anomaly16

September

A combination of only losing in 5 of the 30 days of September, playing reasonable volume and also playing more 100PL has resulted in a new best month ever :)


Coaching

I'm really pleased with the way I'm playing, but still think I'd benefit from some more coaching - I'm going to take some more time to decide who and what I want from it though. I've actually taken on a student myself now - it's very early days so far, but I hope teaching will help me think more deeply and clearly as well as being able to help someone else.

Black Card Day

So, its the big day today and Full Tilt have revealed the details of the scheme among other changes. There seems to be a lot of bad reactions to the news : loss of rakeback due to changing to a weighted contributed model, worse than hoped for black card bonuses and small changes to Iron Man. I'm not so pessemistic and will allow some time for the system to bed in and see if any tweaks appear before passing judgement.

Rakeback isn't a huge part of my income so I'm not too worried about that, and if players think they need to play laggier to get more rakeback then it should suit my game. If some of the regs decide to leave for Stars then the games should get marginally better. I've no appetite for SuperNova or SuperNova Elite at Stars, so there is no value in any kind of comparison between the sites for me. The black card store is pretty poor, but the increase in rate of earning FT points should allow me to pick up more tournament tickets which I get a reasonable return on.

Live Poker

Its been a while since I've posted about any live poker but it hasn't gone that well this year. However, after also doing poorly with it in Vegas I now have an appetite to do much better when I go back next year. I've approached it with a little more of the discipline that I apply to online poker since I got back and have had some results as a result (or I'm just finally running a little better!). I finally got to play Omaha Hi/Lo live for the first time at the end of August (I never managed it in Vegas) and although there were only a disappointing 8 entrants I had a lot of fun and won. There were a few more for Omaha Hi mid-september and I finished in an ok 3rd after a bad run of cards towards the end. The week after I was doing pretty good in a 2-day £100 event, but towards the end of day 1 I was moved with an average stack to a new table and 2 large stacks had a lot of hands while I sat pretty card dead. In the final hand of the day I decided to commit my remaining short stack rather than come back the next day for only a few hands, but couldn't even beat J high :( Last saturday was a normal nl holdem event, and after a poor start I staged a comeback getting to the final table with 3rd largest stack and then winning after quite a long HU battle.

Games at the weekend can be a volatile affair with recreational monkeys clicking buttons, and when there are several at the table it can create some really awkward spots. The forums are always full of regs bemoaning bad weekend beats while others have awesome sessions.

I played pretty well this weekend navigating these spots and didn't have too much C-game in evidence at all. Running good definitely has benifits of providing the confidence to be more aggressive preflop and make the most of barreling and bluffing opportunities. Almost everything went to plan for probably my best 2-day results ever. I don't think I can complain at running below EV!

Its not been the best month results-wise, but still pretty decent... beating 50PL and 100PL for over 6BB/100. A 15k hand breakeven stretch in the middle of the month didn't help and I didn't get in as many hands as I should. I'm way below the 67k hands I managed in February so I really need to up the volume in September and not let short-term variance get in the way.

I've not done as well HU and shorthanded this month which has put me off starting tables and playing as many as I could or should be.

September goals:

• at least 50k hands of 50PL, 100PL, 200PL, 50NL and perhaps some 50NL rush.
• try and get into a studying routine - focus on HU and shorthanded.

Its been a while since I've had any coaching, partly because I've been in a good winning groove and have a good network of friends to discuss hands with, but I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to find a new coach and get a fresh perspective on my game. I certainly don't want to get complacent in my current style and there are plenty of areas I know I should be doing better in.

I got back to the UK middle of the month and its taken a while to get used to being home again and away from the heat and casinos of Vegas. It was a great trip overall and I hope to go back again next year.

During July I've played a lot more 100PL than usual and have done pretty well, which is a relief as I've not done great at 50PL for the first time in a few months. Its been fun/challenging working out how to play the 100PL regs, although it hasn't seemed too different to playing 50PL. I think one of the biggest differences is that table/seat selection is much more important - knowing when to avoid the tables and also who to have on your right.

I played just over 40k hands in July and was close to a new "best month ever" if I hadn't hit a small downswing in the final few days of the month. However, I can't be too disappointed with a 2nd best ever month and having two $1k+ days.

I played my first live poker yesterday after getting back to the UK - a £30+3 freezeout. We only had 32 entrants, but I came 4th for £100 which makes a nice change. The size of the casino and speed of dealing made me long for Vegas again though. There are some interesting events coming up that I'm looking forward to

• 21st August - £30 PLO8
• 11th-12th Sep - £100 2-day event
• 2nd Oct - £50 HU NLH

The plan for August is to keep grinding 50PL & 100PL and play 30k-50k hands.

EDIT: Played a tournament and made a deal when HU and outchipped to win $401 too, for a $1,201 total day :)

Feeling much better now, so trying to cram in some more touristy stuff before I have to leave.

We went to the Wynn buffet last night which was pretty good and a huge choice of good food to eat. After visiting a piano bar at Paris, we went for some degen gambling at Slots A Fun - probably one of the tackiest casinos (part of Circus Circus?) where we were looking to play $1 craps, but the table wasn't open and we ended up playing $2 blackjack instead.

I managed to turn $20 into $114 and a free beer :)

We've just been to The Gun Store where there were a wide array of guns you can shoot. I'd never shot a handgun before so went for the Glock 17 9mm ($25 for 20 rounds). It had more kick than I expected but an interesting experience. The number of young children (12+ I think) and the fact we didn't even need to show passports or any ID was a litte scary though. With a background check you could pick up as many AK47s as you wanted for around $1300 each, and handguns in the $300-$500 range.

We're about to head off to watch a minor league baseball game - not one of my favourite sports, but seems appropriate while I'm in the US.

Tomorrow a few of us are going on a bus trip to see the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the western ridge of the Grand Canyon.

With only a few days left after that I'm going to play some long live sessions and try to finally book a win. Online poker is still going pretty well and I'm playing mainly 100PL.. its not too different to 50PL I'm finding, but the regs are of a slightly higher standard.

I've been laid up in the house for the last few days after catching flu :( I'm not sure if I picked it up at the live tables, from going between the blazing heat and draughty aircon or at the outdoor pool at the Rio but its not been the most pleasant last few days.

However, I'm actually drinking coffee this morning which is a usual sign I'm on the road to recovery. With only 8 full days left of the trip I'm not going to manage to do everything I had hoped to but I'll try and squeeze in as much as possible.

I have managed to do a few other things since my last report:

• playing and winning first ever game of beer pong
• going out drinking on the strip and visiting a bunch of casinos
• going allin blind for $70 at O'Sheas $1/$2
• continuing to crush at ping pong in the house

I think I'm going to try more live poker today so I hope I can find some live rungood that has eluded me so far.