anomaly16

The contracting job meant I just couldn't get many hands in during May, but I played ok and ran well when I did to help boost my BR before Vegas. For part of the month it felt like my fears had come true and I'd slipped out of the groove I'd got in to, but I knew it was just frustration at a series of short sessions that started bad and not having the time to grind through to recovery.

I was back to full-time poker today (yay for no commuting and afternoon naps! :)) after finishing at the job yesterday. My first session was pretty awesome picking up a few stacks while not losing more than $11 in a pot to be up $285 but dropped 1BI at 100PL in a short second session.

After the recent FT changes I'm not sure which option is the best value for spending points, but I've been spending mine on Step 2 tickets, trying to pick up a Step 3 ticket then playing a $24 90-seater or a guaranteed MTT. I've been failing to convert these into anything meaningful for a while, but won a 90-seater tonight for $576. I got down to HU with a spanish opponent but he lost connection soon after we started and I took it down - thank you spanish internet :)

So, up $750 on my first day back at the tables and I'll be in Vegas in under a week so all is looking good!

Only a month till Vegas now.. I can't wait :)

Looks like I'll be continuing with the contract job for the rest of this month which means I won't get much poker in at all. Fortunately, when I have been able to play things have been going well.

Its been another solid month despite hardly putting in any volume for the last 2.5 weeks due to the contracting job. Some shots at 100PL and 200PL when the tables have been soft have gone well but it has been a little frustrating not to be able to grind through the whole month - it probably would have been my best month ever for the 3rd time in 3 months. I only managed 30k hands comapred to the 67k and 60k of the last 2 months. However, thoughts of Vegas are keeping me going and my dislike for 9-5 and the commuting will help motivate me to make poker work as a career.

May will be tough as I'll be spending a greater proportion of the month contracting. I think I'll probably abandon the idea of making the top level in the iron man loyalty programme as I just made it in April - there were definitely some evenings where I played C-game in a rush to get the necessary 200pts after a long day in an office. It's not fun if you have some early bad variance that you know you don't have the time to grind out. When I quit my job to play full-time I knew that I would be able to play/win more due to the fact I could pick the best times to play, be focussed and learn, however it was always going to be a mystery as to how much this was. 200k hands into this year it definitely feels like a significant amount although I could still just be a sick heater!

I also made some money this month with profits from my first staking deal. 3 of us have $600 invested in a solid 25NL grinder who is taking a shot at 50NL. I think I've been incredibly lucky with my first stakee, but he has a solid history, good motivation to win and a really good attitude at the tables and to learning. He has had some coaching as part of the deal and he's had an amazing month so I hope he can keep it going for the next 2 months that the deal runs. I'll definitely look to do some more staking in the future but will try to keep risk to a minimum.

Just over a month to Vegas and I can't wait :) I'm going to be playing in a $1k WSOP event so will be looking to sell some of myself in it. I'm not expecting to win or anything but if Darvin Moon... If anyone wants to buy a piece let me know - the chances are small obv, but I enjoyed having a small piece of Baz in an event last year. I haven't decided exactly which one yet as there are a few.

Gl at the tables everyone!

I set off this morning to start the contract job and it didn't take long to remember the horror of driving with loads of other cars around. For the last few months I've been able to pick when I drive and so avoid most of the bad traffic. Its going to get even worse soon as its school holidays or something and the roads are less busy then they would normally be at that time of day, and I fear even PJ Harvey and the sun being out won't make it much better.

However, its only a few weeks and I have thoughts of Vegas to keep me motivated and get through it. The company/people all seem nice and I've worked with some of them before. The work shouldn't be too strenuous and I'll be working with websites and clients that I've also worked with before. It'll certainly be a lot better than my last real job, even with the commuting.

Yesterday, my last full-time day before the job was my biggest ever cash table day, winning just over $600 in 1k hands. I have to credit both a german 97/5 who dumped a few BI at 50PL including a couple to me, as well as my fish-hunting skills as I found him at a 200PL table an hour later and took $380 from him in 54 hands. It did make me wonder if I've done the right thing in taking the job, but had to remind myself its variance-free and I don't lose money if I make a mistake! I did feel another tinge of regret today as I received an email to say my german friend was playing again :( Oh well.. maybe it was going to be his day for a comeback.

