The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £984 (£1.36k banked)

CraigSG1

Hi Shakin,

I know what your saying. It just seems I rarely run well, just win the hands I'm infront with a little more. I dont seem to get times when I hit everything or suck out a lot. Im not sure if thats because of my style of play, im not a big gambler. As for running good, it ebs and flows. You've had best of me a lot too.

I am currently in the midst of a downswing at the moment, cant do much right and either running into the top of peoples ranges or getting a lot of suck outs. Im not moaning, just stating a fact and I'm well aware that these things happen. I'm going to try and use experiance to ride it out. Ive not played much since w/e as obviously when these things happen your hunger for playing wanes. I can afford to do this as I am ahead of my PP's target.

Played some cash and not run well, just as above really. Tried a few MTT's tonight and not much apart from final tabling a £100 speed B/H, finishing fifth with three paid. Took two heads.

Hopefully things can improve this w/e and I can push on towards a good end to the month. I'm still up and on corse so there is that and hopefully by not getting down and coming out the other end I can look back and be glad I didnt tilt off any of my BR.

A few hands to show the type of hits I've been taking, these are a-typical of the bad side of varience I have been on the wrong end of these past few days;

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
CraigSG1	Small blind		£0.10	£0.10	£19.56
natok11	Big blind		£0.20	£0.30	£19.80
	Your hole cards	J J
lauren924	Call		£0.20	£0.50	£15.56
liamboi11	Raise		£0.80	£1.30	£23.19
CraigSG1	Call		£0.70	£2.00	£18.86
natok11	Fold
lauren924	Call		£0.60	£2.60	£14.96
Flop
		10 2 3
CraigSG1	Check
lauren924	Bet		£3.80	£6.40	£11.16
liamboi11	Call		£3.80	£10.20	£19.39
CraigSG1	Raise		£8.80	£19.00	£10.06
lauren924	Call		£5.00	£24.00	£6.16
liamboi11	Fold
Turn
		9
CraigSG1	All-in		£10.06	£34.06	£0.00
lauren924	All-in		£6.16	£40.22	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£3.90	£36.32	£3.90
CraigSG1	Show	J J
lauren924	Show	4 5
River
		A
lauren924	Win	Straight to the 5	£34.52		£34.52

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
CraigSG1	Small blind		10.00	10.00	1980.00
interuranu	Big blind		20.00	30.00	1950.00
	Your hole cards	J J
bono0006	Call		20.00	50.00	2480.00
thefinn	Fold
Joylene	Fold
ANGEL33	All-in		1970.00	2020.00	0.00
CraigSG1	All-in		1980.00	4000.00	0.00
interuranu	Fold
bono0006	Fold
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		20.00	3980.00	20.00
CraigSG1	Show	J J
ANGEL33	Show	2 10
Flop
		3 4 Q
Turn
		5
River
		A
ANGEL33	Win	Straight to the 5	3980.00		3980.

This was my final table BH exit. Villian had limp/folded last 4 hands.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
ballboy	Small blind		400.00	400.00	8905.00
pluckyduck	Big blind		800.00	1200.00	11205.00
	Your hole cards	2 2
Everard007	Call		800.00	2000.00	14815.00
freaky01	Fold
CraigSG1	All-in		6355.00	8355.00	0.00
ballboy	Fold
pluckyduck	Fold
Everard007	Call		5555.00	13910.00	9260.00
Everard007	Show	K J
CraigSG1	Show	2 2
Flop
		J J K
Turn
		7
River
		Q
Everard007	Win	Full House, Jacks and Kings	13910.00		23170.00

PP3179

shakinaces

Just on the first para - you always will get WAY more obvious/memorable bad beats against than for at the lower levels because you simply aren't making anywhere near as many mistakes as 90% of the others.

If you change your game and start open shoving T2s for 100bb, limp/call/stack off with a low straight draw, limp/call all in with KJs when playing less than 20bb, then it's fair to see you WILL get more suck-outs go in your favour, quite probably end up with more than go against you, but you DEFINITELY won't see your bankroll continue to grow!!!

