Some see difficulties in opportunities, others see opportunities in difficulties

Raising Pots

Firstly sorry for no blog yesterday but have been away with family for the Easter break. Haven't been very well this week either so have not put in a ton of volume. After last week's upheaval in the poker world coupled with my atrocious week at the tables I was so disappointed in myself that I practically sat myself down this week and had a good talking to myself. I looked over some of my previous coaching videos and once again set out to plug some leaks. I think downswings have their uses. We're never gonna be without them in our poker careers but if we can put them to good use and learn from them then it's not a waste - In the word's of Winston Churchill "Difficulties mastered, are opportunities won". I think my problem at the moment is in thinking that because of the success I've had in the last few weeks that my learning for this level is over. I don't devote enough time to training at the moment, I know I've had a lot of coaching but I think session reviews need to become a firmer staple of my week. I will try in future weeks to devote some time on a Sunday to properly reviewing the previous weeks hands and plugging some leaks.

In he meantime, the tale of the tape for this week is as follows:

Hands: 13,263

Hours: 35.37

BB/100: 1.83

$/hour: $1.45

Total winnings: $51.19

Total rakeback: $13.80

Total bonus: $25

Total for the week: $89.99

Good to be back in profit this week and the the graph has taken a turn upwards which is good. The winrate isn't setting the world on fire and should be 3-4 BB/100 higher but like I say it has taken a little work to get out of the downswing. The tale end of the downswing was in at the start of this week where I saw myself 6 buyins down after 5,000 hands so I did well to get it back up into positive. I also received my take two bonus this week which was good for an extra $25. I'm hoping to play a lot of the next few weeks in order to clear a new bonus which will kick of this week which could be worth up to $300 depending on how much I can play so that will be a huge bankroll boost.

Lifting Weights

When starting P90x 5 weeks ago one of the main worries was that I may get ill along the way, miss a few workouts and then lose motivation. Well I got ill this week and missed a whole week's worth. I haven't lost motivation though as that holiday I talked of a few weeks ago is all booked, I'm now a week behind pace but assuming no more set backs I should finish the weekend before my holiday...what an incentive.

Black Friday

Raising Pots

Well, a monumental week for online poker. The landscape of Internet poker was changed forever on Friday when The FBI in America and The Department of Justice shut down the three biggest online poker sites (Full Tilt, Pokerstars and Absolute Poker) citing bank fraud, money laundering and unlawful gambling. Now online poker in America has been a grey area for a long time since Party Poker pulled out in 2006 following the passing of the UIGEA bill, a bill which has been argued as unconstitutional and is being challenged. Full Tilt and Pokerstars captured the lion's share of the approximately 15 million US players that continued to play by circumventing that law that deems it illegal for the banks to deal directly with the poker sites. By use of 3rd party payment processors the US continued to play. It has now come to light that the poker sites lied to the banks about the true nature of their business and for this reason have been shut down to US players and numerous members of top tier staff arrested and indicted. I must stress that none of the claims of any wrongdoing have yet to have been proved and there is so much wild speculation around at the moment that no-one is really sure what is going to happen. All we know currently is that FTP and Pokerstars are claiming business as usual for the rest of the world but speculation is rife that their businesses my not be able to continue if hit by the reported $3billion fines.

So, with that bombshell covered on to my week. In addition to the shocking news on Friday I had a pretty atrocious time at the tables too. Despite finishing my coaching on Wednesday and being set free to crush the micros I had a pretty appalling week. I played bad, tilted too much and got my money in bad in too many spots. I have had to grind every night this week in order to get my take 2 bonus so have not had the time to really sit down and study some hands and see where I am going wrong. Suffice to say I need to and I need to review my sessions with my coach in order to get my head back in the right place.

So the tale of the week:

Hands: 5,306

Hours: 16.05

BB/100: -8.56

$/hour: -$5.66

Total winnings: -$90.81

Total rakeback: $17.40

Total for the week: -$73.41

Good work, Pokerlifter. You manage to follow up your best ever week with your second worst. I'm not gonna let this affect my mood too much, I can't afford to. As things stand I'm still in a decent amount of profit for April and am both on course with my winrate expectation and on course for my best ever month. Just gotta keep on moving forward and remain focused and positive.

