......WHATA GRIND.....

20K HANDS

Alright so I should've updated this when I reached 10k hands, but I reached that pretty quickly so instead of just hitting my check marker I decided to go for 20k hands , I wasnt actually to pleased with how I played this month I was very spewy in spots but its a lesson for next month a wins a win and theres plenty of room to improve.

however this time I used another pokersite for a change being Fulltilt due to the hands per hour being faster, I have to admit I was recently doing well on there up quite alot quickly at 25nl ($200 on tilt) although I still played on PKR at times.


However like the idiot I am after I worked a night shit 9 till 6 in the morning I thought it would be a good idea at 7am till 9am to fire up a poker session........LOLZ

WARNING TO ALL: NEVER PLAY TIRED - EVER!

It cost me $100....I usually stop loss at 50 but...I was being an idiot lol
however the play style on other sites can be tougher alot more 3 betting/4 betting you just dont see on PKR.

Its not an ego thing playing on a mainstream site, its just longterm poker decission for me. To be playing with enough hands with a decent hud and having more tables to select from and to be confident I can support myself like this one maybe crazy dream to be a 'poker professional'. I gotta play with the better players for a while it sucks but I will have to learn until I get it right and then I will know if I can do this.

(AT PKR I CAN BEAT 25nl TO A PULP and will still play there for bread and butter if times get harder)

since the game selection at 50nl is vaster and the hands per hour are greater at fulltilt, and this also enables me for more professional coaching in the future which I'm considering.

however this is a poker decission longterm
PKR doesnt have a large poker population unfortuantley, but it does make up for this with the slew of bad players a 25nl and is profitable! At 50nl it seems like a bunch of regs and you get to the point where u know every one to well as they know you, not to knock it and it can sure be beaten, but since the competition is slightly better at 50nl most times I would like the option of table selecting hence adding in another poker site.

I have a big roll to tangle with these guys with and future grinding on pkr at the moment wouldnt really change how I see things even if I have like a massive roll
this roll will be my learning tution and if I need more back to pkr I will go! lol

iron on iron makes you a better player and all that. However when in need I will take the free money at the moment I'm fine, howver I did withdraw alot of this months winnings unfortuanltey but it was an emergency...which sucks bit it also paid partly for my roll at tilt.

FAST POKER NEWS

The Poker Hall Of Fame

It would be no suprise that every one was expecting Phil Ivey to be a very highly favoured hall of famer however it brought a storm of discussion in the poker community being the criteria of a hall of famer has to

*played for high stakes (tick)
*Consistently well (tick)
*Against acknoweledged top competition (tick)

however this is the one that caused problems
*Has stood the test of time (ummmmmm?)

how long is the test of time was the question
phil ivey is still a young player even though his achievements in the poker world has been mind exploding stuff, Phil Ivey himself said if he got elected as a hall of famer he would turn the award down!

....Ivey is so dam cool lol

but he got alot of respect for saying this from Doyle Brunson who said:
"Speaking of the Hall of Fame, my hat goes off to Phil Ivey who announced he wouldn’t accept the award if he was voted into the Hall. Phil said he didn’t want to be voted in until he was older than Chip Reese was when he was inducted as the youngest player ever. Chip was 43 and what a tribute to him from Phil. There is no doubt that Phil was the best player on this year’s list of nominees but that doesn’t mean he should go in yet. It also should show the committee they should have an age limit for the nominees."

Those who advocate an age requirement have been clamoring for a "Chip Reese Rule," which would require a nominee to be a minimum of 40 years old for induction
and is fully supported by Howard Lederer

when the results came in Ivey breathed a sigh of relief when the poker community elected Erik Seidel as the hall of famer.

in my opinion I really respect Ivey for this, hes still so young and to give him this award as well wouldnt give him much more to ahieve in the poker world, I wanna see how hes doing in the years ahead!


So I will be playing alot more fulltilt this month so the only way I can sumamrise my thoughts on this is this:



P.S : Still playign pkr just not as much as tilt this month unlesss I'm getting mud stomped lol


Good Luck at the tables.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Good to be back - So far so good!

So far so good

Its a new month and a new stake and I'm able to play 50nl again. The first day I played I was up $300 at 50nl and I'm up $150 at 25nl this month by mixing in the tables and trying to choose the juicer games. Over the solid regs
so in total this month I've already made $450.



In five days this was welcomed as you can imagine since I generally thought I would be down when moving back up the first week since I would have to adjust, but I didnt really have to do much of that. I think if you can truly crush 25nl games and I meen CRUSH It leaves you a very solid base for the 50nl game.

I've crammed in a alot of hands so far this month in just 5 days 3.3k hands and I'm working so thats pretty hard for me! Still a microscopic small sample size and nothing to really take away from my results so far this month. Lets see how I fair after 10k+ hands at the end of this month hopefully all is well.

Most sensible Idea I've ever had? - Probably

To be honest though I feel alot more cool headed when I play 25nl since if I have a loosing session its no biggy . And as for 50nl its no biggy..... in theory - but it really is lol.

So even though after the success I've already had at 50nl I'm still probably gunna play 25nl just more tables like 7+ tables of 25nl since I can reach the longterm with that and feel relaxed.

Where as if I played 50nl I really have to play 4 tables (MAX) and be focused on the shortterm if all goes bad I think its all about game selection. I will play 50nl constantly when I feel I have a strong edge over the competition but I think I will focus on more tables and higer volume of hands at a stake I have a high winrate and where varaince doesnt bother me as much.

My bankroll is so strong at 25nl its pretty laughable, and since reading the pokermindset and the psychological effects of poker and also reading 'Treat your poker like a buisness' by dusty schmidt he says 100 buyins at a givin stake is the best way to play poker.

