The Poker holocaust of 2011

Autumn 2010 to Spring 2011

Not that this is much of a blog but I guess I better keep updating it given I have 30 odd posts already.

My new phase as a 'backed' poker player has been of mix emotions but mostly concentrated around the 'siiiigh' and 'yawn' mark.

After making about 4.5k in my first couple of days playing it took me over 4 months to make any money of my own again :(

Even though I had won some good tourneys in this time and made a mini-FTOPs final table with 70k up top, I found myself stuck in annoying amounts of make-up (the amount of money I owed to my backer before I could earn). I reduced it too as low as 4k just before final weekend of WCOOPs but with a 5,000$ buyin etc etc it ended up being about 25k and then through the next month or so that figure had risen to about 40/50k rising as high as 60k.

I played 2 live events before 2011 was up. First was the Russian Poker Series in Eygpt. Real soft tournament full of Euro donks. I made day 2 and really should have done better but unfortunately I bluffed off my stack in a big pot and so the only victory I had on foreign soil was winning the 5-a-side football tournament that pokerstars had put on. To be fair that was some grind also. 3 day event, at noon when the desert heat was just ridiculously hot. 100T$ and a certificate ceremony which embarrassingly out shone the poor guy who won the actual poker tournament. I say poor guy, I did get to meet him as his son was on our football team and he took and paid for the night out in Pasha, and he did later on offer some Russian girl 500euros to come back to the room with him and his son (pretty funny), so maybe not that poor after all, poor Russian girl I guess. Well actually she did come back with us ( Son and Dad had left after being threatened by her) and she did call one of the Dutch kids we were with a 'monkey' and 'monkey boy' (he was from Singapore) so maybe she wasn't so poor either. We obviously told her to leave. We later agreed that the decision to do so may have been a lot closer if she was an 8/10 but really we can't be standing for that behaviour. I doubt she knew any better though, the Russians really don't seem to have much standards when it comes to racism.

But yeah the trip was a success, a title had been gained and for my mate Dan he may have set a new record having won 2 5-a-side tournaments in 2 continents within a week after his team were crowned champions back in Cambridge. Some life that boy has!

Theres some real funny stories from that trip and I had started writing an article on it sometime ago but I doubt it will be finished.

Left Sharm el Sheik just in time to avoid the shark attacks and the revolution so good timing all round. Although I enjoyed the break away from the grind I think I really should have made more from the soft side events really. My backer was a little pissed off that I hadn't played any because it does devaluate the point of making these journeys. Had 2 weeks in LA with him to come so I'm sure he'd put me to work.

.... I got back into Gatwick Airport on a Sunday and had to go straight to Heathrow Airport to catch a 12 hour flight to LA. I'm not going to lie, I had started to get Diarrhoea from the Egyptian Ice cube so I had started to prang i was gunna shart myself. I suppose it didn't really kick it till I got to the States but the consistency had loosened up notably. It was anything but textbook.

Me and Frankie spent a few days at the Commerce Casino where I was grinding FTOPs and he was crushing the cash games downstairs. I did play some cash also, was crazy how many poker tables they had in that place, all running 24/7, now i know where I;ll come if they ban online poker.

We then hit some hotel in downtown LA where the ghostbusters film was filmed and where Pokerstars were putting all their players. The place hadn't been renovated for over 30 years but for me any charm that this neglect had perhaps aimed to serve wasn't scoring any points with me. If I'd wanted historical feel I would have crashed out in a Museum. Plus they fucked our room request so Frankie was sleeping on a pull out bed.

The NAPT tourney itself went pretty well. 700 runners at 5k a person and 725k for the win made it pretty juicy though I thought the field strength was pretty tough. My table on day1 was ridic, no one over the age of 25, everyone basically an online reg.

I managed to make it through to day 3 and played several interesting pots. My stack starting small on day 2 as i grinded a long for the first few levels. But then I got a rush and became a top stack before getting in some annoying spots that left me going in shortish on day 3. I ended up cashing that day and then busting soon after in 60th place. 12500$ reduced some make up but it was inevitably a kick in the teeth. Worse was yet to follow as I went back to the hotel and played the 1k FTOP and painfully exited that in the final 30. So in a 10 hour gap I had come within touching distance of 2 x 500k+ scores and just been deflated twice!

