. and he also made the point that he had never hit and run me, which is very true, but i did not feel like this was hit and run since i wasn't convinced it was him. but since i didn't want to be branded a 'hit and run-er' i agreed that if he went on as bloeffer and said he was bolikk i would play bolikk. so he left the table, deposited $25 on bloeffer account and then went on to a low table and told me he was bolikk. so i apologised to him (on bolikk username) for the mix up on $100/$200, gave him back his $300 and then we carried on with $100/$200. he only used $10k on the bolikk username before stopping and i logged off betfair then.

as it was i won the extra $10k by staying and playing him and i was convinced in the end that it was bloeffer (largely due to his style of play on the bolikk account). but i don't know if i dealt with the situation correctly. i wanted to bank a win badly as it had been awhile but i didn't want to hit and run him.

anyway i now have £54,600 in betfair and the 2 crypto tourneys on friday and sunday which i will be putting my best performances into. i hope this is the turning point now because i'm ready for another upswing =).

FINAL SHOWDOWN?

2007-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

playing what is likely to be my final game before busting now against mr bloeffer on betfair. i've bought into the £530 and £1050 mtts on crypto and with the rest of my cash (£18k) i've put in betfair.

it works out at as $35,892 i think (£18k that i deposited), so i bought in for $15,892 with $20k more to follow if i lose that. he's having problems with connection atm so i thought i'd post incase anyone wants to watch me bust. $100/$200 hu betfair, table name is Paris (i am supagrass).

wish me luck =)

ANOTHER £10,000 TO BLOEFFER

2007-06-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

this time $50/$100 hu betfair. i bought for a fraction under $5k and got up to $34k before losing it all and then $15k more. as soon as i start losing my play starts to deterioate quickly and i become desperate to pick up pots and regain my peak chips for that session. my opponent also tightens up alot (generally) which i don't think helps.

anyway £20k left. i have half of it now and the other half coming tomorrow. it's probably time i re-considered what i'm going to do because i (as u) can't see the money lasting long. with £20k i still have a sufficient base to play £10/£20 half buyins, ring games with good game selection. from there i could be safe i think but... i'm not sure if i want to go back to that. i'll try and come up with some sort of plan before i play tonight or tomorrow.

on a side note i played the 'bloggerment' last sunday (without success, congrats to amatay for winning). it's a $5 sng on stars each sunday at 9pm uk time if anyone's interested, the password is donkament.

67 BECOMES 30

2007-06-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

just blew £36k plus last months rakeback on betfair $100/$200 just now against bloeffer. he played very well and i didn't keep my head on enough. also given my parents £1k for june so i'm down to £30,000. last few days i've not felt like playing low tables. i'm very disappointed at the moment to lose over 50% of the roll but i don't regret playing those stakes. we played about 1100 hands i think and for awhile i was up $35k+ but he turned it around very well, the key pot was when i lost a $60k pot catching my 2 pair against his flush on the river. however, i should have check folded the river as my 2 pair were quite low and if he bets river he prob has at least 2 pair (which would almost definitely be higher). anyway, no play till monday probably. i do have £1k in my bank account which i might gamble away, but since i'll have to wait till monday to get the next £10k (then £10k tues and £9k wed hopefully) i may not play till then.

PLAY SO CRAP, FEEL SO CRAP

2007-05-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

$25/$50 6 seater betfair. i'm in the bb playing a $7400 stack. i'm in for like $9k/$10k and tilted, big tilted. it's folded round to the button who 'could' be stealing. so i re-raise the pot to $550 in the bb (the sb passes). i've got 106o. he calls and the flop comes down Js Ad 9s. i bet $900 and he calls. turn is a 6h. i check, he bets $1777 and i call. the river is the 7h. i check, he puts me all in for $4205. i can't really fold here i've caught a pair. so i call and lose to AJ in a $14,886 pot.

