2011 roundup, 2012 plans!

Soooo the end of the year. A time to look back, reflect, ruminate, and to look ahead, plan, imagine.

TO DREAM.

Or to change the background colour of your blog, either's good. Anyway, first lets look at the pokers.

-> Online results:


So no complaints at all there, other than at myself for being such a lazy bastard. I obviously don't get to see anywhere near all of that given that I was backed for most of the year and had to clear Vegas live makeup, but pretty pleased I can pretend I won 6-figures! Some pretty silly swings in there, but the upswing is the most noticeable which is the way it should be :) Other notables include two triple crowns, (one of which I won in a single session!) and cold 4bet/calling off with K9o in a $5k. Wups.

-> 2011 was definitely the year I started playing live tho so a quick breakdown:

- Bricked 20-25 $1k+ events in a row including vegas and about 8 ept/wpt tours
- Online cleared vegas MU and then won a €1k side event in Prague which cleared the euro makeup
- Won money in vegas cash games
- Got backed for live cash, lost money in euro cash games

So fairly meh, lost money overall but some deep runs towards the end of the year which is a much needed confidence boost. Definitely looking forward to more live next year, when you're playing well it's just so immediate and fun. Nothing like stacking piles of chips to make you smile!

All in all, I think poker can be counted as a moderate, lazy success.


Outside of poker things get a bit more murky.
-> Didn't get to any festivals this year which I'm very disappointed about, been very lax with music and writing. Did a little travelling around Europe and America which was great. Creative and cultural stuff a mild fail.

-> Diet, exercise and sleep have all been very varied, 'lived' in about 6 different friends' or parents' houses for a few weeks/months at a time, and haven't even slightly settled or made clear ties anywhere. Attempts to have some sort of routine or stability also a fail.

-> I was actually debating whether to include this due to the typical reception of the subject but I firmly believe mental health should be regarded in the same way as physical health in terms of how it's discussed and perceived, and if I'd been in a car crash I'd write about it so fuck it. If I'm judged or avoided or whatever because of it at least then I'll have a legitimate reason to label someone a twat rather than just vaguely assume they are like I usually do. So:

Worst has been the continuing deterioration of my mental health despite concerted efforts to improve. It's heading towards being unmanageable at this point and am pretty apprehensive about this for next year, especially since I've decided to spend the whole winter (which is always when I'm at my worst) in the UK, something I've not done in a few years. Spent half the winter here early this year and it was staggeringly unpleasant, so might not be the best idea... Having said this I'm a lot more aware of what's going on now, and have the next 6 months fairly well planned which should be good for general stability. Looking into various options regarding treatment, none of which are particularly encouraging, but going to try anything I can obviously - don't really have much choice.


The year to come:

-> Moving into a flat in Leeds for the first six months of next year with Monsieurs Dan Morgan and Luke Fields. Really looking forward to this, going to put in a lot more volume hopefully, since both Dan and Luke are very well-behaved grinders and encouragement and shame are a powerful combination! Also going to sort out some kind of part time job or volunteering position, something completely separate from poker that will help me unwind. Dan and I are pretty evenly matched at badminton so I foresee/will enforce lots of playing (also saw in lildave's blog him and Perrins plan to play - badminton league?!) and have friends in Leeds and Sheffield, so generally feeling very positive about it all.


Pretty funny sweat as to whether Luke would have the money to pay for the rent, was looking like we might need to find a new third person - always knew the sweat would end in some ridiculous way and sure enough he just gets third in the Sunday Million for $110k on the first sunday in months he had 100% of his action about a week before he has to send the rent money. Standard LF. You'd better be buying the milkybars Mr Magic!

-> Heading to Vegas after Leeds and cashing in a WSOP event is definitely a goal. Plan to do a bit more rambling around America too, but nothing nailed down.

-> My bank balance violently disagrees with the graph at the top, and whilst I've enjoyed living my life in an extremely unsustainable way I've decided I need to be less of an idiot. With that in mind I'm aiming to spend slightly less in general life expenses, and certainly going to spend a lot less in Vegas (despite being there longer).


That's about it, nothing else planned. 2012's going to be an interesting one... let's see what happens. Typed 'lets see' into google images to finish with some stupid picture about THE FUTURE but the first that came up is a stupid picture about PANDAS and is much better:

Hilariously delayed Californian rambles

No, not dead. Just lazy. However I've finally found the energy to move my fingers a little bit and click things, so here goes!

