OMG Supernova is going to be harder then I thought

Well guess I have been running good (up 24BI this week). I have made some adjustments to my game and am super happy ATM, one adjustment that isn't really strategy but severely affects my Supernova challenge is that I have decided to 4 table Zoom and not 6 table, as my results seem to be a ton better and my hourly has increased. Unfortunately I'm not getting as many VPP's an hour obviously now so it looks like to achieve this challenge I need to play 8 hours a day pretty much every day for the rest of the year!!! ATM I have 24.5k VPPs and I need to get around 17k next month. What's for sure is that I am going to stick to 50nl Zoom 4 tabling for the whole of next month then re-evaluate and maybe look to adding another table or two or playing 100nl. The challenge is daunting but I'm up for it- I just wish I had another month to do it lol but that's always the case.

Maybe today I find the boom button

Played about 2 hours this morning- actually winning a stack. Super swingy though, I haven't helped myself though with hero calls one was right two where wrong :-( - factoring pot odds I guess I break even. So far this month I have 1465 VPPs. I think I'm playing ok atm a couple of sick spots have come up and the coolers/ outdraws.  

This month looks like its going to be a long one

Well can't win a session thats the bottom line. Lost about 11 BI in 4 days and can't catch a break. I've been running bad but of course there are points for improvement, going to watch some training videos and maybe readjust my ranges.

On the plus side I have over 16K VPPs the bad news is that I've spent my Fpps to cover my downswing (pretty much lol).

Target this month: finish in the black
                            15k VPPs

VPP's/ day required for Supernova this year: 559.433

Nuts Vs Nuts brutality lets try to lose the minimum for the time being

Keep getting it in with 2nd/3rd nuts vs the actual nuts which is kind of annoying- welcome to Zoom I guess. Only good news is that I have less than 1k VPP to make for the rest of today and tomorrow to get 15k VPPs this month.

Ran good for a few days the the inevitable happened

Well must have ran good at the beginning of this week and at the weekend as I had an unsustainable win-rate. Last two days I guess I run bad getting 2 outtered as standard, FH's counterfeited, dirty runouts etc. Good news that I have broken even these two days, worked half days and am generating some Vpp's/ fpps. So far this month I have earned 12.17k Vpp's and have 21.5k fpps to spend if there is anything good in the PokerStars August sale. I am pretty pleased with this seeing that I started off one tabling 1/4 of the stakes as I played on Ipoker, now i'm 6 tabling and playing 4 50nl tables, I'm obviously raking alot more.

Half of August looks set to be half poker and half fringe festival 15k VPPs looks a tough challenge for that month because of it. I guess I can only do my best, but making up for lost volume could be challenging in the later months of the year. I guess I knew that getting Supernova in 6 months starting playing 25nl instead of 100nl was always going to be challenging, but I guess I now know the scale of the challenge and feel it will be a real achievement if I can do it. When the other half goes back to work the first goal is to earn 1k VPP's in a day as I have not done this yet.

Well 88% to go to Supernova- hopefully it will be worth the grind.

Productive weekend (kind of)

Well I am $700 richer after this weekend so I guess that's something. However didn't earn nearly the amount of VPP's I would have liked to, 200 away from 10k this month. I remember why I dont like tournaments now- waste of 4/5 hours for nothing or like a min cash which is pretty much the same. Basically I'm just going to play VIP tourneys now and not bother with the rest from now on as they are distracting my from my goals and essentially costing my winrate+VPPs+FPPs/hour. 50 nl is going much better now I have a semi ok database, I still feel cheated this weekend though but whats new? Had a really funny hand where I just barrelled off my middle set as the PFR W/JJ on K-J-2-5-K in a 3way pot and obv 4 credible combos beat me so I shoved the river for value- they both called with 22 and quads obv. Just had to sit there and go they fooled me- kinda sick though as the pot was 250 and would have been nice, moral of the story Zoom is brutal.

Actually not master blasting 3 streets with a check raise on the flop or the turn for stacks as standard, has turned out to be a good plan. Well not against randoms (now I know who they are) however against Supernovas+ any 4 tabling wizards kinda works a bunch if you don't over do it. Oh still working on not 4bet bluffing the btn to much- kinda expensive leak but find it hard to help myself sometimes when the BB/Sb is super 3bet happy and I haven't got a 5bet stat. Kinda feel all this zoom may turn out like how Rush 100/200nl played back in the day with AJ off being a shove for value in a blind war- In which case I am definitely buying insurance for 100nl+.

Anyways the plan is to continue 4 tabling 50 nl for the rest of this month and August, maybe chuck in a table or two of 25's if my winrate is somehow sick good or I find I have spare mental capacity. Don't expect this to happen till September however, so if I do it sooner its a bonus.