omg, soooo mega pissed off with my play today. the worst i have ever played for as long as i can remember. half my money went on that table and the other half against ipodu on $10/$20 hu betfair. i played like a total total dick. he did play very well against me also, but i was so disappointed in myself. first hand i doubled him up and then a few hands later i doubled him up again (he bought for $1k, so now had $4k) and then next hand he check raises my river bluff for a $2k+ pot. i get one back where i river 2 pair to his one pair for $3k. but then he won a sucession of $1k pots to take his stack to over $6k. i was playing this table the same time as the $25/$50 6 seater and this was the next play i made on that table (the $25/$50 one). moronhunter (the same guy who beats me with his AJ in the above pot later on) raises to $175 utg +1 i call from the sb (playing 5 handed on this particular pot). the flop comes 10107 with 2 spades. i check and he bets $222, i make it $640 and he calls. the turn is an Ac and i bet $1400. he calls. the river is a 2d. i check and he checks also with 109 for trips. $4477 pot. oh yeah, the reason i went on to this table was because it looked weak, i wasnt eager to play above my roll just a weak table is difficult to ignore. 3 hands later on the same table i raise utg to $175 with 84d and doooom on the button makes it $600. i call and the flop comes 10c 9d 6c. i check and he checks. 2s on the turn. i check, god knows why and he checks behind. so i am fairly sure he has AK right now so when the Kd comes on the river i check raise his $600 bet all in, another $1900 to him. he's not going to fold to me and i absolutely throw my money away in a $6380 pot with 8 high. obviously shit play. the plan was that he'd know that i know he has AK and had been trapping with 2 pair and he would realise and fold but i kinda forgot about my reputation for one second and i don't know if he'd fold anyway to any player. it was just a really stupid move. on the next hand on the other table i call an all in bet from my opponent with middle pair on a board with 2 overs (to my pair). he has trips and i throw away yet more money, $3k pot him. these are easy laydowns. my read is fine but my curiosity is not. since calling is the only way i can win a hand when theyve gone all in and theres a 5% chance i 'may' be ahead then the money's going in. i call a bet on $25/$50 with a straight on a board with 3 6's and lose a $4k pot there (easy easy fold again...argh) but then i win one back on the hu table, all in with overpair v fl draw and i survive for a $5600 pot, but give it all back and more next hand when i cant fold 3rd pair when there is only 1 card needed for the straight. $5800 pot him. the next hand was the first paragraph hand 610 v AJ and i got out of that table then since i only had $480 more available to me and i couldn't afford a rebuy. so it was just $10/$20 hu for awhile then. the final hand on that table after 1 hours play, i raise the button to $60, ipodu makes it $200 and i make it $600 with 510o. he calls and the flop comes 5c 8s kd. i bet $800 and he calls. turn is 3d. he checks. i check behind. river is the Ac and he moves all in instantly. it was my last $2040 to call. i did and he had KK for a set and the win - $6879 pot.

after this i put my last $480 into $5/$10 and got upto $1980 before moving to $25/$50 hu vs moron hunter. i build upto $3812.15, then the final hand. i raise to $150 with J9c, he makes it $444 and i call. flop 7d 5c 4d. he bets $555 and i pot bet for $2553 and therefore committing myself. he pushed all in and i called the final $815. turn 10h gave me a gutshot for the nuts. river 2c and he showed 1010 for the win and the $7623.30 pot.

so i lost the £6900 (yesterday's profit) plus the £3k my mum lent us, so £9,900 loss for the day.

roll now £67k.

$10/$20 HU AND A SMALL WIN!

2007-05-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

must have been some seriously bad suckout outs... well yeah, alot of 'rigs'. set on set, straight v top 2, river house v trips (more than once) and much much more =). aside from that i think i played good though.

