Decision Made.

I am not going anywhere - yet.  I have really struggled to play enough qualifying events to really make a run.  I hate playing a 40 seater tournament with only 1 prize, I have not got the time to qualify to the bigger satellites and maybe, just maybe, I aint good enough,

                                              
Either way, I am pretty disappointed in the whole episode.
                                              
I considered going to play some lesser events but seems to be pointless and a bit disjointed from the actual object goal I was aiming for.

I have been spiralling out of control due to the disappointments on failing my mission. 
                                              
Not to the point of losing my BR because I haven't, but I have no motivation to play whatsoever.  When I am playing, I am playing some weird crappy HU or even Omaha.  (1st time came 30th from 400 and won $13 - WooHoo)

I have spent more time coaching my boy who came 40 something in a 1500 player tournament which he satellite freerolled into.  He won $12+ for no outlay.  I did not help him at any point so he is coming on very nicely.
        
                                                                      

For now I guess I am off to the land of Mickey Mouse for the next couple of weeks, then a weeks holiday in the UK.  Hopefully when that is done my appetite will be whetted once more and I can figure out some new goals and get back too it.

So - For now MISSION FAILED.
 
I appreciate everybody who has followed and given their input, positive or negative.  I cannot think of a good reason to continue boring you with the odd graph and bad luck story every week or so, so I guess I am signing off for now.

Look out for me on the SS leaderboards as I have not drifted to far off of the $5 - $15 9man SNG table so hopefully i'll make it back up there.

When I can think of a good enough reason to darken your doors again, I will hit you up.  Good luck at the tables all.

What Should I Do Now?

Quick update for you.  Still no seat, still not enough BR.

Ok that sounds terrible but it's not all that bad.  I am now getting into the final stage of WSOP satellites on PKR weekly, which is good.  Last week I played in the weekly final, 33 in the field, prizes were 1 package for the winner but another 12 got there money back almost $215.  So, I should have cruised into the money at least but when my two year old was climbing all over me for 15 minutes solid and my 88 on the SB was facing a smallish raise from the button who had raise folded from the same position 2 times in the last 5 orbits, I shoved with a medium stack.  Needless to say in my tilted state my 88 bumped into JJ and did I not improve.  Always next week, although i'll try and get the little one to bed earlier or looked after.

In the $1 Full Tilt WSOP satellite tonight, almost 11000 players, I came 190th.  I made 1 mistake that really cost me but even with perfect poker that one is gonna be hard to conquer.

My foray into the live arena did not happen either last week.  I had a row with the Mrs and got the hump on Saturday night.  So opening my eyes on Sunday I realised I still wanted to fight the world and felt it was not the best idea to drive 4 hours for a game of poker only to be met with the inevitable suckout and then get thrown out for lumping the unlucky sole that rivered me.

 

So I have two finals this week one on Monday and one on Wednesday so i still dont want to book my Vegas trip yet.

I have the dates of 26th June to 5th July planned if I don't qualify as that is best with childcare/work etc but that will mean I will stick to the Venetian Deepstack and maybe a Binions event or two.  That is not ideal but hey.  Hopefully, if I can bag a package this week my plans may change. 

I also have the option of not going of course.  My BR is just topping $5500 which is lower than planned but I have found it hard concentrate on satellites whilst 9 tabling my SNG's so it has ended up with just one table open concentrating on the satellite.  This obviously has affected my profit but aswell as that it has affected my appetite for the game.  Once I finish a satellite, either just outside payday or qualifying to the next step I seldom feel like loading up a few sets and I stop playing.  So I have a question.

Should I stay or should I go?

Firstly, (Dont laugh).  My mum has asked to tag along.  I coached my mum from a complete novice to having a sharkscope like this,

 

 

so not bad right, even if one tabling is killing her profit line.(She loves the game and makes friends and chats rather than trying to earn a living - Lucky girl)  So, if my mum goes we will share a room (no not a bed) so I have priced it up where I could stay at the Venetian for 9 nights plus Virgin flights for £600 ($900ish).  So a good price.  My schedule for tournaments would come to slightly over $2500 and with a few incidentals my BR is gone if I don't bink a nice payday.  And I did not even play the WSOP.

