blonde poker forum

Ive been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while now, and have finally decided to give it a go. I hope it is fairly interesting and i've put it on Blonde because its my fav forum and know a decent amount of people on here. Heres a bit about my poker history so far...

My name is Lewis Higham and i've been playing poker as my sole income since May 2012. I first started playing poker in 2008 and was instantly hooked, playing at the pub every week to start with and not long after i started playing casually online on betfair. One day a few months after i started i managed to spin up $50 into $15k over a few days with terrible bankroll management, playing as high as $25/$50. lol. I then lost nearly all of it back in 1 day. Fun times!

I was convinced i could make loads of money, didnt want to stay in my £20k per year job and quit early 2009. I learnt the hard way about Bankroll management and variance. After a tough start i managed to make a decent living playing low stakes live games and on PKR. I still wasnt very good and after a downswing live and bad money management in early 2010 i decided to get a job as a freelance poker dealer. I did this full time for 2 years while trying to play in my spare time with very meh results. I honestly believe if i had put all my time into playing then rather than working i would be a lot better off right now.

I made the decision to quit working and start playing full time again, mostly because i just had enough of it and wanted to give playing another shot rather than i was actually crushing the games. Honestly at the time i was all over the place and wasnt even sure if i wanted to play cash or mtts as my main game. In June i chose to grind the zoom cash games, 50nl/100nl on stars and have been doing so until now. I've done ok, moving up to 200nl with very nitty BRM, but dont think i've reached my potential/still make a tonne of mistakes and havent had much success in live cash/mtts which i would like to change.

I want to use this blog to keep me motivated and give updates on my progress/goals etc. I'm currently going through my worst downswing ever so im taking a couple days off to get my head straight/ play a bit of live pokers. I'll try and respond to any q's itt when i can and do my best to give reg updates.

I attached a couple of graphs, one from my old PKR days and another from stars since ive been playing for a living.

first.

Pure pokerz diary. Good luck and get out of the rut!!

Have really good vibes abut Lewis, think he has the potential to be one of the biggest winners in the zoom/stars mid stakes games as puts a lot of time into it.

Always happy to give advice, but wuld rather not discuss regs/200nl zoom in too much detail itt as there are always a lot of eyes watching :)

Subbed though, glglglgl

Hi mate, I'm new here but noticed we have pretty similar names(ship it) so I wish you the very best of luck. You seem to have won a lot of moneys already though so not too much luck as you need to keep some around for the little fishies like me.

Will be nice to follow a new blog seeing as all the other ones are v long now and been going a long time.

Thanks Pleno thats really nice of you to say. I'll try and not discuss too much strat itt ;)

Tyty!!

Haha thanks. Didnt take me long to take a blonde virginity. :p

Good to see a new diary.

What stakes do you play live cash/mtts?

Why do you think you aren't as successful live compared to Zoom/online cash?

Good luck!

Good luck with this

I have played mostly 1/2 live cash but some 2/5 recently with decent success. Although i find playing live for 5/6 hours more tiring than 5 hours of online. And im playing 1500 hands an hour online!

I've played a couple of UKIPT,GPS, DTD events in the last year with no success whatsoever :P.  Obv its a very small sample and its something i would love to achieve in. I want to play some big events this year so hopefully i will be able to tick that goal at the end of the yr.

I think its more that i just havent played enough live, im quite lazy and am a huge life nit. I dont like all the expenses that come with it and this always ends up with me just staying at home and playing online. But as i said i want to change this and play more. Need a bit more balance!

Thanks :)

Thanks Jason. heres my hendon mob just for you. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=150841

Sorry about the picture and the results i will do better i promise :P

All the best with this Lewis, should be interesting! Glgl.

Hmm ye you do seem a bit rubbish live(from your hendon mob)
Should probably stick to online

GL mate, will be following.

hey it's all cool.  Its good to have Pleno in your corner.

Thanks Mitch! I miss seeing you guys at DTD. Will try and visit soon.

Cheers Alex.

Legooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hey thanks! Congrats on the recent scores :)

In ofc! missed page one as I was busy with Avengers!