all my play today was on $10/$20 hu betfair. i was kinda hoping £10k would come through today but nope =( have to wait until tuesday. thankfully my mum lent me £3k from her bank account. i could go 3 x $2k on $25/$50 but the thought of busting today and not being able to play until tuesday made me play $10/$20. i bought in for $2k and dangero came and bought for $1k. he lost $200 and then put in another $1k. i was winning alot of small pots and him the big pots, i slowly made progress though winning a few medium sized pots $900 and thereabouts. got a $4k to $2k lead but i lost a bit after that and was dragged back to $3k each. (feels weird typing this for such small stacks). 2 $1k+ pots in 3 hands, the first one i have a higher full house and the second one i river my straight and i have a good lead again $4300 to $1600. a couple of minutes we play our biggest pot. playing a $4800 stack to his $1800, i raise the button to $60 and dangero makes it $180. he hasn't re-raised much this game so i should give him credit for a hand and fold now but i call. the flop comes K46 rainbow. he bets the pot, $360. i call. the turn is an 8. he pushes his last $1280 into the $1079 pot. i couldn't decide, i really should have folded this hand but i called in the last few secs and the river was a 7 putting out a 1 card straight. he had JJ though and top pair was good for the $3639. as it was, it was the right call but i can't help thinking i should have folded this really in normal cirucmstances. i don't see him re-raising me with nothing and i don't see him making this move with 99-QQ. Ak or AA are the only real hands he could have. i probably shouldn't moan so much as i won the pot, but it bothers me that bad play (from me) is rewarded the pot. i think his turn all-in is excellent and i really should give him credit for a hand thats beating me. lucky i am a fish i guess. back on with the game. i now have $6600 and he rebuys for $2k. about 2/3mins later after several nothing pots i raise the button to $60 with 86s (nice hand you're thinking. yeah it is). dangero calls and the flop comes As Qh 3s, check dangero, bet $90 me, call dangero. the turn is a 4h. check dangero, bet $300 me, call dangero. river Ks for the flush. check dangero bet $900 me (pot again), dangero calls and i collect a $2699 pot with that river. so i have $8300 then and he tops up. i keep chipping away, win a few $900 pots and 1 $2100 pot and soon have over $10k and i have him down to $675 (doesn't look like he will rebuy after this), but i double him all in pre with 77 v 99. and then 3 hands later he wins a $1k pot and he has over $2k again to my $9k. i then win 12 pots in a row and take him back down to $1400. then he wins a few $100/$200 pots and then i win the next 10 pots to bring him back to $1400 before losing a $1299 pot with a stupid bluff. 9 pots in a row and hes back to $1600. then a few minutes later i have him down to $809 and raise the button with 105c to $60. he calls. flop 10310, he checks, i check (lol). turn A, if he has an A should be sufficient to get the rest of his money in now. he bets out $120. i call. river is 2c and he pushes his last $629.50 into the $360, i don't hesitate in calling. dangero shows 109 for higher trips and a $1600 pot. next big hand i have 32d and call a $60 bet from dangero. the flop comes 4c 8d 6d. dangero bets pot $120 and i make it $9000 =), another $1300 more which he insta-calls with top 2. the turn is a 4d for the flush. river 6c for his house. $3k pot him. final big pot (relative to stakes). dangero playing a $3k stack raises the button to $60. i make it $180 with KJd. dangero calls. flop 4c 10c Kc. i bet $280. dangero calls. turn is a Qs. i check. if i bet again here i am committing myself, which perhaps is the best way to play but i am not sure i am ahead. anyway dangero bets out $920. i'm not sure where i'm at in this hand so i probably make the worst play and flat call. the river is a 7c. the pot is now....*doing the math* $2759. he has a $1600 stack left. since there are 4 clubs on board though i will give this hand upto a bet, so i check. he checks also though and tables k10 for 2 pair and the win. i finish on $7,300 to his $4k. +$5300 for sesh. i then tell dangero i am off for food (which is the truth) and will play again in 30mins. and we do...

this session was not as long, many small pots for first 18 minutes then the final hand. i have a $3500 stack to his $2k. i make it $60 with 69o and he calls. the flop comes 4d 6c Ah. he checks, i bet $90 and he makes it $240. i call and find the turn i want a 6. he bets $360 and i call. river is a 9d giving me the house but also putting out a flush (although a backdoor one). he checks to me. i go all in and he insta-calls with 86s. i win the $4k pot and we finish there.