The next day I grinded some more online before rushing to the Bike Casino to reg for the 2k PLO event. The reason I was so late there was because I was deep in the DNG with 18k for the win but had done the old bust in 12th in that fucker so was pretty pissed off to find out the event only had 10 runners. I was trying to work out whether I should even have the addon stack as 2k total buyin to win 10k seemed kind of pointless. I did it anyway. I played really well in that, felt I had a considerable edge over the field and then bubbled in 4th spot. Was pretty gay really, I had the 3rd stack at the time and the short guy opened (I think he had been limping a lot) and I called the button with a speculative hand, hoping to take him out and move into the money. I flopped trips and elected to just flat his Cbet. Turn was an Ace and he snap shoved on a T-6-6-A board. Really should have been looking to fold but there was so much money out there already that I just called hopping he had ATxx or some kind of pair+SD combo. He didn't and I went home completely drained from a really brutal couple of days.

The trip in general was cool, though two weeks in LA with no car was tough to get around and the taxi expenses were rife. I did like the place though having only been once before when I was a kid. I saw my school friend Keith who has recently got divorced and he offered me a room at his to go live there. I'm still pretty set on the idea to be honest but with no driving licence its not really feasible at the moment.

So back to UK and trying to get out of makeup. The biggest letdown of 2010 was still yet to come as I came 12th in the Full Tilt 1 mil. 225k ftw and I decide to make an aggressive 5bet shove with AJs which got caught and couldn't outdraw QQ. I was a good chipleader at the time and played a pot for 30% of the chip in play but couldn't get there and busted the next hand. You get let downs in poker the whole time but that really ranked up there as my most disappointed. Started to feel like I would never get going in this career path...

I moved in with 2 friends up in Newcastle just before Christmas which is where I reside at the moment. I was at my Mothers for Christmas day, where later on I sneaked off to grind my first xmas session, pretty desperate times. Had a 2nd in the 215PLO8 (5k) that day making it back to back finals but funniest of all was my friend calling me telling me I still had 1bb left in the 100RA when I thought I had bust. Obviously with that I not only went on to cash but took 4th for 5k, merry christmas!

We properly moved into our new house just in time for New Year. I had another funny experience in a tournament on the 30th where I was lying in bed 1 tabling the 129ko and I ended up falling asleep with about 110 runners left. Somehow when I woke up an hour later there were 40 runners left and I had still an ok stack considering. Again, given the circumstance, I was destined to do well and took 4th which usually would have annoyed me but was obviously happy to take!

So new surroundings, grinding area and actual people to talk to during my session and I was feeling positive about a fresh start. January 2011 was to be my best month yet. On the 5th I took down the 75$ 40k guaranteed for the second time for 10k. Then on that Saturday I took a 3rd in the 100 rebuy for 9k and a first in the Stars 215turbo for 15k, before winning the 75$ 40k guaranteed for the 2nd time that week this time for 18k! Was kind of disappointed that I couldn't better my 7th place finish in the Sunday DNG that same day as there was 44k up top but I ended the month fairly consistent throughout January. Took 2nd in the Saturday 109 rush for 12k and 2nd in the PLO8 (again) as well as some other big finals. Looking back I can say that I was probably finishing in 2nd too often and that throughout my career Saturday have been by FAAAR my most profitable day of the week and probably credit 50% of my total profit to this day. This is a day I had recently been given back due to me no longer playing football early on Sunday morning.

So to finish this off swiftly, as good as Jan had been the next few months proved to be my worst ever thanks to a little something called Multi-entry week on Full Tilt Poker. Everyone in the poker world expected this format to be trouble but I don't think anyone quite new how bad it would be. In these weeks you have the 'luxury' of being able to buy into EVERY tournament 4 times (some even 6!). So lets use the first day as an example which was a Monday. I buy into the 163 as usual, now x 4 = 652$. The 1k event now becomes 4k!!! etc etc. So if 1 week usually costs you say 15k$ in buyins, Multi Entry week is gunna cost 40,000$ minimum! The plus side is of course that if you win one of the tournaments that week your talking huuuuge firsts. The 1k for example is usually 80k for first, this week it was 350k. But the problem with the concept is that it really only favours the top top elite. Like a group of 50 players and it actually hurts them in the ling run too because too many of the mediocre regs will go broke which is really bad for the game.

