blonde poker forum

I've decided to make a thread for the purposes of motivation. I think it could well turn out to be a playing log more than a diary, but I figured if it gives me a shot at motivating me and isn't too time consuming, then it's worth a try. 2013 was a decent year for me (I just wrote about it on my blog here (http://www.atkinator.net/2013/12/2013-in-review.html), but was somewhat saved by my 3rd place in the DTD Monte Carlo, which is obviously something you can't account for. My online winnings took a dip from both 2012 and 2011. I was on pace for a really good year but managed to make virtually no money in the last 3 months.

I played 1400 hours last year, up from a paltry 1100 in 2012, but I still had huge chunks of time off and think I could play a decent amount more. I was considering going for SNE or the TLB leaderboard for the purpose of motivation, but realistically it would mean altering my playing schedule which allows me to see plenty of my two young children, and help take them to bed. So I'm aiming for a lofty hours-played goal instead.

I have some other general goals for the year that I think I will try and achieve via monthly goals as I'm not sure of an exact goal to set. I really need to study more frequently than I do. Going through hh's a couple of times a week is about the max I manage, but it's just not enough and I think I'm not maximizing my hourly rate, so that needs to be sorted out this year. I took up running about 15 months ago, and really enjoy it, but haven't been out for a run since the end of October. I want to make sure I keep going out for runs all year around, and do some extra exercise on top of that. I would also really like to record some music. I haven't recorded a song in approximately 9 years and I just want to make some tracks, if only for my own benefit. I don't expect it to result in more than a few token listens via Facebook, and gaining some ammo to embarrass the kids with when they are older, but I have recently bought a bunch of recording equipment, and would at the very least like to record a few songs throughout the year.

I managed a grand total of 4 blog posts on blog spot last year so I'm also hoping this thread will give me some content to cross-post on there and get it a bit more active again.


2014 Goals
[ ] 2000 hours playing poker
+ study more
+ keep fit
+ record a few songs


January Goals
[ ] 180 hours playing poker
[ ] Study 15 minutes+ before each session
[ ] Look at daily results only on a 2 day delay (I'm a mental game fish with checking how I'm doing constantly)
[ ] Go for 14 runs
[ ] 450 minutes exercise (on top of running)
[ ] Record a song

IN! VBOL for 2014 mate!

Good luck with this mate. Looking forward to following this.

GL Sir.

Subscribed.

Best of luck James, I was about to set up an identical diary/blog called '2014' with goals and a bit of a diary so now it's going to look even less original!

Do you mean you won't know how you did on Monday until Wednesday?

Subscribed anyway, maybe we can have another rap battle to spur you on

Subscribed. Without sounding like a complete stalker i've always been quite interested in your life.

GL for 2014.

Gl James.

What is your general mix of games these days, you have been playing more mtts than in the past recently, right?

Meh, you should still do it :)


Yeah that's what I meant. I'm way too concerned with how I'm doing on any single day. I could just not look for a whole month or w/e but this way I still get to see how I'm doing generally, but it's hard to care exactly how you did 2 or 3 days previously when you've played a bunch after that.

Hehe sounds good to me


Yeah man, I just play most things on the MTT schedule and mix in 180s, 45s and 18-man SNGs when I'm low on tables.

Last year I played 2500 18-mans, 1250 45-mans, 2000 180-mans and about 6000 MTTs.


Thanks everyone else for the good luck wishes. It sucks how New Years Day tends to be a false start. Me and Liz had a rare night out together with another couple we're close to and I certainly didn't wake up wanting to play poker! On the grind from tomorrow!

I hope you do this James - if nothing else, it will definitely help motivate you, having to out yourself after a bad day is a tremendous incentive, and keeping a long-term log of progress helps immensely.

I've been doing a similar thing (though on a much smaller scale than you) Next Door since September, & I update it there daily, without fail, win or lose. It gets a LOT of views. Think I've recorded my progress there daily now over around 1,500 DYM games in a 3 month period, & it has helped me more than I could have ever imagined. In fact, I'd have done it here, but I'd have been mocked somewhat for my small-ball nittiness, & the hardcore boys would have had a ball with me. You'll be just fine though. Good luck James, look forward to following your progress.

Incidentally, if it helps (it does help me) I report daily & then monthly on.....

Daily Volume

Games Won v Games Lost, which I call "Game-Count".

Daily Profit/Loss, colour coded in Blue/Red.

Average profit/loss per game (daily)

I also repeat all those "month to date".

I include my Reward Points (rakeback) daily, too.

What sort of music do you write?

What are your fitness goals?

Good luck mate

Have I made the first page!?

Looking forward to following glgl

Good luck!

Good luck James
Subscribed

gl James

Good luck.