Lifting Weights

Added to my disappointing week at poker I need to add a disappointing week of training. I have my excuses though they shouldn't get in the way. I worked earlies this week which is always tough on me, added to this I had two late nights out plus one overnight trip to Manchester so all in all I have been a little all over the place. So, to make up for this I will be repeating week 4 of P90x this coming week in order to get me back on track. I didn't want to get into a situation where I was repeating weeks but I always figured it would need to happen at some point as life is bound to get in the way every now and then!

I'm feeling good

Raising Pots

Really great week at the tables this week. I feel like I'm playing the best poker of my life and am just so confident in my abilities right now. Had my fourth and penultimate coaching session this week and my coach is seemingly confident that I am ready to fly the nest and have the skills to beat $10NL. Certainly the way I have played since coaching began proves this to be true. Now I know that this is a short term sample and I shouldn't go proclaiming my self as t he next big thing (yet!) but, as I say, I feel like I actually know what I I'm doing now and my post flop skills over the last four weeks have improved immensely. I seem to spew dollars and tilt post flop a lot less and although this is easy to do when you are running good and hammering every flop this really hasn't been the case this week and have been on the end of some standard coolers, the difference is I'm getting more value out of the hands/spots where I'm ahead or can take advantage.

So, the tale of the week:

Hands: 8,073

Hours: 23.18

BB/100: 13.86

$/hour: $9.65

Total winnings: $223.72

Total rakeback: $9.50

Total for the week: $233.22

No complaints here. My best week ever in terms of dollars won and BB/100 so I am one very happy Pokerlifter. Two strong weeks in a row have seen a very positive start to April and although I don't expect to maintain such a strong winrate I'm happy that a positive winrate seems a more common occurrence right now. Plus, the way things are heading $25NL is just around the corner. My business plan for 2011 my very well need adjusting as currently I am smashing all my goals!

Lifting Weights

Week 4 of P90x and I am still going strong. This week saw the last week of phase 1 and as such was a 'rest week'. Still 6 workouts this week but no resistance, instead there was a lot of yoga, stretching, core work and cardio. The belief is this gives the body time to recover from the first three weeks of heavy lifting and allow it to be stronger and fully rested for the next three! As phase 1 was a fat stripping phase, phase 2 sees the carbs return and more emphasis on building up the energy levels and weight with some quality calories. To the end I have added Progain Extreme to my list of supplements to support this weight gain.

So this week sees phase 2 kick off for Pokerliter as well as the final poker coaching session. Bring it.

Push it hard

Raising Pots

Quick blog this week as most has been covered in my end of March review.

Managed to put a decent amount of volume in this week as I needed to achieve iron man before the end of the month and this required me playing each day up to the end. I'm pleased to say that I achieved it on 31st March for bronze level (silver is out of my reach really with my reduced volume) so I'm still on track for a good six month bonus and am extracting maximum value from my poker site - something everyone should be doing.

So, the tale of the tape:

Hands: 3,274

Hours: 8.82

BB/100: 9.18

$/hour: $6.82

Total winnings: $60.13

Total rakeback: $9.23

Total for the week: $69.36

Great week at the tables. This is the sort of winrate I want to be seeing on a much more regular basis and am confident I can. I have never felt so confident in my game as I do right now and am convinced I can get my game up to $25NL by my target of June.

Lifting Weights

Week 3 of P90x this week and the final week of resistance based excercises week of phase 1. Week 4 sees a recovery week with the emphasis not on lifting but on the core and cardio based exercises. So expect lots of yoga and stretching! The thinking behind this is that you allow the body to recover from the first three weeks of heavy lifting to regain some strength before hitting it hard in phase 2. Everything is heading in a positive direction right now and we just gotta keep the wheels turning! See you in a week.