The week went real bad for me until Saturday where I had my shot at 35k in the Saturday 109 rush. I actually had 2 stacks left with 50 players left, one of them being a monstrous chiplead, but had the fun time of running AK into Aces for the absolute world 4 handed and ended up in...you guessed it....12th! Sunday was the last shot at saving a horrendous week and for the 2nd time that weekend I had people partying around me which was kind of annoying. Anyway I found myself final 15 of the 100 rebuy turbo with 3rd stack. These turbos are probably my favourite tourneys and I really do rate myself as one of the best at them. My QQ couldn't hold against JJ and A3 (actually ended up coming 3rd) to deny a big chiplead. And then TT

The next morning me and Ed began a spontaneous journey to Deauville France to go and rail Jacobson in just his 2nd EPT final of the season. He paid for our trip, even though I declined anymore hands out after a successful team session of chinese poker. Was a bit annoyed we arrived at 10pm and had missed the whole thing but we still had a cool time hanging with him and Sam in Paris afterwards.

FTOPs- Lost. ANOTHER Multi-Entry Week (Full Tilt really took the piss with this) LOST. Found myself in about 75k's worth of makeup after all this. More deep runs, more rape. I was pretty demotivated I can tell you.

I took a trip down to Leeds last week to see my backer and other friends. I played one full session and FINALLY won the 215$ turbo on Full Tilt for 15k. Have been moaning about not winning this one for ever. Think I'm still 15k down at it lifetime but the win felt good and coupled with winning the 109 turbo the day before I was revitalised. Was really good to go grind with other players, something I've always missed out on.

Given all this, don't think anyone was prepared to what was going to happen to the poker world the next day.........

The Autumn Season

Just a quick update on what is effectively the beginning to the new poker year as we say goodbye to WSOP.

The summer has been very fun but it has taken a toll on my finances and I kind of find myself not moving forward in this respect. Thankfully I feel like I'm on top of my game so having the money I want is just a matter of time.

I went to EPT Tallin with Jacobson which was a good laugh but annoyingly I should have made more of the soft field. Thats the last time I take these things for granted, going to be 100% focused for every live event I play from now on.

Then I battled with 10 day long MTT cram in which I was getting in 39 MTT's a night at my busiest days. I am very proud of myself for being able to have the stamina to play these 15 hour sessions and still feeling relatively fresh by the end. Although I final tabled a lot of things I didn't really get that 10k+ win that would have set me up nicely for WCOOPs so in the end I just withdrew all my funds and took up a backing offer from a friend Mat Frankland. I have in the past been sickened with the idea of giving away 50% of my winnings but I tried it out one Sunday with Jacobson over the FTOP's and it wasn't all that bad. The fact is at the moment I want to play as high as I can and with total buyins for WCOOP's being 70k+ then it is going to be an struggle for me to play the events I want. Also I see that guys that are in Moormans stable and I think if they do it then why can't I.

So my first session was about a week ago and of course I win one of the first MTT I have ever been backed for. It was the 4pm 75$ KO on FTP, I took 5.5k for the win. So after the day was done I cashed out 1600$ and it was mine to keep! I could do what ever I wanted with it! Felt really weird, almost like working. Then Saturday was my 2nd session and I was actually a nice 1k$ down for the day with several min cashes and a gay 15th in the PLO on stars to keep the day cheap. 3rd cash in a row in that MTT, I really feel like I'm one of the best PLO mttiers around because the game comes so naturally to me that I don't have to think much about spots like the other MTT regs do, so I have an edge on them here. I then feel like I have an edge on the better PLO players as I have better understanding of tournaments (but I think this point is less valid as learning MTT's is easily done).