You can see Mitch from space rofl xx

Tyty!

Titty itt!! Still grinding sky?

So i think im going to take another day off the grind today. Currently i'm losing for the month and if things stay as they are then it will be my first losing month as a pro. I dont think ive handled this downswing well, playing quite badly at times due to frustration and not taking enough breaks. I play 8 tables of Zoom. Thats roughly 15 -1600 hands per hour and when things arent going my way over a long period of time it does start to effect the way i play significantly. I have a leak where i always play longer sessions when im losing and a tendancy to book winning sessions early, this has lead to me playing some huge losing sessions this month and no big winning ones = losing player obv.

How long did it take you to be able to play 8 tables of Zoom?

Do you tend to use Fast Fold on 2/3 tables more than the others?

Gl mate!

I already had practice 24 tabling 6max normal games, so 8 tables of zoom was actually a bit easier than that :P I dunno how long it originally took me to get efficient at mass multitabling, maybe nearly a year cos i wasnt doing it full time at that point. I think my time would have been better spent on playing less tables and focusing on improving as a player tho.


I dont really know if i use fast fold on some tables more than others. I think its just random tbh.

Thanks Nik! Was gonna ask you about ur blog and then i just noticed u updated it a couple days ago. Yay winning!

;)

Good luck with this, win it all plz !

Thanks Dreenie! I'll do my best :)

Gl mate! Hope you win all the monies!

Thanks mate. GL with ur club!

I played yesterday and today, and have continued to lose. This really has been a brutal month! I just have no motivation to play right now, pretty rubbish start to the blog lol. I think i'm going to head to London and hang out with some friends. I might take the rest of the month off playing online. Play live cash and since there  are some big live tournaments coming up in London, i'll try and stay around for a few of those. GG Febuary.

I decided on staying in Reading and playing in the local casino tonight. They had a £50r on so thought why not, ended up chopping HU for £1.4k. #livepro

Gratz man, good way to turn the month around!

Moaned it right in! Grats

sick win as soon as you start up a blog! Plenty more I hope, glgl with the poker/life

Nice score Wp. How come you chopped? did you not feel you had an edge or wad it just to reduce variance during bad times ?

I usually wouldn't, but I had 7bbs, he had over 2-1 and still offered chop. So I took it.

Thanks, def is a boost to morale

Tytyty

Yeh is nice but doesn't get me out of it for the month yet!! Still work to be done!

Recently i've developed a sick live skill where at showdown i just stare down the other guy and he just mucks when hes first to show. Happened twice recently, one time on 2/5 cash where i get it all in vs a shortie for 200 with 65s on 4 7 Tr. Board runs out A on turn and T on river and he just snap mucks. :D

The other was last night, i open J6s on button and BB peels. Flop is 7 T Kr he checks/calls my cbet. Turn is 8x and it goes check/check. River is a 2, Check/check. He looks at me, i look at him and he just mucks. Lolz.

Made a video for 200nl zoom that isn't released yet, can send to you f you like/do a session when youre back online.

Grats on the comp

Oh yeh would be v interested in watching it. Ship it to me tomorrow if you can?

In London now. Will probs grind cash at the Vic mostly but am gonna play the dtd 300. I'm lazy so am considering the online day. Anyone play it last time? Way worse value?

Didnt play live tonight, staying at my friends house and just kinda chilled out. They started all grinding online and while i didnt feel like putting a massive session in on Stars, i felt like playing a bit. So i fired up Sky poker and grinded 4 tables of .50/1. Quite like the site for casual playing, but is too tilting for mass multitabling and playing all the time imo. So just finished playing, made £537 in 2 hours ish.

2 more days to get out of my now quite small hole, depends if i can be bothered to play tomorrow or thurs!

Yeah mate get back to zoom ty ty

Vic has a 220 6 max tomorrow.  25 min clock.  Starts at 6.  Be there!

Haha, sorry Scotty i cant promise you wont see me at the Sky tables fairly soon!! Cheers for the info, i might flick it in, See how i feel tomorrow.

2 days to get back in the green, no probs :]

Hah i'm at my dad's for a bit now. Might not get much play in today, doubt i'll be going to the Vic.