I dont have 100 buyins at 25nl but I'm pretty dam comfortable to take losses were 50nl I'm not so much. I think 50 buyins at 50nl would be most optimal for constant play I'm not far off it at all which streangthens why I should play more volume at 25nl. Like I said though if I feel I can play a game of 50nl and have an edge I will, but I will be playing 25nl far more.

so what about a goal?

Well after reading The poker mindset I've kinda looked at setting goals as not to great since if I set a goal and dont reach it where does that leave me? and does this goal make me protective of my wins and losses?

For instance if I see a juicy 50nl game might I play scared? when I nearly reached my goal for the month? I might do subconsiousally when I should be thinking about the longterm expectation of playing that game. And for that reason I think the only goal I should be setting is the amount of hands I will play this month.

after I have reached the milestone hand mark I will review my month and tell you how it went. The most optimal goal in poker is to play well at all times no matter the outcome and to think of the longterm. How can I do that thinking about short term results? Its for that reason I'm no longer setting short term goals. It might be not as sexy as $ amounts made for the month but longterm its going to make me the most money.

If I play more hands the quicker I meet the longterm so thats the only goal I should have.

Hand Milestone this month - 10K hands - lets see how I manage it.

Fast Poker News

How does this man sleep?

...Gus hansen epic downswing or epic online donk? you decide.

Well I was pretty shocked to find that a famous poker pro such as Gus Hansen is actually down...

9 million!

yes all - YOU officially have made more money at online poker than Gus Hansen! You would have though after he lost say 3 million he would say okay my games not great and maybe I should move down? I'm really suprised by this obviously he has a very nice sponsorship deal with fulltilt but that surley cant pay that void of cash game neglegence he's shown. I actually love watching him live since his style is very exciting to watch but online it just isnt translating at all well, hopefully he can make an epic comeback, but this news to me seemed sickning to say the least.




Bad day on PKR?



Good Luck at the tables.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

25nl Goal completed

This month in summary

Alright with a title like this its gunna be a lengthy post, firstly I did meet my goal, and I'm very pleased of course, I just feel like I smashed it - I only played 6k hands and managed this.

update 29 september* after 6751 hands I spun it up to $443

Unfortuantley holdem manger is screwed at the moment so will show you a poker officer graph its not as nice in detail but meh u can see my swings at least:




However Once again I could've done alot better with my blogging but alot of work in my job really affected alot of things alot good some bad.

The Bad:
*I couldnt play as much poker and hands as I would have liked to I only managed 6k hands this month which is just riddiclously small and I could've made alot more I rekon.

The Good:
*I started to read and almost finished a book called 'The Poker Mindset' when I was to tired to play poker after work and during my lunch breaks. I rarely give advice or anything in this blog because I feel I'm in no position to playing the stakes I play, however I HIGHLY recommend you get this book whatever limit you play. It made me realise I looked at the entire picture of playing poker just wrong, I wouldnt say its totally sorted my tilting issues thats a never ending process but it helped me realise my tilting triggers and methods to avoid it I think, but its made me accept pokers realities alot better and just how to keep a healthy poker mind and keeping it all in prespective. It made me see that when I was at 50nl I did think about alot of it in the wrong way, so when I move back up I feel alot better armed to deal with poker as a whole game winning and loosing. So definatley read this book it will sort out so many problems in your game.

Here is the cover

*I enjoyed playing poker alot more, everytime I played poker it never felt like a grind and I enjoyed every second of it, obviously having limited to to play due to work helped and also and since I'm wayyy over rolled for 25nl also I have zen like attitude to taking everything on and just making the best poker deccissions

*I relearnt very important concepts in poker that helped my winrate.

*I can play 5 tables now and follow everything since I'm used to pkr update v2.0 and my mind is more in tune playing more tables now it seems.

* I learnt when to leave a game and when to keep playing - something that was a huge problem for me.

So what to do now?

I'm not entirley sure, if you asked me at the beggining of the month I would've said soon as I make this goal I'm moving up! and that woulda been just an ego thing since I looked down on playing 25nl again.

I have a decent winrate at 50nl but I would like to have a slightly bigger money cushion I would like another 200 on top so I can have 4 buyins as an extra cushion on top, since the first week is always ruff moving up.

I think for the time being though I'm just going to dip my toe in the water with 50nl will play alittle see how it goes, I'm still going to play 25nl mind as well as 50nl in the future as well since one lesson I learnt this month is if the games juicy - play it, ego is the most idiotic thing in poker and if theres free money take it. For instance if for one night I feel 50nl is full of regs and its not really worth my time I'll sit with the easy money at 25nl.

so bottom line is I'm gunna grind another 200 and alternate between stakes.

Fast Poker News

A home grown Chris Moneymaker story has hit PKR and the WSOP (world series of poker) europe.

This time being the name of Scott Shelly, a 24 year old customer service represenative who works for PKR won a staff tournament to the prestigious WSOP europe event held at London's Empire Casino. He entered the NL event #3 and he battled his way through a field of dreamers and professionals alike and reached the final table and finnaly heads up to face defending reigning WSOP champion JP Kelly with two wsop bracelets to his name and potentiol record breaker if he won this tournament, he would have broke Phil Iveys record as the youngest 3 time WSOP bracelet winner, as well as many other records. However with the odds stacked against him Scott showed remarkable Heads up skill attacking JP Kelly in to a corner, and finnaly finished him off winning himself the covereted WSOP bracelet and £133,857 in hard sterling!
check the vid out here:

Might not be posting as much as I have been soon

I don't usually bring up my personal life in my poker blog but for this one I will, since its going to effect my poker. I've been working pretty much constant overtime and will be working alot more around October through december, doing twilight shifts like 10pm till 6am and playing poker in any of my free time (free hours) , reason I'm doing this is because I gotta pay the bills! and pay for birthdays and Christmas while also investing in my course. So hopefully I can juggle everything but if I'm not posting to much soon I'm probably sleeping or playing poker instead lol and wont have to much time to blog although I will make an effort to.

hope this has been interesting and as always just a final video I found hillarious I rather think of this vid as the mind of the pkr fish.