Sunday and the start of the WCOOPs. Woke at 8am to play football, first game of the season. Was good to see my fitness held up, but kind of annoyed that my crap sets in after 70 mins. We had no subs so had to play through it. Bit shit that everyone was so hungover, can't blame them as they have only 2 days a week to get lashed, but once one or two players die then the whole formation goes to shit. I'm in charge of organising the team this coming Sunday with the captain away, so got a few things to say.

Anyway I got back, showered etc and tried to sleep and I just couldn't, so for the first time in over a year I started a Sunday with what I would call inadequate sleep. This is something that in the early days I do a lot and literally throw sessions away. I see a lot of guys do it. You got to know you've got the energy to go right to the end otherwise your fucked if you do manage to make an FT. So it was an abysmal day that hit a low point when I was 12 tabling and a short stack shove the CO for 9 bbs. I have 50bbs and obviously call with my KK. Now I'm chatting on skype somehow at the same time and end up timing out when the BB wakes with QQ....!! FML, 100 bb stack? No thanks. This was in the 50RA on FTP and about an hour later I pure bubbled it, but it was the 28k up top that really pissed me off. I was going to say that I had 0 cashes for the day, but I did make the final 100 of the 6-max 2nd chance. I was 1 tabling and tired enough that I actually tried to have a nap in the 10 minute break. Despite this I actually played pretty well. My exit had was a bit bad but at least it was for the chiplead. I opened A4dd UTG and bad but creative player 3bets from the BB. I just thought I'd peel as we were about 60bbs+ deep and out play him in position. Board came AsTs9d and I called his C-bet. Turn was another Ace and I wasn't really in much mood for folding even though he was committed with his 2nd bet. He had AQo, GG. Was now 3k stuck in makeup which was starting to build up. Even Jacobson couldn't convert a final 50 player run in the brawl and net me 11k. Congrats to him by the way for making 2nd in EPT Villamora, nice 300,000€ payday for him putting him right up there with the best live players in his 2 years as a pro!

Monday was the first PLO WCOOP and I was pretty pumped for it. Again, early wake up at like 11am so I was knackered by the end again. I ended up busting this one early in the first hour. I had chipped up nicely to 7k and then got my money in really nicely on 2h Jh Js 2s with AAJ9 vs KJT9 so had the guy drawing to 6 outs when all the money went in and he got there, sigh. Then I made a squeeze a few hands later with QTJ9 leaving myself just 1 potsize bet left that I would either shove or c/f if the flop came really bad against whoever decided to peel. Bruno GT was one of the callers, calling off 10% of his stack pre with QQ72 (what a legend) and getting rewarded with a Q45r flop that obviously had me committing my money, just amazing how retarded some people can be. Anyway I tried to get over it and focus attentions on the 215 PLO 2nd chance. I chipped up well again, and all though there were a few scares I made 3rd for 9.5k.

My exit hand was standard. Limped sb with x789. Flop was 256r and I got it allin vs 347x. Kind of shit to have a lot of my outs blocked by him, but even so my equity to at least chop was still very live. I actually had like 8bbs back at atcually made a mistake by raising my SB with AKxx and then checking down a TT65J board where his 5xxx took to pot....really I should have jammed flop.

O well, out of makeup again and have made 4k$ in 4 days so thats useful money. Also Weez has started to get on a winning streak so thats more income coming in....

So the Summer......

...... I recently wrote a magazine article for the first leg of the trip which I spent in Washington DC with my Dan, a non-poker playing friend. I must post it up here at some point.

He had some accommodation sorted through work so I was free-rolling those costs as well a lot of the food. I always talk about how much better my life would be in America, emphasising the disadvantages of the timezone here in the UK. Although my sample size isn't massive, I've played in Miami, Toronto, Las Vegas and DC this year and the results are pretty impressive, especially if you work out $ per hour.

So mid May to early June:

Most of this profit was from a good last week in DC followed by a pretty insane Sunday where I made the final of 3 of 7 MTT's with a 3rd in the 162$ 6-max and a 2nd in the 50RA.

On top of this I took 64 buyins of one Russian fish at 100PLO over the space of 5 days and then haven't seen him since.

