Another update

Having been quiet on the poker side of things for about 3 or 4 yrs I did say I was going to look at getting back to it. But instead of just jumping straight back in to it, I’ve been doing a lot of studying and watching players on their live Twitch feed. It’s basically you looking at what the player who’s streaming sees on his monitor. The beauty of this is the ability to watch a good poker pro playing poker with his cards revealed and they also talk you through their reasons to do what they do. There’s normally a 5 minute delay so not to reveal their hand live in a poker game and it works so well.
It’s the best way to learn or learn what’s gone on since I last played properly. It turns out, my game was pretty solid and just needed tweaking here and there. So I’ve been watching these streams for a few weeks now and although I still have to be careful what I play in terms of potentially falling asleep whilst playing, I’ve started just this week actually, playing early morning tournaments on Poker Stars. Sadly though with not to much to shout about. But the key is volume, if you play pretty much like your suppose to and you win your flips, then you have a good a chance as anyone else. The problem I have is the volume, it’s ok saying it was the correct call and in time it’s still a winning play, but unfortunately not this time and you bust. So because I’ve no volume I have nothing to fall back on like the players who stream who can play upwards of 16 tournaments at once across many different sites.
I also need to sort out my Poker Tracker which is essential if your serious about your game, unfortunately again, mines a stubborn sod and it’s not showing my hand history and I don’t know why. It will take time to get back up to speed but I’m not in any rush really. I’d rather it be right than playing with no HUD.
So I’ve not done much in terms of playing, although I’ve picked up cash playing Sit n Gos, a bit of Cap cash games and the Sit n Go KO. I had my $820 on Stars to fund my return and it’s important I don’t lose that and grind away. But those you read my blog will know, I win most of my cash away from PokerStars, opting for iPoker or Boss networks, but I think Boss is no longer in the U.K. and iPoker is almost dead these days from the numbers I’ve seen.
Even PKR is now a distant memory after going into receivership. It’s just Stars, 888 Poker and the new vamped up Party Poker that attract the biggest entries with a handful of smaller new networks trying to get into the action. But truth be told, Stars is head and shoulders above anything out there. Which means dodging fish and that can get frustrating for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
Finally, I’m toying with the idea of possibly another Jesus challenge but starting with $1 instead of a zero Bankroll. It just makes it easier for me to get going instead of playing with very bad all in players. But I need to sort out my set up first and see about streaming and if that’s worth doing or not.
Anyways that’s it for this update and next time I should be well into my return!

After 8 tournaments we have our first cash & Final Table!

So yes it’s official, I played I think 8 tournaments since coming out of retirement to take up playing poker again. I have to admit it’s been slow going like I explained in my previous post. But I kept persistently playing when I wasn’t falling asleep and yes I managed to get to the Final Table. It was a long slog, especially when we were playing 6 handed on two tables for seemed like an hour, although it really was only about 20 minutes.
I played really really well and only got my money in when just twice behind and I think those two were flipping, pocket pair v AK for me. I lost most of my chips when miles ahead and only to be rivered. I had just 2 BB when about 24 left, but won 3 shoves which brought me back to the pack. I was 6th place when we got down to the FT and I was chip leader when there was just 6 left.
One thing I have noticed and that is players try and bluff a hell of a lot more than 3 yrs ago. Almost every time I called a shove or a big bet, they were bluffing. All I need to do now is win my races.....

Still not quite there yet

With the death of my Father in Law on Christmas Eve and the wife not coping at all well, my poker is taking a while longer to take off. I have been playing, but with the lack of sleep and other personal stuff to sort out, it’s not really been the start I was hoping for. But I have played a number of hands and despite my rustiness I have enjoyed some success. I have opted to slowly get back into it rather than full steam ahead and playing $100 sit n gos. Actually I never played those when I was in my prime.
For those you have read this blog over the years know I’m very very cautious when it comes to Bankroll management. It’s just a shame I can’t replicate that with my gambling, but with poker I’ve always had a good head for my bankroll. So it’s no surprise I didn’t play those $100 with me needing at least $10k to play one. Again, for those whom have been with me for these years know I did just do that, make $10k from nothing, but I chose to treat myself to a trip to Vegas. It did take me 4.5 yrs to complete it, so I did deserve it.......
If truth be known, I’m really really struggling with day to day life at present. I’ve often poured my heart out in this blog over the years, basically because I have no one to talk to really. I’m alone all day once the Mrs goes to work, on top of the death of her dad and the shite that her 3 brothers come out with recently have really angered me. My mental health is piss poor and my driving is really really aggressive with not a care if I live or die. I should take myself to the GP, but I can’t even be arsed to do that. They let me down a few yrs ago now and I’m reluctant to want to go back. I have a ton of paperwork to do and the to do list is getting longer and longer. I thought poker would be a welcome distraction and like I’ve said, I have played, but my heart is not in it at present. We still have another week before the funeral. Oppss, my bad, we are not allowed to call it that. Nor are we allowed to wear black. Yes, that’s how bizarre things are and no wonder I’ve lost the plot.
My gambling I have to admit is way out of control. I’ve always been able to sort of know when to give up but this time it’s different. It’s a very welcome distraction I have to admit and I’ve used this technique for over 30 yrs, but this is different. Once I start I’m finding it so hard to stop and the losses are huge but so are the wins which then fund the next session. But I can’t stop which is something I have always done previously. I don’t want to go down the road of Gambling problem because I do enjoy it and if I do go down that route, my poker would be classed as gambling which I would have to stop and I’m just not prepared to do that. But it’s obvious I have to do something. I’m currently thinking of a 6 month banning order which I can fill out online at the various online casinos I’m playing at. But what would I do to fill that gap that’s always been there? That’s why I’m just at the thinking stage at present. How would I cope not being able to distract myself, will I go further into depression which I have to repeat is probably the worse I’ve ever been in my life. If I didn’t have so many people depending on me it’s a sure thing that I wouldn’t be here telling you about it. But that’s what keeps me going day by day.
Letting it out on here does help me and although it might not be Poker it is indeed connected to poker. Without this back ground information readers simply wouldn’t know how much you need to be able to play poker with a some what clear head and if me typing it all on here helps me, then it’s got to be good for me. But I have played poker, it’s just not the volume I would of liked, but considering the above it’s amazing I have played at all. I’m not yet playing back on PokerStars. I don’t have that level of concentration yet to be able to play a 4000 player field. Instead opting to play the 3 man hyper Sit n Gos at $3 a pop. It’s probably best to actually, because my aggression when I play is to much aggression. I’m literally 3 barrelling almost every hand and it’s no surprise I’m losing most of these. But I do know how to beat these and I do know which hands are good v an all in range, so although it looks like I get lucky when I’m calling an all in with just 4 5 suited, I know I’m slightly just a dog v any random shove. Also the low stakes means the players that play these limits are literally every man and his dog with the semi decent players never ever going this low. But you can make a decent wedge and I must be the only poker player that does not think playing these super low limits is detrimental to your ego. Money is money and to me anyway, I’d rather take loads of easy money v fighting it out with umpteen semi decent players for a half decent return. I just need to try and get my head in a state that benefits my playing abilities.
Small steps an all that........
I did however manage to win my last game for a x6 multiple of my stake, which helped. More updates in about a week and as ever, thanks for reading x