Good Luck at the tables.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

25nl and I keep on winning

Today in summary

Yes as the title says my winning streak hasn't stopped!
So far this month I haven't had one loosing session and I'm halfway to this months goal of 300 in only 9 days. And its not like I'm putting in alot of days since I'm working alot. Today I made yet another $60 today, and yesterday I made $20. But as for today I admit even though I played well and caught a few bluffers and made some nice bluffs myself here and there I did catch some cards, in fact I ran real dam hot and got in to some dream spots that favoured me.

The players are still pretty bad though. I personally know I wouldn't get away with alot of the plays I make at 25nl at 50nl because they would be to obvious at 50nl but at 25nl people are more gun ho and don't think to much generally and are alot more call happy so I can raise bigger than normal and expect action.

It was only a few days ago I posted how I felt that 25nl was something I wasn't to proud of playing and I wanted to play got more cash and better players and all of that.

However now I'm completely turned around, to be honest seeing how big of an edge I have on the players at the moment even if I complete my goal I might just keep taking the free money and use 25nl money to invest in a 50nl cash game coach.

My winrate was decent at 50nl but nothing like my 25nl results overall (bb/100) I found making any ware between $500 to $1k at 50nl a very hard stress full process yet I seen 50nl cash game players making on average $1.5k to $3k so I'm still missing something that 50nl grinders are doing, also just to improve my game would be great so it would be something I will be definatley considering.

Interesting poker hand

This hand was a real interesting hand, so much so I actually asked other poker players about it on forums it brought up some good discussion and at the end of it I felt I had an answer to how the hand should've been played after looking at the advice. here it is I'm first going to let you look at it and let you decide how you would play this, then just below it I will put what I found to be the best way to play it.



Okay if you said all in on the flop, then firstly no.
The reason this is would be because we have the idiot end of a straight draw and not only that but not the highest possibility of the higher flush, and since were only going to get called by better its not worth re raising all in for such little gain, compared to the times we get called by better also gambling like this were we might only be a 55% fav at best at worst were 30% if the players have a set or straight.

The way the flop is played is fine by me so far, however on the turn is were it gets real interesting. the queen makes it so that anybody with a jack now has the straight and leaves me only really drawing to the flush draw which still maybe in trouble since Cashterm called he also maybe flush drawing or he already has the straight.

since Jellito re raised my bet I know he has some sort of hand whether that be two pair straight or a set, when he bets $7 I should fold I am calling because at the time I figure I'm getting good odds without considering all the other variables in this hand like, cash term being yet to act, the fact I might be drawing dead if Cashterm calls with ace hearts something or the fact I may just be 15% to win on the turn with the flush making it a bad play so folding the turn would have been best, I dont usually see a loosing hand I'm happy to talk about, but I felt I learnt quite abit on that hand.

Fast Poker News

Tony G is Jeremy Kyle in the
Daniel Negranu V Annie Duke

As some players may know who follow the news, last month in poker player magazine Daniel Negranu showed uncharacteristic anger directed at Annie Duke, both of these players have been reported to be at each others throats during there poker careers for reasons unkown, however Daniel was pretty pissed. Heres a transcript of what he said.

''What irked me is that this woman has the audacity on her website to call herself ‘the best female poker player in the world’. So on one side of the coin she’s fighting for, ‘Oh, we’re all equal, there shouldn’t be any gender thing,’ but when appropriate she decides to call herself the best female poker player in the world.

So I’m like ‘how offensive are you, you fucking cunt? You want to say you’re speaking for women, yet you claim superiority over all of them.''

Tony G of all people not bad mouthing or trash talking, but acting as pokers Jeremy Kyle trying his best to diffuse it came out with this heart warming letter to both players.

“Dear Annie and Daniel, Heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race. I write to you both here to plead with you to calm down and offer the guiding diplomatic hand of Tony G to smooth things over. If necessary I will lube up with aloe vera and lavender and give you both a deep relaxing massage.”

Tony G making the world a better place.

Might not be posting as much as I have been soon

I don't usually bring up my personal life in my poker blog but for this one I will, since its going to effect my poker. I've been working pretty much constant overtime and will be working alot more around October through december, doing twilight shifts like 10pm till 6am and playing poker in any of my free time (free hours) , reason I'm doing this is because I gotta pay the bills! and pay for birthdays and Christmas while also investing in my course. So hopefully I can juggle everything but if I'm not posting to much soon I'm probably sleeping or playing poker instead lol and wont have to much time to blog although I will make an effort to.

Hope this has been interesting and good luck at the tables.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Another day another $

Today in summary

So I've been playing pretty well today played for around 5 hours. I'm up $65
once again as I said in a previous post the PKR 25nl games are so riddiclously soft right now, it wasnt that easy before I'm sure of it, theres plenty of free money laying around so get your fishing gear out, like seriously I think PKR has got to be the best kept secret in poker. But of course you say its only 25nl, but this is pkr 25nl! lol

and with that said I've put my ego aside (kinda) and happily picked up the money and if this bad player barrage continues, I will be at 50nl in no time. But due to my experience I feel that train of varaince comming, I gotta expect the suckouts soon its suprising I missed so many with the junk I'm getting called with, sure I get the odd guy who makes his four card flush, but its not happening frequently like it used to. I dunno maybe I just ran bad for 1 year of my poker lol and I've been paranoid ever since.

Here I would usually post hand historys, but its so dam standard I just feel posting them and then commenting on them would be a waste after todays session basically they played terrible and called me with any type of draw.


Now as for this blog I think I should be adding in alittle poker news in here since
my ramblings probably get alittle tiresome so here it is:

Every week post I will try and post one bit of poker news that I feel is intresting, here we go.

Fast poker news!

