something else I forgot to mention: I had dropped back down to 6th in the SS MTT profit leaderboard for the year, getting overtaken by Stayorgo (my arch nemesis/ mate). but I took back MY gold star with last nights results and put a healthy $600 gap between us.
I think that must be the 4th or 5th time we have swapped positions in the last few weeks - should make for an interesting final 10 days to the year. Ideally I'd like to get to 3rd, but madeye is a beast, and he already has a sizable lead. Failing that, any gold star (top 5) as long as its ahead of stayorgo will do me. I've only really been playing 9 out of the avaiable 12 months this year, so Next year I would love to be challenging tommyD and Mattbates for the top spots, although that might be asking a bit much!
Congrats on a successful night! If you can get enough volume in I see no reason why you cannot be challenging up there with the likes of TommyD and MattBates. I'm glad you're back, blogging, as it's always a good read.
as we are in the last 10 days of the year, I'll update you on my targets
play 500 tourneys per month (1000 total):
Nov: 632
Dec: 268
TOTAL: 900
priority
Nov: 11k+ points - Yes
Dec: 7800 so far - probably
Profit - target £1.5k per month (£3k in total)
Nov:
MTT: £560
Reward points: £230
Dec:
MTT: £2500
Cash: £300
Rewards: ?
TOTAL: £3420
Those profits include a £1.1k UKPC seat, so ideally I'd like to be at £4.1k+ in profit, because I can't pay for bills with a tourney seat. Rewards points will probably be around £250, so that leaves another £250 or so to make in the next 10 days.
I've kind of abandoned my SNG efforts on the other site - I was doing very well at them, but I just find them a bit boring, and even if your a SNG guru, your never really gonna be minted from them. (HU is the exception maybe) Cash on Sky is my new 2nd interest.
something else I forgot to mention: I had dropped back down to 6th in the SS MTT profit leaderboard for the year, getting overtaken by Stayorgo (my arch nemesis/ mate). but I took back MY gold star with last nights results and put a healthy $600 gap between us. here is the link if you are interested (I dont think you need a subscription to view, and it doesnt use one of your searches, I dont tihnk): http://www.sharkscope.com/#Leaderboards//2013/Scheduled by Network/Sky?rankingstatistic=Profit I think that must be the 4th or 5th time we have swapped positions in the last few weeks - should make for an interesting final 10 days to the year. Ideally I'd like to get to 3rd, but madeye is a beast, and he already has a sizable lead. Failing that, any gold star (top 5) as long as its ahead of stayorgo will do me. I've only really been playing 9 out of the avaiable 12 months this year, so Next year I would love to be challenging tommyD and Mattbates for the top spots, although that might be asking a bit much! Posted by chicknMelt
Think we might have flip-flopped again mate! I'm sure it will go to the wire, I will enjoy the challenge. Xmas UKOPS should decide it. Cheers Graham (STAYORGO)
not done a post since last yr, so I thought I would bring you up to speed...
December - I failed in my bid for a top 5 leaderboard spot - I had a bad UKOPS and ended up 7th I think.
January - another decent month. highlight was winning (another) UKPC seat, bringing my total to 3! a hard months grind, brought about satisfactory profits from 526 games. ~£2k profit
Feb - horrible month, couldnt win a thing, and had only my second losing month in a yr on sky. -£750 or so
My baby boy was born in Feb, so that kinda took my mind off a horrible poker month - he was 4 weeks early! I had just gone out for my last proper night out, y'know, so I'm able to drive to the hospital if needed etc... got a phone call literally just as I ordered a beer and sat down in a curry restaurant. bad timing, but can't complain, being a dad is fun
March - decided to look for a coach, my game was/is getting stagnant and I dont have the ability so spot and fix my own leaks. I'm making either obvious mistakes, the kind where you are kicking yourself even before the chips reach the middle, or I'm missing spots I havent thought about before. another big 500 game grind brings ~£1k profit. ok, but not enough.
