Monday Monday

Meh nothing much to blog about, but its something to do while playing the nightly 8k which would of been easier to just buy into, after spending €20 on the sat's and thought just 1 more abd before long yes it was €20. Played a bit of cash this morning, nothing much just 263 hands, but managed a buy in up which was 2 but got a bit too big for my boots and blew 1 off. Again nothing like the volume I wanted to put in, but its a bit extra. I keep seeing all the all in's on the 8k but I have nothing to call with. Played just over an hour and still not busted anyone, and just got below the starting stack. Then I just got dealt AQ which is the best hand all night, and it's folded round to my raise and pick up 1 limper and the blinds. 2 hands later and I call UTG +1 with KJ after someone was almost out and fancy the bounty. Anyways he folds and 4 see the flop of J24 rainbow giving me top pr. UTG checks and I bet half my stack giving the signal I will call a shove and have no fold equity. I get 1 call and the turn is a Queen and I just lump it in and surprised to see him fold, and I have now got 4.5k in chips and over 20bb. Currently have 55 on the BB with a small raise then a shove and a re-shove means I fold my 55. 99 v JJ and the 99 shorty wins with his 2 outer..... Last 3 hands I have chased the bounties and I have missed them twice to knock me down to 12BB. But just called an all in with A7 off to a 8BB shove and pleased everyone folds to my shove to isolate and he flips Q10, I have to aviod the flush draw on the river but boom, I take my 1st Bounty. Now I have AA in Mid and small raise called by 2 and the flop is a mare of KJ10 I almost pot bet and get 1 caller and the turn is the 9. I check it hope to see a check behind, but the small bet he puts out makes me think maybe he hasn't the Straight and is on the flush draw. I decide to shove although 10BB left and I'm wrong he does have the Queen with a jack and that is that I'm out. He just had me covered. I took the chance he didnt have it and win that pot I am a contender with a healthy chip stack. But never mind, Poker it's a funny old game. But makes a change of me just saying the same old story over and over and actually played a few hands with me. Thats Prob me done for the night after felling a tad sleepy, but will see if any juicy games left.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Its not been the best week of my life regards health, and its kind of put a stop to what was a good looking month volume wise. Although the time I have played have been very good, with the 2nd place in my last post and binked a Hyper turbo sat into the Sundays's main 50k Bounty. But I reg'd myself into it just incase I binked it and then could take the money. Which like I mentioned managed to do, and I was still yuk'y and still feel meh at 9-23pm on Sunday night. I did really want a crack at the Sun Major and I will be playing more of those Sat's. Still it was a nice €85 added to the overall total.......

Not bad for €3.50. The cash game has suffered like mentioned, but decided to test the water again at the 25nl, and its defo a lot stronger play wise. People were just not folding and I was getting 3 bet which doesnt happen at the 10nl unless they have a monster. I might carry on for a while longer at the 25nl and take stock after the month has finished. Or try it for the 1st 2 weeks of April and again take stock of the amount lost comapared to the rake generated. I managed to sat into the nightly 8k at the 1st attempt today which is kind of a good move considering I bricked the last 3 days or so. Still pleased with the overall performanace of this year but I just wish I was well enough for longer to get a proper grip. Anyways weekend is over for me poker wise after getting a tad greedy in the 8k after 45 mins of folding, when I shorty 3 bet shove a opening raise and I thought I could get the raiser to fold to my shove with my KJ. It might of worked if he hadn't AK which duly held up v the other guy's AQ so a nice double Bounty for him. Yeah I wasnt in the right mindset but I shouldn't be throwing my tourney life away like that.

So for my 100th Post.......