Any news on stars tourny new schedule? :)

Confirmed biggest hero I know, crush plz.

180 hours is a lot!! Gl

Psssht, slackers.

Best of luck James, doubt I've managed more than 120 hours in a month ever!

Subscribed, glgl

Huge fan of everything you do, borderline fanboy over here.

Definitely look forward to this.

Glglgl!

Gl with this mate!

glgl

Thanks Tikay! Yeah I'm hoping I'll get similar benefits out of it, mainly just want it to prevent me from slacking too hard. I'll set-up some kind of template for sure, haven't quite worked that out yet.


I write hip-hop music (or at least I used to!) Not so good with the beats, just the lyrics and vocals.

Planning to run my local 10k at the beginning of April so need to be ready for that. No real goals other than to maintain a good level of fitness and perhaps gain a little definition muscle wise.



Yeah I've definitely aimed for the high side here. I churned out the odd 120-150 hour month last year, but seems ok to shoot high when I'm at my most motivated.


:D, I was worried you might thought I was a bit of a prat after my bust out in fairly standard spot in that Big Game!


Yes, the news is the PokerStars are absolute jokers at sticking to deadlines they set themselves. I must have checked that thread twice a day for the last 3 months hoping to see something!


Thanks to everyone for the good luck wishes etc!

 :hello:

(http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/flirting.gif.pagespeed.ce.0vKrlZDlom.gif)

Day One - Jan 1st

Didn't play, but did go for my first run of the year. Unfortunately my iphone running app and my music didn't want to work together so it was insanely tilting.


Day Two - Jan 2nd

Just logged my first session, clocking in at about 8.5 hours. Managed a little bink on my first day in a $27 Turbo KO.

I think I'll stick to posting weekly results/stats otherwise I'll be faffing too much. I'm not about my "not looking at results for 2 days" is going to work with the blog; and today I inadvertently clicked on the cashier to take a peek at Stellar rewards, so sigh at failing that one already. Perhaps just not looking at results at any point mid-session is more realistic.

Was good to put in a solid grind for my first day. Was definitely a little rusty, and wasn't a fan of having more than 14 tables. I tried out 888.com and Party today but I just cannot multitable with 888, I time out so frequently. I'm still deciding whether giving Party another spin is worth it or not.

Will try and post up a hand every day. Could go with a few comic ones I played, but this was the most important one of the day and was a pretty nice hold.

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6697420_A1730C2AFB

Ran like God in 18-mans on top of $27 bink so had a decent day, despite nothing beyond a min-cash in all my $30+ MTTs.

Is there a figure you need to live on whilst you play poker as a living? Do you ever feel pressure to earn X amount?

You earned a decent wedge last year do you set financial goals?

thanks in advance.

Nice win, regardless of size, an outright win is always satisfying.

What is your daily mtt schedule if you don't mind me asking?

Are the 18/45/180 manners all similar standard?

With my understanding that you play an earlier in the day schedule to most, how do you find the general field quality compared to peek hours? Do you feel you adjust enough acordingly?

Will answer those questions shortly

In recent developments, I played some satellites to a satellite that usually gets cancelled (so I play for tournament dollars). However said tournament did run today and it looks like I'm going to Australia :-/

Boom! What do your colour code tags mean? What notes do u make?

Any Aus flags about, getttttttttttttttttttt.

Yeah boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy what a start to the year!!!!!

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NOI2pZlj0Mc/UAP4tRdz-iI/AAAAAAAAB6Q/0xfGklM2jRE/s1600/shawn-michaels.gif)

Awesome result. Well done.

OiOiiiiii!!!

loooool Tough life!

siiiiiick work. have fun.

What a great start to 2014, and best of luck in Aus!

 :)   good start  gl in Aus

Congrats jamesy boy.

Good luck for the year.

Nice, grats

Oioi great start to the year!!

Oioioi! Melbourne is an awesome place, enjoy.

Oh really? Something I share with practically nobody is my love for hip-hop. Does somebody else write your instrumentals? Who would you say are your main influences? Do you have have any stuff recorded you could share? :)

Happy to discuss fitness any time as well, so drop me a PM on here of Facebook etc.

Day Three - Jan 3rd

Tyvm to everyone for all the congratulations! Tbh I'm not sure how to feel about it. Obviously I'm pleased to have a won $10k seat and to have a chance to go to Australia, but I'm really apprehensive of leaving Liz alone with the kids. The only time I've been away from them for any amount of time was when I went to Vegas for 6 days when Clark was just a baby. It means I will miss Lainey's 2nd birthday party which kind of sucks. Hopefully Facetime/Skype will get me through but I'm pretty worried about missing the kids/wife and how they will miss me. Also I guess I'll be on my own which kinda sucks, I guess there might be a few people I know going.