Just been spending time with my dad yesterday/today so far, i played a v small session on Sky last night, played awful and lost about £180 v quickly so just quit. Ready to just start a fresh month from tomorrow and really focus again. Feb has been really rubbish, have run awful overall, and played my c game at best for most of it.

Results are, Online= Lost $3754 after rb. Live= Won £2031

I make that a loss of $672/£442. The way things were a couple of weeks ago this is actually an acceptable result. But still really disappointed with myself with how i have played and handled my downswing. Hopefully i learn something from this and don't just take it for granted that i will make at least mid 4 figures each month. I'm going to take a break from the zoom games and try playing the normal games when i go back on stars. I think i can achieve a significantly higher winrate with good game selection and can focus a bit more on playing my best and moving up to 400/600nl eventually. See how things go anyway, i might change my mind again if i dont feel like its working. I'm still roughly on pace for 600k vpps for the year, having got close to 90k vpps already, which is decent.

Lets hope March is a good one! Plan is to bink the UKIPT London and then roll around in all my cash :P

Am going to play the DTD300 online tonight btw. Good luck to any other Blondes playing!

Just busted the tourney. 3b called 99 but v HJ for 35bbs, he had AKss and we lose. Then grinded 15 bbs for a while and then got KK v 22  and lose to basically bust. go out with like 1bb a hand later.

sigh gg

I came back to Reading on Fri, i played normal games on stars for 2 hours, trying to game select and found it hard to get used to, is quite a bit more work than just sitting down and clicking on zoom and then it does it all for you. I also had some cashier issues meaning i was only able to 12 table, which tilted me so i decided to go and play live at the local casino.

Its a pretty small Grosvenor casino and isnt really a great playing experience. There is only 2 poker tables there, the dealers are all pretty slow, make mistakes, dont know the rules etcetc. The rake is also higher than normal, its 5% capped at £15 for a 1/2 game. BUT the games are usually pretty good, i have never ever seen anyone who has a clue what they are doing so its a good place to just go and play for a few hrs and make a couple of buy ins. I played for 4 hours and made £555.

On sat i felt like playing live again so went to the local Genting casino for a £100 fo. It got like 61 runners which is pretty decent for Reading and i came 4th for £547. I was massive CL with 5 left so this was pretty disappointing, but not much i could do about it, everyone was playing really nitty so i kept putting the pressure on but they kept finding the nuts every hand. GG me.

Been feeling quite ill today so no grind at all. Watched Arsenal lose to Spurs which lowered morale a great deal (Arsenal fan obv) and then played the Sunday Million. Ran up a decent stack earlyish, but couldnt hold on to it when we got to last 12k runners or so. Jammed 18bbs in HJ with 55 and AK called in the sb and we lose.

So overall i guess its a reasonably successful first few days of the month, £988 profit live and a $130 loss online. Theres a new G casino opening in Reading tomorrow so gonna go get rly drunk with some mates and rofl about in the £30fo. The way im running live atm i'll probs ship it somehow anyways.

Can definitely vouch for this. Couldn't believe how poor the standard of dealing was there. We honestly have a better grasp of it at our self dealt games at the local bowling alley!

I can see why you go there though as some of the things going on there were pretty unbelievable... I saw a guy 5bet jam for value on a Kh Kc 8c 8d 7d board with Ts Th and couldn't believe his eyes when the other guy actually had the Kd  ;carlocitrone;

Was good meeting you anyway bud and you'll have to let me know what the new Grosvenor is like as i'm sure i'll be back down before too long!

Update please.

Might come to reading for a grind one night for the lolz

Not been much to report tbh. Played and busted UKIPT day 1b. Pretty boring day, and boring week. Had a few losing sessions online and really need to just sit down and grind it out. Kinda bored with it all atm, prob just cos im losing. See how i feel in a couple weeks, hopefully i'm loving life and poker again, if not then i might need to make a change somewhere.

Don't come to Reading Scotty you will regret it!!! (but if you do lmk!)

Yep!  Guess they get away with the huge rake cos no one has a clue there.