Sometimes I win

Well the last couple of days have gone pretty good. I have adjusted my game a bit and it seems to be working (small sample so it maybe run good). This month I have played 160k hands which is a little lazy on
my part but done a ton of off the table work (zoom dynamics and mental game). So far this month after my 18BI spazz I am up 40 BI so I guess life is ok. I actually think the better standard of reg on Pokerstars is good for me as I understand what they are doing and their ranges are pretty transparent and polarized but skewed to nuts if they 3 barrel. Just played a couple of sessions of 50's and won!!! Feel that toning down my aggression frequency is +ev and have found 4betting the btn relentlessly spells disaster.

At the moment I am marking regs and fish and aim next month to devise a more definitive colour coding system once I have more hands in my database.

So far this month I have earned 9K VPPs and will continue 4 tabling 50nl for the rest of this month, if it goes well I plan to have a table or two of 25's on the side, which will further increase my VPP's/hour. The goal is to play as many tables as possible with a small winrate, I don't think it is prudent to accept a loss and makeup for it in rakeback- this way is the most +ev way I think.

I have planned my VPP accumulation to be geometric this year with Platinum star being the minimum this month and 15k VPP's next month and 20k the month after and 25k in October.

In terms of Fpp's I think I am going to use them if I run bad and lose alot but try to hang onto them if possible till I am Supernova- I understand this is a tall order and probably won't happen but no need to spend them pre-emptively- after all I am not expecting to play 100nl Zoom this year at all.

PlatinumStar

well I have done it and am super pleased doing 9 days ahead of schedule. Won a bit today so thats good. So far I have got 9k Vpps and have 15k Fpps (which i intend to spend on sunday storm tickets and $200 bonuses).

Playing small and tourneys

Been playing small cash games the last few days and won 450, so thats ok. Have also cashed in a few tournaments and won my seat to the 1M gtd micro millions event for 250fpp's today.  
Currently i'm 1.3k vpp's away from Platinum star, which was my goal for this month.
I will be playing on and off this week till the weekend then play pretty hard then. Here's the platinum star this week.

Rough day yesterday, but it happens sometimes

Lost quite a bit the other day. I probably lost 100bb playing bad the rest rest was I guess variance (equity, invisible luck and coolers). Won 2 BI back in 30 mins today though so that's something. I'm really concentrating on the mental aspect of poker at the moment, as well as looking for spots to increase my redline and improve my frequency of bluff success.

So far I have grinded 4.7k VPP's this month and 6.1K this year. So I'm 62% of the way to achieving Platinum Star this month which is good news. Currently I have just under 10k FPPs. To put all this in greater context I am however only 6% of the way there to Supernova, so a lot more grinding needed. My soft goal/  challenge is to get there by the end of October.

Still 4 tabling trying to locate the crushing formula for zoom

Hey guys,

Have grinded 5,280 VPPs now. have done a leak buster analysis today and have a score of 235- B+ so thats ok. Going to have to work to increase my VPIP and CO open% and decrease my 4bet% from the button, as well as reducing my broadway blocker 3bet bluffs. For now I am going to continue grinding 4 tables of 50nl until I find out more how the games play, what the regs ranges for certain spots are etc.

In terms of loyalty status I have to get Platinum Star this month, which looks likely. I will put off playing more tables until I have a winrate I am happy with.

Frustrating few days on Stars

Hey guys,

Been pretty frustrated getting it in on the flop with top set an losing and stuff like that. Got an idiot last night to put in 40% of his stack pre when I had AA he obv managed to turn what he need with his 10-7 off after calling my shove to scoop. I guess overall I'm still winning a little- just not as much as holdem manager says I should but what's new??

The good news is that I have made Gold Star today. The bad news is that I wasted alot of time today playing tournaments- played 4- bubbled one and cashed 3 for like nothing.

So far I have grinded 4.6k VPP's, haven't got the heart to play more than 4 tables of Zoom as I'm getting a bit annoyed by getting whacked by fish atm. However hopefully the run good will set in at some point, fore now looks like I'm grinding VPP's.

Progress

Gd news my initial deposit is up over a K.

Monthly VPP's: 1236
Yearly VPPs: 2653

Going to play a little more 50nl tonight.

Zoom is going better with fewer stack off bluff lines

Well played only a bit of zoom so far this month as I got kinda deep in the Sunday Storm (500ish/25k) and so shut all my cash tables down. Not much grinding has been done today and yesterday as my better half has been off work.

So far this month after my awful start I am up 300ish whilst learning the game dynamics of zoom as well as database generating. I have been able to play 6 tables today for a few hours pretty comfortably which is good news. I will probably continue playing small (25's) till Friday and then deposit some more to play 50nl.

So far this month I have a disappointing 648.42 VPP's

This year: 2065.96 VPP's

2% done 98% to go lol.

What a start on Stars!!!!

I have learnt a valuable lesson the 1st day and a half playing zoom- bluffing for stacks with creative nut lines, calling super light and light vbets are a good way to loose money. I've got it back now so I guess i'm starting again from scratch.