An so we have lift off.

It’s the end of the 1st Jan and I managed to get in about 2 hours of play. Nothing amazing really, just sitting on a 6 max table on Sky clicking away. I did double my buy in, but I ran my 2nd nuts into the Nuts which cost me that said buy in.
I have to remember that playing at these limits, players do not play ‘standard’ poker, with lots of limping with literally any 2 cards, to the overbet river shove for 100BB into a pot of just 10BB. But it was a good session, I didn’t feel sleepy or get bored, it was good.
I’m also not going to blog after every session. This was just because it being the first day properly. I do keep thinking of another Jesus $10k challenge, but the thought of playing those free rolls freaks me out. So I’m going to carry on playing during the week and see if I can come up with something similar. One idea is either $100 to $25000 or £10 to £10k. I need to read up on online poker and see what sites are still operating and which have folded. I do like the IPN or Boss network and there is also the microgamming network and you could forget ipoker..... Actually I’ll do it now. I’ll speak later in the week with all the updates.

Happy New Year and welcome 2018.

It’s arrived and we are now in 2018 and that means I’m now a poker player once again. But for how long remains to be seen, but hopefully I can continue playing.
My Bankroll is just £30 on Sky and $28 on 888.
I do have $850 on PokerStars but I need to play more hours before I entertain PokerStars. That’s because of the size of tournaments which means 8 hours and more of continued play and I’m not ready for that just yet. They do however have the Spin n Gos which I do like, so I could play a few of them.
I really want to play on the Boss Media or IPN as it’s called, but don’t know a UK site or foreign site that lets UK players play. In the haste to follow suit with the US, the government decided that in order for any bookmaker who wished to conduct business had to be licensed in the U.K. instead of abroad so they could collect the taxes from the British players. Bookmakers said yeah do one and the amount of poker sites literally vanished overnight in the U.K.
But that’s political bollox and I can’t be arsed. So it’s 30 minutes into the new year, so it’s sleep time and fully rested for tomorrow.
Bring it on!

Coming out of retirement to play poker again (hopefully)

I’ve been toying with the idea of playing poker again after spending the last week playing a few hands. The new year is less than 24 hrs away and it’s a perfect way to start out again.
These are the general ideas I wrote earlier and I’ve copied and pasted the text.

Poker journal for 2018.

Goals for the year. 

To get back into poker playing low stakes and working my way up the limits. To try and play tournaments despite my heavy medication.

To only play poker sites that I have disabled the online casino so not to spunk my cash away.

To win at least $1500 before the end of 2018 and if possible earn more and maybe plan on going back to Vegas whenever I feel the time is right to return. In order to do so I have to book a flight that is no higher than £500 direct return and somehow keep my $$$$$ so I don’t have to worry about the exchange rate.

To try and play at least an hour a day everyday and see how I feel after a month and maybe play longer, again depending on my .medication and not falling asleep.

I’m going to start with less than $100 but the exact figure will be entered on day 1 which will be Jan 1st 2018.

I was thinking of attempting a new $10k bankroll challenge, but I need to make sure I have the correct head on to allow me to play poker again. It’s pretty pointless me bigging it up if I can’t manage to play any sessions at all due to the meds, so I’ve decided on just earning cash and see where it gets me.

My limit will start at 5/10c or 5/10p on a U.K. site like sky. In fact it was opening up the sky client that I decided to play a few hands and from there it’s gotten to this point. I know I can still beat the game, and without blowing my own Trumpet, I can easily beat this level. I won’t move up in limits though until I have enough buy ins, possibly no less than forty. I have no problem playing such low stakes and whilst every other poker player as an ego that forbids them playing such low limits, I see it as a great opportunity. Just winning 6 buy ins a day is a enough for a full time wage and effectively I’d be a poker pro.  But I won’t be shouting it from the tree tops.

Hopefully one of the rules is, to make sure I update this blog at least once a week. I’m also not going to use an HUD. I’m unsure if there still legal or not to use it’s been that long since I played any decent poker.

I’ll close for now but I will bring a full Bankroll update on my next entry. I’m really looking forward to this and can’t wait to get started!

Plaza

8th November 2009 update continued

Also included is my sharkscope graph for the 1st €1k......