OR - I could just get back to grinding, make another $10k this year, which I think should be very do-able without the satellites getting in the way and start planning for next year.

If you are reading this through a link from a forum, please chuck down your views on what you think I should do.  If not make a comment right here.  I will tally up the results and take it into account.

 

I appreciate you guys n girls following my adventures, I am enjoying reporting back although wished I could have reported some more positve results for you.  After my interview was posted I had over 150 hits in a day which was my new record, so thank you all.

 

Fingers crossed and Good Luck at the tables.

Interview out.

My interview with http://www.davegambler.com/ is out now.  Think it reads OK let me know.

I now have the legendary Kathy Leibert following me on twitter.

Thats not her, come on google imagesThats better.

Things are on the up but still no seat.  I declined any payment for the interview, instead asked to pass on any monies to the Cancer Research charity.  The interview has also been forwarded to a well known poker magazine who may publish it, so the word is out big time and i'm going to look a bit of a knob if I dont get to Vegas now.
I have decided the trip should have a larger meaning than just little old me off to Vegas on a jolly so IF there are any profits then Cancer Research will get a healthy cut.
I am also wondering if one of the bigger sites might want to put me into a smaller event at the WSOP whereby we can put all profits to the charity.  Some need a good press right now.  If anybody has any good contacts let me know and i'll get hassling.

In case anybody is wondering, YES, like many, my close family as well as extended family have had numerous run ins with the big C,  mostly happy endings but not all i'm afraid.  My sister-in-law is running the New York City Marathon in November, so if anybody has any big wins and is feeling generous then you could donate through her to Cancer Research - http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR?px=1974408&pg=personal&fr_id=1460&et=YoUnEjFFxduJKVPOKB3aqw..&s_tafId=12204

Good Luck Lisa, rather you than me.

I am looking to book my Vegas flight after this weekend, mayber Thursday but I have a couple of good chances at bagging my seat first, one is the survivor contest live, and the other a 1 seat in 10 final on PKR on Wednesday (if I can get time off work - and only 11 played this week).  So still plugging on.  Looking forward to the start of the new month so I can get focused again, but having a few days off to spend with family and freshen up my live game.

Glad the payments have started to get sorted in America, lets hope they can get you all playing again ASAP.

Good Luck all.

Getting closer !!

At the first time of asking I have qualified to the weekly final on PKR.  1 in 21 win a WSOP package but unfortunately they only seem to ever get 15 or so.  That is a bit disappointing, I would prefer to try for the top 10 from 210 but obviously i'll be going at it 110%.

Now I have informed you that recently I have turned down two opportunities to coach poker players.  I think if I was going to coach, it would be for low to medium stake intermediate players.  I feel that I could teach additional skills and improve the players all round capabilities.  The reason I have turned these individuals down is solely because of my time consraints but then I was hit with a new conundrum. ---

I am always trying to impress on my eldset son (11) that it is probably beneficial for him to narrow down his choice of career as early as possible so he can work towards it as he goes through his studies. ----

April 22nd 2011 "Dad, I have worked out what I am going to be when i'm older"  "Nice one son, what are your plans" - "I am gonna be a poker player dad.  If I start practising now, imagine how good I would be and how much money I could make when I turn 18".
So, suddenly I am a coach after all.  Now my boy is no ordinary boy, he is top of all his classes at his primary school, was reading books I could not read now, at the age of 6 and is one determined boy.  I don't know how he is so academic, he certainly does not get it from me but hey.



 So in the first 3 days of his training he has read the NLH sections of an old Hellmuth book as well as Super System 2.  I have let him onto an old European site which I dont play on anymore and he promptly qualified through a freeroll to a larger tournament with some old points I had on there.  1700 people started that, $1300 to the winner and top 300 getting paid.  3 hours later 290th position and my boy makes his first cash for $5.90.  He then settles to play 3 x 10c Sngs's where he finishes 2nd, 3rd and nowhere, balance over $6.  Maybe I can retire soon.


