Poker, travelling & books

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog & I've had good reason to do so which I'm certain has been affecting my ability to play better poker. I've finally realised how results oriented I've become, but better than that I've realised why & I think that has really been the key to improving.

For a long time I've used several types of media, such as twitter, forums etc. to show people my great results. However, after hitting inevitable bad patches & my sexy graphs going limp I go off the radar & don't publish the details. I don't discuss where I am in my progress or why I'm doing what I'm doing, I literally go underground. I'm pretty confident this is holding me back in my development and I've finally decided to change my thought process when it comes to using social media as a tool to communicate.

So, there is my confessional. On to more pressing matters, such as New York!

There is only 3 weeks until we go & I'm still planning on hitting a ton of NYC bars while I'm out there. Got my eye on a couple, such as McSorely's Old Ale House which boasts being the oldest ale house in NYC. Should be pretty cool to drink in the same bar as Abe Lincoln frequented. Also looking at visiting PDT just for the sheer novelty value of the entry method of getting into the bar via a wooden phone booth in a hot dog restaurant. Pretty sure I'm going to have to hit a sports bar in NYC too, not sure where to go tbh, but I'm sure I'll find somewhere. Had a few suggestions such as Bar XII, Mickey Mantle's & The Mean Fiddler. No matter which place I check out, there is almost certainly going to be an awesome trip report after!.


Not sure how it's going to be possible to top this trip. Oh wait, yes I do, with a honeymoon to VEGASBABY!

Our plan is to hit Vegas at beginning of August to celebrate both my 30th & our honeymoon. Not booked the trip yet, but already have a reservation at N9ne Steakhouse! Plan is to stop at the Aria, goes without saying I plan on getting some poker action going. Hoping to have some fun, I know I'm a live donk whether it's tourneys or cash, so as long as I lose as much as it costs to buy the alcohol, I'll treat it as break-even!

Last thing high on my agenda is a new book out that I've been waiting for what seems a lifetime to get my hands on. The Mental Game of Poker has just been released, written by Jared Tendler & Barry Carter it promises to be a ground breaking book on the mental aspects of the game of poker. Given this has been a weak area of mine (and most other players no doubt) it could well be as valuable as Sklansky's Theory of Poker. Both Jared & Barry held a joint video blog to confirm the book is now shipping so I expect to have my copy in the next week. Once I have a copy in my greasy palms I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the book, until then I encourage anyone to get a copy from MentalGameofPoker.com

NOTE TO SELF: Read this when tilted

The graph below shows what you can do when you play your A game, you can crush some souls. Stay patient, fold shitty hands, EVEN IN POSITION 83s isn't worth playing unless the villain is tighter than a ducks arse.

Also, don't sit there clicking buttons. Fucking look at what the villain is doing, what does he do when he is strong? Too many times you call down with TP when villain has check-raised for the second time & the first time we managed to get to showdown & find he had the nuts.

Oh, and grow some balls & find some aggression, IN THE RIGHT SPOT!

On a side note, pretty sick hand to lose but villain was MR every hand & potting every flop. I'd love to hit a two-outer sometime ;)


BB: 1,510
Hero (BTN): 1,490

Pre-Flop: (30) 6 7 dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero calls 10, BB raises to 40, Hero calls 20

Flop: (80) 2 6 6 (2 Players)
BB bets 80, Hero raises to 200, BB calls 120

Turn: (480) Q (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 350, BB raises to 700, Hero raises to 1,250 and is All-In, BB calls 550

River: (2,980) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,980 Pot
BB showed Q Q and WON 2,980 (+1,510 NET)
Hero showed 6 7 and LOST (-1,480 NET)

JAN: Phase 1

I haven't really updated in some time, primarily this was a motivation issue. I'd been on a serious losing streak, I'm not even going to label it a downswing as I'm fully aware I was playing bad during this time too. I've set out volume goals for this month of 200 games & I've hit this already, which is a positive thing. The result of these games isn't, confidence took a serious hammering & I moved down to the $2s again on Full Tilt until I got my confidence back. I've chatted to a couple of players & had a great review session & I think I may have had my first 'Ah-ha!' moment.

I also wanted to read more, not just on poker but on my overall mindset & concentration. I'm going to select a new book on a monthly basis, with a goal to finish the book that month as I've been pretty bad at finishing books in recent months. January's book is going to be The mind gym, I recall HokieGreg tweeting about this book last year but didn't really give it a proper chance. It's a pretty big book so it may take me till Feb to complete but once I do I'll post a review. I'm going to try & aim for these type of books that will help my mental state outside of poker which can only have a positive impact on my time at the tables. There is another book by the mind gym on time management which I will  also read, but maybe not until Q2.


- Jay

2011: A Volume Odyssey

So, 2010. It's been a huge year in my poker development, in some respects I've taken 3 steps back when I started my bankroll again from scratch. But it made me a stronger player, first time round a bumbled through the $1s & $2s into the $5s & $10s, this time round I crushed them harder.

I was also looking to expand my play into PLO & which is still something I still want to learn but I have a ton more to learn in the HUSNG discipline before I move into other games. So I put that one on hold, for now.

As for the activity on 2+2, that was also shelved. I discovered TagPoker which has helped my game immensely & suits my style of play. So, although I didn't achieve this target, I'm pretty happy that I've got involved in something that has helped develop my game, my activity has increase & I'm involved in something positive.

So, the targets set for 2010 were:

[ ] Move up to $10 HUSNG
[ ] Be more active on 2+2
[ ] Learn to play PLO


All of which look like I've failed. However, I've had a pretty successful year.