It's fitting that I have good news for once....... Being though this is my 100th Entry on the blog. But it nearly wasn't too be, because during the Programme Eggheads I suddenly hit with jolts of intense massive pain in my back. So much I was screaming it was that bad. I kid you not it was not nice, so I tried to make it over to the sofa-bed and it got worse if ever such a thing was possible. Lying on back was a no no, side no no, swopping sides again no no, but it did start to sub-side a little, enough for me to make upstairs and get to the bed before I passed out with the pain. Yes it was that bad....... I don't know what brought it on I didn't do anything sudden or contort my body in anyway. Just thankful I was in doors. The meds started to kick in pretty quick and thank god it did calm down. I rested on the bed for about an hour and thought I'll see how it goes back downstairs, and touch wood it didn't flare back up. By that time it was 7-55pm and the only thing worth playing apart from the nightly 8k Bounty was the 8pm ( same time as the 8k ) €5 bounty game. Its a little faster, no its a lot faster with levels removed from the 8k and only 1500 chips instead of the 2k in the nightly 8k. I also think the blinds are 10 mins compared to 12 for the 8k. Anyways I thought go on, I had not played this one for a while because yes the fact its a bit like the Lottery. Players tend to shove with anything and get called by all ranges just so they have there bounty which is half the buy in €2.50, and you only recieve 75% of that, but it doesnt deter the fish and calling stations and its not long into it I remembered why I stopped playing it....... I won't bore you with any hands, needless to say my big hands held up, and I saw myself reach the cash 19th out of 30 left. I picked up about 3 or 4 bounties, and again before long I was on the Final table with 9 of us because I knocked out the 10th place before tha tables merged. I checked the payouts and nothing was worth much until you reached 3rd, but I still played my game and picked my spots. I called a SB shove into my BB with me holding Q9 and turned over K9 and he doubled which left me 6th of 6th, again I didnt panic and 1 double I was back in 3rd when again my hand held over KQ V my A6. It was a bit of shove or fold for about 20 minutes and the massive chip leader coming into the Final table picked off 2 more and me 1 to leave us 3 handed. I was only 1 double up away of the other 2 and managed that when again my hand held up, then all of a sudden the massive chip leader was now 3rd. The other 2 got it in pre with new chip leader limped called the shove with KK v 77 and that was that, I was HU and about 4/1 dog. I did need a bit of luck but within 2 hands I was railed after both times he flopped top pr to my 2nd pair. No complaints really and was happy with how I played. So I managed to collect 8 bounties and with 2nd place I collected a total of €105.82. The winner received €54 more but I can live with that. The total B/roll now stands @ €3256.16. I was pleased I managed to make it to the end without anymore Spazzy fits. It wasn't nice thats for sure............ Thanks for reading and check back soon to see what else I get to luckbox :)

Been a struggle of late.....

Yes it has been a struggle of late and mentioned in a previous post that my health sometimes stops me from feeling like playing poker, so hence the no post of late. I feel tonights is worth a new post just so you know I am still trying very hard to over come the pressure I feel everyday in my head and body. I hate playing when my heart just isnt 100% , but I must plod on, and I want to plod on. But we all know poker is and can be very cruel, and again it shows its ugly head. Why cant I run like the Cheeses Monster who binked a $22 tourney yesterday for $20k. I guess its because his volume puts mine to shame really, and the guy deserves everything he wins. But even he is mixed up with backing and make up, so its not all plain sailing even for the likes of the Cheeses Monster. So back to my little world of 10c cash tables and trying to Sat into the bigger tourney's on offer..... I just dont have the guts to buy in every night into the bigger tourney's, I dont know why, well I do its because I am shit scared of dropping like €100 and knowing the time it would take me to grind it back up. I know I need to play bigger or I might not ever make this 10k...... But tonight was again a little nearer the target, note the little*. I managed to bag myself a seat in the nightly €33 Bounty for just €3.30 when I binked the river flush with my 9 of clubs on a 4 club board. Not bad considering 10 seats all in and no-one had the 10, Jack, Queen , King or Ace of Clubs so thats my little luck. So by 7-55pm I had settled in and cracked open x6 cash tables, with 1 being a little higher than normal of 12/25c. For the life of me could not hit a hand on that game if my life depended on it. But I held out and I was determined to play all 6 cash tables while still in the Bounty game. The fact I played a total of 1150 hands during my Bounty game should give you a clue to what happened...... I played good even folding twice UTG with AQ and both times would of had to make some tricky decisions. Yes I got lucky in 1 hand when I shoved to Isloate a shorty with my A5 suited which I had raised with UTG +1 I think. Its something I dont make a habbit of doing, but just throw a curve ball in now and again. The guy to my left tanked for ages and made the call with JJ. Shorty had K10 I think or sim. The turn bringing the Ace and I collected a big pot plus a bounty. But of course it works both ways and not long after I have Ace 10 in Mid Position and BB calls and the flop is Ace 10 2. Money goes in on the turn and he shows Ace Jack and Boom the Jack hits on the river. Cost me another bounty. But swings and roundabouts I guess. I take another 2 bounties making a total of 3 and cashed lying 19th out of 40. But the AQ was my demon and should of folded it pre-flop but when a shorty is all in and your on the SB and have him covered with about 40BB I dont hesitate to shove and Isolate, come on how many times does the Table chip leader have a hand after you? Not many, prob 1 in 50 times, well that 1 in 50 was this time and he flips 99 I miss and just like that I am out. Out in 33rd, Yes I collected €40 for the bounties and €21 for the cashing. Yes not bad for €3.30, but it should of been more for sure..... So of course when I go out I also close all the cash games. Frustrating session in the cash for sure, and it looked like a couple of players defo had me marked for something because they out played me time after time, even when I had the AA for the 1st and only time tonight They lost to KK. But overall happy with the volume of 1150 hands and I can handle the loss of €16, yes another red blip on the month's chart but you cant win them all...... Overall happy with tonight, but I just wonder what could of been........

No Poker for 2 days wow

Yes, the title says it all. I havent been too clever but I dont want it to spoil everything, and although I am struggling I dont want to go back to how I was 2 weeks ago. Also a little mini break should do me more good if anything. I hit the 3k mark on the challenge and I guess I am just getting myself ready for the next push. But here it is the Offical €3000 pic.......