*Phill laak has been involved in an ATV (all terrain vechile) accident that left him in a hospital bed! its kinda scary for him since if the main gash on him was slightly higher he would be without one eye... yea pretty bad here is a picture of a bloodied phil laak, he's since had a fine recovery and stiches removed so dont fear phil will be back at the tables soon.



and with that time to cheer you up, here is my hero singing/reading Poker face



Also remember to check and subscribe to my youtube page, got alot of great stuff on there and will be adding more.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

YOUTUBE!!

I've recentley decided since I'm an avid poker fan, I'd display my love for poker on youtube while shamelessly promoting pkr and this blog, so check out my youtube channel for

*Poker news
*Player interviews
*Poker documentary
*Cash plays
*Tournaments
*Poker tips & advice
and hopefully a whole lot more poker related videos

so check it out here!

TheGonzaPoker

Start of a new month and Back on my game

25nl and wrestling my ego

Well I've played well today and it made me $65 up

Its nice to be winning again, I've basically made myself relearn the back to basics stratergy and then added in little crevets of my 50nl game to add to 25nl and its working very well, and its always important to keep the basics in mind at any stake, sometimes at 50nl I found myself so wrapped up in mind games I sometimes pushed aside the basics, I think it was a mistake to do so, some players just play on that level of thiking at any stake.

Theres plenty of new players at 25nl at the moment and this is great since they dont know my style to well, and to be honest there just new fish to the game and I dont wanna let my ego get in front of me here but there play is predicatble and terrible to say the least, but I desperatley wanna play 50nl to at least play semi good players, its easy money and I shouldn't mind picking it up.

My ego should be the last thing on my mind and keeping it in the back of mind keeps my bankroll in the Black. Its just I miss the challenge of playing other good players thinking further than ''I have a hand and I dont know what he has but I'll call'' mindset u see alot of 25nl players have. Now not all players are like this there is some very good players at 25nl, but 50nl I felt I learnt alot more.

Although its important to remember that poker is all about making as much money as you possibly can without hurting yourself by loosing to much when ur ego gets in the way. This is a good lesson for me basically: screw ego get money, its whats poker is about.

Multi tabling

I was also thinking of adding more than 4 tables in to my games and get as many hands in as possible my only problem with this is that My mind boggles at 4 nevermind anything else. But I think it will increase my winrate and lower varaince, however I might just try and used to 4 for the time being, I'm used to playin 3 tables now very well and keeping track of every one so 4 is the next milestone of constant play minmum, hopefully I will start 6 tabling in the future mind
(if pkr has enough tables open!) and gets some realy hands per hour in.



So what about a goal?

So with that said I think within maybe a month I could be back at 50nl I would think maybe 2 weeks could be achievable but due to the fact I'm working alot more now one month seems alittle optimistic, but screw it thats the goal for the month getting back at 50nl $300 is needed.

So shuffle up and deal pkr!


Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Back to basics 25nl AND THIS BLOG!

*UPDATED EDIT*

I'm deciding to post alot more than usual, I want to try and make it a daily thing everytime I play, it helps my game alot and its nice to look back on these blog entries.

Todays Grind:
Well so far early morning today and part of yesterday I started at around 9pm didnt stop till 2am so 6 hour session I stuck with 3 tables and then cut down to 2 when I felt my mind/interest slipping and for the time being still trying to get used to the pkr v2.0 interface.

It didn't really go well I was down $50 for the session but it was mainly to blame for suckouts and just weird plays I forgot people do make at 25nl. I also noticed the later it got mainly around midnight there was plenty of fish, but with these type of agressive fish you do need a hand and the times I got one it got sucked out on or i just didnt get to many, It's nothing new and is pretty much standard as poker goes.

*EDIT* Just finished the session for the day I fit in an extra 3 hours when I finished all my errands for the day and I'm only $25 down...its not much but it all adds up! 1 BUYIN loss day meh I've had 150 down days at times so this doesnt really touch me/bother me lol


Here is a few hands of interest that shaped todays grind:

Hand 1
Well this is the first hand I tangled with this guy with, he played very aggressivley from what I seen from him,so preflop flat called because i didnt want to build a massive pot with this guy on the flop I hit, and now after I re raise his big bet I wanted him to feel he should push allin with a hand like a10, k10, j10 and all flush draws since he commited $3 on flop. I wanted him to hanghimself but with aces the hand played its self shame about the runner draw mind.



Hand 2
This hand I feel I should've gotten away from, sure hes an aggro donk but he did something weird preflop with the 1.30 raise it definatley ment he had a big hand also
and when he instant ships the flop I gotta figure set or overs here every time, sure he might have a9s or some other crap but its more times likley he has jacks beaten



Hand 3
Just not ever folding in this spot versus a high vpip player 60-70%



Hand 4
Low stacked high vpip once again, not folding.



Hand 5
Well this hand just confuses me alittle I think I played it alright but could've played it better by betting the turn deffinatley, however the reason at the time I never made that play was becuase I thought he maybe had a set or two pair, but this is irrational fear and on the turn I should be betting there knowing how bad the player is (70+vpip spazzy player)although even if I did bet turn he was alaways calling maybe even raising which would have put me in a weird spot definatley, Maybe the check was alright for pot controll and playing it easy but the river seemed like a block bet to me at the time I really didnt think he had a random 6 making trips I thought busted flush draw or kq



Hand 6
This hand was kinda intresting I bet big on flop and he calls making me think maybe flush draw maybe he has an ace, turn comes ace but the flush I put him on also just gets there he checks I check to see what river action he takes he checks again telling me that most the time he doesnt have the flush since it was his last street of value so now I can assume he has a weaker ace or he carried on stupidly with jack x ...maybe hard to tell what he had since he doesnt call river so maybe not ace more likley jack thinking I was on a bluff.



now to finish, bad session but with alot of bad situations its only natural

a quote that could be used for poker
'when life hands you lemons.....say fuck the lemons and bail'

See what tommorow or maybe today later on brings...yea

and lets round it up with a youtube vid of a guy from the projects who's sister nearly got raped serious topic eh?, but the funny way he expalined it got youtube people creative...then they came out with this pretty funny autotune
(check out the posters other vids tons of autotune stuff...hillarious)




Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Poker depression: Just got out of it, had to take a break, but i'm back

Well its been a while since I played nevermind updated this, but its been due to the fact I needed a break from poker, and I guess a break to sort my life out.

its been a while since I updated this so here is the bad news firstly


*I've dropped down from 50nl to 25nl:
this was a hard pill to swallow as you can imagine.