Problem is, I have no idea, really, how to teach a complete beginner, when I write it on paper there is so much to pass forward but I will just overload him if I tell him it all straight away.  So do I let him play without all the skills or will that ingrain bad play in him which I wont be able to change later.  For now I think Forums, basic strategy videos, as much play as possible and some ghosting sessions with dad is the best way forward.  If anybody has taught a complete beginner from scratch, successfully, previously, please post some tips.

I am hoping to book my Vegas trip once we enter May and it is looking like it will be the first week of July to take in event 54 and some main event sats while the Deepstacks at the Venetian will also be rolling.  My profits on these other European sites has been slightly disappointing but the bonuses have helped.  I am looking forward to get back on Full Tilt tho.  My sharkscope there is so much better that the other sites.
Only four weeks of grind left before I go on holidays and relax with my family and switch off from poker for a while so I will try and put in some volume for the next four weeks and I will be adding some MTTs hping for a big score so I can stay somewhere nice.  Not fancying Imperial Palace now its getting close to booking it.  We will see.

No Americans have taken me up on my offer of coming to the UK to play here while the troubles there rumble on but the offer remains open.  I understand one of the Americans in question is going to the Bahamas.  I guess if you have a choice of the Bahamas or the UK the Bahamas will win everytime.
Good luck to you all -.

Leo

What a week!!

No, not my poker play, just poker in general.  More on my views later. 
 
  I have had lots of contact with people I have never met this week.  I was contacted to tell me my blog was depressing.  I have been asked for more coaching and I was also asked for an interview for a website.  This was the second interview I have been asked for lately but I rejected the idea of one and answered some interesting questions for the other which I did decide to do.

                                                           

  I am not sure I am worthy of an interview really but some people obviously do, so instead of rejecting them immediately I decided to research who wanted the interview.  The interview I did was for http://www.davegambler.com/  I am not sure about the name but the site and info on it is 1st class.  It is run by a few guys who offer advice and tips on betting strategy and select picks for sporting events around the world.  There are multiple updates weekly, its all free and after going back a few posts it looks like they gamble sensibly and for profit as well as being quite successful.  Now being somebody who loves to bet sports I am will be a regular vistior to the site and follow them on twitter.  I am told the interview will appear soon so I guess I am looking forward to that.  I dont think I came across as a twat, but you tell me.

  Back to the mission.  Poker is going ok, I am not setting the world alight and my volume is way down but I am enjoying it again and the profits are slowly creeping up.  I guess total BR is about $4600, but it's spread out quite thinly now.  Still no WSOP seat but two good opportunities have come up.  In the last couple of weeks I won thru to a satellite final where 10 won a WSOP package from 200 and I finished about 58th but I played well enough.  The new opportunites are coming from PKR who have some great MTT step tourneys which I think I can crack if I can settle down with the software as it is absolutely shocking.  Another opportunity exists whereby a live tournament will be played as usual but anybody that signed up thru the associated poker site will partake in a survivor type WSOP battle whereby who ever lasts longest wins a package.  I believe only 100 people will enter the tournament anyway and only about 15 have entered through site so far, so i'm hoping not too many more sign up and I could be in with a real shout.  Once this live tourney is out of the way I will look at booking flights to Vegas and pinning myself down to certain tourneys which may include WSOP and/or Venetian Deepstack and/or a few local tournies on the strip or downtown.  Plus the Rio satellites of course.

  If I dont manage to get a package in the bag I will go on a bargain basement trip.  I have enough airmiles with Virgin for a FREE return trip to Vegas which still costs £280 in taxes?  I will then probably look at the Imperial Palace at about £200 for 8 or 9 nights or maybe stretch to the Monte Carlo if I a feeling generous with myself.  I will then go on a coupon hunt and make sure my outlay is minimal, so I can maximise profits.  I have stayed at Caesars Palace and a few other nice ones, so it isn't like I haven't treated myself in the past but this is a different mission.  If I can manage to claim a package through PKR, I will take the Mrs because then we will be staying at the Cosmopolitan and PKR know how to party and treat their qualifiers.