At the moment I've grinded 1009VPP's in two days playing small at 25nl. I'm fine with this even though obviously at 500VPP's a day I'm going to fail in my challenge if you do the maths. The reasoning behind this is that I'm building a database and it seems that a few regs are straddling limits so a figure I'll get the info for cheap as well as getting used to playing more than 4 tables. My goal is to play 50nl zoom sometime in September which would give me the best part of 3 months playing at 50 nl and if I can manage it maybe two tables of 25's as well at the same time. If I can achieve this goal then I figure I will make Supernova this year-   and set me up for 100nl zoom at the beginning of 2013.

Oh yeah I feel like a baller with my Silver star lols.

Poker Stars Challenge 2012

Hey guys,

Well really looking forward to playing on Zoom on Stars.Will start at the beginning of next month. So my challenge is to grind 100k VPP's in 6 months, starting playing 25nl Zoom to begin with to get used to the software, playing style of stars players, multi-table effectively and build up a database as cheaply as possible. I expect most of this challenge to be played at 50 and 100nl as I am going to start with the minimum £400 deposit and two reloads of £400- taking total spend to a limited 1.2k.

I've decided not to deposit my whole bankroll on Stars as I still unfortunately need to withdraw money every month for living expenses- so I will have to play on Ipoker for the rest of this year as well for that purpose, whilst keeping all my Stars money locked in till the end of the year.

Super excited about this challenge and its also super important to get the 3.5x FPP multiplier next year when I plan to move all my play to Stars

What a Grind this months been so far

Been chasing this Cash Point Promo on Ipoker this month, in which you are effectively awarded money for being a aggro fish in multiway pots. I guess its been worth while as I have hit my monthly minimum expected £'s with very little stress and a week to go this month. Having said this its been very boring playing for this promotion- essentially waiting for a multiway pot and taking the most aggressive line possible.

I'm really looking forward to playing proper cash games again, as this is far more interesting with a deeper thought process. Anyways i'm glad cash point is over and that it was on the whole worth while- maybe I make more playing regular cash games maybe I don't we'll never know- however the reduced variance is welcome and so some happiness points are gained there.


Ipoker is bringing in fast fold poker (now in beta) but rolling out properly at the beginning of next month. This is very good news as obv increasing hand played per day etc is good for my bottom line at the end of the month. Will have to wait for the necessary holdem manager updates obviously but I'm really excited about this.


The short to medium term plan is to diversify and start shifting my play to Poker Stars, as this is where the action is at- think stars is like 14 times larger than Ipoker so.... The issue is that you have to wait a couple of months to start seeing any returns from the VIP program which is not really an option for me at the moment, also I wouldn't want to leave the ipoker fish for some other reg to scoop. This has lead me to conclude that playing on Ipoker for living expenses this year is prudent, with the additional goal of establishing a database on Poker Stars playing Zoom as well as attaining Supernova this year. I really want to at the end of the year be able to get a good idea if the attainment of Supernova elite is possible next year. It appears possible at the moment theoretically but maybe I am being hopeful. 


Apparently I'm going to get paid for Cash Point on Tuesday so I'm going to wait till then to start shuffling around money and shipping some on Poker Stars. Also I'm definitely going to rewatch some training vids to increase my though processes. 


All in all this month so far has been ok money wise but just a bit boring. Having said that i'm essentially complaining that watching films and documentaries and playing poker has been a bit boring this month as Cash Point has made the game not very mentally stimulating- I guess worse things have happened lol.


Take care   

Scooping all the fish and payoff wizards

Hey guys,

Well last month was very disappointing winning just £1.5k. I figured the main problem was several tilt issues when thing were not going my way. I guess being careful and the realisation that booking a $50 winning session is worth while and not chasing the 200+ winning sessions hard and losing a hundred or so in the process.

This month has been good seem to be being called for 100+ alot with air. Obv this is some run good coupled with the fact that there seems to be alot more fish this month then usual for some reason- maybe everyone in the civilian population has got bonuses and disposable money to light on fire- anyways i'm not complaining.

Going to take a week off to attend a conference dinner and see family etc, So guess we will see what happens this month.

Watched the Fairy Job Mother the other day and its pretty horrific how grateful some people are for securing something like a Poundland job- work hard all day for like 1/2 an all in- seems a bit fishy. Its really motivating watching such a program to work hard at poker and succeed, especially given that UK graduate unemployment is 25% excluding those in internships and not claiming benefits. It keeps on reaffirming to me that I have made the right decision.

Basically feel well rested, poker is good, my time off is good, making good money, feel like I have made some really good adjustments to my game- all in all life is good.

