Is this legal?

Just had my 2nd winning sunday in a row - I'm suspicious! That has to be some kind of record, surely? Maybe the poker gods are placating me before dealing me a -100 buyin downswing or something. Final tabled 2 $109 mtts on ipoker, 2nd in a smaller one for $1100 (really good HU match, almost won it a few times but couldn't quite clinch it) and 3rd in a bigger one for $3100. Probably cashed for about 6k total, about $2.5k profit. Yay! Reached 20k online which is great, feel I'm able to take a shot at the majors without satting now, although I wont be buying in to $150+ mtts during the week, want to keep to the softest possible fields for now.

Pretty pleased with how everything's going pokerwise at the moment. I think I'm playing well and I'm actually progressing in terms of bankroll and stakes, which I haven't done in a long time. I've been a bit slack organising other things though. REALLY need to figure out what I'm doing this winter, can't stay in the UK. Not just because I'll feel crap, but I literally wont be able to do anything. Poker's off the cards (ba-boom tish) since SAD makes me tilt and lose bankrolls (I really really reeaaally don't want it to happen a 3rd time) so I'll have nothing to do, so I'll lie around feeling miserable, so I'll play poker. And lose bankrolls. Basically I need to phone this guy about a teaching placement in senegal who hasn't been replying to my emails, but I'm lazy and don't like phoning people. If that doesn't work out I have some decisions to make - and I'm really no good at making decisions.

Having said that, the 1 big decision I've made recently -dropping out of uni- I definitely feel was the right one. Even hearing about people's exams just makes me squirm, especially language oral exams... ewww. Hate them soo much. I always did fine, just... ugh, I'd just wake up and immediately start worrying, even in normal term-time without exams. I love being able to wake up and not worry about everything.

2 more winnings sessions, woop

so on monday I finally got the win, a $109 mtt on ipoker for ~$3.6k, which was pretty sweet. Ran pretty good, but played ok too. Then tonight I luckboxed a $216 turbo mtt final table on fulltilt, came 4th for $4.6k. yay! Was 6handed and I went into the FT with the chiplead, was eyeing up the 14k for 1st, but wasnt to be, carddead+weakish play+cooler. Still, a much appreciated boost to the roll.

Hope this continues...

What's this? A winning sunday? Surely not...

No massive scores, but came 2nd in a small $100 6max tourney for 1.7k and 5th in a $75 6max tourney for 1.9k, had a few other small cashes and ended up about +$1.5k on the session (sundays are expensive). Nice to have a winning session, had a few more frustrating sessions before this one. I mean, in a way it's great, every session I've played since I got back I've had a bunch of really deep runs, often at least 1 final table. It's just a shame I haven't been able to convert any of them so far and so am down over the last week.

Finally got around to buying HEM, did some leakfinding and was pleasantly surprised, no glaring holes in my game or anything. Also looked back over some HHs and again was pleased to see not too many hands that made me recoil in disgust, so I'm feeling positive. Lets see what happens...

Welcome back!

So I've had 3 days of the most frustrating grinding ever. yay! An insane amount of near misses. Like, silly amounts. I could easily be +$20k if a few hands went different ways. Instead I'm stuck a few $k. boooooooo. The good thing is that I feel I'm playing well, and my concentration has been good, especially yesterday (6 near misses) - a decent score has to come soon.

Doesn't it?

Back!

So I've finally returned from distant lands. After the hitch to zadar I decided to stay out there for a few weeks, went round croatia, bosnia herzegovina and montenegro, and flew back from budapest today. Had a really awesome time, was totally what I needed. I, however, now have a slight urge to play poker.

OH GOD I MISS POKER.

ahem. Too tired to play tonight, but gonna play a big session tomorrow I imagine. And probably every day I can possibly manage it for the mext 3 months. So yeah, lots of grinding, going to play some more live tourneys if I can - I've decided that some of money I have saved up isnt doing me much good lying around earning .25% interest or whatever, so I'm going to invest it in poker instead. yay! There's my gukpt seat to use, either luton or cardiff probably, and i'll try and make the monthly £300 at DTD whenever I can. There's also the £1k there in a week or 2, which I'll try and get a seat for.

Hoping to start playing more of the higher buyin games online too now that I'm actually building a roll. March was the rebuild from the $800 I had left after my xmas blowup, now I have a decent roll and no need to cashout. Hoping to reach 20k online by the end of june, so soon I can start playing majors without faffing about with sats. Still thinking about getting a coach too for a little bit, depends on what my plans are in the long term... seems a little pointless if I'm only around for a couple of months and then disappear for 6 months and not play a hand. we'll see.

I'm actually excited about grinding tomorrow - nothing like a break to renew enthousiasm. Time to catch me some fishies!

Aces suck.

So I bust the Irish Open soon after the dinner break on day 1. 22bb stack, AA vs 99 aipf, he flops the set and turns quads, weee. Quads are good sir. Happy with the way I played apart from my 1 obligatory blowup hand - shipping it over a flop check/raise vs a shortie with air for some reason. That got me down to 7k from the starting 10k, hovered around there until 150/300, then got the aces. meh, pretty disappointing, but also fairly standard, not like it was some massive beat or anything.

Was going to play cash but just learnt the charge at 1/2 is 8bbs/hr. 8bbs! 32bb/100 to breakeven. Totally insane, my hourly would be waaaaaaay lower than just grinding online, though it seems a bit boring since I'm here. 2/5 is a bit better, but I've heard it plays more like 5/10 since its uncapped, I'm just not rolled for it really. They've got some sngs going with standard 10% rake, so I'll probably play a bunch of 100s/250s if they're running. If I run good I might take a shot at the 1650mtt in a few days, I'll see - I'll need to win about 10 just to cover my beer costs, it's pretty obscene.

Sigh. Not quite what I had in mind for my first major. Oh well, I guess I'll get to see more of dublin this way. Silver lining...

Back from break

So I'm back from my break, went to Grenobe to visit an old friend which was great, and then to Verbier to visit another old friend, and to try snowboarding. The place itself was weird... full of very posh, insanely wealthy tourists wearing furs and sipping £18 beers (honestly) or arrogant swaggering boarders and skiers, or an intoxicating mixture of the two. So in some ways the town was my own personal hell...but all you had to do was lift your head slightly you and see this:



Which kind of made it all ok! Was just stunning. Boarding was fun, though pretty painful... got ok towards the end of the first day, then had far too much to drink and the next day was... well, I struggled. Dizziness, nausea and snowboarding as a beginner really don't go well together. I can laugh about it now though :)

So yeah, had a great time all in all. However, was much more expensive than I was expecting (silly prices for food, boarding stuff and ski passes were insane) so hopefully i can get a few decent sessions in before ireland. Got some family gatherings, but should be able to get 3-4 days worth of playing.

glatt all.