Pokerlifter's March

Raising Pots

Really important month for Pokerlifter this month. It was my intention to do the following things:

Play 30,000 hands at 3BB/100

Arrange a sweat with a CCer

Database Analysis with 2+2er

Look at some coaching options

Well, I did only one of these. However, let me quantify that. Firstly, arranging a sweat session took a back seat as I did hired a coach this month so all my energy was focused on that and I didn't want too many influences on my game at the sam

e time so decided it wise to just keep with my coach. The database analysis has been extremely frustrating and I feel I have been let down a lot by the 2+2er that offers this service. Now, I understand he does it for free and that's great but clearly his intention is to convert these free students to long term paying clients, however based on his recent reliability that isn't going to happen. So on the subject of the coach, I looked in to a number of different coaches and finally settled on one that offers an exclusive service to micro players, his rates were very reasonable and after having a chat with him I figured he would be a good match with me. So, as it stands I have now had three of the scheduled five sessions and I really feel he has started to turn my game round. A few sessions leading up to my first coaching session saw me all at sea and in a terrible spot. Exactly half the way through the

month and I was stuck nearly 14buyins. As mentioned in previous posts a few minor tweaks have yielded a few major changes. I don't wish to talk too much strategy here but suffice to say it is working so far. One look at my graph shows the exact point the coaching took place and my winrate went soaring. Prior to coaching my winrate was -2.81BB/100 over ~17,000 hands, since coaching I have played 11,341 hands for a winrat

e of 5.25BB/100. As you can see this is a vast improvement and the sort of winrate I wish to achieve over a much larger sample.

My graph for the month looks like this:

So, the tale of the tape for March:

Hands: 25,090

Hours: 47.28

BB/100: 0.15

$/hour: $0.01

Total winnings: $3.01

Total rakeback: $60.94

Total for the month: $63.95

So, the cut down in tables has obviously seen a dramatic reduction in volume but this is fine, if it means the winrate is positive this is all that matters. Tables and volume can return in time. What's important here is that March was profitable! Yes, only by $3 but it's profitable. I had a goal at the beginning of the year to not have a losing month at the tables in 2011 (not including rakeback). A big goal for sure but one that look destined to failure by the midpoint of March so I was desperate to get it into the black. At the end of my session last night on the last day of March I was resigned to the fact that it was likely that March would be a loser but I was remaining positive about the fact that progress was the key. Then this hand came up...

Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players - View hand 1259236

DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $3.50

SB: $10.61

BB: $5.00

UTG: $9.40

UTG+1: $15.06

MP1: $10.62

Hero (MP2): $20.20

CO: $14.73

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is MP2 with 8 8

1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.30, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.05) 8 8 3 (3 players)

UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $0.60, UTG+1 calls $0.60, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.85) 3 (3 players)

UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($2.85) 5 (3 players)

UTG+1 bets $1.50, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $5, BTN folds, UTG+1 raises to $14.16 all in, Hero calls $9.16

Final Pot: $31.17

UTG+1 shows K A (two pair, Eights and Threes)

Hero shows 8 8 (four of a kind, Eights)

Hero wins $29.17

(Rake: $2.00)

This hand was literally on my last orbit and was going to sit out the next big blind. As you can imagine my joy at flopping quads was tempered by a sense of how do I get value here? I could only assume that come the river the villain had a 3 but alas no, clearly he thought his Ace kicker played I guess? Who knows, can't second guess these fish!

So. I'm going to take the new stop of publishing April winrate and other goals here.

1) Play 20,000 hands at a winrate of +4bb/100

2) Complete my coaching and continue to analyse my play in detail

3) Sweat a session post coaching with another player

Lifting Weights

March was an important month for Pokerlifter. For too long the 'lifter' part of my name had been little used. For all all sorts of reasons I had let myself slip out of shape and a last minute dash to a train one day showed just how unfit I had got...time for a change. I discovered P90x on recommendation (not personal) by Daniel Negreanu and decided to check out what all the fuss was about and there certainly was a lot being said about it's effectiveness so I shipped the necessary money and received my pack, bought the equipment and kicked it off mid way through March. Boy was it hard, the first three weeks (which I have now completed) really kicked my ass and although I am yet to see any really changes physically I can certainly feel them starting, I already feel fitter and stronger and getting up at 5:30am to work hard is super rewarding. In addition to the extreme level of exercise I have also taken on board their nutrition advice and changed my diet. Right at this moment I feel really excited about the course I am on and positive about it, sure my body ached from head to toe and I feel exhausted but it is all worth it. The programme should finish approximately mid way through June and I am treating myself to a super hot Mediterranean beach holiday at the end of it as both a reward and, right now, a goal to aim for...beach body beautiful by end of June? Bring it...