Variance

Well this month has gone ok so far I guess. Poker players always feel they should be making more than they are but I guess that's part of the territory. Well in money terms all is well playing low stakes and crushing those graduate scheme pay checks . What is difficult is the realisation that I can win/lose in a day what it takes a qualified doctor a week to earn. Perspective is key in dealing with this reality- being around poker for so long it is easy to lose sight of the value of real world money and what it actually takes to earn these amounts.

Thinking about poker it is the only job bar day trading, that you can finish a hard days work and come back with less than you started with. I'm of course used to this but improving your game is just as important as playing and stay ahead of the mean skill level curve.

Anyway heres to running good at the end of the month as I kind of expect to spend a lot next month on random things.

Take care.

Poker seems to be a good option

Hey guys,

Well this month is going ok money wise i'm up 700 sterling. I have run pretty bad but what's new?? I have also invested in Tiltbreaker this month as this software will prevent that moment of madness that can crush souls and lose lots of money. I figured it can't hurt having this safety net and that the analysis made in terms of session optimum session length and statistically significant win/loss limits will enable me to be more efficient and ultimately play better. Just been fiddling around with this software and its all set up, so that good news.

Building up a bit of a collection of software and I guess I have achieved my goal in obtaining all of it and learning how to use them.

1) obviously HM2.
2) Leakbuster
3) Tiltbreaker
4) Table Scanner
5) Range Master

With all these tools I have come across the problem of time. Obviously all this analysis, watching training videos and playing is time consuming, but I am happy with the balance at the moment.

The more I hear about employment and what its like working the more I don't like the sound of it. It seems ridiculous that so many people seem to work in jobs/careers they don't really like, with people they don't like, long commutes and expensive work clothes/ suits(that are paid for themselves), hours they don't choose, the commitment to the company that is expected as standard and all this for what seems like meagre pay that is then taxed. It seems to me all this bossing around is akin to a new age debt bondage/ paid slave system, whereby participants are coerced into working in unreasonable conditions for low pay for fear of homelessness, hunger stemming from inability to pay financial commitments such as debts and mortgages.

I think it is this system and poker players lack of participation in it, that makes people suspicious of poker players. Poker players cannot enter into this system or indeed be coerced by it, think about it the extension of bank credit to poker players is non existent. The poker player is outside this system which is so deep rooted it is conventional and by extension encapsulates the masses, the question is who does this serve???? Does is serve the people??? Is it the people who are profiting from it???? I would say the answer is no. However the clever thing about this this system is promises concerning the future and how meritocracy will prevail and how the system once one is older and wiser will serve you and you will get your just rewards for slogging it out when you where younger.

If this is so it would appear that there are alot of old people out there judging from the attire/ personal belongings (e.g. watches/ cars) that got what they deserved as they lacked ambition, drive and capability to succeed and as a consequence failed to be masters of the system.

I think these false promises of a better future will be most acutely felt by my generation and can see it now that people will be out raged when they realise how little pensions they get (if they do exist at all). The notion of immigration being free is widely opposed in the UK but given the population demographic and the economy to go along with all the under 25 year olds with holes in their CV's who is going to pay for them????

I think that playing poker and being on the periphery of the system of coercion is not a bad place to be. I do think that people doing standard careers/ jobs are being very hopeful and unrealistic with their future prospects. The simple fact is that most will be disappointed. So how does someone succeed in this system??? With good degrees being common place, coupled with work experience etc. the capability edge of your top quartile of a cohort is undeniably shrinking. As capability edge shrinks luck or the manifestation of random events occurring will be a evermore important determiner of who ultimately succeeds in life.

People don't understand how much luck there is in life and don't want to. This is because it is human nature to want to rationalise everything in life and have been trained to think in a certain way. This has its roots in the notion of the protestant work ethic. Ultimately I believe what drives people to work is "hope"- hope for a better life in the future. The question is: is this hope justified and realistic????

HM2 seems to work- a new month and new prospects

Hi Guys,

Well HM2 seems to work now (touch wood). Last month was a write off pretty much- hardly played and only won £600/ $1000. So basically just enough to cover rent, council tax and a bit more, obviously this means I was a net loser last month. I guess thing like this happen from time to time its just really bad timing.

All I can do is look forward to April and work hard. I figure that the standard strata of the working population is working 8 hours a day plus commuting time so this is obviously a good starting point, of course this work commitment rises for those studying professional qualifications in graduate positions which I figure is another 2 hours minimum. The point is that I should not lose sight of the effort people put in at work and I should do the same.

I'm trying to broker a deal today with SunPoker to evaluate if I can commit to their skin on the Ipoker network. I've already discussed the outline of expectations etc but I guess today is the nitty gritty. It has to be sorted today that's all I know, as the Cash Point promotion (network-wide) starts today and basically gives away 750k in 3 months starting today. Regardless of where I am playing I have to be playing for this promotion- far to good to pass up. Negotiations start at noon- starting to feel a bit nervous and can't really sleep- hopefully I can put this MA in Diplomacy to good use today, otherwise I have Poker770 and Expekt Poker lined up as a contingency. Regardless today is going to be a big day- oh I forgot I also have to play a lot of poker as well lol.