So its going to be back to the grind again, and see what I fancy doing for the following week. Its a bit of an Arse, cos I dont want to drop below the €1k but needs must, so it may be Cash for the start and take it from there.
Here's to the next €1k  


Updates 15th Nov

KS poker
Well after reaching the €1k I knew it would come and smack me in the face, and oh yes it did orright. I was considering what to do, so while considering what to do I jumped onto a cash table 25€ max buy in. So I bought in for the max €25 and the 2nd hand receive the bullets from the kind dealer. 3 limpers and the cut off raised so I re-raised to €8 happy if I got just 1 caller. I ended up with 2 and the flop was J 7 4 rainbow checked to me of course and I then pot bet it so it puts me all in, the limper then calls and the raiser thinks for a while and decides to call as well. Turn blank river pairs the board happy days....... NOT. The raiser turns over 44 and the limper turns over AJ.... BOSH. I lose a full buy in on only the 2nd hand. I then left the table, but continued to run bad all night, missed everything I was involved with. So eventually give it up. I checked the bankroll the day after and it was down to €941..... I tried all week to increase it and played MTT'S but could only manage to get it back to €945.17 which is were I finished for the week. Gutted but thats the 1st drop since I started this, so I can not really complain. The €1 rebuy @ 7pm is a daily MTT I play, and a decent final table in this will propell me back past 4 figures. So rough with the smooth I guess........


Updates 22nd Nov

KS Poker
it was full steam ahead on KS this week.
I was doing ok, I managed to get into the Cape end of Month €100 entry at the 1st attempt, I then played some of the double or nothings STT €3 and was 6 wins with 1 loss which was a beat. Got it upto €960 then went on another slide. I have started playing some higher buy in tournaments but only within my Bankroll, with the highest being a €10 Bounty game. I figured even if I only take 1 out I receive €5 2 and I freerolling. Sadly I got none and lost the €10+1 buy in. Still play the €1 rebuy, and its costing me roughly €5 per game and have not really being doing well in that either. Still loads of time....... Not been feeling myself either to be honest, I am not allowed my painkillers till after the op which is this Wed coming, so been in constant agony, which is effecting the way I play, and then going on tilt a bit till I realise and close the game down. But like I said before, loads of time...... The good part of this weeks updates, with everything thats been played and the badbeats thrown at me I am still on the same total €942 plus I am in the Cape0 final as well with a €100 buy in. I dont know about this week, I might just leave till after I get back from Hospital and able to play again without the pain. So dont be to worried if I have not posted in a week, or seen me, just unable to move..... Speak to you all soon

UPDATES 28TH SEPT 2009

KS Poker
I have played a few MTT this week and a bit of cash, I won on the cash but failed in the MTT, so bankroll dipped a bit from last week. I am not going to progress every week in this challenge now I have taken to MTT. So I will get the dip in bankroll till I cash in something. 
Current bankroll is €627, which is down €8 from last week. I can handle that......



Updates 4th October

KS Poker Because of my little exploit in the EPT, I have not played much this week. But I have however managed to increase my Bankroll by over €118. I managed to bubble again for another €100 and I finished 2nd in the 10c rebuy on Wed, when I was rivered for the win and collected €29. I have played a few MTT's ie the €1 rebuy and the €2 freezeout @ 11pm. But I need to alter my playing because its still played the same as the 10c rebuy after the rebuy period. I was thinking it might of calmed down a bit....... er no

Updates 11th Oct 2009

KS Poker
Another good week for me, even though I have not had the time because of the hospital and pain afterwards to fully commit myself this week. 
But I managed to increase my Bankroll to €826.84 which is an increase of €81 from last week. Played a bit of cash and cashed in the MTT's I played. Wed was particulally good with Played 3 and cashed in 3. There will be no updates next Sunday due to me being in Vegas.

Updates 1st November

My first update since Vegas......

KS Poker, I have been up and down like a brides nightie in this past month, and not getting anywhere. I have tried the MTT and the rebuys particularly the 7pm €1 rebuy. I did managed a 11th last month for an outlay of €4 and picked up about €27 I think. I lost a couple of buy ins on the cash via set v set twice..... But overall pleased with my tournament play and last night tried my hand at the short handed cash ok only 2/4c but totally destroyed the table, so maybe back there. But I think this month I am going to concentrate on the STT. I took down the only 1 I played which was a €3 for €15. Current bankroll is €825.15 which with my maths means a loss of €1.50 ish from 3 weeks ago, with time spent in Vegas etc etc.

                               Updates 8th Nov

KS Poker,
Well what a fecking week for me on KS. Here I was last week struggling on €824 for ages and then I take down the 11pm €2 for €174 to put me on €998.92 I was determined to get past the €1k but then proved to be a pain in the arse to do. I actually went down to €990 but then slowly dragged it back and then made my 1st €1k......

Updates 20th Sept 2009

KS on the other hand has been a very good week, my bankroll has now swelled up to €635.14 due to the Bubble Buster tourny which I collected €250 from. I have played about 1k in cash hands as well this week and was flying high till I got it in preflop with AA v 88 only for the 2 outer to hit :-(
But I made a bit of cash over the week regardless of that, and have now taken a like to multi-tabling the cash. I am also now bankrolled to play some €5 MTT's so I will give them a bash over the week.

Also.....

Dear Darren, 
Congratulations! On behalf of all the Kspoker team :) 
You are actually the first on the new Bubble buster list. We will of course keep you informed of the date and time of the schedule. 
Andy also wish to inform you that your package is en-route. 
Best of luck!!

( package is a KS goody bag for my EPT seat win, which they kindly donated to me )

Updates 13th Sept 2009 + Bubble Buster

KS I have had a problem this week with KS, since there upgrade I crashed 3 times and it wouldnt re boot without the computer being turned off. So been resticted somewhat, its all sorted now, and I have a bankroll of €374.89 which is €5 up from last week. I have been on the cash tables because I wanted to make sure the site didnt crash. I will be hammering it this week, trying to make the €400

ll you have to do is bubble a cash tournament with more than 20 players in it, and then you get entry into the Bubble Buster tournament, which as you can see below had 5 players in it and I finished 2nd ( after the guy rivered me, I had him all in ).
All 5 got something out of it, and of course I collected €250.
BUT all I did was bubble the 10c rebuy Tournament, which is a piece of piss to do...... 




I entered the new bubble Buster promo tonight and to prove how easy it is I did it 1st time, and now entry into the Bubble Buster tournament again......

