Gutted might be the only FT of yours I've not been around to rail
Congratulations mate, that's a stunning victory
What's the plan going forward/is this going to change anything (Sky poker-wise)?… I know what it <i class="Italic">should change - your opinion on MTT's!
These kind of challenge threads often end up as an 'only sing when you're winning' sort of affair and, to be fair, I'm probably a little guilty of following suit. Although I'm fortunate to have not experienced any particularly deep or prolonged downswings over the course of the year, it can still be pretty hard to find the motivation to update when all I'd have to say is something like "bit of a rough patch playing 20nl, down £200". So, true to form, I've done some winning and it's time for some singing.
I'll start with the real exciting stuff that I know you're all dying to hear about - cash games! In the two and a bit weeks since the last update, I've played very little cash. In fact, as the rakeback section at the end will show, I've played very little of anything. What cash I could muster the enthusiasm for didn't go particularly well and ended with a small loss of -£54.98
After going on a little micro stakes MTT heater and topping the bronze leaderboard of the podium series for the first week, I pretty much downed tools before returning to give the bronze league another go in week three. It didn't go well. Still, having already luckboxed myself a free shot at a Ukops High Roller, I could hardly grumble and it wasn't exactly a catastrophic dent in the progress of this challenge. Ukops duly arrived and I got warmed up over the first two nights with a few of the £22 and under events (without much success) in anticipation of night three and The Big One...
Unlike MTT's, one of the things I've always liked about cash games is that if you look round the table and all you see are crushers, you can quite easily stand up and find a more appealing table to play on instead. Looking through the lobby of the high roller shortly before it was due to kick off, I'd have probably been inclined to hit the unregister button if I wasn't already freerolling it - it was like looking at a Sky Poker MTT hall of fame! When I first got seated, I was pretty pleased all told - my table could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately though, things got a little uglier when the fun player to my immediate left was replaced with @FeelGroggy after about 20 minutes - he's disturbingly good at poker for someone who looks barely old enough to buy a beer . Still, I managed to hold my own and slowly doubled my starting stack by winning a series of small pots.
With stacks getting shallower as the blinds went up, I was fortunate enough to win more than my fair share of races which led to both bounties and a helpfully inflated stack size as the business end of the tournament loomed. When bubble time arrived I had a healthy chip lead over the rest of the field which allowed me to flex my muscles a little whilst avoiding the need/temptation to just nit up and try to secure a min cash. With the bubble now burst I just had some of Sky's biggest whales left to contend with - @StayOrGo, @MattBates, @alancarr12 et al. Simples . Whilst the others went to war with each other I was lucky at least to not find myself at the end of any nasty coolers and managed to slightly increase my stack as things really thinned out.
Before I knew it I was playing heads-up for the bracelet. Although I don't exactly have a ton of tournament experience behind me, I have played a reasonable bit of heads up cash, so it's an area I'm fairly comfortable in. However, my opponent started the HU match with a 3:1 chip lead over me, so I was either going to need to run hotter than the sun or play like a sober Stu Ungar who was feeling particularly 'in the zone'. I'd like to think it was a mixture of the two (although it was probably far more of the former than the latter in reality!) that saw me emerge victorious 20 minutes later against my noble foe @beefheart1. Victory here just about managed to offset the losses from some other events bringing total tourney profits to +£5,098.39
As mentioned at the start, volume has been pants on the whole. with three Mondays having passed since the last update, only one of those has seen me break the cashback barrier for a whopping rakeback total of +£5.06
So, rather unexpectedly, I have now found myself hitting the £10k target with two months to spare. I'll keep this diary updated through to the end of the year to see how things finish though. If I can avoid any epic spew then all will remain rosy with the challenge, but it's certainly hard to foresee any more updates quite as spectacular as this one!
With regards to questions about my future plans and what I'm intending to do with the winnings, it's a mixture of things really.
Firstly, we're moving house soon so some of the money is going towards that. Gender roles seem somewhat reversed in our household and I'm the one with a bit of a fetish for things like cushions and other random bits of homeware, so I'll now be treating myself to a full-on splurge at the likes of Ikea and Dunelm in anticipation of the move.
I'll also be adding a chunk to my standard bankroll with a view to playing slightly higher stakes overall in the not too distant future. MTT's will undoubtedly be a significant fixture in my play moving forward but I'll also be trying to rekindle some of my lost enthusiasm for the cash game grind. I definitely feel that expanding my game from having been purely a cash game player has improved me overall as a poker player and hopefully I can continue that progress.