Take care.

  

Obviously HM2 is still not working

Hey guys,

Still really mad about the I-poker situation, so much so that I decided to post on the forum the following:

+1 on the ipoker issues. This has taken a month to be "fixed" then everyone is slowrolled by an update that does not fix the problem. There are a couple of issues that Holdem Manager should be aware of when it comes to things like this:

1. HM products are being mis-sold to new customers by claiming to support networks it only half supports or does not properly. This should made clearer on the sales website: like Ipoker supported for 6max and HU (no 9max support-pending).

2. The numerous issues concerning HM2 should be worked on day and night until resolved to mitigate the reputational risks associated. You cannot continue to run a successful business whereby new customers feel as if they have been mis-sold a product/ are unhappy with the response time of the resolution of issues- by the number of issues on the forums it seems very likely that a large %of customers encounter problems. This could have of course been mitigated by thoroughly beta testing HM2 before release- the ever changing nature of poker client software must however be taken into account- but the staff should be there to ensure that issues are dealt with in a timely fashion. In relation to the Ipoker 9max issue; a month is not what one would constitute a "timely fashion". 

3) Holdem Manager as a company should perhaps be worried by the number of issues that users are having with this software, as current customers are inevitably disappointed by the untimely fashion that many issues are dealt with- resulting in a significant number of users being unhappy. Poker tracking software has a relatively limited market so damage to reputational risk will of course be more acute then other more open markets. With the release of PokerTracker 4 Beta and its impending release for sale will result in HM2's monopoly on next generation tracking software being broken. It would seem prudent to act now and fast whilst a strong customer base still exists.
- In terms of recommendations and feedback it is apparent that HM2 needs more programmers to deal with all these issues in order to tackle these issues in a timely manner- people are generally reasonable but a month for a issue such as this not to be fixed is not good business for anyone. 

Having said this HM2 is a good product when it works, sadly it just doesn't work enough of the time properly. Poker players need confidence in the 3rd party software they use due to their heavy reliance on it. Now that PT4 is set for general release it would be best advised to do something about corporate structure to increase response time to such issues before its to late.

If you want to continue to be standard by which other tracking software is measured against sort this out soon.


Sigh how is it still not working don't get it.


Take care.

OMG HM2 has done the Ipoker fix!!!

Wow I can play on Ipoker again.

Really happy about that and in time for some sick promotions next month. Time to work hard and get a 2k bonus.

Take care

2012 budget and its impact on uk poker

Hey guys,

Interesting news in today's budget, with proposals to introduce a new operator tax on online gaming companies. Essentially what is being proposed is operators anywhere in the world will be required to pay gambling duties on gross profits generated from a UK based player pool. Thus, the topic of offshore gambling providers avoiding UK taxation is being addressed. This should in fact make the UK poker market more competitive for players, as firstly the tax is placed on operators, secondly a few operators such as bet365 and Coral have been operating at a disadvantage by opting to maintain UK centric operations. These changes will level the playing field and increase operator competitiveness in the UK poker market and therefore it is unlikely that increased levels of taxation will be passed onto players.

Details will be ironed out in the upcoming Finance Bill, so check this out for legislative changes.

Take care.

Why am I still waiting???

Hey guys,

What a frustrating month this has been. Holdem manager still hasn't released the ipoker update and keeps on promising to do it- this has resulted in the majority of my roll being locked up in Ipoker doing nothing. To be honest I'm breaking even on life this month- with council tax etc- which is pretty disgusting.

So what have I done with my time- whilst sitting like a lemming waiting for this update???
1) Bought notecaddy- this is a revolutionary piece of software and I recommend everyone invest the $60 and time in learning how to use it effectively- in essence it enables you to make perfect Gbucks decisions (for those who don't know what Gbucks are, consult Phil Galfond's article on the subject- plus he's the best).
In essence notecaddy enables one to play "perfect poker" in terms of the battle of ranges. Proponents of Sklansky would disagree- but his theories have the inherent flaw that your opponents hand is never flipped up and thus this 'perfect info' is not available- resulting in decision making being very results orientated and in a constant vacuum.
2) Opened up a Party Poker account- built up a workable database on this network.
3) Watched a ton of training vids.
4) kept uptodate with the latest regulatory changes/news.
5) Got these e-cig things- which are amazing as one of my goals is to stop smoking to lead a healthier lifestyle.
6) workout stuff to stay healthy.
7) Planned my capital accumulation strategy- with different path roots depending taking into account the differing results of current industry issues.

