Bring It...

Raising Pots

Firstly, once again many, many apologies for failing to blog last week!! Blame my best friend that visited and our 17 hour drink session which finished at 6am last Sunday and wrote off any chance of me writing a coherent blog. As such I will treat you to a double blog this week...lots to cover too so let's not waste any more time.

So last week I had my first lesson with my new poker coach and have to say it was a revelation. I managed to find a number of spots where I wasn't extracting maximum value and also a few (a lot) where I was spewing dollars post flop. It was also interesting just to try and build my game from the ground up. There have also been some major changes to my game on recommendation from my coach. Firstly, and most importantly, the number of tables I play has been cut down to 4-6. For a volume junkie like me this has caused a major slow down in pace but has allowed me to find better value spots and help me to better maintain my 'A' game. I think for too long at 12 tables I was just playing on auto-pilot and, I whether I like to admit it or not, was just button mashing like the players I seek to exploit. This slow down in pace has caused my some minor difficulties in Iron Man due to it taking a lot longer to hit the points I need, however I am confident to hit bronze in March. Silver could have been on the cards at 12 tables but until I get my leaks plugged winning on the tables is far more important than bonuses. This is also true of rakeback and I will expect a major reduction in my weekly pay cheque. However, I am confident that once I have started playing better I can increase the tables one at a time.

So the tale of the tape (13th March - 19th March):

Hands: 6,600

Hours: 10.25

BB/100: -6.02

$/hour: -$8.17

Total winnings: -$83.79

Total Rakeback: $13.91

Total for the week: -$69.88

I know. My worst week at the tables ever. It felt like it too. Towards the end of this week I felt sick of the game. I was playing terribly, I felt tilted and was playing the worst poker of my life. My coaching could not have come at a better time. My mind and game were in desperate need of focusing and that is exactly what I believe it has done...enough said about this week except to say the huge loss was all down to me tilting off money following some cooler hands...no excuse for it and my coach has recommended a stop-loss of 4 buy-ins a session.

So the tale of the tape (20th March - 26th March):

Hands: 5,389

Hours: 14.88

BB/100: 0.87

$/hour: $0.63

Total winnings: $9.36

Total Rakeback: $8.91

Total for the week: $18.27

Better, a positive week and a much better approach to the game. The week was looking a lot better until I had one of 'those' sessions yesterday when I lost the usual set over set type coolers and lost two buyins. On the whole a more considered approach to my game, a lot tighter (in position) and really thinking about the positions I'm in, who my opponents are and when/why I'm betting, calling or checking. I really am starting to feel like a thinking player and although I'm still not a good player and sometimes make plays that even make me wanna weep I'm improving, of that I am sure. I have managed to get myself into quite a rut in March and am likely to be on the end of my first losing month since November 2010, a losing month at the tables at least, which is all that really matters. The bonuses and rakeback should be just that...bonuses. I will be playing everyday between now and the end of March in order to hit my iron man and will try my best to limit the damage for March.

Lifting Weights

I'm now two weeks into P90x and it is killing me...in a good way. There is no denying that it is extreme and it's gonna be no easy challenge to complete but hopefully I will prevail. Not one part of my body doesn't ache as I sit here writing this but all the aches are worth it. The workouts are tough and involve super-setting muscle groups in order to completely exhaust the body and keep it guessing - there is a strong cardio element too and also some workouts I have never tried such as Plyometrics (the mother of all workouts) and Yoga (extremely difficult). The first phase is all about fat stripping and creating a lean base in which to add bulk to later so I'm also on a high protein low carbohydrate diet for the first four weeks. It has been great to be eating some healthy food and knowing that I am complimenting my workout with the right fuel. It hasn't been easy to stick to and at times has been a struggle to create three new main meals a day but as I say I'm really hoping the results will be positive.

See you mid-week for an end of March review.

Super Excited!

