Rush Ups and Downs

I must admit I've been playing more Battlefield than poker recently, but I'm still addicted to Rush poker on Full Tilt. I dropped $120 in an awful session last week so I had a few days off, but thanks to a few flopped sets against pocket rockets I'm climbing up again. The job sitch is still in the balance, so I'll report on that when I've got some news. Good luck out there.

Feel The Rush....

I'm still going through hell at work, but it's ok, I'm dealing with it by drinking loads and playing rush poker on Full Tilt. I only play two tables at once as I'm getting old and four tables made my head spin and my wallet shrink. I think I'm addicted to the speed of the hands and the ammount of quick rake generated. I'm grinding out a $300 bonus too which always helps. I'll do a proper update when I get past this difficult time.

Still Pushing On

I'm still in the middle of a shit sandwich at work, and there's no end in sight just yet. I've been playing a bit of Pokay on Betfair recently and doing OK. I play $11 double ups and make a few quid here and there. Once this period of uncertainty about my job has passed I'll get back on it, live and online. I'm keen to get up the Fox poker club in London to show those boys a few moves (or not).

Anyway keep it real gents.

Et tu, Brute?

Sorry I've not been on for a while, I'm going through some shit at work where it seems the whole world is turning it's back on me. Allies are few and far between, and I've got a battle on to keep my job. I will get through it one way or another, although I might be going pro at poker sooner than I expected! I'll post again when this is sorted. Take it easy gents.

My Best Comeback Ever!

I just played a Pokerstars $11 double up and lost a big pot to end up with 5 chips from my starting stack of 1500, the lowest ammount of chips you can have on the site (I think). Did I give up? Not at all. Blinds were 100/200 with a 25 ante. I was all in for these hands;

Ace seven suited, made a flush to put me upto 35 chips (yeah)
Five seven off vs king ten, spiked a 5 on the flop - 165 chips
Pair of fours - Hit a set then a house to win - 615 chips
King seven off - two other players in the hand, I missed the flop and thought they'd check it down, until a crazy bloke made a min bet to isolate me on the flop with 62 off! I won that hand and was chip leader with 1865 chips, then I cruised to a glorious victory. What a mad game!

Leap Years Explained

Wishing to impart some knowledge of the universe upon my wife the other night I said to her 'Do you know why we have leap years?' She looked at me in all seriousness and said 'So people can get engaged?' I give up...

Getting Back into it

Now that I've got over the Marathon and returned from the hell hole that is Cuba I can concentrate on poker. Who am I kidding? I've got work, wife and decorating to do now, then I'll have studying to do before my next big exam in September (which if I pass means an extra 8k a year). I've come to the conclusion online poker is a young man's game, purely for the fact that when I was a young man I had so much time it was unreal. I used to watch episodes of Star Trek all morning for fuck's sake! Now I haven't got a minute to spare which is rubbish.

I'm making $2 a SNG playing $11 double ups, so if I can pump out 1500 games this year I'll have my flight money for Vegas next year. I can multi table four tables easily, so the way I figure it seven hours of SNGs a week should do it. It would be so good if I could get away with a sneaky game at work, but there's no chance of that.

Anyway back to the ceiling painting....

London Marathon 'Victory' Report

Wow I'm glad that's over. After a very long and painful 26.2 miles I finished the race in 7hrs 44minutes. I came 36466th, my halfway time was 3hrs 25mins 45secs. 36522 runners finished in the time before the organisers go home, but hundreds of people finished after that.

I started out on Blackheath with a plan to run very slowly and hope my injured groin held out. Unfortunately it started hurting at mile two, and despite regular stretch stops, 8 Nurofen tabs, a surgical glove full of ice down the old pants, and a bucket of freeze cream, the pain got worse, forcing me to walk from Surrey Quays (mile 9). I had a two mile run once I crossed Tower Bridge, but the pain got too much and I was walking again from mile 14. Docklands was a long section of the course, seeming to go on forever, however the last six miles was an absolute killer. I was under a bit of pressure to beat 8 hours as quite unfairly, the medal staff go home at 6pm. I wanted that medal like nothing else (apart from a new groin). I tried to step it out over the last few miles but had a couple of times where my legs felt so weak I was going to collapse. I knew if I went down I'd be staying down and would end up on the 'sweep up' coach - probably the most miserable place in London that day. At one point on the South Bank the sweep up coach loomed behind me like a white shark of doom, ready to eat me up for an early evening dinner. I ignored the demonic beast and concentrated on every step, getting there in time for a medal and a wee up a tree.

I was completely unprepared for the level of public support I encountered. With my name on my vest, and I couldn't count how many times people shouted to spur me on, giving me their heartfelt support. The people of London make this event the best in the world, and because of that I'd never do a Marathon anywhere else. I'm so glad I had dark glasses on, as the crowd couldn't see my tears of emotion in response to them. What a day.

Thankyou everyone so much for donating to this worthy cause. Including offline donations we're well on our way to paying for a child with cancer to get away for a week with their family to have treatment somewhere sunny and warm, and maybe forget for just one moment the reason they're there. That moment is worth 1000 marathons, and so my name will be in the draw for next year and every year from now on. Thankyou all again.