What this month has highlighted is the dependence poker professionals have on third party tracking software. If a problem occurs with this software you can't really play. In business backup systems are prevalent to prepare for such an eventuality (business continuity management). This has highlighted that I need a business continuity management plan to enable me to keep on playing when problems occur- one must borrow from business and look at how they mitigate risks and apply this to poker. I think that the fact that most poker players don't really give this much thought is a grave mistake and is one that I have made this month and must learn from it.

So what to do to ensure business continuity?

1) Play multiple poker networks: At the moment I have money on Ipoker+ Party Poker. However, I plan to put money in the coming month/months onto the 888network/ pokerstars.
- Also in news Relax gaming is launching a new poker network dedicated to 'fast-fold poker' (next month I believe)- basically the same as zoom on Stars and Rush on FT. I'm really excited about this development and feel my Rush Poker experience from back in the day will make me competitive at these games.
2) Holdem Manager 2 will be my main piece of tracking software- However, I'm getting Poker Tracker 3/4 as well, essentially as an insurance policy against Holdem Manager going wrong again.
3) Already got a spare computer- use HM cloud to sync databases with other computers and store data on HM servers.

Obviously I will have to reassess this at a later date, striving to make this as water tight as possible.

I am also going to read more on business management, systems and processes literature and try to apply these concepts and theories to poker. Treating poker like a business I believe is integral to success and if poker is your business you should to.

Take care.

strategic considerations: how to build my money castle

Hey guys,

Well I've had alot of time to think the last week or so- HM2 still hasn't fixed the ipoker issue. Obviously I want to make as much money as possible as fast as possible and figure that next month i'll move my Titan money to another site on the ipoker network and scoop another 2k bonus, plus what the loyalty program pays. I've shortlisted a few sites for this, so have a pretty good idea now.

Recent developments in the industry have resulted in rumours that the ipoker network is going to split into two separate networks in a few months time. This is obviously awful news for player liquidity however, in terms of loyalty schemes this is better as this places a greater incentive to maintain players rather then do the standard jump around the 30+ skins on the ipoker network scooping bonuses.

By having other accounts on the Ipoker network I will firstly be able to change my screen name- this will make me harder to play against as regulars will see me as a random for a while  and thus have not much info on how I play. Secondly I want to be in a position if/when ipoker splits to have accounts on both networks so I have access to both player pools. My choice of site for next month is going to be one that is rumoured to be part of ipoker2. Essentially I want to hedge my bets here in the short term whilst scooping some 2k bonuses and getting 1-2-3k from the points i accumulate along the way.

So how has Party Poker gone? Well as I was limited to a $1k deposit for regulatory reasons- which is obviously absurd as what if your playing 5/10??? leaving me with a skeleton 50nl roll- I mean 50nl is all well and good to supplement an income but is pretty thin on being able to "play for a living". Basically the goal for my party poker account is to keep everything in there and not withdraw until I have a 200nl roll there ($7k), essentially this account is just to play extra tables during the day and is secondary with ipoker being my main earner. Party poker since opening the account has gone ok with my account on £1k- so now I guess i have a pretty comfortable 50nl roll on there. Hopefully I will get more data on players and move up to 100nl in the next month or two and really secure myself on this network.

Not being able to play on ipoker sucks and this month i've been punished- hope its sorted soon.

Take care.

ProfBoomtime dabbles at party poker

Hey guys,

I had enough with the holdem manager problems and the Ipoker network-not being able to play is really annoying. So I opened a Party Poker account yesterday, which I was due to do anyway sometime this month. So what does this secondary account do for me, apart from being able to play in the immediate term? Well it gives me more flexibility in terms of game selection, especially in the mornings, when most players are not awake yet. Also a secondary account affords me some degree of protection if something similar happens in the future. Also I get $500 signup bonus and can compete in the gladiator monthly promotion this month, which is worth a couple of hundred, $100 of holdem manager software credit and obviously a bigger player pool.

So what's happened so far? 3rd hand I got it allin with AA pre and ran into 88 which flopped a set obv. However, i'm still getting used to the software and overall i'm winning small.

Take care.

Ipoker tilts me

Hey guys,

Ipoker's changes concerning full ring games is really annoying, basically HM2 HUD does not align and therefore I cannot play until a fix is done. Its really bad that this could have been avoided if Ipoker informed people before this change occurred, with no warning all the grinders are stuck with the decision of not to play or to play with effectively no software aid.
Basically I won't play until its fixed as firstly its tilting and secondly I don't really want to 3bet that guy light whose pfr is 1% by accident. I like money and intend to hold onto it so I guess its back to twiddling thumbs/ watching training vids until its fixed.

Take care.

Monthly roundup

Hey guys,

Long time since my last post, been a bit busy.

This month has been the most disgusting month pokerwise I have ever had. Set over set has cost me over $7000 and when I have had the bigger set I have won $240. You don't have to be a genius to work out that hand coordination wise I have been unlucky in a scenario that is meant to occur once in 44k hands,  I was on the wrong side of 3/4/5 times a day every day for 3 weeks.