And below is the pic from my 2nd Place in the 8k bounty game. I have managed to suss out how to insert pics now !!!



Hoping to play a bit over the weekend and looking outside its pants so defo playing some Challenge poker........ Full report Prob on the 19th March.

Another day another 8k game.

Yes I have forgotten the tourney now from last night, and although I wanted 6th 8th did still do the job and at the end of the day its about making the right decisions in the game I play and that is what I did. You need luck of course to win anything and maybe its my turn in the not to distant future.....

So I played another €6.60 All in Sat, and bagged it on the first go. I played a bit of cash as well today but only for an hr or so and I actually could be bothered to fire up the tracker. I haven't been bothered with it recently, and now can see I am still in the red for the month on the cash tables, but only down 1.5 buy ins which is way better than 5 or 6 which it was at the start of the month. I have a good feeling I can bridge that gap in the next session though.......

I picked up a bounty in my 8k game tonight and was playing pretty well and not going after every all in, and even my exit hand was pretty standard. Some guy last night was slow playing is KK when I had AA, well tonight some guy was slow playing is AA v my KK. No complaints from me its what happens, and its nice to see I went out v a better hand and not some junk like last night. Like I said 1 bounty collected and its still profit on the day.

So overall from the 1st 2 weeks of March, I have smashed the 3k mark, and have already played 8.5k hands in March which for me is amazing considering its been a pretty rough month regards health wise. But I have started getting up earlier with the alarm, ok to you 10-30 / 11am is not early but the peeps who know me, me trying to wake up early is such a hard thing for me to do because of the Med's. Yes I struggle in the day and yes I have to lie down and fall asleep in seconds during the afternoon, but its just like 20 mins or so and that seems to do me. But its still early days for me to be constantly waking up and trying to get a routine going, but hopefully with the drive of my new Hobby on top of poker it can be seen as a major boost for me and Morale........
Anyways back to poker thing...... On checking my rakeback of this month its pretty good reading knowing I have already raked €77 and just €23 to make the rakeback Minimum. I need to move all my cash challenge B/roll into one place so I can screenshot it and post it up. I withdrew €1500 just incase the site suddenly went AWOL or bust. Yes its supported by Sporting Bet but you just never know. Its sitting in my MoneyBookers or whatever its called....... Getting very tired now so cant think but you know what I mean.......

I hate fcuking 9's

I wasn't going to post anymore on the said Tourny, but we are on break and I am still fuming. Yes I was rivered again by a 9 for top 3 spot with 8 remaining. Again AK and I raise only for shorty to shove his 3BB and then the BB shoves. I was UTG+2 but didnt seem to bother this prick who like I said shoves from the BB with A9. Shorty wins the small pot and that river cost me a pay jump on the ladder and also his bounty which was another €40 odd. Now currently 7/8 with just 8BB now.
I wanted 6th when I reached the final and it looks like I wont get that now. On the plus side if there is a plus side, I managed to knock out a bounty who was worth €55.
I'm determined not to get 8th with a guy on 2.5BB regardless. Who just doubles up by hitting trips on the river......... Sighments

Gutted........ Just went out 8th when shorty shoves and I call with 88 he's got 10 3 and of course completes the boat by the time the river arrives and I had 1 BB left and obviously I brick with my 2 4 suited.

Overall you need some luck and I didnt run to good when it mattered. I collect €113.15 in Bounties and €106.42 for 8th. Yes its over the 3k but I am still gutted at the moment. Lets hope tomorrow I can forget and pat myself on the back.......

Screenshot later.

All change...........

Yes all change, and its only been like 15 minutes since the last post. I was hanging on for the cash and manage to hit some cards for a change. JJ UTG and QQ in the BB and squeezed it through pre. Then I managed to double almost anyways but only about 2bb from a double with AA and the guy was slow rolling me with KK and the cash was all in by the turn. He bricked I collect a bounty although for the minimum but I'll take it.
Currently Hand for Hand with me in 8th place. Lets win this thing, I have 50BB.

Mean while, playing poker standing up is quite fun :-0

Back is in bits ut what can I do............

Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhh

Poker is sooooooo frustrating.......

In the 8k I was playing tonight.......

I make a great call, although I guess I was a tad lucky but I make a call with 66 after 2 all in's. I have them both covered ( Just ) and they both turn over AK they miss and I pick up my 2 bounties I so wanted. But in a massive hand lying 2/82 and getting dealt AK in the BB were again there are 2 ll in's with the 2nd player over shoving to Isolate I guess and I make the call eventually and up against A3 suited and the over shove of 9 10 suited. I called cos he was worth €30 and I had seen him raise and call with shite. Anyways the short stack rivers the flush and that river being the 9 makes 9 10 hero bag a massive pot and costs me money. Its hard to carry on at the moment, but currently the dipstick with 9 10 is openshoving as I speak everyhand, wouldnt think its a €33 tourney........
Just 14 to go till the money and currently 31/54. Its €20 min for cashing which would go a bit of the way to 3k and could carry on with the stt's, so thats what I am going to do. Cash is cash to me, yes once I cash I will try a few moves with the cash crap from cashing to Final table. Be nice to take another bounty but will see..... 10 to go..........