Anyway, I feel your pain... I'm like 20+ NL10 BIs down for the last 10 days... let's hope that double points weekend is where the cards turn back in our favour!!

CraigSG1

Sarkinaces,

You make an excellent point and its well put too, thanks. Made me think.

As for today its been the same old, not had this many losing sessions in a row for a long time. Confidence sucking. Sets running into better ones, sets not getting paid and then overpairs losing to sets or funky two pairs. Etc, etc, etc...

On the plus side, no tilting! Just sucked it up and continued to try and play the best I can. Made the right calls in some spots, even though I lost, as notes and experiance against certain players knows they have got carried away with a lot worse, just this time they had better.

I actually lost more than I thought, never felt that much and was a bit more gutting I suppose but it is what it is. Not nice to drop almost £100 in a week from my peak but I guess it had to come after three months or so of constant BR increases. I guess its also my first losing week of this challenge, shame its such a big one.

Added 255PP's tonight and Im aiming for around 1000 this weekend so 1/4 of the way there. If things continue through the weekend I may look to take a few days off again.

PP3434

craigcu12

i don't know weather it will work for yourself, When i was on the bad run, i decided to take some money from my BR, what then happened was I would know my money is safe and then i was feeling far more relaxed with the losses that came and I just played some nl4 where it's easy.

I also spent a couple of days playing nl4 alone as them tables will have very few large stack, so your more than likely shipping you stack anyway and won't need to work out which calling stations raise top pair weak kicker and which only raise the hands that are 2 pair+.

you don't actually have to withdraw your money if you don't want to, you could just go down to nl4 yourself and play some of them stakes where almost every player has got short stacks and will calls rubbish, then once you seem to be back onto winnings again you will be more confident and can return to your main stakes again.

CraigSG1

Hi Craig,

Its not a bad suggestion and something I have done in the past. Just this time I intend to try and ride it out, use it as a way to learn to control tilt and to try and play as good as I can. With double points I need to keep it up as well and as for withdrawing, im very disciplined with my BR (some would say TOO disciplined - tight even - eh, hhy?) so going mental because im comfortable wont happen. Plus I need it as Ive set a BR aim to myself and want to achieve it.

Thanks.

CraigSG1

A much needed up day/confidence boost today. Best part of £60 or 6 BI's up today. Played exactly the same as the past few days just had more go my way. Still had a few key pots go against me, one I will show below that 'almost' got me a £65 pot but for the river that had me share with one guy in a 3 way allin on the flop. Me with the nuts versus an overpair and str draw and nut FD.

Had a decent morning with a BI up, the afternoon say a four BI win and this evening I played for 2 1/2 hours and it was so so boring. Had hardly any hands/situations playing six tables for that long but did manage to squeeze a BI profit.

So pleased to have got through the down patch, so far, but im not taking it for granted. Just going to continue to play my game and see what happens.

452PP's added today so with +255 for yesterday thats a total of 707 so far for the w/e so well on target for 1000 and will hopefully get more. Hope to add 350-400 tomorow and also hope to play well and hopefully make a profit on the day, how ever much it is.

PP3856

An example of the hands/players I cant dodge at the moment;

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
WOBLY57	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£17.80
Lawson1987	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£8.15
	Your hole cards	J J
craigcu12	Fold
BYDANDY50	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£16.58
Jimmy506	All-in		£1.48	£1.73	£0.00
CraigSG1	Call		£1.48	£3.21	£8.60
WOBLY57	Fold
Lawson1987	Fold
BYDANDY50	Call		£1.38	£4.59	£15.20
Flop
		5 6 3
BYDANDY50	Bet		£0.60	£5.19	£14.60
CraigSG1	Raise		£3.50	£8.69	£5.10
BYDANDY50	Call		£2.90	£11.59	£11.70
Turn
		6
BYDANDY50	Check
CraigSG1	All-in		£5.10	£16.69	£0.00
BYDANDY50	Call		£5.10	£21.79	£6.60
BYDANDY50	Show	6 7
Jimmy506	Show	10 10
CraigSG1	Show	J J
River
		8
BYDANDY50	Win	Three 6s	£20.39		£26.9

