Update - 2010 and looking ahead

So I have not posted a blog in a very long time. Since my last post I played pretty much exclusively MTT's. It was fun and i made alot of money reletative to how ive done at cash games/sit n go's but I just cant handle varience. Played like 1100 MTTs or so I think and made all my money in the first 500, then down 2k over the next 600, so meh, whatever poker you suck.

Some good things apart from profits came from my MTT dabble, I learnt that small stakes MTT are super soft and easy to own. I also learnt that varience is a complet bitch. But most importantly I learnt that higher and mid stakes MTT's see a huge jump in skill level from the micro buy ins and are actually pretty hard to be super successfull at. Just like all other forms of poker MTT are a grind and the main reason i decide to switch back to cash games for 2010 is that I hate having to put in 12 hours sessions, getting like 5 hours in and being like 'fuck this shit' but not being able to leave and anti tilt by doing something else.

That brings me to my goals for 2010:

1. Get coaching and improve so I can beat 100nl.
2. Make enough money so I dont have to work to pay for uni next year.(this year is sorted already!)
3. Treat my poker in a more business like and professional way.
4. Volume. But good volume, dont sacrifice quality for quantity.

Coaching

So I have actually already manage to secure myself a coach, who also makes videos for stox poker, and have booked ant payed for 10 sessions at 20nl. So far the first session went super well, came away with a huge amount of info to digest and process aswell as homework and things to do before our next session hopefully in a couple days. Basically just tackled pre flop ranges vs opponent types and where I was missing value in certain spot aswell as some stuff about double barrelling and 3 betting. So far so good.

Since the coaching session i have logged about 11k hands and am doing much better winning at 8bb/100 which is an improvement from my 0bb/100 at 50nl before the coaching(had to move down to protect roll as I needed to pay in advance and didnt want to go busto while spewing as I learnt).

I also renewed my stox poker subscription just in time for Dusty Schmidt to announce that he is resigning as lead instructor there, dissapointing to see my of my favourite high stakes players leaving but never the less will be trying to watch a couple of the video series on there over the coming months.

Other News

Joined up to the uncontested poker forums about a month ago and really helping my game alot to be getting decent HH analysis instead of the boring stuff on the other forums. Been fun for me to get to talk to the likes of zach and BW again aswell as a few more, as they are really good players who are thinking alot about situations and poker, I find myself to be lagging so far behind in the strategy department.

Will be heading back to school for another semester in about 3 days which is very boring and will put a dent in my poker playing volume no doubt. On the whole i was super dissapointed in my last years results but am glad i passed with satisfactory(compared to my peers) grades. I guess expecting all A's and A+'s is a bit much sometimes.

Im looking forward to 2010 and what it holds instore but mostly I am very keen to get through 2010 and seize the great opourtunites that await me about 6 months to a year down the track assuming everything goes to plan with my sporting endevours.

Good luck at the tables and may you pawn the noobs and slap the fish, while 8 bet bluffing nitty regs.

Im back! Only on weekends and holidays.

Thats right you heard it im back but only on weekends and holidays. So maybe weekly updates I do quite enjoy writing. It offers quite a nice place where I can vent about all the horrible things that happen in the world, for example I am now playing at Full Tilt Poker not Pokerstatrs. Why? Why not? Plus FTP has 90 man Knock out sit n gos.

Speaking of the 90 mans, Ive been tearing those up of recent, 47 games, $2.84 average profit. Not to bad for someone who stepped away from poker for 6 months. Sure im only on $3.30 ones ate the moment but I will gradually and hopefully more disciplined than before move up in stakes.

For now have fun enjoy life and realize how great it feels to win because when you dont win, it realy fucking sucks.

Christmas Gift arrives Late but is a good one.

A few days ago a brown package arrived for my brother, unbeknown to me it was infact the very christmas present that I had been given the IOU for on christmas day. In his generosity My brother decided he would let me open the package as he couldnt be bothered wrapping it up in christmas paper. I eagerly tore into the package only to find it so well sealed that my 'tough guy' fingers where unfathomably to me not strong enought to actually pull the stupid brown packaging apart.

"Go forth and get me scissors!" i commanded, after a blank stare from my mother and brother I ended up going to get the scissors myself and finaly manged to get into this mysterious parcell. It was definately worth the wait, as what i found inside was a book entilted "How to Learn Chip Tricks!"

I met this with entrigue and curiosity as I had seen many chip tricks performed by pros and whatnot on ESPN but had always found them extremly difficult to imitate and really given up ever trying to a long time ago. But as i skimme dthe first few pages and hone my dexterity and chip skills I began to get the hang of the first chip trick.

3 hours later I felt I had comfortably mastered the thumb roll and moved on to trick number 2. Another 2 hours and I had this down pat. I continued practicing every seccond I could and can now do the 5 most basic trick with some speed and agilit and usually verl few errors.

Hopefully by the time i can play in a casino I will have hone my skills to the point where I can do the butterfly on both hands at once without fear of dropping the chips and looking a foll!

Munchers "To DO List!"

I have come to the stark realiziation that I need to sort my shit out. I need to straighten out my mental. physical and social state that I'm currently in to try and improve on my happiness and quality of life, which at the moment could be better as I dont do alot all day and waste far to much time than do anything else constructive. So i figure the best way to do this is to make a list of things I need to do;

To DO List!

1. Tidy up my room and house.
2. Limit myself to no more than 2 insults or negative comments to others a day for the rest of next week.
3. Waste less time reading random shit on the internet, rather spend that time doing more construtive things stated below.
4. Play more poker. Sticking to my plan to gring .5/1 LHE.
5. Play some more online Risk because its soo freaking addictive.
6. Do regular 30min+ exercise sessions everday until I go back to school.
7. Spend atleast 20min+ a day working with the football to improve my touch and footspeed.
8. Eat 3 regular meals each and every day.
9. Clean, wash and kepp self hygenic and shower atleast once a day.
10. Be happy and positve.

2008 is over.

So 2008 was a realtively successful year for me poker wise. Through Poker I managed to win about 2.5K at an estimate starting with $0. I managed to pay for a trip to england solely from my poker winnings which is what makes me very proud of the fact that poker has become a viable source of side income for me, alhtough very meagre at this current stage. Im still unsure as to what games I like best but I have decided that it is not NL holdem cash games. Proabably Limit Holdem and SNGs will be my main games this year throwing in an MTT and hopefully a few sunday majors.

Idealy I woul like Neteller to hurry up and email me back so I can get my $400 off them as they have frozen my account when I reched the transaction limit and a soo slow at verifying it. Once the do i think i will withdraw down to $300 and grin .5/1 LHE 6max until I got enough to give 1/2 a shot.

Once I get my money on stars Im never moving it to anothe rsite again as they all seem to have this habit of frezzing accounts for apparently no reason where as stars is reliable and by far the best site to play on.