Soooo whats been happening then?

The answer to that is not a lot to be honest. Although I started like a house on fire, the wheels seem to have come off somewhere.
The BadBeat Jackpot was hit the day after the last post so that sort of knocked me back from playing the cash, so I hit the Stt's and I ended up bubbling like 4 in a row and winning 2 at the lower limit to cover the cost of the Bubbles. I then started a bit of cash and quickly knew I was not able to drag any length at all during sessions. So the seesions turned into session x 3 days with only a handful of hands in each session.
I am still trying and finding it very hard to sit for any amount of time without the Pain Spazzing out and killing anything I was doing at that time, and because of that its really hard to put anything together.
I did actually play a couple of stt's this morning and yet again Bubbled one and bricked the other before I saw the all in Sat for the 8k waiting for 1 player so obliged and bricked it but it filled up pretty quickly and within less than a minute it was full again and I pulled it out and bag the seat for tonight. I did try one more to recoup the €25 I am down on the day but bricked that to, so its on for tonight, and although its just 40 minutes away from the start I am already feeling like shit. But will give it a go and if I can bag 2 bounties it will pull me back.
The 3k mark is there just waiting and I was tempted to play some €20 stt's and just bag 2 in quick sucesession and it will be done, but on the other hand I think, if I lose 5 in a row its going to take longer to hit the 3k mark so thats the reason for not going for it. I'm just too scarred I think.......

You like the new Look?

I decided to have a mess about with the settings and other stuff and I found this nice little pink number. I think its pink but it could be Scarlet.. Anyways I think it looks better than the old one. I cant get my picture in the dead centre though which is the only draw back. I keep going into different settings but nothing about centering my pic.In other stuff, I have started trading in shares. Nothing major but again its something I have been doing now for about 4 months, ever since Thomas Cook shares went tits up actually. I have 3k in there with which 2.5k is already spent and tied up in about 12 companies I have bought shares in and I have £500 just waiting on 4 companies shares to get a bit lower and then its an auto trade. The good thing about the shares is you can set orders on whats called a stop loss trade. Its a good little tool which when set auto sells your companies shares if they fall below the price you set it at, so no chance of going broke so to speak. It keeps me active and I seem to be getting into it more and more. Its pretty cheap @ £5.75 per trade, but for the 1st days it was only £1. Thinking back I might of already told you about the share thing...... Tell ya my memory is getting worse I am sure of it....My latest trade was in the RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) were they had 2 losing days, and with the general swing of other companies raising I sort of knew it wouldn't last going downwards. So I bought £1500 worth of shares which gets me 5709 shares @ 26.31. Yesterday they made a slight gain of 0.12, and today the live price is 26.51. Not really what I was hoping for, and defo thought they would bounce back quicker but meh still got loads of time.....So I guess back to the poker, which is the main reason for the blog, but I like to share other things hence the shares. It also allows me to look back over time and read what was going on back when I was so depressed and in so much pain....I did manage another 1k hands yesterday but I struggled to do it. It took me 3 sessions at just under 3 hours though. Again nothing major sticking out apart from a big bluff with AK in the BB were it was limped round to me with 7 limper's, so I saw the free money and banged it up to €1 and was surprised to see 3 callers. The flop comes J88 and I pot bet it and eventually they all fold, phew...... But other than that just the sets taking a bit of cash. I am still down regards the monthly total, but its coming down bit by bit and its now just €35.83. I managed just over 1 buy in up yesterday which again is another green on the tracker and now is 5 green days compared to 3 red losing days. I am tempted to play some stt's today. But of course will update the blog and let ya know how it went.....

At last I finally play 1k hands in a day !!