On the other hand, lets go win a Milly!

I actually won 3 seats to the satellite I won, so had a decent day overall on top of the ridic bink.

Hours Played: 8

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6712073_A243D6157B

I didn't boom any hands in the satellite although there were obviously a few interesting hands, so hand of the day is a comical one.

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

What I've been doing so far this year is regging every MTT $10+ from around 6am that I know will finish by 2/3pm ish.

18-mans have the highest percentage of regs so would say 45 and 180s def easier, but have a lower buy-in.



Yeah, it suits my lifestyle really well, I get to see plenty of the kids in the late afternoon/evening and take Clark to bed. I think it's pretty soft, but on the flip side I do have to do a lot of mixing up formats to get enough volume in. Mr scrote tried the morning sched for a while but says he finds evenings softer in general.


(Doing questions in order, will get to others when I can!)

Congrats on the Aussie bink, I'd imagine the cricket discussion is gunna be excruciating =/

ding ding ding!!  nice result mate & gl

Been into hip hop since early 80s and never grown tired of it, do you still listen to current hip hop, what's on your playlist at the moment?
I djayed hip hop for quite some years through to 91ish.
It still amazes me what hip hop has become since the start, just a mic and a couple of decks into a multi billion industry, amazing really.
Best of luck for 2014.

I have a question.

Can you shut the fuck up and let Ray make his point?

Grats on the seat, I bubbled for one just before Xmas, was absolutely gutted.

Sicko wp! Gl in australia!

Nice one James, gl rest of 2014 :)up

Hey James,

Bit blown away to be honest.

Here is me writing a thread about playing £5/£10 games next thing i'm reading your summary from 2013!

Very nice results!

It was motivational, I have something to aim towards now :)

All the best for 2014

Day Four - Jan 4th

Shitty day today. Came 6th in the same Aussie Millions sat today for lolz, at least I can grind them now. A couple of $33 reg speed finals but 4th or 5th in both and small fields. Definitely ran noticeably bad in all-in spots etc, so not too concerned.

Will reply to posts ITT asap, just haven't had chance and knackered now, early night for moi.

Hours Played: 8.5

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6729590_92BB715ACB

Villain is a reg :dontask:

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

gluck

Love reading this diary and congrats on the aussie bink, should be amazing!
what games do you play?? wp sir with the AA that was funny to watch!

Day Five - Sunday Jan 5th

I was really tilted after this session because I spewed a solid $2 or $3k equity on a bluff vs a nit trying to rep a set in the Aussie Millions satellite, which felt really stupid afterwards. I can't seem to get anything going outside of winning seats to satellites and doing okay in 18-mans so far this year.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToOoJ5oAqbc

Hours Played: 7.5

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6746564_71D5254FA2

People must really not respect by blind on blind play!

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

I have a bunch of tags for regs which sort of grades them on their ability, break-even/small winner/sicko etc. Then one for fish, one for whales, one for nits and one for gosuoposum1 :)

I'm not sure how great my notes are, I try and note down people's ranges in various spots and when people get out of line.


I used to get my instrumentals from guys on SoundClick. I haven't picked any out for a long time though.

I guess my main influences were Eminem, Jin, Fabolous, Jadakiss and 2Pac

3 of my songs I uploaded to YouTube, but they are a solid 8 or 9 years old now: http://www.youtube.com/user/mcepitome/videos


I tend to just stick my iPhone on shuffle when I listen to music, so I get a lot of old stuff. I wouldn't say I'm into much new hip-hop. I think Drake is okay but JCole is meh, Lil Wayne has the odd good song mixed with utter BS, even Eminem's new album isn't great; although there are 2 or 3 awesome tracks on it. Joe Budden's latest album is probs my favourite recent album.

I could be missing some stuff that I don't know about in fairness, I don't watch music videos or listen to the radio these days.

how do you make the music/beats MC?
music was my 'therapy' for many years though last year it took a real backseat and i miss the creativity hugely.
not hugely into hip hop (been in a few guitar-y bands) but was actually listening to drake the other day and found myself playing with the drum software on logic

drums on this pretty interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuRoPIOBjE

lebron james* switches from 6max to HU to 6max on stars in first few seconds :S

What do they say?

he's pretty low intensity irrc :p

[will enter weekly summary here]

better be quick... :D

Umm can't edit posts, presumably a mod did this for shits and giggles? Or I'm going mental.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=62975.msg1845786;topicseen#new

 ;carlocitrone;

Who was that reg?  ;D

Yeah just seen, I sure can edit either of those posts I just made though :-/

Yeah I can't edit the above, guess it needs further tweaking.

