My Breakeven February

Normally at this time of the month I'd do a short review of how my previous month's goals went but because of an insanely busy start to February and far too many real life commitments getting in the way I decided not to write any for last month. I did however manage to rejig my normal schedule and organise things a little better so that I could play consistently again and in the past two weeks or so I've managed to keep up a decent amount of volume.

Unfortunately though, it's not been all roses. For various reasons including being a little rusty after a few weeks off and also running pretty poorly, granted over a limited sample, so I haven't managed anywhere near my January results. It's not really a sense of a few near misses like it has been in past months but more generally bricking everything and managing a few select tournament victories in order to keep myself afloat.

I still feel like I'm playing well though. Whilst I was writing my previous blog post on 5 things I know I'm doing wrong I thought a lot about my focus and genuinely thinking through every hand I play and so I've found so many more spots where I can pick up chips by considering what kind of player I'm up against. They're mainly hands where, in hindsight, it's obvious that a small bet would have picked up the pot but at the time I was auto-piloting and simply mashed the check button because I hadn't hit the nuts. I'm sure if I could find out how to see my red line for tournaments like HEM does for cash games then I'd see a marked improvement over this time last year.

I've also started mixing in a few more 18 man NLO8 SnGs. I wrote a post many moons ago about PLO8 SnGs any many of the same points I made back then still apply now. Unfortunately nowadays the games can very reg heavy at peak times so for now I'm game selecting which ones I register for which tend to be at the very beginning of my session or just as I'm winding down, which I don't mind at all. For now I'm showing a decent ROI in the $15 games but I'm still aware how brutal the swings can be so I'm keeping grounded. I'm also finding interesting spots almost every day where I'm still not sure what the right line is but thankfully I have a few friends who are real SnG grinders to advise me. Cheers lads.

So that was my February in a nutshell. I'm still not entirely sure about how much I can play in March so I'll hold off for now on writing a March goals post. For now I'll be playing each day as it comes but I still will be keeping an eye on my 2014 goals for a little direction. I hope maybe February went a little better for all you guys and here's wishing you all a big March! Until next time, good luck at the tables and I'll speak to you all soon!br

January Goals Review

It's that time of the month! Hmm, maybe that wasn't the best choice of words for the intro..... Anyway, it's time to review my January goals. No point in messing around, let's just get into it!

1, $2.5k Profit

In a nutshell, this goal got crushed! Not only did I hit the $2.5k goal that I set myself, but I almost doubled it. Even without the TCOOP score which in itself was almost enough to make the goal, I would have hit it, just through solid grinding. That in itself is a great mental boost as it tells me that it wasn't just by luck that I managed to surpass my profit target for the month.

2. Two Red Label Final Tables

Huge success, solely due to the morning $16.50 PLO8 Omania. In total this month I final tabled the tournament three times, one outright win, one chop and a ninth. I think the Omania is the softest tournament on PokerStars right now due to it's start time and, obviously, the fact that it's a game very little of the field have experience with. It plays relatively deep in the early and middle stages which gives me the opportunity to apply pressure to weaker players and consistently build large stacks to take into the shallower late stages. Hopefully I can continue my great run in this tournament in February.

3. At least one four-figure score

Another success! I wrote a post a few days ago about my deep run in the TCOOP PLO8 event on the blog so I won't go into too much detail on it. If you'd like to read about the run you can find my post here. The score was for $2,163, which definitely qualifies as a four-figure score. The two Omania ships just managed to scrape under the four-figure threshold, both scores were for around $990 so if I didn't make the TCOOP run then this paragraph would probably be trying to convince you that they count!

4. Have developed an organised system of what to do with tips

I'm not sure whether to quantify this as a success or not. I keep tips and spare cash in a pot on my window sill, and although I don't simply dip in whenever I fancy a drink or something, I have tended to use it every time I need to top up my Oyster Card when I'm going somewhere. So although it's not an organised system, I'm counting "used as emergency on-hand" cash as an acceptable use. Recently the pot has never had more than about £20 in it but should it build up the goal may have to be revisited.

5. Have a full clean out of my flat and throw away as much as possible

Well, not everything can't go to plan, this was a massive bust. As I write this I'm staring at a pile of empty suitcases which we had pulled out because we went away for the weekend, and now I have no idea where they're going to go. Why would two people need seven suitcases? It's a  wonder. I definitely need to get around to achieving this goal in the next few days.


So there you have it, a pretty successful January wrapped up in a nutshell. Just putting the finishing touches on February's goals so they should be up, probably by tomorrow. I've also got a fair bit of travelling to do in the next few days so chances are I'll use the opportunity to write a few posts. Until then, good luck and the tables and I'll speak to you all soon!