It wasnt due to the fact I couldnt beat the game, since I was beating it regulary and making a decent amount. The problem was, around the time I moved to 50nl I had a fianancial issue with my rent, it went up slightly and my real job wasnt even paying the full amount. So poker was needed to pay part of the rent and then I had to pay myself living costs so I had to use poker every month I had to give myself at least living costs on top of my rent. First month this was easy, since I already did well in my first month of 50nl so I withdrew a decent amount and just made a point of keeping an extra $500 on top of my bankroll I could use to cushion.

On Hindsight this is were my problems started I made it so that my bankroll couldnt grow and became more succeptable to a downswing becuase of it, after adding up all I made I could have moved up to 100nl very comfortably rolled right now, but bills. And my relecutance to do overtime in work which I now realise would have been the most +Ev decession for my bankroll since it could have just kept growing un hindered, however being part time employed, and the soul crushing job that it is I chose poker :)


it was around the 3rd month I started getting in to trouble I withdrew a fair amount again but this time I had to take money off my cushion just to pay the minimum living costs. And after that I had a very bad run in halfway to month 4 I lost 600 it was bad play and bad luck combined which is the most fatal combination for a bankroll. It put me in a very bad situation being rent was comming up and my bankroll for 50nl was average 20buyin...I dont like average buyins it adds stress on top of what I was already doing. But I now had a poker decission away from the table, If I continued to play 50nl I could've seriously damaged my bankroll if I downswinged more and made the process of playing 50nl alot harder and getting back up to 50nl was also a concenern if i lost 10 buyins for example.

So I bit the bullet and said I gotta move down.

I always remember an article I read saying that your never a 50nl player or 100nl player...your a poker player and you have to move down or up according to you as a poker player thinks is the best option, I seen this as my best option since in a month i could be back at 50nl cracking heads again rather than risking more of my roll to do so.

But this puts me in a real life problem.... so I decided to do some more soul crushing work overtime, but in the middle of this I realised how stupid i was to try and go pretty much pro with such a low bankroll and also realising i played bad , put me in this spot wasnt a help neither. I decided that poker was something i wanted to do still after having a taste for it isnt glamarous at all and its STRESSFULL but...i'm kinda sick and I enjoy the ups and downs in one way.

I eventually will turn pro however, I have to sort my mind out first, I cant be worrying about bills and money, poker money and real life should never interjecht. unless ur playing high enough and have the skill and bankroll to support it. So this meens I'm gunna do a course in a subject i wouldnt mind working in, it should take less than a year to be earning decent amount of money in a job i wouldnt mind doing, but doing this I think is a smart option, if i have decent money it meens i can play higher games and steadily improve my skill with 1 on 1 coaching, also its nice to have that to fall back on.

for the time being slight soul crushing overtime but you will probably see more of me on the tables soon, growing my bankroll...not withdrawing it!!

I've only recently got my head around playing again since I've been working alot and had alot on my mind with poker. This is were my depression came in the feeling of failure, however I learnt more from my failure than I have of my success in poker I came back playing recently to get back on my feet, and I realised that its not the end of the world and 50nl isnt far away from playin again I know I'm a winning player at 25nl with very good winrate so it shouldnt be a problem when I reach 50nl I should rocket up since I wont be withdrawing.

seeing how serious I got in this post here is something to light it up some



And also a real amazing youtube vid I came across I just had to share.
(dont usually post this sorta thing but why not?), check it out
guy is talented!



Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Poker Downswing - 'You gotta be willing to take the hits.....'

Once again I havnt posted in a long time, however when you run bad and you finish the day feeling like shit the last thing you wanna do is tell everyone else your feeling like shit or shaken up about the constant barrage of beats your taking.

Even more so since it can be used as a strategic advantage on the table, and I know alot if not all my readers come from people I've met on the table. And even though there is a certain comarade ship with fellow grinders I know personally if I had any sort of information on a player/friend on a table I would try to ruin you and I expect no differnt from other friends/players on the table, since it's just a war at the table.

with that said its been a while since I was runnin bad really and I'm now running normally and confident in my game again so posting this I feel will not effect my game with players I meet.

after my last post I had the big goal to meet 1500, however after posting that i didnt go up for about a week in fact I went down , alot more than I ever been in my poker life

this maybe due to the fact this was my first real downswing at 50nl aswell but In my first week I dropped around 450 down i had one or two day were I lost 200 in a day, and it was stuff like:

set over set, kings v aces, lower flush v higher flush and straight versus the nut straight. Just really unavoidable stuff, and I avoided alot more hands really that coulda made me loose alot more. During this period In the second week I found it hard to motivate myself to play poker I didnt play 1k hands a day like usual.

I just played some call of duty, and watched some vids as a breather to take my mind off poker.(although it just kept banging in the back of my mind, wtf you doing, this aint achieving anything go on and play!)

so I would end up playing like 400 hands a day anyways I just kept reviewing my hands looking for spots where I coulda played better and I looked at previous session in which I did well to motivate myself to play and to remind myself I'm a good player. I tryed to keep positive attitude to it all, I'm rolled pretty healthy at the moment so I think this helped alot psychologicaly, but this vid pretty much sums up that week of complete utter wtf!!!! and FML I felt




However there is a light at the end of the tunnel

at the end of my second week my hands held I got paid off and I made back all the money I lost 450 and Made 480+ in profit, and really looking back at this it wasnt a MASSIVE downswing at all I meen I lost near 9 buyins but, I've heard horror storys of people loosing alot more it can definatley be classified as a downswing for sure.

however I just think this strengthens the reason for bankroll management and to play comfotably at limits, I meen if I make the other part of my goal the 1k or even if I made 500 I think alot of it would stay in my bankroll and I would take some out for play money but I would leave a higher amount in my roll than I would actually take out.