Going to be just grinding online rest of the month. 8 tabling 100nl zoom, 4 6max and 4 full ring. Minimum of 10k hands per day. Not going to look at results until the end of the month, so no updates on profit/loss atm.

Heres a few HH from today so far.

$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
6 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $109.92 110bb 
UTG+1  $120.33 120bb 
CO  $173.60 174bb 
Hero (BTN)  $121.39 121bb 
SB  $101.03 101bb 
BB  $106.52 107bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BTN Ah Ac 
3 folds, Hero raises to $2.50, 1 fold, BB raises to $8.50, Hero raises to $17, BB calls $8.50 
 
Flop: 7d 7c 5h ($34.50, 2 players) 
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12 
 
Turn: 3h ($58.50, 2 players) 
BB checks, Hero bets $18.50, BB calls $18.50 
 
River: Ks ($95.50, 2 players) 
BB checks, Hero bets $60.50, BB goes all-in $59.02 
 
Final Pot: $213.54 
Hero shows two pair, Aces and Sevens 
Ah Ac 
BB shows a pair of Sevens 
As Qs 
 
Hero wins $212.22 (net +$104.22) 
 
BB lost $106.52 




$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
8 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $42.66 43bb 
Hero (UTG+1)  $123.97 124bb 
MP1  $193.17 193bb 
MP2  $118.67 119bb 
CO  $49.80 50bb 
BTN  $47 47bb 
SB  $49 49bb 
BB  $116.17 116bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 8 players) Hero is UTG+1 Kc Ac 
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $4, MP1 calls $4, MP2 calls $4, 3 folds, BB calls $3, UTG calls $3 
 
Flop: 2h 6c Kd ($20.50, 5 players) 
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $10.50, 1 fold, MP2 calls $10.50, BB folds, UTG folds 
 
Turn: Ah ($41.50, 2 players) 
Hero bets $20.50, MP2 calls $20.50 
 
River: 5d ($82.50, 2 players) 
Hero checks, MP2 bets $53.50, Hero folds 
 
Final Pot: $82.50 
 
MP2 wins $133.20 (net +$44.70) 
 



$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
6 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $75.87 76bb 
UTG+1  $195.90 196bb 
CO  $385.75 386bb 
Hero (BTN)  $108.64 109bb 
SB  $107.02 107bb 
BB  $104.54 105bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BTN 9d Qd 
3 folds, Hero raises to $2, SB calls $1.50, BB calls $1 
 
Flop: 4s Kd 9s ($6, 3 players) 
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $4, SB raises to $14.84, BB folds, Hero calls $10.84 
 
Turn: 2c ($35.68, 2 players) 
SB checks, Hero checks 
 
River: 7s ($35.68, 2 players) 
SB bets $32.70, Hero calls $32.70 
 
Final Pot: $101.08 
Hero shows a pair of Nines 
9d Qd 
SB shows high card Ace 
Ac Th 
 
Hero wins $98.28 (net +$48.74) 



 
$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
6 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $152.79 153bb 
Hero (UTG+1)  $101.73 102bb 
CO  $157.28 157bb 
BTN  $108.08 108bb 
SB  $131.04 131bb 
BB  $50 50bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1 8s Ts 
1 fold, Hero raises to $2.50, 2 folds, SB calls $2, 1 fold 
 
Flop: 3h 9s 7s ($6, 2 players) 
SB checks, Hero bets $4.50, SB raises to $13, Hero raises to $40.50, SB goes all-in $128.54, Hero goes all-in $58.73 
 
Turn: 9d ($204.46, 2 players, 2 all-in) 
 
River: 7h ($204.46, 2 players, 2 all-in) 
 
Final Pot: $204.46 
SB shows two pair, Kings and Nines 
Ks Kh 
Hero shows two pair, Nines and Sevens 
8s Ts 
 
SB wins $230.97 (net +$99.93) 
 
Hero lost $101.73 

Why fold AK? You think he just had 22/66? I wouldn't fold there.

Villain is a nitty reg. He wont value bet worse, he has 22/66/AK. He might check back AK here, some regs at FR are sooo nitty post flop.