Updates 6th Sept 2009

KS Challenge
Not a brillient week on KS, I have slightly lost again this week but with a win in the tourny I could not unreg from, has made it not look so bad. I have not played any STT this week and concentrated on the 5/10c cash tables. But with no luck at all and failing to catch any cards to call the fish with. I have played a few of the €1 multi tournys but with no luck, and of course the 10c rebuys. I still have another 2 weeks before I play the Bubble Buster and then I can go for the bubble buster again with hopefully 2 more €100 credits.
Current Bankroll stands at €369.76. I also have the Cape0 final tonight with currently 39 players in it. I guess there will be others who are willing to pay the €100 to enter, and of course a cash in this will propel me hopefully into 4 figure numbers. It only cost me €5 to get to the final so not really got anything to lose.
I think next week I will be going back to the STT to see how things go from there.

More updates

I'm thinking I should of done this back to front with my last post first. But I'm thinking of tidying it up after and maybe going through the entire blog and making it readable and make sense. But here's more updates....

29th August. 


The KS challenge is of course my main Challenge with the lure of an extra €3k when I reach the dizzy heights of 3k from nothing. I have changed the way I have now approached this and starting playing some higher buy in tournies, but still play the 10c rebuy, I think there real good fun, and for the price cant fault it. If I do mange to get 1st in this it pays approx €35 which would be a nice addition to the bankroll.
Current Bankroll is €372.61, slightly down from last week, but I have played some €5 tournies and also managed to win a seat into the Monthly €100 Cape0 final were the winner also collects a €3100 bonus. On top of that I have the bubble Buster STT on the 19th Sept were we play for €1k, and with just 5 in it looks a good chance to at least make some cash. I have played some more STT this week and found playing 8 at a time was kind of fun.......



Just a weeeee one. I was looking at this tourny with no one entered, so I thought hmmmm I might get a seat just by reg in it, only 1 min to go, so I did reg for it. Then 3 more signed up so I tried to unreg but couldnt, so I had to play it.
1st hand the other 3 were all in. 
2nd Hand I was playing heads up....... me 1.5k him 4.5k but of course class always tell in the end.

Ahhhh I remember now...

Its all coming back to me now... I remember I couldn't super long posts because I found I couldn't scroll up and down on long posts, so I had to shorten them, just like my last entry. But in it you see 3 weeks of my updates and it's not long after, I start using PT3 to show my graphs.

9th August 2009


I now have €294.50 on KS poker. €145 up from last week, I increased my bankroll to double what it was in a week due to the fact of the latest promotion which is called Bubble buster were you have to bubble any tournament with 20 or more runners and then get entry into a €1k sit n go with 9 others and play it when they have 10 players. However I managed to bubble twice, so got entry into the bubble tournament and they also give me €100 for bubbling the 2nd one. I have bubbled it for the 3rd time as well last night and have sent an email and waiting for there reponse. Pretty easy actually to bubble. I have hit the €1 sit n go's this month and I am in profit.


20th August 2009


I now have €390 on KS poker. €90 up from last week, I increased my bankroll almost €90 for bubbling for the 3rd time in the bubble buster promo. But sadly I have received an email stating they are going to limit the applications to 3 for every buster period.

The latest promotion which is called Bubble buster were you have to bubble any tournament with 20 or more runners and then get entry into a €1k sit n go with 9 others and play it when they have 10 players. 

I have given up on the sit n go's for this month, I have tried to play them, but they are boring me senseless, so its back to the cash and going to play some MTT's .

Finally.... how it all began!

Well, actually after checking my first posts it seems I'm still not at the very beginning. The reason for this was I had to move poker forums when the previous owner decided he was closing it down and a few of us decided to open our own up as PokerPlayersPlace.com.

After not being on there for some years now I had a hard time logging back in. But I have managed to and I was going to copy and paste into here which I thought was the very start of the challenge. But sadly my first post is when I'm on €65.

This was my first entry...

19th July 2009

I have €65 on KS poker from about 3 months of playing. Currently playing micro 2/4c cash tables as well as the €20 freeroll 3 times a week which I have taken down 3 times thus far. This is my challenge which takes most of my time at the moment because the €3k bonus is appealing.

The €3k was what KS poker was going to give any player that could turn a zero Bankroll into €3k making it €6k in total once achieved.

These are the rules for the challenge...

1 You can never risk more than 5% of your bankroll in sit-and-gos and cash games. If you’re playing MTTs you can’t buy in for more than 2% of your bankroll, or 0.5% in rebuy tournaments. The only exceptions are for tournaments that cost $ 2.50 or less. In my challenge I also stopped myself from playing satellites unless I could afford the buy-in of the event I was satelliting into. I would change that rule now because Full Tilt gives you the option to take your winnings as ‘T’ dollars, to use in any tournament. If you can’t afford the buy-in, take the ‘T’ dollars and enter a tournament within the guidelines.

2 If you’re playing pot-limit or no-limit cash games you should get out before the blinds reach you if you have more than 10% of your bankroll on the table at any one time. You can move up a level as soon as you have enough money to buy into the game.

3 If you have to drop down a level, or you’ve had a few tough sessions and it’s affecting your motivation, take a break. Come back when you’re rested and able to play in the small games with 100% focus. It’s not easy. I don’t tilt, which is fortunate, but if you feel yourself tilting, you’ve got to take a break. These rules are supposed to motivate you to know to take that important break.

4 If you see an easy game for more money, don’t join in – it’s not an excuse to play in that game. However, if you spot a lower stakes game featuring a much easier field, by all means play it. You can actually make more money overall in a soft $ 2/$ 4 game than in a tough $ 5/$ 10 game.

5 You must never break any of the above rules and you need to focus 100%. If you’re going to break these rules, you won’t make the challenge.

Next entry is from a week later

26th July 2009

I now have €125.86 on KS poker. I had a very good week on KS making €60 helped by making a high hand during there July Promtion, my Quad aces making me €40 having said that I have been trying for the high hand all July and played over 5k cash hands all on the micro stakes.
The plan is to keep on the micro tables till the Promotion finishes at the end of July and then try the Sit n Go's.  
This is my challenge which takes most of my time at the moment because the €3k bonus is appealing.