 

  Well, what else is there to say about Black Friday?  Personally I am seriously worried.  I think the French can only play amongst themselves now and if the US follow suit, surely the Uk will copy as we do with everything else American.  I dont really know enough about it but if the UK is left to fend for itself, we wont survive, we just dont have the numbers the US can generate.  I have tried to carry on regardless but have withdrawn most of my BR from FullTilt, just in case.
  This has also effected the horses I am staking.  One is American and he has gone AWOL so that looks ominous and of course the staking opportunites are now a bit thinner on the ground. 
  I actually feel terrible for the professional grinders in the US because suddenly their whole futures are in the balance and that is scary.  I wanted to help out if I could so I have contacted a couple of Pros - unknown to most of the world, and certainly not massive names as I am sure they are all ok.  I have offered my home and my internet connection, so in the short term they can come over and play until they sort themselves out.  I have offered this free of charge and hope to gain some valuable knowledge in return for my good will.  Nobody has taken me up yet, but I think poker players from around the world should open their homes to assist if it is needed.  They probably think I am a nutter as I dont actually know these people to talk too but if they are reading this they can rest assured it is a completely serious offer.

I can offer very spacious accomodation with wireless internet and I will take as many as I can squeeze in.

                                                

  Well, with things on the up I am going back to the tables.  Good luck to you all, thanks for reading.  I am going to blog a bit more regular now as a) I have been asked and b) for some reason people are interested and have continued to follow my journey.

Speak soon,
Leo

Plugging on

A quick update this time - I cannot work out what is up with my game, i'd love to blame it on variance and maybe it is, but I am not comfotable with it at all.  I am all over the place with game selection, back and forth between turbos, regular, 9 man, 30 man, DoN.  Without a precise calculation, profits have been minimal but are still there - just.

  Very confusing.

WSOP seats are getting a little closer tho.  I played in the Full Tilt $1 thing last Sunday and from a massive 39000 entrants, I placed 980 or something.  Not bad but I dont see that as a feasible way to win my ticket.  Although it wont stop me playing it every chance I get.

Won a ticket to a freeroll with 655 players.  Top 125 progressed to the next and final level where 200 players would fight for 10 WSOP packages.  Qualified comfortably to the final but could only place 56th.  I was pretty card dead, had my AA cracked and finally went out with KQ against K10.  Nevermind.  I will get another chance at this in May but I think they only have 6 packages then tho.

I am thinking about playing in a live event where the online entrants will win a package in a longest survivor type contest.  Unfortunately it is about 5 hours drive.  I have played there once in the English Heads-Up Championships a few years ago when I lost in the final, so I have a good record there and fingers crossed I will keep that going.  (I beat Surinder Sunar in the semi-final and Arshad Hussein in the quarters--  BRAG)

Personal life is like a car crash right now, in fact it was a car crash

This wasn't the actual crash I was involved in, it was a lot more lame than this one but I needed to see the Dr and get some pain killers and may need some physio.
And it was not in my new car either, luckily I have not picked that up yet and I was at work when it happened too so it was in a job vehicle.

For now I will try to continue releasing my bonuses while winning even if its only small.  I have a few other ways to qualiy for the WSOP coming up so thats all good, however the bad news (on the poker front) is Florida is booked, Butlins is booked so the end of May all the way thru to the end of June will be very hard to play any poker.  This will hurt the challenge quite a bit which is a shame especially as thats when the WSOP sats will be reaching its climax.  I am still hopeful of reaching my goal is some form or another.

My staked poker players are currently losing my money but they are working hard to rectify the situation so I'm hopeful as these guys have turned a profit for me before.  I am going to be offering somemore staking opportunities in the way of a competition soon on parttimepoker.com, whereby hopefully we can split some profits and make some donations along the way to the Japan fund.

I'll fully update with BR etc the next chance I get.

OMG

This is hard to write.  Almost as hard as the month I've had.  How can I describe it?  Without swearing, like this,
Gutting, Demoralising, Frustrating, Confidence killing, Shocking and almost Heartbreaking.