Towards the end of my stay in Vegas I get an email from Tyler, who some of you may remember from some of my India blogs, for example when I thought he'd been eaten by bears. It was a long, ranty, persuasive email full lists of amazing things to do and see, and waving off my excuses by saying things like 'I see here a bad case of the "next time i travel across the world to the place that im already at" mentality'. I decide he's totally right and not at least seeing a bit of the actual USA whilst I'm there is pretty stupid. So, I cancel my flight and Tyler makes the casual 2,000km drive from Michigan to Vegas to meet me at The Bellagio. It's bizarre seeing someone again that you link in your mind to one particular time and place but in a totally different setting - India and Vegas are pretty much polar opposites - but also really nice. Tyler's very easy to get along with (even if I'm not!) so we're off straight away, talking crap and playing cards. We plan to spend a little time in Vegas to build up a roadtrip roll, which doesn't entirely go to plan, but we need to head to San Francisco to meet his friend Caspian (best name ever) and his cousin Garrett. As the valet brings round his dilapidated but completely indestructible Volvo estate to the front of the Vdara, stuffed to overflowing with seemingly everything he owns, I get that tingle - you just know what's going to happen is totally unpredictable and new; that sense of adventure is undeniable!


Tyler points to one of the many dents and yells to the valet 'What the hell did you do to my car!?' and then cracks up. It's going to be a gooood ride - time to hit the road.


Since I can't drive (much to his amusement) Tyler is on driving duties for the whole trip - which is an impressive feat since we end up travelling for thousands of miles more - and is a great driver, although being in his car can be... exciting! Shall we say. He has a habit of ignoring traffic laws he disagrees with ('look at all these stupid-ass people waiting for an opening! pfft'), is usually seen rolling a joint on the map that he's also using to navigate whilst choosing the music on his ipod and cruising at 75, and occasionally drifts onto the hard-shoulder if he needs to complete a particularly awesome air-mandolin solo.


Multiple complaints about the mixture of my feet, sandals and infrequent washing - out they go!

On one memorable occasion, we're driving along, and we see smoke. Lots of forest fires in these parts, so we look around for it. Gets steadily worse to the point that my eyes are watering and we can't see very well, so we wind up the windows. That makes it worse. It starts to dawn on us...
'Dude, I think my car's on fire.'
'You need to pull over. Right now.'
We swerve to the hard shoulder and jump out, realising how bad the smoke is - both of us half-expecting the car to explode. After a few minutes of smouldering, Tyler approaches is cautiously and then starts laughing - a butt has landed on some paper and caught fire, no engine explosions for us.

So, we manage to get to San Francisco in one piece! Caspian is the perfect host - kind and generous and shows us great places in San Francisco, introduces us to lovely people, and gets us free booze. What more could you wish for?


She's also the daughter of the owners of California's biggest family-run winery up in Sonoma - the quintessential small and beautiful American town, exactly how I'd imagined it. The farmer's market, where I try my first corn dog:


(seriously what the hell america?! weirdest food ever)


We meet up with Garrett who's flown in from Indiana. He's 19, smart and eager to see all he can - he'd been to one big city before San Francisco. His sense of wonderment is infectious! We see a bit more of the city before we go, including The Castro (the gay district - go watch 'Milk') and Haight-Ashbury (birth of the 60's!) where we talk bollocks with people at the International cafe, I'm sold a Ben and Jerry's by a red-eyed, sleepy pair of ice cream experts, and see this lady:


Haight-Ashbury is actually a little depressing and corporate, lots of trinket shops selling tie-dye headbands and t-shirts with pot leaves on them. Still, was obviously still a fun place to hang around!

With some reluctance we decide we should hit the road, Garrett's time is limited and he wants to see some trees! Well we all do. We set off up the coast towards the Redwood National Park, stopping off in Sonoma to watch The Big Lebowski on a big screen at the winery. Perfect.

One more stop along the way is a hot-springs retreat, with pools, yoga and meditation classes, music shows, etc. The pools are clothing-optional(!), so I do the whole take-your-clothes-off-and-bathe-with-a-bunch-of-strangers thing, which is ok I guess. Seems to be more about the nudity than the hot springs... also the creepy 50yr old men that stretch and sigh and whisper sweet nothings as they float past really aren't conducive to the relaxing the pools are supposed to be good for, so not sold on the whole deal personally! Still, the place itself is beautiful; I'm camped in a totally secluded spot next to a stream, tons of wildlife and peace.

My memory of exactly where we went and which forest was which is a little hazy by now, so it'll just be general impressions and pictures. Our daily routine when going from place to place would usually be: get woken up by a campsite owner (or police officer) at 6am telling us to move, pile our stuff into the car and drive with frequent stops and detours for exploring and mini-hikes during the day.