Another week after,

2nd August 2009

I started this on Titan and have $94 on there but have not played on there for a while.

I have €53.75 on Sunderlands poker ( all from freerolls in 3 weeks ). This in an increase of €4 from the previous week

I now have €149.63 on KS poker. €25 up from last week, helped by a guy going all in everyhand in micro cash and me holding AA twice. I am going to hit the sit n go'ss this month and see were it gets me.
This is my challenge which takes most of my time at the moment because the €3k bonus is appealing.

I don't know why I kept saying that last line!

Been a while

I'm sorry for the lack of updates but you know when things can't get any worse, and believe me I've been to hell a few times recently as readers of this blog will acknowledge, but it seems I've gone past hell and still falling..... I honestly can not believe my luck! But meh fingers crossed. I say that because I have my 7th back op in 4 weeks, and I've had to reduce my medication for the pain in the run up to the op which of course means I've been climbing the walls. So poker is the least of my worries just yet. You see I'm still very much in the early stages and can not just play anything and still need to build up my bankroll which means still playing in the leagues I played on BV and Stars, but I can not commit to a month long league in my present condition and have not been for some months now. I'm lucky if I can play a cash game for 30 minutes, and that's just a couple of times a week. So looking forward to the op and I'm falling into the same mindset I had done previous when I pinned all my hopes on the corrective and the spinal cord surgery only to have both fail miserable. But I can not help it, they've found something on a new MRI and although I have already been told it won't kill all the pain it should kill some of the pain. I know I'm expecting to much but I can't help it. I just want to get the love back of playing poker and trying the unimaginable of two successfully $10k challenges. And try and take my game to the next level. I have now spent all my previous challenge cash and ended up upgrading my car to a newer model and really chuffed I did as well. It means I have something solid to show for all those yrs of grinding.... Poker as been good to me and also bad to me but really up for the challenge after the op. So fingers crossed and all that and at last I can be normal ish again and concentrate on the game I use to love so much...... I'll try and update this blog soon after the op and I should be back playing again very soon.

Well that was fun, let's do it again !!!!

Oh the moment I felt in August last year when I finally realised I had actually managed to complete this challenge was something that I can never forget. I had the hairs on the back of my head stand up because it was that special, so special that I had stuck with it through thick and thin, has you would of read during all those years of updating my progress. But alias that was almost 6 months ago now, but.......... It is now official, I'm now onto my 2nd $10k challenge. I did mention it in my previous 2 updates but nothing major about it in depth. I officially started it on the 1st August 2013, and here was me wanting to complete it within 2 years.... Ha ha yes very funny !! Its already almost 6 months since I started. I have started blogging about it but its on Bet Victor's poker forum. Its like the previous challenge in I started it and wrote about it on PPP forum before I moved it over to here. I also keep saying I will merge both parts into 1 complete version, and I will do the same for this 2nd challenge also. Although you've not really missed anything. I'm not fully committed to it yet with me missing a good 3 months towards the end of last year. It's something I hope I never have to go through again. I keep saying this is the worst I have ever been and blah blah blah, but again it is. Having been told I have been on the wrong medication for 3 years and the effect that had on me together with 3 long term pets dying within a space of 4 weeks again killed me and Jo. Two cats aged 14 and 20 ripped us both apart because both had latched on to us and giving us comfort when we needed it made it even worse when they died. I mean even Christmas day was a wash out with both of us, and that was 2 months after they had died, so you get some idea of the emotion's we endured. I tried to begin a new chapter with the new year and all that, but its proving hard still. I have also gotten use to lying on the sofa bed and playing poker from the laptop. But although its good for a table or 2, its nothing compared to my desktop computer set up, so anything more than 3 tables and the laptop just can not cope and lags badly, but the thought of going back to desktop now makes me shudder at the thought of it. The big difference is lying down on the sofa bed is kind to my back, along with the heated blanket on top of that and you start to understand why I dont want to move back to the recliner..... I keep trying to think of a compromise but nothing yet. Anyways back to my new challenge. So like mentioned with the new year and all that I decided to play the BV league again. The only trouble is, your score is calculated over the month with 4 games a day during the week and couple of games at weekend. So to be in with a shout of top 10 your going to have to grind about 60 games out during a month. Although in theory I have the time, its so draining playing 4 freeroll games a day. You also have to dodge all the bullets that freeroll games brings ie the muppets who open shove all the stack every hand and generally all the bad plays that freeroll games bring. But hey if that is what Bet Victor poker wants to do and sees this way to get more players on there site then thats there choice of course. I see it as a challenge, and with €1500 for 1st place over the month and with the top 200 players over the month being rewarded as well you can see the benefits of wanting to play there. Maybe I can grind it out for a month and really go for it and then think of moving the challenge and the cash to somewhere else is a thought, but at the moment its the place I need to be with the new challenge still in the very early stages. This month however I have played or tried to play more games than I have previously, but still nowhere near the 60 to 65 games you need to play to get the points you need to be able to win the months top prize. They have a pretty cool and thought out points system, and along with the sit out players being removed after the first level your left with currently about 250 players in the 7pm nightly game. The point system begins with everybody starting on 1500 points, and that figure drops or rises depending on were you finish in the game. If your the first out you would receive a minus score and thats then taken off your overall score, and the higher you finish the more points you score. But there is a twist, the higher you are on the overall scoreboard the harder it is to score points. For instance, if a player starts the game in say 200th overall and his mate is in the top 10 say, and they both went out say 51st and 52nd, the player in 200th overall would score more points than the player who was in the top 10. So this way you have to decide if its worth playing a game knowing you have to finish in a high spot just to make sure you added points to your overall score and not lose points. So say for instance you have AK in the first hand of a game and you see 3 players all in even before it gets to you, you've then got to choose is it wise to call knowing you would lose a lot of points overall on the leader board if you lost the hand, so you also need to plan your moves, which is great in a game where all the players had a bit of skill in there game, but remember this is a freeroll, and we all know that in a freeroll everything goes....... But fair play to BV, they also listen to the players via a forum. In the first stages of me joining, I noticed some players were running the clock down on every hand to gain more places up the leaderboard. Which is not bad if one person was doing it, but when you had 5 or 6 players on your table doing it every hand it got a bit much, and there was clearly some advantage being gained, so I said what I thought and within 2 months they had cut the clock time per hand to 10 seconds from 20 and if anybody was still abusing the clock for no reason you could report that player and if found guilty they would suspend that player. So its a well run league, and gives players like me with years of experience a new ride in trying to out think new players to the game of poker, without luck being a part of that game and ending up losing me points. But that goes to every player that plays the league. There are some players that play almost the full month's games, and if I had a gripe about how its run, that would be my only one. Clearly, someone who had the chance to play more games a day / week stand a better chance overall than say somebody who had to work and could only play once a day. They say that the scoring policy takes this into account, but it doesn't, and it never will. But other than that, its a well run league that gives out €10k away every month, which is lot of money to give away every month, so overall it's a good way to start my 2nd challenge, I say while screaming at my laptop how the fcuk can you call my shove with 3 8 suited for your tournament life who then outdrew my AQ and I end up out in 34th in this mornings game....... I have however been starting to play a bit more on BV and just the freeroll league games. They run on the MicroGaming network, and they do have Hyper sit n go's with 500 chips 2 minute blinds. Both HU and short handed, and I have been playing more and more. They also have a couple of Carnage mtt's which are basically the All in's version of the OnGame network. There not massive fields with around 30 or so players in both games. Its a pity they do not have more, but then again for me thats probably a good thing, seeing how well I run in them!! I shall close now with my new challenge total....... It was a high of £123, but some cash and mtt's along with those hyper's I mentioned, and its down to £93 as I speak. I might of gained a couple of spots in the overall league table with this mornings finish, but I'm still about the 40th spot which is only good for I think €20. But there are still 4 or 5 games to go this month, so shall see. But at this time it's currently £93. I must mentioned my long term buddy Losbert as well, who has also taken to his own challenge and joined me on BV and I think hes currently around the £30 mark, but he's at this disadvantage i spoke about early, in the fact he works during the week, an is often not home for the 7pm game, so he has done really well to make it where he is as well. Another update soon I promise....