I'd like to thank PJ Harvey for accompanying many winning hands of poker this month :)

The month continued well although not quite as hot as the first half. I finished with a new record win for a month in just over 60k hands. Volume is down a little from my record last month but I played more quality hands and didn't waste too much time playing tiny stakes Rush. According to a certain site I'm the top 50PL Full Tilt player this month by a long margin winning at over 7BB/100 and also top so far this year winning at over 6BB/100 so I'm feeling pretty good about my game and poker at the moment.

In other news I've been offered a contracting job for 5 weeks which I've decided to take, starting in a couple of weeks. Its been a tough decision with poker going so well and the idea of mornings and commuting. However, I think its important that I keep my options open in case poker turns out not to be the career for me. This will put something in my CV as well as solidify some contacts should I need to approach them for a job in the future.

The downside is obviously that I won't be able to put in the same volume and will be restricted to playing at probably the worst hours of the day during the week. My other big fear is that it will disrupt my current progress and the hot streak I'm on at the moment. However, I've realised this thinking is probably flawed and results-orientated.. any attachment to "success" in an arbitrary timespan is meaningless in a game where only the longterm matters. Then I thought it about it some more and probably out-levelled myself so decided it's not worth worrying about!

However, the bonus is that as I'm being paid contracting rates on top of whatever I can make through poker the rest of the time, it means I'm now almost 100% certain I can afford to go to Vegas this summer :)

The month is going really well so far and I feel my decisions at the table have been slowly getting better and better (for the most part!). I'm hand-reading so much better than I used to although still plenty of room for improvement as its such a tricky art to master.

I've not managed to increase the number of tables I'm playing but its been going so well I'm not feeling the need to change what seems to be a winning formula at the moment.

I dedicate this post to Journey__xxx__man54 & comb__xxx__sgator.

As far as I'm concerned there are two golden rules when playing at the tables (online or live)..

1. Don't berate the bad players
2. Don't educate the bad players

Rule #1

What possible value is there for you in talking trash to a bad player.. probably after they have made some awful play and somehow got there? If they are bad they are most likely a recreational player and are playing to have fun, pure and simple. If you are nasty to them they are going to be more likely to leave the table with your money without giving you the chance to take it back (and more). Say "nh" and move on. When you suck out or cooler them then say "ul" and move on. When two bad players start at each other then fair enough, but when regular players do this I cannot understand why. If they are smart enough to be regular players and possibly depend on poker for a living then its definitely -EV. I'm sure there are villains who will stay and play even worse if you do wind them up, but unless you have some prior experience with them or a degree in psychology I still don't think its +EV.

If a reg feels the need to vent in table chat then they have a leak imo and need to find another way to deal with it if they have any desire to improve. If I see this going on at the table then I tend to try and deflect attention from the bad player and say something about how terrible the reg is.

Rule #2

Any bad or recreational player is unlikely to have much knowledge of poker terminology, theory or poker tools such as HUDs.

By talking strategy at the tables with another regular player you risk the chance of the bad player reading it and reacting. They might decide to do some reading and educate themselves to become better or more aware; they might discover that people play with HUDs and discover they can store and review their hand histories; they might discover you can (although its not permitted) buy hand histories; they might discover tools such as PTR and realise how much they are losing; they might decide that poker is rigged and they will never win so stop playing.

The table might be full of mainly regs but even a single 45/6 at the tables is enough for me to think its -EV. Maybe the fish that is your biggest donator is on the waiting list and observing waiting for another chance to test their mighty poker skills against you. Do you really want to take a chance (however small) that you might never get the chance to play them again?

Regs should know there are plenty of other ways to talk strat... via IM, 2+2 etc so there is no need to do it at the tables.

Conclusion

Poker is a game of small edges so can you really afford to give up any edge you have?

I moderate comments so if either of you want to discuss rule #2 (or laugh at me!) you can send your contact details. Don't get me wrong.. I don't think you were commiting the crime of the century or anything, but as I now make my living from poker I try and treat it seriously and want to preserve any edge I have at the tables and keep the bad players exactly as they are... at the tables and bad.