Raising Pots

Hi all! Sorry for missing a post last week but as I think I mentioned I was off skiing down a mountain in Switzerland, but I'm back and in one piece and happy to do double tale of the tape for you all. So the first couple of weeks of March have been fairly up and down to be honest. Not to be an EV adjusted obsessive as I'm aware of its limitations but I'm running pretty far below EV, as much as it shouldn't be read into too much it is reassuring to see that losing streaks are down to variance and not too many horrific plays, though they still exist! I don't think I'm in any kind of swing at the moment anyway, be it up or down. I seem to be running fairly break-even (slightly ahead perhaps) but nowhere near where I want to be. To this end I have been on the hunt for a coach and may have just got one that I'm fairly happy with. Was disappointed to lose one that I was really excited about but some changes meant that he was unable to take new students. Anyway, I have found a reasonably priced one now who I am hoping will be able to cork some of those dastardly leaks and get my winrate where I want it.

So, tale of the tape (27th February - 5th March):

Hands: 10,372

Hours: 14.32

BB/100: -1.46

$/hour: -$2.11

Total winnings: -$30.20

Total rakeback: $25.15

Total for the week: -$5.05

So, not a great week at the tables, 3 buyins down is in no way horrendous and the lovely rakeback saved the day as always making the week as near as dammit break even. Fairly pleased with the volume though I had a few sessions where I should really not have played at all due to feeling under the weather and being slightly distracted but am not too disappointed. When AKs and KK make up your two biggest losing hands of the week you know it just wasn't gonna be your week! On to the second week!

So, the tale of the tape (6th March - 12th March)

Hands: 4,186

Hours: 6.22

BB/100: 4.01

$/hour: $5.41

Total winnings: $33.61

Total rakeback: $12.97

Total for the week: $46.58

So, as you can see not a ton of volume put in this week due to getting back from holiday and being out most evenings but managed to get 5 sessions in (4 winning, 1 losing) for a pretty good winrate. The sort of winrate that I strive to achieve over a larger sample. My current winrate at $10NL is around 1BB/100 which is not great at all and needs improvement. This is where the coach comes in and more on that next week I hope.

Lifting weights

Wow am I super excited!? Tomorrow sees the start of my P90x - I have been waiting to get on this now since I got it a couple of weeks ago and am so excited to be kicking it off tomorrow. It's such an intensive workout but I think I have the heart to see it through. Have been sorting the nutritional side of things out this week too for you see P90x comes with a whole 'healthy eating' plan. Phase 1 (first 30 days) is all about high protein, low carb - Phase 2 (second 30 days) ups the carbs to get the energy up and the final phase (last 30 days) kicks in with a high carb diet. I am so excited to be starting this and to be eating some great healthy food and can't wait to blog week 1 for you all next Sunday!

Until then!

Pokerlifter's February

Raising Pots

Oh what a month. My 'business plan' for 2011 had me hitting $10NL by April, a little conservative in retrospect, and I'm pleased to report that the main change to poker for Pokerlifter in February came in the form of playing $10NL when my bankroll hit $300. A real achievement and one I'm very proud of, moving up in limits when you've really ground out a profit and 'cut your teeth' at the level before is a very satisfying feeling. As with my move up to $5NL it was a nervous start and I dropped down to 6 tables at

the beginning to really 'feel out' the level - later moving to 9 tables and back to my standard 12 by the end of February. I had a huge upswing at the start of my $10NL adventure and felt, as you do, invincible. Just like my move to $5NL - BOOM - I dropped back to $0 profit in the space of few sessions. A reality check and some analysis later and I was abl

e to grind out a profit by month (see numbers below).

The second major change was my discovery of the Iron Man promotion on Full Tilt - basically it's another form of point collecting and bonus making. The key to any profitable player is making sure they squeeze all t he value they can out of their poker site and take advantage of all the promotions.

So the tale of the tape:

Hands: 35,765

Hours: 60.42

BB/100: 1.54

$/hour: $1.61

Total winnings: $97.21

Total rakeback: $68.72

Total for the month: $165.93

So my most profitable month on record and good to see poker profits outstripping rakeback profits. Aoll this aside I think there is still plenty of room for improvement and 1.54BB/100 is not good enough. My aim is to double this in March and hit 3BB/100 and play a minimum of 30,000 hands. I'd also like to hit silver in March for Iron Man.

Lifting Weights

Nothing much to report here except my excitement at the discovery of P90x and am just itching to get started. Hopefully the March update will have a lot to talk about!

See you soon...