3rd and final session i start against derra but stop playing him shortly after as he had two other hu tables and didn't want to play me as well. we agreed to play another time =). so the real session starts against bloeffer who bust me the other day for £9k. we buy for $2k each and before long i have lost a whole buy-in to him because i can't fold a straight and flush draw on the turn when i don't have the odds against his top 2 pair. i win $2300 back in a nothing pot. and then a little more and i'm upto $4k (therefore even) i ask if he wants to play another table and he does and so we start 2-tabling. i called several river bets with the worst hand throughout the session but here is one i got right - he is up a few hundred $ over the 2 tables atm and min-raises the button. i call with Q9o. flop comes 3d 6s 8d. i check, he bets $80 and i make it $240. he calls. the turn is a K and i'm done with the hand really. i check but he checks also. the river is a 3h. i check and he bets out $560. i call =) and he shows 59d for the missed draws. $1679 pot me. a few mins later i call from the bb with 89o a bet of $60. flop is 2sksQd. i lead out for $90 and he calls. the turn is a 3h. i bet $300 and he calls. river 8c. i check. he bets the pot for $900 and i call. he has K8 for 2 pair. very bad call here (obviously). i was hoping he had J10 or a spade draw but no good and i lose a $2699 pot. 2 mins after, bloeffer raises to $60 and i call with 22. the flop comes 82A. i lead out for $90 and he calls. the turn is an 8, making a 2 card flush of hearts. i bet $300 and he calls. the river is a Jc. the pot is $899 i think, but i push all in for $1400 and he calls with 2 pair. that was a $3800 pot and i think that put me a 2/3k$ up. we stay level for awhile before he collects a $2699 pot with a rivered flush to my rivered straight =(. i could have folded that though as he called my flop and turn bets and then lead out on the river when the flush card arrived. ... this post is kinda draggin so i'l include just the $3k+ pots from now on. here's a very poorly played hand by me. bloeffer raises to $60, i call with 85o. flop 2x 9s 5s. i check call a $120 bet. turn is a 9c. i check, he pots again for $360 and i push, effectively making it $1316 which he doesn't hesitate in calling with 79. river is meaningless and i throw away a $3711 pot. before this hand i had $5300 and $4800 stacks to his $1900 and $1800. i think i was in for $7k total so $3k profit, this was after an hours play. less than 1 minute later on the other table he raises to $60 i make it $180 with 98h and he makes it $540 (he is only playing a $1900 stack) i call though and the flop comes 987 though and i check call his all in bet. the turn is a 7 and i accept now that i am probably going to lose this pot (if he has 1010-AA he has a higher 2 pair). the river is a J and he turns over JJ for the house. i suppose it's only my fault for calling with a suited connector after a re-re-raise. that was a $3855 pot. now i am down about $500. 2 mins later i re-raise preflop with AKo and he calls. the flop comes 10JQ. all spades though and i don't have a spade. i bet $280 into $359 and he goes all in for $3700. another $2800 to me. i don't insta-call. but i realise after a few seconds that i'm not folding this and do call. turn is 2d, river Qc. and he mucks his hand. he had jdKs for straight flush draw. pot was $6697 and well needed. on the same table 4 minutes later i have QQ and raise to $60. he calls and the flop comes 6c 10c 7d. he checks, i bet $90 and he calls. turn is a 6h. he checks i bet $300 and he calls. river is the Qh for the house! he goes all in for $1447 (pot $899). i obv call and beat his 56 with my 2 outer. $3793 pot. the next hand on that table, he raises to $60 and i make it $180 with 87s. he calls and the flop comes 2d 2c 6s. i bet $280 and he calls. the turn is the 5d and i go all in for $8k, putting him in for $1500. he calls with 56 and i miss my outs. $3999 pot him. 6mins later i re-raise his min-raise pre to $120 with 87d he calls and the flop comes 5s 10s 6d. i bet $200 and he calls. the turn is the 4h. i now have the nuts and bet $540. he calls. river is the 8h which kinda ruins my hand but i still have the straight put in the last $1200. he thinks for a sec so i know i am winning and then calls. he had 32s for the flush draw on the flop which missed but had the gutshot which came for him on the turn and therefore lost with the lower straight. $4191 pot me. 6mins until the next big pot. i make it $60 with 106h and he calls. flop 987 rainbow. he checks i bet $90 and he makes it $390. i make it $990 and he calls after some deliberating but i know he has a big hand here 2 pair minimum and is unlikely to fold. it was the 1st time i'd re-raised his raise though post flop so he was probably suspicious. anyway turn 2d, i push he calls river 5d and he shows 98 for top 2. i collect $5400 with the straight. 3mins later we get it all in my 99 v his j7d on a 10d 9d 2x board turn 3h river 4d for his flush and my unimproved set. he collects $4395 pot. a couple of $2699 pots until the next decent pot. he raises to $60 i re-raise to $180 with KQc he calls and the flop comes 38Q i bet $280. he calls. the turn is an 8. i bet $720. he calls. river is a 3, so the board is paired twice. i'm not sure what he has here but bet anyway =), $1200 and he calls with JJ. $4700 pot me. next pot is the biggest one to date. i have the nuts and re-raise him preflop to $180. he calls and the flop comes 8c 3s Jc. i bet $280 he goes all in for $4014. i don't hesitate in folding because i'm a fish like that. turn is 4h, river 2h. his 109c (outside straight flush draw) misses and i luckily survive that one. $8387 pot me. i now have $13k between the tables (for a $6k profit) 1 and a half hours into the session. a few mins later A4h v 107o. flop 7h2h10x. i call his check raise on the flop and catch the 5h on the turn. we get it all in there and his 2 pair doesn't improve - $4553 pot for me. like a couple of mins later i re-raise preflop with 66 he calls with 44 and we get it all in on a flop of 46J - pretty brutal. no 4 on the turn and river and i win the $4700 pot. i'm now a little over $10k in profit for the session. he wins a $2700 pot before i win a bigger one next hand with AA v 96d all in on a flop of 4d 9h 8d for $4100 pot. i have the Ad so we're fairly even in % but quite a few times he's moved in with massive draws and missed so i am clearly running very well in this session (as i was against dangero earlier, several rivers went my way). a few hands later i have about $19k between the 2 tables now ($12k up for sesh) but thats as high as i go and then start declining for the last quarter of the session. i make a loose river call (as well as turn perhaps) when i have 96 v 67. i check call his flop bet of $120 on a 493 board. then when the 5 comes on the turn. i lead for $280 and he min-raises to $560. i call and the river brings an 8. he bets all in for $1277 and i call reluctantly. his 67 scrapes the win =). $4k pot him. the final 22mins of the session there are no pots of $3k or more but he wins a whole bunch of medium sized pots, like 4 $2k+ and we finish 9.9k v 6.9k and 2.4k v 7.0k. on the latter table i rebought for $1k more late on so i was in for $8k overall and therefore a $4300 win for that sesh. actually i think i won $300 v derra in the few mins we played so that as well, and + $8800 i think versus dangero. i'm missing a few hundred somewhere there, i can't see where =(. the final score is +£6900, so + almost 7 buyins for $10/20 which is good even if i was running real hot.