April - finally found and stumped up the money for a coach. best decision ever. Only had a few sessions so far, but the small tweaks to my game are already providing big results. After binking a £55 UKOPS side for £1.4k, i decided to take a shot grinding some higher stakes tourneys (on another site obv, 888) and deposited $1k on the other site. Playing on another site can take some getting used to becasue structures are different and people do play slightly differently too, anyway, I was down to about $450 a few days later. In true shot taking spirit, i decided to blow the whole lot on a sunday grind, including entry into their $215 sunday major. 14 hours later, I'm on the final table of the major (just as well it was a bank holiday!) and playing for a $30k 1st prize! it wasnt to be though, and ended up busting 3rd after losing 2 big hands - one where I felt forced to fold top 2 vs a river shove after betting all 3 streets - they just HAD to have "it", then lost the rest of my chips in a flip with AK vs 99. $11.5k aint bad thought I spose
since then I have been grinding both Sky and 888, and over the last week I have pretty much just managed to tread water - quite a few near misses on both sites though. including a 9th place finish in the primo last week after being 1/9 about 10 mins previously (and biiig chip leader too), and another massive spew 3 handed in a $109 on 888 - It seems i still have a tendancy to spew pretty hard at times - my coach has alot of work to do getting that under control lol. still, I'd rather be a spewtard than a nit, much more fun! I'm still not even on the (sharkscope) leaderboard at all for sky this year, so I'll be looking to change that in the next month or 2!
Its fair to say April has been a brilliant month for me - £1100 UKIPT seat, $11.5k mega deep 3rd, £1.4k UKOPS side win, $2400 for 2nd in a $55 are the highlights, which all add up to my 1st ever £10k month - just in time for going pro!
whats next:
May: May is a big month for me - UKIPT, moving house, handing in my notice. its all happening! I've been waiting on my house move to go through for what seems like for ever so I can hand in my notice at work and finally give poker a good go. I'll still be able to do some "proper" work on the side to keep money flowing if poker doesn't go well, but i'd rather not to be quite frank, it bores me.
I'll be continuing to grind both sites next month, every night on SKY i'll be playing the main, mini, UKPC Semi, £55bh, $55 speed BH, and a few others depending on tables. I'm so glad the UKPC Sats are back - I love them
fwiw, I agree with Hydff...'s suggestion that UKPC and SPTs can join hands and be one eventually (SPT's being included in the UKPC schedule + maybe a few other stops), I'm just not sure If I can ever see sky putting on sattelites for a £100/£200 tourney when they are trying to get bums on seats for a £1100 tourney. IMO, its a different market though. Another thing that confuses me anbout the UKPC sats, if sky want bums on seats so bad for the UKPC, why are they giving people who already qualify the cash? surely they should make any winnings from the sats tournament tokens for the UKPC only once you already have a seat into the main. not that it bothers me, I grind them for the money, so I'm happy for it not to change lol.
Congratulations on the birth of your son. Is this your first child? Having kids is a lot more expensive than just having you and the wife, but I am sure you have realised this, or will do soon! Seem to get more expensive the older they get.
What happens with the coaching, is it a case of the coach watching and talking through as you play or go through hand histories?
Are you still going to get away with going to Vegas with having a 3/4 month old baby? Couldn't see me getting that past my wife.
Some pretty sweet binks, 11.5k ain't half bad Did I make that suggestion in Jac's 'Ramblings of an old man'? TBH I'm usually half cut when I post on the forum! But yeah, from an outsiders perspective you'd think an SPT (albeit perhaps reduced) schedule could go hand in hand with the twice yearly UKPC.
Nice to see another post, did wonder where you were..grinding I assumed! . Congrats on son BTW, Puts a different perspective on life dont'ya think? Does he have a name yet? Cheese maybe? CheeseMelt.. gettit? Sigh... ;-) Anyhoo good luck..
Great post, nice win on the other site as well. Tried to play a few more mtts lately by getting in via sats seem to have ended up with you to my left on a few occasions which is always a pain lol noticed you had a big stack in the primo i ran deep in that as well ended up 5th, fully expected you to take it down when is saw you were chip leader with 10 left. Hopefully bump into you on a final table soon!, good luck with the move/ playing poker for a living keep up the diary when you can always a good read.
Gregster - cheers! yep, first child. One good thing about being a bum (poker player) is that you dont have to pay for childcare, so costs are pretty manageable. + he has loads of reletives that seem to love buying clothes for him etc, a couple of older cousins for handme downs etc. we basically just have to pay for milk/food/ nappies at the moment. I cant imagine a better environment for him tbh - both parents at home, loads of other family around.
for my coaching i paid a lump sum up front for unlimited coaching for the rest of the yr... and basically he is my poker slave ha - anything i want him to help me work on he will, in which ever way suits it best. So for the first couple of sessions we went through a tournament HH of mine to "see where I was". He pointed out spots I was missing, and things I was doing wrong. next session (tonight) is going thruogh one of his HH's where he basically shows off his poker skills and explains his thinking. After that we go through another one of my HHs to see if I have picked up what we have been working on and to figure out some other weaknesses. He also rails me alot, we chat on skype - i send him hands to comment on, he sends me hands to try and explain, he was on the phone to me during breaks on the FT of the sunday major talking through hands and giving advice... pretty amazing that such a top player is so generous with his time like that.
