Spain and the rest of the month

Hey people,

Since my last post, my online suck seems to have turned a little and I've managed to get myself unstuck from the whole I got myself in at the start of the month. Since returning from Spain I've put in a lot of volume and have managed to luckbox my way to 6 wins in just over a week which I'm really happy about. Most notably winning the iPoker $100fo, iPoker $30r and OnGame $10r :)

As for Spain itself, the trip was amazing. I was really impressed by Seville itself. The weather was amazing and the town itself is really architecturally stunning. On top of that San Miguel on tap was cheap and the food was surprisingly good for Spanish standards! Overall an amazing trip. I made day 2 in the $3k main event but didn't last long reshoving my QQ into AA. I then proceeded to donk out both side events with QQ too. Them damn bitches. To tell the truth though, a tiny part of me was happy when I did bust the events as I knew I could then spend the rest of the holiday grinding on the sun-tan and hustling fish like pillow100 at Chinese whilst drinking plenty of San Miguel.

There are quite a few high buy-in live events going on at the moment such as the Irish Open, EPT San Remo, Everest Poker The One. I was very very close to pack up my bags and do a circuit of the events. After much disheartening persuasion from my sensible side I realized it probably wouldn't be the best to risk such high proportions of my roll chasing the dream when Vegas is so near anyway. So maybe next year guys :(




Instead I think to get my live-fix I'll head to Walsall this weekend for the GUKPT. I expect to go on the Thursday to play the £200 6max side event and then play the main event on Friday. After that I'll be playing the DTD £300 deepstack in Nottingham the week after. My sharkscope subscription has died on me a little but I'm fairly sure with the Spain trip and the sunny weather outside I've slacked a bit on volume this month, but I'm hoping to pick it up for the last few days to push this month into good profits :)

Such a downswinging luckbox

Hey!

Well the month of April has left me feeling somewhat of a fool (OK, last bad joke I promise). The month had a promising start but I've proceeded to lose $6k+ in my last 3-4 sessions which isn't too great as I've practically not cashed a tournament for a whole week. Yikes!

I think it's probably borderline karma due to my insane month in March and was well due. One good thing about downswings though is that for me anyway if I have a couple of really horrific sessions in a row it motivates me even harder to study my game. Especially playing as a professional as I start to almost panic that everyones got sick good and I suck! Confidence is a big thing in poker and it's probably why some of the top players are often such cocky douche bags. It definitely helps to go over hands and spots with friends and in poker forums just to get yourself back on track and to help identify any leaks that might be emerging.

Anyway enough of the downswing dribble. So I was having a really crap week and a crap Sunday. I swapped 20% in the euro majors with my friend Pillow100 who I was grinding with last night. Obviously he went and spewed his way to the final table of the OnGame $200/$200k gtd with a huge chip lead. He then proceeded to knock out 2 players on the final table with QQ>KK>AA but couldn't find a close. Regardless, he picked up $24k for finishing runner-up which banked me a solid $4800 and wiped off a lot last weeks losses. Sick Sunday saver too as despite building a few stacks nothing seemed to materialise.

So after a pretty horrific week on the tables, I'm really looking forward to a break from online poker. Which coincides pretty well with the fact that in a few hours I'll be heading to the airport to fly to sunny Spain for GSOP Seville, $3200 buy-in tournament. It's the biggest buy-in I've played for about a year and I'm really looking forward to it. I also can't wait to just get some Sangria and Paella down my throat and relax as well. It's been a pretty hardcore past couple of months. I'm not too sure of what to expect from the town, the hotel, the tournament or anything. But it should be fun regardless.

I've also pretty much finalised my schedule for Vegas in the Summer. I'll be playing a ton of the $1k and $1.5k WSOP events as well as some bigger Venetian tournaments. It should be really fun. For those interested, here's a link:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkaN5CySIIj9dC1xQW9aUmoxV0ZrQzhvejRZcnVsVHc&hl=en#gid=0

On that note, after I return from Spain hopefully feeling refreshed and significantly wealthier (well the last part would be nice anyway :p ) I'm really going to get my head down and grind hard for the last few weeks Pre-Vegas. Although I'm playing a lot of tournaments, I'll be chilling a lot too in the evenings and if there's one place where having a lot of money buys a lot of happiness it's this city. That is some motivation right there. I'll also be really pushing myself hard on the health and fitness front too. I know I won't be some Men's Health cover model by the time I get there, but it would be nice to be a little leaner and fitter for the Summer season.

Anyway, I'm leaving in a couple of hours and need to get packing. Best of luck at the tables everyone!

March Review, WSOP and onto April!

Hey!