Doesn't sound a lot especially knowning I can multi table x24 tables on Stars, but I should of played at least 1 k hands yesterday, but again my health got in the way yet again and had to rest and promptly fell alseep. When I did get onto it I was not in the mood for it and although 848 hands were played I really wanted the 1k. Anyways it was pretty boring session to be honest with not 1 single hand sticking out. I ended the session with a loss of 68c. If I was with it I would of at least made sure I was in the green instead of recording another losing session. But on today, I felt a lot better and for once in the last 6 days I was pain free to a extent that it wasn't killing me like the last few days. But once I started grinding and again after just 30 mins or so I was not good. If its not pain its sleepiness, and promptly fell asleep soon after I just got up out of the bed !! But well rested ( for sure ) and eating my tea, which again is a rare thing these days I felt good for once. So like I mentioned when you feel good you play good, and thats what I did, with what I think were some good lay downs. Yes I aint perfect and got a couple of decisions wrong which cost me more profit but I guess I had a good few flops, you know the ones were you flop quads, full houses and flushes.... Yes not so profitable to actually win anything big and the peeps who know me swear by me never checking set's, but full houses....... Ok but just the flop...... So nothing major and once I started to get tired I was amazed to see I had over 3 hrs in and well over the 1k hands. Infact 1142 hands to be exact with a profit of €11.41. It would of been much more but for the wrong decisions I mentioned earlier. I also tried a couple of the all in Sat's and bombed losing €10 in the process, but you cant win them all the time....... I did some checking as well tonight and these BadBeat Tables are becomming very popular. Its well known that Boss dont have that much traffic with just 4k players online as I write this @ 9-55pm but I could easily sit at 12 to 14 tables all BadBeat tables, and the 2c rake they take per hand on top of the normal rake is nothing compared to the jackpot which was hit again last week and reset to 2k and its already 6.5k with the bigger jackpot currently standing @ just shy of 200k. But the fact I enjoy playing the 5/10c tables and really have no need to move up although yes I could play the €1/€2 tables with the current b/roll and limits I set. Yes I do want to play higher but I also have to come to terms that I might not be good enough if I play any higher. But I have made the decision that once I hit the 3k mark which fingers crossed should be at the end of this month that I do need to at least try higher limits. Lose and its simple I move back down but I also want to play some Stt's on a bigger scale of what I currently do. I have won enough in Stt's on Boss to know I can compete with anyone up to €20. I also now have my RakeBack site up and running and being tracked so I now know exactly how much I have raked which is good because I dont always have to worry about making it. The rakeback deal is my gift to myself for all the grinding I do, and some day I will treat myself instead of blowing it in the online casino's which I use to and was the reason I sent them an email telling them to block my account in the Casino. Anyways bed time for me, and fingers crossed more of the same tomorrow please.......

Meh, When the going gets tough***

March 6Th Late pm,
Sunday arrived and was greeted to some sad news about a family death. Although not really a close family it still hurts to know you have known them all your life and it really put a dampener on the day.
My Gran was the worst apparently and I thought I would have to make the trip up north to be with her, but just come round a bit towards the end of Sunday night. My Mother is going to go to the funeral to represent the family so at least I don't have to travel which is good news for me because I am still suffering from what the hospital told me last week and I would of struggle to keep my emotions in check unlike some forum I am apart of.

But we have to go on and once it was decided I didn't have to travel I wanted to play some poker but even once I hit the tables my heart was not really into it and lost about 4 buy In's in a short space of time so took a break and returned later. The players who had notes on me regarding me as tight as they come must of been scratching there heads when I did play on Sunday night. I was bluffing for the hell of it and raising it up with 3 bets and 4 bets and before I knew it I had clawed 3 buy In's back and ended up just €9.01 down over 512 hands. I had to laugh at my Stats on the tables and almost perfect on all of the 6 tables I was on with 33/23 Vpips. Which if you remembered from last week I was playing something like 7/1 Vpips. But it seem to work for me. But to be honest I didn't care, with what had happened earlier with the death.

Anyways today was a little better although I felt like shite again and really struggled to keep my eyes open so again it was a short burst before closing it down and carried on from last night with the aggression. Not so much spewed this time and yet again made a decent profit over about 200 hands or so, then had a phone call to knock me down even further. Not only am I classed with having Chronic Depression and severe pain control problems I was told I was going to have my benefit stopped on the 30th April. Reason ? Because I have been on ESA for 365 days and under the new wealth fare bill anyone who has been on ESA for 52 weeks will have there money stopped !!! WTF, so on top of everything else that's going or gone tits up in my recent life they come along and make the problem worse. If your off work for 52 weeks or more I am sure that means that is because your not fit enough to work..... Yes I know there are others abusing the system but come on this is a joke and not just to me. I am sure there are loads others in the same boat as me. Anyways I'm rambling and its doing me no good. I am going to make a phone call tomorrow after seeing my Shrink for my Chronic depression that the Government just don't believe or care about and see where I go from there.....
So like I was saying played a tad like 200 hands and felt a bit better after eating some tea and played a total of 2 hrs in total from this afternoon and tonight's sessions. I was quite shocked to see I made a profit being I lost a full buy in on the very first hand of the night, but I did and any figure in green is defo a result, and although I still see the big loss on the 2ND March I now have 3 winning days over the 2 losing days.
I am still almost 6 buy ins down on the month but with plenty of time I think* in March still to go I am hopeful of turning it around.
Today's figures are played 679 hands over 2 hrs with a gain of €4.29.
I also received my own rake back site link to keep tabs on my rake during the month, which is very handy to have because I don't have to do all the working out now or keep asking if I have made the €100 rake for the month.....

I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I want to nail at least 1k hands tomorrow, so till the next updates thanks for reading and y'all comeback now you hear !!

Just a quickie......