Since i'm playing pretty much semi pro now part time job + this I gotta pay myself a wage but I also have to invest in my buisness which is poker.

So I think I will be more carefull with it for sure, it was a nice wakeup call actually that poker isn't as glamorous easy lifestyle and its very high stress, however I think the biggest part of my game now is learning to deal with variance better, it's probably the most important skill when playing poker and I think its the main reason why alot of players fail to eventualy turn fully pro.

I have a brother who plays at the site at the lower limits and it also was a bad start for him hes playing micro stakes cash games to get a feel for it, and I look over his sessions and he looks at mine and we give eachother advice on plays and general poker, and he faced a hell of a downswing due to the massive varaince of microstakes cash games, he would always be ahead and would loose. And I noticed that some bad plays came after this because he was trying to mix it up with people who just didnt have a fold button, but after he realised he was playing bad as well as running bad, he just kept reminding himself of the longterm and he also came out of his downswing and is now near back on top, so just a reminder to everyone downswigns do happen, its hard to deal with but you must keep being honest with yourself and know your playing every hand to the best of your ability and try and keep a positive attitude

I have like 15 days to my goal now hopefully I keep running okay, and I meet my goal

keep positive.....just like mike



Time for the SICK SICK SICK hand historys .......LOL

lets just say I know this guy to well, and knew he was holding the weaker ace



......FML



Now this hand I had alot of value against him if he had like kings or aces preflop, and with the stack sizes, this is a good call here I think since i'm getting great implied odds here I know this guy is tight so I know he usually has a good range of cards here he could go broke on if I hit big enough. on the flop I get the open ended draw for a $5 investment on the flop I think for what the implied odds against this rocks range itsa good call, since if i hit hes goin broke on aces kings or a set for his entire stack, I do hit and I'm a 75% fav and as expected he ships all in, and it has gone to plan ...or has it



this seems standard however on the flop I felt he was cbetting, on turn i did feel I was beat when he re re raised me, since hes a very VERY tight player and the only thing that didnt make me fold was thinking i know he has a set but it might be 2's when he checks the river i was thinking okay maybe he was playing with an ace king and all the draws got there so hes checking for pot controll or he might think the same with the 2's but no he had the 9's, an intresting spot but really never folding there.



and finnaly daniel has something to say on the matter of running bad to an interviewer






Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

The Goal has been reached!!! - TIME FOR A NEW GOAL!

The goal has been reached (1000 in a month) on the 17th of may!!!

so thats 2 weeks and 3 days I achieved the goal for the month.

I admit there was one week as you seen were I just had alot of good varaince, hitting hands getting paid off and more importantly they held!

I've been recently PUNISHED with a week of bad varaince but I still went up and reached my goal. just not as quickly as I hoped.

(I will post a section maybe in a few days time of the bad varaince I included but wanna make it a good post so I will leave it for today)

So this has left me to wonder how much I could make from the 18th of may to the next 18th june doing it this way then averages as usually when I get paid from my real job.

And it also tells me if I can make a decent wage from poker as well (I'm not gunna leave my job or do anything that drastic yet....well not until I think i can crush 200nl a long dream away!!!)

but it would be intresting to see how much I could make. doing this would boost my roll and also give me some play money which is nice, so the goal for the 18th of june is!!!! DRUM ROLLLL!!!!

$1500

Its a massive goal maybe to big really but wanna push myself to the limit on this one see if i can reach it or surpass it, wish me luck , people at my tables ...put the money in the bag!!

a nice inspirational vidd I found but I like to add a video to a blog specialy ones liek these :)




Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

About dam time eh? Well this week I DESTROYED the tables!!!

Lets kick it off wid samuel L Jackson!



BADMOTHER FUCKER!!!!!!! lol

As the title says about dam time I updated this!

Its been due to sheer exhaustion and slightly me being lazy....okay....really lazy lol

but after my first week of 50nl I had swings of break even and I basically had to re-evaluate my game from the ground up, it seemed I suffered from FPS (fancy play syndrome) although in some spots were fps is a good thing, what I was doing just wasnt!

I was just trying to outplay every one, which is a recipe for disaster!!! I think my average vpip was like 30% which is just ridiclous. However after alot of hand history reviews and session reviews I quickly found my leaks......and i'm gunna keep them private since I'm still working on them ! ;)

and I think I ended last month on break even.....however this month or should I say week I've had the game in a choke hold, the play has improved and so has my edges I'm quickly finding a nice winning style and its working out well for me and in just one week I've pulled in $787 ooooo Go on have a look at the graph



the hand samples are pretty small though so I can only take this as good varaince and I think good play my ev is right up there also so yea thats great and it makes me wonder if I'm gunna smash this months goal!
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I also HIGHLY recommend a certain book I'm reading at the moment called



'Treat your poker like a buisness'
by Dusty Schmidt


This guy has pulled in $3million so far and is now earning a million a year in poker
and is pretty much known as the ULTIMATE grinder you will find with his nickname leatherass its no suprise.

The book is a real eye opener and has pluged in a real work ethic and inspiration in the game or buisness of poker, and its probably the best book you could get at the moment. he has some great chapters in that book and I HIGHLY recommend you get it.