i hope this post is not too long! also i have not spell-checked or checked for bits that don't make sense.

i know i've got to go a long way to prove i can be a good player ( as getting to £200k wasn't good enough for you guys =) ) i'm gonna try stick to $10/$20 hu for a bit rather than ring games, but maybe if i spot a big fish in a ring game i will play them. i really enjoyed playing today, probably because i was running good and winning but i think i enjoyed it the other day when i lost as well (although not as much) so maybe i can give $10/$20 hu a real go before i move up. so far i've only played pros i think, which i don't mind because the games are still enjoyable and if i am to achieve things in poker i need to beat them. i didn't play good poker yesterday nor the day before. i didn't concentrate fully and play to my absolute best which i really need to, to get my edge.

responding to the rest of yesterdays comments that i haven't already answered in the above paragraph- i'm not going to lose all the money very quickly, that won't happen i am sure, i feel i am this close to good brm (lol anyone?) but maybe this is only because i have a portion of my roll to play with. seeing my cash in front of me is a solid idea, i think perhaps that could work but i don't want the hassle of withdrawing and then re-depositing especially as it takes time, and i really want my roll back completely as soon as. i don't see me taking a break and doing anything other than poker for awhile yet. i'm not depressed atm. what i would like, or wouldn't mind is a business outside of poker. whatever this could be i don't know i'm open to suggestions. something that i could choose how many hours i want to put into it. thanks for the suggestion mr. grundy (good luck in wsop incidentally)- i don't want to jump into the high omaha games. i can't read players as well in omaha than in holdem. which is kinda something i heavily rely on in poker (maybe why i lose...). i could go on a massive downswing and lose alot also. i guess i don't want to gamble completely, just i don't want to play a tight calling game.

it's true that i don't see what i've done as remarkable. the way i see it there are loads of guys out there who have done similar things to me. perhaps i am lucky to get where i am but i have to think that it's not all luck, some skill. since variance is huge with me i don't have much idea as to what level of ability i am. until i learn brm i won't know, but perhaps that is a good thing. if i can't win at a particular level for a sustained period it would be very demoralising. thanks for the suggestion f-badger, i'll look into it =). gamblinpower i accept i shouldn't play higher games than my roll but i really don't think that if i have a large % of my roll in the middle that i will make a poor decision. if anything i will play better, i'm pretty sure of that. cottlad- yachtmaster qualification?! i guess that could be very good fun but it's not really me. sounds like a good/perfect life if you like that kinda thing though.

must be so many mistakes in this post so i apologise for that but anyway- good night!