Love that 88 hand. wpwp

Week 1 (Jan 1st - 5th)

Hours Played: 33

SNGs: +$1550
MTTs: -$1650
Satellites: +$9600

VPPs: 3250 (+1000 bonus through promotion)
Approx rakeback: $200
Milestone rewards: $50

Top 3 Results:
1. $10,400 Aussie Millions seat
2. $1022 - 1st $27 Turbo KO
3. $700 Satellite Seat


A look at January Goals
180 hours playing poker - Falling slightly short
Study 15 minutes+ before each session - Fail, but did this 3/4 sessions
Look at daily results only on a 2 day delay - Fail, aim is now to not look mid-session at any point
Go for 14 runs - Went for 3 so on track
450 minutes exercise (on top of running) - About 30 mins, a bit behind
Record a song - Have started to put up some sound proofing in office but that's about it



Obviously can't be too unhappy with the first (near) week with the satellite bink, but unfortunately I didn't make any real money.

Day Six - Monday Jan 6th

Put in a smaller session as I felt I needed to catch up on some sleep; it didn't go very well.

Hours Played: 5

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6768140_BECB57079D

More blind on blind fun vs a reg, 3 left in 18-man

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

Day Seven - Tues Jan 7th

Gross day, down $1k or a touch more, but could have been so much different if the three finals I made went better:

7/141 in $27.50 reg speed for $140
8/258 in $25 hyper for $290
6/808 in $11 Turbo for $340

Hours Played: 7

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6785068_FB72EC1F2B

Pretty sick hero call vs maniac reg

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

Day Eight - Weds 8th Jan

Even worse day, bricked everything, down $1.5k or more :(

Hours Played: 6.5

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6803408_519E8AC97A

In $700 sat, tyvm

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

Day Nine - Thurs 9th Jan

Put in a tiny online session as I woke up early enough to do so in which I ~broke even, then jetted to Nottingham for GPS. Dusted off 1st bullet without doing too much wrong but wasn't on my A-game all day.

I made a really bad double barrel vs some joker SB vs BTN where I had 3b pre. One of the problems with the bet was that it gave me a really good price on a call when he jammed turn. Afterwards, I felt like my call was really spewy, but I've made myself feel better fiddling around with stove as even including some of the strong hands I didn't expect him to play this way, I still had enough equity to call.

Hours Played: 13

Hand of the Day: http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/6819770_FD668FB884

Genuinely wasn't sure what to raise to on the river here vs an unknown. He insta snapped so I guess I went too small :(

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot


Not playing today (Friday) as I am going to see a couple of old Uni mates. Hopefully I can make Day Two last longer than a few minutes even though I'm going back with sub-20bbs.

Good to meet you yesterday James. I think I know which Indian you were talking about, was it Mr.Maliks?

You too man. Yes that's the one! Dan will confirm the excellence if he checks the thread.

If I check this thread? You betcha!

Mr Malik's was more of an 'excellent' Indian compared to the thousands of average/good Indian restaurants you usually go to.

Yes I've been there. Incidentally Mr.Malik is on the move the town centre in the Ironmarket.

You made any plans for Aus yet? Is it all business or are you going to turn it into a holiday?

Cracking country and the crown casino poker room is amazing.

Day Ten - Friday 10th Jan

A day off going to see a couple of mates from Uni. That was really nice. It's funny how with certain people you can not see them for years but when you do it's just like old times. One of them is now a teacher in South Korea so obviously isn't in the country often, and I just find it difficult with poker + the family to get time to jet to Coventry to see my other mate. Hopefully won't leave it too long this time though


Day Eleven - Sat 11th Jan

After being not so happy with my play on Day One, I was super happy with how I played throughout Day Two. I managed to turn my bowl of rice into a top 10 stack heading into Day Three. Obviously it wasn't all skill, I had some fortune along the way, I won a couple of nice pots with KK and won a flip not far from the bubble with 88 v AK. It was nice chatting to Ceri Rees who was on my left throughout the day, as well as JP Kelly on my right. Me & JP sort of started out with poker at the same time (we were discussing whether we were deemed old school players yet?!) and was good to catch up with him a bit, although he was nursing a hangover so I tried not to bug him with incessant chatter too much!

Hours Played: 11

Heat of the Day: Ice Cold - Brrrrr - Mild - Warm - Red Hot

Lol, Dan just linked me to this:

http://hands.888poker.com/

WTF!

amazing!  Quickly skimmed a couple, found this hilarious.  His "My story" - Muppet, what did they think I had  lol, then he is played by MC Beat.  Wish the actors would trash talk a bit or something

http://hands.888poker.com/poker-video/Stewart%20Hallows-15446/105758eda92-6ea9-41c7-9a73-313b5c5b8ae5/muppet?category=monster_group