(no way affilated with him although I wish I was!)
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Now lets put some wrong weird and wonderfull hands in

FML....moment

I think this is the ULTIMATE COOLER OF ALL TIME!!!!!! still made me chuckle more than weep :)



Just SEXY

Does it ever get any better than this? on the river I just felt some big hands was standing here so i decided to ship hoping they calledi figured on of them had a ten or one of them might have a straight or lower set, getting paid eachway was nicer.




Ivey call

I just really felt he wasnt representing anything here and I went with my inner ivey and was rewarded.



A Tom Dwan moment!
Also a very cheeky bluff here if he reads this blog.....he'll never EVER fold to me again lol

sorry m8 it just looked like you really didnt like that turn had to stack the pressure on since I thought u would fold, never thought u had kings mind lol knew u had a pair though.



So 50nl as a whole is going well for me at the moment I feel that I will smash the record soon and it makes me wonder what my month record will be.....hmmm poker for a living? we will see

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

50 NL - First week at school

yes as the title says it felt like I was the new kid in school at 50nl there are some familiar faces but alot of new ones, which i'm still learning about there play styles and generaly there attitude, does one guy control his tilt better than the other guy etc.

One thing I noticed is that the plays at 50nl are alot more trappy, and loose doesnt neccesarly meen FISH as it 99% of the time does at 25nl, the play styles are more thought out and the players are alittle better, but doesnt meen there arnt any fish neither since sometimes I could be sitting down in an aquarium sometimes, so this tells me table selection is alot more important, only problem is pkr is a still relativley small site and the fish dont come on till around 3 or 5 ish.

I can handle myself with the regualrs now as well, on the first day and along the week it was pretty rough though, I lost 4 buyins quickly yes all thats $200!

There was definatley a learning curve, the betsizing is alot bigger than I was used to and it just took me awhile to get that $6 isnt a huge bet and its pretty average.

I also still thought $50 as 2 buyins but I soon got rid of that, and fixed these problems near the end of the week I made back all the 4 buyins! and 4 more

yes made $200 this week up! and got pretty settled at 50nl and I feel at home there alot more than I started, I think I will be pretty comfortable up here with betting taking a stack and loosing one aswell.

I will update this post with some good and bad hands tommorow alittle tired at the moment.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

I'VE DONE IT! 25NL

Yes 50nl here I come!

(just to make this even more epic ..)



I reached my goal today the 19th of april, I havnt updated the blog to much recently or daily like I planned but the jist of it is, that I'm playing great becuase of me looking back on hands and constantly scrutinising my play, the hands are holding and I'm getting paid, in around 6 days i've made around 250, which is very nice!
I feel that I always have money at 25nl whenever I play it again now so if I have to drop down it wouldnt be terrible since i know i can beat it (however it would suck).

I think I have become a much better cash game player, than beforehand of this blog and me taking it a slight more serious, the main leak I had was knowing when to give up and knowing when not to bluff, soon as I fixed this mainly by learning alittle bit more on board textures and players traits I made alot more $ at 25nl

I'm alittle anxious of what 50nl will throw at me and getting used to the bet sizing but I heard from another player that 50nl isnt all that different from 25nl just richer fish , which of course I hope hes right, but I still think there might be a learning curve, and I cant help but have engranined thats 2 buyins of 25nl! lol which I gotta loose pretty quickly and just realise its a buyin, so hope I do well today on my first grind of 50nl will tell you all what happens, I wont give myself a goal yet since i dont wanna pressurise myself to much I think I will seta goal another day when I feel alittle more comfortable, todays goal is get used to it!

Shuffle up and DEAL!

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Back On Form!- Great Day

Playing GOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Yes today I'm pretty happy about how I played, I made around 4 buyins and its great to see I made back what I lost and consiously made sure I was Grinding my bankroll rather than choosing spots to gamble in, and I feel I'm getting someware.

I corrected alot of mistakes so far this month, and it's thanks to the loosing sessions and this blog to serve as a reminder, however I also noticed that I'm getting bluffed alot more than usual this month, sometimes the bluffs are almost so crazy its like watching a suicide bomber going to the felt with nothing.

I've lost around 2 or 3 big hands like this, just becuase of terrible boards and my reclutants to gamble on some hands, however I've also won 3 pots by catching bluffers out so I guess I welcome it since I've made alot more than I lost from gamblers so............ BRING ON THE GAMBLERS! I will catchem out!!!!

I'm playing pretty dam well enough were I'm not gambling and they are when they make a big move on me so I guess I should welcome gamblers since there easy money I guess. (hate to sound like a hellmuth clone but the plays are shockin somtimes :p )

Check out these hands.

This hand was pretty hard to laydown I had no reads on villain and when I bet hard on the turn and get re raised I think most the time I'm mostly beaten by an unknown but no he bluffed me big time





First off I usally have a good read on players and what there capable of but this player in particular was just almost determined to bluff me no matter what at all costs lol, I didnt think he would be bluffing this huge again after the other hand.

This is the suicide bomber I was mainly talkiing about. I just cant see how he can continue to bluff me after I called his re raise on the flop and bet massive on turn the river J of hearts if the worst card in the deck since every draw gets there anbd so does his hand range I put him on maybe a flush maybe a straight draw, I could even be beaten by a set here, was a sick hand he had Q4! nothing

if that river never came I think I was calling, he got very lucky.



As you can see I had two massive bluffs from the same guy but the spots were so difficult I would think any 1 would find it hard to hit call button in those spots.

However I did get back at some other filthy blufffers!!! muhahahaha

I think I should have led out on this flop regardless but check calling isnt to bad.
Specialy since I thought he was bluffing here after watching his play and having a read on him, but i tryed not to go all in since I was 70% he didnt have it.




Here is another hand where the play is beyond retarded by the player really, I knew the river bet was suspect since I thought he would ship more likley if he had flush and I also knew the player from a past game and seen he had a tendency to bluff.




And he tryed bluffing me again straight after 2 hands later...LOL

although really I shoulda re raised the turn all in since he coulda been drawing and since I thought I was already ahead I shoulda shipped...my bad lol



and just one more for the extra LOL.....so much is wrong with this LMFAO



But ended the day up and looking good!

