A week off

After two consecutive weeks with a small profit, I haven't played for a whole week, so its three weeks now since a losing week :)
Had a short break in Gibraltar, partly holiday and partly to check out the possibility of moving there full-time, maybe getting a job within the online gaming industry.
Seems to be plenty of jobs going, and while the pay is not great and the the cost of housing in Gib is high, there seems sure to be plenty of opportunity for advancement within the industry and greater rewards may come with more experience.
Came home to a frozen house and no hot water, boiler broken down, so not the best of homecomings.
Entered for a £50k freeroll on Party-poker tonight, and the chance of a decent payday

New Year : Same old luck

Outdrawn, outdrawn, and outdrawn again, its been the story of the week since new year.
The last six mtt's I've played, I've been outdrawn on to crash out. Five of them have been with pocket pairs against smaller pocket pairs, and I lost every one. Including bubbling on todays 12pm 50 euro bonus on Betfair with 55 v 44
I'll have to join the "Its all fixed" brigade if it carries on like this.
Its only a week since I set myself targets for 2006 and allready I'm begining to think I should change them. Reading doobs blog (see link on right) I'm begining to think that the pursuit of profit shouldn't be the top priority, and that maybe just playing for enjoyment is the way of enlightenment. I guess the two go hand in hand to a certain extent, I certainly enjoy winning more than losing, but is setting targets for profit, and trying to move up a level in stakes merely applying pressure to myself and limiting my enjoyment of the game ?
I've been shopping around a bit this week to try out some other sites and look for any freerolls or added value tournaments worth playing. I've heard the argument against freerolls that you play for 2 or 3 hours to win a tenner, nut Im playing anyway, so why not play for free, and if I win a tenner, then its all welcome in the kitty.
I've played mtt's all week, cashed in two for a small profit on the week, maybe stts or cash games are the way to make money, but I do enjoy the mtt format.
Well thats this weeks view on poker from Redcar towers, no doubt it will all change again by next week.

End of year results

Made a loss of around £30 in the last week of 2005 for a total profit for the year of £712.94
Made the money in the 3pm 50 euro added on Betfair, Monday and also made the money in the £3k Gtd on Monday evening to get 2006 off to a good start.
Its good to see so many of the low stakes players taking the plunge into Blog-ville, Im happy to link to as many as possible, and I wish you all the very best in both the poker and the blogging.I guess its the time of year to set out targets for the year so here goes.

• A little obvious I suppose, but I want to make a profit overall for 2006 and in excess of this years total lets aim for £200 per month £2400 for the year, enough to pay for a holiday

• To win one of the evening guaranteed mtt's on Betfair the £3k would be a start

• To progress my cash game, and to make an overall profit on cash games over the year

• To make the final table in a live game at the Casino at Teesside Park by the middle of the year and a top 3 finish by the end of the year

• To play and qualify from sattelites for the £10k or £15k Gtd on Betfair and to make the final table on one of them

• To win a big mtt on Partypoker, I like the $2 mtt at 2.45 pm but unfortunately, work does not allow me to play it too often, or maybe the $5 rebuy with a huge prize fund

Well thats all down for prosperity, so lets see how I'm doing this time next year. To be honest, I sometimes think that this years winnings are all down to beginners luck, which will run out anytime soon. At other times I think maybe I can play, and with a bigger bankroll, or a gamblers outlook, I could take on the 'big boys'. Well the next twelve months will show which one is true, if I can make a profit for two succesive years, It will certainly boost my confidence, and hopefully make me a better player.

Happy New Year Bloggers

Cash Tables

Played the lowest level mtt's this week and lost a little, mixed in with these I also ventured onto the micro stakes cash tables, with some success at first.
Everytime I lost an mtt I played some cash and won back my stake and more, so I stayed in profit through till Friday.
Thats when It all went wrong, I lost my $25 buy in for the first time, reloaded for another $25 and lost that as well so the week ended with a small loss overall.
Its interesting to note that my longest cash sessions are all losing sessions. I dont know if this is because I am staying too long on 'bad' tables, chasing my losses, or if I am quitting to take a profit too quickly on 'good' tables.
I think its the latter, so next week I'll test my theory, fingers crossed.

