Pokerlifter's September

Raising Pots

Welcome to the second of my monthly updates and I'm pleased to announce that September's is a lot more positive than August's! I'm sure all of my avid readers will remember how August looked but for those of a more casual approach to my blog here's a quick reminder:

Hands: 16,871
Hours: 47.58
BB/100: -0.96
$/hour: -$0.14
Total winnings: -$6.48
Total rakeback + bonus: $26.02

Total for the month: $19.54

So, as we remember August was a positive month thanks to that lovely bonus at Full Tilt Poker and my 27% rakeback. Not a sustainable source of profit as August saw the end of my main "First Deposit" bonus so future profitability would have to rely on actually being a winning player on the virtual felt, something I was keen to improve upon. So improve I feel I did. The first thing I did was openly admit I was a losing player and not able to beat the lowest stakes online, Something that is true for approximately 90% of people playing online poker but not something easily admitted. It was time to check Pokerlifter's ego at the door and face some home truths. So I posted on that wonderful forum cardschat.com and got a ton of positive feedback. The best came from a certain American on there (identity shall remain private here) that offered to sweat me a session. We finally got one setup and arranged and it took place last Sunday. He sweat me for about 90 minutes and although we were cursed with a slow connection and a slight time delay over Skype we managed to get some important thinking points across to me. Not least the rather simple question "Why are you betting?". Easy question hey? I'm playing poker and I have a good hand. Not enough. So, every move and every decision I now make on the felt I can hear his West Virginian twang in my ear saying "Why are you betting here?" and that's not to say it's always the wrong decision, far from it. I just need to constantly justify my decisions to myself and this allows me to think clearer about my opponents range and what he is calling or raising me with. Finally the one thing I have also played carefully is position. Yawn, yawn. Yes, we all know position is vital in poker but how many of us truly utilise it? Well, I'm trying my best to play as few hands out of position as possible and really hammering those limpers that act before me, so far this has been a positive step. Third and finally this month I read, or should that be re-read "Harrington on Cash Games Vol 1". I say re-read because I got this book early in the year and read it and took in approximately zero information from it. So, I read it this month and really attempted to understand it and I found it thoroughly engaging and helpful. Easily dismissed I believe as being too conservative and not relevant to the micro stakes this book does have a lot of information that is relevant and applicable. Sure, the metagame stuff can be ignored for the time being but I still got something out of it. So, Volume 2 sits beside me dear reader as I write this and I shall delve headfirst into that in October. So, enough words Pokerlifter, tell us the tale of the tape...OK, I will and I'm very happy to do so:

Hands: 15,476
Hours: 40.35
BB/100: 3.61
$/hour: $0.55
Total winnings: $22.37
Total rakeback + bonus: $18.08

Total for the month: $40.45

Impressive hey? I think so. Except for going tilt monkey last night and losing $10 I did extremely well this month. Now, I'm not yet getting my Full Tilt Pro badge and challenging Tom Dwan to some heads-up action but nonetheless I'm feeling positive with my play and although officially being rolled for $5NL I'm sticking with $2NL until my play is proven as winning and not just a heater, as I am running slightly (very slightly) above EV.

Lifting Weights

I hate writing this section. Not because it's not relevant or because I don't like this section but because it's shameful and embarrassing. I know some of you love this section and berate me for writing a massive poker section and a small gym one (you know who you are...) but it's just words here. Read up, the poker section is quantifiable...I played this much, I won this much. Graphs, stats, pretty pictures if you want them. But here, it's just me saying I Must do better. Well, I really must do better. Here's the thing. Did I gym this month? Yes. My twitter followers know this. Ask them. It won't take long there's only three of them. But it lacked structure, badly. You can't just go in run, throw some weights around and progress but that's what I'm doing and far from regularly enough. So, here it comes...the big promise. I'm gonna train hard in October. I'm going to devise a schedule this week whilst at work (don't tell my boss) and stick to it. I shall likely begin with Rippetoe and then throw in a few challenges which I like, more than likely the 100 push up challenge which I shall start from week 1. Yes, that's what I'll do.

I shall end September's blog as I did August's with the following threat...

Come on October. What have you got? Back in a month