Enough moaning, so what have I achieved this month:

1) Winnings from poker £560 (obviously really disappointing).
2) Played over 150k hands.
3) won $2735 in rakeback (£1715).
4) Achieved Diamond status (highest loyalty status).
5) Biggest winning player at my stakes in week one and 5th in week 3.
6) Improved my game from training videos.
7) Used leakbuster effectively to improve my game.
8) Balanced work and life pretty well this month, didn't play as much as I would usually seeing that my partner had over half this month off- in terms of hours spent playing this month has been an anomaly.
9) 10th highest rake generator on Titan poker.

Total: £2275

So all in all for a disappointing month in which results didn't go my way and I played about 60-70% of the volume I would usually expect myself to play, I think £2275 whilst not as much as I expect to earn on an average monthly basis is still acceptable given the time I have taken off this month. More importantly I am beating all employment opportunities (if granted) available to me in monetary terms and in terms of life flexibility I am way ahead of any other alternatives.

Anyway that's that for updates and hopefully I will run better this month and post  bigger win on the old scoreboard.

Take care.

Statistical anomalies

Hey guys,

Just experienced the worst "run of luck" I've ever experienced. It costs you a lot of money when you run the nut full house into quads and set over set constantly, and never have the reverse cooler. Looked at my HEM database and am really pleased with how I played during this down-swing. Its really annoying that this has happened in month one its set me back in profit ville. Unfortunately I am still losing from my high point but not by too much- winning over £1k this month atm with this sick downswing, feel as if I've been robbed should be winning £2-3k min.

Life is good, got a new monitor and my number pad arrived- which has drastically improved my concentration. Probably should have played more poker this month but the better half was off and with valentines day and what not it is hard to justify full days of work. I guess this is the bonus about poker- you have more flexibility.

All this time off has meant I'm a behind schedule in concern with the points required to get the $4k cashback bonus (320k points). ATM I've made 150k titan points and its over half way through the month. The shorter month and spending time at theatres, museums and exploring town, have in combination thwarted me. I guess I'm fine with this as long as I work hard next month- I mean I can always buy the 1.75k bonus now if I need money.

In other good news I made diamond (highest loyalty status) for this month a week ago and so far in the last 3 days I have been the 5th biggest winner at 100nl, so I guess coming 1st in week one of this month wasn't a pure fluke. Obviously in week two of the uber downswing I didn't feature. Currently I'm battling in the gladiator leader board (rake-race) even with my less then stellar hours this month I'm currently 6th- pays $280 at the beginning of next month. I figure that this month the highest I can reasonably expect to finish is fourth which would net me $450. 

Life good poker ok.

Take care

Poker education

Hey guys,

Ok we all think we are great poker players however, when we think this we fail to improve. I'm really keen to carry on studying and improve my game to keep up with the competition and increase my edge. To help me do this I have just signed up to a poker training site. Figure this is well worth the money.

Its taking ages to make a training video library- however I expect this to pay dividends in the future. So I have taken time out this morning to do this and watch a video or two and run some errands.

In terms of other tools and software, table scanner and note caddy are scheduled in for next month (not worth having them unless a meaningful database on poker clients currently played on is generated). This will mean I will have basically every piece of industry leading software at my disposal. Using them effectively will be key to maintaining and improving my win rate in the short term as well as the future.

Take care.

Life balance

Hey guys,

Been thinking about hobbies so I don't get disconnected from the general population. Really want to play cricket again and I think that the team aspect and banter derived from this will enable me to lead a more balanced life. So I have been looking for local cricket clubs. Also I really want to get my driving license done once and for all- so got to budget for this in the coming months.

Take care

The quest for data to get power

Hey guys,

So I have played on Titan for a week and a half. The goal for month one was to attain the highest loyalty status on the site (diamond), buy the $4000 cash back bonus for life expenses which will last for two months and build up a good database of 150k+ hands for the Ipoker network. I thought for month one I wouldn't be over ambitious on the profit side and settle for breaking even, whilst generating a database. As game selection and reads in the coming months resulting from this will have a good impact on my win rate. After all information is power.

In terms of what has happened, I've had a couple of bad sessions however, so far I have won $1750 or £1.1k so overall its going better then expected I guess. I have played 85k hands in this time and have been 16 tabling 50/100nl.

Got lucky on the 2^nd of this month and hit a Royal Flush before anyone else that day so got $50 from Titan, which was pretty nice.

Titan are doing a promotion which rewards the biggest winners with cash prizes. Unfortunately I did not know about this and didn't opt into the scheme until a friend of mine told me I had won it. Obviously its nice to see that I had apparently won the most at 100nl over this time period however, unfortunately I didn't get the money. Obviously I have opted in now and hopefully I will get something from the three other races.