This guy wouldnt fold any hand, and manages to cream me in style;

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
BYDANDY50	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£3.25
WUBBZY1401	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£10.32
	Your hole cards	A A
craigcu12	Fold
redding11	Raise		£0.20	£0.35	£8.99
buddhaboi	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.75	£1.10	£8.95
BYDANDY50	Fold
WUBBZY1401	Call		£0.65	£1.75	£9.67
redding11	Fold
Flop
		J 8 4
WUBBZY1401	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.88	£2.63	£8.07
WUBBZY1401	Call		£0.88	£3.51	£8.79
Turn
		J
WUBBZY1401	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.76	£5.27	£6.31
WUBBZY1401	Raise		£3.52	£8.79	£5.27
CraigSG1	Call		£1.76	£10.55	£4.55
River
		2
WUBBZY1401	All-in		£5.27	£15.82	£0.00
CraigSG1	All-in		£4.55	£20.37	£0.00
WUBBZY1401	Unmatched bet		£0.72	£19.65	£0.72
WUBBZY1401	Show	J J
CraigSG1	Show	A A
WUBBZY1401	Win	Four Jacks	£18.25		£18.97

An example of how it changed today and I got rewarded for playing patiently. This guy played every pot, called every raise and when not doing that just opened jammed pre flop.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
callumlamb	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£10.00
CraigSG1	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£28.25
	Your hole cards	K 10
WUBBZY1401	Fold
iamabluff	Fold
jimmyjam04	Fold
BYDANDY50	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£7.57
callumlamb	Call		£0.05	£0.30	£9.95
CraigSG1	Check
Flop
		10 K 4
callumlamb	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.30	£0.60	£27.95
BYDANDY50	Fold
callumlamb	Call		£0.30	£0.90	£9.65
Turn
		8
callumlamb	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.90	£1.80	£27.05
callumlamb	Call		£0.90	£2.70	£8.75
River
		3
callumlamb	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.70	£5.40	£24.35
callumlamb	Raise		£5.40	£10.80	£3.35
CraigSG1	All-in		£24.35	£35.15	£0.00
callumlamb	All-in		£3.35	£38.50	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£18.30	£20.20	£18.30
callumlamb	Show	10 3
CraigSG1	Show	K 10
CraigSG1	Win	Two Pairs, Kings and 10s	£18.80		£37.10

And finally, my what if hand. SO, so close to winning my biggest pot of the year but I will still take a profit. Just could have been so much sweeter and garenteed the diamond would have come on river a day or so ago!

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
sergio12	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£17.34
Blix	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£14.49
showoff1	Sit out
	Your hole cards	Q K
Clyde420	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£25.25
JohnChimpo	Raise		£0.50	£0.95	£19.05
sergio12	Call		£0.45	£1.40	£16.89
Blix	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.20	£1.60	£25.05
Flop
		J 10 9
sergio12	Check
CraigSG1	Check
JohnChimpo	Bet		£1.60	£3.20	£17.45
sergio12	Raise		£4.00	£7.20	£12.89
CraigSG1	All-in		£25.05	£32.25	£0.00
JohnChimpo	All-in		£17.45	£49.70	£0.00
sergio12	All-in		£12.89	£62.59	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£6.00	£56.59	£6.00
sergio12	Show	Q Q
CraigSG1	Show	Q K
JohnChimpo	Show	A 5
Turn
		7
River
		K
sergio12	Win	Straight to the King	£25.49		£25.49
CraigSG1	Win	Straight to the King	£29.70		£35.70

CraigSG1

Back to the reality of the past few days im afraid today. Was involved in a lot of cooler hands for big pots, just breaking even on them would have made for an up day. Instead I have another loss to add, had a few of those lately.