Back to basics

I've been reading a lot of poker blogs this week and it is interesting to note that even the top, high stakes guys have the same problems as me.
Outdraws, inconsistency, alcohol, fish drawing out on you even when you take away their odds to do so. They aren't just limited to low stakes tournies.
Flush draws have killed me this week. Its so frustrating when you read your opponnent correctly for a flush draw, push all your chips in just to deny him the odds to call, only for him to call anyway, and then hit, to dump you out. I'm starting to lose count of how many time this has happened this weekend. Yesterday it was a call after the turn getting 6/4 for his flush draw v my two pair, the latest was all in pre-flop with Qd Qh v Ac7c v TsJc flop Qc5s3s turn and river both spades to give the numpty who called 2 all ins with TJo a flush and all my chips.
I even crashed out of the 'Challenge team Betfair tournie' when my A high straight v 2 pair made a full house on the river. This game can be cruel at times.
I've had to dip back into Sklanskys books this week to remind myself just to make the play with the best EV and not to dwell on past results, after all its the fish who draw to their flush getting 6/4 on the river that will pay you in the long term. It does seem that these kind of outdraws come in streaks, where good luck only seems to come in isolated instances. I guess its because if you play the odds and dont trust to luck as much, you dont get lucky so often.

Back to the lower levels

Well after a brief sojourn at the higher stakes and a couple of days off, I returned to the familiar £2 mtt on Betfair on Friday afternoon.........
.........and won first time
Think I'll stay at this level for a while, everybody tells me that the standard of play is similar up to about £50 level, but for some reason I have much more success at the lower levels.
Until I work out why, I think I'll just stick at what I know I can make pay. I guess it must be me playing differently at the higher level, maybe a bit tighter or something
Ended the week on a high in the Betfair £5000 Cryptic Christmas Cracker Freeroll, managing a final table place, at one stage I was even chip-leader on the final table, before going out in 7th out of a field of 1000 for a £150 prize.

All going pear shaped

After a bit of a disasterous week last week, its continuing this week, trying to stay at the higher level I played the £3 Gtd on Betfair Monday and Tuesday without making the first break.
My luck seems to have deserted me and even worse I've been playing badly.
I dont think I have any choice but to drop back down to the micro-stakes until I pull my game back together.
As long as I'm losing, my confidence is severly dented and I'm not even enjoying playing at the moment. At least at the lower levels it doesn't hurt financially and I can rebuild my confidence ready to step back up again.
I'll also play the sattelites for the £10k Gtd on Betfair, so I can maybe get a cheap entry into a higher stakes game.
Heres hoping my luck changes

A week at higher stakes

I have been playing in some higher stakes mtt's this week. I want to prove to myself that I can play at a higher level
I will post my results here so as to encourage me to concentrate and play my A game all week.

Monday 28th Nov Betfair £3k Gtd mtt 32nd out of 401 Scraped into the money, then found KK to treble up, got as high as 15th, then went out with AQ on the SB, all in against the chip leaders AK on the BB

Tuesday 29th Nov Betfair £3k Gtd mtt 154th out of 428 A frustrating time, limped in early pos with 55, laid it down to a raise & reraise eventually three went all in, all with AK and as luck would have it my fives would have held up. Went out reraising with 99 from the button against chip leaders KK

Wednesday 30th Nov Betfair £3k Gtd mtt 86th out of 425 Had to sit tight early on until I found pocket aces on level 5 to double up, made the break with 3k, limped into the final 100 and went all in with QQ v JJ he hit the third Jack on the turn, and 3 hands later I was gone as the blinds caught up with me.

Saturday 3rd December Played a £2.70 + 30p satelite to qualify for tonights Betfair £10k Gtd along with fellow Betfair Flashmob Forumite AJ Cairns. Check out his Blog "3 times the big blind" via the link on the right.
Betfair £3k Gtd mtt 73rd out of 365, same old story, always short-stacked, never really got into the game, went out with 9T on BB 983 flop, all in and up against pocket eights
Betfair £10k Gtd mtt 248th out of 405 still no hands, had to grind it out for an hour, but never got into the game. Will try to qualify again for this tourney via another sattelite, maybe tomorrow.

Sunday 4th December Just can't seem to make a hand at all, no matter what I play.
My bankroll is taking a bit of a bashing at these higher levels, in stt's or mtt's all I seem to do is sit for hours pressing the fold button until I get blinded out. Every time I try a steal or a bluff, I run into a monster; and its starting to get me down.
Betfair £3k Gtd mtt 227th out of 493 I seem to be getting worse as the week goes on, ended the week with a loss of £66, thats two losing weeks on the trot. Now I have to decide whether to persevere at the higher level, or drop back down again