Mild confusion and increasing frustration follows as we realise we don't know where we're going or will sleep, we drive for hours into the night trying to find a campsite with a space until Tyler snaps and parks off the edge of a dual carriageway next to a blind corner and we set up camp - and repeat. It's all good fun and I do enjoy it, but it does result in very little sleep and as anyone who knows me is aware: I need lots. I think Tyler gets a little frustrated at my apparent lack of enthousiasm, but it really is just a lack of energy - I can't keep up with his endless reserves! Looking back I definitely regret not making the most of it, but when I get into one of my exhausted states there really isn't much I can do, I become zombified. My brain is replaced by cotton wool and I just float with the clouds - usually when I get like this I just cancel everything and hole myself up in my room for a week/month but obviously this isn't really an option here. As I say, I do have a great time, I just hope Tyler doesn't think me ungrateful!

We do find some nice campsites along the way too where I can recuperate:


Our own stream:


We end up in Yosemite National Park, Caspian joins us and we do our first proper walk. This was just before Tyler nearly stepped on a lethal snake:




Tons of stuff happened on the way, met enumerable interesting people and saw dozens of amazing places, but far too many to recount, so I think I'll just leave you with some pictures of the trees. There is a true sense of awe walking around the forests here, such stillness and a deep silence with these natural towers all around. Most striking to me were the fallen trees; you could see where they had snapped and broken, see how they'd fallen - it was like each one told a little story. Anyway, enough rambles - they speak for themselves.








I shall be coming back.

I did not win the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Well it wouldn't be the Series without the obligatory post-Vegas roundup.

The place:

Head asplode. Seriously what the hell is this place and who dreamt it up? Maybe nightmared it up. It's a huge, sinister, adult Disneyland with more neon, degeneracy and strippers than you can imagine. It's vile. Occasionally it was so weirdly, wildly surreal that it appealed to my sense of humour (enormous singing frog at the Wynn, canal complete with gondolas and men in stripey tops on the 2nd floor of the Venetian, etc).


From the drunken frat boys to the dozen mexicans per block soliciting prostitutes, though, it really wasn't me at all. It's a place that really brings out the worst in people, and for someone who pretty much only sees the worst in people anyway, it's not ideal.

Right! After that somber start here's the good stuff:

The poker:

Went 0 for 9 in tournaments, and lasted a disappointing 5 hours in the Main Event. Bleh. Every event I played was soft though with the exception of the $5k 6max, and I felt like I held my own, and the other events just blew my mind. Think $5 mtt on ipoker. This was definitely the most live poker I've played and I was fairly happy, but I do need to watch the occasional blowup hand. Basically I need to remember that everyone always has it.

Cash went great, winning about $19k mostly at 5/10. During the series there's loads of games going and very few of them were tough - I think I only requested two table changes the whole time. I ran well for sure, and was experimenting with an extremely laggy style which was a lot of fun, but it really felt like printing money. You can definitely play a hilarious number of hands in most live games, although perhaps a few less than I did, I indulged in a little spewing...


Everything else:

The quality of life I had here was incredible. Swishy hotels, lounging by various pools, icy cocktails.

Margaritas and blackjack in the pool!

Inside the hotels and casinos were pretty amazing too, lots of extravagance and luxury. Or ridiculousness.



And the food! Ah, the food. Best meals were Alize's at the top of the palms (amazing view, michelin star food), the Stratosphere (revolving restaurant approximately 27 miles in the sky) and Prime at Bellagio, excellent food with a view of the Bellagio fountains. Of course it all cost an absolute fortune, and with the trip afterwards (blog to come) I probably ended up breaking about even on the trip, but the things I spent money on were all things I like. I think I only ended up paying for about 4 meals in the end - sounds like I was lucky at credit card roulette given that we ate out at least once a night, but one of the meals I paid for was $2.2k (!) so I think I paid my share in the end... thanks to Dan for paying for most of my others though :)

Helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon was amazing, first time in a helicopter - definitely a fun way to travel!





Despite my moan at the beginning it was a really fun trip. If it weren't for the poker I doubt I'd go there again, but as it is I'll almost certainly be back next year. And to be honest, whilst there are definitely a lot of things I'm not looking forward to, a month of decadence and easy poker actually sounds pretty good.

Vegas Update

Still a pile of bricks on the tournament front. Made my first day 2, and in the $5k triple chance too, but sadly bust about 20 mins in after QQ < KT. Probably just flop 3 tens, why not.

Thankfully cash has been going very well, I'm up about $8k at 2/5 and 5/10 over 8 sessions. The games are mostly very good I've been running well too - hoping it continues.