Comeback Victory

In between training for the Marathon and working I thought I'd sample the delights of the Empire Leicester Square on Thursday night. I played in the hairy £20 crapshoot and chopped the £900 prize fund five ways for £180. I made a nice £120 profit, which is better than ingrowing arse hairs.
My tournament came down to three hands -

My QQ against AK - Winner
My AK against QQ - Winner on the river when I hit the Q I needed for broadway. He thought he'd won by making his set, nononono sir!
My 33 against a 22. Winner!

Once my holiday is over and the Marathon is a blister filled memory I'm going to get back into live poker, or indeed any poker. I've missed it.

Mission Failure at The Empire

I actually got to the Empire today only to find their 80 man 2.30pm tourney is now a 60 man affair, so I was put on an alternate's list at number 15. Waiting for 15 people to drop out of a rebuy tournament is not my idea of fun, so I won 30 quid at Roulette and got the fast train home. What a colossal waste of time. Next time I'll get there mega early or book a seat on the phone. Looks like I'll be playing a bit of Party tonight as I'm in the mood...

P.S. It wasn't all bad news, I saw Jason Manford in Leicester Square. All I could say was 'Oh look there's that comedian bloke.' He was impressed I could tell.

Slowly Getting Back into it

I had most of January off beer and feel much better for it. I've lost 7lbs and don't have a hangover every day now. I love a drink and will never stop, but I was drinking too much last year.

I got my new system and am loving the 24" monitor. I've been playing $11 double ups on Party as they gave me some more free wonga, but I've not multi tabled large just yet. I've made about a ton so far at about 20% ROI, which is so much better than last year.

I hate to admit it but my poker has taken a back seat to gaming. I've been playing Eve Online every day, and I got Dirt 2 with my graphics card so I've been on that. I've even ordered a steering wheel, sad git. The thing about PCs is in a year's time I wont be able to play the latest games at top graphics, so I might as well hit it hard while I can. Oh, I've also been on Fallout 3 but haven't really done it justice due to lack of time off Eve.

Live poker has been on hold for a load of reasons. I intend to get up to the Empire this Saturday for their 2.30 rebuy, although the £33 freezeout at the International looks tempting.
I'll do my P&L figures soon when I've got some more action under my belt. Now back to blasting bad guys...

New Year, New Body

I've decided I'm too fat. If you need proof then watch this Youtube clip of me and my step son on Wii Dance :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZEpLzshdB4

I can't be held responsible for my step son's dancing. He shares no genes with me.
Anyway back to business, I'm off drink now for another two weeks, and I have to say I'm feeling better. I do less when I'm on the booze, as when I have my first drink in the evening I do nothing afterwards. Nothing productive anyway. I'm not saying I'm off booze permanently as I like a beer and will drink till I die. I'm just cutting it out until I drop half a stone etc...

My new PC is on it's way, and I've discovered a new addiction that costs me less than poker - Eve Online. I know MMORPGs are for 13 year olds in between wanks, but I like a space game and this is a great escape for me. I plan to play a bit of Eve whilst I'm waiting for a hand in my MTTs this year, either that or waiting to stream in a good Cliphunter file.....

I've played a few SNGs but lost every one. I deserved to lose as I was just messing around really. Party put $50 on my account for nothing which is nice. PKR needs to do a bit of that I think.

I may get up to the Empire Saturday if the trains are OK. Maybe I'll make a call first to see if they've got a crapshoot on. I will report if I go.

2009 Results

It looks as if I'll be slightly down at poker in 2009. I've not had a bad run mind you. I went to Niagara and Vegas and played in a load of small tournaments, played cash poker at the Bellagio and Mirage, and played a fair few online tournies. Despite being a grinder I'm not making any money at poker anymore. For me the point of being a grinder is making a small profit, not a small loss.
This year I'm definitely going to make a poker profit again, and enjoy it in the process. I've put the final year's figures below with a few stats thrown in:

SNGs
Net Win $242
# of Tourns Played 963
Win Rate ($/Tourn) $0
%ROI 4%
Amount Wagered $6,438
Gross Win $6,680
1st 42%
2nd 25%
3rd 4%
Money Finish 52%
Max Money Streak 10
Out of Money 48%
Max Lose Streak 7
Biggest Downswing $223

Cash Games
Net Win ($466)
Win Rate ($/hr) -$8.87
Hours Played 53
Hands Played 2,832
Net Win (BB) 323
Win Rate (BB/hr) 6.1
Win Rate (BB/100) 11.4
St. Dev. (BB per session) 25.9
Max Downswing ($) $747
Max Downswing (BB) 109
Average Session Length (hr) 0.9

MTTS
Net Win ($48)
# of Tourns Played 111
Win Rate ($/Tourn) ($0)
%ROI -2%
Amount Wagered $2,213
Gross Win $2,165
Tourneys Won 3
Final Tables 30
Money Finish 22%
1st Quartile 32%
2nd Quartile 23%
3rd Quartile 23%
4th Quartile 17%
Biggest Downswing $1,285