Next stop was Las Vegas where me, Jacobson and two Canadians named Mark Radoja and Ryan Mackinnon all shared a house for 4 weeks. Martin had been friends with these guys for a few years now but I'd never met them. Anyway they were obviously top lads and whilst being different in their own ways they loved gambling, drinking, women and golf.....and also cheeseburgers, so right up my street.

Unfortunately this led to us going out much more than playing poker, with me and Ryan ballering about with money we had only earned through Jacobson being good at live poker.

To be fair it was my first time in Vegas and I know people say that 1 weeks enough in that place but they are wrong, I could live there and someday I plan to.

Jacobson took 4th in the 1500$ event which he FT'd last year too (sick life) and me and the boys all had 5% so it was a sweet rail. It would have been made better if Ryan had been drinking or if Swede had won and he would have been in more of a mood to party afterwards but in the end we had more of a quite one. I had been drinking all day with Salfi anyway and was getting a bit tired, plus there wasn't that much a buzz on the rail as there was the next day.

So yes the run good continued as Mark made the 5000$ 6-max tournament the following evening, which had Eric Lindgren and Men the Master on. This time Ryan was definitely drinking, with the frequent cry of 'Mark!' which confused me as it seemed to be in between a rallying chant and a question, but it was hilarious and it seemed to jack Mark up a lot. In the end he finished 3rd losing a monstrous flip against Jeffery Papola who was the eventual winner. Mark complained about the fact that he hadn't made a call against Papola's 5bet jam with 5d Xx the day before, and had eventually folded his JJ. But as we'd discussed it was a super marginal call give his reads at the time and his chip stack, plus as we all know that wouldn't have mattered as I suspect Jeff had A5dd so still over 35% equity there either way. Hopefully he will look back with content even though it must suck to come close to the bracelet but from what I saw he played awesome and both the boys performances over that weekend inspired me a lot.....even though I played only one event since!

The next few weeks involved a lot of partying, I had semi earn't it anyway as my online results for vegas were also pretty good.

One night we got a suite at the Rio which was pretty cool as it was all comped for. Was like 4,000 sq and pretty balla, though Jacobson predictably pointed out that the hotel as a whole was in need of refurbishment. I agree with him somewhat. That night was a typical example of how I had such an amazing time in Vegas this summer but also spent a shit load. Room comped, sure. But when I went to get Jacobson from the highroller room I somehow managed to dust of 2k on blackjack, drunk as fuck, being reckless. Then later, when the guys were sleeping and the girls had left, me and Mark were back in the pit for another 1k losing session. In all honesty I'm actually not there cos I'm hooked. I never play when I'm back home. Its just when I'm drunk its really fun and playing high stake action is like getting mashed on drugs. Sometimes just being drunk isn't enough.

There was another night where I had spun up the 1300$ cash I had into 5k and we all went out and partied. I hooked up with some Russian girl almost instantly in the club and next thing I know I'm back in the highroller room of a different casino throwing the whole 5k into 1 shoe of blackjack, then borrowing 2 more and going off for that before home. At these times I feel lucky to be a poker player and so I do not have to work out how many weeks wages that will be as we all live in the hope that every new week will be a good one. It does however feel better to roll out of a Casino in Vegas with the boiling desert sun on you compared to rolling out of Aspers in Newcastle to a chilly breeze and drizzly rain.

Angelica, Martin's girlfriend, came out for the last 2 weeks in the house so there was even more reason to go out as she was going to just watch us play poker/blackjack/craps the whole time, even though she often would. Poor girl. We all spent a lot of time by the pool, which seemed to get in worse condition with the stay, with a few more WSOP events played but not much to report. Mark went deep in the 10k PLHE tournament but effectively bubbled it and Martin had a cash in a 1k.

Then was time for the Main Event, and having decided to keep the 10k in my pokerstars account I had a sudden change of heart at around 2am the night before Day 1-D. So I rallyed together all the cash and set my alarm, unfortunately I hadn't got to bed till 7am and when my alarm went of at 12 I just threw it against the wall. That was my Main Event experience.