vegas: yeah, i actualy would have gotten a pass - it is work after all :P ...but alas, the house move delays means i wont have finished work yet and I dont have enough leave probably for the best, becasue I can keep the money aside "just in case"
Good to see this thread resurrected! Some pretty sweet binks, 11.5k ain't half bad Did I make that suggestion in Jac's 'Ramblings of an old man'? TBH I'm usually half cut when I post on the forum! But yeah, from an outsiders perspective you'd think an SPT (albeit perhaps reduced) schedule could go hand in hand with the twice yearly UKPC. Good luck in your future endeavours. Posted by hhyftrftdr
ha, yes u did... u mean i could have taken credit and you wouldnt have realise - noted
Nice to see another post, did wonder where you were..grinding I assumed! . Congrats on son BTW, Puts a different perspective on life dont'ya think? Does he have a name yet? Cheese maybe? CheeseMelt.. gettit? Sigh... ;-) Anyhoo good luck.. Posted by Glenelg
Great post, nice win on the other site as well. Tried to play a few more mtts lately by getting in via sats seem to have ended up with you to my left on a few occasions which is always a pain lol noticed you had a big stack in the primo i ran deep in that as well ended up 5th, fully expected you to take it down when is saw you were chip leader with 10 left. Hopefully bump into you on a final table soon!, good luck with the move/ playing poker for a living keep up the diary when you can always a good read. Posted by benc
thanks benc
words can't even describe how bad i played for those 10 mins in the primo - I should have cruised to the FT.
Finished April with a wimper - breaking even in the last week, mostly because i get a bit too aggressive/take to many marginal spots later on in tourneys. pretty happy with how I'm playing ther rest of the time though.
at the end of my last session I had a 2hrs of coaching... from 1am to 3am... only in a poker players mind would that seem acceptable lol. We went through the start of a HH of his for a major win he had. some of the lines he took both suprised me and opened my eyes to the possibilites I have been missing by not "ranging" my opponents well enough.
it was all still fresh in my mind for the grind last night, and it allowed me to hero an overbet with 4rd pair, a spot I would definately have folded in the past...
[01/05/2014 19:30:49] Andy Young: #Game No : 421545484
***** Cassava Hand History for Game 421545484 *****
flop: I'm good alot of the time, CR folds out bluffs and mostly only better hands call, so I flat.
Turn: is a bad card obv, hits the villains range pretty well, but it also a brilliant card to keep barelling. so I call and plan to reassess the river
river: the overbet was a suprise - my range basically never includes a K or Q, and is almost always a PP or a 7 with the line I have taken. If he did have a K or Q, surely he would be betting smaller to try and get a call from my 7 or PP. Instead he overbet, which just seemed like an obvious attempt to win the pot from a capped range. I probably fold to another half pot bet, but called the overbet lol. got some abuse in the chatbox after that hehe.
good night overall, nothing massive though. 3 FT's: 1 on sky from a £22 BH which i won, 6th in the $109 6max (where the hand is from above), and 2nd in a $24 $5k gtd.
was dissapointed with a bit of a spew in the main on sky though
Finished April with a wimper - breaking even in the last week, mostly because i get a bit too aggressive/take to many marginal spots later on in tourneys. pretty happy with how I'm playing ther rest of the time though. at the end of my last session I had a 2hrs of coaching... from 1am to 3am... only in a poker players mind would that seem acceptable lol. We went through the start of a HH of his for a major win he had. some of the lines he took both suprised me and opened my eyes to the possibilites I have been missing by not "ranging" my opponents well enough. it was all still fresh in my mind for the grind last night, and it allowed me to hero an overbet with 4rd pair, a spot I would definately have folded in the past... [01/05/2014 19:30:49] Andy Young: #Game No : 421545484 ***** Cassava Hand History for Game 421545484 ***** $15/$30 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** Tournament #57830590 $100 + $9 - Table #1 (Real Money) Seat 7 is the button Total number of players : 5 Seat 1: RSvehla ( $4,580 ) Seat 2: chickenmelt ( $11,910 ) Seat 4: jim.franco ( $4,882 ) Seat 6: jancsi89 ( $4,730 ) Seat 7: GingerNitFan ( $4,770 ) RSvehla posts small blind [$15] chickenmelt posts big blind [$30] ** Dealing down cards ** Dealt to chickenmelt [ 6d, 6c ] jim.franco folds jancsi89 folds GingerNitFan raises [$60] RSvehla calls [$45] chickenmelt calls [$30] ** Dealing flop ** [ 4h, 4d, 7s ] RSvehla checks chickenmelt checks GingerNitFan bets [$90] RSvehla folds chickenmelt calls [$90] ** Dealing turn ** [ Ks ] chickenmelt checks