August Review

Grindy kinda month, getting to grips with 4-tabling $100NL. Added a whole bunch of new blogs to the column on the right, everything that's on the right is there because I like to read it regularly... so it might be of interest to anyone here too! :)

Live Play
Some more poker played at Circus, a couple more £30+3 freezeouts. No cashes in either, really happy with the way I'm playing in these, but really just not running well! Will probably play in a couple more this month.

Cash games
Started 4-tabling $100NL on the laptop this month, which meant mini-view tables... which I actually quite like, the iPoker software is really good. Only prob is that I can't get GT+ to overlay nicely when in mini-view. I think there are some solutions for this out there, I've heard PAHUD might work with iPoker now too, so I'll look into that.

I'm pretty comfortable 4-tabling, I don't think it stretches my decision making provided that I'm concentrating fully. So it'll be continued 4-tabling for me this month, hopefully rack up a lot more hands. The main goal for me until the end of the year is to play a ton of hands at $100NL and build up a good PT database so that I can evaluate my game, fix leaks, and get a good feeling for me hourly rate.

Pretty steady increase this month, then I decided to spaz off a bunch of $$$ to make things interesting. Had a dabble at heads up too, which lasted 2 hands before I dropped half a stack 3-barrelling... after a QQ5 flop which I really didn't think he'd caught any of.

Anyways, BB/100 is down a lot in $100NL this month (was like 23 last month) but I'm not really worrying about this just now. Just gonna continue trying to play my best, and I'll evaluate this when I hit the magic 10k hands mark. Hoping to clock 3k hands this month, and 2k next to hit the 10k mark by the end of October. Then I'll get a bit more familiar with PokerTracker, and analyse my game to try to tighten up some leaks.

Another one of my cash game related goals for next month is to write a new article. My previous 2 articles have been on Turbo SNG play. The next one I have in mind is looking at a few leaks in my game I've recently tidied up that prevent me getting stacked in certain situations. I'm going use some hand examples to show opponent betting patterns that represent great strength, the article will focus on when the right time is to make big laydowns.

SNGs
Despite my Sharkscope currently reading "Super Tilt" I had a pretty decent month on Stars. Immediately swinging back up $500 from last months downswing before going on a pretty terrible run towards the end of the month. Played a few more 45-man Turbos last night and was taking horrific beats all over the shop. They play in these on a Saturday night is just uuuuugh! I tripled through in the 2nd hand of one AA vs 92o vs KJs.

**bad beat bits deleted** MUST RESIST! :D

**NNNGGGHH!!**

Here's a pic!
Swingy swingy 45-mans! They're still fun though, when I get bored of cash. :)

Staking
Oooooo a new section! Seeing as I'm not getting to play as much as I'd like I've taken to staking some players at the lower limits. It's really good fun to keep track of how they're playing, and it's great to look over hands and try to give some pointers or input. This month i've been staking MXRider from ITH, who's playing and running really well just now! His documentation and organisation of the staking is fantastic, he's taking it very seriously which makes it really easy for the stakers!

I took $100 of him in a $11 SNG quest, which I got $146 back from after a few days. I've now got another $100 of him in his new $12 180-man Turbo quest, which he's halfway through and already he's showing great profit! Even if he goes 0 for 26 in the 2nd half of the quest he'll still be in profit. Keep it up MX, you rock! Check up on how the new quest if going here.

Numbers
+$360 on BlondePoker (NL Cash + rb)
+$275 on Stars (SNGs + staking)
-$132 live (big score this month pleeeease!)

So around a +$500 month, not too shabby.

Bankroll check...
Live: £184 (5.5x £33 freeze buyins)
NL Cash: $1360 (14x buyins $100NL buyins)
SNG: $1275 (47 $27 SNG buyins)

Books
Continuing studying Sklanky/Miller's NLH book... slow going.

Digest
The Life of One Poker Pro ~ Assassinato

Next month goals
Play 3k+ hands of NL
Play more heads up NL (more than the 2 hands I lasted before getting stacked this month!)
Get hud software properly setup for 4-tabling on laptop
Write new article
Sign up to CardRunners
Read through a lot of the new blogs I've added!

July Review

$200NL rollercoaster, SNG downswing, and another bankroll re-organisation!

I've got about 30 hands logged for analysis that I'll post over the next week. Some of them are pretty tough!

Live Play
Loving the new Circus Casino that opened this month at Fountainpark. Played the £100 opening night freezeout, finished around 29/120 after getting cold decked for a solid 2 hours after the break.

Also played in one of their Saturday night £30 tourneys. Really enjoyed it, good crowd playing there, and lots of bad play to exploit. Played pretty well and finished just out of the money. Gonna be playing at the Circus a lot more in the future.

Cash games
Cash games are where it's AT this month. Loads of money to be made from these so I'm going to fire into them much harder next month.

July was the story of $200NL. I started off by swinging up almost $1k over 500 hands, definately running hot and getting cards. Then over the next 1000 hands I ran pretty bad, and made some bad plays, dropping my hourly rate heavily. I reckon 10BB/h is sustainable with a top strategy and good table selection at iPoker.

Unfortunately I've had to withdraw some cash this month, so I'll be back to $100NL next month. But this time i'll be 4-tabling, with GameTime+, which should be interesting. Might switch over to playing at NoIQPoker too, as they've got a sweet $600 signup bonus that clears concurrently with rakeback, giving about 60% rakeback for the first 3 months.

Definately going to subscribe to Cardrunners when more time opens up for me after the game is released in October. I'd say I learn around 4 or 5 times as profitable information per hour watching cardrunners videos as opposed to reading books. It is absolutely without a doubt the fastest way to improve your game.


SNGs
Ran like ass this month. Played 45 and 18 man $27 SNGS, along with some 45 man $60s when the fields looked week. Played extremely well, but just hit some negative variance. Sure it'll pick up next month.

When I go home after a long day at work I more often than not feel like 4-tabling SNGs as opposed to playing NL cash. I think this is because the decisions are a lot easier, and they're more mechanical. A lot less to think about after a tough day. I'm happy with that, I'd definately prefer to be playing 100% NL cash as it's so much more profitable, but I'll play what I feel like playing.

July starts just before the huge cliffdrop!


Numbers
+$200 on BlondePoker (NL Cash)
+$100 BlondePoker rakeback
+$180 Matt Hilger WSOP stakes
-$450 on Stars (SNGs)
-$260 live

Some changes to my bankrolls this month after finally getting around to sorting out my personal finances and budget. I'm chopping a lot out of my bankrolls, they're all stored seperately so I've got maximum control over them...

Live: £250 (8x £30 freeze buyins)
NL Cash: $1000 (10x buyins $100NL buyins)
SNG: $1000 (37 $27 SNG buyins)

I can shift cash around between accounts if I want, and obv I'll move down levels if I drop low. If I drop to $500 in my NL account i'll drop to $50NL, etc.

Books
Pretty much read nothing. I'm doing a course in PhotoReading at the moment which is taking up most of my reading time. It's very impressive and should increase my reading speed by about 3x and give me much more focus when reading. Some info on it here if anyone's interested.

Digest
Why you should be playing Turbo SNGs instead of regular SNGs by Jennifear
Times, they are a changin'... a look at the causes for tougher games by Piemaster
Pokerstars SNG AHK script by Paul B.
2+2 PokerXFactor free Hand Histories Directory *** Link of the week for sure! ***