Had JJ v KK on a KJx board, top set Aces lost to flopped 7 high flush after a big 3 bet pre (this guy cold called with 74s!), JJ calling 109o allin and losing to flopped straight, another flopped straight to beat over pair, flopped trips that turned into a flush versus a flopped full house, flush over flush and another set over set. Pretty grim and three of those where for £40+ pots.

Not sure what was happening with double points as I played for quite a while and didnt make that many PPs, less than 200 for nearly four hours play which seems to me the same as normal! And as you can see it wasnt as if I was involved in small pots.

Doesnt look like I will gain anything more than 5000 PPs and will need one final push to get there. I should be able to get around 700 on Friday/Saturday so that leaves 250+ in the week. 

PP4042

CraigSG1

I would like to know what I have done lately to anger the poker gods. Just on a hugely frustrating run of bad beats/bad luck. Played a short lunch session and just couldnt dodge anything.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
SugarP48	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£5.78
tiger1212	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£14.50
	Your hole cards	A A
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.40	£0.55	£12.57
coup4m4	Call		£0.40	£0.95	£8.97
denners412	Raise		£1.20	£2.15	£5.61
SugarP48	Fold
tiger1212	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£1.60	£3.75	£10.97
coup4m4	Fold
denners412	Raise		£2.40	£6.15	£3.21
CraigSG1	All-in		£10.97	£17.12	£0.00
denners412	All-in		£3.21	£20.33	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£6.16	£14.17	£6.16
CraigSG1	Show	A A
denners412	Show	6 5
Flop
		2 6 J
Turn
		5
River
		5
denners412	Win	Full House, 5s and 6s	£13.10		£13.10

Add to that maniacs shoving with A high when I flop top pair and hitting the A on the river, I flopped two sets only to lose to a four flush twice. 47s jamming and my 1010 losing to flopped straight and a few others.

Been a week of this now, baring one day, and im not sure what ive done.

CraigSG1

Same story, not sure if people have been paid early but there are a lot of unknown gamblers on the tables of late and I am not doing great against them. The lowlight being losing a stack versus a guy shoving allin on a draw and he had done this so many times just open shoving that I had to call with top pair but I cant fade draws at all lately. Cant hit them either so not a great combination.

Plenty of other things not going my way. Ive had to fold some big hands too like top set twice and over pairs to horrible run outs. An example below.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Eagleforce	Sit out
CraigSG1	Small blind		£0.10	£0.10	£21.03
Curt360x27	Big blind		£0.20	£0.30	£32.63
	Your hole cards	J J
Sad123	Call		£0.20	£0.50	£21.06
supercrazy	Fold
1jaxonray1	Raise		£0.80	£1.30	£9.66
CraigSG1	Call		£0.70	£2.00	£20.33
Curt360x27	Fold
Sad123	Call		£0.60	£2.60	£20.46
Flop
		2 6 5
CraigSG1	Check
Sad123	Check
1jaxonray1	Check
Turn
		J
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.30	£3.90	£19.03
Sad123	Call		£1.30	£5.20	£19.16
1jaxonray1	Fold
River
		4
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.60	£7.80	£16.43
Sad123	All-in		£19.16	£26.96	£0.00
CraigSG1	Fold
Sad123	Muck
Sad123	Win		£9.88		£9.88
Sad123	Return		£16.56	£0.52	£26.44

Hope it turns around soon, cant wait for this month to be over.

PP4134

mrsduck

Bad luck Craig, hope it turns around soon x

shakinaces

lol I know that feeling, have seen AA cracked a lot in the last few days by some very random hands... always going to be high variance vs the maniac gamblers (albeit more profitable in the longer term)... good that you have 170 NL10 BIs to weather the inevitable suck outs.

It'll definitely turn around and the £100 cash reward arriving in a fortnight's time will help ease the pain!