Ryan had had enough and left early that morning, so we all decided that we would evacuate our house and move to hotels. Me and Mark went to the Rio in a smaller but free suite, and Angelica and Martin went to the Aria. I was meant to be on a flight back to England about 5 days before this but had decided I wanted to stay longer and just forked out for a new one.

Mark ended up bubbling the Main Event which he was screwing about and then just left to catch a plane. Martin and Angelica left the following morning leaving me in Vegas for a week by myself......wiiiiiiiiiiiii!

I was in pretty good spirits about it though as I had just won the 109 6max for 8k and also I was excited about experiencing Vegas on my own and was interested to see how I would cope. I felt a little like Don Draper/Tony Soprano, only smaller.

First thing I did was check myself out the shitty Rio and into the new Aria hotel. They comped me 2 rooms in the end and charged me 100$ a night which I thought was pretty awesome value. I spent my first few nights counting cards sober and that put me a few k up. Then the next nights I drank more and eventually undid all my good work at Craps and what not. Fucking 15/15 losing sessions at that game, so ridiculous, I was probably down more at it then blackjack for the summer. Must be a jinx.

The weekend came and I met up with Jack Ellwood and those boys in Pure nightclub as they were celebrating one of their guys winning 100k which they had staked him in. Didn't think much of the Pure mainly because it was so busy (I guess it was Friday) but with the final bill of 8,000$ the host service was absolutely shocking. With that kind of a bill you expect them to be throwing girls towards the table but the guy just took tips and did fuck all.

I had been to some amazing night clubs in Vegas, Martins friend Matt hooked us up with loads of buy-1-get-1-free deals on bottles, so in the end we got really good tables and the bill was like 40% cheaper. So we were averaging 800$ a night between the 4 of us, and even though we were out almost every night, worked out pretty reasonable considering they give you 2 litres of Grey Goose and a pretty cush table. Our favourite was Surrender at Encore Beach Club. It was a new place that had been done up really well I must say. Loads of space, tables with beds, a pool in the middle and Cabanas all the way a round the top of the club, plus an outdoor Casino that was like something of James Bond.

My last night out was on Saturday when I met up with Benji and his crew who had been travelling around the west coast for a month, all of them celebrating finishing their 5 year medic courses as Doctors. We had a fun night out, going for some cheap table service at The Crown and then up to Voodoo for some cocktails. I woke at 6pm the next day in my dark air conned room and drew the curtains. Vegas 2010 had been one of the best times but after 5 weeks there, and 3 in DC, I was ready to go home!

2 years on

Its been roughly 2 years since I started this blog and sadly since I started playing professionally I haven't updated it nearly as much as the days that I was still working.

Looking back at old posts its funny to compare my WCOOP's schedule of 2008 to the likely one of this year. They say that you need 71,000$ to play every WCOOP event this year. Well back in my 'working days' I must have hit close to 25k in buyins that included the 10k event..... ah the folly of youth.

These days I am some what shrewder, or at least not crazy enough to play events that = half my net worth. Though its easy to see that with experiences like this in my early days of poker why I have no value for money and still possess an addiction to spending it. In fact I even pulled out of the Main Event this year, which I do regret, but it was good to see that I could be sensible about money. My decision to do this was also partly because I wasn't happy with how I was playing Live Poker and also because I had large blackjack and craps losses, factors that others may not understand as well.

The Spring - After screwing myself around Christmas time I had bounced back with the roll and had done well at the mid stake MTT's. My most notable finish was in the Sunday 1/4 Million which is a 11$ tourney with about 29k for first. I had beaten a field of 31,429 players only to finish 4th to 3 retards. Looking back I think I made a mistake when I was down to 18 bbs and jammed 33 over a tight guys open. Its usually standard 4 handed but given my skill edge and that his range was tighter than most I really should have waited for a better spot. I did hold the chiplead quite a few times but got screwed over by setups and badbeats. They asked for a deal 5 handed and I made another mistake by not looking at the numbers. You see on Pokerstars, what I didn't know, is that the system is a little messed up and they offer near to first prize for the person with the chiplead so I could have taken near enough to 29k without playing another hand with the likelihood of my weak opponents happy to take any deal offered. O well, guess it was a lesson learn't and 11k wasn't too shappy, plus the feit of lasting through such a monstrous field. This was probably the highlight of my poker for the Spring as I started to get back on my feet.