Managed 20th with 2 bounties. Didn't have too much to work with and when I did have half a hand thats exactly what it was. But meh €6.60 into €59 I'll take it. Hope for better tomorrow in both cash and tours.....

Hmmmmm its not that Big

Noooooo not that, the amount I was in profit today.
I did say it was going to be a late start and to be honest the way I felt today I am amazed I played any at all. But I fired the site up and found the All in Sat for the 8k tonight just 2 short of it being full. But even after I entered 20 mins later just waiting for 1 more player and still hadn't turned up so I unreg'd.
I come back and yes there were 4 waiting so just me to sit down then and paid my €6.60 and boom I hit the winner and into tonight's 8k. But I still wasnt feeling up to it but knew I couldn't unreg so fired up 4 tables on the cash and made myself play..... Heart wasnt really into it but plodded along and before I knew it I was way down on the starting stack and struggling to even last the 1st hour. Cash was boring the pants off me and I honestly thought by 9pm I would of closed down the computer. But..... since my new approach of not throwing in the towel even when down to less than 10 BB I still try and play post flop poker. Yeah I know it's not the normal thing to do but I am sick of shoving with 10bb and meeting a bigger hand and I have found you can still get people to lay down there blinds to a raise rather than a shove. Anyways I pick my spot and doubled with 10 9 suited and then I am back in it. Little steal here and there and before long its 2nd break. I truely did have enough playing cash and closed them up after just 2 hrs. But I made 499 hands and made a small profit of €2.70. I then take my 1st Bounty and now I can not lose. Also helps when you make the cash and I am currently 25/34. Who knows..... Keep my nose clean here and that 3k could be by tomorrow........ Will update tomorrow on what happens from here.....

Player notes are suppose to help ya !!

March 3rd early AM
Not played today as yet and I was a tad tired last night to write on the blog so here it is today.
I guess playing poker probably works with you and if your up for it and things are going ok you win, and if your not a happy bunny you lose, and thats what happened yesterday. But before I go into details a little about the title.
I was playing 5 tables @ 5/10c and wanted 1 more so opened up a 12/25c table to make it 6 in total. With 6 tables I can do other things as well and playing 6 tables certainly grinds the hands up.
So there I was playing and I noticed I had made a note on a guy and hoovered over the note and it read not afraid to get it all in pre. So when I pick up KK and 3 bet him he shoves for €30 and I had already made a profit of €5 on the table so I had the same 30. Happy with the note I had on him and make the call No Ace out so happy days, that was until he turned over AA. Piss Bollox Fcuk thats a huge pot to lose for me and I started to think if I could of got away from this if I didnt have the note on him. Prob not but I am pretty certain it would not of been a full 3 buy in's at the normal stakes I play......

Anyways it got worse, I flopped a boat and still managed to lose when runner runner Ace crushed my 6's full.
I had my AA cracked about 5 times along with set v set, so in total I lost a total of buy in's. But I always remember what the late Chip Reese said, I feel good about losing a million while playing good, because I can bet ya others would of lost 2 million or words to that affect. Which I guess is true for me. Although its 6 buy ins, another day I could of easily lost 10 or 15 even. So I feel a bit better on that front.
So overall I played 1461 hands yesterday with a loss of €58.16 and actually played for 5 hours, but I reduced the tables to 4 while playing some Mtt's and went pretty deep on a .fr KO but 1 mistake and I was toast, but running 4 tables on the challenge is pretty easy enough while doing other things.

I wont get that volume in today because I didnt sleep very well at all, and on top of that shopping had to be done which leaves me so drained with the pain after. But will play some later in the day.

Late pm 1st March

1st March late pm,

Things aren't that good for me at the moment. I went back to the hospital Yesterday and having time to digest what they told me It sent me deep into my depressive state. The reason being I was told I have to attend a programme at the hospital for 2 weeks in July, the course is quite intense and then after you can then have the Operation which is the Spinal Cord Stimulation. But........ I was there yesterday and all I had to do was some simple excercises. Stretch there crouch here sort of thing but hell did I suffer afterwards with real bad pain and I have to go through 2 weeks of intense stuff. There is no way I can cope with it, there on about reducing the pain control as well. Hell its just been increased to combat the ever raising pain. I sleep between 12 to 16 hrs a day cos of the strength of the pain control and during this 2 week course which is staying at the hospital by the way I have to be up and ready and had Breakfast by 8-30 and it finishes everynight at 5pm. So thats why I am so depressed at the moment knowing there is nothing else after. You HAVE to attend and DO the 2 week course in order to have the Op that would reduce my pain level, so they say. Hell it might not even work for me this Op. Its for really back Sciatica down the legs and I dont have that sort of pain. So its Killing me at the moment.