Well, firstly, since my last post (when I thought I was beginning to make headway), I have been sick and while trying to play through it have lost a few days playing.  Now this is not an excuse for not hitting 900 games, OH NO, I hit 900 games and I could have exceeded it - BUT - it did not increase my profit, in fact it is partly to blame for my downward spiral.
The new site I was playing on had plenty of traffic (ongame network) and I settled down to some Double or Nothing Turbos (looking for the easy bankroll building stuff, ha ha)  Well my SS graph can explain it better than me.

It just disgusts me.  I was bobbing along quite nicely playing $11 games, hit my BR target and started including the $22 when deja-vu struck and I went spiralling out of control.  I did not feel like I was playing any differently but things went wrong and still are, that SS graph is today, and I'm playing as I write (Yes, I know probably not the best idea.)  I cannot really explain this as one of my previous SS graph looks exactly the same when I joked it looked like my son had played a few games.  I keep coming back to FOCUS.  Am I just losing FOCUS and sitting in these games, trying to play them quicker so I can make more money.  I just don't know.  I want to have a few days off and get some study in, which usually does re-focus me and I tend to play a lot better - but that is for normal SnG's not Double Thrus.  Plus I know I am way behind my target and am eager to get back on track. 

 

Well now I have shown you a graph and you have seen exactly how much I suck, lets have a look where we are at in relation to the plan.

Total BR stands at about - $3300 but after a few more games I will have my $500 bonus released, so realistically more like $3800.

Firstly from a start of $500, it is certainly not to be sniffed at, BUT I  am missing my targets.  And my rectification plan?

I have signed up to another site which is offering a $1000 bonus, which I think I can execute within the 40 days given to release it.  So if I can break even as a minimum (not planning on that), I can still build the roll.  I will still be playing the DoN's and may dabble with the non-turbos, if the turbos suck for me too much.

 

On the upside, looking toward the WSOP, I have also qualified through this site for a couple of satellites.  On 7th April the top 75 will go through to the final on 10th April where 10 out of 200 will get a $12000 package.  I will also qualify for the May version so a couple of cheap tries for me to get Vegas bound.  WSOP sats are popping up all over the place and it's hard to pick the good quality ones that offer the best chance for the cheapest entry.  ANY GOOD ONES SEEN, PLEASE POST A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW.

 

I still plan on hitting Vegas whether it is with a smaller BR or going for the Venetian Deepstack as opposed to the WSOP, I don't know, I am pretty fluid at the moment, especially as my hopes are still firmly fixed on qualifying for something with someone.  That sounds pretty desperate, BUT, I AM.

 

If this month goes alright, I will head back to Full Tilt and play SnG's again as I am only $78 off the leaderboard I was aiming for, even without playing there for a while.

 

Another fly in the ointment is the Mrs has decided that we should have a decent holiday this year and is looking at Florida in the 1st 2 weeks of June, just when the sats go into overdrive, BUT she does deserve it and who am I to deny the lady of my life a good time.  (Plus, I love that place, got family and a villa over there, and I cant get enough of Mickey, if i'm honest)  The Mouse cannot beat the lights, sound, smell and feel of Vegas but he does come a close second.  Even with the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa it just cant excite like Vegas can.

 

   OR    

 

 

When the wife, kids, brother, niece, nephew and parents are in Florida and are up against a lot of sweaty poker players in Vegas the only answer I can give you is ...........       ABSOLUTELY BOTH.

 

The staking of players is going a little better with a couple of small profits being floated my way, and I have some promising ones running as well.  I have not had too much time to search for other winning prospects but that has probably saved me money.

 

Well, if there is anything else you want to know about my journey which I have failed to include or you have any valuable advice to offer then please post, here, on the forum or tweet me.  Even if the message is "GIVE IT UP BRO, NO WAY, NO HOW".  I am a big boy, I can take negativity and every so often I may just believe it, and I would like to hear peoples opinions, whatever they are.

 

GL at the tables.