Me and my housemates moved out of our house in Putney which turned out to be tough work. Even after all our efforts our landlord was disgusted by the state the house was in. He said we were not getting any of the £4000 back but after some arguing he agreed to give us £500. Unfortunately for him we later learnt that the repair bill came to £11,000. He said we should be ashamed but in all honesty he has to take the blame for a lot of it. He rented out the house for 18-months and didn't come round for a single inspection. If I was letting an £700k+ house to 4 young lads I would want to see what was going on every now and again. Then when the boiler went off he took ages to fix it. This meant that the place got messy. As a result we got rats and mice that bit through the piping which caused a lot of the damage, and then it was downhill in a major way from then.

Anyhoo, I moved back in to my Dad's in Wimbledon, kind of a step backwards but after living with those 3 guys for so long it was a god send. Clean house, nice food, guaranteed toilet roll etc not having to do massive cleaning jobs every other week. Its also nice to be around my family, adds some normality to my life, my brother and sister are often about which is cool.

The fact is I will never rent a house again, the £700 a month does burn a hole in your pocket that could otherwise be spent in the Casino, the pub or buying £300 sweatshirts that I will inevitably shrink in the wash (has happened 3 times and counting, and if you do know anyone who is smaller than me then you can give them to him).

These days my plan is to spend that money on paying of a mortgage and my Dad and I decided that it was a good idea to go out to Florida to get a place ASAP. Really I should have left Vegas when I had all the doe locked up, but that obviously not the way I like to do things.....

I'm on Twitter

http://twitter.com/Bassysaffari

Just a quick post to say that I'm now on Twitter. Doesn't really mean much but I keep live tourney updates and may start doing it for online sessions as I get more into it.

The New New Year

To fill in some gaps that definitely derailed 'The Golden Months" for me.

Back in December I went up to my Mothers house in Northumberland. After a few days on the lash with my friends up there I eventually made it to her house. Having not slept well the night before in Arctic conditions I woke up early and proceed to go to her Office to start a session. It wasn't to be a happy day as I managed to dust off 13,000$ at 1-2$PLO(antes) and 2/4$HU. Then must have a lost a fair old amount at PLO HU SUPER TURBO SNGS, making me an equal 8k loser at both PLO and NL SUPER HU's, (16k down!).

Again, one of my lowest days in poker, months of careful BRM and good work just pissed down the drain. yeah I ran like crap, by I was obviously in no state to be playing anything.

Then later we had a christmas dinner as me and my siblings were actually going down to my Dads for Christmas day, so I had to tell all the relatives who asked me"How poker was going" either "Shit" or lie and say it was great. To make things even worse I was struck by the flu and had to miss the dinner and actually stay in Bed for the next 3 days, not able to go down to London to my Dads. Miserable.

So I went out to America quite low on funds, but binking the 129KO for 11k helped alot! Thing is I was out in Bahamas and theres a fucking Pokerstars bank and then Blackjack tables so it wasn't all good.

Instead of going home from Miami when me and Eddy came back from the Bahamas I actually ended up going to Toronto, Canada and left Eddy to travel back alone. The reason was that i'd met this girl in Bahamas and we'd decided that i'd come straight up and see her, rather than going back to london and never doing it.

So I went up and stayed with her for 2 weeks which was a little intense seeing as I hardly knew her and I was living in her apartment. Out there I felt like I was going to start binking shit loads online but I think I struggled to concentrate and just went on a huge cooler at MTT's.

Nevertheless I was very relieved to take 2nd in the 55$ Super Turbo for 8k in FTP's doubled guaranteed week on my last day, even though I refused a deal with inferior chips and then went about, barreling a bricky turn and a over-shoving a complete blank on the river the very next hand!

So i returned to England, having had an amazing month away. It was strange because I'd hardly been away in the past 2 years and just felt so numb to be back in rainy Old London.