70K AND COUNTING

2007-05-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

£1k lost yesterday and a further £9k today. $10/$20 hu yesterday and $25/$50 hu today against bloeffer. i played pretty appaulingly, bluffing hopelessly on several occasions. i lost the first $16k today in about 15mins tops, then the final $1500 in 10/15mins more. £70k left.

on a sidenote i've re-arranged blogs, with my favourite 10 and then alphabetically after that. may not get anymore money through until tuesday due to weekend/bank holiday so maybe no update until then.

HU $25/$50 BETFAIR

2007-05-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

i had £9500 transferred yesterday from savings to me, well that's now gone to speedytom hu on betfair. nearly 4 buyins. i started well, dominating to an extent (probably hitting more), got unlucky a couple of times and then tilted, i was tilted for a good 2 hours as my stack went up and then down and then i would put some more in and then up and then down etc. i played very badly after the first 30/45 mins of the sesh and didn't really get unlucky afterwards just lost through being outplayed. i lost at least 6 pots where i was bluffing on pots over $10k.

the remaining £80k has to be transferred in stages (as there is a £10k a day limit) i may borrow a couple of £k to play with tomorrow but i may just not play until thursday/friday (takes about 3 working days to go through).

if you didn't already know my alias on betfair, it's 'supagrass'. i'm now down £175,370.60 on betfair, so i have some catching up to do there.

PLAYING MY SAVINGS (& RESPONDING TO THE PREVIOUS POST'S COMMENTS REGARDING THIS)

2007-05-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

i have decided what to do, against nearly all the advice i've been given, i'm going to play all my savings, £89,500 to be precise. i'll probably start playing monday or tuesday night. the plan is to play anywhere from $10/$20 to $50/$100. if i do play $50/$100 or £25/£50 though i will only buy for half the max. . i'm going to be selective in games, and try and multi-table ring games. if i get bored then i'll swith to hu, rather than playing higher (i hope). i'll also try and spread my play around the sites so i should be able to put more hands in and be more selective.

i guess i have to justify this decision to you guys as well. it's mainly because i don't think i can play any lower and stick it, nor would i be happy. i haven't played a proper session for over 2 weeks because i can't get motivated to play low. many people think (including my parents) that i will be bust within a fortnight. possible, but i reckon by the end of june i will be back to £200k. as it is now i won't withdraw from my roll until i get to £250k, but if i feel the money is insecure i may get the parents to hold some of it for me.

the reason for using all the savings is so it will give me a decent bankroll at this level. i have no interest in putting money somewhere i won't be able to get at it for years, it would really piss me off if i went broke with the rest of the money. i accept if i go broke i will be very depressed but at the same time playing low stakes for a month will have a similar effect (perhaps not quite as bad but enough that it's worth the risk to do this). if i stay off the high tables i have every confidence that i will be able to maintain and increase my roll through the good game selection that i will use. taking shots at moving up the levels after every double or treble up doesn't really appeal to me (it is also hit and run), it would take alot of luck and i may lose overall at the level i start from (if i started say from $2/$5, $5/$10).

if i took out say 33% of my savings instead of it all i think i am much more than 3 times as likely to bust it (than if i used the full 100%) knowing i have another 67% behind me. buying stuff or spending it on holidays- right now i have no interest in that (cds and dvds the exceptions). i still enjoy online poker (a rarity for alot of medium stakes players i think) and i fully appreciate how great a tool for making a lot of money it can be. without doubt, without poker i would be earning in the region of £10k a year full time, probably at a job i am not keen on for a few years to come. the next holiday i go on will probably be poker related, eg. the cpc (caribbean poker classic), so really i may as well spend my savings on poker - which kinda makes the savings pointless, sadly. the only way i can truly take money out of the game is if i start a business outside of poker (which would be great but i am very uncreative) or to get a house.