In terms of Titan points I have made 80k so far which means I am on target for my 4K cash back bonus (320k points) and will get the 120% multiplier at the end of the month.

I also reckon I should win something in the $5k gladiator race every month due to my volume which should net me $200-450 a month. So far I have been hovering between 15 and 7^th so I guess I’m up there with the uber sickos.

Got plans to improve my set-up in the next month. At the moment I have a 20” dell ultrasharp 2007fp monitor and a smaller 17” Packard Bell monitor (kindly donated by a friend). Obv I need to alter my set-up so going to sell my old i-phone 3gs and use the money to buy another 20” dell 2007fp. I reckon 2 dell ultrasharps with a 17” monitor on top will make multi tabling feel nicer and allow me to play longer and harder. Also I guess over the years I've been a bit lazy when it comes to online poker aids as I've seen it previously as a hobby that somehow magically you make money from. Keyboards are annoying when it comes to typing in bet sizing- it cramps your wrist/arm after a while- they are designed for left handed people or something- I don’t understand why the number pad is on the right hand side. Anyway I have ordered a separate number pad along with wrist rest- this will allow me to be more dynamic with bet sizing- feel it its really +ev.

Next month also have plans to make a Party Poker account, the $100 holdem manager store credit is nice and so is the $600 1^st deposit bonus. More importantly multi clienting is really important for game selection and liquidity at weird hours for poker players (e.g. 7am). I think this will give me more life flexibility and will be a step towards attaining life balance.

Take care.

Pontification, Dilemmas and Poker

Hey guys,

I know the internet is saturated with online poker player diaries. Hopefully this one will have some value to it however, its main purpose is to keep a log for myself to look back on in the future, as well as for those who are interested.

Anyway opening gambit aside, as you have guessed I have decided to become a professional poker player. This was perhaps the hardest decision of my life due to the downsides associated with this choice. I guess a good analogy of poker as a career vs conventional employment would be: if we imagine a horse race, with the race track start to finish representing the different stages of life. In the race of horses (people) who are employed conventionally the loser gets to race again another day however, in the horse race of poker players the loser gets shot. Unfortunately this is the grim reality of pursuing poker as a profession and is one I am obviously aware of along with dilemmas stemming from not being a productive member of society. 

Hopefully if all goes to plan I have ideas for the future that I believe poker will give me the financial flexibility to achieve things in the future that I can be proud of, such as setting up an NGO for issues I care about or making charitable donations of money/time to good causes. However, I believe it is easy to pontificate about ethics and morality once financial security is obtained and unfortunately this is something that most people never truly achieve. For now though this is an issue I will have to put on the back burner and address at a later date.  

To me work is something people do in order to get money, soft benefits are also associated with work. However lets assume you won the lottery- most people say they would continue working and are motivated by the pursuit of soft benefits. The reality is that most do not if they actually win.

I believe balance is key in obtaining happiness regardless of your chosen profession- if we work too hard we get unhappy, the same I believe is true if we don't work enough, your brain goes stale and this to leads to dissatisfaction. So I have decided the most important thing in this journey will be to make money and find my balance in life. For the first year or so social balance is probably going to be a little neglected, I’m really lucky I have some really smart friends to talk to about poker and others for moral support. However, I see the first year or so as laying the groundwork which will require working really hard, which I guess is the same as any career. However, I do have plans to take up a hobby or two in the future to meet some real world people and obtain life balance through that. Ultimately the goal is to is to I guess lead two separate lives one as the poker player and the second as a normal human with a firewall separating the two.

In terms of other life balance things, eating healthily and exercising are going to be key and are aspects I think many people whatever their profession overlook. To be a poker ninja you obviously have to be in shape, feel good, study hard, put in the hours in online land and leave aside time to spend with significant others/ friends and pursue the things in life that make you happy. The optimum blend of these aspects is to me what balance is.     

So I guess this bring me onto the last question of why pursue poker as a profession? After all chasing dreams has lead many a man to ruin. This we see in the world of self employment a lot with the majority of start-ups ultimately going bust and bankruptcy ensuing. I guess a combination of factors lead to ruin such as deluded self evaluation of ability, luck, unsustainable work ethic and lack of balance in life. After playing poker for 5 years I think I have a realistic evaluation of my absolute and relative skill level, which is always increasing due to study. This has lead me to the conclusion that pursuing poker is a viable option.

So what is luck? I think that this is a concept that is largely misunderstood, and really it is the manifestation of random events occurring. Although there is a luck element in poker and we cannot separate the two totally in a life time- this is however smoothified to a certain extent due to the number of hands we play: giving us a “luck range”. I don't think many people in the real world realise how much luck there is, in part this is due to the fact that humans do not like to feel out of control. Everything is the result of cause and effect that was determined by what I think of as “semi-self-determined chance”: if this choice and others leading from it are good this is what we term luck.

Anyway sorry for the long ramble (more poker stuff next time).

Take care