A week or 2 past and I went to Spain with my Dad for the weekend as he wanted to look for houses. He's been looking for over a year and still hasn't really found anywhere. So it was a fairly enjoyable trip away in the Altea, which is near Alicante, in a pretty nice hotel with as much sun as your likely to get anywhere in Europe in early Feb.

I grinded PLO on the second day inbetween sunbathing and was very satisfied to be 1k up at 6 tables of PLO100 (deep) and ended the session. Now this would have been a very nice day for me apart from instead of taking a nap before I went out, I decided to play more. After a small small loss at SNG's I decided to play some, yes you guess it, PLO HU SUPER TURBOS! And once your in the mode its hard to quit. I mean I know I'm not doing anything wrong! But I go and lose 20 buyins which is over 3k and I'm just hating life. I mean I'm 8k down at them life time from 1300 games. So I guess I've won 550 and lost 650 which doesn't sound too bad, but mad it tilts the hell out of me. I'm not sure whether i'll ever know if its just variance or bad play?

I went out that night with that shitty feeling of just hating myself for what I'd done, mostly because there was no need! I could have just not played and been happy to go out and enjoy myself.

Back in London and I spent a week of breakeven sessions at cash, or maybe slightly losing. Sick because I was putting in 6 hour sessions of 6 tables of PLO. I know I have enough to crush that game but I guess my whole poker psyche is just not cut out for cash. I mean lifetime I have to be down because I can recall one 10k losing session at 25/50 and there has to be more, though I was probably a good winner on stars playing 5/10 and 10/20 about 18 months ago. I guess grind is even more important in cash games as the table environment is always the same, that is that the blinds don't go up and there aren't money bubbles etc. So I must spew badly like 60% of the way through my session. I need a 3/4 bet gauge that starts bleeping when I'm just getting too aggressive.

Anyway eventually I gave up on one day and just went for it at SNG's but it wasn't to be and busted my last online money. So i was more or less back to the drawing board which was annoying, and becoming pretty boring, but can be necessary in taking bigger steps forward.

I took a couple of weeks break (more or less) and have gone back to grassroots, playing mid-low stakes MTT's. This is something i have never done properly or consistently, but after taking a look at some low stake nits profit charts on OPR I was inspired.

I've but in 3-4 sessions so far, have PT set up on my Mac at last and am managing around a 20% ITM money ratio. It also means I can wake up at normal times and just start which makes life a lot easier. Though most of my days have been losing ones, its like 200$ down instead of 2k down so theres a lot less stress. It is annoying to have so many min cashes after beating big fields, but the times you do get stacks together you can really crush the weaker fields. I've found the 4-max MTT's particularly good as you are isolating yourself with 2-3 donks and just getting paid off really light. I was annoyed to have one nit shove 40bbs with KK over my AA open and river a King to KO me in 8th and deny me the chip lead.

This week I took down the 33$ PLO for 1k for the 2nd time in 5 attempts so far. usually i wouldn't have battered an eyelid at this score but not only does it still feel great to win an MTT but also its usually 1k profit for the day, and probably week because day-to-day costs are so much lower now.

I took a very frustrating 10th in 15$ turbo, 3000 man field and 6k up top, crushing CO's A7s with my AJ in SB only for BB to wake with TT. Board was a heartattack: KQJ T K! So that was fun.

Today I made an even more annoying 8th in 22$ 20k with 6k up top also. I held CL with 11 left but refused to gear down on bubble and my 3bet/cbets didn't get through in 2 particular occasions and I hit FT with a meagre 20bbs and was therefore victim to variance with my JJ

So all in all positive about playing lower and I'm able to get tons more hands in which, although mostly against donks, is meaning I'm exploring more spots pre and post. I am however questioning my end game a bit now. Wondering whether I could tone down aggression a bit, especially when I'm deep in 3 and look for 40bb+ stacks or to bust as I feel I can use my edge to a great effect with chips. I am noticing that a lot of the lower stakes players are so much more 3bet capable which sucks late on because with good stacks I know I can 4bet easily, but I also know that I don't have to do this to win and so there's a dilemma there in which I'm open to getting owned a lot.