despite me doing this, i'm really pleased so many of you posted your advice in the last post's comments and especially the tone, alot of support for me to do well- so, thankyou very much. i know i've gone against nearly all of you but i have considered each comment and whether i would be able to do that, and what is the best way forward. i've had alot of thinking time but i think this is the ideal solution to keep me happy in the short term, which is what matters to me right now. take the future as it comes.

i know as long as i can stay off the higher tables everything will be ok=)

NOT SURE WHAT TO DO

2007-05-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

quite a few days back i bust my full tilt and pokerstars rolls (only $500 between them). i properly started rebuilding like 3/4 days ago. i didn't get very far. my £25 on betfair 5c/10c increased to about £44 before turning to £0. i put £25 back in there and i haven't played since, nor have i played at all on littlewoods, full tilt or stars (since re-depositing there for $50 in each). having £90k savings just makes low stakes seem pointless. i'm also waiting on an email from littlewoods & i didn't really want to start rebuilding again from the low stakes in littlewoods until this was sorted as they were offering to give me some money to put in the new account, and in return they would like me to put up an affiliates banner, but none of the ones mention rakeback so i asked if it was possible to have one that did.

anyway, now i'm thinking of playing my savings. something i said i wouldn't do, but i just can't seem to play low (and when i did i lost). i probably won't play again whatever i do for a couple of days more yet. i've watched plenty of high stakes games since not playing though and i miss it. maybe i can have another go at it or maybe i will try and learn to play medium stakes, $10/$20 to $25/$50, and specialise in hu on betfair. there are plenty of sharks there who will take me on, could be good fun and maybe i will win every now and then (although i do always seem to lose on betfair). as soon as i play a full day or when my mind is made up i will let you know.

STILL HAVEN'T PLAYED

2007-05-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

haven't been motivated to play, but the plan remains the same as last post. i reckon i'll play sometime this week but no guarantees. i've sorted out a new littlewoods account but kept same betfair one as it's fairly unknown. sorry for not posting anything interesting, but best to update nothing than to not update at all?

BREAK. PLAY AGAIN TOMORROW

2007-05-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

not played since last post. i have decided to change my plan slightly. i am going to try and start from £50. £25 in each betfair & littlewoods. see if i can win at the lower cash tables a little more convincingly this time. i will try to move up the levels pretty quickly, if i do go broke in one account i will either transfer money from the account i still have money in or just go back to the plan before which was £500 every 3 days. i still have like $200 on stars and $300 on ft so i might stick them both on any stake between $1/$2 & $$5/$10 and either bust or get enough to play a much higher game. whatever happens i will keep updated on my repeating rebuilding period=).

BUST AGAIN

2007-05-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

£814 rakeback plus the £5175 already in charlatan account went tonight. £1800 lost when i was hit and run on £100/£200 and then a further £1700 lost when i was hit and run on £40/£80. and then i moved to $50/$100 on betfair with the last £2500 and but lost it to ratcha in one key hand. i re-raise pre on the bb hu with JcJx. he calls. flop AcQcXx. i bet $1200 into $1500ish. he calls quickly. turn is a low club. i push for $2600 and he insta calls with QJd and the river is not a club or jack.

i felt ok today, we won our tennis match, but when i came back to the tables and was hit and run on £100/£200 even though its only 9bbs i felt really sick. i've got approximately 90k in savings and all i can think about now is i wish that was my roll. but i'll stick to this plan for the moment at least and will withdraw £500 every 3 days starting tomorrow. bigtime depressed now.

i did say i'd post some hands from yesterday so here they are-

playing a £24k stack (he has me covered), i raise the button to £600 with 102d, he makes it £2000 and i call. flop is 6910 2 diamonds. he bets £4000, i make it £12000 and he pushes. i call. he has AdAx. turn 10h river Ks. my trips collect a £49793 pot.

playing a £50k stack to his £26k i raise the button to £600 with Kc8s. he calls. flop 824 all clubs. he check raises my £800 bet to £2800. i call (bad play). turn is the 4h. we both check (bad play again). the river is the 6c. he checks to me and i bet out £5k into £6799 pot and he makes it £18k. i call and he has 66 for the house. once again another bad decision on this hand from me. that pot is worth £42799.