I think it's best to start of by saying March has been very kind to me. This was one of the big months before Vegas where I can really get my head down and grind, especially whilst the weather outside remains relatively poor and everyone else seems busy with University etc. So that's what I did! I don't keep track exactly how many days I did but it was a fair few which resulted in me buying into around $47k worth of tournaments this month smashing my $40k target I set at the start of the month. I also managed a small cash in the UKIPT Manchester making me go 1 for 2 in live tournament cashes on the month. Woo Woo!

So as you can see I ran pretty hot this month which is always really nice and just what's needed pre-Vegas. Now I just need to keep this run going for a while longer!

You may notice a pretty significant blip in the graph at the end of the month. Well I managed to luckbox a main event package last night in a $500 sat! I'm pretty much over the moon with happiness at the moment. I tried really hard to sat in last year whilst spunking off around $5k in sats with no luck. Literally since I first started playing home-games with friends for £2 I've really wanted to play in the main event. I know it's pretty cliche and a fishy attitude but words can't describe how excited I am for Vegas now!

One issue which is kind of in the back of my mind is that I qualified through AP (boo, hiss!). I don't regularly play on the site and I guess from an ethical standpoint I probably shouldn't at all based on their history. Similarly I haven't really given a lot of thought in depth to how I would feel representing the site if I did get a deep run in the main event. The thing with satellites on AP, Stars and FTP is that due to some legal reason they can't actually buy you into the tournament. Instead they credit your account with the money expecting you to go a long and play the tournament. As added incentive to actually get the punters to come down to the main event and play the give a $1k bonus for showing up, cash in hand. Then they give $1k per day and a $10k bonus if you reach the money. Which is pretty damn sick all things considered. Now you've got a soft $10k tournament with a mincash effectively of ~$30,000. This is a pretty similar deal on AP and FTP at the moment, and I guess Stars will join the crew too or maybe even offer something better.

On the other hand the European sites are starting to offer satellites. But sites like 888 and party poker are must-play seats without any extra monetary incentives for turning up or cashing. Similarly these packages are about $3k-$4k more including hotels and random parties (lol nice markup guys) making them even less attractive. I mean I think the satelittes on party for instance will be softer, and there's a fairly good chance if I grind the sats hard I could win another seat via Party and then keep my $12k from AP as cash but the added incentive of playing with them is a lot.

I think what I'll probably end up doing is try to grind the WSOP sats a fair bit as they do seem to be fairly soft and try to also qualify on Full Tilt or Stars (whenever they eventually run them) and go from there.

Anyway, enough of that jibber-jabber. So I've noted a pretty mammoth schedule for Vegas which I expect I'll sell action to in the next couple of months. I'm really not sure how many 'shots' I should take this Summer with my own money. A good part of me wants to do bi-weekly packages whereby I'd put up a package for the first 2 weeks I'm there. Then a separate package for the next two weeks etc.  This would then allow me to alter the % of action that I sell as my bankroll fluctuates. I mean say for instance I had a really lucky start and managed to bink pretty early but then was tied into still selling 50% for say the main event 6 weeks later, that would suck a little. I'll have a good think about it. I'll also blog about my schedule before I post it incase any readers want to buy a % or two for a bit of a sweat this Summer. It should be fun :)

I just googled "April" and this pic came up which I thought was pretty funny so thought I'd add it!

Anyway, onto April. A fresh month and a fresh start to bink some tournaments. I won't be putting as much volume in online this month as I have the previous two months. After the SCOOP draws to a close there isn't a whole lot more happening online-wise other than FTOPs which I've pretty much given up on after Full Tilts persistance in trying to make their fields as tough and annoying as possible by adding all the crap like multi-entry, rush and cashout. Whatever happened to good old fashioned 9 man NLH tourns eh!? 

So instead I'll be turning a lot of my focus to the live arena this month. Partly to have a break from the computer and partly as a bit of practice for Vegas. I'm increasingly becoming more eager to play live tournaments these days and feel much more confident playing them. Yes, they are a grind, but with the right mindset they can also be a lot of fun. Plus the social side surrounding the live poker environment is always fun as I'm starting to get to know more and more players on the scene.

So first off this weekend I'll be playing the DTD £300 monthly deepstack, followed by the $3000 GSOP Seville in Spain. Then hopefully the Irish Open (satellite luckboxing dependent) followed finally by GUKPT Walsal. It looks to be a busy month ahead. I'll also supplement the live grind with some online play and hope to get around $30,000 in tournament entries online this month. It should be a lot of fun.

Best of luck to everyone in April!

Cliff Notes:
-Ran hot this month
-Binked a WSOP package!
-Planning on playing a lot more live in April