CraigSG1

Thanks Mrs duck and Shakin.

I really dont want to sound like a stuck record but another frustrating night again. Still cant dodge anything and had a couple of real bad ones, the worst in the Main Event when I was sitting comfortably about 12th with 150 left and I raise the serial limper, flop a set and lose to running cards for a huge top 3 stack pot after getting allin with one card to come and he needs a 4 outer and hits.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
longman912	Small blind		300.00	300.00	9905.00
PP_GBH_Win	Big blind		600.00	900.00	14842.50
	Your hole cards	9 9
brookert05	Fold
PhilAny2_Q	Fold
bubbleboy5	Call		600.00	1500.00	14540.00
CraigSG1	Raise		1800.00	3300.00	14655.00
longman912	Fold
PP_GBH_Win	Fold
bubbleboy5	Call		1200.00	4500.00	13340.00
Flop
		4 9 10
bubbleboy5	Bet		1200.00	5700.00	12140.00
CraigSG1	Raise		3000.00	8700.00	11655.00
bubbleboy5	Call		1800.00	10500.00	10340.00
Turn
		J
bubbleboy5	All-in		10340.00	20840.00	0.00
CraigSG1	All-in		11655.00	32495.00	0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		1315.00	31180.00	1315.00
bubbleboy5	Show	K 9
CraigSG1	Show	9 9
River
		Q
bubbleboy5	Win	Straight to the King	31180.00		31180.00

As I said, the maniacs keep getting there. Heres another crazy runner runner

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
spinace	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£22.46
LJHAlmight	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£15.30
	Your hole cards	A A
Mowtown	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£26.40
Lawson1987	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.50	£0.75	£11.55
spinace	Fold
LJHAlmight	Fold
Mowtown	Call		£0.40	£1.15	£26.00
Flop
		J Q 4
Mowtown	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.86	£2.01	£10.69
Mowtown	Call		£0.86	£2.87	£25.14
Turn
		5
Mowtown	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.15	£5.02	£8.54
Mowtown	Call		£2.15	£7.17	£22.99
River
		2
Mowtown	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.10	£9.27	£6.44
Mowtown	Call		£2.10	£11.37	£20.89
CraigSG1	Show	A A
Mowtown	Show	6 3
Mowtown	Win	Straight to the 6	£10.51		£31.40

Its just laughable how often these are happening. One more, although I have others. The amount of times ive had sets that lost to flushes/straights and ive not housed up I get allin with the nuts against a set and of course they house up.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
royalhell	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£20.71
CraigSG1	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£8.65
	Your hole cards	7 9
onthemoon	Fold
VINEY73	Fold
GJ555	Fold
jack100	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£8.17
royalhell	Call		£0.05	£0.30	£20.66
CraigSG1	Check
Flop
		A 6 8
royalhell	Check
CraigSG1	Check
jack100	Bet		£0.30	£0.60	£7.87
royalhell	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.30	£0.90	£8.35
Turn
		10
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.30	£1.20	£8.05
jack100	Raise		£1.80	£3.00	£6.07
CraigSG1	Raise		£4.88	£7.88	£3.17
jack100	All-in		£6.07	£13.95	£0.00
CraigSG1	Call		£2.69	£16.64	£0.48
CraigSG1	Show	7 9
jack100	Show	6 6
River
		10
jack100	Win	Full House, 6s and 10s	£15.39		£15.39

Its getting soul destroying, especially the ME one that could have set me up for a very deep run but things cant stop going wrong. Its not as if i've made many mistakes in these hands. Forgive me, i'll shut up now.


PP4201

CraigSG1

So in the interest of balance I can heartfully include some hands that actually went well for me! I had a quick and profitable lunch session of half hour and took over 3 BI's which is a huge boost and fingers crossed for a late surge to the end of the month.