bit of a non-hand but an example of how fishy i am on the river. i re-raise pre with AK to £2200, he calls and the flop comes 1029 rainbow. i bet £3400 and he calls. the turn is a 10. we both check. the river is a 6. i check and he bets £5800. i call and he shows 22 for the house. £22799 pot.

after this i win a whole load of medium sized pots and get a £75k stack to his £22k. that was my peak. but pretty much all donwhill from there. he starts winning numerous pots including one for £63701 pot. me bluffing flop all in with nothing. him calling, no complaints. he gets my stack back into the 20's before i double through with trips against his overpair for £54,803.

then a couple of pots where i miss the all important river bet after firing on flop and turn

1- call the bb for £600 total with 10s 7c. flop comes Jc Kh 2h. i check, he bets £1000 and i make it £3000. he calls and the turn brings the 6d. i bet £6600 and he calls. river is Js. i check and he checks also and shows 106h for the win and the £20399 pot.

2- i call the bb again for £600 total with J8s, flop is Qs 3c 8c. i check, he bets £1000 and i make it £3200. he calls. turn is the 6s. i bet £6800 and he calls. river is the 10c. we check it down and he wins with 109o for a £21199 pot.

but, maybe i saved money by not betting river because check out this hand

(just gone 5am at this point and we were playing 56k v 40k stacks, which is what each of us had put in)

i raise the button to £600. he calls. flop 4c 10d 2s. he checks i bet £800, he calls. turn Qd. he checks and i bet £2800. he calls. river 7c. he checks i bet £8400 and he calls with 23d and wins the £25199 pot.

next was the big pot. i'm playing a £41k stack to his £56k and raise the button to £600 with 45d. he calls and the flop comes 2d 9d Ac. he checks. i bet £1000 and he calls. turn is the 6c. he checks, i bet £3200 and i make it £9000. i call. river is the 7d. he bets £12000 into the pot of £21199. i went all in over the top for £30,682.50. he calls and shows J10d, a higher flush for an £82,564 pot.

his stack is now £97,555 and i reload for £20,000 more with £11k and change left after that.

i win one last good pot. only 4 mins before the final hand. i raise the button to £600 and he re-raises to £2000. i call. the flop 6c Jh Kh. he bets £3400 i make it £12000 and he goes all in. i call the last £4398. he shows As Ah. turn is 7s. river 10c. i win the £36795 pot.

and finally. playing a £32k stack. i re-raise pre to £2000 with J7s. he re-raises to £6000. i call. flop comes Jh 5s 2c. i check and he bets out £9000. i know i should be folding here even though i've caught my hand (kinda), but there is a chance i'm ahead so just incase, i push for £26793.50. he insta-calls with QsQc. turn 9h. river Qh. he wins £65,586 pot.

we played hu from 2.11am to 5.54am. i was behind for awhile but after 3 hours i was even and then the last 45 mins went real bad. to be fair, i think he had a good read on me. obviously on crypto (as it doesn't have the 'pot bet' button) the amount you bet is important and you can get a read from it. i think he read some of my amounts well as to whether they were a bluff or not. obviously i can use the amount to my advantage but most of the time he read me well enough that i should have just bet the pot each time i wanted to bet the river. anyway, i can't think of any way i'd rather lose £83k than on £100/£200. even though i was playing games where i was probably going to lose in the long run i do still feel confident about my game and the last few weeks have mostly been great and i'm £90k the richer. time to do it again. i already feel a bit better =)

Cymru Am Byth!

DISASTER AT £100/£200

2007-05-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

lost £83,447.50 to holein2 tonight on £100/£200. i ran fairly dry but deserved. outplayed, outclassed, and outmoneyed.

the roll is £5k now and i'll have to start rebuilding again tomorrow on £10/£20 probably on the ring games. it hasn't kicked in yet, i will probably be depressed as hell tomorrow and first doubles match of the season as well then, hope i dont let the team down because of tonight's loss.

played alot of big pots tonight, several over £50k, including one for about £83k which of course i lost (my previous biggest pot to date was the one against jen or the $100k one against sincero back in november or whenever i lost that chunk).

i'll try post some hands tomorrow if i can bring myself to it.

nos da