Well after all that I was amazed to play any poker at all, but with it being a new month and not hitting my €100 rake last month I do get anything back. Which at 55% is a hefty some. But meh can't do anything about it now. So like I said I started playing a bit this afternoon and suck out city was the correct word, only not for me but them Villains. But it wasnt long before I had to sit out and that was that for that session. I think just 40 minutes I lasted. But after evening tea I started up 8 tables for a while knocking it down to 6 when I had other things to play but while I was in those other tourney's I kept the 6 tables open. It got worse before it got better and I was down about 3 buy in's at one stage when my AA were cracked within 30 secs of each other. I did claw a huge chunk back when I flopped a flush King high with 2 all in's after the flop, Lucky for me the board didnt pair and the turn was the Ace of my flush. I also just sat there when I was holding KK and the board come Kxx and the guy to my right over-shoved all in with AK. Those 2 hands pulled it back for me and when I finished I thought I was defo still down but suprised to see I was up. Yeah not much but green is defo better than red.

Played a total of 1382 hands today with the tracker telling me just short of 3.5 hrs playing. I did notice my stats when I was out of my other tourney's and they were so tight it was unreal. On 1 table I was playing 7 Vpips with 0 PFR. Wow that's insane so I did pick up from there raising loads of pots and wouldnt be suprised if thats the reason the Villains did what they did.

Overall still deeply down and hopefully trying to update the blog on a more regular basis might be the therapy I need.

1st March challenge updates.....

Well I waited all day for someone to Propose to me but @ 8-30 pm its likely now I won't be asked. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Another 4 years until the next one :grin: Well back to it then. 23rd Feb arrived and really didn't have any will to play so kept putting it off and off until 10pm I thought meh best try and get this rake over the 100 mark so I played a stt you know the score, 5 seater Speed €3.30 1st hand QQ happy days, but folded round to my raise. 2nd hand AK and ended up all in and boom met AA and although I flopped the king and turned a nut flush draw I ended up bricking and that was that bar 30 chips from the blinds I picked up the hand before. Fired a couple more up in a quick session 1 was €5 the other €15 and both were speed. The difference between speed, Turbo and Normal is, Normal is 8 min blinds, Speed is 5 min blinds and the turbo 3 min blinds. Although I love hypers for the sake of the challenge I found it a bit too spewey, so go for the Speed and 5 min blinds. I do play these quite well and I think it was Mike who said the stt's have almost been mastered now, so its obv pretty good for me that the other 4 players haven't quite got there yet....... Anyways 10 min laters and there both in the bag for a nice €52.50 and €17.50. I should play more of these to be honest...... But again I don't know why I don't.

Feb 25th and again not much happening so Played a €1 hyper tournament and surprised myself with a 4th place finish for €17.20. Sort of played about 5 hands and then after that because the blinds were so fast you were all in whenever its your blinds and then pure luck. So makes a small increase in the overall ROI with the result. But really struggling to grind any length of time on the cash tables, but what can you do if your in bits with pain after playing an hour?

So whats the worst thing that can happen after reading the last couple of lines above ? Thats right you end up having the biggest tournament win of the challenge so far the day after. Fantastic !! Let me explain, Feb 26th was a Sunday and Normally Sundays are a minefileld with those all in 1 Jobbies for the Sunday €50k. But I have been very good with holding myself back from playing these over the last month well Feb at least. But I still take the odd shot for the evening's €8k if I see the all in sat nearly full. Its not like stars were they fill really fast and it can takes hours sometimes to fill a 10 seater. So if I see it nearly full I normally take my shot for €3.30. Well 1st attempt Boom ave it, thats me in tonights game and cant recall the last time I played this. But while sitting there chuffed with my luck I see it almost full again and chance my arm again...... Boom OMG thats twice in 2 sat's I win with the best hand. Well actually not true, I chopped the 2nd so we had to have another hand which I won with my 2 3 v AQ. So because I am in it already I get the cash in my account thank you very much for the extra €33... So I have my seat and @ 8pm the cards are in the air.2000 chips and 12 min blinds. 2nd Hand I get dealt AK on the button and with 1 limper already in the pot I make it 90 to go and all 3 see the flop of 2J4 with the 2&4 both spades. I have the Ace Spades and its checked round to me. The pot is 290 and I make it 217 to go and just the BB call. The turn is the 7 clubs making 2 flush draws out now with the Jack on the flop being a club. Again he checks to me, I dont like checking here because has soon as I do I virtually give up the hand. BB could of re popped pre with any biggish hand to get me off my Button bluff but I often fire twice with AK to avoid just that. There is 724 in the pot and I make it 362, looking back I think it was a bit too low, but I remember at the time anymore and it screams I want him out of the hand. Once he calls again I pretty much knew he was waiting for the Spade flush or an open ender str draw. Anyways he just calls again and the turn is an harmless 10 Diamonds. I have 1331 behind with 1448 in the pot. I consider jamming if he doesnt but once he checks again I can resist the urge to fire the 3rd Bullet. Get it wrong and its pretty much game over but I just bet half the pot leaving 607 behind. I must of thought I could get back in the game with a bit of luck and promptly smile when he folds....... So I'm off and win some more chips with AK on the 5th hand.