I never ever expected to........

But after a total of 4 years and 5 months I can now confirm that I have finally reached my goal. I have actually turned a zero Bankroll into $10 thousand Dollars. The funny thing is I do not know what to say now, its a weird feeling that after all this time and effort, and yes Pain with loss along the way that I have finally done it. Inside I am over joyed. Not in the fact its the end of the road, or that it's been a long old drag but the good feeling that me, just like any other poker player no special skills to boast about, but me I have actually copied what at the time 4 years ago was a great poker player who had a great poker brain and great bankroll management and that Jesus Ferguson did something at the time I thought was totally impossible for the likes of me to even get close to, but ok he might be accountable for is actions with Full Tilt Poker, but he taught me something that I must admit I could never do and that was how to look after your Bankroll, and with some simple rules stopped me from going broke and joining the thousands of poker players that go broke sometime in there poker lives. I did not just learn from it, but it was in printed into my brain and I have tried with the use of the blog as well tried to install into other poker players old and new. If I managed to alter just 1 person's idea of what Bankroll management is all about and they learned how to manage there Bankroll and not go broke then at least I have accomplished something and this 4 years was well worth it. So what's happened since the last update at the start of the month. To be honest not a lot really. I have spent some time visiting family and the other part struggling to find games to play. In fact I had just spoke to my rake back friend and I had explained the traffic on OnGame was seriously low and I was thinking of moving the challenge over to an Ipoker site and it was done and dusted. I was just waiting for the start of next month and was off... But I still had / have some tournament tickets left, and of course I do like the fast poker games. It was that fast poker game that I finished this challenge. I actually managed to turn just $1 to $3k in just 3 steps. It only took 6 days to turn that into $3k as well, it would of been quicker but the final step is ran just once a week. I managed to turn a step 1 ticket worth $1.05 and won that and received a step 2 ticket worth $14.70. In just 20 minutes I had won that with just 9 runners going for a step 3 ticket worth $210. The final step is only ran once a week so I had to wait 6 days, but I registered and just waited. Just over 2 hours ago 27 players played for x2 $3k packages to Malta. Under the rules of the challenge I could not just register for the final step, so I had to go through the steps route but of course by now you would of realised I actually won the tournament worth $3k. That $3k package combined with my current Bankroll which also includes $500 from that $3k for expenses stands at $7439.83. But I also have tournament tickets worth $618 in my account from Sat's I have won to make a grand total $10557.83. So now what happens, well I will post the final pictures up below and I will carry on I think using the same Bankroll rules. But I also have started my 2nd Jesus challenge on another site just 3 weeks ago. It was an offer to good to miss really, and the fact I have been doing family things for a week out of that 3 weeks, so in theory it only been like 2 weeks of playing, but I have already hit over £50. It was £60 yesterday but losing 3 buy in's in 30 minutes was enough for me today. Of course not full buy in's because that breaks the rules, so it was the lowest amount to buy in @ €3. I think I will start another Blog for the new challenge so keep your eyes peeled. I do not know what to call it yet, but don't be surprised to see 2nd Jesus challenge!! A big thank you for following me over the 4 years and 5 months. It has not been easy for me with loads of personal health issues to fight, but I kept to it, kept posting when I could and never lost sight of this Bankroll Challenge. Once again Thank you and see you on the 2nd challenge Blog.......