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

Its going badly, but nothing I shouldnt be shocked at

I've lost around 4 buyins a day before today and I felt pretty shitty, but I realised later on that 2 were due to bad play and the other 2 was coolers and I can only take it on the chin and move on, I'll get it back and I have to keep a positive attitude I guess.

However today was crazy and I started at around 12pm and lost 2 buyins pretty sharpish, one was due to terrible play by me not realising the set and not having dispiline to fold the aces, and the other was a cooler and I later had a small loss around 60 down so far . So after comming off a loss this wasnt a great start of getting back on my feet.

I then said that no matter what I'm gunna play through my beats and as long as I felt I was playing correctly and I wasnt tilting or letting it controll my play and I wouldn't stop until I was even or slightly up, just to make myself realise that I'm better than these mistakes I'm making and if I play long enough I would be even or up alittle if I played enough hands. You have to rember a day before i took a 4 buyin loss and I thought it would be bad on my mental attitude if i took another loss like that again.

(this is said to be bad I guess but why should I quit for a day if I felt i was playing right)

It didnt ment I played scared, I chose spots and played through some horrousious bad beats and in the end after 2000 hands in one session ended 5 up LOL but it was more about me knowing I could play better than most on the table and me trying to prove it to myself and I did make back and alittle more of what i lost, comming back after a big loss knowing u played ur best and achieved what u wanted feels great hopefully I can turn the next few days in to more profit and make back the 4 buyin loss day which has threw me off schduele, but I feel stronger for the loss, so just to round off my session with two videos that are cheesy as hell!
although the rocky vid is nice for poker bad beats lol




and also remember! (time for some 80s cheese!)




Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker

swingy session but got back up

Today was really my first 'True' grind this month I played around 1000 hands, in my house this time, and had mixed views on my session, firstly me starting my grind on a monday is harder anyways since the fish dont seem to be there as much as friday through sunday.

And since I started a 2pm or 3pm I was up against other regualrs and I usually find sometimes these guys are cash cows if u play them right since they play so abc I was cbetting nearly every hand and taking it down on the flop or turn.

These are all loosing hands I'm posting but I think its great for me to look at and learn from, and maybe you to, I did win alot of other pots bringing me back up eventually but it coulda been alot more if I avoided these mistakes.

I got it up quickly doing this to around $20 then I think I started playing way to loose for example this 67 suited hand preflop is'nt bad but on the flop cbetting a board like that is never good and double barreling on the turn was pretty disgusting play by me. that was my first medium loss of $7 which should have been avoided if I played better.

Hand 1



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hand 2

I made one very big mistake which cost me a buyin with queens, which on second glance I should have avoided.

The Raise pre and on flop is fine and maybe calling the re raise from tlp is fine also since her vp was wide enough where she would be raising aj there as well, howver i shoulda dhut down when to all ins were declared before i acted since what am i really beating here after a re raise a shove and a call of a shove i should be dropping this hand, its very likley at least one of these players have a set or twopair and could saved a buyin here.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hand 3

This was just a tricky spot for me where I felt I had to call the flop re min raise, I bet out here to try and take pot control and eitehr add value to my hand if I do hit my flush or king or bluff them off the pot, but after the re min raise I was expecting over pairs and thought thats what she was defending queens and low hope fully since I hit my king on th turn with a flush draw or the chance to hit another k or j the turn bet is big and here i just find it ver y hard to fold and I call once more hoping to hit my draws since its obvious she has a big hand here and the pot is stacking up on the river it blanks and she bets 4.50 a bril value bet really but I have to call becuase she could still have qq or jj and the pot alone is now like 25 but this hand I'm not to sure on I think I shoulda been getting 2 to 1 on my money to make this play which I wasnt, however i found it hard to beleive that she had a 5 here after the raise preflop i was putting her on a pair so i was thinking 5's quads and aces or kings at worse.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hand 4

This hand wasnt badly played at all really, but its just a tuff spot, it starts off pretty standard I get kq near the button I raise it I get called by some one in position. I flop a queen and I cbet $2 thats pretty standard I get called so now I'm thinking okay time for some information about his hand so I bet $4 on the turn to either try and stop a flush draw or to see if he ships, I know he probably has over pair ot two pair or better if he calls maybe he might have the flush draw and is getting stubborn or he has AQ

The river comes the ace making two outs the ace and queen making more unlikley he has aq and is maybe on a jqs or a flush draw and missed so when I check to him and he ships I feel I have to call unfortuantley he has the hand but, I cant really see much of the mistake I made here since he was a pretty loose player I think it was just unlucky and I think in the long term I would be winnign this pot.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hand 5

In this hand I got to loose and I think I made a mistake by calling the re raise the turn isnt a bad bet to try and win the pot but on the flop I should have given it up really, he did smooth call ak but after I raise and he re raises he most likley has it since this guy is a pretty tight player and i dont think he would re raise a cbet when i raised preflop with nothing , not his style wot so ever so bad play by me, nice try on the turn I guess though.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hand 6

This hand I'm not sure is bad again maybe the call on the flop isnt terrible since the player with 4's is agressive I knew at the time he would make some sort of play on this hand and I figured if he didnt have anything after bravepitt shipped I thought the pot is big enough for me to make this call on the flop and see the turn and pray that he checks it on the turn or makes a smaller bet making it okay for me to call he doesnt and makes a massive bet which I think for what his hand ended up being was pretty bad for him, checking the turn woulda been great for him if I hit my flush i woulda shipped all day, but I make a disiplined fold on the turn. not a bad play but just a pot where it was kinda intresting



some nice spots there, hope I learned from it.

Here is some great sites to try out:

• Learn poker at DragtheBar for 7 days free! click here
• PKR is a cool 3D poker site, also super soft! PKR Poker