This is what happens when the river card was feeling in a better mood towards me.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
frizzybulu	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£29.25
bigbert123	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£10.55
	Your hole cards	5 5
yuranASSet	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£11.48
CraigSG1	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£13.75
PokerKinga	Fold
frizzybulu	Fold
bigbert123	Raise		£0.80	£1.55	£9.75
yuranASSet	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.60	£2.15	£13.15
Flop
		7 10 5
bigbert123	Bet		£1.08	£3.23	£8.67
CraigSG1	Call		£1.08	£4.31	£12.07
Turn
		8
bigbert123	Bet		£2.16	£6.47	£6.51
CraigSG1	All-in		£12.07	£18.54	£0.00
bigbert123	All-in		£6.51	£25.05	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£3.40	£21.65	£3.40
bigbert123	Show	9 9
CraigSG1	Show	5 5
River
		Q
CraigSG1	Win	Three 5s	£20.25		£23.65

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
JimmyVegas	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£8.43
frizzybulu	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£19.90
	Your hole cards	4 4
VK41	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£22.97
CraigSG1	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£18.95
mia81	Call		£0.30	£1.05	£17.55
yuranASSet	Fold
JimmyVegas	Call		£0.25	£1.30	£8.18
frizzybulu	Call		£0.20	£1.50	£19.70
Flop
		4 5 Q
JimmyVegas	Check
frizzybulu	Check
VK41	Bet		£1.13	£2.63	£21.84
CraigSG1	Raise		£3.01	£5.64	£15.94
mia81	Fold
JimmyVegas	Fold
frizzybulu	Fold
VK41	Call		£1.88	£7.52	£19.96
Turn
		9
VK41	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£5.64	£13.16	£10.30
VK41	Call		£5.64	£18.80	£14.32
River
		K
VK41	Check
CraigSG1	All-in		£10.30	£29.10	£0.00
VK41	Call		£10.30	£39.40	£4.02
VK41	Show	K Q
CraigSG1	Show	4 4
CraigSG1	Win	Three 4s	£38.00		£38.00

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
MrMatthew	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£3.92
seeflop86	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£8.33
	Your hole cards	Q 10
slimbo	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£11.78
arnott09	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£7.56
MrMatthew	Fold
seeflop86	Call		£0.20	£0.95	£8.13
Flop
		8 A 7
seeflop86	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.71	£1.66	£11.07
arnott09	Call		£0.71	£2.37	£6.85
seeflop86	Fold
Turn
		J
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.78	£4.15	£9.29
arnott09	All-in		£6.85	£11.00	£0.00
CraigSG1	All-in		£9.29	£20.29	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£4.22	£16.07	£4.22
CraigSG1	Show	Q 10
arnott09	Show	A 9
River
		2
CraigSG1	Win	Flush to the Ace	£14.86		£19.08

PP4236

shakinaces

Fix!! 

I saw this posted on a poker twitter feed and thought it apt for the recent posts on here...



Good luck with the 800-odd point grind through the double point end to the week!

CraigSG1

Lol, thanks Shakey. Seen a few of those on different themes and most are funny. I like this one.

Im not sure how to write this as I cant really spin it any other way than im still running like a petrol car on deisel. My session started with two coolers in the first two minutes. AQ v AK on a AKQxA board and set over set. Had plenty of others again, was going to put them up but why bother. So many worse hands like KQ v K5 on a K high board and river 5 getting two pairs and trips like QQ v A2s on a 2247J board. Just variations on a theme.

Ive looked back over my hands yet again and im either getting coolered or outdrawn like me QQ v QJ on a JxxxJ board or there worse kicker hands/ PP's are getting there when most of the money is in. Yes there are hands ive played badly or not gotten enough value but those are way, WAY, behind the bad ones. Surely it has to turn soon?

Sigh.

PP4466

CraigSG1

So glad that this grind is almost over. I've never played so much cash, probably ever, in one month and its been a 'grinding' affair. Im exstatic to proclaim a winning day, dispite some of the usual suffering.