GingerNitFan bets [$180] chickenmelt calls [$180] ** Dealing river ** [ Qh ] chickenmelt checks GingerNitFan bets [$1,555] chickenmelt calls [$1,555] ** Summary ** GingerNitFan shows [ 3d, Ah ] chickenmelt shows [ 6d, 6c ] chickenmelt collected [ $3,830 ] ----- so my thoughts as the hand progressed: preflop: pretty simple call flop: I'm good alot of the time, CR folds out bluffs and mostly only better hands call, so I flat. Turn: is a bad card obv, hits the villains range pretty well, but it also a brilliant card to keep barelling. so I call and plan to reassess the river river: the overbet was a suprise - my range basically never includes a K or Q, and is almost always a PP or a 7 with the line I have taken. If he did have a K or Q, surely he would be betting smaller to try and get a call from my 7 or PP. Instead he overbet, which just seemed like an obvious attempt to win the pot from a capped range. I probably fold to another half pot bet, but called the overbet lol. got some abuse in the chatbox after that hehe. good night overall, nothing massive though. 3 FT's: 1 on sky from a £22 BH which i won, 6th in the $109 6max (where the hand is from above), and 2nd in a $24 $5k gtd. was dissapointed with a bit of a spew in the main on sky though Posted by chicknMelt
Does the triple fat lady tag at the side of your name mean you are now sponsored by them? If so congratulations and onwards and upwards mate. Also congrats on the little one mate hope all is well with him and your better half.
a00rock - no not sponsored by them, or anyone - wbn tho! yeh, all is good, will be even better when i get to spend more time with them!
jac - cheers m8. i have as it goes - baby and bottle in one arm, mouse in the other lol. no problem if he isn't brizzling too much. the other half tends to do most of it when i'm playing though thankfully.
---------------
time for another update...
I had a couple of nights off friday and saturday - out with mates on fri then family on sat night. I went to Bodeans restaurant in london on saturday. If you have never been, i'd recommend it. Its an american BBQ restaurant, which sounds pretty average, but i can tell you, you wont get any better meat anywhere. we got some platters to share - pork ribs, beef ribs, sausages, chicken thighs, burnt ends, pulled pork...and thats for 2 to share lol. After stuffing our faces with far too much meat went to a bavarian beer house just round the corner, which I'd also highly recommend doing, their beer is soo much better than ours!
was a biig sunday - entered about £2.5k worth of tourneys! gulp.
couple of SCOOPs M and L buy ins ($215 and $27) on stars + a few others, all the big ones on 888 and sky.
i got off to a horrid start to the session, wasnt running or playing particularly well - busted the 6max scoops on stars, $500 whale and $215 mega deep on 888 without really even getting going. was looking like an expensive day!
mid session i managed to lock up a UKPC seat though, which kinda eased the pressure a bit - couldnt be a complete disaster anymore.
shortly after the UKPC seat, i managed to get to the FT of a (small field) $109 on 888 as chip leader. ended up pretty much busting to 2nd in chips with 7 left when my KK couldnt hold vs AK and cashed for a bowl.
pretty much everything else fizzled out without much to show for it, except the SCOOP M ($215 sunday million special edition), which i was 1 tabling from about 1am until 4:30am. I had some really good tables and managed to chip up to 400k chips, good for a top 10 stack with 1000 or so left from 9000. sadly though it wasnt to be - my AA was cracked by AK AIPF for a monster 600k pot, enough to put be back in the top 10 with <400 left. then like 2 hands later I ran my QQ into KK for my last 100k. sigh. if only.
by my rough calculations, i did manage to eek a small profit from the day (+$500 on stars, -$1200 on 888, +£500 on sky). I'd have been please with that a couple of hours in, but my exit from the million and $109 is a bit tilting still.
OOOOps I looked it up (my bad lol) the 888 just means you are playing on an older version of their software but fingers crossed for you CM im sure it wont be long before you are snapped up by one site or another with your game man ...gl.
Comments
Congratulations on the birth of your son. Is this your first child? Having kids is a lot more expensive than just having you and the wife, but I am sure you have realised this, or will do soon! Seem to get more expensive the older they get.
What happens with the coaching, is it a case of the coach watching and talking through as you play or go through hand histories?
Are you still going to get away with going to Vegas with having a 3/4 month old baby? Couldn't see me getting that past my wife.
Good luck with going Pro.
Some pretty sweet binks, 11.5k ain't half bad
Good luck in your future endeavours.
Ray
By the way. Have you found an optimal way of bottle feeding when playing 7 tables yet?