I can smell the finish :-0

Well may be not tonight, but its getting close, close as in actually finishing this Jesus challenge. I have been so close this last month, but just could not get that little luck in poker we all need to close it out. I can not actually remember the last update and were I got to in regards all those tournament tickets I had acquired. So I best recap, if memory served me right I had just over $2k in tickets with 2 for the high roller which is played every Tuesday. Actually it looks like I will not be playing anymore either after those two tickets because for some unknown reason they have pulled the free rolls which give them. Anyway, I did play both of them since the last update and it made nice change to play some good poker for once. You can really tell the difference in the level of play with most players buying in direct. What I did not account for was the length of time it took just to reach the cash. The first game I played very well and got the credit for my moves, and so got credit back. So after 5 hours we are hand for hand with the top 12 or so getting paid. Yes I did tighten up because it was a major cash for me especially after winning my ticket via a free roll. But I did cash and I went out in 12th after watching 2 or 3 short stacks double and left me needing to make a move, and it was in the blinds when then SB open shoves and I knew I was or could be ahead of his shoving range with the tight so I make the call, and I show QJ v his 5 6 off. I flop the Queen and its happy days, that is until the turn when the he hits 2 pairs and no help on the river and its curtains, but overall I'm thrilled to finish in the cash, and goes to show I an still play with the best of them on Betsson. I ended cashing for $1019.42. I waited 2 weeks until I played the 2nd ticket. I was not expecting another cash if I'm honest, but I actually went better than the last time. I ended up making the final table. I also never looked at the cash ladders because I was going for the win this time, and I wasted no time in shoving my 9bb into a button raise in the 1st hand of the Final table. I had K10 and again I flopped top pair after making the call. I have no problems with is call because he had A8, but per norm I was rivered by the Ace. No complaints overall, and I think 9th is very respectful. That was worth $1467.96, But I was not the first out on the Final Table, for some bizarre reason a player who I had down as a strong player ended up calling a all in with 7 4 off. He didn't improve v the guys Aces and I jumped $240 in the money tree, but looking back maybe I should of waited. But meh, such as life and those two tournaments boosted the bankroll over the $7k mark.

Moving on from that, I have played the All in Jobbies trying to capture another package and finally put this to bed, but having played about 6 finals since the last update, I still have not won the package. I might add though I have not bought into the final Sat which does cost $210 a throw, I as always play within the bankroll which means I have been playing a lot of the $14-70 Sat's. But I don't play all of them, I look each night, and if I see one with less than 10 runners I normally jump. That way you only have to win 1 hand instead of 2 with more than 10 players entered. I even played it just 2 days ago after winning my final ticket at the first attempt last week. Other than that I have been pretty quiet on the tables, and to be honest a bit of boredom sets in, but its mainly to do with nothing to play that's worth playing. The traffic seems to be really low recently. I have played the $5 rebuy @ 7pm a few times and normally go pretty deep in that, but nothing to write up about, no final tables recently, but again no real volume. Even the sit n go Hyper turbo's have gone quiet, which recently was my main rake back earner. But in the end I still think that I can close this out with just 1 decent run in a higher tournament, and I still have x6 $54 tickets along with a new Saturday ticket worth $100 and a $200 ticket for the Sunday Major. But I have also lost a bit of cash since the last update, which broke down is nothing since the update in May, and just today I have dipped below the $7k cash in my account, but with the tournament tickets I hold in theory I am still over the $7k. I just need to re think what I want to do. Just checking my Poker tracker and it seems I have only played 19 hands on the cash tables since the last update, but surprising I have played 291 Sit N go's since the last update, but bearing in mind that counts everything, the $1-05 all in's to the $100 hyper turbo HU, so a vast difference between stakes, but I was looking for action, and also if I was having a bad session I would normally carry on, and we are talking hyper turbo's so I can go through quite a few in a short space of time. I played 227 stt's in June, 55 in July and just 9 at the moment in August. I know its still not picking up every tournament, because both the high rollers I played have me down with no cashes, but if I need to double check anything I can purchase Shark Scope and look everything up there. I mean why would I have to lie about anything to do with this challenge, I would know deep down that once it is completed I know that I followed the rules till the end, and be proud of that fact as well, but 110 entries in this blog should back up everything I write about as well. I don't know, but some day someone might just want to have a closer look, and again I should update this more often, and now I updating it, I will continue to do so at the end of every month. Just to mention though, I have already set the 2nd Jesus challenge up and I'm currently playing free rolls on Bet Victor to get myself under way, but I will not be taking that so serious at the moment until this is finished, but the nice €1.5k is a nice prize every month, and would go a very long way in my 2nd attempt, only this time I want to make sure I do it within 2 years not like 4 years and counting with this, but for the regular readers of this will know why its taken me so long. If I counted the days I have played I'm sure it would reach under 2 years currently, but overall it does not matter how long it takes, just as long as it done properly. So you have the figures, but the closing figure on my challenge currently stands at........... $6997.28 and that's on the 6th August 2013. More to come towards the need of the month, unless of course I fluke a session and win big.......