30 mins in I take my 1st bounty with 10 8 suited when UTG shoves for 10bb and I call it in mid Position. Happy to take the chance here, I have 3833 in chips and pretty certain I should be live here. Not happy to see the guy to my left call as well like but at least he didnt shove to isolate..... Flop 492, I check and he checks, turn 6 to give me a gutshot and I check again and again so does the guy to my left. Boom the river is the Nut str card 7 for me and promptly bet half the pot and for the Brucie Bonus the guy calls and shows AJ for Ace high, Hmmmmmm Not sure on that one but happy days. All in Guy has AQ and he's toast. Thats my 1st Bounty and worth €12.50. Always good to get the 1st one because I dont buy into this so if I play its cos I won the sat for either €6.60 or €3.30 so its all profit from here.

I wont bore you with all the juicy hands after that, but it stood me in a good Position to go a little deeper. The top 40 were paid and when I made the cash I was sitting pretty in 11th. Cashing in a bounty game is no big deal because the amount is pretty low with I think €19.78 ish for 31-40 and not much higher for 21-30 and even 10th only collects about €62.

However my wheels well and truley fell off. I lost half my chips a few hands back when on the BB holding 20bb and calling a shorty shove for about a third of my chips with Q6 Suited when he had KQ and then 2 hands later on the button had to fold after the SB shoved to my raise.

Amazing, just checking back on the HH I actually call a min raise while in the BB with just 4 BB left and fold after I miss with my 8 9. I know why I called because someone was all in for less than 1 BB and just had to see the flop.......

So I am 31/31 with 3BB left and not 1 like I worte in the 1k thread. I checked on the tracker just now, but I was defo 31/31 and on the button with QJ knowing full well it was going in. Were 6 handed so just had to be done. I'm up against KQ off & A9, the Board comes 4 8 10 turn 6 so any 9 or Jack, B O O M jack, takes me back to 11 BB.

Few hands later I'm in again K2 suited on the button v A10 BB, hit the King on the river and knock out a big bounty for €45.

I make the Final table sitting in 7th out of 10 and double up in the SB with 3 7off v AJ on a flop of 3 7 J flop, That puts me in the mix and then AK v AQ with a Q on the flop but a river King sends me top of the pack with 6 left.

I sit back and really want to land 3rd min for a €482.62 + bounties cash and before I know it I am Heads Up. Totally knackered, my back in Peices and well and truely zonked. HU was going great for me and then boom back to were I started, which was a 2/1 dog. Again after 15 mins I almost get it back to 50/50 and he sucks out again. Its 2-20 am and to be honest I give up. I wanted 3rd min to reach 2nd was a bonus and thats why I took a stand with just a gutshot and I called an all in with it. He had top pr which of course held. Yes given different times and a different night I would of hung around grinding him down. But meh with the bounties I take home a very nice €814.50 and all for €3.30 ave it.........

I did manage to win a €6.60 sat to play on the 28th Feb but luck was not my side and went out without any Bounties. They also had a couple of special tournaments on the 29th Feb. One was a €5k added €5.50 and the other was a €5k freeroll for playing 250 hands or more during the Month of Feb. It was a nice surprise but thats all it was after the Donkey's decided to enter both of them and it wasn't long before I was of both.

Well thats the tournaments covered I guess I had better start on the cash tables I managed to rip up since my last update. Has mentioned earlier I am finding it harder and harder to grind the tables so its always bits here and there. But overall it was a good month and I recouped all of January's losses and make a bit more on top. I have posted both screenshots of my playing days with profit and although I only played 14 days out of 29 it was a feeling knowing I only had 2 losing sessions. The BadBeat tables are back up and running and I do try to play more because when it goes that would be that and the challenge complete. Anyways you can also see my Stats and carrying on from the last update I have been aware more of my playing Stats and did look to raise more pots and do different things in Postion and after seeing the stats I was pretty chuffed about them. Yes there is still room for improvement but dont forget I only play full ring games and not Short Handed cash games.

So I made a total of €146.69 on the cash tables this month and not bad considering I only played 677 hands on the 12/25c tables. So 15 buy in's up over the month is again pretty good going I hope you agree.......






I am hoping for a good month in March with nothing really getting in the way. I visited family in the Middle of Feb for 8 days and all appointments have freed up March as well, I just hope I can grind a bit more than the last 2 months. But I did say I wanted to play at least 5k hands in the year...... So thats been smashed and 12k hands in 2 months is good going for me.

I forgot to mention about the rakerace that I was so looking forward to and I did a bit of checking and found Opoker wasnt the only poker site to be running it. Its not a network race it was an independant race, anyways having checked it earlier in the month found it totally bollocks and never attempted in the end. Fail !!!!



Now for the big totaliser.............€2935.90, just €65 to make the 3k mark........ and my New year's poker goal will be complete. Once again thanks for reading and hopefully next update will be the Magical €3k