Comments
Congratulations mate, that's a stunning victory
What's the plan going forward/is this going to change anything (Sky poker-wise)?… I know what it <i class="Italic">should change - your opinion on MTT's!
Bravo!
These kind of challenge threads often end up as an 'only sing when you're winning' sort of affair and, to be fair, I'm probably a little guilty of following suit. Although I'm fortunate to have not experienced any particularly deep or prolonged downswings over the course of the year, it can still be pretty hard to find the motivation to update when all I'd have to say is something like "bit of a rough patch playing 20nl, down £200". So, true to form, I've done some winning and it's time for some singing.
I'll start with the real exciting stuff that I know you're all dying to hear about - cash games! In the two and a bit weeks since the last update, I've played very little cash. In fact, as the rakeback section at the end will show, I've played very little of anything. What cash I could muster the enthusiasm for didn't go particularly well and ended with a small loss of -£54.98
After going on a little micro stakes MTT heater and topping the bronze leaderboard of the podium series for the first week, I pretty much downed tools before returning to give the bronze league another go in week three. It didn't go well. Still, having already luckboxed myself a free shot at a Ukops High Roller, I could hardly grumble and it wasn't exactly a catastrophic dent in the progress of this challenge. Ukops duly arrived and I got warmed up over the first two nights with a few of the £22 and under events (without much success) in anticipation of night three and The Big One...
Unlike MTT's, one of the things I've always liked about cash games is that if you look round the table and all you see are crushers, you can quite easily stand up and find a more appealing table to play on instead. Looking through the lobby of the high roller shortly before it was due to kick off, I'd have probably been inclined to hit the unregister button if I wasn't already freerolling it - it was like looking at a Sky Poker MTT hall of fame! When I first got seated, I was pretty pleased all told - my table could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately though, things got a little uglier when the fun player to my immediate left was replaced with @FeelGroggy after about 20 minutes - he's disturbingly good at poker for someone who looks barely old enough to buy a beer
With stacks getting shallower as the blinds went up, I was fortunate enough to win more than my fair share of races which led to both bounties and a helpfully inflated stack size as the business end of the tournament loomed. When bubble time arrived I had a healthy chip lead over the rest of the field which allowed me to flex my muscles a little whilst avoiding the need/temptation to just nit up and try to secure a min cash. With the bubble now burst I just had some of Sky's biggest whales left to contend with - @StayOrGo, @MattBates, @alancarr12 et al. Simples
Before I knew it I was playing heads-up for the bracelet. Although I don't exactly have a ton of tournament experience behind me, I have played a reasonable bit of heads up cash, so it's an area I'm fairly comfortable in. However, my opponent started the HU match with a 3:1 chip lead over me, so I was either going to need to run hotter than the sun or play like a sober Stu Ungar who was feeling particularly 'in the zone'. I'd like to think it was a mixture of the two (although it was probably far more of the former than the latter in reality!) that saw me emerge victorious 20 minutes later against my noble foe @beefheart1. Victory here just about managed to offset the losses from some other events bringing total tourney profits to +£5,098.39
As mentioned at the start, volume has been pants on the whole. with three Mondays having passed since the last update, only one of those has seen me break the cashback barrier for a whopping rakeback total of +£5.06
So, rather unexpectedly, I have now found myself hitting the £10k target with two months to spare. I'll keep this diary updated through to the end of the year to see how things finish though. If I can avoid any epic spew then all will remain rosy with the challenge, but it's certainly hard to foresee any more updates quite as spectacular as this one!
Best of luck to all for the rest of Ukops
Progress so far:
Cash: +£2,467.25
MTT's: +£7,646.96
Rakeback: +£1,335.48
Total: +£11,449.69
With regards to questions about my future plans and what I'm intending to do with the winnings, it's a mixture of things really.
Firstly, we're moving house soon so some of the money is going towards that. Gender roles seem somewhat reversed in our household and I'm the one with a bit of a fetish for things like cushions and other random bits of homeware, so I'll now be treating myself to a full-on splurge at the likes of Ikea and Dunelm in anticipation of the move.
I'll also be adding a chunk to my standard bankroll with a view to playing slightly higher stakes overall in the not too distant future. MTT's will undoubtedly be a significant fixture in my play moving forward but I'll also be trying to rekindle some of my lost enthusiasm for the cash game grind. I definitely feel that expanding my game from having been purely a cash game player has improved me overall as a poker player and hopefully I can continue that progress.
Thanks Sky!
I actually bought the whole thing on ebay and my real name is Dave.