A quick lunch time session saw me make a few quid which I was very happy with as I thought I would be down, especially after running KK v AA very early on. The guy flopped quads so no real comeback after that! Its been a torrid affair with KK's over an 8/9 month period as I have run them into AA's on a fair few occassions and not once won. Surely variance had to of given me a win but no and ive lost AA v KK on a few occasions. Just one of those things I guess.

The evening session didnt start much better, with 1010 v AJ losing to a gutshot straight on a Q102r board, QQ v A4, KK v A3 and a few others. Did well to just play and not worry and managed a little run good towards the end of the night, taking a nice pot - on the river unbelievably - when my flopped set actually housed up against the flopped but flush and anothers very loose call.

In the interest of balance here is that good hand;

ayer	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
showoff1	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£12.18
sleckie90	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£2.90
	Your hole cards	8 8
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£15.93
KP03	Fold
Ryan1971	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£7.27
chippy373	Raise		£1.00	£1.75	£19.93
showoff1	Fold
sleckie90	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.70	£2.45	£15.23
Ryan1971	Call		£0.70	£3.15	£6.57
Flop
		Q 5 8
CraigSG1	Check
Ryan1971	All-in		£6.57	£9.72	£0.00
chippy373	Call		£6.57	£16.29	£13.36
CraigSG1	All-in		£15.23	£31.52	£0.00
chippy373	Call		£8.66	£40.18	£4.70
CraigSG1	Show	8 8
Ryan1971	Show	A 2
chippy373	Show	Q 10
Turn
		4
River
		5
CraigSG1	Win	Full House, 8s and 5s	£38.78		£38.78

One more day to go and 5000PPs as good as in the bag!

PP4718

CraigSG1

And that is it!! Grind over!!

5000PP's done and it looks ace to have that much bonus due to me. £100 just for playing as (almost) usual!! What will suck will be tomorrow when that counter resets to zero!

Its been a hard slog and I'm glad I put a lot of volume in early as I stepped off the hours towards the end. if I had continued at my starting pace I could easily have touched 6500PPs but I focused on quality more than quantity.

So to reflect this month I have had a hard time the past week or so but im happy with how I handled it. A few months ago I would have chased the losses and moved to 50nl and had a punt and definatley tilted away a lot more of my BR by going silly aggressive. Yes ive had a little moan but its mainly to vent and I appologise as its not great reading but in my defence I channelled it in a better way and didnt tilt as much. The next step is being able to do that without venting in that way. Baby steps and im going in the right direction. Some of which is to do with this diary as I have accountability, which is the main reason I include my BR in the title.

Onto today and its been a nice profitable one, had an ok morning and decent afternoon and an above break even evening sessions.

I had this hand come up and I will post it in the clinic but I was wondering if I made the right laydown? I figured all I can beat is a bluff and I didnt think he was bluffing. The best I am doing is chopping I think and I figure another AK will raise pre?

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
2HODGE2	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£6.50
supercrazy	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£20.58
	Your hole cards	K A
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£25.70
AK472010	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£6.75
xkjaguar8	Call		£0.30	£1.05	£13.17
2HODGE2	Fold
supercrazy	Fold
Flop
		4 A K
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.79	£1.84	£24.91
AK472010	Fold
xkjaguar8	Call		£0.79	£2.63	£12.38
Turn
		3
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.32	£3.95	£23.59
xkjaguar8	Raise		£2.64	£6.59	£9.74
CraigSG1	Call		£1.32	£7.91	£22.27
River
		J
CraigSG1	Check
xkjaguar8	All-in		£9.74	£17.65	£0.00
CraigSG1	Fold
xkjaguar8	Muck
xkjaguar8	Win		£7.31		£7.31
xkjaguar8	Return		£9.74	£0.60	£17.05

And I cant not show this, after moaning of a few bad beats I inflicted my first horrible beat in a long time. I think that makes it 1-19 or something!