In non-poker news I went to Electric Daisy Carnival, the world's biggest dance festival, which was suitably electric. A hundred thousand people dancing they're socks off, very good fun. Also went for a meal at the rotating Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere with Dan, Luke and Gavin, and Dave and Becca who'd just flown in, which was excellent. Lovely food and an incredible view.


Off for a meal/night out for Gavz' birthday now, day off tomorrow. A few small events next week and then The Main Event begins! Haven't decided which day I'm playing yet, but looking forward to a long, long tournament grind...

June/wales/vegas

So a few days into June I carried on my good run winning the Party Highroller for $27k and change, and then last week I won a $12k Main Event package. I was planning on heading to Vegas anyway for the series, but it's always nice to have the seat locked up before going.

Barely played apart from those two sessions, mainly doing things like packing and spending time with uni friends who've finished their exams. Went on a lovely holiday to a cottage my grandparents own in Wales with some chums


where we did lots of this


ate a fair amount of this


and I did this


which was shortly followed by this



(thanks to ali for the pics!)

I arrived in Vegas on wednesday, jet lagged and mightily confused by how bizarre this place is. I'll do a full Vegas blog after I get back, but it's pretty mental.

I managed to mess up the bank wire to the Rio, so I'm here with basically no money, a tiiiny tactical error there. Managed to borrow some/had a bit of my own. So far I've played the $5k 6max series event which was pretty tough, played pretty well but couldn't win the flips and lost TT < AQ on 9TJ to bust. Yesterday was a $1.6k in the Venetian Deepstack series, which I played less well in (mainly just fudged one big hand, but it was pretty bad). The taxi queue at the Venetian was huge so I decided to play some cash with my last $600 and managed to spin it up to $2.4k meaning I could play the $1.5k series event today, though sadly just bust running kings into aces for heaps.

Probably will play some cash now and try to win enough for the $1k tomorrow...basically hoping a bank wire can get through soon - or I'll just have to hang on until Dave arrives with money.

Anyways, to the tables!

yaymay

Ireland was fun, although kinda frustrating. Bust the main pretty quickly, won a bunch playing cash, lost a bunch playing cash (to Luke), had half the chips 4-handed in the Highroller event - came 4th, lost a bunch playing acey deucey (to Luke) and lost a bunch playing whist (also to Luke. BASTARD!)

I've played exactly once since coming back and that was yesterday; managed to finally do a win after months of near misses. Two wins actually, won the stars $8r 2x turbo for 7.8k (2nd time I've won it this year!) and then...


Bink! So that gets me out of makeup and pads the liferoll. May I think has been my best month ever in terms of results, although I don't get to see all of it by any means with the staking. Still, pretty fun to have a $50k month!


Dan Dave and Luke have been pestering me to go to vegas this year which I've been resisting until now mainly because of money issues, but I feel like I can head to the series for a few weeks and have enough left over for the rest of the year and winter travels if the series goes badly. Haven't 100% decided or looked at flights or anything, but the vague plan would be flying out on the ~20-25th, there's a dozen or so $1-3k events between the World Series and the Venetian Deepstack series, then play the MAIN EVENT, then fly back. Then head back in November for the final table...

Mayday mayday mayday!!

So I had a pretty terrible stretch a few weeks back, taking shots at the new euro-only 100rs and things on stars which went horribly despite numerous near misses and ended up losing about 3/4 of my roll (bankroll management ftw!) so decided to get backed again by Dave.


Like what happened last time Dave started backing me I instantly had some nice results; 5th in 2 $162s on tilt and managed to bink a 4th in the $1.6k ante up SCOOP event which I satellited into, so those netted Dave and I about $12k each which was very welcome. Think I'm going to continue being backed for the foreseeable, I'm liking the idea of not worrying about having any money online at all, and just cashing out whenever I get above zero makeup! Of course it sucks when deep in makeup and I might change my mind, but now that I've got spending money to keep me ticking over (and enough for travelling this winter) I think it's best like this for now. Less pressure is good.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Cork with Luke and Dan for the UKIPT which will be great - events in Ireland are always great fun, lots of drinking and soft games. Got the live itch too so hoping I can do some work at the tables, although some big SCOOP events are overlapping, especially on the sunday for me so that will limit the amount of live games I play. Also big congrats to Luke for winning the FTOPS multi-entry brawl, and then degening it up at 25/50 HU PLO and just winning all the money. Just saw him finish a ~$120k+ session, so there should be some fun rails in Ireland too.

Anyways, next post will clearly be me detailing my UKIPT win and the SCOOP main event win that immediately followed. Please?