Got this one for ya Alex. Hero foldzz

$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
9 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $122.03 122bb 
UTG+1  $103.45 103bb 
Hero (MP1)  $158.70 159bb 
MP2  $174.43 174bb 
MP3  $115.26 115bb 
CO  $60 60bb 
BTN  $328.41 328bb 
SB  $103.27 103bb 
BB  $69.88 70bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 9 players) Hero is MP1 Ts Th 
UTG raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.50, 6 folds 
 
Flop: Tc 8d Ac ($6.50, 2 players) 
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.50, UTG calls $4.50 
 
Turn: Js ($15.50, 2 players) 
UTG checks, Hero bets $10.50, UTG raises to $31, Hero folds 
 
Final Pot: $36.50 
 
UTG wins $55.36 (net +$17.36) 
 
Hero lost $17.50 

A few more. Think i played pretty decent today, and enjoying the grind a bit more now. Maybe its cos im finally stacking some people. :P

$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
6 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $121.50 122bb 
UTG+1  $52.81 53bb 
CO  $74.14 74bb 
BTN  $114.65 115bb 
SB  $20.58 21bb 
Hero (BB)  $100 100bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BB Ad Qd 
3 folds, BTN raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $8, BTN raises to $14, Hero calls $6 
 
Flop: 7c Qc Qs ($28.50, 2 players) 
Hero checks, BTN goes all-in $100.65, Hero goes all-in $86 
 
Turn: 8d ($200.50, 2 players, 2 all-in) 
 
River: 3d ($200.50, 2 players, 2 all-in) 
 
Final Pot: $200.50 
BTN shows a pair of Queens 
Ac Js 
Hero shows three of a kind, Queens 
Ad Qd 
 
Hero wins $197.70 (net +$97.70) 



$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
6 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $133.23 133bb 
UTG+1  $217.22 217bb 
CO  $63.81 64bb 
Hero (BTN)  $138.89 139bb 
SB  $119.60 120bb 
BB  $100 100bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BTN Td Ts 
3 folds, Hero raises to $2, SB raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero calls $6 
 
Flop: 4h 9s Qc ($17, 2 players) 
SB bets $9, Hero calls $9 
 
Turn: 6s ($35, 2 players) 
SB bets $19, Hero calls $19 
 
River: Qs ($73, 2 players) 
SB checks, Hero goes all-in $102.89, SB goes all-in $83.60 
 
Final Pot: $240.20 
Hero shows two pair, Queens and Tens 
Td Ts 
SB shows two pair, Kings and Queens 
Kd Kh 
 
SB wins $237.40 (net +$117.80) 



$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem 
PokerStars 
8 Players 
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/ 
 
Stacks: 
UTG  $106.76 107bb 
UTG+1  $143.70 144bb 
MP1  $296.02 296bb 
MP2  $100 100bb 
CO  $58.91 59bb 
BTN  $100 100bb 
Hero (SB)  $114.68 115bb 
BB  $121.50 122bb 
 
Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 8 players) Hero is SB 8d 8c 
UTG calls $1, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $4, CO calls $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $3.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $3 
 
Flop: Ac Kc 8h ($17, 4 players) 
Hero bets $10, 1 fold, MP2 calls $10, CO calls $10 
 
Turn: 4d ($47, 3 players) 
Hero bets $25, MP2 raises to $50, CO folds, Hero goes all-in $100.68, MP2 goes all-in $36 
 
River: 7d ($219, 2 players, 2 all-in) 
 
Final Pot: $219 
Hero shows three of a kind, Eights 
8d 8c 
MP2 shows a pair of Aces 
Ad Qs 
 
Hero wins $230.88 (net +$116.20) 

AK hand is cool.

Good read..  good luck

Cheers. :)

Hah i knew u would like it :P. I'm still happy with it vs villain.

Still running horrible, think ive been playing pretty good tho so gotta keep at it. Not looking forward to results at end of the month as it stands but still 2 weeks to turn it around. I had plans to play the Monte Carlo next month but if things dont improve think i might give it a miss, which is a shame :(