F is for frustration

What a month this April has been. I have played the most poker for a long time, with me beating the volume for last month and points collected by at least double, and I thought March was a good month. There have been high and lows, there has been tears of joy, and also tears of sadness with frustration as well. I have played the $1 STT and I have played the hyper $100 HU to. I have played free-rolls and I have played $210 tournaments. I have played HU cash and I have played the $100 NL cash tables. So you can see I have played a wide range, and thus I have collected loads of points, which means loads of rake-back next month. But I really want to make the next level on the VIP ladder and that means I have about 700 to go, but 2 days later sadly I did not make the points. To be honest I think I may of been worn out and could not find the motivation to carry me for the last couple of days, but hey not to worry, it just gives me something to aim for in May. Carrying on from last month, and I played loads of heads up on the $28 STT, but did not quite run as good as the previous month. Maybe peeps did a bit of homework on my plays via there trackers, but even the fish I played found triple barreling in there arsenal this month, which of course makes it harder to fathom out. Overall I was still a winning player at those levels, but nothing like the last month. I also found it a tad hard trying to find games later on in the night, so found myself playing 14's but also the 54's though not many, but also had a session in the 100's. Under the rules of the challenge, I could not use more than 2% of my bankroll, which for the 100's was $5000. I did come close to hitting that figure but overall I stayed 3 buy ins above it. But the reason for the higher buy in was to play a guy I use to crush on the 28's, he was after 1st place in the monthly point race for the $10k first place cash, hence why he was playing that high. But overall I ended the session 2 games up over roughly 17 games, but of course when your rake is $5.00 per game it worked out at just over the one buy in up, but great for rake-back I didn't feel to confident towards the end of the month playing the HU, so I fell back a bit. Like I said the players must of done there homework on me, but meh. I mention F is for frustration, and if I tell you that I was just 1 card away from completing my Jesus challenge, you sort of get an idea why I am a bit gutted.... One card ffs. It's fair knowledge I like to play the all in coin flip sats, and in order for me to play the $200+ buy in tournaments I have to win some of these, or play the normal speed sats which after you've played hyper, just don't cut it anymore. Anyways, after failing for something like 30 odd $14-70 all in sats just to get a $210 ticket to be able to play the final flip tournament was proving to be so frustrating and expensive as well of course, but like all good things, when you hit one, you hit another straight after, so I ended up with 2 final tickets, and the prize was a $3k package to Malta in September this year. Sunday arrived, and not like the week before when I missed it..... Waited until the last seconds to reg. I don't know if it makes any difference or not, but I have won twice by being the last to reg. Cards are dealt and I have AJ suited, pretty good starting hand, and I avoid the river outs and with just 30 entrants on 10 seater tables that means 3 players reach the final table with 2 packages worth 3k. So I was confused when there were just 2 of us there and the cards where dealt again, with my J4 off v 10 3 off. Now with me saying I was 1 card away from finishing this, you can guess I was ahead until the river came, and of course the 10 hit and I was out, but then the other player turned up and he did not even have to play the last hand because I was out now. I could not understand it, I should not of played the hand until 3 of us where sat down, and I feel I was cheated somehat. Everything was equal, the runners on the same tables, the amount of time to deal the cards. Even if it was a chopped pot, they would still be moved to the next table, but with just there chopped pots, but that didn't even happen, with the guy sitting down with the full 10 chips. So one card from winning fair and square..... I have wrote to support who then forwarded the complaint from me to OnGame and I still wait there response. I very much doubt there going to give me the prize, because I was still only 66% to win even with 3 of us playing the final hand. But I wait and see, and knowing my luck nothing will come off it. I do have another chance with another ticket this Sunday but of course it's all luck with these, but this last thing I keep doing is proving a good thing, I have now bubbled twice and won twice, and I bet I have only played 7 of these final flip tournaments. I did however decide to upgrade my tracker to the latest poker tracker 4, but it seems like that was a mistake as well. It should of been a simple transfer over from poker tracker 3, but for some reason, most of my hands and results are nowhere to be seen. I have tried everything, and support want to do a remote session, so they can see what's going on. I will but I have a lot going on at the moment, so there going to have to wait. But I have noticed, it doesn't even collect all the data from the tournaments I have just played. The above coin flip for the package shows just one hand and thats the first hand, nothing about the second hand at all. I guess because its new there are going to be bugs that need fixing, but its defo wrecking my database for sure. The one good thing about all this play in April is the free-rolls that you are eligible for. If you hit 200 points from Sunday to Sunday you get into a $1k free-roll with about 120 runners in, and if you manage 500 points in a week, you get into the VIP free-roll which is top 3 win a $525 tournament ticket. I can not recall if I wrote in the last blog, but I managed to both in one week, and that's not to play both by the way, but managed to finish 3rd in the cash free-roll for $130 and then finished in the top 3 for the $525 ticket. Not bad for nothing. The VIP normally gets on average 30 runners or so, but of course it takes some doing to get to the 500 points in a week, so there not numpties, so it felt extra good that I could play and beat these players. But, only last week I managed to win my 2nd VIP $525 ticket, and so I now have 2. There is only one tournament a week that has that price ticket, and that is the Tuesday high roller. Unless there is some series going on and then they add extra $525 tournaments, but they have none running at the moment. Also they don't have a long shelf live, with just 4 weeks from the time you win to actually playing. With the lesser value tickets, you normally get 90 days from the time you win the ticket. I also managed to win a $165 Grand Prix ticket. I was watching the lobby and there was a freeze out $22 hyper sat into the said tournament, and with just 1 minute left to reg, there was just 1 player sat in. I waited and waited, and you normally get 2 or 3 jumping in the last seconds, but nothing. Just as long as more than 1 enter, the sat will still play, so of course with the last second on me and still just 1 player I registered and was chuffed when it was just me and him. Within the first 2 hands I knew he wasn't all that just by him limping HU. And within 2 minutes it was all over and thank you very much. To top it off, I played a hyper $5 rebuy Sat to win a $320 live event tournament ticket. I like OnGame because they do not offer late reg, so once it starts you know exactly how many you need to beat, and on this time it was about 15 or so. I re bought twice and took the add on and with just the 1 winner being paid it was all out attack when it was needed. All my hands held up, and went to HU even in chips. He folded to many of my button raises, so when I took a gamble and lost it, all it did was put us even again. Only the second time I actually hit my ace on the turn to cripple his hand of 66 I think it was and that was that, happy days. I have in tournament tickets alone $1750 worth, and with $5550 in cash it's way over the 7.3k, but could be over that if I knew the exact figures. So it's just 2.7k left to go, which is why F is for frustration....... This first week of May has been slow for me. I have hardly played and its now the 5th. I have not been to well, and have really struggled to sleep recently since the change of one of my meds. On top of that I have been getting prepared for my back op which is in a weeks time, and no doubt that will cause me more set back in volume, but to be honest, with the volume I played in April I guess it's not that bad an idea. Below is a screenshot of my account page, and you can see the tickets I have, combined with the cash and you can see I just need to convert those tickets into some sort of cash via the tournaments, and fingers crossed, my Jesus $10k challenge will be done and dusted. Please please please let it happen !!!