Right, onwards & upwards. 2011 is going to be THE year where I make my transition into serious poker. Ultimately, I want this to be a serious source of income. However, before I can give up on responsibility of the rat race I need to pay off the mortgage. 2011 is the year where this starts to happen. The goal for the year is to make $10k profit. Considering I haven't made $1k profit, this is a big challenge for me. It involves moving up several levels, putting in more volume I ever have & making every game count.


Not only do I have a big task ahead of me with the volume & monetary target, I also want to qualify for a UKIPT leg & a major tourney . The biggest tourney I won a seat in was a 600 runner Virgin Poker tournament at DTD, Notts. I'm setting my sights a little higher than this, I'm aiming for a PCA seat. I've wanted to play in this for a couple of years, I had a short attempt at it this year by going for the steps route but didn't make any serious bid for it. I haven't decided whether I'm going to win a seat by the steps route or satellite in via a tourney. Initially I think I'm a good enough donk to win a donkament, so might take this route. 


[  ] Learn to snowboard
[  ] 3300 games for the year.
[  ] 300 games per month
[  ] $50s by July
[  ] ????
[  ] $10k profit!
[  ] PCA Seat
[  ] UKIPT Seat

Hot Deck the Poker Halls

So it's getting to that time of year where we eat too much, drink too much & gran knits a ridiculous jumper for you to wear! And the games become juicier than ever.










Poker
I'm on target all round, my volume is looking good. AORN I'm 3 games off target, with a (Xmas) day missed. Profit wise, things are improving. I'm actually pretty fucked off, I started out at the $5s back on FTP with a pretty huge tilt session. Bad play & not allowing myself to walk away resulted in me dropping 9 BIs from the word go. Since then I've worked it back up, looking at the results I've been on a 20% ROI run since that session but stats only look around 5% ROI over the 60ish games. A valuable lesson learnt, one which I'll make every effort not to make again.

I'm already putting together my 2011 goals. In my mind its going to include as much volume I think I can get away with, which will include moving up several levels throughout the year, improving my session quality, concentration & making fuck loads of cash while I'm doing it.

Spread Betting


I'm pretty happy with my spreadbetting TBH, I haven't been doing it long & admittedly I lost my initial £100 bankroll the first time round. But that was due to me not having a trading strategy. Now I have one with my second B/R I'm up over £60, in only 2 months to have a 60% ROI I'd say is awesome considering I'm told not many people make a profit at all.

  I can see tons of similarities between this & poker, mainly in the risk element & accepting that you're not going to get it right 100% but if you have a decent "session" it needs to make up for the loses that you take in other sessions. I've got 3 trades going, Afren (+£14), Elementis (+£30) & GKN (+£31). I was tempted to get into PZ Cussons but a 3 point spread put me off a little. Had I jumped it I'd be +£2, but thats early days.

  I'm also watching the FTSE-100 & would love to bet this going down, even if it hits the 6000 mark that analysts are claiming it will before the end of the year. The momentum looks like its ready to go after showing some divergance last week. Looking at the garph below last week it had its highest high, but the momentum indicator didn't reflect this which would inidicate the momentum is slowing & had my roll been bigger I'd have entered a trade to sell if it hits just over the 6k mark. I guess we will see if my guess turns out to be true.

Tilty McTilt & other money making schemes!

So December has been pretty fun so far! I've moved back over to Full Tilt after building my $20s into $100 on Titan. Finished around 14% ROI from the $1s & $2s. Currently looking like a fish on Sharkscope with a -14% ROI after going 2-10 on uber-tilt. But then I've gone 7-2 the past couple of days, so hopefully my tilt monkey has retreated back inside!

My volume is coming back up, played 65 already this month! Whoop Whooop! Easily on target to hit 150 & may knock it up to 200-225 next month, we'll see how it goes.

As for my other pursuits, my spreadbetting is coming along nicely. I'm up around 44% on my original £100 & should hopefully double up early next year provided I can lock in some profit at the right time. My account could allow for another trade, but I'm slightly prepared for a change in fortune with the direction of the markets. FTSE-100 doesn't seem to have the ability to break the 5800 mark & would appear that this is the resistance line with 5050 being the support line.

Of my 3 open trades, Afren PLC is the newest & is working well at the moment. As I understand it, they are due an update on the flow of oil from the field in Africa which should have a positive impact on the share price. However, this isn't my reason for being in the share, the ADX shows the share is in a positive trend & so far we have had a 10 point move upwards.

Don't mention November!

I've jumped two footed into December, happy that November is out of the way. Didn't have a great month at the tables & lost quite a bit of ground building my roll. I'm around 10BIs away from the $5s & will bag it this month for sure.

Volume-wise, I'm determined to finally hit a 150 month again. It's been so long I've forgot what its like! So far I'm up 5 days in a row (mini-accomplishment FTW!!) & I'm slightly ahead on games for the month. 11/150. Last month I only played 65 games & finished down for the first time since I can remember. It's allowed me to take a step back & review my game & really start to concentrate on taking notes on villains which seems to have worked well already, specifically looking at lines villains take that show they are weak or strong & use this against them.

I've branched out over the past few months & started a £100 bankroll & trying my hand at financial spread betting. Read a number of books, one of which I refer to quite frequently is Winner Spread Betting Strategies by Malcolm Pryor. The book itself looks at about seven strategies (although a couple are the same strategy just used for a rising market or a falling market) to make money from trends in stocks. This is the 2nd roll I've put into spread betting, lost my first trading the FTSE100 without any kind of plan. Since then I sat down & read a number of books to develop a longer term plan. Seems to be working for now, at the time of writing I'm 20% up on my original stake with 3 open trades in GKN PLC, Elementis PLC & Afren PLC.

Good luck at the tables!



MrJayOMG