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
CraigSG1	Small blind		£0.04	£0.04	£7.89
diggerboy	Big blind		£0.08	£0.12	£9.55
	Your hole cards	J 10
JrTeng	Raise		£0.28	£0.40	£6.54
jacko307	Fold
RoyalBear	Fold
2win	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.24	£0.64	£7.65
diggerboy	Fold
Flop
		J A 10
CraigSG1	Check
JrTeng	Bet		£0.48	£1.12	£6.06
CraigSG1	Raise		£1.28	£2.40	£6.37
JrTeng	Raise		£4.00	£6.40	£2.06
CraigSG1	All-in		£6.37	£12.77	£0.00
JrTeng	All-in		£2.06	£14.83	£0.00
CraigSG1	Unmatched bet		£1.11	£13.72	£1.11
CraigSG1	Show	J 10
JrTeng	Show	A A
Turn
		4
River
		7
CraigSG1	Win	Flush to the Ace	£12.69		£13.80

PP5019

So time for another monthly review. I started with a BR of £1584 and finished with £1848 which is +£264 and considering I started with a target of +£250-£300 I am within that so im so pleased but I do have thanks for a nice spurt over the weekend that has saw me add £130. If you add that cash isnt my strong suit and that I had 7/8 bad days in a row I have to say I am extremely pleased. On top of that as well I met my PP target so I succeeded in that too AND qualified for all three promotion FR's.

All in all I sit here very pleased and content with my progress and now have to come up with some aims for next month which will be MTT based. My volume will be a lot lower, especially the next few days as I take a breather. Any suggestions for an MTT target would be great. I aim to play a lot of £5-£10 tournaments as well as sats for ME's and a few £22 BH's if I can.

So its time to kick back and watch England bat against Sri-Lanka until I either fall asleep or they collapse! Im not taking any bets on what will happen first!

zendiiiin1

AK - super standard river fold

JT - ck/r getting it in on that flop is terrible, like really bad, has has every better two pair, set and the straight and likely only calls with AK, AQ.

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: The road to a Main Event score! Starting BR £252. Now £1848:

AK - super standard river fold JT - ck/r getting it in on that flop is terrible, like really bad, has has every better two pair, set and the straight and likely only calls with AK, AQ.
Posted by zendiiiin1

I agree that the call isnt the greatest but I do disagree that is really bad as I have notes on this player and know they over value top pair and have seen them bet/call off worse.

So, had a few days off and came back tonight. Played a little cash which more than paid for the MTTs I played. Only played four, the two Vegas FR's but busted them. Played the main £5 BH. Never got going, was shallow most of the way and every decent pot went against me and then busted with my first real hand KK v 99 to flopped set. Also played the ME, again I went deep and hovered around average or below for most of the way. Did get a decent stack with flush over flush but then lost a big hand to same player when my trips lost to rivered straight. Stole a few blinds but couldnt win that good pot. The final nail was when Shuvmonkey shoved 14BBs in with A9o and I called in BB with AJ and for an above average stack he flopped the nine and gg me.

Cant catch a break in this tourny.

Onwards I go.

CraigSG1

A bit of cash for the points to play the Vegas FRs saw me make a few quid, could have been more when I got AK v AQ allin on turn on A high board only to lose to rivered Q. Also had KK which I had to lay down and I made a set in a big pot but lost to a straight. That hand made the TV and at least Channing said I had played it well.

The first FR I was allin first hand against A6o (that 4 bet allin!) v 1010 with KK. Safe flop only to lose to running straight cards to the A6. Second went OK, went deep (last 40odd) but busted for a big pot with a better Ace. Meant to play a BH HU shuffle but forgot as I was going well in the main £5 BH. I took four heads and cashed before going out 22/305 when on a very aggressive table I took a stand with A5s on the button but ran into A10s which held. 

MTT tally;

FR's: 4 (best 44/266)

ME's: 1 (best 150odd/500+)

BH's: 2 (best 22/305)

Sats: -

Other: -